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Fashion is the purest expression of your identity: all your eccentricities, your background, and your soul. In recent years, the fashion industry has represented more and more transgender models, who are breaking ground and advocating for the trans community. Moreover, by stepping out successfully into the world of beauty and style, these transgender models prove that fashion is more than societal ideals.
Before transitioning, Andreja was already a successful model. Establishing her career on her androgynous looks, she modeled campaigns for both men’s and women’s underwear and walked men and women’s shows for Marc Jacobs and Jean-Paul Gaultier. She even starred alongside Tilda Swinton in a David Bowie music video.
Andreja came out as trans in 2014, telling Elle that she thought her story could help people. Since then, she made her acting debut in 2018, co-starring with Claire Foy in The Girl in The Spider’s Web. Her role in this film is ceremonious for the trans community, as she is one of the first trans actors to play a cis character in a movie.
While this progress is exciting and very much needed, Andreja is ready to be defined by her talent alone. She told W Magazine: “I want to base myself on the things I do, rather than the things I was born as.”
In an interview with Allure, Geena defined beauty as: “When a person has gone through the journey of finding and pursuing their most authentic self, and shares that gift, for me, that’s beautiful.”
Born in the Philippines, Geena Rocero modeled years before coming out as transgender in a viral TED Talk in 2014. In the talk, she describes the “long tradition in Asian culture that celebrates the fluid mystery of gender.”
She recalls her teenage self, “dress[ed] as a boy”, meeting a beautiful transgender pageant queen, who perfectly resembled the woman she wanted to be. After that, she started doing beauty pageants, which helped her get into modeling professionally.
Geena first pursued modeling in 2005 after moving to the West Village in New York City. As she explains in her TED Talk, she kept her identity a secret for the first decade of her career, fearful of how the world treated “those who wish to break free.”
Since coming out, Geena has been incredibly successful in modeling and in her advocacy for the trans community. She has walked countless runways, been featured in a Harper’s Bazaar cover spread, and was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month this past August. Moreover, Geena has spoken at the White House and United Nations, advocating for transgender rights. She also started Gender Proud, a production company with the mission of uplifting justice and equality for the trans community through media.
Kenny Ethan Jones made history in 2018 as the first trans man in a period and menstruation campaign. The model, activist, and entrepreneur spoke to De Lune about the turmoil of menstruating as a trans man.
Kenny highlighted the importance of including trans people in feminist conversations, especially topics such as period poverty and reproductive health. “It’s not just women who bleed,” he said to De Lune.
It was a tumultuous journey to find self-confidence, as Kenny told metro.uk. He was sent to multiple mental health clinics after expressing his true gender identity.
Now, Kenny finally feels proud and comfortable in his own skin. He knows his scars from his top-half surgery are a symbol of his identity and pride.
He said to metro.uk: “I realized that by me wearing these scars were a visual representation of me being trans without even having to speak. I love my scars, they are apart of my story and journey to this point and represent the courage of my community.”
Model Teddy Quinlivan came out as a trans woman in September 2017, via an interview with CNN Style. She told CNN she felt inspired to come out after the commencement of the Trump administration. In a time of adversity and bigotry, Teddy wanted to make the trans community visible to encourage acceptance and justice. To have transgender models like Teddy at the heart of fashion proves to the world that different is beautiful.
Recently, Teddy opened up to Elle about the process of coming out and her transition story. She remembers an art teacher asking her: “do you want me to call you she or he?”
Teddy instantly responded ‘she’, a pivotal moment in owning her identity.
Her success in fashion is indisputable, defined by her sharp look. She has established herself as a runway and campaign regular for Diane Von Fostenburg, Jeremy Scott, Louis Vuitton, and more.
Through her accomplishments, Teddy defies stereotypes and misconceptions about the trans community. Particularly, Teddy hopes to debunk the idea that to be transgender is to be mentally ill, or diseased, or unstable. She says to Elle: “That’s not true at all. I am proof – a successful model who happens to be transgender.”
By using their successful modeling platforms to advocate for the trans community, these transgender models are setting examples and paving the way for the future of fashion. Each of these individuals, in their own right, demonstrates that fashion is about vulnerability, pride, and progress.
