Supermodel Andreja Pejic, formerly known as Andrej Pejic, has publicly come out as a transgender woman.
In an interview with style.com, Pejic said she was aware of her gender identity from an early age:
“I figured out who I was very early on—actually, at the age of 13, with the help of the Internet—so I knew that a transition, becoming a woman, was always something I needed to do. But it wasn’t possible at the time, and I put it off, and androgyny became a way of expressing my femininity without having to explain myself to people too much.” she said.
Pejic first rose to fame in 2010 being shot in womenswear for Paris Vogue and quickly become popular for her androgynous look. Then working as a male model, Pejic walked for both mens’ and womenswear, and walked in a bridal gown for John Paul Gautier’s Spring 2011 couture show.
Peijic said her agency have moved her from the mens’ board to the womens’ board, although she was on both the mens’ and womens’ boards prior to her transition, except in New York where she was only on the male board.
“I guess the American market isn’t as progressive.” she said.
A number of transgender fashion models have recently come into prominence, including Lea T, Isis King and Carmen Carrera. Female models Elliott Sailors and Casey Legler have also become successful modelling in menswear campaigns. Pejic spoke about why non-binary expressions of gender have becomes popular in the fashion world:
“The trend of androgyny and the exploration of trans beauty started around 2010, and that’s when Lea T and I both started [modeling]. Everyone was kind of saying, “Oh, it’s just a trend, it’s going to go away,” and it hasn’t. I think that’s because it represents a social layer of people who feel that they don’t want to conform to traditional forms of gender—who feel traditional forms of gender are outdated.”
In a statement to her fans on her Facebook page, the Bosnian-born, Australian raised supermodel made the following comments about her transition:
“I like to think that my recent transition hasn’t made me into a different individual. Same person, no difference at all just a different sex I hope you can all understand that.
“I would also like to to reach out to all young gender non-conforming youth out there: I know it’s hard, I’ve been there, but remember it’s your right to be accepted as what you identify with—you deserve the same respect as any other human being on this planet.”
Sophie Joske
