[News/People/Fashion/Style] [International] Top ten transgendered and androgynous models that are prettier than pageant queens
Stephanie Stevens
Top ten transgendered and androgynous models that are prettier than
pageant queens
By Joanna Lowry on Mar 29 2012, 01:00PM
Ed note: Last week, Miss Universe shocked no one, but disappointed all
the card carrying members of the equality squad (can I get a holler
for tolerance please?) by booting Jenna Talackova from their
antiquated dog and pony show for not meeting their cobweb covered
definition of what it means to be a miss. Before we launch into this
celebratory list of gender pioneers giving visibility to one of the
most oppressed groups in contemporary western society, we're giving
you a vocab lesson, so you know we don't mean any offence:
Trans-gendered Someone who identifies with a gender other than their
biological one. So someone who was born with bits that don't match
their brain.
Transvestite A person who adopts the dress and behaviour of a gender
other than their biological one for reasons that are sometimes sexy,
but often not, but does not primarily identify with that gender.
Cross dresser The practice of adopting the clothes of a gender other
than your biological one.
Drag Adopting the characteristics of a gender other than your
biological one as a form of performance.
Tranny Like the 'N-word', okay when someone who is it says it, not
when they're not.
Queer The beautiful, rainbow coverall for all these things, and more.
LGBTHealth.org.au A good first port of call to find out more about
this important issue.
Right, now we're done with the lecture, onto the babes:
Gone are the days when models looked like cookies cut from the same
blonde, Eastern European mould. In the nineties, when the fash pack
decided androgyny was cool, masculine beauties like Omahyra Mota and
Kristen McMenamy hit their stride. Lately, the trend for gender
bending has hit fever pitch, with designers sending an increasing
number of transgendered, cross dressing and epicene models down the
runway. Here are ten leggy gender-blurrers giving Jennifer Hawkins a
run for her money.
1. Jenna Talackova
This week Miss Universe Canada finalist Jenna Talackova lost her bid
for the beauty queen crown. The 23-year-old was disqualified from the
competition after it was discovered that she is biologically male.
According to a 2010 interview, Talackova has identified as a female
since age 4. She began hormone therapy at 14, and underwent gender
reassignment surgery at 19. Although the rules of Miss Universe
stipulate that contestants must be a “naturally born female”, a
Change.org petition for Talackova’s reinstatement into the competition
has already drawn more than 21,000 signatures. Talackova herself took
to Twitter to tell followers that she wouldn’t stand for the
discrimination, and that she has plans to take legal action. Watch
this space.
2. Lea T
After Riccardo Tisci, creative director of Givenchy, chose his
transsexual personal assistant, Lea T, as the star of the brand’s Fall
Winter 2010 campaign, the broody Brazilian's modeling career has
sky-rocketed. Highlights include a LOVE magazine cover, which sees Lea
T locks lips with Kate Moss, and an interview with Oprah.
3. Andrej Pejic
Pejic isn’t a girl, nor is trying to be one, but his effeminate
features, and his openness about his sexuality, has led the
transgendered community to claim him as their own. Last year, he
graced 14 magazine covers, was the face of a Marc Jacobs line, and
starred in a Dutch push up bra campaign. That’s as well as walking for
heavyweight designers like John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Gaultier was so enamoured with Pejic that he used him in both his 2011
men's and women's wear shows. In the Gaultier men's show, a
bare-chested Pejic wore a sleek black suit. In the women's show, Pejic
wore the most prized piece in the collection: a couture bride's dress.
4. Valentijn de Hingh
Valentijn de Hingh has always been comfortable in front of the camera
—she was discovered as an eight-year-old boy by Dutch filmmaker Hetty
Niesch and filmed until the age of seventeen as part of a documentary
on transgender youth. After under going gender reassignment surgery in
2007, de Hingh was scouted by a modelling agent. The willowy beauty
made her runway debut in the Spring 2008 shows, walking for Maison
Martin Margiela and Comme des Garcons.
5. Isis King
Isis King (formerly Darrell Walls) gained notoriety for being the
first trans woman to compete on America’s Next Top Model. She’s since
appeared on The Tyra Banks Show and in Seventeen and US Weekly.
6. Caroline “Tula” Cossey
English model Carolina Cossey is one of the world's most well known
transsexual women. She had an extras role in the 1981 James Bond film
For Your Eyes Only, which prompted tabloid News of the World to come
out with a front page headline that read "James Bond Girl Was a Boy”,
and was the first trans woman to pose for Playboy. She’s also modelled
for Australian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
7. Roberta Close
Roberta Close was the first pre-operative transsexual model to pose
for the Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine. After undergoing gender
reassignment surgery in 1989, Close posed nude for a Brazilian men's
magazine called Sexy and was voted "Most Beautiful Woman in Brazil”.
8. Florencia de la V
Florencia de la V started her career in magazines before picking up a
job at Buenos Aires club "Tabaris" and catching the eye of prominent
television/theatre producer Gerardo Sofovich. She’s a well-known
actress/model in her native Argentina, where she lives with her
husband and surrogate conceived twin children.
9. Claudia Charriez
In 2008, Charriez was kicked off of America's Next Top Model and The
Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency TV shows. She went on to win the
America's Next Top Transsexual Model contest on The Tyra Banks Show
later that year.
10. Chamila Asanka
Sri Lankan model Chamila Asanka was an up-and-comer at last year’s
Miss International Queen pageant, an annual transgender beauty
competition held in Thailand.
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