Here comes the (male) bride

Update: Andrej Pejic has returned home to Australia to model the latest swimwear collection for avant garde Australian designer Nathan Paul. But the modelling came with a twist – he modelled both mens and womenswear for Paul’s Spring/Summer 2012/2013 collection.

The model, who missed NYFW last week to shoot a campaign in Paris as the face of a major fragrance, has modelled everything from Jean Paul Gaultier’s bridal range to women’s lingerie. You can read more about it here.

Now back to our original story…

Many of us have always suspected that for some gay male designers, the perfect woman looks like…..a young

boy

man. That’s the body shape of the models you see on catwalks and in so many fashion advertising campaigns. No hips, no bust, minimal thighs and body fat. If this is your natural shape and you are a woman, super. Do not read this as an attack on you. But the vast majority of women do not look like this.

And yet, 99% of the women we see on designer catwalks and in ad campaigns DO.

What’s up with that.

So now, could it be that designers are just going to dispense with women altogether when it comes to modelling women’s fashion? Are they just going to start using young

boys

men?

From news.com.au:

Designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs are two of androgynous model Andrej Pejic’s biggest fans. JPG used him to open and close his recent women’s couture show, which is code for “I think this model is the most important and significant one in my show, the one who embodies the image I’m trying to convey”.

The final outfit in most haute couture shows (where the outfits are custom made and cost up to $200K) is the bridal gown. And that’s what Andrej wore for Jean Paul Gaultier.

Mind you, this is the same designer who gave us the Madonna conical bra-top look way back when so I’m thinking he doesn’t have much hands-on experience with the female form and what actual women might like to wear.

I think Andrej Pejic is striking. I understand that fashion designers like to push boundaries and pull publicity. I get that catwalk shows are often theatre. But I also think there’s something a little darker going on.

The fashion world has huge influence. Remember heroin chic? Remember when the models they sent down their runways looked like starving, wasted junkies? That was a dark time for fashion and a shameful one. You might think that what happens on a catwalk is totally removed from your life but it’s not. The clothes that filter into Sportsgirl and Katies and K-Mart are ultimately influenced by what goes on at the pointy end of fashion.

So the use of teenage boys to model clothes for adult women? How does that work exactly?

I have nothing against Andrej Pejic – I can appreciate his beauty and I adore that he is breaking down some barriers about gender and sexuality. I love looking at photos of him.

But taking a more helicopter view, I’m uncomfortable with the idea that according to some of the most influential men in the fashion world, the most desirable female form is male. What do you think?

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic for Marc Jacobs

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic for Vogue Turkey

Andrej Pejic for Vogue Turkey

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic for Gaultier

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic

Andrej Pejic for Vogue Turkey

Andrej Pejic for Vogue Turkey

Andrej Pejic for Vogue Turkey

Andrej Pejic