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:
Andrej Pejic is a boyMELBOURNE’s androgynous modelling superstar, Andrej Pejic, has blurred fashion’s boundaries again, appearing on the catwalk in Paris in a haute couture bridal gown.
The 19-year-old from Melbourne created a sensation when he closed the Jean-Paul Gaultier womens wear show dressed as a bride, complete with a mohawk, black veil and long black gloves, reported the Herald Sun.
His look has made him one of the fashion scene’s most popular new stars, according to Matthew Anderson, director of Pejic’s Australian agency, Chadwick Models. “The success and embracement of Andrej in the fashion world has been phenomenal,” Anderson said. “No one is pretending that this is the new norm, but what Andrej is doing is providing a canvas for designers who have always pushed boundaries.
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?
Top Comments
It's ridiculous to think that designers straight gay male or female design for anyone else that the latest super models. They don't want us (ie everyone else on the planet) to wear their clothes. A few years back one of then even confessed as much (though I can't recall who). But even knowing that it doesn't stop me from having massive self loathing of my own body. And I've just turned 50.
"Many of us have always suspected that for some gay male designers, the perfect woman looks like…..a young boy man."
Because gay men all prey on young boys?
I know you consider yourself progressive on gay rights, but your covert homophobia is far more offensive than anything your pal Miranda Devine has written.
I would love to hear what Rick thinks about your characterization of gay males as predators of young boys.
Ummmm ... I didn't take that as meaning gay men are predators of 'young boys'! Just stating the fact that it appears to be the direction the fashion industry is heading. Flat-chested, no hips etc etc
Not that Mia needs me to defend her, but I happen to be exceedingly thankful for the positive commentary she offers on the many and varied same sex rights issues.
So if you have a flat chest and narrow hips, you're not a female?
Fat, thin and severly anorexic women ARE still women, Mia, and suggesting the fashion industry's glorification of the latter two categories stems from some gay male designer's preference for 'young boys' is not just extraordinarily offensive, tasteless and inaccurate, but totally ignores the broader issues of eating disorders within the fashion industry, and why some people's self-esteem is contingent on having somebody of a simular frame to themselves walking on a catwalk.
Women and *gasp* STRAIGHT men - yes, they do exist in the fashion industry - are just as guilty of using thin models as gay men.
For example, Sass and Bide. While I wouldn't expect you to bag them in a public forum (with your constant plugs for them, sponsored or otherwise), take a look at their "Skinny Boy" jeans - which, of course, come in nothing larger than a size 14.
Here's the link: http://www. sassandbide. com/skinny-boy.html
I never said that. But it's the ONLY portrayal of women you find on the catwalk and that's just not accurate. Simple.