Is There A Mainstream Way To Express Diversity Among Pgender, Non White And Large Code Models?

In the past week, the whole fashion circle has witnessed the metamorphosis of supermodel Natalie Westling - she has become a pgender and renamed NathanWesting.

This modern version of Danish girl is not a publicity farce, but a brave scream from a cross sex group.

Previously, Natalie used to be the fashion designer's hand in hand, Mousika, many times for the LOUIS VUITTON, VERSACE, CHANEL, DIOR, Alexander McQueen and other brands to take the show and shoot the print ads, take a number of versions of VOGUE cover...

However, after many years of gender anxiety, depression drugs and psychotherapy, she was almost completely disappearing in public view last October when he closed up the LOUIS VUITTON 19 spring summer show. When we came back, we saw that his long red hair was cut short, her voice was more deep and her profile was even stronger. Nathan, who had been taking testosterone for more than 6 months, indicated that she was going to do a sex change operation next year, establish ties with cross sex groups, and bravely return to the fashion circle in a more male position.

Even if a stone stirs up waves, in fact, this is not the first news of pgender models.

As early as in 2015, reality TV star Bruce, dressed as a Caitlyn Jenner in a tight corset, boarded Vanity Fair cover and actor Laverne Cox, becoming the first pgender actress to win the "golden time Emmy Award" in history, which has brought landmark significance to pgender groups.

Then came the discussion about the big code models, races, orientations and so on.

According to the latest report of The FashionSpot, the number of non white models, pgender models and large code models has increased since the spring and summer of 18. This also reflects designers and fashion brands from the side, paying more attention to minority groups and diversity issues.

Survival status of pgender models

In recent years, through the social media, the fashion industry is undergoing tremendous changes. The brand likes to rely on a more different "leader" to stand on the platform. It once denounced the brand of pgender, big code and old model. It was publicly condemn in the Unamujer fant stICA (ordinary woman) by Oscar, and Daniela Vega broke Hollywood's invisible oppression of pgender actress at one stroke.

"Diversity" quickly becomes a popular word in fashion circles, and even serves as an effective tool for designers to vocalizations.

Maison Margiela 2019 before the spring and summer show, the video of pgender supermodel Teddy Quinlivan was shown on the screen, full of JohnGalliano style provocation and anti traditional spirit.

Cross gender models seem to have gradually found their way to survive in the fashion world under many controversies: the new British cross sex model Finn Buchanan, 16 years old, is the MaisonMargiela show in the two quarter.

After choosing to live in a male identity, he blur the boundaries of two yuan sex with the John Galliano's clothing series with the placard and the bad boy's temperament, and shave the Coach Logo's head on the MattyBoan's show and become a new star in the 19 spring and summer show.

Before Finn, there was an Australian supermodel AndrejaPejic. He was the pioneer of the cross sex model group in the fashion circle, which grew up in the Serbia refugee camp, the little boy (Andrej Pejic), in John Galliano, JeanPaul Gaultier, Raf Simons, Paul Smith.

After that, he declared that he no longer walked the men's show, renamed it after undergoing sex reset surgery, and became the first Ford model company's first public self denaturing model.

In addition, there is a cross gender female model IndyaMoore who recently showed up for LOUIS VUITTON and photographed 19 spring summer catalogues, breaking through the yoke of colored race, pgender and other shackles, and boldly playing the role of pgender sex worker in the LGBTQ culture drama "Pose", which is called BreakoutStar by American version GQ.

Hari, Nef, a beloved GUCCI Nef writer, writer, actress and model, is one of the few deformable models recruited by IMG, a well-known model broker.

The French version of "Vogue" pushed the Brazil metamorphic model Valentina Sampaio onto the cover. Thailand Apple model economic company added the world's first exclusive sex division in 2014 as early as 2014; Supreme chose from the legendary photographer Nan Goldin's private photography works the cross dressing queens and pgender female works she had been capturing for several years.

One of the most memorable fashion moments is to rewrite the status quo of cross gender groups in fashion circles.

Even in today's mature industry of fashion industry, the phenomenon of "gender bias" (gender-bending) is not rare. Gender and gender awareness are also gradually awakening. The confusion and uneasiness that cross gender models and cross sex groups have suffered have not been diminish.

Cross sex topics have been the gaps in fashion circles.

Although fashion circles actively introduce more diversified elements in race, age and sex, but if they pinpoint the total number of pgender models, they will probably only account for 1%. Therefore, whether the cross sex model's opening is symbolic and tolerant is indeed a topic worthy of discussion.

Most fashion masters still have a traditional model screening standard. In the process, the "normal" degree of minority models is defined by dichotomy, while pgender models are almost blank in fashion circles in the past decades.

Since the last 60 and 70s of the last century, the British model April Ashley and the American model Tracey Norman have openly crossed their gender identity. Even though they once received the love of photographer David Bailey and Irving Penn, the career of modeling still went to the end.

It was not until last 10 that pgender models began to re emerge. More and more cross gender models were emerging, and the occupational treatment of psexes was gradually improved.

However, even if this road is not easy, the career of pgender models after the open situation is not very clear, but at least from the case of Nathan Westing, the designers, photographers and fashion circle friends who have been good friends firmly stood by him.

They don't need to perform in front of everyone, live in their own body and get stuck in the in-between state.

Even pgender groups still shoulder the heavy responsibility of "cultural fighters" in confronting the "strangeness" around them, but they do not need to be overly pessimistic. After all, nowadays, the fashion's tolerance for pgender faces and the endless atmosphere of women and men in the show also prove that the world is slowly willing to make changes, even at a slower pace.

The trend of women and men

Nowadays, the concept of gender mobility in the show has not only pursued the visual stimulation, but has risen to the social and political level. You will unconsciously think about your gender cognition, boldly query the tradition, find the free rebellion hidden in the fashion table, and break the "rules" formulated by the predecessors in the past decades.

This year, Thom Browne is in the autumn and winter show in Paris. In addition to salute the Florence Pitting Uomo 10 years ago with the "suit army", the concept of fuzzy gender is again rubbed into the design, turning men's clothing into women's clothing, paying tribute to gender mobility and women's rights equality in the classic grey suit.

Whether it's a picture on a suit or a golden eyeglasses directly around the back of the head, it reminds people of RomaineBrooks, a famous female artist in 1920s, and the paintings of female sculptor and plator Una Troubridge, Romaine, who depicted most of the elite class lesbians. They showed the beauty of independence, power and neutrality, and also revealed the painter's homosexual identity. Romaine also became the soul of Thom Browne this season.

In addition to the design of men's suits on women's wear, Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", which is tailored for the movie captive (without any female role in the movie), seems to also imply the trend of sexual distinction.

I have to admit that even if I take the Pheobe Philo and bear the resentment of Old CELINE's loyalty powder, even if she never loves to follow the rules of the media and doesn't care much about the public, HediSlimane still relies on her deep accumulation of music, photography, fashion and youth culture, so that the whole fashion circle will be more popular with him.

You can interpret his unique style of Punk Rock and Glam Rock from his aesthetic language. From David Bowie to the AladdinSane of the world, to the Angie of the rolling stones, all of them create the fashion image of gleaming, decadent, tempting and dangerous.

Hedi frankly said that he grew up in a vague environment of gender reproduction, which can almost be summed up as his growth history. However, it is this sense of chaos that has injected strange and poetic energy into his career in the past 25 years. His gender ambiguity seems to be the common ground he sought for Mousika.

If Nicolas Ghesqui re chose Nathan Westling in the spring and summer of 2019 (Natalie at that time), closed Xiu was an unconscious move towards gender mobility, and the use of pgender male Krow Kian denied this directly.

At the age of 18, Krow, who was not only the first to show up, left LOUIS VUITTON. He also took a documentary film "TRANSformation" on her sex change process, and then took the cover of DAZED and L'Uomo Vogue.

Everything is moving in a better direction.

Discussion on the diversity of models

Vulnerable groups = diversity?

The topic is limited to pgender, queer, unconventional sex and so on. The problem of model diversity has long penetrated into every aspect of fashion circles, from the selection of fashion models, the cover of fashion magazines, and the catalog of fashion brands.

However, it is customary to link diversity directly with vulnerable groups, and to tolerate and encourage more diversified elements to simply and roughly summarize the "congenital vulnerable groups" in the fashion circle.

It is true that some minority groups are getting more and more opportunities in the fashion industry. For example, the big code model, the Ashley Graham who frequently boarded the BAZAAR cover, ranked the top ten in the global model income list in 2017. Similarly, the well-dressed Betsy Teske became the first model to walk on the Alexander McQueen extension platform for the two consecutive season, and became a topic of conversation at one stroke.

For example, many cases of "age exceeding standard" in the fashion industry, Yohji Yamamote, Ann Demeulemeester and Rick Owens have invited the elderly to take the lead.

BALENCIAGA used the old people to shoot the "World Food Program" print ads. Demna Gvasalia also invited people from different ethnic groups such as tramp, queer, punk and so on in the Vetements 17 FW show.

HELMUT LANG last autumn and winter advertisement, taking "The Women ofWales" as the theme, photographed the model of sixty years old, salutes the women who are still active in the fashion industry even though they are still active. Ader brands such as Ader Error, Han Kj, benhavn and so on also have many lenses for the old model group. Russia has more specialized model broker company Oldushka, only accepts the old model over 45 years old.

More minority groups also include the disabled model represented by Kelly Knox. She was born with a missing left arm. She not only showed up for Teatum Jones in London Fashion Week, but also took part in the shooting work of black model Leomie Anderson personal brand LAPP, and had the fame of "supermodel" Winnie Harlow of vitiligo.

Even the prisoner Jeremy Meeks, who was once stressed by California police as "the most violent offender in the region", was released after the sentence was released in 2016. She still became a signing model of White CrossManagement and attracted 1 million 690 thousand fans on IG, the opening ceremony of German fashion designer Philipp Plein in New York fashion week.

As for the colored people who have been talked about for a long time, people from Rihanna, Kardashian, Tyra Banks and Naomi have increased the recognition of colored models and celebrities. YEEZY is the third season, and almost all of them are colored people as models. Hood by Airs, Rick Owens, Zac Zac also join non white models in the show. They can even keep their original hairstyles in the show, which means that the public's aesthetic standards are beginning to become loose and rich.

People have been constantly exploring "what is beauty?" and the answer is not only one. Therefore, in the "beauty oriented" fashion industry, minority groups do not represent disadvantaged groups. What is worrying is whether the brand's opening of more niche models is really the era of diversification or the gimmick of market demand.

But then, if we take a deep assessment of the base of today's minority groups and the resources they occupy, it is also decided that their excellence may be more difficult than that of the traditional aesthetic models. How to avoid falling into the trap of the "vulnerable groups" is not only the group itself but also the industry's view.

What is beauty?

In the past decades, the fashion circle has always had a stubborn understanding of "beauty": thin, tall, young, fully identified with its own sex, preferably white.

As Ebonee Davis completed the pformation of black models to female activists, black models such as Naomi Cambell and Bethann hardison openly appealed to designers for equal treatment of colored people. The "desert flower" Wallis Dirie started the campaign of women's freedom.

Whether designers, model brokers, make-up artists and magazines change their views on cultural inclusiveness and cultural responsibility, models are also paying more and more attention to their own fashion, diversity and loyalty to themselves.

Many designers are also leading the world to re-examine fashion with equal vision, such as Wakubo Rei.

Wakubo Rei is one of the most important and influential designers in the past 40 years. She shocked the western fashion world with the design of many avant-garde pioneers, and filmed a lot of unexpected advertisements, which had been opposed to the mainstream aesthetic standards.

In 1988, when the western world generally believed that the teeth were white and beautiful, she found a pair of girls wearing braces. They laughed at the camera without any scruples, broke the stereotyped definition of women's beauty at that time, and became an advertising film that is still praising.

When Asian models have not yet reached the stage of international fashion, Wakubo Rei invited the famous photographer Kitajima Keimi to deliver the yellow skin Asian face to the spring and summer advertisements of COMME desGAR ONS in 1995. The location was Hongkong, China, and the models were all street vegetarian.

Brian Griffin was once photographed to take the dark and depressing social atmosphere of Tbilisi, one of the Soviet Union's Georgia capitals. Among them, the poor people and the dark skinned old women are very historic fashion photography works, which sparkled a great spark in the society at that time.

There is no definite answer to what is beauty. But designers can record the beauty and energy of different groups through the lens and fashion design, breaking through the power of love and tolerance from the traditional concept of dominance, oppression and release, so that people can truly change the way people perceive the world and treat small groups.

The model is strange, is it politically correct?

With the help of #Metoo, the discussion of respect for equality and diversity in the fashion industry has reached its peak. Although the street companies have taken the lead in dealing with the growing trend of diversification, fashion brands have adopted many niche models to express their attitudes and respond to the new force revolution of fashion.

For example, Karl Lagerfeld, who never cared about the "politically correct" road, also invited the black men's model Alton Mason, which had participated in Yeezy and Virgil Abloh in the early stage of LOUIS VUITTON in the 19 early autumn series.

We can also see that the Muslim supermodel Halima Aden, who was born in a refugee camp, signed IMG with Hijab and boarded Yeezy, AlbertaFerretti, Max Mara, Stella McCartney, BALENCIAGA and so on.

However, this does not mean that the fashion world is beginning to reshuffle, even though the pgender, non white and big code models have been tirelessly speaking out for the equal rights of the group. However, judging from the lineup of the fashion week and the fashion magazine cover, the effect is mostly limited to the emergence of LGBTQ group and colored race on the T stage. Most of the big brands still prefer to select the top black models in the industry, and the white models still occupy the vast majority of resources.

Looking back at the beginning of the millennium, Naomi Campbell became the first black supermodel on the cover of the British version of VOGUE. However, after 13 years, the second black supermodel JourdanDunn of Dengfeng came to the market. In fact, "respect for diversity" is a task that the brand, designer and magazine are forced to accomplish under the circumstances. It is also a strategy to promote sales. Retaining the superficial tolerance attitude can not break the long-standing exclusionary rule in the fashion industry, nor can it reverse the consumer's prejudices against minority groups.

The biggest challenge we face is how to avoid the fact that the fashion industry has opened its doors to the minority models in the past, but it has abandoned the old ways and has been extending and diversifying.

Even though the minority group is always on the opposite side of the mainstream, we can still see in the better times that the cross gender, queer, unconventional sex, non white, large, and over age models have been recognized by the mainstream.

In any case, "diversification" should be a normal rather than a trend, changing the shackles of industry not only in the form of small group models, but also to the gimmicks, claiming that respect for diversity is a real recognition of their existence and giving them more attention and resources. Only in this way can the fashion circle be pformed into a truly inclusive and prosperous industry.