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I remember reading in The Guardian about the speculation on fashion being an art form. They outlined the article in affirmative stating that fashion is truly an art form and a liberal industry indeed. I quite agreed with the whole article but seeing the controversy that Andrej Pejic has got into over the months really makes me question the above statement.
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| Andrej on the cover of Dossier |
The androgynous model was ranked at number 98 in FHM’s magazine’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011 though they apologized for the ‘error’ but also called him a ‘thing’ in the same article. Barnes and Noble banned a topless shot of the model in Dossier cover because they are concerned of the fact that the customers might be confused and didn’t not want to be perceived as a nude magazine.This is the difference between American fashion and French fashion. The society fails to interest the true meaning of the whole term which we associate with ‘art’. There are a hundred paintings comprising of naked art which are put up in every gallery but the people fail to do so the same justice with fashion.
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| Andrej on the interview |
There was an interview on Livejournal with the model where he was quoted saying-
“As a kid, you get to the stage where you realize the gender barriers that exist in society and what you’re supposed to do and not supposed to do. I really tried being someone else during that period. It was hard for me – not being able to express myself and feeling I had to be someone else.”
I hold a great respect for the model. He started his career at 18 where he modeled for designers like John Galliano, and Paul Simons, starred in Marc Jacobs’s ad Campaign and served as a muse for Jean Paul Gaultier. The model recently walked in both men’s and women’s collection for Lino Villaventura’s collection at Sao Paulo Fashion Week.
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| Andrej Pejic at Sao Paulo Fashion Week |
Though the fashion industry is quite fond and has a great demand for the model, I am still disgusted with how the people outside the fashion world treat and address him. There was a stretch written at Styleite which summed up my feelings exactly-
“Clearly, when they say the individual concerned, they mean whichever insecure straight guy wrote this hogwash to begin with. Also, clearly, they don’t regret any of the wantonly ignorant things their writer strung together about Pejic’s career and impact on the industry, just that their editors couldn’t clean them up before they were published.” Amen to whoever wrote this.
I guess people have different outlook towards fashion being an art form but I don’t give a shit of what FHM Magazine articulates about the whole situation because the whole truth lies on the fact that I hadn’t even heard about the magazine until this whole issue popped out.
Androgyny is a long prevailing topic in the fashion industry when designers like Helmut Lang and Giorgio Armani promoted it. I think that it is a very unique topic and the rise of the third sex should be respected. Androgynous women are actually becoming more widespread than the regular women since the fashion industry loves to experiment. Models like Freja Beha Erichsen and Jenny Shimizu are also characterizing individual possession of both male and female traits.
