Helena Stocks,

Editor (Fashion)

 

Casey Legler, an artiste who is 35 and living in New York City, has become the first female model to walk the ramp in men’s clothing. She was signed to the staple modelling agency ‘Ford’ and is anticipated to appear in next season’s fashion shows, modelling male clothing on the catwalk.

The 6’2′ model was asked by a friend to appear in a shoot as a male figure and was scouted not long after. It is understandable why, judging by her towering height and boyish figure, that is perfect for men’s clothes and with striking cheek bones, she is the perfect woman for the job. Legler spoke to Time magazine about this revelation in gender modelling and said, “We have very specific ways in which we identify ourselves as man or woman and I think sometimes those can be limiting.” Although, hiring a woman to model men’s fashion goes against all traditions the fashion world are used to, it may also be liberating for many women with the aspiration to follow in Legler’s footsteps, who may have lacked inspiration in the past.

Following the success of the transgender model Andrej Pejic, who has achieved massive success in a modelling career for female clothes, it leads us to question whether fashion has to be gender specific. Pejic seems to be the opposite of Legler; slender, delicate with light blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Yet he is ultimately a male and both models are astoundingly attractive in contrasting ways. These models are demonstrating that women can wear men’s clothes, and men can wear women’s clothes, proving that fashion really is for everyone and how one expresses them is entirely up to the individual. As Pejic’s mother Jadranka Savic stated, following the Spring/Summer 2011 bridal fashion shows that Pejic was “the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in a dress.”

Therefore, these models are striking out and encouraging us to question our traditional values about what can be beautiful, and arguing that anything is acceptable in the fashion world today.