Art and Fashion: Guys in dresses and girls in tuxedos It’s a brave world of fashion where men are modelling for womenswear and vice versa

Guys in dresses and girls in tuxedos

It’s a brave world of fashion where men are modelling for womenswear and vice versa

    The latest trends to capture the attention of the fashion industry worldwide are square jaws and boyish builds. It’s the women who are wearing the pants on global runways. In a gender-bender coup of sorts, Dutch model Saskia de Brauw (31), has been chosen as the new face of a Parisian fashion major’s latest collection of menswear. In a series of black and white images, the female model looks like a pre-pubescent pageboy.
    But, Saskia is not the first girl to model for a menswear line. Before her, 35-year-old Casey Legler from New York was signed on by a modelling agency as a ‘male’ model. Strong jawbones, lanky builds, cropped hairstyles and six-feet-plus heights seem to work in favour of these women who seemed to have embraced their new roles with classy nonchalance.
    Girls like Saskia and Casey have men like Andrej Pejic and Stav Strashko for company. Andrej created news when he signed up with a lingerie brand. Stav had stunned all with his advert for a car company that featured him only in bikini bottoms, his sinuous back and seductive gait giving nothing away about his sexuality. In 2010, Lea T, a Brazilian transsexual model, was made the face of a big fashion house. She then went on to feature in fashion glossies and even on a cover where she was shown kissing Kate Moss. Models like Agyness Deyn and Stella Tennant are also proving that they can fill out couture gowns and make tuxedos look sexy. Nobody’s complaining as long as the dresses look fierce and the pants look smart!
GENDER BENDER: THERE ARE OTHERS TOO Stav Strashko: The Ukrainian lad did an Andrej Pejic when he dare-bared in an ad campaign for a car company. The brief was, of course, a bikini bottom. Only a bikini bottom! Casey Legler: Female model Casey Legler was signed up by a New York-based modelling agency as a male model. Valentijn de Hingh: Originally a boy, this Amsterdam native underwent gender reassignment surgery after which she started strutting her stuff on runways for major fashion brands.