Fashion in transition
Is the latest vogue in model bodies a tokenization of gender-bending?
Erin O'Callaghan
Published on March 19, 2011
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2011/03/fashion-in-transition/Fashion is about fantasy. Known for pushing boundaries of race, gender, and comfort, the fashion industry has never been one to shy away from the different. Given this tendency, the nude image of Lea T – one of fashion's most recent "it" models – that appeared in French Vogue last August was not entirely unexpected. Nudity, especially for a magazine like French Vogue, is standard practice. For this particular photo, however, it is not the act of being nude, but Lea T's physical body that is the subject of discussion. Lea T is a transsexual model, and the controversial photo in French Vogue makes it impossible to ignore this fact. With one hand barely covering her male genitalia, Lea T unabashedly places herself, and her body, on display for the world to see.
