world models. Lea T. Valentina Sampaio, Andrea Pejic and others: stories of famous transgender women Curvy model

These 12 amazing women have endured bullying and ridicule since childhood because of their non-standard appearance. Having matured, they were able to use their flaws to rise to the top of the modeling business and destroy the established canons of beauty.

1. Transgender Model

Brazilian model Lea T. is the dark horse of the modeling business. She is 30 years old and until recently she bore the name of Leonardo. The transgender model took part in various shows and regularly appeared on the pages of famous glossy magazines Vogue, Hercules Magazine, Interview Magazine, Cover Magazine and Love Magazine. Particularly successful was her collaboration with Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. Most recently, Leah has become the face of professional hair care brand Redken.

2. Plus size model

Denise Bidot is the first plus size model to walk in New York Fashion Week. Together with photographer Victoria Yanashvili, she is working on a photo book that will help women love themselves and their bodies.

3. Universal model

Rain Dove is an androgynous lesbian model. The girl tries on both male and female images. Rain believes that fashion is asexual and successfully blurs the distinction between the sexes.

4. Multi-colored model

Winnie Harlow, also known as Chantelle Brown-Young, is a 19-year-old model with an unusual skin condition called vitiligo (pigmentation disorder). However, the disease did not prevent her from becoming an American Top Model.

5. Calvin Klein sensation

Mila Dalbesio is a model with extensive experience, the winner of numerous beauty contests. The 10th breast size did not prevent the girl from appearing in an advertisement for Calvin Klein, which caused a real sensation in the fashion industry.

6. Model in a wheelchair

Jillian Mercado is an American model and famous blogger. Since the age of 12, the girl has been confined to a wheelchair, which did not prevent her from participating in Diesel and Nordstrom shows.

7 Androgynous Model

Andrej Pejić is the first man to walk the catwalk in women's clothing. In 2014, he fulfilled his dream and had a sex change operation.

8. Model with Down syndrome

Jamie Brewer is an American actress and model best known for her roles in American Horror Story. Jamie took part in New York Fashion Week and became the first, and only, model with Down Syndrome.

9. Model without explicit sexual characteristics

Elliott Sailors is a famous fashion model. Once upon a time, this girl had long white hair and was the face of the Bacardi trademark. To expand her professional opportunities, Elliot cut her hair like a boy and began to try on male images.

10. Curvy Model

Robin Lawley is an Australian curvy model. She proved that extra pounds are not a reason to give up on a dream. Robin is the first plus size model to be the face of Ralph Lauren.

11. Model-record holder

Carmen Dell'Orefice is an American model, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the runway model with the longest career. Having celebrated her 80th birthday, the woman continues to participate in shows and filming.

12. Ethno model

Jade Willougby was born in Ontario. First native Canadian at New York Fashion Week.

All these girls are so different and unusual, but they have one thing in common - they were able to overcome their complexes and accepted themselves as nature made them. Perhaps inspired precisely by their example, the four brave ones.

Lea Ti is an almost unearthly creature. This girl with a completely unearthly appearance is the muse of the legendary Givenchy Fashion House. And this strange model is androgynous, that is, Lea Ti is able to show both female and male images. Model parameters: height - 180 cm; chest - 86 cm; waist - 63 cm; hips - 91 cm. Dark hair and brown eyes - this is the image of a mysterious girl named Lea Tee, who made a lot of noise when it turned out that the fragile and mannered Lea was actually a man.

Born Leandro Medeiros Cerezo (Leandro Medeiros Cerezo) in 1981 in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), then it was a boy. By the way, his father is a famous Brazilian footballer, midfielder Toninho Cerezo.

Later, in her interviews, the already famous model Lea T admitted that she realized her dissimilarity to others as a child, but at that time and in that society it had to be hidden. So, experiencing cravings not at all for the opposite sex, Leandro grew up.

It is known that Leandro did not dream of modeling at all, he always loved animals and thought of becoming a veterinarian. He came to the world of the mall after meeting with the famous fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, the current director of the Givenchy Fashion House. So, Ricardo was also young, received an excellent education and a good career in the fashion industry loomed before him. Having met Leandro, he did not see a man in him, but he saw Lea - a sophisticated and beautiful girl who could make a real revolution on the fashion catwalks. So, it was Tisci who contributed to the fact that Leandro turned into Lea - they worked together on a new image, and Lea, according to her confession, finally became herself.

Together with Tisci, the newly baked girl arrived in Paris (Paris) - her external data simply demanded to be shown.

In 2010, Lea Tee (she was now called that) became the official face of "Givenchy". For two seasons, Lea worked with Ricardo - she was a friend, companion and assistant to Tisha. Of course, the ambitious director of the Fashion House did everything he could for his girlfriend, and in the near future she became, as it were, an integral part of Givenchy, appearing in many publications, photo shoots and fashion events.

Lea's androgynous appearance - mysterious, incomprehensible, aristocratic and completely unearthly - came just in time, the trend of mixing styles has already entered the fashion world. So, blurring the line between gender differences, Leah has become a real rising star.

However, behind the world of fashion scenes, Lea still felt like a "man in a skirt" - after all, anatomically she remained a man, although she felt like a woman. So it was decided to change gender. It is known that she had to defend her right and opinion in front of her relatives, who resigned themselves to the female image, but were not ready to receive an absolute daughter named Lea instead of their son Leandro.

Best of the day

As a result, Lea nevertheless began preparations for the sex change operation, having passed the first stage.

Perhaps the most famous picture of Lea T on the Internet is a photo where she kisses Kate Moss (Kate Moss). This picture appeared on the cover of Love Magazine in 2011. In addition to "Love", Lea T has already appeared in the pages of Interview Magazine, Vogue Paris, Cover Magazine, Hercules Magazine and several other publications. By the way, models.com gave her 42nd place in their ranking of "Top 50 Models".

It is noteworthy that, despite the dizzying prospects, Leah T is not going to connect her whole life with the fashion industry - she is still attracted by the opportunity to become a veterinarian.

It is also known that Lea T simply hates the obsessive paparazzi who follow her everywhere. This is not surprising - after all, in addition to fame, Leah Ti is of interest and its gender ambiguity. However, for her herself, everything has been clear for a long time - Lea Ti feels like a woman, lives like a woman, and does not plan to become a man again. By the way, even in the interval between the first and second stages of the sex change operation, she continued to participate in the filming.

Born Leandro Medeiros Cerezo (Leandro Medeiros Cerezo) in 1981 in the Brazilian city

e Belo Horizonte (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), then it was a boy. By the way, his father is a famous Brazilian footballer, midfielder Toninho Cerezo.

It is known that Leandro did not dream of modeling at all, he always loved animals and thought of becoming a veterinarian. He came to the world of the pier after meetings

with today's famous fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, current director of Givenchy Fashion House. So, Ricardo was also young, received an excellent education and a good career in the fashion industry loomed before him. Having met Leandro, he did not see a man in him, but he saw Lea - a sophisticated and beautiful girl who could make a real revolution on the fashion catwalks. So, it was Tisci who contributed to the fact that Leandro turned into Lea - they worked together on a new image, and Lea, according to her confession, finally became herself.

Together with Tishi vn

the baked girl arrived in Paris (Paris) - her external data simply demanded to be shown.

Lea's androgynous appearance is mysterious, incomprehensible, aristocratic and perfect.

very unearthly - it came just in time, the trend of mixing styles has already entered the fashion world. So, blurring the line between gender differences, Leah has become a real rising star.

As a result, Lea nevertheless began preparations for the sex change operation, having passed the first stage.

It is noteworthy that, despite the dizzying prospects, Lea Tee did not collect

She wants to devote her whole life to the fashion industry - she is still attracted by the opportunity to become a veterinarian.

On Monday, the public was shocked to the core when on the cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair, formerly known as Bruce Jenner is the father of six children and stepfather of Kim Kardashian. The 65-year-old former Olympian immediately became a style icon when he appeared in a cream corset in the lens of the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.

However, Jenner may be the most famous transgender in the world at the moment, but she is not the only one and far from the first to make a splash in the fashion industry. We bring to your attention a dozen other transgender models who, with their appearance, have changed the concepts and boundaries of beauty.

(Total 10 photos)

1. Nari Nef, 22 years old.

Nef recently made a splash when major modeling agency IMG announced that she had signed a contract with her. In May, Nef graduated from Columbia University with a degree in drama and theater. The transgender girl has already proven herself as a talented writer - she has written several articles for Vice, Dazed & Confused, Adult magazines, etc. She also made her debut on the catwalk in February when she took part in shows for brands such as Hood By Air, VFiles, Degen and Adam Selman.

2. Valentin de Hin, 25 years old.

Valentin has already been photographed by renowned photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier for Love and Vogue Italia magazines and has walked the runway for Martin Margiela and Commes des Garcons. A native of Amsterdam, she became famous when she became the heroine of a Dutch documentary in which she starred from 8 to 17 years old, when, in fact, she decided to change her gender.

3. Leah Tee, 34 years old.

This Brazilian, who grew up in Italy, was discovered for the fashion world by Riccardo Tisci, then working for Givenchy. Since then, she has become one of the most visible transgenders in the fashion industry. Now Tisci's muse and one of Italy's top models, she was recently named one of the "12 Women Who Changed Italian Fashion" by Forbes magazine. At the moment, the girl has become the face of an advertising campaign for Redken hair care products.

4. Andrea Pejic, 23 years old.

The 17-year-old Australian beauty, who once worked at McDonalds, became an instant sensation when the world media gave her the title of androgynous model. Since then, she has walked the fashion shows for world-class designers from Marc Jacobs to Jean Paul Gaultier, has appeared on the cover of acclaimed magazines such as New York, Dazed & Confused and Oyster, and was one of the first openly transgender models to work for Vogue. Now she is officially recognized as a woman - last year she underwent the last sex change operation. Andrea is currently filming a documentary about her reincarnation.

5. Ines-Loan Rau, 25 years old.

Pejic's best friend Rau has already posed for such giants as Oyster and Playboy, and also took part in a sexy photo shoot with Tyson Beckford. Now the New Yorker is writing a book about her transformation in between photo shoots.

6. Ariske Wanzer.

She became famous for her open letter addressed to the star of the show "Keeping up with the Kardashians" Kendall Jenner, in which she spoke negatively about her. “I think fashion is very unreliable,” says Ariske. - People don't care. If something is not fashionable now, then it is not interesting for people. And they often say things like, “We already have a transgender person. We already have a black girl.” The model is the face of Kenneth Cole and managed to take part in fashion shows of the world famous brand Topshop.

7. Gina Rosero, 32 years old.

This Filipina has worked as a swimwear model for 12 years. And only in 2014 it became known that she was transgender. She founded Gender Proud, an organization that advocates for the rights of all transgender people in the world.

8. Aidian Dowling, 27

The only man (I mean, ex-woman, now man) on our list. Dowling became known as the first transgender person to be voted by Men's Health readers to be the next cover star. He later copied the famous nude pose from Adam Levine for Cosmo UK. The married 27-year-old Dowling also appeared on the cover of Ellen magazine and was interviewed about his gender transition.

9. Carmen Carrera, 30 years old.

Carrera first appeared in the Drag Race drag contest, and got into the fashion world thanks to W magazine. Appearing on TLC and ABC, Carrera became an activist for transgender people. She was photographed by such famous photographers as David LaChapelle.

10. Isis King.

Another reality TV veteran. This girl was noticed by Tyra Banks when she posed in the background for another participant, and invited her to take part in the show "America's Next Top Model". The following season, the girl admitted that she was transgender. She has since appeared in magazines such as Seventeen, Out and Candy.

Often, such unusual persons as Andrey Pejic or Lia T get into the models. If you can definitely say about Andrei that he is a man, at least purely biologically, then you cannot say the same about Leah. The fact is that T is a transsexual. Every morning she wakes up with a body that combines two completely opposite organs. But Leah is waiting for an operation that will finally make a woman out of her.

When you start taking hormones, your heart starts to weaken (cries). At that moment, I felt disappointed in my life. I walked down the street and people laughed at me.
Going through hormone therapy is very difficult. After all, this is not a joke - your body begins to change, and very quickly. Skin changes, cheekbones grow. Hair grows faster and hips become wider. What I like the most is the smell of my body after hormone therapy. It is much more subtle and pleasant.
It is very strange for me to see both breasts and penis on my body at the same time. I am extremely nervous about the operation. I'm really scared. I'm sure it will hurt me a lot

Yes, they laughed at Leah in the street. And Ricardo Tisci (Creative Director of Givenchy) admired her:

She has always been super-feminine: fragile and very aristocratic. She is part of our family.

Naturally, it was after meeting him that Leah decided to start changing. Perhaps Ricardo gave Tee confidence.

I met Ricardo Tisci who just graduated from Central St Martins. Gradually we became friends. He once encouraged me to wear heels to a party. We went shopping looking for these shemale shoes and bleached my brows.

Leah is not shy about her past, present and future. When Tisci suggested that she not reveal her secret, Leah resolutely said no.

-Are you sure? After all, I will have to talk a lot about the new campaign, so I need to know what I should talk about you. If you want, I will say that you are a girl.
- No no and one more time no. The first thing you will say about me is that I am transgender. Because this is the most important thing.

Vogue writes that Lia is the sensation of the fall of 2010 and the new opening of the Women agency. Her beauty is attractive, especially for the Givenchy house, Ricardo emphasizes. After all, the style of the brand is built on the verge of masculinity and femininity. It all started with a smart little boy, Leonardo, who was born in the family of a famous football player and a devout Catholic.

I so hoped I was gay! the model said. “Because it would be less painful for my family. But, unfortunately, I was never able to accept my male body. It would be much easier if I was a straight guy, had a girlfriend, a family, daughters, got married… led what is called a “normal life.” But this is impossible, because something in your brain tells you that you were born in the wrong body.

But her parents took the news much more favorably than Leah expected.

I thought it would be a huge shock for them. But my father surprised me, because he took everything very naturally, - recalls Lia. - He told me: "Regardless of who you are - a guy, a woman, or want to be a dog, I will love you the way you want to be."

After Leah's participation in the Alexandre Herchcovitch show in São Paulo, her father said: "Now I can die with peace of mind." However, you don't have to die. And although Leah is already 28 years old, she is still on her way to fame. Tee says she doesn't know what her future will be. Perhaps on the catwalk or in the atelier, or at home, in Brazil. However, one thing is clear for sure: Leah helps people like her.

Surely other transgender people found themselves in the same situation as me, says the model. - They understand that they were born in the wrong body, they have identity problems, and this is really serious. You can face all these things: to feel that you are ugly, that you are some kind of wrong creature. People will make you feel that way, and it can make you feel like you don't have a chance in life. So I want a young 20-year-old transgender man to open a magazine, see my photo and, after reading about me, exclaim: “Oh! She is a transgender! After that, perhaps, at least for a moment, he will feel relief. That's what matters most.