23-year-old lifts the lid on opposition she faced from within the industry, before getting gender reassignment surgery

Apr 22, 2015 09:34 GMT  ·  By

Andreja Pejic, the 23-year-old Serbian model who became internationally famous a few years ago as the world’s most beautiful androgynous boy, has just become the first transgender model to be featured in an editorial in fashion bible Vogue magazine.

She is also the first trans-model to land a major cosmetics campaign, having just recently signed with Make Up For Ever. Andreja is writing history for the transgender community, and she starts by telling Vogue that her journey has not been an easy one.

Andrej Pejic, the most beautiful boy in the world, takes fashion by storm

Andreja was born Andrej: the family moved to Melbourne when she was very young, and growing up, she would often feel out of place as a boy.

In 2011, Andrej became the face of Marc Jacobs, which earned him the title of the world’s most beautiful boy. More work followed immediately and it wasn’t difficult to understand why: Andrej was really, truly beautiful, and made for an arresting sight whether he modeled for men’s clothes or women’s apparel.

In almost no time, Andrej became the most popular androgynous model, erasing gender boundaries and carving for himself a spot at the juncture of these. He could get work as a man and as a woman, and that made him very “special” and a hot commodity.

At the same time, Andrej would not say whether he was gay or if he identified as male. The announcement came in 2014, when Andreja came out as a trans-woman. Also then, she revealed plans to get gender reassignment surgery and document the journey on camera, thus offering some help to other trans-people.

Andrej was “special,” industry people told Andreja she wouldn’t be

Her announcement was welcomed with warm praise by the LGBT community, but not so by the fashion industry, Andreja reveals for Vogue.

“There was definitely a lot of, ‘Oh, you’re going to lose what’s special about you. You’re not going to be interesting anymore. There are loads of pretty girls out there. It's better to be androgynous than a tranny,’” she reveals.

“It is about showing that this is not just a gimmick,” she says of getting gender reassignment and going public with everything.

She never imagined that she would land a 3-page editorial in Vogue, let alone that she would be the first trans-model to get this kind of coverage in the prestigious fashion publication. As you can see from her Instagram posts below, she is both humbled and in awe of this accomplishment, of which she didn’t even dare to dream when she started in modeling.  

If at the beginning of my career in the modelling industry or half way through it or even this time last year you told me that I would end up having a 4 page feature in AMERICAN VOGUE I would have probably told you 'oh I dunno about that! That might be a bit difficult to achieve in the near future.' In fact I was told by various people many times over that the chances of me ending up on these pages were slim to none. So you can only imagine what I'm feeling right now! Thank you #AnnaWintour, #TonneGoodman, #PatrickDemarchelier and #HelenaSuric for making history and having me be part of it but even more importantly for representing a whole social minority and an often forgotten community of women in such an important publication and opening doors for the rest of the fashion industry to do so! Thank you to my agency @thesocietynyc for being the most supportive agency in the world and pulling off the amazing come back! šŸ˜ Hair by @shayashual Makeup by #Yadim @Voguemagazine Link in my bio! #historicalmoment #blessed #freedom #everybodycomeout #bestrong #befierce #beyou A photo posted by Andreja Pejic (@andrejapejic) on Apr 21, 2015 at 8:55am PDT

Ugh sorry can't help myself having a moment!!!! šŸ˜¶ This title tho.... #TheNewWorld!!!! Special thanks to @chrimichael @kwokkanchan @cgnewyork @loubna_fad @vickolas and rest of the team @thesocietynyc @voguemagazine #FeelingMyself #thislifeistoomuch #lol #Bigday #wannacelebrate #loveyouall #luckygirl #history #thefuture #Tlife A photo posted by Andreja Pejic (@andrejapejic) on Apr 21, 2015 at 3:42pm PDT