Andreja Pejic

AFTER BEING SCOUTED AT THE AGE OF 17, IT TOOK ANDREJA PEJIC JUST TWO YEARS TO BECOME THE FACE OF ANDROGYNOUS FASHION, MODELLING FOR THE LIKES OF JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, VIVIENNE WESTWOOD AND MARC JACOBS. AT THE TENDER AGE OF 23, SHE BECAME THE FIRST TRANSGENDER MODEL TO BE PROFILED BY VOGUE

WORDS: PARIS LEES PHOTOGRAPHS: DAMON BAKER FASHION: JOSEPH KOCHARIAN

ICON AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING OR LIFETI ME ACHIEVEMENT

‘ROLE MODEL’

Andreja wears dress by Ashish, shoes by Topshop

Andreja Pejic is ancient. “Honestly, 25 in this industry is so old,” she tells me, with a cheeky laugh. I sympathise. Who knew humans could even live that long? “But you know, when I think about it, in the past five years I’ve made quite a few changes in my life in a short period of time. It’s been pretty hectic!”

“NOW YOU HAVE A WHOLE GENERATION OF KIDS WHO ARE EXPLORING SEXUALITY AND GENDER. IT’S NICE TO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS CHANGE, AT LEAST STYLISTICALLY IF NOTHING ELSE”

Well, there’s an understatement. In the past five years Andreja has come out publicly as transgender, fronted an ad campaign for major cosmetic brand Make Up Forever, and appeared in a music video with Tilda Swinton for none other than the late David Bowie. Her rise as a model who could carry-off both men and women’s wear made her an icon of androgyny in the gender-conforming Noughties, but since her public transition to female two years ago, she has been finding out just how trans-friendly the fashion world is.

“There’s extra baggage that you have to deal with, and the road definitely has a lot more turns. It can be a beautiful and very freeing experience but at the same time it’s definitely god damn difficult,” she tells me as we chat via Skype.

“What I always say is that we’re living in the best time possible and I can’t really complain, I have a good life now. And that probably wouldn’t have been possible five years ago.”