"Elle" Puts Androgynous Model on Its Cover - East Idaho News
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“Elle” Puts Androgynous Model on Its Cover

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010313 AndrejPejicElle?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1357248862212Elle Magazine(NEW YORK) — For the first time, an androgynous model has landed on the cover of Siberian Elle.

Andrej Pejic is a 6’1” male model who models both men’s and women’s fashions. At New York Fashion Week in February 2011, he walked in five shows for men and four for women. The 21-year-old has become a muse for Jean Paul Gaultier, who has described Pejic’s look as “other-worldly beauty.”

Born in Bosnia shortly before the Bosnian War, Pejic immigrated to Australia with his family when he was 8.  He was discovered in Melbourne, Australia, but told he would have difficulty finding work. After graduating from high school, Pejic moved to London and his career took off when he began posing as both male and female.

“I guess professionally I’ve left my gender open to artistic interpretation,” he told New York Magazine in 2011.

Pejic, who’s modeled for French Vogue, shocked the world in May 2011 when he appeared shirtless on the cover of Dossier Journal. Barnes & Noble covered the magazine in stores because it was considered scandalous.

In the Elle shoot, Pejic models both male and female looks, dressed in head-to-toe Gaultier, according to the New York Daily News. Pejic is known for his long, platinum blonde locks but he trades them in on the cover for a black bob.

“I know people want me to sort of defend myself, to sit here and be like, ‘I’m a boy, but I wear makeup sometimes.’ But, you know, to me, it doesn’t really matter,” Pejic told New York Magazine. “I don’t really have that sort of strong gender identity — I identify as what I am.”

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