So here is a heartwarming story for those of us who acknowledge the problems with the gender binary.
Think this is just your standard gender bending high fashion ad? Think again. The woman standing second from the left is Lea T., the former assistant to Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci. She is a also a transgendered woman. Tisci made waves recently casting Lea T. for the shoot, as she does not neatly fit into a gendered box. Tisci did not see anything strange with his casting decision, as he argues that including Lea T. "exemplifies the masculine-feminine dichotomy that has become one of [his] design signatures...[Lea T.'s] always been very feminine: superfragile, very aristocratic."
This may have been a small victory for those that recognize that beauty does not necessarily fit a specific gendered model, but the story gets better yet. French Vogue (admittedly much more daring that its American counter part), has done a feature on Lea T., which includes a nude portrait, with only a hand covering her genitals. If you want to see the photo you should check it out here- be warned, it is obviously not safe for work. Congratulations to French Vogue for highlighting an example of beauty that functions outside of the gender binary; now if only American fashion magazines could follow suit instead of spending all their time telling women how to lose weight and please their men in bed.
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