Andrej Pejic for D La Repubblica #774 by Taghi Naderzad

[twoblondes]

D La Repubblica #774.
Photographer: Taghi Naderzad.
Stylist: Laura Tiozzo.

A BOY/GIRL ANATOMY ( D La Repubblica #774)

перевод статьи с итальянского на английский

Hybrid Testimonial


From his mother’s clothes in Serbia to the Self-disclosure in Australia.
From McDonald’s to runways. But who doesn’t love Andrej?

Since Jean Paul Gaultier signed him for a bride dress’ catwalk, Andrej Pejic has become the most glamorous model all over the world. Media have gone crazy for his elusive beauty. “People needed something that breaks canons, something exciting, that could be distracting from the bad economy” Andrej smiled, tight jeans, black tank top and hair a little bit ruffled. A simple guy, very different from the fashionista world, full of clichés. Among the press, fashion agencies, editorials, we expected to find a super star, a little bit pissed, why not. On the contrary, Andrej has a rather little humility, made to be discovered.
We met him into an Italian restaurant, in New York City, in Nolita, and between a bite of integral pasta and a sip of Green tea, the model, just 19 years old, tells his story before his arrived to the U.S.. “At a certain point I wanted to become a dentist. But not for long,” he smiles, explaining how he took years before he feels free himself to “come out”.
Andrej Pejic was born in Serbia, he spent a quiet childhood, with a working mother and a grandmother who always present. “I grew up with a large presence of women. Sometimes I peered in wardrobe of My mom, I was crazy for a couple of pink shoes, ” he continues, adjusting his platinum hair behind the ears. ”My brother, instead he was a bully: when I dressed like a baby-girl, relatives and neighbors were amused, but he beat me. ” In Serbia, dressing like a girl was fun, when his mom also bought dolls and Barbie. But when Andrej, at the age of 10 years, he moved to Australia, matures in its diversity, with the need to integrate into the place and in a completely new culture. “I tried to jump in male sports, baseball and football, but I could not, they intimidated me. “
At 14, he decided to stop pretending. “I spoke openly with my mother, she wanted to see me happy, she was just worried that something might happen to me.” But Andrej ran no risks, with his blond bob-hair, the eyeliner,tight jeans and pleated shirts “Everyone mistook me like a girl, it was a protection, I have never been harrased. But the gay guys were much easier targets. ”
In fact, apart from the tone of voice and hands that are too big for a woman, it’s easy to confuse Andrej Pejic like one of those Eastern European’s female models, that walk, taller, through the streets of Milan, London, Paris and New York City. His fortune, however, is that of being a man. “The agencies didn’t know what is my future, they didn’t have a style or model reference. That I look like a woman, but i’m not; unleashes creativity without limits of gender “. And if, in art, transgender muses like Candy Darling and Amanda Lear have fascinated artists such as Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí, now the gender-less universe of Andreij, opened with the sound of Lady Gaga, is revolutionizing the world of fashion.
“It all happened like a bolt from the clear sky, ” says the model. “I had finished my shift at McDonald’s and I still had on the smell of french fries when Joseph Tenni, by Chadwick agency, stopped me in the street. From there it all started. “ After a year spent to build his portfolio, it was the time in London. “I invested all my money, the first four agencies refused me, they didn’t know where they could put me. Then Sarah Doukas, from Storm, who has also discovered Kate Moss, took a look at my portfolio and said: he has to work. “
After the alien beauty of Kate Moss, comes the double face beauty of Andrej Pejic. Differently from trans-model Brazilian T. Lea, a femme fatale chosen by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy campaign 2010 , Andrej prefers to float between man and woman, kidding the young transgender plays with: “ “the situation sounds fun to me, it’s an apt term to different interpretations, ” and “I leave it all open, i feel very comfortable with my body, I don’t need to make radical choices” and not even to take hormones: the skin is smooth, as Andrei says, all natural. “I prayed every night, I was hoping that the beard didn’t grow on my face.”
A wonderful hybrid between Brigitte Bardot and David Bowie, magnet of both sexes. “Women want to look like me and, at the same time, take me to bed, “. Andrej continues, hiding a smile behind the cup of tea. “When the men I had flirted with discovered that I am a boy, they didn’t bother too much:they found it exotic!”
But who the gorgeous Andrej, attracted to? “Love has no boundaries. I seek intimacy with people, and I could fall in love with a woman like with a man”.Reveals gently, leaving the understanding of how the world of fashion exasperate his character. “When they want me like a woman, they mask me with lipstick, big hair, high heels. If they want me like a man, they comb my hair back with the gel.” And about the photshoot for D, Andrej, finishing the last bite chocolate cake, says: “I found it more intimate. I have felt myself close to my essence, without restrictions, free to move and express myself with naturality. “

D La Reppublica #774

Thanks to Morghy Silvia Arduini for the translation