Trans Model Lea T Taking the Fashion Industry By Storm

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Here are a few articles about the newly crowned muse for Givenchy. She sure is taking the industry by storm. FRom covers of magazines to spreads in high end fashion magazines.

Riccardo Tisci?s Fall 2010 Givenchy ad campaign served up a significant amount of water cooler discussion among the fashion industry. And it wasn?t because the clothes were particularly racy. Rather, it was Tisci?s model casting that was cause for discussion. Alongside Mariacarla Boscono, Malgosia Bela and Joan Smalls stood Lea T, the designer?s transgendered former assistant. Contrary to those who believed the casting of a transgendered model was a gimmick, Lea T. has become a veritable fixture in the fashion world, walking in Givenchy?s haute couture show and posing in last month?s Italian Vanity Fair.
Now, French Vogue has decided to feature Lea T., completely nude, with only her hand barely covering her genitals. We could talk about the cultural impact the shoot has, what people?s reactions may be to seeing a transgendered woman in a largely circulated magazine? but instead, we?ll leave it short and sweet:
Lea T. looks absolutely stunning in the French Vogue shoot, her hair cascading delicately, her face appearing strong, yet vulnerable, staring directly at the camera. Her lips rival Esther Canadas? and her eyebrows remind us of Natalia Vodianova?s ? which we think equates the perfect facial structure for a top model in the making.

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Lea T may very well be our favorite model of the season. She first caught our eye in Ricardo Tisci`s Givenchy Fall/Winter 2010 ad campaign, but her profile and accompanying image in this month?s French Vogue solidified it for us: she?s beautiful. But who is Lea T ? other than Tisci?s former personal assistant, that is?

Lea T. was born Leandro Cerezo in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as the son of soccer star Toninho Cerezo. Though Lea did not begin experimenting with her sexuality until she went to school in Italy, she tells French Vogue that both she and her father knew she was different.

?When papa came home he would look at me and say there was something wrong with me. In the years to come, everyone started to pray that I was gay. It would have been the lesser evil for a religious family used to rules and type of colonial, rigid way of life.?

But it wasn?t so clearcut for Lea. As an adolescent, Lea says she was attracted to both boys and girls, and that the idea of transsexuality terrified her. ?I was curious then recoiled with fear, telling myself, ?I am not like that,?? she explained.
And then, a few years later, she met Tisci, while the designer was still in school at Central St. Martin?s in London. It was Tisci who recognized what The Guardian calls Lea?s ?inherent femininity.?

?One night he encouraged me to wear pumps to a party,? she recalled in French Vogue. ?We went shopping for ?drag queen? shoes and we bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation.?

But while Lea may have found herself thanks to Tisci?s good eye, it hasn?t been a seamless transition. Lea?s nuanced and honest explanation of what the so-called ?revelation? has been like is both refreshing and heart-wrenching. And makes us love Carine Roitfield all the more for featuring her in the mag ? which Lea agreed to do ?in the name of all my transsexual friends.?
From the Guardian?s profile of the model:

?I would wander the streets, full of hormones, depressed, with people laughing behind my back?
Lea, who says she ?cannot allow [herself] the luxury of being in love?, is pessimistic about her chances of finding happiness with someone else. Those transsexuals who do enter into serious relationships, she says, often do so by keeping their past from their partners.
?They live as hypocrites; it is a variation on solitude,? she said. ?We transsexuals are born and grow up alone. After the operation we are born again, but once again alone. And we die alone. It is the price we pay.?

But for Lea, the decision was worth it. ?The choice,? she says, ?is between being unhappy forever or trying to be happy.? We couldn?t be happier for her. Thanks to friends like Tisci ? who calls Lea ?a true goddess? ? and supporters like Roitfeld, Lea is not only changing the face of fashion, but changing the way we view and talk about sexuality in the industry, in America, and around the world.

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Justin Bieber isn?t the only one covering this issue of Love.?Kate Moss and Lea Tare also featured on a cover for the magazine. Together. Making out. Love is officially genius.
Transgender model Lea T landed her first magazine break back in November, when she graced the cover of Lurve. Riccardo Tisci`s muse is the perfect choice for the cover of Love?s androgyny issue, while Kate is a bit of surprise. And yet it totally works! We love the clever gender play going on, with Kate styled as a man and Lea as a woman. And that kiss! Pretty boy Biebs is a more tongue-in-cheek pick, and we wonder if the pop star was notified that his cover would in fact be for the androgyny issue. We hope the answer is yes, and that he was fair game. We are also dying to see what his cover looks like. There?s no word on how the Bieber Love connection was made, but mag EIC Katie Grand did share how she and Lea met ?I was by the pool at the Copacabana Palace Hotel when I saw her. At first I didn?t notice her gender, just that she was wearing Givenchy couture and looked amazing!? Apparently Grace Jones was at the pool, too. We, sadly, were not.

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[Sushigirl]

Awesome post! I love it. I think that she's beautiful. Let's what happens next in the world of Fashion. That's a precedent which I think will set the industry in fire and completely on a new agenda that will be the beginning of our recognition.

The only thing that the world needs at this point of the transsexual revolution is for a celebrity to have the personal integrity to openly live a relationship with a transsexual woman for the world to be turned on with the idea. Then, there won't be enough of us girls available to satisfy the world demand. WE ARE THE PEOPLE of the future.

There is so much ignorance surrounding this gender labeling issues. That causes an amazing quandary for the most part, that is futile in essence.

This should set the record Trans.

Thank you for sharing all of this info.

Exalted,

Bibiane

[Clone 0101]

Awesome post! I love it. I think that she's beautiful. Let's what happens next in the world of Fashion. That's a precedent which I think will set the industry in fire and completely on a new agenda that will be the beginning of our recognition.

The only thing that the world needs at this point of the transsexual revolution is for a celebrity to have the personal integrity to openly live a relationship with a transsexual woman for the world to be turned on with the idea. Then, there won't be enough of us girls available to satisfy the world demand. WE ARE THE PEOPLE of the future.

There is so much ignorance surrounding this gender labeling issues. That causes an amazing quandary for the most part, that is futile in essence.

This should set the record Trans.

Thank you for sharing all of this info.

Exalted,

Bibiane

Youre welcome. Its always nice for the guys to know that we are human to and there is more to us than just sex and money.

[thebigjuggler]

She is superb!

[Tasha Jones RIP]

She has a lady Gaga look...really hot...

[Modulus]

cool cool