Interesting article, Katherine. I got curious. Here's Jon-Jon:
I have a penis, and I am attached to it.
it's called transvestitism, regardless that he doesn't wear the undergarments.
Country of origin: Bosnia-HerzegovinaFather is Croatian, mother is Serbian. From WWD profile December 20, 2010: "Since the fashion industry first began asking “Who’s the blonde girl?” at the Paris men’s shows in June (2010), 19-year- old Serbian Australian model Andrej Pejic has emerged as a poster boy for fashion androgyny. His long, platinum blonde hair and feminine features caught the attention of, among others, Steven Meisel and Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Jean Paul Gaultier not only booked Pejic for his spring 2011 men’s show, he also cast him in his spring ad campaign alongside Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. Now it looks like Marc Jacobs may also be going the guess-the-gender route for his Marc by Marc Jacobs spring campaign. Pejic recently returned from shooting the ads in Marrakech with Juergen Teller alongside look-alike Latvian (female) model Ginta Lapina. Born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pejic and his family fled the war-torn region in the Nineties before settling as refugees in Melbourne, Australia."
Last week Boston Ballet did a modern program which included Jiri Kylian's Bella Figura, from which dance these images come. In this section of the dance men and women have the same costume. So instead of a man/woman dichotomy you have above and below the waist for all the dancers - bare above, while below is a version of an eighteenth century skirt with panniers, rather appropriate for the Baroque music used. The dancers used these to great advantage in sections when groups of them zigzagged upstage and when they shook their hips from side to side. I really loved this dance. These pictures are from various performances in Europe and the US. In the second picture the women are wearing bodices - possibly just for the purposes of that particular company's publicity shots. The last picture is actually from the Boston Ballet performance which just happened.
Is it transvestitism when women wear pants? It's so common now, but women fought long and hard to be able to wear pants in peace and without ridicule. Why should it be different for men who want to wear skirts? I think that questioning gender conventions iS the most interesting aspect of this whole topic.
I suppose one could ask why anybody would want to wear a skirt these days.I mean, since skirts are no longer commonly instep-length, aren't skirts and dresses cold in cold weather?