Who's That Girl, Er, Boy?

                                         

Andrej Pejic

We all know that top models are impossibly skinny, waiflike creatures who are, in essence, clothes hangers with eyeliner and bear no resemblance to actual human females. Meet the latest "It" girl to sashay down the runway-Andrej Pejic. He's a guy!

The 19 year-old from Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the hottest male models right now. He appears in the latest Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign and is being shot for French and Italian Vogues. He will also appear in Gaultier's spring 2011 campaign with model Karolina Kurkova in matching pleated trench coats and fishnet tights.

Now I have no problem with Pejic. Frankly, he's gorgeous. And androgyny has always been at home in modeling and high fashion.  What does disturb me, however, is that designers are now considering the male form an ideal for designing women's clothing. Somehow, the perfect female model has gotten so skinny, so flat chested, and so lacking in body fat that she may as well be an adolescent boy! This is rather disturbing. No wonder real women have trouble finding clothes that fit properly. And no wonder girls and women have such conflicted relationships with their bodies! Face it-no amount of dieting is going to make us look like Andrej! Guess I may as well have some ice cream then!

Who's that girl, er, boy?