From India

"In a highly unusual move, a designer in the southern Indian state of Kerala has launched her new collection of saris, featuring two transgender models, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

Sharmila Nair's collection is called Mazhavil - or, the rainbow - and it's "dedicated to transgender people because globally they are represented by rainbow flags".

In India, where transgender people are looked down upon by the larger society and are considered as the in-between people who are to be ridiculed and shunned, Ms Nair's choice of models is attracting a lot of attention."

The models - Maya Menon and Gowri Savitri - have no previous experience in modelling and Ms Nair says she found them through Queerala, an organisation that works with the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) people in Kerala.

"I was thinking about how I was going to showcase this collection of handloom saris and I saw a Facebook post about the state government's new policy to better the lives of transgender people.

"I thought since the government was doing so much for the LGBT people, I should also do something," Ms Nair told the BBC on phone from Cochin."

Follow the link for more.

Strut!

Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg will serve as executive producer on an upcoming show called Strut.

Strut will follow the day-to-day lives of a group of trans fashion models.

Focusing on Slay Model Management, the show will tell the story of the world’s first exclusively transgender modelling agency, People reports.

“This show is important right now, because for all of the positive advances the community has made and continues to make, transgender is still a hot-button word that gets people hysterical,” Goldberg in a statement.

“People tend to focus on the stereotype instead of the person,” she added.

“This series will give viewers a unique opportunity to spend time with real people who are struggling with the same challenges we all face as we make our way through the world.

“You may even be surprised to discover that you have been seeing and interacting with transgender men and women in ways you didn’t even realiSe!”

Strut will premiere later this year on the Oxygen network.

Victoria's First?

Cyrsti's Condo "Poll Question of the Day"

Which transgender model will be "Victoria Secret's" first?

Carmen Carerra  left or....


Andreja Pejic 

right:

"Tranversals" Cyrsti's Condo Cover Girls of the Day

Andrej Pejic

I happened across an eclectic  site called "Anne of Carversville". It's claim to fame is "From Fashion to Flogging, telling Women's Stories."  Of interest to me of course was the "Transversal" page which featured extensive coverage of androgynous and transsexual models such as Andrej Pejic and Lea T.


Go here for more.

Lea T

Felipa Tavares

The 6-foot-tall Felipa Tavares is among Brazil’s small but growing ranks of transgender models — leggy, high-cheekboned sirens who were born men and are causing a splash here as well as in Paris and other international fashion capitals.

To Be or Not to Be Vietnam's Transgender Top Model?

Vietnam has a version version of America's Next Top Model which of course accepts transgender participants like Isis King and Virgg. (right)

Vietnam also has a problem now that transgender women such as Phuong Tran (below) are trying to break the trans barrier and compete on the show.

Here's the problem: So far, candidates have been excluded but the Performing Arts Agency will still have review and handle the cases.

The organizers of the Vietnam's Next Top Model are alleged to have violated the rules of their own. According to the rules of the program, the contestants must not be transgender. But there is more fine print:

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, from the Performing Arts Agency, said the Decree 79 on performing arts, fashion shows, beauty contests and modeling, in beauty contests--the contestants must have natural beauty, meaning no cosmetic surgery but the modeling contests do not have this provision. So the above rules on transgender participants are stipulated by the Vietnam’s Next Top Model organizing board.

What this means is The Performing Arts Agency has asked the organizers of the Vietnam's Next Top Model 2013 to explain about the participation of transgender contestants, which is a violation to the contest’s rules.

There of course is more on the VietNamNet Bridge site here.

We've Got Mail!

Recently I ran a post called Skip the Makeup here in Cyrsti's Condo.  It's Gina's blog and she was good enough to drop me a comment back. I mentioned the lack of any mention of Andrej Pejic in her mention of transgender models. Rightfully so, as Pejic has never outed himself as transgender. for whatever reason. 

Here's more of Gina's comment!

"Heh, thanks for the mention of my rather neglected blog. Mostly, for the past 2 years, I've just been reviewing books and films with trans characters rather than doing cultural commentary. I think that post was before Andrej appeared but, moreover, he's never identified himself as transgender (from what he says about himself, he sounds somewhat genderqueer but doesn't call himself that). I would never ID someone as trans if they didn't personally identify that way. Needless to say, since I wrote that there have already been a lot more stories about trans models (especially in Brazil) and at least 2 or 3 more androgynes like Pejic. Really, my post was more about how people make every trans accomplishment sound like a "first time" (when those boundaries had been broken decades before) and how people project concepts like "androgyny" onto trans women whether they look even vaguely androgynous or not."

Thanks Gina for the comment and bringing back some of the transgender models of the past!

Brazilian Transgender Model

The six foot tall Felipa Tavares has emerged as another of  Brazil’s small but growing ranks of transgender models . The leggy, high-cheekboned sirens who were born men but are causing a splash in Brazil and other international fashion capitals around the world.

One of the positives of models such as Felipa's emergence is the sense of softening of homo and transphobic attitudes in countries such as Brazil!

She recently made the Celebrity section of the Washington Post and of course you can read it here.