The founder of a transgender modelling agency has called on the fashion industry to feature more trans models of colour on runways and in advertising campaigns.
This year has seen an increase in opportunities for transgender models with Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover shoot, & Other Stories campaign featuring models Valentijn De Hingh and Hari Nefstylist, and Johanna Londinium's London Fashion Week appearance.
But Peche Di, founder of Trans Models, points out that there have been very few opportunities for trans models of colour and this, she says, is a missed opportunity to make fashion truly inclusive.
“I think it’s very important to have them represent the true, unique beauty of trans models," Di told Refinery 29
Peche Di
"I want to project them to be gorgeous human beings that people shouldn’t look down on or treat like they’re not normal," Di continued.
"There are trans women who have landed beauty campaigns, but most of them aren’t transgender women of color."
Since setting up the first transgender modelling agency in New York seven months ago, Di has signed 19 models who she found through Instagram, transgender makeup artists, and fashion and hairstylists.
So far the models have featured in shoots for Budweiser and Smirnoff, as well as for i-D and Time Out magazine.
The first photoshoot for Trans Models
Watch the video below to see some of the models on Trans Models' books:
Currently only two other transgender modeling agencies operate in America: Transcendence Icon in Idaho and the Los Angeles branch of Thailand’s Apple Model Management.