If you haven’t heard of Andrej Pejic yet, I’m sure you soon will. He is the beautiful male model, who earns a living out of modelling women’s clothing on the catwalk. Discovered initially for his striking feminine features, he has previously appeared in Marc Jacobs and John Paul Gautier’s shows. However, whilst I absolutely love editorials and catwalk shows with a difference, I can’t help but think a man modelling women’s lingerie is a little insulting.
Andrej has shot a campaign for Dutch company Hema, modelling their latest range of ‘push up bras’ and whilst many advertising campaigns modelling lingerie are very unrealistic and unattainable – this is just plain strange. Australian Andrej looks very comfortable posing in the bras that claim to ‘boost you up 2 cup sizes’ and poses as a very convincing woman. Whilst I’m sure Hema are happy with the boost in publicity this controversial campaign has produced – I’m just considering whether it’s our crazed fashion world gone mad.
Of course, being a man Andrej doesn’t have any natural bust but has been boosted to a B cup after wearing this bra. Many critics who have seen the campaign claim ‘if a man can look that good in a bra, it must do wonders for a woman’ which I suppose is true, however I can’t help but think that its slightly strange to aspire towards a male figure when buying a bra. Andrej does have very feminine features and models women’s clothes wonderfully, but I can’t quite put my finger on why I don’t feel comfortable with a man modelling women’s lingerie.
However, the producers of this campaign have cleverly kept Andrej covered up in pretty dresses – which I think makes the photos more bearable to look at. Had he been modelling the lingerie without anything over the top, I think the photographs would have been far harder to stomach, as it really would have been strange to see a man’s chest modelling woman’s clothing. As much as I find this campaign strange, I do think it’s admirable to not follow the traditional lingerie photo shoots, whereby a busty model shows off the latest range. It makes a change from the ‘perfect woman ideal’ that many fashion ranges sport, however I still feel a little uncomfortable about a man modelling push up bras.
What’s your opinion? Do you think it’s wrong for a man to wear a push up bra? Would you buy this bra? What’s the strangest thing you think the fashion industry has done to date? Please leave your comments and opinions below.
DISCLAIMER: the images used in this article are not my own and I do not take credit for them. They are used purely for reference purposes only.
