Andreja Pejić Answers All Your Burning Questions About Being a Transgender Model

What's more fun to model — menswear or womenswear?

Andreja Pejić: I was always drawn to more-feminine things, so I felt a lot more comfortable in women's clothes and enjoyed them more. But there's something really cool about dressing as the opposite gender, too. So I've enjoyed both.

From your experience, how does treatment differ between male and female models in the industry?

AP: Female models are at a higher level in the industry. . . . Obviously womenswear is a bigger business, and marketing in womenswear is taken a lot more seriously than menswear, so women definitely dominate. There's also a lot more money on the line. Where there's money, there is more objectification, too.

How did you first get into modeling?

AP: I identified as transgender from a very young age, but it's not something I shared publicly — not with my friends even, just with my family. To model both men's and women's clothes wasn't something I set out to do. I knew I was going to be androgynous, but I didn't know the type of career I was going to have. It was really the stylists who saw my look and decided to play around with me and put me in dresses and suits. It gave me the opportunity to express myself. It's something you can really do when you are young.

What surprised you when you first became a model?

AP: You cannot have any sense of privacy. You can't be shy because half the time you are walking around in your underwear. You have to be okay with being felt up constantly by the makeup artists, by stylists . . . It's like being a doll. You can't have any feeling.

You tell a different story to everyone in regards to how you were discovered. What prompted that?

AP: I thought it was funny how all the big female models like Kate and Gisele and Lily all had these interesting stories of how they were discovered and I just thought it was fun to mix it up a bit. And sometimes, there are lots of stories out there about models that aren't true — like Gisele was not discovered in a cornfield, but I remember reading it. So I thought it was fun to play around.

Instead of making your transition private, it seems like you were very public about it. Why?

AP: I felt I was well-positioned to share my story and my experience in the hopes that it would inspire others. There are hundreds of thousands of people who hide their true identities every day of their lives, and my team and I just felt like this is a story that could reach a lot of these people and hopefully help. And obviously, I was already known in the media, so hiding my transition would have been very difficult, and there was no need. I could be proud of it. Obviously it is a very private thing, and I think it should always stay that way, but it's different when you are a public person.

Have you felt pigeonholed into certain roles in the industry because you are transgender?

AP: I believe that transgender models today are often confined to a niche a little too often. I think it's something that needs to change, and at the end of the day, there's no reason we should not be treated like everybody else. But I don't think the industry is at that level just yet. Things are moving in a positive direction. I personally have been very lucky, and I've been able to do get good jobs and continue my career. But I do think there are struggles and you have to work 10 times harder than every other girl or boy to achieve the same thing.

As a transgender woman, are you done modeling menswear?

AP: With my coming out, it means I will no longer be modeling as a male. I will only be modeling as a female. But if the shoot is really creative and amazing, and they want to put me in a suit, I would be open to it if it's tasteful. But I probably won't be doing it on a scale like before.

Did you ever doubt yourself?

AP: I think everyone has moments when they doubt themselves. For me, I definitely doubted being able to have a successful career. When I started, I was always told, "you're too specific," "you're too niche," "you'll never make any money," "this isn't something that can work." So, that put a lot of doubts in my mind, and it kept me very humble, but I was also happy to prove those people otherwise and to prove my own doubts wrong. I'm happy I've come this far — that I've achieved something I set out to do. At the age of 15, I told myself I was going to do this, and I did it.

What's been your most memorable experience in modeling so far?

AP: Being in David Bowie's music video was so memorable. I think the first time I walked a couture runway in a wedding gown for Mr. Gaultier was a defining moment for me.

What's the best advice you've received?

AP: "Don't complain, don't explain!" Fashion gave me that advice. It's a work strategy. It just means that when you're a model, you have to work hard and can't complain.

What is most misunderstood about transgender people today?

AP: The fact that we are human beings like anyone else, and we strive to have happy and fulfilling lives, like anyone else.