Fashion's first transsexual supermodel, Lea T. (Lou)

Lea T – fashion’s first transsexual supermodel (born 1981, Brazil)

Childhood:

“When papa came home he would look at me and say there was something wrong with me. In the years to come, everyone started to pray that I was gay. It would have been the lesser evil for a religious family used to rules and type of colonial, rigid way of life.” – Lea T

On finding herself:

With thanks to designer Tisci, a CSM student at the time. She says “One night he encouraged me to wear pumps to a party,” she recalled in French Vogue. “We went shopping for ‘drag queen’ shoes and we bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation.”

“I would wander the streets, full of hormones, depressed, with people laughing behind my back…

Lea, who says she “cannot allow [herself] the luxury of being in love”, is pessimistic about her chances of finding happiness with someone else. Those transsexuals who do enter into serious relationships, she says, often do so by keeping their past from their partners.

“They live as hypocrites; it is a variation on solitude,” she said. “We transsexuals are born and grow up alone. After the operation we are born again, but once again alone. And we die alone. It is the price we pay.”

Career:

·      Discovered by Riccardo Tisci, Creative Director of Givenchy, (LEA Tisci), worked as his assistant.

·      Givenchy AW10/11 campaign

·      Italian Vanity Fair

·      French Vogue – nudes (strongly supported by editor Carine Roitfeld

·      Catwalk modeling debut in home nation Brazil for Sao Paulo Fashion Week 2011 for Alexandre Herchcovitch.

·      LOVE covers February 2011 – including lip lock with Kate Moss.

A transition from man to woman, misfit to role model.

 Lea is not only changing the face of fashion, but also changing the way we view and talk about sexuality in the industry on an international level.