In 2024, Sydney-based actor and model Janet Anderson began working on an essay exploring the media’s palpable shift in trans representation, particularly trans women. She reflected on its implications, and the precarious connection between beauty and gender. Drawing on her own experience as a trans woman in the fashion, art and theatre worlds, the idea soon grew legs.
It was no longer enough for her thoughts to simply sit on paper. Engaging a wider team of trans and gender-diverse creatives, she created ‘The New Standard’, a creative project that studies and celebrates beauty, “for us, by us”.
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It’s undeniable: the ‘Dolls’ are in demand. How do I so confidently make this assertion? A twink on TikTok told me, of course. Where else would I find information pertinent to me, the news? In a TikTok most likely lost to the annals of the internet, creator @s1icky__ states: “If you’re one of the Dolls, you need to take your ass to New York and get a model agency ASAP… Literally every new model that is killing it right now is a Doll.”
His credentials, unspecified. His audacity, unchecked. To be told ‘the Dolls are having a moment’ in New York City, a historic epicentre of trans excellence, is surface-level ironic. Especially given the term ‘Doll’ most likely originated in the underground ballroom scene (a black and brown queer subculture), although its use and meaning has shifted over time. Being told this ‘news’ by a young, white, cis, gay man made my eyes roll to the point of retinal detachment. However, his advice isn’t entirely baseless.
The intersections of the trans community and the fashion industry are canyon-deep. Fashion house Mugler has been enhancing its runways with trans beauty for decades, and iconic models like Connie Fleming and Tula found success despite their identity, rather than because of it.
Trans representation, particularly of trans women, has steadily grown since the supposed ‘tipping point’ proposed by Time Magazine in 2014. With the likes of Hunter Schafer, Alex Consani, Colin Jones, Aaron Philip, Munroe Bergdorf and Hari Nef gracing covers and catwalks at every turn, it’s clear that now we have been deemed marketable, our profitability is assured and our identity coveted.
It’s important to acknowledge that the majority of the trans women who’ve been able to infiltrate the mainstream fashion consciousness in this way are tall, thin and white, which is true in almost every avenue of queer representation and a reminder we’re being inserted into an existing hierarchy.
The fashion world has often cultivated a severe, androgynous look. With the rise of Ozempic and buccal fat removal, having a strong jaw, sunken cheeks and even a pronounced brow bone is back in vogue. What’s next, Adam’s apples and a baritone register?
But when the dust has settled and the trend cycle has moved on to the next algorithmically predetermined fad, trans women will continue to set the standard, seemingly unbeknown to the cis/het world. Outside of the hormones and gender-affirming procedures that are now more readily available, there exists an essence in trans people that sits outside the bounds of ‘beauty’ in any measurable sense.
I believe this comes from trans people’s study of themselves. It’s an understanding that’s earned and acquired through endless introspection and a deep indulgence in fantasy. I’m reminded of a quote from the novel Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg: “It’s a beauty one isn’t born with, but must fight to construct at great sacrifice.”
The ‘beauty standard’ as a concept is impossible to separate from its capitalist and colonial roots. Adherence to it goes against every notion of ‘queerness’. We are assessed, classified and ranked into an arbitrary system with a clearly defined top and bottom. The further you are to the top (i.e. passability) the more likely you are to get booked.
Trans women, specifically, sit at a precarious intersection of misogyny and transphobia. How could someone who was presented with the gift of manhood, arguably the highest honour society can bestow, throw it all away to suffer through the trials of womanhood? Such a person must be diagnosed, studied and institutionalised with a severe case of ‘mad tranny disease’.
This long-overdue reverence of trans people is something that is disregarded and ridiculed. All too often, we’re pulled into debates around semantics, centring mostly on biological determinism. I long for the day when my explorations in femininity can be out of genuine curiosity or joy, rather than a safety precaution or a set of indicators needed to pass through the checkpoint of ‘womanhood’.
At the end of the day, progress in representation does little to supersede the issues facing trans people as a community, both legislative and social. While it’s a privilege to even be on a set, being the only trans person there can often feel like a hollow victory and can entail more emotional labour than the given fee could ever cover. And that’s ignoring the almost inevitable backlash a campaign starring a trans person will receive.
These images were made with an entirely trans and gender-diverse cast and crew, in an aim to showcase trans beauty without the voyeuristic gaze associated with a normal beauty campaign. It’s pedestalling without tokenising.
This article was originally published in Fashion Journal issue 196.
Keep up with Janet here.
This article Unpacking the ‘beauty’ standard as a trans woman appeared first on Fashion Journal.
2025-02-28 07:15:00
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