To promote it’s push-up bras, the dutch department store HEMA have choosen the androgynous male supermodel Andrej Pejic to be the face of their new lingerie campaign. The campaign became a huge success within hours and the news has made its round through international press with the speed of light.
Andrej Pejic is celebrated as a superstar model in the fashion scene, still the campaign is brilliant as it is nothing more then, well, just a normal bra ad. While in the fashion world the influence of androgynous styles and gender ambiguity is totally en vogue, the average consumer might still find it a little unusual.
“It’s revolutionary” Pejic’s agent Chadwick’s Joseph Tenni told frockwriter. “I’ve never known a man to do a women’s lingerie campaign before”. Of course the message is clear: even men can wear HEMA’s push-up bras.
Do we see here the mainstreaming of queer and androgynous role models into a lifestyle (the average HEMA consumer is rather traditional) or just a successful ad campaign that even in 2011 finds a way to provoke by using gender issues?
This article was earlier published on Beyond Berlin.
Frans Prins 