Meet Casey Legler, the Woman Who Works as a Male Model

By Lindy West | November 21, 2012 | 3:25pm

Latest

When 6’2″ artist Casey Legler speaks about her modeling career—her male modeling career—her focus is on self-expression and freedom rather than gender identity, and it’s refreshing to see an exploration of androgyny that doesn’t pry greedily into a model’s personal life. Legler a gorgeous woman who also happens to make a gorgeous man. And she’s a devastatingly charming and sharp interview subject to boot.

“I understand signifiers. We’re social creatures and we have a physical language of communicating with each other,” she says. “But it would be a really beautiful thing if we could all just wear what we wanted, without it meaning something.”

Androgyny has long been celebrated in the fashion world. Women have modeled as men, and men have modeled as women. Andrej Pejic, a young male model from Bosnia, made a splash in recent years with his feminine beauty and knack for wearing women’s clothes. (“Andrej is gorgeous,” Legler says. “In many ways I come ushered in by that.”) But it’s still rare – if not unheard of – for a woman to sign a contract to model men’s clothing exclusively.

I family-double-dare you to watch Legler’s interview and not swoon for a full 24 hours.