Does anything about the model on the right strike you as different from the norm? Click the thumbnail to see a fullsize picture at the Telegraph.

At first glance I thought that this was a young female model in her late teens or early twenties. I was spot on about the age but wrong about the gender. The photo is of a 19 year old male model from Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the UK Telegraph, male model Andrej Pejic  is “enjoying great modeling success due to his womanly good looks”, so much so that he’s booked for the next Marc Jacobs advertising campaign.

Boys who look like girls, transsexuals and transvestites are being booked to pose for photo shoots, to represent great fashion houses like Givenchy, and to walk on runways to showcase women’s clothing – not men’s clothing.

I don’t quite know what to think about this. On the one hand, I find it strange that men would be modeling clothes that are marketed to me, but perhaps that is being too closed minded. Perhaps the bright line between men and women’s fashion is, well, old fashioned. I can easily imagine a future where individuals choose more effeminate or masculine looks quite independently of their sex.

Is the recent movement to blur gender boundaries a step in this direction, or are fashion houses using it to generate publicity?