The latest tall, blonde model to turn heads in a push-up bra is causing the fashion world to do a double-take. The star of a new lingerie ad campaign is a man.
Andrej Pejic, a male model known for his gender-bending work on runways, is the star of Dutch fashion company Hema's newest lingerie ad campaign. In it, Pejic, 20, dons the push-up bra, a skin-tight dress that hugs his newly curvy body, and dramatic, smoky-eyed makeup. With long-blonde hair, lip gloss, and delicate features, the 6-foot-1 Pejic strikes a very feminine figure.
Hema, the company that hired Pejic, said in a statement on their website that the ad campaign demonstrates that even a man can gain curves with the use of the bra.
"Even men get a decolleté with this new mega push-up bra," the statement says in translation. "That means that you with 'totally nothing' can go to a beautiful B-cup."
Pejic, who was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina and raised in Australia, has gained fame in the fashion world for his work in both men's and women's fashion, modeling both bridal gowns and tuxedos, men's underwear and, now, women's underwear, too.
"He's rare. No one looks like him," photographer Chris Benz told ABC News. "I mean no one. None of the boys look like him. None of the girls look like him. It's just him. It's Andrej."
Pejic, who wears a women's size 2 or 4, told ABC News in September that his sexiest features are his hips, and that the toughest part of his job is squeezing into size 11 high-heeled shoes.
"I don't really have that sort of strong gender identity. I identify as what I am," Pejic told New York Magazine in August. "The fact that people are using it for creative or marketing purposes, it's just kind of like having a skill and using it to earn money."
Pejic now commands as much money as a female model would for photo shoots, and his face has graced the covers of more high fashion magazines than any other male model.
According to his agent, Joseph Tenni, Pejic's role as a women's underwear model has broken down gender roles in the fashion world in an unprecedented way.
"It's revolutionary," Tenni told the Australian blog frockwriter. "I've never known a man to do a womens' lingerie campaign before."
The bras, which have received worldwide attention from their unique model, retail at 20 euro, about $25.They promise an increase of at least two cup sizes to the average wearer.