>> Spring 2012 menswear season just wrapped up in Paris, but despite the masculine focus, plenty of women turned out — and turned it out — for the occasion. Anna Dello Russo, Julia Sarr-Jamois, and even Carine Roitfeld brought out the Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and Givenchy in whites and neon brights. See our favorite street style snaps from the Milan and Paris men's fashion weeks in the slideshow.
>> At the forefront of fashion's current obsession with androgyny? Transgender Givenchy muse and model Lea T — who intends to have gender reassignment surgery — and Jean Paul Gaultier muse Andrej Pejic, who has said he would have a sex change operation for Victoria's Secret. Pejic weighs in on how he feels about the inevitable comparisons: "Well I don’t think my situation and Lea T's are completely different when it comes to our personal lives, but that’s personal, for me at least. And I really think people should stop trying to categorize me because of their need for labels. When it comes to our professional lives, well she only does women’s wear and I think I cover more fields. Some people in the industry will use us in a very similar way to represent similar ideas and some will want me to be a bit different from her – more androgynous, more boyish or even sex-less rather than womanly. I think professionally I am capable of being very versatile." [Stylecaster]
>> Late last week, Katie Grand previewed LOVE's upcoming Spring 2011 Androgyny Issue, out Feb. 7. The issue's muse, she said, was her "new best friend," transgender model Lea T., and it was apparently love at first sight: "I was by the pool at the Copacabana Palace Hotel when I saw her. At first I didn't notice her gender, just that she was wearing Givenchy couture and looked amazing!" Lea T., Kate Moss, and Justin Bieber are the new issue's cover stars; Bieber was shot by Terry Richardson in a tight 90 minute slot between gigs in Philadelphia, and Lea T. and Kate Moss are shown locked in a kiss, left. [Telegraph UK, SHOWstudio, @THELOVEMAGAZINE]
>> In the past few seasons, Riccardo Tisci has been something of a patron saint for leopard print. But for Pre-Fall 2011, he's putting it away in favor of a digitalized armadillo print — because, as he says, “Everyone is doing animal prints these days." Tisci also gave one of his favorite colors to work with a rest: "I didn't touch black on purpose. Brown is the new black." The resultant collection, full of the aforementioned brown, along with purples and creams, was shot on three of Tisci's current favorites — Lea T., Saskia de Brauw, and Izabel Goulart — with a snowy West Village street serving as their background.
>> The possibility was first hinted at by The Imagist, which reported in early October that transgender model and Givenchy muse Lea T had scheduled "an upcoming appearance on the biggest talk show in America where [she] opens up and truly tells her story." Now, Elle reports that the model, who is now landing covers, has indeed been scheduled to film a segment for one of Oprah's final shows, which will air in February. [Elle]
>> The power of a Riccardo Tisci plug: after appearing in Givenchy's Fall 2010 campaign, Tisci's longtime personal assistant and former fit model Lea T scored editorial coverage in Vogue Paris, Interview, and Hercules, but that was just the beginning. The transgender model, who is repped by Women Milan, has now graduated to covers: she's on the new Lurve cover, wearing Givenchy couture, and it's rumored that Katie Grand styled her for a Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott-snapped LOVE cover last week. [Models.com, @GB65]
