Ahead of his fall/winter 17 show today, Marc Jacobs hinted at a move away from the Insta-famous supermodel spectaculars of seasons past. Sure enough, the star of today’s show wasn’t Kendall Jenner or Gigi Hadid. It was male trans/role model Casil McArthur — who walked the show wearing a red zippered tracksuit, grey bucket hat, and the show’s standout platform boots.
Casil has been modeling for a while now. In fact it’s been seven years since he started working at age 10, walking runways in Singapore, Los Angeles, and Tokyo under a different name. But transitioning and signing with Soul Artist Management has helped him catch the eye of photographers like Steven Meisel and Collier Schorr, while giving him fresh motivation for showing up to castings. “I never thought [modeling] would be something so impacting for people,” Casil told Vogue after walking his first runway show — Coach fall/winter 17 menswear — as a male in December. “The feedback I have been getting has been unreal,” he said while talking about his newfound role as an Insta-activist. “It definitely makes me want to strive to be better every single day. Someone needs to be there to support these kids.”
It’s important that trans models aren’t being left out of the gender-rebellious runway movement. Transparent actress and Alessandro Michele muse Hari Nef recently starred in Gucci’s fall/winter 16 menswear show, wearing an unmissable red cape and matching accessories. NYFW’s fall/winter 17 season has been a particularly bumper one for runway diversity during an especially bumpy time for the rights of immigrants, Muslims, women, and the LGBTQ community. And Jacob’s casting today was beautiful testament to our country’s diversity; we couldn’t think of a better note on which to end the week.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Photography Rory Satran