Transgender models Hari Nef and Valentijn De Hingh star in the bright and shiny autumn/winter 15 campaign that has just been revealed by H&M’s chic sister brand & Other Stories. But the campaign doesn’t just celebrate transgender beauty, but the skills and creativity of trans people too, with every position on the production team also filled by a transgender creative: the campaign was lensed by Amos Mac and styled by Love Bailey, with make up by Nina Poon.
After Caitlyn Jenner’s iconic Vanity Fair cover was revealed, fellow trans celebrity Laverne Cox wrote on her blog that, whilst Jenner’s cover is amazing, it is problematic to only celebrate the “drop dead gorgeous” trans people who are “able to embody certain cisnormative beauty standards,” in the way that she and Caitlyn can. Perhaps every trans person on the & Other Stories set was also drop dead gorgeous, but it is refreshing that it is their artistry that is prized and celebrated through this campaign.