ANTM‘s Isis King on Starring in American Apparel’s Pride Campaign and Why the Fashion Industry Still Has ‘A Long Way To Go’ Toward Accepting Transgender Models
It’s not very often that an America’s Next Top Model contestant stays in the headlines after her cycle ends. But for Isis King, it seems like her time in the spotlight has just begun. King, who appeared in the eleventh season of Tyra Banks‘s model-search reality show, was the first openly transgender person to compete. And despite finishing in tenth place, she’s managed to be one of the few contestants who’s actually gone on to star in a high-profile campaign–in ads for American Apparel‘s new ‘Legalize Gay’ tee line, a collaboration with GLAAD, and the company’s first campaign to feature a transgender person.
We talked to Isis about how she got involved in the history-making campaign, where she thinks trans people stand in the fashion world today (she says there’s a ‘don’t ask don’t tell policy’), and being a role model for the transgender community.
