Andreja Pejic has had her fair share of special catwalk moments, not least her closing walk as Jean Paul Gaultier's couture bride, set to triumphant can-can music. But her runway return at Giles' AW15 show at London Fashion Week last night was also notable for another reason: it's the first show that the trans model and Dazed 100 star has walked since her gender reassignment surgery last year.
Pejic posted an image of herself on the catwalk on Instagram under the hashtag #thereturn, writing: "It feels amazing to be making my runway debut for one of my favorite British designers #Giles".
The Bosnian-Australian model came out as trans last summer, telling People: "I hope that by being open about this, it becomes less of an issue." During her hiatus from runway modelling, she began working on a as-yet-unreleased documentary about her transition and landed a film role in Sofia Coppola's film adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
Pejic wasn't the only star on the runway yesterday. For his lusciously gothic Georgian collection, Giles Deacon and stylist Katie Grand assembled an all-star cast including Kendall Jenner, Edie Campbell, Lily Donaldson, Erin O'Connor, Jessica Stam and Aymeline Valade. Anna Cleveland closed the show in uber-theatrical grande dame mode, twirling down the runway for a good five minutes in stiletto mules and a fan pleat dress.
Deacon told us backstage: "We had a walk-through this afternoon and the casting that Katie and I did was very much to have girls who wanted to and were able to have a strong character. That’s something I feel very strongly about, to see more strong characters and people being themselves in a catwalk presentation, because I’m so bored of seeing this homogenous 'bleh' - you know, gorgeous girls, but just all looking like robots from the same factory. I like to see what’s different about everyone."
Read our review of Giles AW15 here. Watch the show below:
 backstage at Giles AW15)
