Barneys New York is trying something a bit differen, with their Spring 2014 campaign, by highlighting transgender lives and models. Although including a few trans people might have been a stunt that would have raised a few headlines, Barneys has gone the whole hog, scouting a range of transgender people and not just getting them to model, but commissioning famed photographer Bruce Weber to make a 36-minute short film for the Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters campaign.
It involves Vanity Fair journalist Patricia Bosworth talking to the 17 models about their lives and their personal experience of transitioning. Some of them are professional models, others not and all have had very different experiences of lives, although shared themes shine through. It’s great to see a bit of marketing that may work as advertising but also tries to educate, inspire and do something good.
The short documentary was unveiled at the Guggenheim Theater, in Manhattan and now it’s been released in its entirety online.
Barneys’ C.E.O. Mark Lee spoke at the unveiling about the thinking behind the campaign, saying, “We’re all conscious in the last couple of years of all the strides that gays and lesbians are making in marriage equality, and it seemed that the ‘T’ in LGBT was getting a little bit left behind.”
Take a look at the documentary above.
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