Redefining beauty

Kenyan-born, Toronto-based fashion model Biko Beauttah, who is appearing in Toronto Alternative Fashion Week. (Biko Beauttah/Wingo.com)

Biko Beauttah is, in many ways, an ideal fashion model. He’s striking to look at, and according to experts, “He has an amazing walk and a great attitude.” But the thing that makes Beauttah stand out is also what holds him back from having a traditional modelling career. You see, he looks great in a dress.

Beauttah is a Kenyan refugee who fled to Canada two years ago. He works in Toronto as a fashion stylist and is an aspiring clothing designer. He models for personal pleasure, and even competed in America’s Next Top Transsexual Model. From behind, you couldn’t tell that the slim, five-foot-eight-inch fashion plate is actually a he.

“People like how I look, but they would never hire me,” says Beauttah.

It’s true — transsexuals don’t appear on haute couture runways in Milan or London. Neither do full-figured and tattooed Suicide Girl-type women, for that matter. Models of colour (primarily of African descent) have had a bit more success — the faces of Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Ajuma Nasenyana and Alek Wek are recognizable even to people who are ignorant of fashion trends. Asian models, however, have only a token presence.

Toronto jeweller Elizaveta Yankelovich drapes one of her unconventional necklaces on an unconventional model. (Kameleon/FAT)

In industry parlance, models who fall into one or more of the above categories are considered “alternative.” (Beauttah is doubly so — he’s black and transgendered.) For decades, waifish white girls as young as 14 have been the standard of beauty in the clothing industry; couture samples have always been cut to size zero. Then, in November 2006, Ana Carolina Reston died of kidney failure, the result of anorexia; at the time of her death, the five-foot-eight-inch Brazilian model weighed 88 pounds.

Designers in Madrid responded to the tragedy by banning models that were underage or had a body mass index (BMI) below 18 from its runways. Fashion cities like Milan and New York followed suit and have made an effort to hire healthier models. This month, Italy is launching a $1.5-million US campaign aimed at raising awareness of anorexia and keeping super-thin clotheshorses off catwalks.

We’ve seen the growing popularity of bigger-size models, models of colour and models, like Heidi Klum, who become mothers and then return to the catwalk. After years of glorifying unhealthy measures of beauty, people are starting to realize that women shouldn’t aspire to be “rexy” — slang for skeletal, anorexia-induced sexiness, a look often associated with Kate Moss.

More and more designers are turning to unconventional beauties to showcase their collections. That’s one of the stated aims of Toronto Alternative Fashion Week, which starts April 9. Also known by the bracketed reverse acronym [FAT], Toronto Alternative Fashion Week was founded three years ago by Vanja Vasic, a graduate of the fashion program at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. The three-day event showcases collections from local and international designers, but injects a healthy dose of diversity. The event prides itself on celebrating men and women of all shapes and sizes, but also embraces ethnic variety and body art. [FAT] models stand anywhere from five-foot-one to six-foot-one; tattoos are flaunted, not concealed; belly flab is accentuated, not spurned.

A model for the clothing company UsThemWe. (UsThemWe/FAT)

About 150 people from all walks of life auditioned to be models for the event. Many of them had little to no modeling background, but according to judges, they still exuded beauty, energy and, most importantly, “a confidence within themselves,” says Vasic. According to [FAT]’s founder, the show aims to help people see the range of options and images available in fashion.

“The establishment is not comfortable with challenging status quo beauty,” says Ben Barry, the 25-year-old CEO and founder of Ben Barry Agency Inc. “We’re not seeing those changes happen in Paris, in New York or even on the runway of L’Oreal Fashion Week. Even in Canada, we’re seeing the same status quo models. And for a nation that prides itself on innovation, on being socially progressive, on having such a multicultural society, it’s quite ironic.”

Barry started his modelling company at the age of 14, mainly to help a friend get into the industry. He soon realized that the oversimplified perception of beauty — white, scrawny — alienated many of his female friends and even endangered their health. Barry tried to reshape his business to expand the prevailing image of model beauty.

“Before, this has always been presented as a social problem,” Barry reflects. “We talked about the impact of presenting one ideal of beauty on self-esteem, on self-confidence, on beauty image. And yes, that’s a real issue and an important issue. But when you present that to the fashion industry, they say, ‘We’re really sorry, but that’s not our problem. What we’re doing is still profitable.’”

“What they don’t see,” he says, “is that when they hire models who are diverse, who represent their consumers, there’s unleashed potential, newfound profit, newfound economic and financial potential that they haven’t yet achieved.” Having said that, Barry admits the look has to be sexy. “The images still have to be aspirational. You still want that glamour. You don’t want the photograph to look like a driver’s licence picture.”

One company that has found success exalting natural women is Dove. Launched in 2005, its Campaign for Real Beauty used models of all ages and body types in an effort to reach out to more women. Brands like American Apparel and Nike have used a similar strategy. Another pioneer is Leesa Fogarty, who designs for Australian swimwear label Marajoara. Fogarty, who battled anorexia for years as a teen, shocked critics and spectators at the 2006 Australian Fashion Week when she cast size 6-14 models to don her bikinis as part of a healthy image model campaign.

Model Biko Beauttah. (Biko Beauttah/Bode Helm)

Progress is slow, but it appears to be quickening with the rise of a new generation of leaders, like those behind [FAT]. Beauttah says he was apprehensive while auditioning for the [FAT] gig, but finally realized that “I was the one who came with all the preconceived notions. [The judges] treated me like I was normal.”

The 12 models for the [FAT] showcase Now MyStyle were picked purely for their unique style. To display her latest collection for her label UsThemWe, designer Jennifer Lopez (no, not that one) deliberately chose heavily tattooed lovelies.

“The regular people who’ll be wearing the clothes, they’re the customers,” says Vasic. “And if we can see women that are like us that represent us, then we can change attitudes about ourselves.”

Alternative Fashion Week isn’t rebelling against fashion, Vasic maintains; it’s simply making an effort to be inclusive. “It's a dialogue between commercial and alternative. It's a dialogue between the emerging design and arts community and the established community.”

“[FAT] is uniquely Toronto,” says Beauttah, who is scheduled to model at least one outfit from every designer featured in the show. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years, [FAT] takes over L’Oreal Fashion Week.”

Toronto Alternative Arts & Fashion Week runs April 9 to 11.

Maria Nguyen is a Toronto writer.

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