Andreja Pejić: ‘I felt like an outsider’
As one of the world’s only transgender models, Andreja Pejić believes every woman has to find her “own path to come into her femininity”.
She has sashayed down the catwalks of Paris, London and New York, graced the cover of Elle magazine, and counts Miley Cyrus as a friend.
Yet there was a time when Andreja Pejić didn’t have much.
Her family lived in a refugee camp near Belgrade in Serbia, after fleeing the Bosnian War when Pejic´ was a baby.
Her single mother had to sell canned food in the market so she could afford some chocolate for little Andreja and her older brother Igor.
It was a time of sanctions, separation and sacrifice. But memories have resilience, and so does Pejić, who looks back on her childhood with fondness.
“There was a charm to that kind of upbringing,” she tells Stellar. “When you’re a child, you don’t understand everything. You’re a bit more innocent to it all. You make the most of what you have.”
And in the midst of hardship, Pejić — at the time a boy named Andrej (she had gender reassignment surgery in 2014) — also found camaraderie. “We were a community in that UNHCR [The United Nations Refugee Agency] camp. We all stuck together. In the West, in more developed countries, people are not as close.”
This lack of intimacy was one of the first things she noticed when the family — Pejić, her brother, mother and grandmother — arrived in Melbourne in 2000, having been granted visas as refugees.
Pejić was eight, and excited for a new adventure. “My brother wanted a PlayStation and I wanted to have my own bedroom, and going to Australia that’s what we thought we would get,” she says with a laugh.
It was culture shock they got instead. “Where we came from, neighbours would just come into your house and you would take care of each other’s kids. Privacy is a big part of Australia’s culture. People like their backyards, and they like their fences,” says the model.
“It was hard to fit in; you felt like an outsider. You go to school and kids make fun of you for not knowing English, and then you try and learn it as quickly as possible. But you are different.”
The move was even harder on the adults in her family. “I think my mum and my grandma never fully became part of this country, but my brother and I did. That’s why they came — they came for us,” she says.
“In a way, you feel you have to be successful because your parents sacrificed their lives for you to come to this new land and for you to have opportunities.”
Opportunity, and success, came quickly. At 16, Pejić was discovered by a modelling agent while working at McDonald’s. She promptly signed with Chadwick Models.
Her first catwalk was at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, far removed from her working-class suburb of Broadmeadows.
“It was such a new world for me — fashion is a thing that’s an upper to middle-class elitist hobby, in a way,” she says. “But from a young age, I always had an interest in beautiful things and make-up and dressing up. So it felt natural.”
Pejić became an immediate global sensation due to her androgynous look, walking in both male and female shows for the likes of Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Pejić says she knew from the age of 13 that she was transgender. And of her past five years living as a woman, she says: “It’s been unique. At the end of the day, every woman has her own path: to come into her femininity, and to come into her confidence and growth,” she tells Stellar.
MORE STELLAR:
Why we must never forget Dana McCaffery
Cal Wilson: ‘It could have been me’
Pejić has remained honest about the decision to transition and hopes that in doing so she keeps dialogues about the issue open, particularly for young children grappling with gender identity.
“I used to feel a lot of pressure about being a certain type of role model. Then I realised it can be unconstructive to my creativity and who I am as a person,” says Pejić, who lives in New York.
“It’s a process, being comfortable with yourself. Everyone is at a different stage. But I’ve really tried to work on myself and on my self-love.”
That includes activities as simple as “dancing around in your underwear... it’s very therapeutic!” This seems fitting considering Pejić is now an ambassador for Bonds’s new Intimately range.
“When I was discovered [at 16], they said to me, ‘Look, you have a very interesting look. Creatively, you are going to do great things and shoot for wonderful editorials. But commercially you are not going to have so much success, especially in Australia.’ And that was correct at the time. But how times change. I actually can’t believe it. I’m a Bonds girl.”
Pejić has also turned an eye to acting, and featured in last year’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web alongside Claire Foy.
She has plans for more in the future, saying, “The next film I’ll be doing will be a proper test. A properly demanding role. I hope to do a great job.”
Wherever her success keeps taking her, Pejić is determined to honour the past that moulded her.
“[Being a refugee] has shaped me. Sometimes it’s easy to fall into self-loathing and self-doubt in the world that I am living now. But you have to remember your roots. You have to never cut yourself off from that. Because that’s reality.”
The Bonds Intimately range is available from March 3.
‘Opens your eyes’: Pat Cummins on his mother’s death
As captain of the Australian cricket team, Pat Cummins is used to life in the sporting spotlight. But nothing prepared him for the loss of his true hero – his mother.
Mel Leong reflects on MasterChef exit
The former MasterChef judge opens up about leaving the reality series – and her latest role on the new season of Dessert Masters, as she teases what’s next.