(s)HEMA or HEMA(n) - Gender Codes upside down in unexpected context

Male model Andrej Pejic takes the best of both worlds when it comes to fashion editorials and bookings for high end fashion shows from Paris to New York. But this one is quite controversial, not because it is Andrej, no, because it is the brand he is booked for: HEMA, good old Dutch heritage HEMA! HEMA is not famous for its ads where most of the time we see the common house wives, role model children and masculine men pose for the camera to recommend the latest ice cream, 'rook worst', rain suits, house products or whatever...but now HEMA get's bold - where is that coming from ! Andrej Pejic sells us - woman - the new MEGA push up bra's, without even seeing the actual product. 

What will HEMA do next? Moslims recommend us the HEMA chrismas trees?  Leather gay men with the famous HEMA-rookworst explicit in their mouths? Who knows!

Its not the first time Andrej Pejic sells us female clothes. He did it for Jean Paul Gaultier, Givency and the likes. But HEMA? 
Andrej Pejic is the last to be bothered by the reactions. In an interview with Oyster Magazine (February 2011) he said its just work, not a new take on gender or androgyny. He said: '"When it comes to sexuality… well, I’ve learned that it’s never straightforward, but at the end of the day it’s a job, not a whole new identity.". 

Personaly, I am a fan when it comes to gender bending tendencies in the fashion landscape. It became my graduation topic, twice. It is not about men wearing skirts or high heels, it is more about causing gender trouble, like Judith Butler wrote in 1990 in her famous book 'Gender Trouble'. It is a subversion of our perceptions about identity, what is femininity or masculinity.  So, I stay tuned. You?

The end of Klavers Van Engelen - a piece of their legacy in my own closet - to treasure

picture of my KvE dress - marij rynja (c)