A fashion trend we won't be following

June 2, 2011 4:10 PM

The FHM 100 Sexiest list is an annual feature in the lad's mag that 'ranks' women on their percieved pulchritudinousness. However, this year, the 91st sexiest woman in the world isn't a woman at all.

Andrej Pejic is becoming known in the fashion world for his strikingly feminine looks. Is this progress for such a heteronormative, mainstream publication? Stylite, commenting on the site's writeup of him (lingerie chain Victoria's Secret are showing an interest; they say 'pass the sick bucket') doesn't think so. They've since removed the copy from their website, but Pejic still appears in the UK print edition,

posted by mippy (69 comments total)

Wow, the copy accompanying his inclusion was really offensive.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 4:15 PM on June 2, 2011 [20 favorites]

Wow, this is so forward thinking of FHM to...

"FHM has spoken to the individual concerned and taken steps to ensure this can never happen again."

...oh.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 4:17 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

(Sorry, should probably have clarified lad's mags. For lads, think bros. I think.)
posted by mippy at 4:17 PM on June 2, 2011

The copy PhoBWanKenobi is referring to. She's right.
posted by Rory Marinich at 4:19 PM on June 2, 2011

I wholeheartedly support his pulchritudinousness in the face of heteronormativeocity.
posted by elendil71 at 4:19 PM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

See, I wondered initially whether it was a mistake - whether they thought he was female - but I think this might be voted for by the public. So either their readers are more progressive than I thought, there;s some Hanson-style confusion in the minds of those who feel it's appropriate to vote on whether someone is the 91st or 92nd most sexy, or...it was an excuse for some shitty copy.
posted by mippy at 4:20 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

One thing I think we can all agree on is the fact that the world can do without magazines like FHM, Loaded, Details, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Time.
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:23 PM on June 2, 2011 [5 favorites]

Lad's mag objectifies person, film at 11.
posted by chavenet at 4:24 PM on June 2, 2011

tumid dahlia: "One thing I think we can all agree on is the fact that the world can do without magazines like FHM, Loaded, Details, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Time."

If you think those magazines are anything like each other, it's no wonder print is dead.

FHM sucks, but when it prints something like this, then we can start comparing it to Esquire.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:25 PM on June 2, 2011 [9 favorites]

Andrej Pejic, the 19-year-old gender-bender catwalk star says he would consider "a sex change" for Victoria's Secret

To be fair, his man boobs are probably already fuller than most of the catwalk models out there.
posted by meehawl at 4:26 PM on June 2, 2011

...

Also GQ and Jane's Defense Weekly.
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:28 PM on June 2, 2011

It's been years since I read Esquire (and I'm not familiar with SI and Details) but I get the impression that Esquire is like Jon Hamm, and Loaded is more like Danny Dyer.
posted by mippy at 4:29 PM on June 2, 2011

What's really weird here is that the idealized form of feminine beauty in terms of height, muscle/fat percent, and frame is more likely on a young man than an adult woman. We keep expecting women to look like skinny teenage men, well here you go.
posted by 2bucksplus at 4:30 PM on June 2, 2011 [49 favorites]

The copy PhoBWanKenobi is referring to. She's right.

Wait... PhoBWanKenobi is a female???
posted by hippybear at 4:31 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

PhoBWanKenobi: Wow, the copy accompanying his inclusion was really offensive.

True; but this is FHM we're talking about, so that dosn't exactly come as an utter shock.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:37 PM on June 2, 2011

or even doEsn't.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:37 PM on June 2, 2011

Cue Admiral Ackbar.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:39 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Came to see FPP titled "Dude looks like a lady"; am disappoint.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:43 PM on June 2, 2011

I don't think it is an idealized form of feminine beauty so much as something the design industry finds useful: coat-hangers. They want frames from which to hang clothes, to see the cloth lay and drape. If that is your goal, breasts are problematic. Striking looks are of course important because this helps fool the viewer into thinking the clothes are more responsible than actually true for the model's appearance. If praying mantises had shoulders and grew much larger, human models would be out the door. Train it to stand upright, drop a pretty mask on top of it, and let it stagger down the catwalk in search of edible lizards.

The fashion industry has evolved off into a hyperspecialized niche that often is at odds with what most people would wear. Aside from Bjork.
posted by adipocere at 4:44 PM on June 2, 2011 [7 favorites]

Oh, I don't know, I'd probably wear Bjork.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 4:45 PM on June 2, 2011 [15 favorites]

Why does FHM still exist? When I worked in a bookstore in the late '90s, we would get a box of 50 Maxims that would fly out the door come lunchtime of release day, leaving us with maybe eight copies to gradually sell down over the month. Do you know what was missing from the lives of a great many men in the late 1990s? Well, sex, yeah; but also the internet. Is there still really a market for semi-softcore stuff like this? On paper?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:46 PM on June 2, 2011

"Thing is quite accurate"?

"Pass the sick bucket"?

"[..]locking lips with Kate Moss on the cover of Love magazine is transgender model Lea T, who began life as Leandro. One fashion trend we won't be copying."?

The fuck? Really offensive indeed. I could have given a pass to "thing is quite accurate" as a tasteless (and poorly executed) play on words since the next sentence refers to the "coat-hanger"-ness couture designers are looking for, but "Pass the sick bucket" and referring to a transgender person as being part of a "fashion trend" is really, really fucked.
posted by mrgoat at 4:49 PM on June 2, 2011 [14 favorites]

Well, sex, yeah; but also the internet. Is there still really a market for semi-softcore stuff like this?

Sure

On paper?

No

I guess maybe people read them in the bathroom?
posted by device55 at 4:50 PM on June 2, 2011

can do without magazines like FHM, Loaded, Details, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Time.

I used to love Details, back late 80s early 90s when it was more a club kid thing, although my nostalgia may have tainted things. i was very sad when it shifted to the crap it became. :(

FHM can go F itself, he's pretty.
posted by usagizero at 4:53 PM on June 2, 2011

I might be wrong, kittens, but I have a feeling it's because they sell a lot of ads. I'm guessing that this, in turn, is because they hype their subscription numbers by giving away lots of free subscriptions. There's probably a good chance they hype their reader demographics as well--still just guessing, but I have a feeling that they might benefit from young men's tendency to, uh, overstate.
posted by box at 4:55 PM on June 2, 2011

One thing I think we can all agree on is the fact that the world can do without magazines like FHM, Loaded, Details, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Time.

Also GQ and Jane's Defense Weekly.

Let's not forget Maxim.

(Which is to say, let's.)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:58 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

She's stunning. Can she sing?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:59 PM on June 2, 2011

The fashion industry has evolved off into a hyperspecialized niche that often is at odds with what most people would wear. Aside from Bjork.

Runway shows aren't, by and large, to show what 'people would wear', it's to show what the designer "can do". Sort of like car shows, where they show concept cars, that 99% of never get made.

It's true though that runway models are a very specific build, height, weight, shape, etc. It keeps it easier to make off a certain fit, and make small adjustments as needed than fit for the whole range of models. This is also why a lot of runway models are much younger than you think, as that age is proportioned that way.
posted by usagizero at 4:59 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

The copy PhoBWanKenobi is referring to. She's right.

Wait... PhoBWanKenobi is a female???

My gender listing is "two walnuts and a banana." How do you know I don't just have those sitting in a fruit bowl at home?
posted by Mister Fabulous at 5:00 PM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]

"It's a very liberal industry. You can be yourself. Just not overweight." -Andrej Pejic
posted by Avenger at 5:00 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh god dammit. I clicked that link hoping that "isn't a woman at all" meant that a robot made the list.

Reading about sexy robots would be way better than reading about shitty lad-mag trans panic.

I mean, Andrej Pejic is gorgeous, but he's no Lucy Liu-bot.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2011 [6 favorites]

Here I thought it would be the TARDIS though I would have assumed she'd be much higher ranked, being unstuck in time and relative dimension in space and all.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:05 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

FHM is one of those magazines whose reader base is made up of two categories:
1. Men who will stay single; and
2. men who know they will stay single but live in a rental or with their mother.
posted by parmanparman at 5:09 PM on June 2, 2011

The FHM 100 Sexiest list

For a second, I read that as 100 Sexist list, and thought about picking up a copy later today.
posted by vidur at 5:20 PM on June 2, 2011

3. Men who somehow got on some list and now get unsolicited free copies every month along with a 12" stack of other magazines they will never read. ugh.
posted by the_artificer at 5:30 PM on June 2, 2011

Meanwhile, Naomi Campbell (who didn't make the FHM list) is outraged at Cadbury's ad campaign comparing her to a chocolate bar.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:30 PM on June 2, 2011

Ai Haruna used to be male, too -- and I'd wager she'd rank higher than 91st on FHM's survey.
posted by armage at 5:31 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

In the articles and blog posts I've read about this model, the only person not ascribing a gender to Andrej Pejic is Andrej Pejic. I am not saying I have done exhaustive research or that there's no record of how this person identifies. I am just noting that lost (or at least infrequent) in most of the discussion of Andrej Pejic's gender identity is how this person identifies.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 5:31 PM on June 2, 2011

Ai Haruna used to be male, too -- and I'd wager she'd rank higher than 91st on FHM's survey.

She's working it, for sure.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:36 PM on June 2, 2011

Is there still really a market for semi-softcore stuff like this? On paper?

Apparently. A copy addressed to my brother in law lands in the mailbox every month and at some point he picks it up and takes it home along with his other mail. Inexplicably, he also has a subscription to Ladies' Home Journal.
posted by anigbrowl at 5:36 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow, this is so forward thinking of FHM to...

"FHM has spoken to the individual concerned and taken steps to ensure this can never happen again."

...oh.

Pretty sure they mean the offensive copy there, not Pejic's inclusion.
posted by EarBucket at 5:39 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I find the eyelashes frightening.
posted by jonmc at 5:40 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

He's hot. That is all.
posted by entropone at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2011

When I'm feeling optimistic I think this is a little tiny taste of the future. Actually I feel the same when I'm being pessimistic, too. It's just a question of how much the growing pains will hurt. In any case, Pejic is fantastic and beautiful and I wish hir so much more success.
posted by emmtee at 5:56 PM on June 2, 2011

News at 11. Oh, It's Fox News. They've done something controversial. Let's post that, too.
posted by oxford blue at 6:01 PM on June 2, 2011

In college, I used to read Ladies' Home journal, Redbook, and Ms. (and others) cover to cover every month sitting at a table in the incredibly beautiful (for the view) School of Journalism reading room where I was almost without exception the only occupant of about a 15X40 room with a two story ceiling. When it snowed, I'd turn out all the lights and watch, through 12 foot windows, fat flakes fall straight down until I could still see them falling when I closed my eyes.

Those three were easily among the best written periodicals of their era; LHJ and Redbook had such small print and so many pages they made other monthlies look like pamphlets.
posted by jamjam at 6:13 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

He is BEAUTIFUL.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:51 PM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]

In college…When it snowed, I'd turn out all the lights and watch, through 12 foot windows, fat flakes fall straight down until I could still see them falling when I closed my eyes.

Now days if you pulled a stunt like that you'd be tased by campus security.
posted by oxford blue at 6:56 PM on June 2, 2011

tumid dahlia writes "One thing I think we can all agree on is the fact that the world can do without magazines like FHM, Loaded, Details, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Time."

Also Cosmo, People, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Bust (I have no idea what the last is but assuming it's not a mag for sculptors the name itself warrants a banning).
posted by Mitheral at 8:03 PM on June 2, 2011

Bust (I have no idea what the last is but assuming it's not a mag for sculptors the name itself warrants a banning).

It's actually a magazine by and for overagressive blackjack players.
posted by Copronymus at 8:10 PM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Reading about sexy robots would be way better than reading about shitty lad-mag trans panic.

The problem with the 'sexiest robot' issue is that, well, robots just aren't that sexy yet. The festo blimp thing won (It's kind of abstract). The stuff being cooked up in Japanese Labs was still too deep in the Uncanny Vally to count as 'sexy'
posted by delmoi at 8:32 PM on June 2, 2011

So, like...who actually buys these magazines, anyway? I mean, I guess someone does, but...I can't imagine who or why.

What's really weird here is that the idealized form of feminine beauty in terms of height, muscle/fat percent, and frame is more likely on a young man than an adult woman. We keep expecting women to look like skinny teenage men, well here you go.

Who's this "we"? I'm not saying there aren't problems with the treatment of women's bodies in the media—far from it—but can we please stop making the facile (and false) assumption that because fashion magazines are obsessed with women who look like waifish little boys, this is somehow the beauty standard of the culture at large?
posted by ixohoxi at 8:33 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: Sexy robots.
posted by loquacious at 9:06 PM on June 2, 2011

There seems to be a long list of magazines we'd like to see banned around here but, shockingly, different people are still allowed to like different stuff. The fact that FHM's demographic doesn't coincide with Metafilter's membership doesn't mean that FHM's readership doesn't exist. It still sells around 100,000 newsstand copies a month in Britain, though this is a third down on a couple of years ago due to internet competition for people's leisure time. It has undergone several recent revamps and has lately tried to be less "laddish", a move which is at least arresting that downward slide.

According to Bauer, its publisher, its target audience are "Men, aged 18-35" and though it has a "wide range of readers and users" these are "typified by mid-twenties ‘work hard, play hard’ guys. In the early stages of their careers and with an eye to the future, FHM readers are typically professionals, office workers, and university-educated. They may be dating or living with a girlfriend, but they still take holidays with their mates. With good incomes and few financial commitments, these are high-value consumers, eager to invest in fashion, grooming, gadgets, travel and cars."

So it's aimed squarely at an attractive high spending segment for advertisers and it's these heavy advertisers which make money for magazine publishers. A glance at the FPPs here demonstrate that Mefites like gadgets too but prefer things which produce lots of fonts rather than plenty of horsepower. The "employed", "groomed" and "have a girlfriend" profiles may be a bit different too.
posted by joannemullen at 9:40 PM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]

Oh darn. Ive been trying to convince my employee to do something similar as part of a diversity photo shoot. Looks like I've been scooped.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:28 PM on June 2, 2011

and Bust (I have no idea what the last is but assuming it's not a mag for sculptors the name itself warrants a banning).

Bust Magazine is an indie feminist monthly. So no. Let's not judge a book by its....name.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:21 PM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Bimonthly, that is.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:22 PM on June 2, 2011

Relevant: fuckyeahandrejpejic
posted by ts;dr at 11:48 PM on June 2, 2011

Was I the only person who clicked through expecting Justin Bieber?
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:03 AM on June 3, 2011

Good Lord, are those nasty little publications still around? I weep for my gender. But even more so for the other one.
posted by Decani at 4:23 AM on June 3, 2011

A glance at the FPPs here demonstrate that Mefites like gadgets too but prefer things which produce lots of fonts rather than plenty of horsepower. The "employed", "groomed" and "have a girlfriend" profiles may be a bit different too.

True, true. I ran my own business for a while, am no poo, and have a boyfriend.
posted by fraula at 4:39 AM on June 3, 2011

91 or 98?
posted by hal_c_on at 6:09 AM on June 3, 2011

A magazine cover featuring a shirtless Pejic was considered 'obscene' by Barnes and Noble
posted by rmd1023 at 7:31 AM on June 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Since is usually a list of stars the reader will never ever sleep with anyway, what's the harm lads?
posted by drowsy at 7:49 AM on June 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

joanne mullen: FHM's target audience are "Men, aged 18-35" and though it has a "wide range of readers and users" these are "typified by mid-twenties ‘work hard, play hard’ guys.

= football hooligans
posted by ohshenandoah at 7:59 AM on June 3, 2011

came back to sing the chorus: "La-la-la-la Lola"
posted by ohshenandoah at 8:16 AM on June 3, 2011

The problem with the 'sexiest robot' issue is that, well, robots just aren't that sexy yet.

Too true, although you're right about Festo. That's why I was excited to click the link. I figured I'd either bear witness to a machine that clawed its way out of the uncanny valley, or see an android that majorly skeeved me out.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:17 AM on June 3, 2011

Tangentially related, but in the first link's picture, he reminds me of someone, an actress, and I can't remember her name. Does anyone know who I'm talking about?
posted by zorrine at 10:25 AM on June 3, 2011

The FHM 100 Sexiest list is an annual feature in the lad's mag that 'ranks' women on their percieved pulchritudinousness.

For the record, FHM's list not only 'ranks' women; it actually ranks women. Whether it rankles your sensitivities or not, the enumerated list is a ranking.


I also find it interesting how many magazines are being judged unworthy of being printed here... fascinating. I'd bet most of you claim to be dead against censorship, despite yearnings to censor...


Back on topic: Go, Andrej Pejic! I can't tell if you punk'd FHM, its readership, or if FHM punk'd their readership, and then tactically retreated... whatever it was, hah! Hah, I say! (And fuck FHM for their bullshitty original text, which is why Andrej gets the points, no matter who decided to do it.)
posted by IAmBroom at 8:13 PM on June 8, 2011