Fashion has served as a medium for art, expression, and the promotion of issues in the public eye over the years. Runaways in the fashion industry have historically been employed to transmit messages created by designers or artists. From this point on, the messaging evolved and got more intimate. One of the most powerful art forms for speaking and promoting beliefs, fashion has been used to express everything from political statements to sexual orientation and liberation.
This may be the reason why a career in the fashion industry is so difficult. With shifting messages, the industry has become unreliable. The battle against animal and human cruelty is still being uncovered at its heart despite current technological advancements that seem to replace human labor.
There has never been a better time to advocate for human rights by using fashion as a model. When they walk the runway, models like Elton Ilirjani work as activists for the gender-nonconforming community.
Elton Ilirjani is a social media sensation who also works as a corporate CEO, a fashion influencer, and an LGBTQIIA+ activist out of Brooklyn, New York. Elton, who is of Albanian descent, is committed to advocating for equality, basic human rights, and justice for other LGBTQ+ people in America and around the globe. As the creator of the Dignity Global Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to defending the civil and human rights of women and members of the LGBTQIIA+ community at work.
They started the “Lipstick Movement” and the “Nobody is Straight” movement for LGBTQIIA+ inclusion as an activist, two transgender acceptance campaigns.
They have walked the runway as a genderless model for well-known fashion houses like BESFXXK and the House of Mua Mua (Milan) (Seoul). Among other publications, they have been highlighted in Forbes, V Magazine, LA Weekly, and Miami Living Magazine.
Elton claims that “the modeling industry will shortly undergo significant transformation. The fashion runway isn’t any more sexist, outdated, or objectifying of women. Genderless modeling is more widely accepted by the public, represents all people, and is associated with the arts and creativity. “I also think that genderless models challenge conventional notions of “beautiful” and contribute to the fashion industry’s efforts to be more welcoming to women and LGBTQIIA+ populations. The first step toward freedom in the fashion business, which I find to be so tightly controlled, subjective, and occasionally really harsh, is the use of genderless models.
Elton aims to offer a gay presence to the runway that defies expectations and embodies free-spirited design. Prior to Elton, the LGBTQIIA+ community was only represented as a means of inclusion on the catwalk, but now it is starting to become the norm.
Elton Ilirjani (they/them) will participate in two catwalk shows during the upcoming New York Fashion Week by walking in them. They would walk the House of Mua Mua on February 12 and the BESFXXK two days later (as part of the Concept Korea runway show)
Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eilirjani/
The Headhunter Group: https://theheadhunter.com
Dignity Global: http://dignity.global/
