When fashion changes society: the story of April Ashley, the first trans model

What are the clothing items, events, fashion shows or fashion press campaigns that have perfectly reflected, and supported, the major social changes? When it comes to fashion and inclusion, we cannot help but notice how much, especially in the last decade, the fashion industry has made significant steps forward. Of course, those to be completed forward, in terms of representing diversity, are still substantial, but considering each stage crossed from the mid-1900s to today, nothing should be underestimated. Starting from first transgender model to be successful, between the 50s and 60s, in the fashion universe: April Ashley.

Although the sector of the modeling has changed radically since the time, when being declared transgender was enough to interrupt any remarkable career, it is thanks to pioneers like April Ashley that today, many models from the same community, find their place in the fashion system without hiding their identity.

The British model, born in Liverpool in 1935, was not only there first successful transgender model, but also one of the first to undergo sex reassignment surgery at the age of 25. Her career took off shortly after, when a couple of friends, actresses Sarah Churchill and Julia Lockwood, convinced her to move to London in 1960. Here, in a short time, she signed with an agent named Signon, who has started booking it six months in advance for projects with photographers such as Brian Duffey, Richard Dormer and Terence Donovan, some of the biggest names in the industry of those years.

“They all knew about my operation, they all knew who I was,” April Ashley said in the past. “None of the photographers gave a damn about my past. They wanted me in their wallet. ‘ Within a matter of months of her debut, the model started getting jobs for editorials and fashion shows, but her highlight came with theappearance on British Vogue, shot by photographer David Bailey. “Coming from the alleys of Liverpool, and being in the most glamorous situations … it was a dream come true” said the model who, posing in lingerie, was considered a real sex symbol of the time, on a par with Christine Keeler. However, his path was prematurely interrupted.

April Ashley’s dream came to an abrupt end in 1961, when the tabloids released her transitional story, after the revelation by an acquaintance for only 5 pounds. The news led all brands to stop working with her: although the model had tried to restart her career, signing with an agency in Spain, the contracts were also interrupted abroad, once the news was disclosed. However, her success and resilience have been a huge inspiration to the transgender models that came soon after, from Tracey. Africa Norman to Caroline Cossey, up to the most contemporary Hunter Schafer and Indiya Moore. In 2013 a whole exhibition was dedicated to April Ashley at the Museum of Liverpool, retracing his life and his becoming an icon.

But, above all, his fundamental contribution in creating a world and a fashion industry in which anyone can and must be represented. In fact, leading to today’s transgender models and models, not only to have a rich and proud career path, but also to have more and more fashion agencies that want do justice to both their beauty and who they are in the world. In the gallery below, some of the most representative photos of April Ashley’s career.

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– When fashion changes society: Chanel and women’s emancipation

– The small, big fashion stories: that time Vivienne Westwood gave scandal to Queen Elizabeth