Saskia de Brauw says being perceived as male isn’t “new” to her.
The Dutch model was recently signed to front Saint Laurent Paris’ menswear line, thanks to her unusual androgynous look.
Earlier this year the 35-year-old also appeared in a masculine shoot for Muse magazine entitled Out with the Boys, but the model says adopting a manly style doesn’t seem unusual to her.
“I didn’t even think about the shoot – I just showed up wearing my usual outfit of jeans, a black jacket and trainers,” she told British magazine Grazia.
“Part of it was getting everybody else to participate in something that maybe felt unfamiliar to them in a way it didn’t to me. Being perceived as a guy is nothing new or complicated to me. It is what it is.”
Saskia made history shortly after the shoot by becoming the first woman to be signed to the Ford agency as a male model.
A reason she doesn’t find the situation unusual could be because she has always been tall with an androgynous style.
“I’ve been 6f.t 2ins. since I was 13,” she explained.
“I remember as a teen being able to eat more than my father. I was growing so fast and my body couldn’t keep up.”
Gender fluidity is interesting to Saskia, who is also an artist and plays around with images of herself in wigs and heels.
Her day-to-day style may be masculine, but the model insists she also knows how to work a glamorous look.
“People are always saying, ‘Pick,’ and I’m saying, ‘I don’t have to,’” she asserted.
“I think it would be a lot easier if I said, ‘I feel like a dude,’ but I was raised by a southern mom, so I know how to put on lipstick and walk in heels and rock that look. It’s exactly that juxtaposition that confuses people.” – COVER MEDIA