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ModCloth’s First Transgender Model Rye Silverman Hopes to Empower a Community

Rye Silverman is the latest customer-model featured in ModCloth’s #FashionTruth campaign. (Photo: ModCloth)

The world of fashion advertising and editorial content is rampant with examples of the same type of woman, but buzzy fashion e-tailer ModCloth wants to change all that. For its #FashionTruth campaign, ModCloth is spotlighting its loyal Los Angeles-based customer Rye Silverman, a transgender writer and comedian who not only loves experimenting with style and beauty looks but also wants to inspire people who have been left out of the mainstream discourse.

When #FashionTruth launched in September 2014, ModCloth pledged to use diverse models, never to Photoshop, and to sell its clothing in a variety of sizes beyond 0 to 6. “The message we hear time and again is that only ‘aspirational’ imagery sells, and over time, the industry has converged on a very narrow definition of the word — a definition that makes many women and girls feel like they are not and cannot ever be good enough,” co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Susan Koger said in an open letter. “But the industry hasn’t always been this way, and it doesn’t have to be this way today.”

 

“I think beauty products, like anything else, can serve a really great use, as long as there’s not an abuse of that,” Rye Silverman told Yahoo Beauty. (Photo: ModCloth)

Silverman had been posting on ModCloth’s Style Gallery for years before she was picked as the new model, and she credits the company for much of her style exploration. The retro-inspired clothing company helped Silverman “define and refine her style, from figuring out what looks best on what body types, how to accessorize, what patterns and colors look cute together, and more,” Koger said in a press statement.

Silverman is also an interesting choice as a model, because she is 33 — another way she’s breaking barriers. Silverman didn’t come out of the closet until age 27. “That’s how old I was when I finally faced my fears about it and knew I couldn’t carry the secret of it, and was tired of feeling ashamed about it,” she told ModCloth. A few years after she came out, she started wearing makeup — particularly cult favorite NYX black eyeliner. “I love wearing eyeliner and having expressive eyes. That’s partly because my face is very masculine. I don’t have a lot to fix that — but I have nice lashes and I started curling them recently. At first, I didn’t want to wear eye makeup because when people avoided looking at my clothes, they would look at me straight in the eyes,” she told Yahoo Beauty. “I didn’t think wearing eyeliner was going to help with the situation.” Nowadays, she wears some makeup almost every day, and she credits YouTube tutorials to teaching her about makeup.

 

Rye Silverman captioned this selfie: “Holiday party makeup. #nofilter #gpoy #makeup #trans #genderfluid.” (Photo: Instagram)

Silverman openly acknowledges her struggles with beauty and confidence in her new comedy album, coming out on April 28. “I lost a lot weight in 2009, which is when I came out as transgender. Before that, I never really felt that good about myself,” she told Yahoo Beauty. “The fears of public scorn for gender bending was strong, and the level of self-consciousness about my body was strong.”

Acclaimed TV shows like Transparent and Orange is the New Black have made incredible strides in bringing transgender issues and people into the forefront of mainstream culture — and the fashion industry. In 2010, transgender model Lea T became the face of Givenchy and was named the face of Redken in 2014, making her the first transgender model to front a major cosmetics brand. In addition to her lucrative advertising campaigns, the Brazilian-born model has been in editorials for Vogue Paris, Interview, and Love (in which she is kissing Kate Moss). Last month, transgender teen Jazz Jennings became the new face of Clean & Clear’s #SeeTheRealMe campaign. Serbian-born Australian model Andreja Pejić, who up until 2014 was heralded as an “androgynous” model with the first name of Andrej, recently underwent sex reassignment surgery. “I always dreamt of being a girl,” the model told People. “One of my earliest memories is spinning around in my mom’s skirt trying to look like a ballerina.”

“I used to have these dumb rules about what I could and couldn’t do.” Silverman told Yahoo Beauty. “I think we have a long way to go, and I really like seeing people like Jazz out there too. I think it’s important that we tell our own story.”