Andreja Pejić

Early life

Pejić was born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina and has one older brother, Igor. Her mother, Jadranka Savić, is a Bosnian Serb, and her father, Vlado Pejić, is a Bosnian Croat. The couple divorced shortly after Pejić's birth. During the Bosnian War, Pejić and Igor fled to Serbia with their mother and grandmother, settling in a refugee camp near Belgrade. After the refugee camp, the family settled in Vojska village near Svilajnac.

After the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Pejić's mother felt unsafe and decided to initiate the process of emigration to Australia. In 2000, the family moved to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia as political refugees when Pejić was eight.

While attending high school at University High, Pejić was described as being "academically brilliant".

Career

Pejić was scouted as a model just before her 17th birthday while working at McDonald's, though she has also said in an interview that she was scouted at a swimming pool while still in high school in Melbourne.

Pejić was initially notable for modelling both masculine and feminine clothing. In the Paris fashion shows of January 2011, Pejić walked both the men's and women's shows for Jean-Paul Gaultier and the men's shows for Marc Jacobs. In May 2011, her magazine cover for the New York-based magazine Dossier Journal—in which Pejić is pictured taking off a white shirt with long blond locks in curlers—was ruled too risqué by US bookstores Barnes & Noble and Borders, which covered the image with an opaque sleeve. Concerns were expressed that customers would read Pejić as a topless woman.

At the Stylenite in July 2011, Pejić appeared on the catwalk both in masculine and feminine clothes from Michalsky. The following year, she modeled bridal creations by Spanish designer Rosa Clara at Barcelona's Bridal Week 2013.

In 2011 Pejić ranked No. 18 on the models.com Top 50 Male Models list, was named one of Out's Most Compelling People, and was ranked No. 98 in FHM magazine's 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011, an award that was criticized for its hostile tone to transgender individuals, especially transgender women; the magazine referred to Pejić as a "thing", commenting, "Pass the sick bucket." FHM subsequently removed the copy accompanying Pejić's entry and posted an apology.

Andreja has appeared in/on the cover of the biggest fashion publications in the world including, Vogue, Elle, ID, Dazed and Confused, Love, Fashion, Allure, Purple, Numero etc.

On 6 August 2012, Pejić appeared as a guest judge on Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model.

In 2013, Pejić appeared alongside Iselin Steiro, Saskia de Brauw, Tilda Swinton and David Bowie in the video for Bowie's 2013 single "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)".

In late 2013, she made her acting debut playing Radu the Beautiful in the short-lived Turkish TV series Fatih, which is based on the life of Mehmed the Conqueror.

In late 2013, Pejić underwent sex reassignment surgery. In July, she spoke about her transgender identity with an interviewer from People.

In September 2014, Pejić announced plans on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform to create a film about her reassignment surgery and life as a transgender woman. Pejić started off with a modest projected goal of $40,000, ultimately exceeding the target funding goal.

Pejić became the first openly transgender model profiled by Vogue, in its May 2015 issue.

In 2015 Andreja also became the first ever trans woman to sign a cosmetics contract.