(upbeat pop music)
- I love fashion.
I think it is something that you can definitely
describe yourself through.
It is something that can make you unique.
- I watch a lot of runways shows,
but you're not going to see my body type,
which is sort of short and like a little square.
- When you see yourself a lot in the media,
that's a message to you that your body is acceptable,
that your body is ideal.
And so to not see yourself,
it makes you feel like, other, or alien.
- High fashion, and the fashion industry,
it's creating this image of, you know,
something to aspire to and when you see someone
there that's like you,
it connects with you on a deeper level
and makes you feel like you can be someone.
- I'm definitely a little nervous,
these Buzzfeed videos, man.
You see a lot of girls with not a lot of clothes on
and I know how that shit feels right now.
(pop music)
- I am scared,
I'm definitely nervous,
but I can really get behind the idea of switching
gender roles.
I feel like I'm constantly preaching that
people should use their privilege to help
people that don't have that privilege.
It's kind of a small step,
but any way that I can use my privilege,
I'm always excited to.
- We need to shift the narrative
of what society, or the images that are pushed out
into the current media,
about who we are as people of color,
who we are as women, who we are as just human beings.
- I love the Prada image that we will be recreating.
It's funny because I look at the image
and I immediately thought,
these should be ethnic women.
- I'm excited for it, they're very stone faced.
I typically smile a lot,
like when I get serious it's kind of scary,
so I don't really like to be that,
but I think it will show off a more fierce side of me.
- It kind of perpetuates this idea
that there's one way to look in order to be considered
beautiful and that's just not the case at all.
I think that you have women of color,
you have trans women, you have trans women of color,
you have all these diverse people
who are all beautiful in their own way.
- As a trans woman growing up,
no I did not see very many positive representations
of trans women.
If anything I only have seen negative representations.
- If I see a woman than looks like me,
that has the same hair, same image,
I feel like already you have me.
Okay those pants look cute on her, they look cute on me.
- Today I'll be recreating a Chanel ad.
I think that fashion is art that we wear.
So I think that the purpose of clothing
is to represent the self.
So you wear this shirt because you think it says something
about X, Y, or Z, about you.
I also think that fashion upholds our gender
and body ideals.
Ads are so ubiquitous in our every day,
it's impossible not to take something away from them
and not to have it like imprint itself on your mind.
- I have definitely seen the Mark Wahlberg
Calvin Klein image.
Dude is ripped, like crazy ripped.
I mean he probably took like a couple of months
to get that body together.
The gesture of grabbing your nuts,
I kind of do that by default.
It's definitely bravado, very masculine,
very not giving a fuck.
- I'm kind of excited to be posing in my underwear.
I was always, you know, the naked roommate.
- I absolutely think that there should be more
pregnant women in ads for things other than
sort of like baby or maternity related things
because it's something that is very natural
and happens all the time.
And as pregnant woman, I don't stop wanting to feel sexy
the second that there's a baby growing in my womb.
- I remember telling my mom, growing up,
like the prettiest Asian person wouldn't
compare to the ugliest white person.
Because that's all I saw in the media.
I only saw Asians as nerds or like just really minor
characters that weren't important to the story.
- There needs to be more diversity.
Not just with black models, but models of all cultures,
and also more trans models, there are so many out there.
- I'm like an between-y, which is like half plus size,
not really straight size.
And I never really found anybody like that,
especially Latina.
- I haven't ever looked at like an underwear ad
and thought that I saw myself,
but I think that's because I already could just see me
rocking them anyway so I was just like okay,
I'm not there but I'm gonna be there someday.
- People are finding their voices
and people are realizing that they're deserving
of representation and of beauty.
- If there's one thing I could tell big fashion companies,
it would be please hire more girls who look like me,
or look like the other girls who are out on the street.
Instead of just one type, in ethnicity
and body type because I feel like we need
to be represented too.
- I think that the world is already a very beautiful place.
But I often wonder how it would make people feel mentally,
if they saw themselves more, if they're represented more.
I know that when I saw myself
I was practically moved to tears.
- It's not just one face that's looking at these
magazine covers, it's plenty of different diverse
faces who come from different backgrounds,
and that's important, that it's represented.
- More and more, the more visible that I am,
when it comes to my identity,
I think the more that it reaches an audience
that are like me and are inspired by seeing me.
- Automatically like when I look at the Mark Wahlberg
picture, I was just like admiring the hard work
that went into the body, rather than wanting
that body, if that makes sense.
- It's a rarity that you'll like see a half naked dude
and a fully clothed woman.
It's usually the opposite of that so it made me like
just think about how a woman would feel,
doing what I just did, which happens all the time.
- This is that black girl magic in full effect,
and I don't have to be in a dress with a press
and curl, you know what I'm saying.
I can rock these locks, I don't have to have on
a whole bunch or eyelashes and stuff.
- I'm 35 weeks pregnant and I'm working today, you know?
So I think, normalizing pregnancy is just like another
part of everyday life is really important.
- A young trans girl, or anyone in general
who wants to follow their dreams
and feels like they don't see themselves,
I would tell you that sometime, you have to break that mold.
Sometime, you have to be the first person
and don't look for someone to tell you
that it's okay, or you're valid.
Go out there and break down those walls and do it yourself.
- The world is all shapes, all sizes,
all everything, it's not just one thing,
so yes, inclusivity completely matters
in life, because that's what you see in real life.