Last Friday marked a major moment of representation for Black, trans, and disabled people in fashion. Model Aaron Philip was revealed as a face of Moschino’s fall 2020 campaign.
The black-and-white campaign was shot by photography duo Luigi and Iango, who captured Philip as a sort of “sexy, alien Marie Antoinette,” as she put it. The occasion marks her first-ever major fashion campaign for a luxury brand. “i’ve been too shell shocked to try & say anything prolific, but this is SUCH A BIG DEAL BEING A PHYSICALLY DISABLED PERSON/MODEL IN A CAMPAIGN LIKE THIS 😭❤️ i really am so so very happy & i hope the community is too! this is the start! more REAL space for us!” she said in a Twitter post.
“In this world u gotta work to be an it girl,” Philip wrote on Instagram. The 19-year-old has been hard at work for several years. She started posting photos of herself on Twitter in November 2017, using the internet to express her hopes of becoming a model. A year later, Elite Model Management brought her on, making her the first Black trans disabled woman ever to be signed by a major agency.
Since then, she has modeled for Sephora, Willie Norris, Teen Vogue, Nike, Collina Strada, the cover of Paper’s 2019 “Pride” digital issue (in which she was interviewed by Naomi Campbell), and much more. Along the entire way, she has advocated for trans and disability representation and rights. Let’s hope this really is the start of something.