Offbeat

Male model stars in Dutch bra ads

Gender-bending male model Andrej Pejic acknowledged Tuesday he’s the svelte blond “woman” featured in a Dutch advertising campaign for push-up bras.
“Did I ever think I had enough booty to advertise a push-up bra? No. But am I working it or what??” the Bosnia-born Australian – a runway favorite of Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs – said on his Twitter account.
Pejic, 20, is credited by name in advertisements for a 20 euro (USD 26) “mega push-up bra” from Dutch department store chain Hema in which he otherwise looks like a young blond woman in a figure-hugging black and red dresses.
“Pejic looks very pretty in the pictures,” said New York magazine on its fashion blog, which nevertheless predicted “a new round of opinion pieces” over whether fashion designers only care to create women’s wear for boyish bodies.
With his head-turning androgynous looks, Pejic has been an international runway star this year, notably closing Gaultier’s haute couture show in Paris in a wedding dress. He models menswear as well.

Taxi driver fined for wearing jeans
 
An Australian taxi driver was yesterday ordered to pay Aus$1,415 (USD 1,417) for wearing jeans to work despite insisting they were tailor-made and suitable for the job.
Shahram Forozandeh, 44, was prosecuted by the transport department for wearing the trousers contrary to industry standards when he was stopped during a routine inspection in January, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
In South Australia state, taxi drivers must wear smart business-style shirts and trousers, with jeans and tracksuit bottoms banned.
Forozandeh protested that his outfit was “purely wool and tailor-made”.
“I had no idea that it would be considered as not wearing a uniform as the material was pure wool,” he said.
Magistrates slapped him with a Aus$265 fine plus Aus$1,150 in costs.