From Shiloh Jolie-Pitt to Willow Smith and Leah Dou – 6 LGBTQ+ icons setting fashion trends

The term “non-binary” has been tossed around quite a bit lately – meaning people who do not necessarily identify as masculine or feminine – but the concept is far from new.

In the 1980s, the word “genderqueer” – which had the same meaning – was used, a term coined by queer zines at the time.

Decades of debate on this issue came to the conclusion that society should not dictate what people should identify as, but, rather, individuals should be the ones to say where they stood. And more and more celebrities are setting the fashion trend for fans to follow.

So what are the rules for non-binary dressing? In the ’70s and ’80s, androgynous pop stars such as David Bowie, Annie Lennox and Grace Jones gave an early answer: gender neutrality, perhaps even rejecting gender.

Today’s generation, now in their teens, are challenging those rules. Here are six LGBTQ+ role models who are changing styles and setting trends.

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Shiloh Jolie-Pitt

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born female, but at the age of two, she told her parents Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt that she preferred to go by the name John. They have been fully supportive. Encouraged to be herself, the 13 year-old has developed her own, chic, tomboy sense of style.

Jolie-Pitt is often seen wearing a Versace shorts and high-top trainers combo when heading out in Los Angeles.

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In Tokyo, Shiloh appeared alongside her mother and sister Zahara at a red-carpet premier showing of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Angelina and Zahara wore dark, flowing gowns. Shiloh, meanwhile, wore a black varsity jacket with gold detailing with dark jeans and trainers. A week earlier at the same event in Los Angeles, she wore a white shirt, black trousers and trainers underneath a black leather jacket.

Willow Smith

In June of this year, Will Smith’s daughter, Willow, raised eyebrows in an episode of the web television talk show Red Table Talk that was dealing with unconventional relationships and multiple partners. After stating: “I love men and women equally”, she expressed her wish to be in a polyamorous relationship.

Now 18, Willow won awards as a child actor and had a platinum-selling rap single at the age of 11. As a model, she has fronted fashion houses including Marc Jacobs, Chanel and Prada.

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Leah Dou

Dou Jingtong, known as Leah Dou, made waves a few years ago when she posted an intimate close-up photo of herself and a blonde female friend on Instagram. A successful artist in her own right, she is the daughter of Chinese diva Faye Wong and legendary musician Dou Wei. With statements such as: “it doesn’t matter if you like boys or girls”, she has since become a lesbian icon.

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Her personal style is baggy and androgynous: a shaggy, pixie haircut combined with grungy oversized jumpers in dark colours. When asked about her tattoos – which include an alien doodle on her palm and a line down her chin – she has said she acts on impulse. “I’ve never regretted any of my tattoos,” Dou says. “And I don't really give it much meaning because I feel like if you do, then it's easier for you to regret it in time.”

Ian Alexander

In 2016 Ian Alexander broke boundaries when he landed the role of Buck Vu on Netflix’s The OA, making him the first transgender Asian-American to act on television. That was two years after he came out, to identify as trans masculine and pansexual.

Vocal on the issue of seeing more trans people in the media, the 18-year-old posts inspirational messages on Instagram, along with pictures of himself in elegant suits and tailored shirts, befitting his slender figure.

“My masculinity is whatever I want it to be. I view make-up and fashion as fluid as gender identity and sexuality; after all, masculinity in the 17th century meant wearing wigs, heels and make-up,” he said in an interview earlier this year.

Aaron Philip

Last year, 18-year-old Aaron Philip became the first disabled trans woman of colour to be signed with the renowned Elite Model Management agency. She’d been scouted through social media, where her combined Twitter and Instagram following is now more than 172,000.

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Philip was born in New York with cerebral palsy and her condition confines her to a wheelchair. Since her recent turn of fortune, however, she has modelled for Paper magazine, i-D magazine, the UK online fashion retailer ASOS and Dove beauty products. She has also appeared on the runway in the New York Fashion Week.

“The fashion industry has only known one type of body, and one type of marketable figure for so long,” Philip recently told CNN. “Now we're entering this time, and this climate, where all types of bodies want to be pushed forward and celebrated.”

Josie Totah

Josie Totah was born male. As J.J. Totah, she appeared on the Disney Channel and later won praise for her portrayal of an openly gay teenager named Michael in the NBC series Champions.

A year ago, at the age of 17, she said that she had all along been mislabelled. “I almost felt like I owed it to everybody to be that gay boy,” she said in an interview. “But that has never been the way I think of myself.” She announced she would transition medically, and would henceforth be known as Josie.

After dying her hair blonde, posts on Instagram have since shown her in revealing feminine attire: lamé gold minidresses, miniskirts, high-heels and midriff-exposing tops. Recently she partnered with The Stonewall Foundation and Ralph Lauren to model their joint Pride collection, and has been an active advocate of transgender rights.

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