Aaron Rose Phillip: the Trans Disabled Model Taking the Fashion World By Storm

From Tumblr to Moschino, Aaron Rose Phillip has launched into the fashion world with grace, setting a new standard for representation within the modelling world.

Credit: Elle

Aaron (pronounced A-ron) Rose Phillip is a Black, transgender, and disabled model currently taking the world by storm. In 2018, she was the first trans and disabled model to be signed by major modelling agency Elite Model Management. This came about from her posting on Twitter about her wish to be a model, posting modelling pictures daily on the site. She credits Naomi Campbell and Jillian Mercardo as influences behind her desire to model, and to create change within the modelling industry.

While officially making her runway debut in 2019 in Willie Norris’ fashion show, she has continued her exponential growth since. She continued modelling in the midst of the pandemic, featuring in Collina Starda’s digital runway, and with Marc Jacobs on various media projects. She was then made the sole face of Moschino’s 2020 Fashion Week, her first official major fashion campaign.

Speaking to Glamour about her drive to succeed, Aaron said,

“I feel I constantly have to assert what I want, being that I’m often put into positions where it’s so easy for me to be silenced and overlooked. I wish it wasn’t like that. Even in the intersection in my identity, in terms of my transness, I make it clear that before I am trans, more than anything, I just want to be a woman—a young woman. And despite my disability, I make it clear that I’m independent. I just need accommodations to live my best life.”

Identity

Credit: Moschino

Aaron has been part of the media space for a while, building her online presence with her Tumblr blog “Aaronverse”. At 14, she came out as gender fluid, stating that she had been identifying with the label for several years. However, in 2018 she officially came out as transgender, before signing with Elite Model Management.

She has continually expressed her thanks for being able to be involved within the modelling world. Especially, at how she now has the ability to challenge the world’s fashion standards and increase representation for her community.

“My goal is normalising the presence of disabled people, women/femmes who are trans and gender nonconforming trans people. So that we can simply work, exist and be authentically valued in the high fashion industry and the world itself as a whole.”

Credit: Dazed

Most recently, the model attended her first Pride march in New York City. Not only that, but she was also given the title of Grand Marshal to lead the march. She expressed to Vogue how her presence meant so much to her and her community as “hav[ing] them see me so profoundly, and with so much love and respect, I don’t take that lightly at all.”

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