Trans models Maddie and Margo Whitley talk empowering their community

Your model agency PRM is known for its progressive focus on diversity and ethics –  why this is important to you both and the work you’re doing?

Margo: Having an inclusive and accepting board is really important for us. We want a team that knows that we’re different and celebrates it rather than hides it. It’s really important to us to not just be marketed as like, ‘well, you guys pass’. It’s important that they recognise that we are different and also include us in the narrative of being trans models.

Maddie: Yeah, it’s also been important for us to be able to spread our story, which is the whole purpose of why we’re modelling in the first place.

You’ve said before that “gendered fashion is on its way out” – tell me about this, what you’ve seen, why this is a liberating and powerful thing?

Maddie: Margo and I originally loved doing men’s shows, and we were finding that more women were doing men’s shows and more men started going into the women’s shows and stuff. And then with this new wave of gender inclusivity with trans models, non-binary models, gender fluid models, everything started blurring together and mixing and matching. We just noticed that it was always a lot cooler and a lot more fun if we did it that way and everybody had a better time.

Margo: It’s been really cool to be a part of it. I wouldn’t say that we’re fronting it or anything, but to almost be a part of a new and inclusive, ever-evolving type of gendered fashion erasure… We’re blurring the lines a lot, and it’s been really fun, especially as trans models. Because we showed that there’s no such thing as like, man or woman. It’s just we’re wearing the clothes, and we feel good.

How does the visibility of trans models like yourself on the catwalks affect representation in that world?

Margo: I think that the more trans women that are on the runway, the better TBH – it’s important to see trans representation, for younger trans people to think ‘wow, this idea of what’s beautiful and what’s in can include me’. It’s been really empowering and very powerful to get messages from trans people who have followed fashion and see our story and they’re like, ‘Wow, you make me feel seen, you make me feel beautiful. You’ve inspired me and I want to do the same. I want to come out’. It’s been amazing.

You’re both big on TikTok – is there a sense of community there?

Margo: Yes, and I would say growing a community on TikTok was really important, and definitely helped establish ourselves as good trans people, pushing the narrative forward – like a role model, almost.

What are your thoughts about GLAMOUR’s Logan Brown cover and what it means for trans representation? And more than that, visibility of pregnant trans men?

Maddie: I think it’s a really impactful cover. Obviously, it’s not something we’re gonna see every day. It’s not something that’s going to be typically normalised, but it can be cool to be educated on and learn about. I think it’s really important for everybody to see that this is a possibility for people – because human beings are fluid and cool and do amazing things like this.