After immediately captivating the world when she appeared on the scene in 2011, gender-bending model Andrej Pejic has officially launched her innaugural off-the-runway endeavor. The jewelry line, designed with New York-based husband-and-wife team Sam Snyder and Polina Gurtovaya, will top your spring wish list both for its bluntly striking aesthetic and philanthropic message.
"The whole collection is a reflection of who I am," Andrej told us. "Being free is not about defying rules; it's using rules and manipulating rules to define form." Proceeds from the 10-piece line-up, available now, benefit the Ali Forney Center, which is "dedicated to homeless LGBT youth and finding housing for them. It's a small, niche charity, but there's huge demand for it. In New York, there's something like 3,800 homeless kids and only 240 beds. It's at epidemic levels, and this is a community that I want to support," Andrej, 22, says. Many of the teens the Ali Forney Center works with have been banished from their homes. "Growing up, I had a very loving family," she says. "My parents accepted their children for whoever they were and loved them no matter what. These kids don't have that—I wouldn't even say privilege—they don't have that right."
The collection's rings, bracelets, and necklaces (plus an ear cuff) also come with a story. "It's all 3D-printed, which is like the word of the year," says Andrej. Snyder and Gurtovaya form handmade clay models from their sketches, then create a form using CAD. They make a plaster version after high-resolution wax is used to print the designs. Finally, the plaster prototype is encased by molten metal, which becomes the finished product after being buffed to a sharp sheen. Andrej's favorite piece? The silver choker pictured above.
Andrej, who describes herself as "sort of living life in between [genders]," is the first model to have walked in both men's and women's runway shows. "Because of the duality of my career and my life, I've learned about people and psychology," she says. "It's like being in a boy's world and a girl's world. I've learned that we all want the same things—everyone wants to be loved." Andrej believes social politics is a collective responsibility, adding, "I want to use my media exposure to create something bigger."
