Nate – formerly Natalie – is beginning his career as a male model.
Tuesday saw model Nathan Westling – whose previous work includes campaigns for Prada, Versace, Chanel, Dior – announce that he is transgender at 22 years of age.
The young model, who has been notably absent from the runways since walking in the Louis Vuitton show last October, revealed that he has spent the last six months living in Los Angeles and undergoing hormone therapy to align his physical self with his innate identity.
Westling chose the particularly modern tool of Instagram to announce his true self, outlining the details in an interview with CNN Style.
"It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows in the beginning,” he explained to CNN.
“My first two months of the transition were tough, and it wasn't until I started to see physical changes that aligned with ... my mental state that I finally woke up and (started) living. I'm happy. I can't even imagine going back to how I was before because it's just darkness."
For those who were avid followers of Westling's career, rest assured, as he isn’t leaving fashion any time soon.
His agency, the Society Management, released a statement confirming that he is continuing his career as a model. This time, though, it’ll be without his long red man.
He’s now, as Westling put it in the interview, “growing into [his] young adult male body,” which has seen him cut his hair short and put on some 20 pounds.
He now joins the ranks of fellow openly transgender models such as Hari Nef and Teddy Quinlivan, proving that fashion is a far more diversified place than it once was.
The last Louis Vuitton show he walked in starred a number of trans, queer and non-binary models, and interrogations of gender are permeating collections across the globe.
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Main image: Collier Schorr
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