Olympian Becomes First Woman to Sign an Exclusively-Male Modeling Contract

Artist, swimmer and former Olympian Casey Legler is in the process of adding another line to her resume: male model. As a model for Ford Models, Legler is making headlines over the fact that she models only men’s clothing for the agency. In fact, to her knowledge, she is the first woman to ever sign an exclusively-male modeling contract.

After competing in the 1996 Olympics, the 6’2 Legler chose a career path as an artist in New York city. Her foray into modeling only happened this last summer when she chose to help out a photographer friend in a pinch:

Legler landed the modeling gig this summer when her friend, the photographer Cass Bird, invited her at the last minute to participate in the role of a man for a photo shoot for Muse magazine. The photos were shared with an agent at Ford Models, and the next day, Legler was invited to sign a contract to work exclusively from their male roster.

Apparently, the practice of women modeling as men (and visa versa) is not unheard of in the world of fashion. Legler situation, however, is unique in that she is signed to a contract that has her exclusively modeling male clothing.

Still, it’s not a big deal to her. She sees this in two lights: firstly, as a “unique little moment that fashion is allowing to have happen,” and secondly, as a natural extension of her body of work as an artist.

I have a body of work. I don’t think that anyone looking at that body of work and then seeing me as a model would see it as any kind of a stretch. It implies something interesting. I am not the artmaker in those cases. I get to participate with other artmakers as part of their palette.

Find out more about Legler and her body of work (both as an artist and a male model) by watching the video at the top and/or following this link to the full Time Magazine write-up.