Barneys Celebrates Gender Equality, Casts Transgender Models for Spring Ad Campaign

Barneys New York is featuring 17 diverse transgender models in a black-and-white campaign shot by fashion photographer Bruce Weber.

The Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters campaign consists of a series of photographs and videos featuring professional models, musicians, students, and activists around NYC dressed in designer clothing and surrounded by friends and family.

The photos will be accompanied by personal interviews with each model about their personal experience as a transgender person, and a longer video and several short films featuring the models will live on Barneys.com.

“I hope that my photographs and films of these 17 new friends, who are transgender men and women, convey the respect I have for them and how I stand in awe of their courage to face the world,” Weber said in a statement.

In his own statement, creative director Dennis Freedman said, “

Great progress has been made in regards to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community. Unfortunately, the struggle for transgender equality continues. In the end, it is our hope that that we can make a difference through this campaign.”

Barneys New York partnered with the National Center for Transgender Equality and the LGBT Community Center on the campaign, and 10% of all sales on Feb. 11 will be split between the two organizations.

[via PEOPLE]