Genderless model Elton Ilirjani brings LGBTQ+ to Seoul Fashion Week

Life & Style

Published: 22 Mar. 2023, 14:53 Updated: 23 Mar. 2023, 11:08

Genderless model Elton Ilirjani brings LGBTQ+ to Seoul Fashion Week

Elton Ilirjani during the Greedilous fashion show on Friday night at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul during Seoul Fashion Week 2023 Fall/Winter [SEOUL FASHION WEEK]

With its recent 2023 Fall/Winter collection, Seoul Fashion Week certainly made an effort to become more diverse and versatile, not only in terms of fashion but also by embracing the LGBTQ+ community.

One particularly noteworthy step it took to achieve that goal was inviting the event’s first genderless model to shine on the catwalk.

Elton Ilirjani, an Albanian-born LGBTQ+ activist, model and philanthropist with over 10.9 million followers on Instagram, was featured in the event’s five-day run for not one, not two, but four local fashion brands: MMAM (pronounced “meu-ah-meu”), Seokwoon Yoon, Greedilous and Maison Nica.

Ilirjani’s opportunity to model in Seoul Fashion Week started out with their friendship with designer Park Youn-hee, who leads Greedilous, after the two had met by chance in New York about a year ago and Park invited Ilirjani to walk in her show.

Ilirjani is also founder and CEO of The HeadHunter Group, a headhunting and recruitment company that has focused on establishing workplace equality for both women and LGBTQ+ communities across 15 countries.

Models at the Greedilous fashion show for its 2023 Fall/Winter collection [GREEDILOUS]

Ilirjani has been making headlines, as they are also the first and only public figure to have ever come out as openly gay in Albania, in 2006, and have been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ acceptance campaigns, like the “Lipstick Movement” and “Nobody is Straight.”

The Korea JoongAng Daily met with Ilirjani after the Greedilous show on Friday evening at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul. During the show they sported a large bouncy platinum-blonde wig with a matching blue graffiti coat — a signature Greedilous look — and pants outlined with white fur, complete with silver 8-inch platform high heels. Ilirjani's presence was so profound during the show that their appearance immediately earned applause from the audience.

For someone who had practically stolen the show that night, Ilirjani had a down-to-earth sense of humor and wholehearted personality. They were excitedly blowing air kisses to Park, along with some "I love you"s and joking that they would “divorce [their] husband and come to Korea.”

The following are excerpts from the interview.

Elton Ilirjani, left, and designer Park Youn-hee of Greedilous pose during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul on Friday night, during Seoul Fashion Week 2023 Fall/Winter. [SEOUL FASHION WEEK]

Q. Fantastic show you had for Greedilous. Could you briefly describe what you wore on the runway, and some of the details on your walk?

A. Today’s show was a wake-up call; it had a message of unifying family and bringing colors to the family, and this was important for me because some countries think that there is a family only between a woman and a man, while in New York, one believes there can be a family between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Youn-hee is very open-minded; she brings colors to Korea, and she definitely is one of the best. Do you know why I ran during the show? I ran because one girl in front of me had an incident with her high heel, and I just wanted to take the attention away from her.

Elton Ilirjani walks the runway during the MMAM show at Seoul Fashion Week 2023 Fall/Winter on March 15 in Seoul. [JUSTIN SHIN/GETTY IMAGES]

What makes Korea special from any other country you’ve been to, in terms of fashion or just the culture itself?

I love Korea. I originally come from Albania, which was a communist country. We have been compared in the past to North Korea, so I do understand what freedom means, and I’m here in support of the freedom. And I want to thank all of the people here that do their best to keep their democracy because I’m really impressed. This is shown in the colors of what I wore tonight — the blues, the whites. I mean, color itself is freedom.

I say this every time: Korea has the best fashion shows. I even say that you are better than Paris and New York sometimes, because of the quality of the clothing. For another show I am set to be in, Maison Nica [which was held Sunday], I consider her the Versace of Korea. She is such a wonderful futuristic designer, the same as Youn-hee, but in a different way. I’m always surprised by Korea. I knew that you have very good technology, but the fashion is also beautiful and handsome.

Korean fashion also changed the rules of fashion: They changed the idea of how the models are being treated. Before, models were treated like they were sexual objects, so you had to see a girl because she had nice legs or she had big lips. This created a stigma, like, ‘I can’t wear this outfit because it’s only good for Kim Kardashian or Naomi Campbell,’ but not everyone is Naomi Campbell. And, by the way, who is it to say that Naomi Campbell is more beautiful than this lady or than her? So while the outfit used to be in the function of the model, Korea is changing this, making the model at the disposal of the outfit.

Elton Ilirjani walks the Maison Nica show at Seoul Fashion Week 2023 Fall/Winter on Sunday. [MAISON NICA]

How do you define genderless, and how does that apply in fashion?

We want fashion to not see women as sexual objects. So we want to remove this stigma and discrimination. Everybody is beautiful because fashion is based on the energy. The beauty is not in sex, so the idea is that we want to go genderless. Why? Because we are fun and we bring joy and try not to see people sexually. This helps people focus on the cloth, not to my legs, and that’s why sometimes I don’t want to show my skin because when I do, people don’t see the cloth; they see something else.

I personally don’t like showing skin. People like skin, and they like to see it because it sells more. I do it when I have to do it, like because I want to be in the show. It’s not something I necessarily do with pleasure, but what I did with pleasure was this [showing a video of their walk during the Seokwoon Yoon show on Thursday]. I dedicated this to my father, who was a hunter, so he was wearing something like this. So when I did the show I really felt like him, with the tie. So I looked like a real man here and in every show I dedicate it to someone that’s very important to me.

In the Greedilous show, I dedicate it to my friends Sam and Marvin and their two babies: Connor and Rocco.

Elton Ilirjani walks the runway during the Seokwoon Yoon show at Seoul Fashion Week 2023 Fall/Winter on Thursday. Ilirjani dedicated their performance to their late father. [SEOKWOON YOON]

When you’re on the catwalk or social media, you are a glamorous diva, but at the same time you are a corporate CEO. How do you balance your fashion choices between the two?

My everyday fashion choices are different from what I wear on the catwalk. For example, I cannot wear this [gesturing to their silver platform high heels] in everyday life. In my daily life I’m a very simple, sporty guy, so I wear only sneakers. I actually don’t have normal shoes, I only have sneakers or high heels; there’s nothing between the two. I don’t have serious leather black shoes like other people.

How do you aspire to be a role model to the LGBTQ+ community, especially in the fashion industry?

I never thought I would be someone in human rights, but I guess it happened by the way I say things openly. Like when I was 11 years old in 1991, just after the communist regime collapsed in Albania, I sent a love letter to a man. So you know a guy like me with this character would find themselves in the center of the human rights activism. Whenever you are at the top of a movement, you are not there by chance; you are there because you really belong there. People want to follow you and they will understand if you are a fake or a liar or trying to profit from the movement.

In fashion, I want the younger audience to be relaxed first. Do not be divided in pink or blue, please, do not divide the children anymore, because no color belongs to anybody. And I want to tell the new generation that every color belongs to all of us, even black. The color black is the mother of all colors. It has also the yellow, red, green and blue. And when it comes to accepting themselves, people should be brave enough to accept themselves first. Because I’ve seen instances when they are accepted by family and even society as gays or lesbians, yet they still hide it. The first step is to love yourself and accept yourself, of course, and know yourself. Sometimes we surprise ourselves with things we didn’t know before.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]