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Talking with Hari Nef
Between Snapchatting for Gucci backstage at the Men’s Fall Winter 2016 Fashion Show and walking the runway, model and actress Hari Nef talked transgender labels, her dream role and her favorite dress by Alessandro Michele.
How do you envision the world’s attitude towards transgender men and women in 20 years time?
I almost feel like the label ‘transgender’, it’s really helpful right now for organizing communities and educating people about gender fluidity. But my hope is that in 20 years we’re not even saying these words anymore. My hope is that people who identify along the lines of gender that might not necessarily align with how they’re born, hopefully in 20 years time there won’t be genders aligned with how you’re born, there will just be choice. I feel like ‘transgender’ is a transitional term that we’re going to need up until we can just embrace gender fluidity for everybody on anybody’s terms. That’s my utopian vision.
Why does Alessandro Michele’s conversation about gender in fashion feel authentic to you?
Well, it feels authentic to me because it’s not much of a conversation. It’s him, he’s creating from a very authentic place based on a fearless access to his impulses and his vision and his desires. He’s an artist and he’s not so caught up on these constructs of ‘men’s wear’ and ‘women’s wear’, ‘what does an Italian brand have to look like?’, ‘what does a man have to look like?’, ‘what does a woman have to look like?’. He creates his own people for this brand. I think it’s just a platform for him to be doing what he was put on the planet to do.
What is your favorite Gucci piece and where did you wear it?
It was the LACMA event with Alessandro and the Gucci family in LA. It was the black silk dress with the bird on the bust with the deep V, but I had actually worn the wool version of that dress in an editorial where I went inside a bathtub and got soaking wet. I remember seeing that dress on the runway and I was obsessed with it and then they pulled it for the shoot. It’s like my favorite dress.
I almost feel like the label ‘transgender’, it’s really helpful right now for organizing communities and educating people about gender fluidity. But my hope is that in 20 years we’re not even saying these words anymore. My hope is that people who identify along the lines of gender that might not necessarily align with how they’re born, hopefully in 20 years time there won’t be genders aligned with how you’re born, there will just be choice. I feel like ‘transgender’ is a transitional term that we’re going to need up until we can just embrace gender fluidity for everybody on anybody’s terms. That’s my utopian vision.
Why does Alessandro Michele’s conversation about gender in fashion feel authentic to you?
Well, it feels authentic to me because it’s not much of a conversation. It’s him, he’s creating from a very authentic place based on a fearless access to his impulses and his vision and his desires. He’s an artist and he’s not so caught up on these constructs of ‘men’s wear’ and ‘women’s wear’, ‘what does an Italian brand have to look like?’, ‘what does a man have to look like?’, ‘what does a woman have to look like?’. He creates his own people for this brand. I think it’s just a platform for him to be doing what he was put on the planet to do.
What is your favorite Gucci piece and where did you wear it?
It was the LACMA event with Alessandro and the Gucci family in LA. It was the black silk dress with the bird on the bust with the deep V, but I had actually worn the wool version of that dress in an editorial where I went inside a bathtub and got soaking wet. I remember seeing that dress on the runway and I was obsessed with it and then they pulled it for the shoot. It’s like my favorite dress.
What would you write your first book about?
I don’t want to talk about it because it’s brewing in my head. Having been brought up in this industry under Jill Soloway with the first experience with Transparent and also what I’ve learned from my new, very good friend Lena Dunham… I know I’m dropping names but what I’m trying to say is that the women that I’m around who I look up to so much, and they write what they know. They write from their lives, they write from their traumas, their desires, they create a story out of their lives that isn’t myopic and looks at a bigger picture as well. So that’s the way I want to write one day.
What’s your next dream role?
The audition’s on Wednesday.
In the bathtub: Rollacoaster Magazine October 2015 Issue
I don’t want to talk about it because it’s brewing in my head. Having been brought up in this industry under Jill Soloway with the first experience with Transparent and also what I’ve learned from my new, very good friend Lena Dunham… I know I’m dropping names but what I’m trying to say is that the women that I’m around who I look up to so much, and they write what they know. They write from their lives, they write from their traumas, their desires, they create a story out of their lives that isn’t myopic and looks at a bigger picture as well. So that’s the way I want to write one day.
What’s your next dream role?
The audition’s on Wednesday.
In the bathtub: Rollacoaster Magazine October 2015 Issue
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