Ines Rau

Ines-Loan[1] Rau (born 1990[2]) is a French model. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for November 2017, and the first openly transgender Playmate.[3][4][5][6]

Ines Rau in 2016
Ines Rau (2017)

Early life

Rau was born in Paris and is of Algerian descent.[1][7] Assigned as male at birth, Rau transitioned and underwent sex reassignment surgery at the age of 16, after being inspired by the life story of English trans model Caroline "Tula" Cossey.[1][7] Afterwards, she lived as a woman but did not divulge her transgender identity until she was 24.[8][9][4]

Career

After turning 18, Rau started dancing for DJs in Ibiza, during which she became friends with David Guetta.[10][8] In 2013, at age 23, she first posed nude with Tyson Beckford for a spread in OOB, a French luxury magazine, shortly after coming out as transgender.[11] In May 2014, she first appeared in Playboy's "A-Z issue" in a spread titled "Evolution" that aimed to depict the growing acceptance of gender identities beyond the male-female binary.[12] She became the second transgender woman to be featured in Playboy after Cossey in 1981, and the first who came out voluntarily (Cossey was outed against her will and reappeared in the magazine in 1991).[5]

Following her magazine appearances, Rau worked as a model for Nicole Miller, Alexis Bittar and Barneys New York.[13] She also appeared in Vogue Italia and in a campaign for Balmain.[8]

In October 2017, Cooper Hefner, son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, announced that Rau would appear as "Playmate of the Month" in the magazine's November/December 2017 issue, making her the first openly transgender woman to be featured this way.[3][4][5] Hefner likened the choice to feature Rau to his father's decision to feature Jennifer Jackson as the first African-American model to appear in Playboy as a Playmate in 1965.[3]

Activism

Following her coming-out, Rau became more active campaigning for transgender rights. In 2016, she appeared on the TF1 news format Sept à Huit on an episode focused on her life.[9]

References
  1. McCoppin, Suzy (2014-04-15). "Transgender Model Ines-Loan Rau Rocks The Fashion World!". Popdust. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  2. Randanne, Fabien (October 20, 2017). "VIDEO."Playboy": Qui est Inès Rau, la première femme trans "Playmate du mois"?". 20 minutes (in French). Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  3. Salam, Maya (2017-10-19). "Playboy to Feature Its First Transgender Playmate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  4. Respers France, Lisa (2017-10-20). "Ines Rau is the first transgender Playmate". CNN. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  5. McCarthy, Ellen (2017-10-21). "Ines Rau named Playboy's first transgender Playmate". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  6. Sabrina Barr. "Transgender woman to grace German Playboy cover for the first time". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  7. "The Beautiful Ines Rau | Of The Minute". MODELS.com. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  8. del Gaizo, Anna (2017-10-18). "Meet Your November 2017 Playmate, Ines Rau". Playboy. Archived from the original on 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  9. Okwodu, Janelle (2016-05-19). "Ines Rau Is Speaking Out, Breaking Boundaries, and Lifting the Veil on the Life of Trans Models". Vogue. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  10. McBride, Jessica (2017-10-19). "Ines Rau: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  11. Beusman, Callie (2013-11-08). "Tyson Beckford and Trans Model Ines Rau Are Gorgeously Naked". Jezebel. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  12. Quinn, Dave (2017-10-19). "French Model Ines Rau Makes History as Playboy's First Transgender Playmate". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  13. Saltzman, Stephanie (2015-07-20). "8 Transgender Models You Need to Know". Allure. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
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