Alex Consani makes trans history at the Fashion Awards

In a history-making announcement, the British Fashion Council has nominated runway model and TikToker Alex Consani for Model of the Year at the Fashion Awards. Consani is now the first out trans woman and second trans person overall to secure a nomination in that category.

The British Fashion Council announced the nominees on Tuesday, writing that the Model of the Year award “recognises the global impact of a model who, over the last 12 months, has dominated the industry, with an influence that transcends the catwalk.”

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In addition to Consani, Mona Tougaard—a Danish model who identifies as “part of the LGBTQ+ community” according to Vogue Scandinavia—also scored a Model of the Year nomination.

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After getting her start at the young age of 13 with trans agency Slay Model Management, Consani made her high fashion runway debut in 2021 with Tom Ford. Since then, she has certainly “dominated the industry” in recent years. According to Teen Vogue, she walked in 20 shows for the 2024 Fall/Winter fashion season for names like Mugler, Helmut Lang, and Marc Jacobs.

But most viewers have likely encountered Consani through her popular TikTok presence, where she posts under the handle captincroook to over 3 million followers. Her content there consists of playful and random videos, like dancing with furries in a fur coat.

@captincroook

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“I’m just really blessed. It’s amazing that I’ve built this community, especially with a lot of my followers on social media, they’re all generally queer, which is nice because I started modeling because I wanted to build a space or be a part of a space where queerness was a little bit more accepted,” Consani told Teen Vogue. “Having my voice be heard is incredible because it kind of perpetuates that, which is the goal for me.”

Last year, non-binary model Kai-Isaiah Jamal became the first out trans person nominated for Model of the Year, and they used their platform to speak out on the state of trans rights in the UK. “No one is ready to call this trans cleansing. But that’s cleansing. Either we lay down and let them win — or we fight back and take up space,” they said.

The Fashion Awards will take place on December 2 at the Royal Albert Hall.