A Talk with Model Kendall Parker
- Hannah Alm
- Oct 8, 2025
- 4 min read
Kendall Parker is an inspirational, aspiring high-fashion model. I've known him for just over a year, and we've walked in a couple of shows together in Kalamazoo, New York, and Detroit.
His calm, collected, and silently confident presence is comforting whenever we travel.
Kendall is currently based out of Detroit and works as a children 's research psychologist. His free time is spent enjoying 'the privilege of reading silently' and rescuing kittens.
Kendall started modeling in 2019, and when COVID hit, that halted the progress they were making, and he 'really got going' in 2021. I haven't been lucky enough to see Kendall since September 2024, but I was recently graced with a video chat that provided a little more insight into his experience as a transmasc model thus far.
Q: In what aspect of modeling do you find the most space for self/queer expression?
A: Accentuating my facial hair. With makeup or grooming, the hair itself. I wear it out daily. When there's room for the stache in a design, I take it and run with it.
I'm unafraid to discuss with the designer what I am comfortable with in terms of gender presentation.
At the start of my modeling career, I wasn't quite comfortable in fem pieces. The surer I become in my own identity, the more comfortable I am in a female-presenting fashion. Just as long as I'm eating.
I grew up loving feminine things and still very much appreciate them, obviously. I do not align with femininity when it comes to my gender.
However, I have progressively become more comfortable in feminine pieces. All I need is a good story behind the art. When put in garb that I don't personally identify with, I choose to become a character.
A designer, Veronica Wardowski, had me in a full-on leather get-up—grommets, studs, all that topped with some puffy shoulders. I asked about the inspiration behind the line, and as it turns out, their grandmother had wanted to join a biker gang but was given a flat no. Veronica's vision was that if her grandma had been able to cruise with two wheels, this is what they would have been. That is a character I did enjoy personifying.
Q: What pieces have you felt the most yourself in?
A: Honestly, Momo NYFW. Titties out. The whole walk, the photos, the fitting, it was a power move. It's still not often that top surgery scars are visible and in fashion spaces. It's as if many see it as an abnormality. My thoughts are just, 'yes, we exist and?' The outfit itself felt genderful and genderless all at once. I don't know, I felt like an alien creature.
Q: What do you wish you had more control over in the industry?
A: How people think of the gender binary in fashion. When signing up for a call or exploring agencies, options are still predominantly male or female. Androgyny is loved in high fashion, Tom Ford, Saint Laurent, to name a couple overt no-gender lovers, but it feels like I'm climbing an impossible ladder to get there. In the middle ground, it feels like there's not a whole lot of appreciation for it.
There's a lot of emphasis on marketability, especially when working with emerging brands. I've felt the pressure to water myself down to be digestible. The general consensus is conformity. This 'clean girl aesthetic' is being praised and pushed. No body hair. Perfect skin. I am undergoing gender affirming care, and the changes that come with it do not fit that bill.
Q: What is the worst experience you've had with modeling after coming out?
A: The first agency I've worked with made me pay an initial fee to work with them rather than a percentage of the jobs they would supposedly get me. In hindsight, I'd never pay to work with an agency again. It felt like a sham from the start, but they did offer some guidance. Not many opportunities were really provided.
I started with them during COVID. Around the same time, I was really coming into my gender identity. At the time, I was still somewhat fem presenting, but there was still some odd energy when it came to me and my 'different' identity. After leaving them, I eventually came to find out that the owners are mad transphobic. This explained their attitude of otherness towards me. One of the owners reposted on their personal TikTok, "God wasn't confused when he made you male or female. Satan is out to confuse and destroy your identity so you cannot realize that true satisfaction in your identity comes from Jesus alone and nothing else."
Q: What advice would you give your pre-modeling self?
A: Not every opportunity is worth it. Not every 'no' should be taken personally. It's okay not to be the perfect fit for someone's vision. It doesn't always mean they hate trans people. But sometimes they do. I'd tell myself to keep going, which I did, and I am.
Q: What do you hope for inside and outside of your modeling career?
A: Lately, I've been taking more and more breaks [from modeling]. I'm finding simply existing as myself socially and emotionally exhausting.
In terms of worries. The current administration is intentionally targeting us trans folks. We've been given the option to have an X on our passports. I have some fear of traveling in general and traveling for work. The potential of 'cracking down' on people with gender affirming passports has been at the back of my- and many others' like me- head for a while. I haven't considered reverting my government identification. I'm a defiant little asshole, and that won't be taken away from me.
The way I express my gender is powerful and rebellious in itself. It changes from day to day, keeping people on their toes. Androgyny doesn't have one particular look, neither does femininity or masculinity, and people need to know that.
I find wins in simply being brave enough to challenge what others think.
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