First black transgender woman with quadriplegic cerebral palsy signed to a modeling agency rages against whiteness at Met Gala

Aaron Rose Philip became the first ever black, trans-identified male with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who was signed to a major modeling agency, and as Philip rolled onto the red carpet at the Met Gala—again a first—it was said that he was "breaking barriers with every step." When giving a Ted X talk in Berkeley in 2024, Philip blamed the fashion industry's saying he doesn't have the "right look" on his not being white.

Just last year, Philip said "The fashion industry, though, is touristy, exclusive of many demographics of people, of those who are not wealthy or not a celebrity or not pale, able bodied or skinny. When I first started working, I was an anomaly to the industry, arguably, in many ways today, really I still am."

"I think it's time to say the quiet part out loud," Philip said. "The fashion industry is unlikely to book or pay black trans feminine and or physically disabled models to do runway editorial and or campaign because of an absence of whiteness, being able bodied or proximity to. So far, analyzing these disparities within these fashion industry has been an ongoing conversation, but also sort of hush hush, you know, and without lasting or consistent changes actually ever made, to address the problems at hand."

"This is what real representation looks like," said one account on X, racking up over 11 million views. Philip was wearing a gown by designer Louise Linderoth, who also uses a wheelchair. Philip was also featured on the cover of British Vogue.



LGBTQ+ magazine Pink News touted the history making moment as well, noting that Philip was the "first wheelchair user to attend the event in its 78-year history." Philip, referred to as "she" by Pink News, has modeled for Moschino and other fashion brands.

Speaking to Vogue ahead of the festivities, Philip said "For so long, disabled people were not represented anywhere. The thought of even being able to exist at an event like this... nobody even went there. To go from that to now, somehow finding myself there, I can't say how blessed and honored I feel attending.

"I think that for a long time, it’s been easy to see a disabled person in the public eye and label them an activist because we have no other choice but to speak up for ourselves in the spaces that we inhabit, because other people are not familiar with our bodies or how to accommodate us.

"We’re given the title of activist because we are challenging a social system. I think that people realize that there’s no choice but to do that if you have a disability in a major public space, because we have been so historically marginalized and pushed aside. Unfortunately, with the fascist shift in our global society, we are seeing people return to ableism and eugenics and harmful rhetoric toward disabled people," Philip went on.

Philip said that he wants to be seen as "a supermodel and a legend," and that he wants people to "see that disabled and black trans people matter always, and that we should've been in these spaces for a long time, and that there's nothing wrong with being people like us—and there's never been anything wrong with us."