The transgender model who became the star of Ideal Home Show's lingerie catwalk

  • Nicole Gibson, 32, was born a boy called Glen
  • Appeared at London Fashion Week in February hours before sex-change surgery
  • Has now undergone full gender reassignment surgery
  • Walked catwalk for Russian lingerie brand Sonata

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 12:59 EST, 13 November 2013 | UPDATED: 13:18 EST, 13 November 2013


Taking to the stage in front of hundreds of people in a sheer negligee would be a nerve-wracking experience for most people, but on Wednesday model Nicole Gibson had added reason to feel wary as she stepped out onto the catwalk at the Ideal Home Show.

The statuesque blonde was part of the event's celebrated Models of Diversity fashion show, where she too was celebrating her first professional modelling job since undergoing full gender reassignment surgery.

Nicole, 32, was born a boy and lived her life as Glen until two years ago when Glen confessed to his mother that he was suffering from gender dysmorphia, or gender identity disorder. This condition is one where a person instinctively knows there is a mismatch between their biological sex and the actual gender they feel themselves to be.

Nicole Gibson appeared on the catwalk today just months after having gender reassignment surgery
Nicole Gibson appeared on the catwalk today just months after having gender reassignment surgery

Nicole Gibson appeared on the catwalk today just months after having gender reassignment surgery

The Models of Diversity fashion show at the Ideal Home Show Christmas exhibition is Nicole's first post operative catwalk show

The Models of Diversity fashion show at the Ideal Home Show Christmas exhibition is Nicole's first post operative catwalk show

Nicole Gibson appeared on the catwalk today just months after having gender reassignment surgery
Nicole Gibson appeared on the catwalk today just months after having gender reassignment surgery

Nicole was modelling for Russian lingerie brand Sonata who champion lingerie 'for all kinds of women'

'Glen' was accepted for NHS funding for a sex change, a procedure which costs between £12,000 and £14,000, and after living as a woman for one year as well as completing a course of HRT Glen, who had become Glenny, became Nicole.

 

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Her mother Jan Gallaghan, a retired retail assistant, explained how the name choice came about: ‘We were sitting one day and she opened a magazine and there was an article with Nicole Scherzinger, Nicole Kidman and Nicole Richie and she said, “That’s it.”

Now Nicole is living her dream of modelling as a full woman after undergoing gender reassignment surgery in February.

Nicole was accepted for NHS funding for a sex change three years ago, a procedure which costs between £12,000 and £14,000
Nicole was accepted for NHS funding for a sex change three years ago, a procedure which costs between £12,000 and £14,000

Nicole was accepted for NHS funding for a sex change three years ago, a procedure which costs between £12,000 and £14,000

Unbeknown to her mother, Nicole had been paying to see three different psychiatrists. She had also been accepted for NHS funding for a sex change

Unbeknown to her mother, Nicole had been paying to see three different psychiatrists. She had also been accepted for NHS funding for a sex change, a procedure which costs between £12,000 and £14,000

Now fully recovered from the two-and-a-half hour operation Nicole took to the catwalk on Wednesday for Russian lingerie designer Sonata Rapalyte in a variety of luxury lingerie designs. She was selected from a huge number of potential models to star in the Models of Diversity show, an annual catwalk event at the Ideal Home Show that attracts thousands of spectators.

Models of Diversity is a charity championing beauty regardless of age, size, race, ability or shape founded by former model Angel Sinclair after she appeared on Gok's Miss Naked Beauty in 2008.

James Lyon, director at the company decsribes Nicole as 'a joy to be around, positive, upbeat and confident as well as beautiful the kind of model that clients love.'

Enlarge   Speaking last week for the first time about her experience, Nicole's mother, Jan Callaghan (above) said with a nervous laugh: 'If I slip up and say he, sheżll kill me'
Glen, aged seven, as a pageboy at a family wedding

Speaking for the first time about her experience, Nicole's mother, Jan Callaghan (left) said with a nervous laugh: 'If I slip up and say he, she’ll kill me'. Right, Glen, aged seven, as a pageboy at a family wedding

Nicole is no stranger to the catwalk though, taking London Fashion Week by storm just hours before she was scheduled to have her final reassignment surgery.

After her Fashion Week debut, Nicole told reporters that, as a child, she used to ‘dress up in dresses and pretend I was Elizabeth Taylor in the Blue Bird [a 1976 fantasy film] but I told everyone else I was pretending to be a wizard.’

She added: 'The fashion show was amazing. They say you have not really made it as a model until you walk along the catwalk in a sheer dress with your nipples showing - and here I was doing it in my first show. Luckily thanks to the hormones I have quite a nice pair now. I didn’t have time to get nervous, I was just so excited.'

Stunning model Nicole Gibson, seen left in a fashion shoot before she finally had her gender reassignment surgery last week
Nicole, who was once a boy called Glen, makes her debut on the catwalk during London Fashion Week

Stunning model Nicole Gibson, seen left in a fashion shoot before she finally had her gender reassignment surgery. Right, Nicole, who was once a boy called Glen, makes her debut on the catwalk during London Fashion Week

 

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You go girl ! you are stunning.

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She looks best in the second-to-last photo in lingerie.

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I would never even know she was a man. Good on her. And I have the feeling that she won't be using the NHS to change gender again so the money was well spent.

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not the prettiest of faces, which is what a woman typically needs to be a lingerie model... is she special? no

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I remember her! Awesome!

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Good for her but she has absolutely no hips and shouldn't be used to represent women. Fashion industry is doing nothing to rid young women of distorted body image.

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Wrong shape for a model, arms and legs too chunky, waist straight, bum too flat. Can't see how she got the job, far too ordinary.

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Reminds me of heather mills

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If you hadn't been told she was transgender, you simply wouldn't know. VERY attractive looking girl, no wonder she is getting work as a model. The penultimate picture of her wearing pink and black underwear, has her looking like a well known Brit Olympic swimmer who did well in 1980 ......

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this person looks so tatty badly dressed etc

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