On Leyna: a CHLOE
top, KIRIN pants,
IPPOLITA earring
and NEW YORK
VINTAGE necklace
and ring.
W
hen Leyna Bloom walked the 25th annual Latex Ball,
one of the most anticipated fashion and dance
competitions among transgender women and gay
men in New York City, the crowd went wild. Wearing
a sexy little sculptural number embellished with
faux foliage, she was greeted by shouts of “Miyake!”
and “Mugler!”—a nod to her newly minted status as
“mother” of the house named for iconic designers
Issey Miyake and Thierry Mugler.
“Ballroom hadn’t seen her in five years,” recalls Yusef Williams, house
“father” and celebrity hairstylist. “No one saw her transition. She came back as
this beautiful blossomed woman. That was probably one of the most memora-
ble moments in ballroom history because it was her return in a new house. It
was a very big deal.”
Indeed, Bloom’s return was much bigger than the trophy she would win
for the good face and flair she brought to the stage. During her time away
she had matured, become more confident in her talents and started to set
her sights on opportunities beyond the balls. Her determination paid off.
This year, as lead actress in the Martin Scorsese–produced film Port
Authority, Bloom made history as the first trans woman of color to star
in a movie that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Born on Chicago’s South Side to an African-American military man and
a woman from the Philippines—the two met while he was on active
duty—Bloom was destined for an unconventional life. When Bloom was
two years old, her mother was deported to her home country, leaving a
gender-nonconforming child to be raised primarily by her father with the
help of her paternal grandmother and aunt. “Being a military man and
raising a feminine energy from birth into adulthood was truly a challenge
for him,” Bloom says, “but he did the best he could, and he gave me
nothing but love. And that’s all I needed.”
Inspired by her talented lineage, which included a great-grandmother who
owned a dance studio, an aunt who danced with Sammy Davis, Jr., and a
cousin, Lee Howard, who is a famed tap dancer, Bloom embraced dance as
her go-to form of expression. After performing in productions like Swan Lake
and The Nutcracker, a 15-year-old Bloom was approached to join the ballroom
circuit. She quickly began snatching trophies for her showstopping presence.
At 18, after coming to terms with her gender identity, she dropped out of the
Chicago Academy for the Arts because it wouldn’t allow her to continue the
scholarship she had won as a male while presenting as female. She decided to
move to New York City.
Bloom’s earliest days in the Big Apple weren’t glamorous by any means,
especially since she didn’t have a survival plan. She was homeless, scraping
together money for cheap pizza and sleeping on subway seats. One day,
Bloom met the owner of a SoHo boutique while perusing its coffee-table
books. She was married to photographer Antoine Verglas. After an introduc-
tory call, Bloom secured a photo shoot and a ticket to major exposure.
“He was asking me, ‘Why are you not signed to an agency? Why are you
not working?’ ” Bloom recalls. “And next thing you know I was shooting with
this photographer who had worked with Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu and
Cameron Diaz.” Her fortuitous session with Verglas led to her gracing the
winter 2014 cover of Candy magazine with 13 other trans women of note,
including Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, Geena Rocero and Carmen Carrera,
positioning her as a role model for the larger LGBTQ+ community. “I was
like, ‘This is that historical moment I want to be a part of,’ ” Bloom says.
A few years later she made a splash at New York Fashion Week, walking
the runway for brands like Chromat, LaQuan Smith and The Blonds. ShortlyESSENCE.COM I 132 I SEPTEMBER 2019