Long before the 17-year-old model Casil McArthur became a favorite among Marc Jacobs and Steven Meisel, he struggled with gender dysphoria and not being accepted for wearing masculine clothes. At 13, though, he found relief from both going about his life and his modeling career under his then-name Dani Rose: cosplay, or dressing up as characters from mostly anime and manga series, proved not only the escape McArthur needed, but one that eventually taught him how to be comfortable being himself.
