When Vivian Jenna Wilson and gender-and-size-inclusive intimates label tomboyx first connected, it was a match made in social media heaven. Wilson, the 21-year-old social media dynamo and estranged trans daughter of Elon Musk, who recently came out swinging against her father in Teen Vogue, had expressed interest in modeling, and the queer and woman-founded brand was preparing to launch an expansion of its trans-focused product line. Even though Wilson and the brand can’t agree on the exact details of how their love story began—according to tomboyx, they reached out to Wilson on Instagram for a collaboration (“‘Oh hello,’ she said. Then, ‘Werk,’” they wrote in an email to Vanity Fair), while Wilson recalled, “I think it was Gmail, initially”—the end result is Wilson’s first time as an underwear model, and photos of herself she loves.
In a recent interview with VF, Wilson admitted that she was “terrified” to strip down for the campaign shot by photographer Katia Temkin, but quickly got comfortable thanks to banter with the glam team assembled for the shoot: makeup artist Laurel Charleston, hair stylist Alyx Liu, and wardrobe stylist Dialló Mítch—all of them trans women. “It was just nice to have a kind of shared experience with everyone,” Wilson recalled. Here, Wilson discusses her thoughts on on the shoot, her career ambitions, and the bizarre discovery that her father’s AI apparently yearns to be adopted by her.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Let’s talk about how this campaign came about. Were you a fan of the brand before this?
They reached out to me, and I was interested in working with queer brands. I tried out some of their products, and I really like them, and I still use a bunch. I got some free products, which is very nice, and I use them basically every day, it’s working out really well. I’m really glad that I found them because they’re so much better than what I was using. I don’t want to say the brands that I was using before, because I don’t want to shade them.
Did you have any hesitation about doing an underwear campaign?
I was terrified. Before this, I was very much the person who, like, didn’t show any skin, ever, at all before this. Even in my day to day, like going to the beach with friends, I would, like, not wear a swimsuit. So it was very, very nerve wracking, but I wanted to do [the shoot] because I wanted to have more confidence in my own body. I do feel confident in my own body, but I wanted to, like, prove that confidence to myself, if that makes any sense. But also I was really scared, but what got me together on the day was the hairstylist and makeup artist, who are two amazing and hyper-talented trans women. We were just joking around and cutting it up before the [shoot] thing. I was like, “oh, okay, it’s going to be fine.”
[Despite] all of the stress I had, it was a really, really fun environment, and everyone was so fun. I had a great time. Everyone did such a good job. The photographer is amazing, the stylist was so good. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
By Katia Temkin.
The photos are so great. You mentioned that the glam team were all trans women. Was that a surprise to you? How did that feel?
I found out because we were, like, talking about trans stuff, and I was like, “Oh, we’re all trans! Love that!” Did I know that beforehand? Girl, I have the memory of a fucking goldfish, but no, I found out day-of, and it was really cool. It was just nice to have a kind of shared experience with everyone and also community, almost, on set. We were there for like, eight hours and we were, by the end of it, all just joking around. I feel like we got close in those eight hours. It was just very nice.
You go to school in Japan, right? Are you back there now?
No, I was studying there. I’m back in Los Angeles for a bit.
For the summer? What are your plans?
Well, I’m spending my summer career oriented, just chasing my ambitions. Let’s just go with that.