Marie-Pierre Vancallement (born 15 April 1935 in Wattrelos), known as Fétiche, is a French model and vedette. A trans woman, she had a career in cabaret in the 1950s and 1960s alongside trans performers such as Bambi, Capucine, and Coccinelle. She obtained a change of legal gender marker without having undergone sex reassignment surgery, thanks to the intervention of President François Mitterrand.[1]
Marie-Pierre Vancallement | |
|---|---|
 Fétiche at the age of 90, photographed by Marc Martin | |
| Born | April 15, 1935 Wattrelos |
| Occupations | Showgirl, dancer, model |
| Notable work | Fétiche par Fétiche (2025) |
Biography
editAssigned male at birth, Fétiche grew up in northern France. Her father died when she was only 14. She contributed to the family expenses by working in a factory from a very young age, but she dreamed of becoming a singer.[1]
Fétiche moved to Paris in 1956 and began her career at the Festival on Rue du Colisée with a singing performance, dressed as a boy.[2][3] Following her encounter with Coccinelle and Bambi, she became a showgirl at the gender-bending cabaret Madame Arthur[4] and then Le Carrousel de Paris.[5] She made history by becoming one of the first transgender models.[6] She began modeling in 1961 for the avant-garde couturier Jacques Esterel,[7] with contemporary press noting her defying the conventions of haute couture.[8] She graced the front page of the daily newspaper Paris Jour on April 19, 1961, and embarked on a tour of Japan with the Carrousel troupe. After 30 years on stage and relocation of the cabaret in 1985, Fétiche moved into another field and worked in television production.[8][3]
Pascal Sevran hired her for the production team of La Chance aux chansons and intervened with his friend François Mitterrand to help her obtain identity papers that matched her appearance.[8][1][9] Invited to the Élysée Palace for the presentation of Legion of Honour to Pascal Sevran in 1991, Fétiche thanked the President of the Republic for allowing her to no longer be "outside the law".[9] In 1999, she left television studios for Marianne Mélodie, a record label specializing in reissuing French songs, before retiring.[10][11]
By the age of 90, Fétiche published her autobiography Fétiche par Fétiche, J'en ai tant vu at éditions Atlande with the help of Matthieu Moulin.[12] To celebrate the event, the town hall of the 17th arrondissement of Paris – the arrondissement where she lives – organized a literary evening in her honor on November 6, 2025.[13]
Since the release of her autobiography, Fétiche has been giving numerous interviews and has been reappraised as a pioneer of trans identity in France.[14] In November 2025, she gave Maurine Charrier her first account of taking hormones and experiencing police repression for Têtu magazine. On December 4, 2025, the fashion magazine Antidote ran the headline "Fétiche by Fétiche: The Essential Memoirs of One of the First Trans Models in History." On December 10, 2025, at the Trianon in Paris, Fétiche was invited to the third "Têtu Awards Ceremony," which recognizes advances in LGBTQIA+ visibility and rights.[15] Strobo magazine features "Fétiche, the pioneer who changed the lives of trans people!" in a five-page interview in its January 2026 issue.[9] On February 28, 2026, and March 8, Martin Pénet, a producer at Radio France, dedicated two "Tour de Chant" programs to her on France Musique, in which he retraced her career with her.[2][5] Agnès Giard, a journalist at Libération, dedicated her column "Les 400 culs" on 22 March to her: "Fétiche, the pioneer of trans identities for whom Mitterrand amended a law".[1]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 Giard, Agnès (21 March 2026). "Fétiche, la pionnière des transidentités pour qui Mitterrand modifia une loi". Libération.
- 1 2 "Fétiche : vedette de Carrousel (1)". France Musique. 2026-02-28. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- 1 2 Brennan, Sophie (2025-12-23). "Fetish: Memoirs of a Cabaret Icon and a Pioneer of Transgender Identity". yarnsheal.com.au. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
- ↑ "À Pigalle, la joyeuse renaissance de Madame Arthur, le tout premier cabaret travesti parisien". Le Monde.fr. 26 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03.
- 1 2 "Fétiche : vedette du Carrousel (2)". France Musique. 2026-03-07. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- ↑ "Fétiche par Fétiche : les mémoires indispensables d'une des premières mannequins trans de l'histoire". Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- ↑ Guex, Peggy (2007). Fétiche - Période du Carrousel 1960 1963. Diane et le sexe des anges. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011.
- 1 2 3 Charrier, Maurine (2025-12-22). "Rencontre avec Fétiche, icône du cabaret". tetu.com. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- 1 2 3 Claudé-Pénégry, Julien (2026-01-25). "Fétiche, La pionnière qui a fait changer la vie des personnes trans". strobomag.com. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- ↑ "Marie-Pierre Vancallement la fée des rééditions". Inatheque. 6 December 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ↑ "Marie-Pierre Vancallement la fée des rééditions". France Culture. 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- ↑ Fétiche, pionnière de la transidentité : l'interview intégrale à regarder absolument. 2025-10-28.
- ↑ "Signature du livre « Fétiche par Fétiche » à la mairie du 17e". mairie17.paris.fr. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
- ↑ ""Une histoire trans : 60 ans de combats pour exister", de Pascal Petit : notre critique". telerama.fr. 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
- ↑ "Cérémonie des têtu· 2025 : le palmarès complet derrière Fatima Daas". tetu.com. Retrieved 2026-03-21.