Last night, Barneys celebrated its groundbreaking spring ad campaign, “Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters,” featuring 17 transgender individuals photographed by Bruce Weber and interviewed by Vanity Faircontributing editor Patricia Bosworth, with a dinner attended by all of the models, along with their family and friends.

“We’re all conscious in the last couple of years of all the strides that gays and lesbians are making in marriage equality, and it seemed that the ‘T’ in LGBT was getting a little bit left behind,” Barneys C.E.O. Mark Lee explained about why the time was right for this project.

The campaign breaks new ground, not only with the use of transgender models, but with its multimedia component, including a series of short films of the models (and their families) talking about their lives. (See one of them below).

Having the models tell their stories of transitioning genders was always part of the plan, creative director Dennis Freedman said. “We were very clear, from the very start, everyone knew that that was going to be part of it, and I think they were very happy to tell their stories,” Freedman told VF Daily at the party in SoHo.

Including each model’s support system was also planned from the beginning. “Whether it’s a father, a sister, a grandmother, it was always part of this project that they would be photographed, that we would interview them, in order to really get across the importance of having someone in your life who is there,” Freedman said. “And hopefully, through this kind of project, [we can] bring their stories to a much wider audience.”

They held an open casting call, and Freedman said the shoot was just like any other. “Interestingly enough, what was extraordinary was, in some ways, the ordinariness. Nothing on this shoot was any different than any other shoot that I’ve done with Bruce Weber over the last 15 years.” Except, they listened to these very moving stories, we reminded him. “It was certainly the most emotionally rewarding experience I’ve ever had on a shoot,” Freedman admitted, laughing. “There’s no question of that.”

During dinner, one of Weber’s films from the project was screened, and there wasn’t a sound in the room. (Watch it here). Afterward, the photographer, who has been shooting fashion campaigns for more than 30 years, told us how he feels about this one. “I would say it’s a sitting that really changed the course of my life, in a way,” Weber said. “Because, I don’t know, the older I get, I want to do photographs and make films about things that are going to make people think about things. It can be a simple fashion picture, or it can be a portrait, even if it’s a portrait of personality,” he said. “I want to learn more. I want to get better.”

Today only, Barneys will be donating 10% of all sales from their flagship stores nationwide and Barneys.com to the NCTE and The Center.