Clothes and the way we adorn our bodies can be validating to our identities and confidence – especially when it comes to LGBTQ youth and adults.
Fashion in the 21st century has often been deemed as something of minuscule relevance and frivolous use of time and energy. Since I was a little girl (who thought I was a little boy) I’ve been so enamored with fashion. The early days of the girl group Destiny’s Child inspired me, as well as seeing black women like Naomi Campbell on the cover of Vogue. I dreamed of what many girls my age dreamed of, to be a fashion designer.
More than a decade later into maturity and social awareness about race, class gender, sexuality my obsession with fashion makes sense; the obsession other girls had with fashion made sense. In a world that is so restricting for women, fashion was the space created for us. It was a space created to place women first and feed our wildest fantasies through what we put on our bodies. It’s beyond cliche to refer to the world of fashion as a world of magic and fantasy, but it truly is. The clothes we put on our bodies and the collections created and presented created twice a year across the globe give us a unique experience we couldn’t otherwise have.
As a black trans woman who’s experienced so much life and so much inconsistency at the age of 24, having something I can control makes me feel polished poised and grounded. Being well dressed makes me feel powerful and in control (though, because of my placement in society, I am often far from in control – which is difficult for me because I am a complete and total control freak perhaps directly because of the lack of control I often have). What you wear or what you decide not to wear and the way you present yourself to the world says a lot about you. While I think the idea of respectability politics is crap and no one should have to appear a specific way to gain credibility or respect, I do firmly believe in my life I have gained access, admiration, and have escaped less-than-pleasant experiences because of the CONFIDENCE that exudes through the way I dress.
Clothes and the way we adorn our bodies can be validating to our identities and confidence. This is something very important to keep in mind when it comes to LGBTQ youth and adults. I don’t think I am the only queer (LGBTQ) person who craves a source of power or stability. Because of the lack of power and control we often experience, our appearance and presentation is a natural way to react and tell the world who we are through the way we present and dress. Whether or not we recognize it, our clothes are an extension of our layered identities, hobbies, and personalities.
As I write more about fashion I encourage you to keep in mind the link between fashion and queer identities. It’s important to think about the way these identities overlap and stand on their own; Janet Mock, another black trans woman who was appointed as a guest editor for Marie Claire Magazine. Christian Siriano a gay white man who is living his ultimate reality designing glamorous women’s wear, Rachel Roy a mom, and non-queer woman of color with a blended cultural/ethnic background who designs bold yet practical clothes everyday women and (queer) celebrity clients such as Janet Mock. The relationship between fashion and queer people is a relationship I think about everyday as I get dressed in the morning.