Fashionably queer, or queerly fashionable?

Samantha Louise Cone (she/her)

Sand Zhark

Facebook: @SandraTailsCosplay

When I sat down to write this article, the topic I was supposed to write about was ‘queer fashion’ but every time I wrote anything down, I found the statements I’d made conflicted with one another. The more I thought about it, the less compatible some of these statements seemed with each other.

Fashion is a form of self-expression, and we shouldn’t judge people by their covers

Take for instance the idea above for instance – by expressing yourself through your style you are asking to be judged for it. It is the first thing people notice about you and it is (usually, and ideally) something you can control about yourself. We’re always taught not to judge a book by its cover, but fashion is the cover we choose for ourselves, how we decide to present ourselves to the outside world, and inevitably, people do judge us for that. I do not consider myself to be particularly fashionable, and one day my friend told me my shirt made me look like a ‘lesbian barbeque dad’. It’s a short sleeved, button up shirt, with a weird psychedelic pattern (I got it from the ‘men’s’ section of a store because the shirts there are more fun than the ‘women’s’ section). Now, I love this shirt, it’s bright, colourful, and goes with a whole bunch of my outfits. More importantly to me though, it’s comfortable, and I feel comfortable and confident when I wear it, even if I don’t identify as a lesbian, I’m not a dad, and I don’t even own a barbeque. I know that wearing this shirt might make people judge me in a certain manner, but the happiness I get from wearing it outweighs any stress I’d feel for the judgement associated with it (especially since this judgement is, quite frankly, hilarious). I’m not sure anymore if it’s possible for people not to be judged by their style - luckily though, style is something we can choose.

“Fashion is not inherently queer”

Not all fashion is queer, but if a queer individual wears something, actively decides to style themselves in a certain way then it can become queer; and on the flip side, something ‘stereotypically’ queer doesn’t have to be inherently queer simply because of the stereotypes associated with it. As one friend of mine put it, if a man is wearing pink he isn’t necessarily gay, however a gay man may make the choice to wear pink specifically because he is gay. Both of these options are perfectly legitimate. Fashion is a form of self-expression, it can emphasise or highlight someone’s identity, aspects of their personality and life that they are proud of, that show the world who they are.

Sand Zhark

Instagram: @sand_zhark

If everyone is unique, no one is

The question then becomes, if you are using fashion to show off your identity, as an individual, how is it that people can use fashion to form a sense of community? Are the ideas of community and individuality even compatible? If everyone is special, does that mean that no one is? Well, you can be unique and part of a larger community, or communities. What’s more, you don’t have to be the same all the time – just like us, fashion is malleable. What you wear on Monday doesn’t have to be what you wear for the rest of the week: people can have multiple styles, in the same way that people have multiple facets of their personalities.

Pushing boundaries is a large part of fashion (and art)

A large part of fashion, like art, is about pushing boundaries, and one way to do this is to subvert traditional gender norms. In many places though, this isn’t possible – it isn’t safe, or legal, or accepted. There are too many places and situations where people are unable to be themselves or express themselves. In an ideal world, people would be accepted for who they are, regardless of how they’d like to dress, yes people might still be judged by how they dress, but not necessarily in a negative way: clothing could simply be seen as clothing, or as art, and not a reflection of someone’s character, or competence. But if this ideal world comes about, it makes me wonder… what happens to that part of fashion and art relating to pushing boundaries and subverting traditional gender norms when there are no more boundaries to push? In a completely accepting world what would people’s style become? I, for one, would be very excited and curious to find out, because I am sure it would be fabulous.