Queer and Trans Fashion Brands

Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Saint Harridan and Tomboy Tailors The Current Project: Questions, Perspectives, and Why it Matters Chapter Overview Part 1: Situating the Context 1. Identities, Style-Fashion-Dress, and Dressed Bodies Queer and Trans Identities and Intersectional Subject Positions Styling-Fashioning-Dressing, Identity (K)nots, and Situated Bodily Practices Ambiguity, Ambivalence, and the Dressed Body in the Fashion System Fashioning Queer and Trans Identities in a Western Context: A Selection of Nuances Spanning the 19th Century to the Present 2. Political Landscapes and So-Called Heteronormative Ideals The Revolution of the Queer and Trans Landscape in the United States: A Brief Overview The Dominant, So-Called Heteronormative Western Fashion System: A Selective History 3. Gay Window Advertising and Capitalist Entanglements Gay Window Advertising: Vodka, Cars, and Fashion Entanglements in Commodity Activism, Corporate Pride, and Neoliberal Capitalism 4. Marketplace Influences: Politics and Technology Same-Sex Marriage, Consumerism, and Creating Space for Authentic Negotiations Social Media and Crowd Funding as Entry Points into the System Part 2: The Brands 5. Queer and Trans Fashion Brand Entrepreneurial Beginnings: Before and After the 2010s Surge Overtly Serving Their Queer and Trans Communities in the 21st Century Case Study 1: All is Fair in Love and Wear and gc2b Case Study 2: FLAVNT Streetwear and Queer Supply Case Study 3: Bluestocking Boutique, FtM Essentials, and TransGuy Supply Case Study 4: Beefcake Swimwear and Outplay Swimwear Case Study 5: Play Out Apparel and TomboyX Case Study 6: Dapper Boi, Strapping Sacramento, Kirrin Finch, and NiK Kacy Footwear Case Study 7: Kipper Clothiers and THÙY Custom Clothier Case Study 8: Rebirth Garments and Audio Helkuik Case Study 9: Show and Tell Concept Shop, Stuzo, and WE ARE MORTALS Case Study 10: Greyscale Goods Part 3: Positioning Consumer Products 6. Vehicles for Queer and Trans Sensibilities The Custom Suit Experience as an Identity Journey The Button-Up Shirt: Masculine for Folks Assigned Female at Birth Jeans: Mixing and Matching Gender Details Unbifurcated Queerness Femme and Masc Shoes in Every Size Unisex Swimwear Styles / Supporting or Compressing the Chest Boxer Briefs and Underwear for the Femmes, Too! Trans-Supportive Gear: Functional, Fleshy Body-Shifting Fashions Genderfuck Styles: Fucking with Gendered Fashion or a Big Fuck You to Gender Styles Subtle and In-Your-Face Pride Queer Styling Services Queer Makers and Queering Product Copy Are My Socks Then Queer Fashion Socks? And Who Decides? Part 4: Production, Pricing, and Media Considerations 7. An Ethical Balancing Act: Production and Pricing Producing Here or There? Pricing Tensions: Social Good in Capitalism 8. Queer and Trans Media: For Us and Them, Too Representation Matters and Doesn’t When Representation Works and Doesn’t at the Same Time 9. DapperQ, Qwear, and Contemporary Queer Fashion Shows Emerged on the Scene Qwear DapperQ Fashion Events as Queer and Trans Community Making Conclusion There Will Always Be Haters . . . and Lovers! Closing Thoughts and Opening Questions Queer and Trans Fashion Brands’ Collective Contributions to the Fashion System: Fashion Disrupters or Fashion Disrupting Entangling and Disentangling the Ever-Fluid Queer and Trans Fashion Brands: Meanings and Moments Where Do We Go from Here or There? References Appendix The Method Limitations of the Research My Positionalities