What to Qwear? An Exploration of Queer Style

What is queer style? How can I present my queerness through the clothes I wear? These are questions I think about often as I dress myself. Growing up in a homophobic household, it was very difficult to express my true self publicly, so I had to find subtle ways to showcase my personality. Often, queer style is portrayed in a binary: the flamboyant gay or the butch lesbian. While it is true that these archetypes do exist, they are not representative of the full range of queer style. Thus, for my project I wanted to portray the complexities and nuances of queer style. Queer style is not only composed by the garments an individual wears but the individual, how they wear them, and what they signal. I am so fortunate to have a community of queer fashionable friends who inspire me to dress in a way that aligns with who I am. For this project, I took portraits of some of my friends in outfits that best represent themselves, their sexuality, and their stylistic tastes. Featured in the images are Óscar Ortiz, Meli Hernández, Carmen Raillard, and Sydney Denson.