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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 7 September 2019
Queer style kicks off NY Fashion Week with inclusive show

By LEANNE ITALIE ence.” Barack said he has
Associated Press “never really done fashion
NEW YORK (AP) — In cel- stuff” but appreciated the
ebration of gender-fluid chance to help celebrate
fashion and inclusion of “queer bodies and all the
all kinds, the queer-style intersections that they lie in
digital magazine dapperQ and all the places they sit.
threw a runway party at I’m really excited to be a
the start of New York Fash- part of it.”
ion Week, filling the Beaux- Acceptance “can’t hap-
Arts Court of the Brooklyn pen fast enough,” Barack
Museum with invited guests said.
and nearly 2,000 members “All bodies deserve a place
of the public. on the runway.”
It was the sixth annual Anita dolce Vita, the pub-
Queer Runway Show at lisher of dapperQ and the
the museum for dapperQ, executive producer of the
which uses the rallying cry show, said “queer fashion
of “ungendering fashion.” to me and in our communi-
Marking its 10th year in ty is fashion for everyone,”
business, the site enlisted no matter your sexual ori-
10 brands Thursday night entation, gender identity or
to dress an array of models gender presentation.
of all colors, ages and siz- The Claire Fleury collection is modeled during the dapperQ fashion show at the Brooklyn Museum The show “really breaks
es, large and small, on the on Thursday Sept. 5, 2019, in New York. down and dismantles the
gender binary and off. Associated Press binaries that we often see
One model used a wheel- walls as upbeat music filled “It celebrates the queer the runway at the start of on traditional New York
chair and another a sin- the space. Models showed community within fashion the show wearing a flowing Fashion Week runways,”
gle crutch. Professional off underwear sets from week,” Bautista-Carolina bright red gown. she added.
trans models strutted and sponsor TomboyX and col- said. “Fashion week is such Hester Sunshine of the re- With more transfemmes on
camped alongside You- orful caftans, sharply tai- a celebratory moment in vived “Project Runway” the covers of magazines
Tube and Instagram influ- lored suits, shorts outfits and New York and to be includ- looked on from the front and a growing popularity
encers. Zach Barack, the eveningwear from other ed in this moment is just a row. for “androgyny” in fashion,
openly trans actor who ap- brands, including Sharpe very beautiful and impor- “It’s really cool that this progress has been made
peared in the recent block- Suiting, Landeros New York, tant thing.” is happening,” said Sun- in the mainstream industry,
buster “Spider-Man: Far Halz, Stuzo and the Austra- The models had a blast shine, who came in second dolce Vita said, but the way
from Home,” was among lia-based Shane Ave. as well, earning cheers on the show’s first season. queer fashion is interpreted
the walkers. Attendee Suhaly Bautista- from the jubilant crowd. “The LGBTQ community remains filtered “very much
And the joyous crowd ate Carolina called it an impor- B. Hawkes Snipes, who has been such a big part through the lens of hetero-
it up, tossing beach balls tant evening for the LGBTQ played a runway contes- of fashion since the begin- normativity,” with white,
into the air surrounded by community and the fashion tant on the FX series “Pose,” ning so it’s really nice to be tall and skinny among the
European paintings on the industry as a whole. warmed up the room from recognized as its own pres- defaults.q

The Highwomen flip country narrative with new album

By RAGAN CLARK songs past. The 12-track LP and Grammy-winning Sher-
Associated Press transports you to the world yl Crow. Shires’ crying violin
The Highwomen, “The High- of classic country, recalling brings texture throughout.
women” (Low Country artists such as Dolly Parton “If She Ever Leaves Me”
Sound/Elektra Records) and Tammy Wynette. But gives voice to the queer
Throughout history, certain instead of taking stances perspective. Instead of re-
narratives have been si- such as Wynette’s in “Stand affirming the male gaze,
lenced — those of women, by Your Man,” The High- the song gently teases
queer persons and persons women bring a more nu- the man’s intent, as Car-
of color. And while nothing anced side to the conver- lile_herself married to a
can right the wrongs of the sation. woman_sings to a man,
past, there is some justice In the title track, stories of “by the third drink you’ll
in telling those stories. That the deceased ring out — find out she’s mine.” While
is the intention throughout an immigrant from Hondu- the album certainly seeks
in The Highwomen’s self-ti- ras who passed away dur- to redefine women’s roles
tled debut album. The four- ing her journey, a healer within the genre, it does
some, comprised of Gram- hung in Salem after being so delicately. There is no
my Award-winning artist accused of being a witch, rejection of motherhood,
Brandi Carlile, “The Middle” a Freedom Rider who was but instead the complex-
vocalist Maren Morris, song- killed on her journey bound ity is highlighted. In “My This cover image released by Low Country Sound/Elektra
writer Natalie Hemby and for Mississippi, a woman Name Can’t Be Mama,” Records shows the self-titled album by The Highwomen.
singer/violinist Amanda preacher who was told she The Highwomen recognize Associated Press
Shires, have taken back shouldn’t teach. The stories days (like the morning-af- ing Women,” the group kitchen/ Makin’ bank, sha-
the country music genre are told in first-person by ter hangover) when they emphasizes their varying kin’ hands, drivin’ 80/ Tryin’
to shed light on perspec- the women, with the add- need a break from being parts— “Runnin’ the world to get home just to feed
tives that were missed in ed help of English artist Yola motherly. In “Redesign- while we’re cleanin’ up the the baby.”q