They are all dressed up with one place to go — Brooklyn Museum!
On Dec. 6, online fashion and lifestyle magazine DapperQ will stage a runway fashion show at the museum as part of the institution’s monthly First Saturday party. The publication and the show are aimed at empowering the “unconventionally masculine,” such as masculine-presenting women, transgender, and genderqueer people, explained one of the organizers.
“DapperQ is a queer fashion revolution, one of the most stylish forms of protest of our generation,” said DapperQ editor-in-chief Anita Dolce Vita.
The show, titled “(un)Heeled,” is intended to be a counterpoint to the museum’s current exhibit “Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe.” Dolce Vita said the theme came to her when she took her partner to the museum to see the show, and her partner found it oppressive.
“It is a reminder of how society keeps women in their place,” said Dolce Vita. “We wanted to offer an alternative narrative.”
The fashion show — which is the third the staff at DapperQ have organized since the publication got off the ground six years ago — will feature clothes from several local designers and clothiers, including Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Jag & Co. and Bindle & Keep in Park Slope.
The event will also feature a “Dapper Academy,” where participants can learn skills such as tying ties, coordinating socks, and what kind of hat they should wear. But Dolce Vita said she is hoping those who join in will come away from “(un)Heeled” with more than just style tips.
“It is about building communities and building allies by using fashion as a springboard,” she said.
There is a strong need in the queer community for a publication like DapperQ, she said.
“We do have a fashion focus but our mission is to increase visibility and provide a platform for gender identity and gender expression,” she said. “Right now, there is not a lot that exists for the unconventionally masculine. Readers are stuck with traditional women glossies or GQ, which is heteronormative and misogynist.”
“(un)Heeled: A Fashion Show for the Unconventionally Masculine” at Brooklyn Museum [200 Eastern Pkwy. between Washington and Flatbush avenues in Prospect Heights, (718) 638–5000, www.brooklynmuseum.org]. Dec. 6 at 7 pm. Free.
