100 SEPTEMBER 2019
“When I think of elegance, it reminds me of Marilyn Monroe inSome Like It Hot.
I am embarrassed that it is something so contrived ... [But] it’s important to understand
what women have done to help queers understand themselves.” Dill-Russell locates
the origins of elegance in the silver-screen era, but subverts them, formulating his
own visual vocabulary of puff-sleeve blouses, voluminous gowns and tiered skirts.
To avoid becoming trapped in static tropes of the past, Paris-based designer and
former Gaultier assistant Alphonse Maitrepierre, 24, designs by deconstruction.
“I like to confront the polite face of haute couture,” says Maitrepierre, a practice he
puts into play by tearing apart clothing and accessories and putting them back
together again. This way, he says, “my pieces are never gendered; a man or a woman
can act on their desire to slip into them and become a new version of oneself”.
Other designers like Polimoda alumnus Ekaterina Voronina, 25, and Russian-born
Roma Uvarov, 22, are demonstrating that fashion is a continuum of identities, not
gender. “Clothes will always continue to augment individuality,” says Uvarov. “What’s
important is to bring together a person’s world view and their wardrobe.”
But we’re not in a post-gender world yet. For these designers, gaining industry
approval on the strength of their clothing and making good on their responsibilities
as spokespeople is a balancing act. These desires can be mutual, Reed contends, as
long as the message is clear. “I’m trying to take the clothes to a place where they’re
speaking for themselves, so then I don’t have to do the talking,” he explains. “Then
hopefully the glitter rubs off.” ■gendered changing rooms, or else Art School will not sell
to them). It’s a 360-degree approach to maximise the power
of the law of attraction. “It’s small steps to freeing people’s
minds to shop in a more fluid way,” Loweth explains.
“We don’t see clothes in a gendered way,” they add. “It’s
about what that person radiates to.”
This instinct informs Art School’s attempts to disconnect
identifiers of girlishness from the skirts or dresses to which
they supposedly belong. They recognise that glamour
doesn’t belong to any one group. Silver paillette dresses and
corsetry without boning celebrate an inclusive decadence,
informed through the queer gaze of nights out with friends.
John Galliano and Isabella Blow are key influences. Loweth
reflects: “Dressing in the mood of someone is really
important; emanating those tropes of glamour and elegance
is something that a lot of queer people recognise.”
Non-binary designer William Dill-Russell, 24, whose
work is included in the New York Metropolitan Museum of
A r t ’s Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibition, nevertheless
appreciates that elegance has historically been twinned to
heteronormative ideas of masculinity and femininity.
VOGUE VIEWPOINT
Alook from Harris Reed’s
permanent collection.