Queer Is In: Non-binary Representation in the Portuguese Fashion
摘要
Western societies heavily depend on identity markers such as gender identity. However, in the last decades, traditional notions of gender as exclusively masculine or feminine have been challenged to favour more comprising terms no longer defined by polarised views. Fashion is one of the fields that can speed up or slow down this process, as clothing has socially attributed gender notions attached to it that are constantly renewed and up to being changed. In addition, as gender and LGBTQI+ rights are increasingly starting to reach the mediatic, political, and overall social spotlight, these topics are also starting to appear in different fashion brands’ social media, campaigns, and value propositions. This chapter addresses upcoming and emerging issues in how gender identity and queerness are (re)presented and (re)produced in the non-mainstream Portuguese fashion industry. We explore fashion creation, authenticity, and appropriation topics by analysing five interviews with young national fashion creators of the LGBTQI+ community. The conclusions reflect the importance of recognising and valuing diversity, thus serving as a form of political visibility-based activism that fosters dissident possibilities of existence.