Gang, I am looking for a photograph I know exists, but I can not find. It is a historic black and white photo of a group of butches/transmen with a sign that say’s “Who says there are no boys in Chaigao” (I believe, in reference to the draft)
I found it!
“Male impersonators” in Chicago, 1920s after the draft
this is Emily Gwen, the nonbinary lesbian who made the lesbian flag. THE lesbian flag. the lesbian flag that major corporations are using without their permission or paying them for while they are struggling financially.
its Emily’s creation !!!
we love and respect Emily Gwen in this house !! if you can help them out in any way, please do !!
yes. so, everyone dismisses louis’ general style in 2019 as something that is regulated and highly influenced by the abusive people on louis’ team trying to push a het narrative, and not a genuine love of streetwear evolving from louis’ roots of growing up in a working class neighbourhood. there are multiple reasons why streetwear was adopted and worn by uk working class communities and a lot of it can be found in a google search. but overall, the arguments regarding louis’ gender expression regarding his clothes and personal style lack an understanding of the way working class communities in britain navigate very prevalent lgbt identities.
there is a very profound overlap of lgbt and working class culture in the uk. his engagement with the polari brand is a good example. it’s a subversion of stereotype and also just a comfort. streetwear at its core was made to be easy, comfortable, and cheap in the 80s/90s, and early 2000s. to this day, I go down my local pub for a drink and there are gay people wearing tracksuits, presenting as what people outside of wc communities interpret as solely masculine.
in reality it’s a deeply important and ingrained part of working class culture, and one that has been used against us. those rough, dirty, troublemaking chavs in their cheap rebok trackies, how dare they create their own subculture and exist within their own demographic. how dare they survive and thrive together and create art and music telling the world the truth about how the government abandoned and abused them for decades. unacceptable.
we reclaimed the classist slur ‘chav’, and we turned it into a badge of pride.
my experience tells me that louis isn’t wearing streetwear because it’s something his team have forced him to do. he’s wearing it because he wants to. because it’s comfortable. because it’s a part of his culture and childhood. and because he’s a proud gay man, and also a proud chav. like me. like my friends. like our communities.
don’t erase louis’ genuine love and homage for his community and culture to suit your own narrow minded ideas of what gay people should and shouldn’t wear.
ALT
