Gay in uniform

While I appreciate their efforts, they are false. While the feelings of some do not define the beliefs of all LGBTQIA-identifying people, many queers do believe that there are some clothes that are just gayer than others.

Mens Leather Uniforms / Gay Leather Outfits

Simmel might say queer clothes are a fashion that is a way to conform to other LGBTQUIA people and a way to individuality and self-expression uniform determining themselves as a cohesive group, as different from straight people. I interviewed two women who identify on the LGBTQUIA spectrum about how they get dressed for three standard events: going to class, going to a party, and hanging out with friends.

The first person I interviewed is my friend Julia, who is also a first-year. She identifies as gay, and comes from an upper-middle class household in Scarsdale, NY. Speaking from personal experience, suburban New York is a heteronormative haven for upper-middle class nuclear families.

Julia admits she took her style cues gay her parents and her friends while growing up, and they are still a large part of wardrobe at Wellesley. While she has a definitive style, it is also shared by many straight college-aged women who want a more individualized look than their parents have, but uniform want that classic simple elegance.

We talked a bit about her tan cardi. She found it while shopping at Old Navy, and it caught her eye as a comfortable piece of class-ready attire. Her mother is very tall, too, and thus was very important when Julia was learning how to dress; finding and fitting tall clothes is difficult, and must be learned.

She recognizes her conformity to suburban clothing ideals, and consciously works to look more gay. This familiarity with her role as a stylish rule finder allows her to adhere to the gay uniform. How we appear to the outside world is just as important as how we appear to other queers.

A tie on a female is a common indicator of queerness. Since other girls, especially straight ones, were wearing ties, Julia felt better about wearing ties to her rather homogenous high school. The outfit was originally a joke to just match with her friend Aron, but became a uniform with a distinct purpose as the night went on.

At Wellesley, however, Julia will gay up her outfit with ties, her Tevas, or a fleece, without thinking twice. I also interviewed my girlfriend Caroline, who, on the other hand, struggles a bit more with fashion. Also, having been chided by friends for looking like a dyke the one time she attempted to dress in style, Caroline is done with fashion.

She now just tries to blend in with her style. This will be paired with a baggy sweater, since not only is Caroline dressing for comfort and anonymity, gay is also dressing for her size DD breasts. Caroline does have some short shorts and spaghetti strap tank tops for going out at night, though.

She spent most of her time exploring going to clubs as a straight woman, so her few clothes for partying subscribe mostly to straight stereotypes. This was a similarity between Julia and Caroline. Both agreed that an outfit is successful based on the amount of people who hit on you or dance with you, and by how many friends tell you that you look hot.

Overall, I found that regardless of style, or lack thereof, the LGBTQIA-identifying individuals I interviewed all attempted to conform to at least one concept of queer fashion.