Arts
On our first episode, we explore the relationship between what we wear and the politics of gender. To begin, Jack Halberstam, a professor of gender studies at Columbia University, defines gender and helps contextualize it in fashion. Next, Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, shares some critical moments in history when fashion challenged traditional gender norms. To investigate whether or not fashion has the power to change people’s ideas about gender, host Sachin Bhola speaks to a few gender-bending people in fashion, including Hood By Air’s Ian Isiah, musician Shamir, and Suited Magazine‘s Ash Owens. Also, Highsnobiety’s editorial director, Jian DeLeon, weighs in on the current state of heterosexual masculinity and what fashion can tell us about it. We then consider the future of gender identity through the lens of fashion by speaking to Jackie O and Mercy Kelly from The Hetrick-Martin Institute, and look outside traditional gender binaries, notably to those who identify as transgendered. Bhola speaks to Ian Alexander, best-known for playing Buck on Netflix’s The OA, to get his perspective on the trans identity. This episode of Fashioning Identity unpacks fashion’s role in constructing – and deconstructing – gender identity, recognizes the diversity in gender, and much more.