Table of contents for September - October 2019 in OUT

Dear Reader, It has only recently come to my attention that I do not truly “love” fashion. Despite stalking the Vogue and Teen Vogue halls for the past few years, sitting at fashion shows from Tokyo to Paris, and even combing through racks of clothes for the pages of this magazine, fashion remained a steady interest, but never quite a romance. I learned this lesson from two of my very talented colleagues at Out, both of whom were instrumental in bringing this—our Fashion Issue—to life. While watching the Prada men’s runway show this past winter, I found myself enamored by the bright red shoes and Frankenstein motifs that Mrs. Prada had emblazoned upon everything from shirts to pins to backpacks. As I turned to our fashion director, Yashua Simmons, to…

A person’s marketability in the beauty, entertainment, and fashion industries is heavily determined by skin color. Lighter-skinned models are more often chosen over darker-skinned models. They are seen as classier, more profitable, and more palatable to designers and consumers, while darker-skinned models are typically used to highlight mediocre garments or make them more exciting. I’ve been passed over for lighter-skinned models and actresses. I’ve been boxed in and categorized as urban or ghetto. I’ve been hired to fill a quota while not actually being asked to participate in the work I was hired to do. And I’ve experienced isolation. But my experience with colorism has also acted as a catalyst in my fight to make these industries better for other marginalized folks. These industries must consciously hire, uplift, and value…

Chained to the Rhythm Little glints of gold can be seen dangling around the necks and in between the cleavage of all the it-kids around town—a comeback that actually serves as a wise investment. (Gold is still appreciating in value, meaning your one-time purchase may get better over time.) Go for something classic with a slight twist, like this number here, from Tiffany & Co., who just launched their first men’s collection, an offering that looks chic on any gender, thank you very much. “It felt like such a natural and obvious opportunity to give the customer who’s visiting Tiffany something new,” says Reed Krakoff, chief artistic officer of the brand. “Men are wearing jewelry and definitely spending much more time on their personal appearance, so it felt like the…

WHAT EXACTLY IS GENDER-NEUTRAL DRESSING,’ YOU ASK? Nobody in fashion really seems to have one answer—but most will point to androgyny, in typical shades of black and grey—as their solution. That’s why the clothes of new york cool-kid label Sies Marjan, designed by the irresistible Sander Lak, feel like the freshest alternative. They’re not trying too hard, they’re not anything we’ve already seen, they’re not “making a statement,” they’re just…chic. As you can see here, New Pandemics models Cameron and Rahm show all of us the right ways to push our outfits above (and beyond) the binary.…

I’m a late twenty-something queerdo who was diagnosed with HIV a year ago and has decided that the most reasonable thing to do is become celibate, not tell anyone my status, and generally manage my illness on my own. Here’s a little backstory. A year ago, I became involved with someone I considered to be a friend. I was living with him because I needed a place and the rent was cheap. One time, he drunkenly called me up and told me I was a coward and an idiot because of the depression I’ve experienced since my diagnosis. “It doesn’t matter,” he told me. “No one cares that you’re positive.” Well. I care. I care quite a bit. I know it’s not a death sentence, and we have PrEP now.…

JORDAN ROTH’S FASHION SENSE, IN A WORD, IS FEARLESS. Take one look at the Broadway titan’s glamorously curated Instagram (@jordan_roth) and you’ll notice his penchant for luxurious capes, crystallized couture, and chromas pushed to their extremes. He recently brought all of these loves together on the red carpet at the opening night of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, his latest production. Draped in a custom Zac Posen dark-as-midnight cape, gilded in crimson and glitzy baubles, Roth twirled in front of camera flashes, invoking the windmill described in the Parisian cabaret’s moniker and basking in yet another sartorial victory. “Fashion is a daily opportunity to express myself, to express who I am, what I think, how I feel at that moment,” Roth says. “Events like the Met, the Tonys, and opening nights…

Alan Crocetti A strip of metal crossing the nose like a Band-Aid, an earring that seems to do everything except pierce the ear—Alan Crocetti’s jewelry seems to adorn the body in beautiful, if unexpected ways. “I am fascinated by anatomy,” the 33-year-old British designer says. “I like to think I don’t take any body parts for granted.” His pieces convey a certain fluidity despite their weighty material, blurring the lines between hard and soft, decadent and austere, masculine and feminine. “Jewelry has always been genderfluid in my eyes,” says Crocetti. “My pieces acknowledge the complexity of human existence. They are not bound by the constraining ideas of female fragility or male strength. —HARRON WALKER Hana Holquist Hana Holquist’s work centers a specifically queer expression of femininity, exaggerating high-femme aesthetics until…

SO, YOU DECIDED TO BE A WOMAN. Congratulations! What a stress-free, chill decision to make—one that you obviously reached through careful, calm consideration and not an LSD-fueled night of sobbing introspection. Or: Maybe you’ve spent your whole life feeling like something was…off. Maybe you played with Barbies as a child and wrapped a blanket around yourself like a sarong while perched on a windowsill singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Maybe you confronted your uneasiness with masculinity for years in therapy before finally realizing that it just wasn’t the thing for you. Maybe you just simply realized you couldn’t pretend anymore. The real tea is that being a woman might not be a choice, but transitioning is—so let’s begin this incredibly brave journey, girl! Have you seen Transparent? Genius. Whatever the…

Dan Levy knows, perhaps a little too well, that all good things must come to an end. Barely one year after Schitt’s Creek—the show he created, produced, wrote, and starred in—became an international phenomenon, Levy resolved to bring the series to its finale. “We’ve decided season six will be our last,” he wrote in a letter addressed to “Our Dear Fans,” which was published via social media. “It’s not lost on us what a rare privilege it is in this industry to get to decide when your show should take its final bow. We could never have dreamed that our fans would grow to love and care about these characters in the ways that you have.” Although it was a brave and lauded creative decision—ending a series at its height…

THE PACKAGE CONTAINING MY NEW TIARA ARRIVES on my doorstep in late June. The logotype on the box is the company’s original, a simple black typewriter serif set near the bottom edge against a white background. It spells out the eponym: Simone Rocha. The font’s playful minimalism betrays the garish glamour of the accessory itself. Encrusted with crystal persimmon beads tethered to silver-tone hardware and topped with transparent daisy-esque blooms, my headband is on the simpler side of Rocha’s offerings. Beaded embellishments are a brand staple, featured prominently in her Fall 2019 collection as earrings and barrettes, as well as detailing on sandals, purses, collars, and bustiers. Daughter to Hong Kong-born designer John Rocha, the 33-year-old Chinese-Irish Central Saint Martins-graduate debuted at London Fashion Week in September 2010 and was…

AFTER ANDY WARHOL’S DEATH IN 1987, there was a void. The iconic artist had commandeered the New York scene for his own devices for decades—and when he died, there was a short window of opportunity for someone else to step up and into the spotlight. Enter the Club Kids, a rag-tag band of misfits with oversized, personally crafted personas and outrageous looks, their moniker minted in a 1988 New York magazine cover story. You know their names: Lady Bunny, RuPaul, Amanda Lepore, and more. Unofficially helmed by club promoter Michael Alig and bouncing around nightlife hotspots like Pyramid, Aria, The Tunnel, and Limelight, the group represented a seminal moment in culture, notably encapsulated in the 2003 film Party Monster. Walt Cassidy, an artist and jewelry designer then known as Waltpaper,…

THE IDEA OF THE CHIMERA, the mythological creature realized as a composite of different animals (usually featuring a lion’s head, sometimes with a snake as a tail, and another animal thrown into the mix) traces back to at least Homer’s Iliad. Some 29 centuries later, Hermès has created what could very well be the most luxurious chimera ever—seemingly with paws of a lion, the head of a dragon, a tail that curls like the plumage of a phoenix, and elegant feathers. This newfangled entity looms over a set of bags from the iconic label, utilizing a tufting technique that leaves a velvety touch. Reminiscent of the stylized reliefs on Ancient Greek pottery, these monochromatic accessories are fashionable works of art—with all the elegant subtlety you already love about Hermès.…