LGBTQ+
Why I (Queer) Code-Switch at Work
I’m learning more about why fashion is a collection of languages I need to speak fluently to connect with others
If you’re a lover of linguistics, you probably thought this writing was about switching back and forth between two or more languages or dialects.
In a way, it is. I’m learning that fashion is a language. Threads are sounds, swishing between our teeth as we sew. Stitches press the sounds together. Weaves are letters. Each fistful of cloth is a word. An accessory is a comma. An earring is a semicolon connecting thoughts that are equivalent yet each complete by themselves. An article of clothing is a sentence. The look itself is a period finishing a thought. The changes in clothing across weeks make a paragraph. Decades of outfits will frame the novel of our lives, representing our flashpoint in history. My life would make a chaotic hot mess of a novel, if I could share it all with you.
Collections of fashion choices across communities write the libraries of who we all are as a people. I belong to a community with a long rich history, continuing into this new chapter of having our libraries full of experience erased. This is why, if you’re an outsider of the LGBTQ+ community, you might believe that my whole existence…
