"Not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you"
-- Queer As In Fuck You, by Dog Park Dissidents
Reclaiming Queer
"Queer" has a dual meaning and neither is neutral:
"Queer" is the other; strange, abnormal, odd, unconventional, and eccentric.
"Queer" is a derogatory term for LGBT people
But are these meanings inherently negative? What if what is normal wasn’t good?
For clothes, normal manifests in limited, standard sizing for “average bodies” that don’t actually reflect the actual size of people in the U.S. “Normal” clothes are mass-produced garments that rely on underpaying garment workers to churn a profit on passing trends.
Queer clothes are clothes that exist outside of the box in any norm-defying ways: It’s radical to seek out secondhand and ethically made clothes, to wear and support brands that offer inclusive sizing, clothes that are bold-- vintage, alternative, different-- that exist outside of mainstream trends.
While self-expression through clothes is not limited to any group, it’s often LGBT-aligned people who experiment with new identity-affirming dress, Sofia Barrett-Iberria writes in a HuffPost article.
When the norms, fashion or otherwise, don’t serve you, why should you serve them?
Queer clothes are any clothes that resist and say “fuck you” to the problematic fashion industry standards.
Shedding industry standards
The existing norms of the fashion industry are not positive forces.
In its race to cheaply turns out trends, fast fashion harms the Earth, garment workers, and our bodies.
Mass-produced, size exclusive, and devoid of personality goods aren’t norms we should cling to.
Circumventing boring and cheaply made clothes actively resists the systems of power.
Revisiting Queer Clothes
So when you want to wear interesting, alternative clothes or clothes that fit your great and outside of the standard sizing body, odd and abnormal are good.
Queer clothes are a reclamation of our identities and values through our clothes and the choices we make to source them.