Jen Dzuira wrote an admiring post about dapperQ on TheGloss last week under the title, “NerdGlam: Butch Fashion (and Whatever Happened to Lesbians-Until-Graduation?)” Tune in to learn more about the phenomenon of “lesbians until graduation” apparently knows as “LUG’s.” If you’ve got a heartbreak LUG story you want to share, dapperQ is here for you. (Especially if you’ve got the chops for inciting uneasy laughter while incorporating oxfords or bowties.)
I also wanted to bring your attention to Jen’s article because, perhaps like you, I am wildly interested in how the dapperQ angle will be interpreted in mainstream media. Especially because I don’t want us to have this conversation in a gay ghetto. I want to share our beauty with the world and invite them into our dialogue, because I think many can relate both to our struggles and to the authenticity that shines through our victories.
While I assume most of dapperQ’s readers have at least dabbled in lady lovers, the description of who TheGloss is trying to reach – even if primarily straight – resonates with me: “More than just fashion – The Gloss reflects the way modern women live. They are as discerning about their clothing choices as they are about all aspects of contemporary life – career, culture and relationships.”
Sure it’s cheesy language. And we’ve heard it a million and one times targeted at women who know how to act like women. But Jen’s article shows a clear appreciation for the dapperQ aesthetic. On the one hand, it’s surely because she has been there – and by “there” I mean Dartmouth. In addition, she writes, “At one point, I decided I just might be transgendered, because I really wanted to look like Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (seriously — Leo is the hottest butch EVER). ”
Here’s what she had to say about dapperQ. Obviously, she had me at “badass Texan…”
Highlights of DapperQ: how to get men’s dress shirts tailored to fit. Finding custom-made wedding suits (“gives the term ‘bridegroom’ a whole new meaning”). A sweet Mother’s Day story about an awesome mom trying to find something dapperQ for her 15 year old daughter to wear to a wedding. And the comment that Rachel Maddow — the first openly gay anchor to host a prime-time news show in the US — is transgressing gender boundaries via her dress-shirt choices: “She is undeniably dapperQ. But I’d like to suggest that this one anti-establishment, transgressive sartorial choice — buttoning that top button — establishes Rachel as dapperQ Ground Zero.”
Site founder Herr (who looks like the incredibly badass Texan she is) decries “the fact that our money often simply isn’t good enough for clerks who guard the chasm between men’s and women’s sections informing those who dare to transgress that we aren’t welcome even in single, self-contained dressing rooms.” For anyone who’s ever had a Pretty Woman moment feeling unwelcome in a store (“They wouldn’t even let her shop!”), the dapperQ movement is a welcome push towards letting people buy and wear whatever the hell they want, regardless of how some people think women, or certain women, ought to look.
From your website to god’s ears…