With over 1589 tickets officially sold and over 500 additional members of the press; VIPs; models; designers; stylists; volunteers; vendors; make up artists; and hair stylists, dapperQ’s 4th annual New York Fashion Week queer runway event – R/Evolution – at Brooklyn Museum was one of the most widely attended LGBTQ NYFW events in history. dapperQ’s annual fashion show serves as an incubator for talented designers who might not otherwise have a large platform at NYFW; a bridge between consumers and queer brands; a showcase of diverse models; a large NYFW stage for hair and makeup artists; and a celebration of queer style and queer bodies. And, the press took note. Elite mainstream media, including Teen Vogue, NBC, Vanity Fair, NYLON, The Cut, Huffington Post, Top Knot (BuzzFeed’s site focusing on beauty videos for people who geek out over hair, makeup, nails, and more – Our video has over 165K views!), Page Six, Time Out, Bustle, and Yahoo News, among others, covered the event. HuffPost Queer Voices live streamed the runway show, which now has 75K views on their Facebook page. Not to mention that our queer media family that has known from the beginning the importance of queer style continued to lift our voices: Qwear, Autostraddle, GO, and Tagg.
As if this weren’t sweet enough, videographer Caity Renee’ produced this exclusive video of the show for dapperQ:
The show featured 10 designers, with intro/outro by MC Gabby Rivera and beats by DJ MO.
Designer lineup:
► TomboyX + Clear Coated
► Audio Helkuik
► Nicole Wilson
► Kris Harring
► Stuzo
► Bindle & Keep
► SDN Brooklyn
► The Tailory New York
► Clio Sage
► Salt, a collaboration between the designers Sir New York and Debris (Shoes by Run and Hide)
Scroll through slideshow gallery below for select images from Debbie-jean Lemonte, Hannah Cohen, and Emily Chan:
For full set of images, including runway, behind the scenes, and step and repeat, can be found on dapperQ’s Facebook page here, here, here, here, and here.
High profile models including Ericka Hart (activist and cancer warrior who will be modeling topless), Benjamin Melzer (the first transgender man in the world to make the cover of Men’s Health Magazine), Peche Di (the founder of NYC’s first transgender model agency), Loiza Lamers (the first transgender contestant to win “Next Top Model”), B. Hawk Snipes (fashion influencer featured in Vogue), Transgender model Stav Strashko, Alysse Dalessandro (body activist), Juliet Evancho (transgender teen who was successful in dismantling her school’s discriminatory bathroom policy), Silas Howard (director of Transparent), Mimi Toa (of Slay Model management, Thailand’s most famous transgender model, and former monk), and Kien Hoang (famed hair stylist for many major NYFW designers runway shows). The stage was one of the most diverse NYFW runways ever. Breast cancer survivor Ericka Hart rocked TomboyX underwear and posed topless showing her mastectomy under a transparent raincoat by Clear Coated. Following Ericka in the lineup was a model in a wheelchair who kept the night of inclusion going with sounds of grand cheers from the audience.
Gabby Rivera, the writer of Marvel’s first queer Latina superhero America Chavez, was the evening’s MC. Rivera opened with an honest personal story about how fashion has not always been a source of positive energy for her, including being shamed about her body and presentation, and fighting with her mother in dressing rooms because her mother preferred her in a church dress. She continued to say that the anxiety carried with her for years to first dates, job interviews, and other important events. But “Now,” she said, “Now we wear our chose clothes!” Rivera went on, “Listen, this – THIS – is revolution! That is the theme of the show: Your chose clothes. They cannot save you from deportation. Your chose clothes cannot save you from white supremacy. Your chose clothes cannot save you from DACA ending or from a President that’s a white supremacist. But, your chose clothes can help you put that armor on and blossom!”
At the end of the show, Executive Producer Anita Dolce Vita was escorted down the runway by transgender power couple Hannah Winterbourne and Jake Graf. In a show of solidarity for the resistance, Anita ended the show with a fist in the air, and DJ MO carried her out with Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”
Runway Coordinators: Colette Lee Productions
www.coletteleeproductions.
Executive Volunteer Team:
Anita Dolce Vita, Executive Producer
Colette Lee Morales, Co-Producer
Laura Wooley, Hutch Hutchinson, Tara L Cavanaugh, Senka Filipovic, and Nina Kossoff, Associate Producers
Produced in partnership with Brooklyn Museum. Official Lighting Sponsor: TomboyX. Special thank you to Ro Pacheco for backstage catering and Henrietta Hudson for backstage beverages and 2nd annual Henrietta Hudson Happy Hour.