Welcome back to Hi Femme!, dapperQ’s sibling visibility project celebrating the incredible contributions that stylish femmes make to queer fashion. This edition, we’re featuring Dannie Levine, a 20-something librarian by day and style blogger by night with a love for all things neutral. Extra points if it has stripes! Dannie is a dog mom and rescue advocate, a wife, and so much more. She strives to give a face and voice to the queer femme community as well as share her personal style and love of fashion with the world. Check out her femme-centric life+style blog Stile.Foto.Cibo, fashionably femme, globally inspired.
Hi Femme!: Can you talk a bit about how you define queer femme style and what makes it transgressive?
Dannie: My femininity is something that I hold very dear to me. In a community where many often feel as though they can’t be feminine or express their feminine attributes, it is something I have embraced wholeheartedly and have come to absolutely love. I identify as a lesbian and often find myself coming out in spaces that aren’t expressly queer. And the reaction I always get is “I didn’t know you were gay” or “you’re too pretty to be gay.” So for me, queer femme style is being able to wave that rainbow flag while still killing it in my favorite stilettos. I refuse to be erased for who I am, no matter which part of me that may be.
Hi Femme!: How would you describe your personal style?
Dannie: My personal style is, honestly, whatever I feel like wearing. Plenty of folks in my life would describe me as “always overdressed” which may or may not be true. I just don’t wear sweatpants out of the house! I like taking pieces that I fall in love with that others might not necessarily think to wear, style them with more classic pieces, and take that out into the world. My favorite way to do this as of late has been to rock stylish sneakers with skirts and other hyper-femme pieces to create this awesome contrast between classy and casual. I feel gorgeous but my feet aren’t killing me! Basically anything that I can feel 100% confident in is good to go. My goal is to make fashion accessible to everyone by giving them something outside of their comfort zone paired with something they already have in their closet!
Hi Femme!: Who are your fashion icon(s)?
Dannie: Iris Apfel, despite directly contradicting how I dress, is such an inspiration to me. I hope to be that stellar when I grow up. I’m also in love with Jacey Duprie of Damsel in Dior and her amazing Cali-girl neutral style.
Hi Femme!: What item in your style arsenal can you not live without?
Dannie: Shoes. I always aim to have killer shoes, no matter what. Any situation I’m in, I always find the perfect shoe for. I believe that if you can rock a good pair of shoes, then you can conquer anything. And it doesn’t always have to be heels or “uncomfortable” shoes. A statement can be made with flats, sneakers, and even slippers just as much as the highest platform or heel you can imagine. I craft my looks around my shoes and never go out without a killer shoe. Unless I’m just walking my dogs.
Want more of Dannies’s style? Check out her platforms at:
Website
Facebook
Instagram
All photos are by Levine-Moore Photography
Great interview and loving your style, as always!