dapperQ Wraps 5th Annual Brooklyn Museum NYFW Show

On Thursday, September 6, 2018, the opening day of New York Fashion Week, dapperQ celebrated our fifth annual New York Fashion Week show at Brooklyn Museum. The show, titled Dress Code, was sponsored by INTO and this year continued to be one of the most widely attended LGBTQ NYFW events in history with over 2000 models, designers, and guests in attendance.

One of the most iconic images of the night. Center: Jazzmyne Jay thirsting over model. Left: Nicolette Mason. Right: Branson LB of BuzzFeed News. Photo by Debbie-jean Lemonte of Dag Images

In red: Amber Hikes, Director of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs, sits front row. Photo by Photo by Debbie-jean Lemonte of Dag Images

Dress Code examined clothing as a coded language and one of the first visible markers of our identities, inviting the audience to consider the way garments uphold or challenge rigid stereotypes. dapperQ’s annual fashion shows serve 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. This year was no exception, with our most diverse lineup of nine designers and over 70 models.

TomboyX ft. Squirrel vs Coyote. Photo by Emily Chan

And, the press took note. Elite mainstream and LGBTQ media, including INTO, Paper magazine, Them, Huffington Post, Shondaland, and more.

“I grew up in the South. It was a very religious space with skirts and bows, so this to see this is amazing,” says Rachel Patrick, a DapperQ runway volunteer. “As a queer youth, this would have been inspiring and healing to see people who represented what I felt in my heart.” – Rachel Patrick, (Source: Them)

Kim Geronimo and Alithea Castillo caught up with models and designers before the show to talk about what dapperQ runway events have meant to them for this five year tribute video:


Filmed by Kim Geronimo / @thestreetsensei Produced by Alithea Castillo / @alitheacastillo

This year, beats were provided by resident DJ MO and the runway featured designs by:

A/C Space (NYC)
Audio Helkuik (NYC)
Jag & Co (NYC)
Kris Harring Apparel Group (NYC)
SALT (NYC)
Stuzo clothing (LA)
The Phluid Project (NYC)
TomboyX + Squirrel Vs. Coyote (Seattle)
THÚY Custom Clothier (LA)

 

Resident DJ MO. Photo by @katcontreras

Scroll through slideshow gallery below for select images from Kim Geronimo / @thestreetsensei

For additional sets of images by photographers Debbie-jean Lemonte, Hannah Cohen, Emily Chan, and Doreen Pierre, check out our Facebook albums here, here, here, here, and here.

dapperQ owner Anita Dolce Vita states, “We were extremely honored to have worked with Brooklyn Museum for the fifth consecutive year to create a platform that celebrates queer bodies and queer style. LGBTQ and POC communities have a rich legacy of being creative visionaries in beauty and fashion, but our ideas are often co-opted without any credit or visibility. ‘Dress Code’ is for us and by us, bringing our talents, bodies, innovations, and voices to the forefront under one roof in Brooklyn Museum’s 10,000 square foot, artfully designed Beaux Arts Court.”

Jag & Co. Photo by Debbie-jean Lemonte of Dag Images

Phluid. Photo by Emily Chan

The all queer dapperQ production team also notes that the CFDA’s decision to host their 2018 annual fashion awards at the esteemed Brooklyn Museum for the first time ever came almost five years after dapperQ’s first show with the institution in 2014. Dolce Vita adds, “We are thrilled that Brooklyn Museum is an emerging venue for elite fashion events, but we are also proud that queer fashion has once again trail-blazed for the mainstream fashion industry. Mainstream fashion has a history of appropriating from minority groups while simultaneously excluding the communities from which they are appropriating. And, when queer communities do not own our own narratives, our stories are often distorted and fetishized for capitalist consumption. This includes erasure of original creators, as well as erasure of bodies that do not fit narrow definitions of beauty. Our shows honor the work of designers and celebrates the true diversity of our queer communities. You saw it here first!”

SALT. Photo by Hannah Cohen / @hbcohen

Executive Volunteer Team:
Anita Dolce Vita, Executive Producer
Laura Wooley, Hutch Hutchinson, Tara L Cavanaugh, Senka Filipovic, and Nina Kossoff, Co-Producers
Colette Lee Morales, and Angel Zheng, Runway Coordinators

Produced in partnership with Brooklyn Museum and sponsored by INTO. Official Lighting Sponsor: TomboyX. Special thank you to Ro Pacheco for backstage catering, Henrietta Hudson for backstage beverages and 3rd annual Henrietta Hudson Happy Hour, and Sharpe Suiting for sponsoring the most stylish GIF booth (images here).

*Feature image by Hannah Cohen / @hbcohen

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2 Comments

  • Last years event was simply fantastic, our models had a great time. It was such a pleasure being apart of this event and modeling in the amazing Jag&Co. We missed this one but hopefully we will be apart of next years.

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