Queer fashion takes center stage at dapperQ’s New York Fashion Week extravaganza
More than 70 LGBTQ models and eight designers took over the Brooklyn Museum for dapperQ’s ninth annual queer fashion show, "Presents Nine," which helped kick off New York Fashion Week.
More than 70 LGBTQ models and eight designers took over the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday night for dapperQ’s ninth annual queer fashion show, "Presents Nine," coinciding with the start of New York Fashion Week.
Hundreds of attendees crowded the perimeter of the runway, cheering, chanting — and sometimes screaming — as models strutted across the stage. The show featured clothing and accessories from veteran and first-time designers alike, including Mickey Freeman, Austin Alegria and Keith Kelly. They all showcased work that centered on fashion rooted in gender nonconformity.
A model gets help putting their dress on backstage.Jorge Garcia for NBC NewsWhile the event is not part of the official New York Fashion Week lineup, dapperQ, a digital magazine dedicated to covering queer fashion as a form of activism, intentionally makes its show just as big of a spectacle. The idea for the event came to founder Anita Dolce Vita more than a decade ago, when she started receiving invitations to NYFW shows.
“I would come back with very little content that would be relevant to our readers and our communities,” Dolce Vita told NBC News. “So, I thought to myself, why don’t we just do our own fashion show?”
Anita Dolce Vita closed the show by walking the runway to "Freedom" by Beyoncé.Jorge Garcia for NBC NewsBuffy Sierra, the show's emcee and dapperQ's runway coordinator, said the show aims to serve as a way of "opening the door to fashion week."
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