Notes on Pride

Glittery Revenge: Madison Moore's Fabulous

June 13th, 2021

"All told, I’m interested in queer and other people forced to the margins who create themselves for themselves and who don’t have access to top celebrity stylists, who aren’t on the covers of magazines, but who are fashion or art students and other creative types who make or improvise their own looks. These fabulous creative renegades don’t have a team of people working for them around the clock and, importantly, their personal styling almost always bends the rules of socially accepted appearance." (Moore, 2018, p. 7-8)
"Part of the political thrust of fabulousness is that it emerges not from confidence or designer labels but from life-long periods of struggle, depression, self-loathing, and injury. All of these are forms of trauma that culture relentlessly thrusts upon brown, queer, transfeminine people every day, in nearly every aspect of our existence, from our work lives to our sex lives” (Moore, 2018, p.56)
"The complication and paradox of fabulousness, though, is that despite the visibility and increased surveillance of transfeminine people, they are most likely to disappear or be ignored. More visibility does not automatically lead to safety once and for all" (Moore, 2018, p.57)

Mumbai Pride, 2019

Fabulous nightlife and club fashions are always attended by verbs. Words that both compel and command action: Werk! Slay! Carry! Kill it! Shut it down! In examining the creative looks and aesthetics of queer fashion renegades, Madison Moore’s “Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, demonstrates that stylishness isn’t just vapid or shallow and it also need not be devoid of politics. Rather, fabulous looks are verbs made flesh. They are aesthetics that do things: critique, refuse, create, endure, politicize, and so on. Through beautiful encounters with artists, club kids, and other queer renegades, Moore teaches us that fabulous things are not just pretty to look at or captivating. Fabulousness is also a haunting reminder of and response to a world that tells queer and trans people that they should not exist. The beauty we create with our bodies when we turn a look, beat our faces, or create something truly legendary, are not empty gestures or hollow words. Instead, they are politically crafted “Fuck Yous,” revenge covered in glitter, rhinestones, sequins and other items deemed too much for a world that is perpetually not enough for queer and trans folks. ✨ ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨”

Notes on Pride

Trust No Aunty: Kareem Khubchandani's Critical Aunty Studies

Finding the Ugly Within: Mia Mingus' "Moving Towards the Ugly"

The Perils of a Lack of Regard: Susan Schweik's Ugly Laws

Brian is a cultural anthropologist working at the intersections of queer studies, critical theory, popular culture, digital anthropology, and South Asian studies.

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