Who’s in and who’s out of (queer) fashion (studies)?

Abstract

Despite vast scholarship on LGBTQ+ fashion, within fashion studies there is still a relative lack of engagement with transgender identities and epistemologies. ‘Transgender Embodiment in Fashion and Beauty’ interrogates how trans people and their experiences have been minimized within fashion studies and argues for an expansive and interdisciplinary understanding of what trans fashion studies might be. To do so, this Special Issue brings together scholars from a variety of fields, including trans studies, Black studies, design history, performance studies and postcolonial studies, to reflect on the trans/fashion nexus. It ultimately aims to pave the way for researchers to excavate unknown or obliterated fashion histories and to centre trans identity as the field of fashion studies continues to evolve.