Veronica Gargallo Llamas (KCL) - 2020-21 Students
veronica.gargallo_llamas@kcl.ac.uk

Queer Fashion: Examining LGBTIQ Identity, Aesthetics and Commerce in London as a Global City

This thesis aims to investigate the contemporary mainstreaming of ‘queer fashion’ in the fashion industry. Prominent examples of this mainstreaming include a rise in ‘alternative’ model agencies, unisex fashion collections, yearly targeted Pride merchandise, and the momentum behind events such as London Queer Fashion Show. London is embedded in this emerging phenomenon due to its status as a global fashion capital and its active LGBTIQ communities. This project will conduct an exploratory study on how queer fashion creatives working in London define and use the label of queer fashion.

The core of this thesis will be a sample of forty seven in-depth interviews with queer fashion creatives working in London as designers, producers and stylists. The interviews will set out to understand what queer fashion means to each participant in terms of aesthetic and practice, and the interview data will be coded and analysed through a discourse analytical method.

Primary supervisor: Red Chidgey, KCL
Secondary supervisor: Dr Joanne Entwistle, KCL