My work is included in the 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, “Fashion is Art.”
This moment is shared with my eternal muse and absolute DAUGHTER, miss
@aarianaphilip , whose custom mannequin so elegantly displays a look she wore in my first (and still only) runway show.. and her first time walking a runway…which I held in 2019 at La Mama Galleria. I funded the show with 10K I made off selling t-shirts on Kickstarter, and a hell of a lot of gigantic asks. I never sold, or offered for sale, any of the pieces in the show, though that was never really the point for me.
I was so pleased when the Met asked to acquire this look for their permanent collection and display it in this year’s exhibition, because it so perfectly illustrates my personal thesis: that all creation should be done with humility and be born from humble means, with what’s around you. A pair of Rustler shorts I found at a thrift store and added angled zipper pockets to. A used white t-shirt I had lying around and printed myself. To see this look presented amongst couture gowns and historical sartorial artifacts illustrates a plane of creation and recognition that I really can get down with.
About the printed QUEER|CAPITAL design: it’s always been a personal prompt to myself (and you, but only if you want), guiding me to question how I can use what I have to get what I want—the personal is the collective here. It’s hopelessly idealistic and so deeply imperfect, but somehow it’s guided me well so far. I practice it, but don’t ask me to defend it with words, because I won’t. I’m not particularly interested in continuing the discussion the way I was in 2019. What I will say is I am not against capital. I am against capital as the only choice.
I’ve taken the last year and some bit off from fashion in any real way—intentionally, but also because I realized that inherited ambition was blocking my power and my ability to use my work to connect with and truly serve people with a gift I was lucky enough to receive. I’m still in my cocoon, still emerging from a genesis goo I knew I needed to put myself back into, but I won’t always be.
Big love always. Thanks for taking the time.
RUNWAY 2 when??
