Fashion Forward

Folks, it's Fierce Friday and after daytime work, I went with Cupcake to the Institute of Contemporary Art because the ICA was celebrating Boston Fashion Week with First Fridays: Fashion Forward.

The ICA.

They screened HBOs documentary Suited, which follows the Brooklyn-based label Bindle & Keep, maker of bespoke suits for ALL bodies. I will probably never be able to afford their suits but I was excited about this documentary anyway because Daniel Friedman (cis man) and Rae Tutera (trans person who uses "they" pronouns) have really interesting stories about how they came to be in this business and their suits are gorgeous.

Suited documentary poster.

That said, I was a bit disappointed in the documentary for two reasons. First: No captions! I have a hearing loss. I need captions. This was a huge fail given that it was on HBO so you'd think they could bother to caption the damn thing. Second: Too much transploitation. Basically every documentary ever featuring trans people focuses on their transitions with lots of pictures of them as kids before they transitioned, etc. Aka transploitation. This documentary was no exception even thought there was absolutely NO reason for that to be a necessary part of the documentary.

In addition to the documentary, there were presentations of queer and gender non-conforming clothes from DapperQ, Qwear, and The Tailory. I liked the clothes. I will admit I was expecting more of a fashion show with runway type of thing. But the clothes were still neat and it was nice to see diverse models - different races/ethnicities, different genders, different body types...

The Tailory.

More of The Tailory.

The other thing this event could have used was more dancing. It was a very "stand here looking pretty and sipping my martini" kind of event. And I had to work immediately after so I couldn't go to the after party, which was probably more of a party. So basically, it was the type of event I typically avoid because I find them boring. This one was ok despite that because it offered amazing opportunities to people watch since everyone was decked out in their most fabulous attire. But yeah. I am apparently not made for high society.

Anyway.

I had to pull out the stops for Fierce Friday since I was actually going to be at a queer fashion event. That could only mean one thing: BLUE LIPSTICK! I don't actually own blue lipstick so I borrowed some from Joy. My entire outfit is coordinated around that lipstick. Blue shirt, checkered blue vest, blue necklace, blue jeans, blue nail polish, fake diamond earrings, and my maroon boots because why be predictable? Here I am before the event:

Selfie of me.

Body shot of me.

Closeup of my face so you can see the lipstick. 

Meanwhile Cupcake - aka my fierce companion for the evening - wore a rainbow dress, black cardigan, some kickass boots, purple lipstick, and hoop earrings.

Cupcake. 

Here we are in front of their photo taking place.

Cupcake and I looking adorable.

And here we are in front of the waterfront making the exact same silly face.

Me and Cupcake.