“Once upon a time a little colored girl was born inside a goddess. With a heart made of dreams and a mind made of love, she took her long skinny legs and came into this world, Earth. Oh Lord, yes she did!” This is part of the introduction to the HBO Max documentary, Donyale Luna: Supermodel. It is part of a diary entry of hers, and is one that resonates with me as I question my own origin story and where my soul came from. As I am sure we all have pondered, “Who am I” and “Where do I come from”, I feel a lot of us can relate to the story of the first Black model to grace the cover of both Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.
Welcome back to EXPRESS YO’SELF RVA! We will circle back to Donyale Luna in a moment, but first, I would like to point you towards the Branch Museum and their newest exhibition, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”, which opened on October 6th, 2023, and will be up until February 18, 2024. As is described on their website, this exhibition features posters created by both women and men to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role that all citizens should play in protecting and promoting human rights while actively challenging gender inequality and stereotypes, advancing sexual and reproductive rights, and protecting women and girls against brutality.
I was made aware of this exhibition in early to mid-September when my friend, and artistic colleague, Shannon Greenwood, tapped me as the Fashion Stylist for a project that was meant to be purely creative, fun, and collaborative, a response to her “creative rut” she found herself in. “No sponsors, no pressure, no big goals for what the work has to be or do,” she mentioned! She already had the go ahead from the Branch Museum to use the space as the site for the photos, Nick Davis and Nicolas Duenas were on board to capture photo and video, and Aurora Higgs was slated to be the model. Considering Aurora identifies as a transwoman and has become an unapologetic Public Speaker on Trans Rights, Trans livelihood, and overall Diversity and Inclusion, Shannon felt she would be a perfect figure to represent the intersectionality of Feminism in reference to “Women’s Rights being Human Rights”.
As I thought about the clothes we would use, there was a profound alignment of factors that led to the photos that resulted. When one thinks of feminism and the fight for women’s rights, one can’t help but think of the 1960’s and the strong human’s rights movement our nation experienced between various marginalized groups. I figured that the clothes should speak to that time period, but how do we make it “Fashion”? It just so happened that the Donyale Luna Documentary was released on September 13th, so I was filled with fashion inspiration from the Youthquake fashions of the 60’s of which Luna was a part of. Thankfully, when I tapped Bygone’s Vintage* to supply clothing and accessories for the shoot they just so happened to be transitioning from a mostly 1950’s inspired assortment to a more 1960’s offering! Considering Luna’s unfortunate demise and subsequent lack of praise in fashion history for her accomplishments, it was no question for me that a shoot in her likeness was in order for this project to name the credit she deserves. In the documentary, high fashion shoe designer and activist, Aurora James, says of Donyale Luna, “Here we have an extraordinary woman who was complicated, as we all are; beautiful, talented, vibrant [and] she was not able to exist in this structure that our society created. We continued to tell her that she was not good enough.”
While Luna had to contend with public backlash because of her race, it made me think deeper about how cruel our society can be towards gentle and artistic souls, regardless of sex; most of those souls being highly in touch with the feminine aspects of themselves. Being one who is born female, presents oneself with feminine attributes or expression, or transitions to womanhood should not diminish one’s lived experience. It became important for me that this photoshoot visually stood as a statement regarding the autonomy for all of us to represent, as well as, present the feminine principle within us all regardless of our biological sex. It is a statement to affirm that we as individuals have the capacity to understand ourselves on deeper levels by exploring our physical presentation, sexual orientation, and gender expression.
As I identify as a queer black feminine presenting cis-gender male, I have been enveloped in a seminal moment of self-inquiry as I contemplate my relationship to the expression of my feminine divine and how that affects my interactions with our largely patriarchal world. Although I am not trans, I feel a similar weight of misogyny and mistreatment because of my willingness to violate traditional stereotypes of gender presentation. A large part of how we feel and show up in the world is attached to our outward presentation. As we humans explore what grounds us in power and liberation through our physical appearance, societal acceptance of our ability to explore that spectrum of gender presentation should not only be permitted, but highly encouraged.
That is why I insisted that I show up in the photos alongside Higgs. To align with the exhibition, “Women’s Rights is Human Rights”, this shoot was an opportunity for us both to stand as a valid representative of the capacity of all of us to exude the feminine principle in all of us, irrespective of biology. This photoshoot is a call to action for men, women and all in between to marvel at beautiful humans representing the feminine divine in their most authentic forms, and invite the Branch Museum audience in celebrating and acknowledging the vital role that all citizens should play in protecting and promoting feminine being and expression.
With Donyale Luna as an inspiration, we not only look to her for beauty and dynamic posing inspiration, we aimed to highlight a women of color who pioneered diversity in the world of ultra-high-fashion at a time when cultured representation in high-fashion magazines was fiercely safeguarded by racism and discrimination in the 60’s and early 70’s. We pay homage to her gentle, gregarious, and performative nature as an ethereal being seeking to allow her inner light to shine as bright as possible in a world that upholds limited standards of beauty.
When we look across the board of religion and cultural belief systems, a constant theme that shows up is how the Moon represents the feminine divine. If you are an astrology connoisseur, you are aware that the moon represents our emotions, instincts, and unconsciousness. This shoot is for all of us who may consider ourselves what I term, ‘Luna Children’ —those of us who seek to unapologetically honor our energetic feminine dynamics within ourselves, whether it is openly identifiable or not. This shoot is for those of us who seek to lean into our feminine side without fear of external judgment, persecution, or violence. This shoot is for those of us who value the intuitive, flowy side of ourselves that allows for the potential effortlessness of experience to occur, allowing life to unfold like a flower as opposed to gripping life with an iron fist and molding it with our ego.
As I further contemplate feminism and learn how to recognize the power of vulnerability, radical rest, and divine intuition, I keep returning to the following quote by Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” It is almost ludicrous to think that in our society to act in ways that do not uphold a traditional sense of patriarchal domination is an act of warfare. Another ludicrous realization for me during this time of introspection was to learn about the term “femmephobia” and how it is deeply ingrained in our society. Femmephobia, the fear of anything seen as feminine has caused people of feminine divine nature to be seen as less than throughout our modern history, with trans women absorbing the brunt of the backlash. As Brynn Tannehill says in ‘Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Trans’, “A direct result of femmephobia is the oppression of anyone (men, women, and other genders) whose gender presentation is in any way classified as being on the feminine end of the gender binary, due to their clothing, behavior, or mannerisms.
In my fashion, feminism asks society to highly respect each other’s boundaries when self care is being observed. Feminism encourages us all not to feel compelled to act out of external validation or justification, and not to be shamed for wanting to indulge in joy, or presentation, or artistic expression. Feminism invites us all to appreciate our fellow humans through acts of consideration and to extend empathy as often as possible. As we all have the capacity to practice empathy, essentially, feminism is mostly about honoring, respecting and highly regarding mindfulness. Perhaps, patriarchy doesn’t have to be dismantled so much as reinforced with a higher practice of feminist mindfulness. While the masculine perspective is about structure and willfulness, perhaps the primary ask of feminism is that before we think structurally or with any sort of force, we make all efforts possible to implement fluidity, compassion, and open mindedness. As Aurora James also said, “As humans we all need to feel accepted. We all need to feel valued.”
*Special thanks to Bygones Vintage for working with our team and providing ALL of the clothes and accessories for this shoot! The celebration of mine and Aurora’s being that we experienced shopping with their staff was immensely affirming, refreshing, and genuinely heartfelt. Thanks for helping us feel pretty, valued, and human.
What I’m Interested in this weekend
Here is a list of events and spaces to dress cute and expand one’s mind…or wardrobe *wink!
Women’s Rights is Human Rights Exhibition
The Branch Museum is open 10a to 5p Friday and Saturday, and 1p to 5p on Sunday. If you have family in town and might be looking for things to do, check out the “Women’s Rights is Human Rights” Exhibit. Let us know what you think of the exhibit!
Shyndigz just opened their new space this past Tuesday! Compared to the smaller space we all are familiar with, this space is now equipped with more seating, and a larger menu including charcuterie, special croissants, and Blanchard’s coffee! They have an expanded gift section so you might be able to find some unique
1912 W. Cary Street
Tuesdays 9am to 9:30p
THIS Sunday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (Christmas Eve)
