A SCIENCE FICTION FASHION FEATURE SHOW AT IRMA FREEMAN

by Adam Arthur

November breezed by like an Autumn wind, energetic yet dispassionate, with a cold energy. It is almost easy to forget the many highlights of the month. Yet of them, one event in particular stands out: the Rhinestone Steel Queer Fashion Show at Irma Freeman Center for the Imagination that took place on November 11, 2023.

Like most events prefixed by the word “Queer”, I have to own up to a little bit of ambivalence: like most people who have entertained the company of both sexes (but who leans ever so slightly hetero-romantic) I often feel like an interloper, like someone who doesn’t quite belong there. I spent most of the prior year (likely one-sidedly) crushing in a vaguely straight way on the moody-yet-energetic former guitarist of a local band who worked part-time as a barista at my favorite cafe. Therefore, I thought, what am I doing in a space designated as “queer”?

Once I got over this feeling of insecurity, the event itself was incredibly fun and thought-provoking. Fashion, in an art magazine, you ask? Well, like Jimmy James once said: “Fashion is the art. Designers are the Gods. Models play the part of angels in the dark.” These lyrics rang true at the Rhinestone Steel Queer Fashion Show. Two drag queens – one of them going by the stage name Danielle Atme – played off each other as the Greek Chorus announcing the narrative and judging the show.

The show itself built on the notion of the designer as a creator of worlds, a God shaping and moulding new beings out of clay from the Earth before setting aside to take a much-needed rest.  

Each set of designs, shown off by a small team of models, revealed its own world. My personal favorite was, of course, Aanimalshop: a 1980s New Wave-inspired designer who creates dresses and jewelry with a bright neon vibe and a sort of Memphis Milano, Keith Haring influence. Bright geometric shapes, pastels, and bright neon all featured heavily in this particular lineup.

Another designer presented a lineup inspired by Rocky Horror shadow casts, with one of the models playing Janet Weiss carrying a wet newspaper over her head. Yet another designer presented a lineup inspired by 1970s fantasy: Tanith Lee novels, Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, and so on. The models walked on to the stage wearing wool tunics and felt robes that would not be out of place in Joshua Logan’s Camelot. The audience was left to wonder why the designer had not been hired by Disney to design costumes for Star Wars and Marvel projects. Most provocative of all was a Mad Max, post-apocalyptic cyberpunk inspired lineup bearing the title “The General State of Things.” A clear statement, the presentation felt thematically similar to Derek Jarman’s 1978 post-apocalyptic Punk-themed arthouse film Jubilee. The models walked down the ramp clad in black leather or pleather armor with accents of color, rocking a tough, hard-bitten Warboys look.

All of the outfits might be dismissed as fanciful concepts, yet – like the media from which they take influence – the clothes worn by the models make statements. Science fiction and fantasy – sometimes broadly called “speculative fiction” – can play a number of roles. This genres are not purely escapism, but commentaries on aspects of our world. Speculative fiction can be a warning of a post-apocalypse and a testament to survival after the end of civilization as we know it. It can be a utopian vision of a more pleasant world. Or it can be a commentary on current events. All of these themes were featured at the Rhinestone Queer Fashion Show.

The event was followed by a Disco dance party hosted by Pittsburgh Disco scene DJ Sister Sludge. Additionally, a few of the designers were selling their wares in the lobby. A thought-provoking visual spectacle, it is to be hoped that Irma Freeman Center for the Imagination takes a cue from its success and hosts similar shows in the future.

Adam Arthur holds a graduate degree from Florida State University. He is the author of two poetry collections, Levers of Power and Sound and Substance.  A transplant to Pittsburgh, he has lived in the area for three years and takes inspiration from his surroundings in his written work.