letter from the editor
addie tsai
Addie Tsai, a biracial nonbinary person with short black hair stands against a white wall. He's wearing blue eyeshadow, red lipstick, and a small orange and green disk earring. They are wearing a white button-down shirt under a jean jacket with an assortment of pins all over it: phrases like Good Things Are Coming, Love Wins, and Be Hippy pop in bright colors. They are between pins of people of all different skin tones and other rainbows. She is also wearing a rainbow tie-dye bow tie, and is tugging on both ends. Their expression is serene, knowing.
A year ago, I opened my Letter to the Editor for just femme & dandy’s inaugural issue with the following statement:
It is a political act to take back a body that has been judged, shamed, objectified, harmed, and projected onto in countless ways and to reclaim it as a site of potentiality, aesthetic power, and joy.
It didn’t seem possible for this statement to ring truer than it always already has, and yet. And yet. In the last year, we’ve seen 300 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills introduced in 36 legislatures. We’ve seen a targeted attack on books that are either written by LGBTQIA+ people or contain subjects addressing “queer” or “trans” content. Finally, co-editor in chief Sarah Sheppeck, managing editor Simone Person, and I made an executive decision to hold off on launching this issue until July after so many people are reeling from the devastating and enraging SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, I made the decision to abstain from attending the Pride parade in Houston just before my first cross-country move because I was in such a state of mourning regarding the decision (and all that I’ve mentioned, and, and, and) that I couldn’t possibly celebrate with glitter and streamers and rainbows, no matter how desperately I wanted to be with my community, how necessary it is for us to assert ourselves in the face of such erasure, violence, and oppression.
When Sarah and I first decided to frame our third issue (can you believe it, bbs?!) with a theme of SUSTAIN, we were largely thinking about the circumstances of our present world. We were thinking about how the COVID pandemic has necessitated, more than ever, fashion that can either affirm our identities or sustain our bodies as many of us have been required to sit in front of a computer more than ever before (or possibly navigate chronic conditions differently in this world or for the first time). We were also thinking about the climate crisis, and how at least some of us are thinking more thoughtfully and intentionally about upcycling and sustainability, and our individual responsibility towards waste.
What Sarah and I didn’t anticipate, although neither were we surprised, was that the world would decide to aggressively deny the seriousness of the global health crisis that has not only not “gone away” but has not even dissipated. In April, after TSA followed the CDC’s declaration that the mask mandate would no longer be in effect or enforced, most airlines and airports dropped mask mandates and recommendations. In response, some cheered, some became much more lax in their own individual protections (and protections on behalf of others), and many others, particularly those who live with chronic illness or other disabilities, felt isolated in their homes. For better or for worse, the world was back in full force. So, in effect, to SUSTAIN ourselves through what we wear on our bodies has become just that much more complicated, that much more needed, to make it through this incredibly challenging and painful world.
What you’ll find in the issue’s pages by our brilliant contributors are ways we sustain our livelihoods as artists through upcycled fashion—such as the poncho hybrid constructions of Mexican American artist felix iii (interviewed by SG Huerta), reject the cishet female gender normativity of pregnancy fashion—such as in Autumn Elizabeth’s on queer pregnancy clothing, or genderfuck with a fashion lineage that didn’t initially seem to include you—like kansas ths bird’s my punk isn’t for you or yoonmi kim’s nonbinary identity through hanbok.
Of course, these are just a few examples.
just femme and dandy volume 03 includes twenty-seven contributions across poetry, interview, non-fiction, photo essay, comics, and other mediums to explore and celebrate our ability to sustain and affirm ourselves in a world that seems determined to harm, erase, and control us. It is our firm belief that no matter what is happening in the world—and yes, we’re aware, it’s a lot—there must always be a space for our joy and livelihood. Just as Ezio Costa says about the value of art in their interview with Kirin Khan:
It’s not food, it’s not going to win battles. It’s not going to answer very concrete problems. I think it can still be important because it takes the weight of cultural perspective, it can bring awareness and try to make people change their minds. Art can make society evolve with it. It’s indispensable to societies in general.
Speaking of sustaining one’s self through LGBTQIA+ fashion, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention two grants that we are incredibly thankful for. We received grants from the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund and additional support from our earliest supporter, Critical Minded, which is an initiative to invest in cultural critics of color cofounded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation. These grants enabled us to provide a small honorarium to each member of our masthead, pay for the design of this issue (by Keet Geniza), and support our current project to print our issues. As a magazine that actively works to be as accessible as possible—which includes paying our staff for their labor and our contributors for their work without which we wouldn’t exist—we are immensely grateful for the support from these organizations which both invest in artists and collectives of color.
A special thanks goes out to our editorial staff: co-editor in chief, Sarah Sheppeck; managing editor, Simone Person; editors Jo Davis-McElligatt, Jen St. Jude, STOO, Kirin Khan, and Sky Cubacub; readers Shannon Kwit, jesse smith, and Briana McCormack; our phenomenal designer, Keet Geniza; and our resident cover designer, Crystal Vielula.
We’re sending love and healing to each of you, and we’re so grateful to you for being part of our family.
Addie Tsai
founding editor / co-editor in chief
just femme & dandy
June 2022