Appearance is more than just clothing. It is our skin, our nails, the tilt of our mouths or the furrows of our brows, the tattoos that may adorn us and the hair on our heads – or our legs, or our armpits. Of course, most of my work culminates in a study of garments, asContinue reading “The Lesbian History of Short Hair”
Tag Archives: butch/femme
Mabel Hampton, Lillian Foster, and Mid-Century Black Butch/Femme
Mabel Hampton and Lillian Foster have left a material, tangible legacy in a way that cannot be said of many in the lesbian communities of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. This is especially true when it comes to Black lesbians, and Black butch/femme lesbians (or butch/fem, stud/fem, etc); verbal histories slip away easily, and marginalisedContinue reading “Mabel Hampton, Lillian Foster, and Mid-Century Black Butch/Femme”
Femme Chronology: 1950s Bar Lesbians and 2020s Retro Dykes
Lesbian fashion is, by default, not constrained by a masculine/feminine binary. While some people or styles may find themselves drawn more to one or the other, lesbian fashion in general – much like lesbianism itself – is broad and boundary-breaking. Even more traditional butch and femme fashions are displaced from the “masculine” and “feminine” ofContinue reading “Femme Chronology: 1950s Bar Lesbians and 2020s Retro Dykes”
Dressing Dykes 