 I mentioned this on my Facebook page recently, and it continues to chap my proverbial hide.
The New York Times ran this story about how one butch went to a (male) tailor and asked him to make a men's suit for her. Last year. Yeah, you read that right: when Tomboy Tailors, Saint Harridan, Androgyny, and other companies were already on the scene. (I profiled some of them back in January and April.) Worse yet, the Times's story implies that this tailor had some amaaaazing new idea. The story begins with, "Breakthrough ideas often come from the least expected sources." The idea that a mainstream male tailor would make some suits for butch women is not a "breakthrough;" he was merely introduced to a market that he didn't know already existed. I don't fault the tailor--his quotes don't make it sound like he thinks he's a pioneer--but "discovery" is the thrust of the Times's story. Here's a quote: In a coffee shop near his home the other day, he [the tailor] seemed still struck by the world that opened to him after that initial email. "The whole thing is really strange, and sometimes I can't — " he said, his voice evaporating into the wonder of it all. He was not even sure how to identify Ms. Tutera [the Handsome Butch], gender-wise. Was she transgender or just mannish? Sometimes it was hard to know such things. In other words, Regular Person discovers Weird Queer Market. While the story pays lip service to the fact that queer-owned companies with this mission already existed, this bit of info comes several paragraphs into the article, after the article's framework is well in place. I'm happy to see any butch coverage in the media (see here and here for previous posts on the subject), but the Times article was one more reminder that butch visibility--and queer equality generally--still has a long way to go.
6 Comments
FCBarcelona1899
12/4/2013 03:39:41 am
Who doesn't love men's fashion? :D
nat
12/4/2013 02:03:43 pm
I see where you are coming from, but the companies you mention are not local to NYC. If I wanted to be measured for a suit, or have a suit hemmed or otherwise altered, I would be happy to know there was someone like the guy covered in the NYT article local to me. Very few of us can pick a suit off the rack (much less via mail order) and have it look right, whether the tailoring is masculine or feminine. Having an expert tailor present willing to serve the community is important. I also did not find the NY Times to be attributing the inspiration here to the male tailor-- they make it clear that the female client in need of a good masculinely-tailored suit sought him out, and while I believe they credited his professional skills as a tailor and willingness to participate in thinking outside the box, I didn't think they were making him out to be quite the "normal guy savior" you seem to have seen.
Thank you for taking the time to write this response. I see you read mine over at thehandsomebutch.tumblr.com, which was the abridged version of my feelings about gender identity, masculinity and privacy/vulnerability. I knew going into my interview with the New York Times that the story would not be told perfectly, and that it would not be told the way I would tell it myself (which I already did once in February on the Huffington Post's Gay Voices -> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-tutera/an-extravagant-practical-_b_2638530.html). But I also knew that millions of people would see the article, and hoped that it would do some good. I agree with what you said about visibility and equality -- we're still all doing the work as a culture -- and the Time article is part of that work. 12/5/2013 06:06:33 am
I can see that "NYT" mainstream-media way of telling the story from the heterosexual man's point of view, and it IS annoying. But I also love the last quotes from him:
Jamie Ray
12/5/2013 08:32:00 am
I live in New York, as so I am biased towards the TImes. That said, the NYT did run an article earlier this year on Tomboy Tailors and Saint Harridan here http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/fashion/a-masculine-silhouette-tailored-for-her.html?_r=0 Leave a Reply. |
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