Queer Fashion: Examining LGBTIQ Identity, Aesthetics and Commerce in London as a global city.

This thesis aims to investigate the various definitions of "queer fashion" by analysing the discourses that the term mobilizes through magazine textual discourse analysis and interviews with queer fashion creatives based in London. Queer fashion, or some elements that can fall under this umbrella term, has experienced a mainstreaming through the analysed period of 2015 to 2019. Prominent examples of this mainstreaming include a rise in 'alternative' casting preferences, unisex and 'agender' fashion collections, yearly targeted Pride merchandise, and the momentum behind events such as London Queer Fashion Show and brands such as Art School Collective. Queer identification through fashion has moved from being encoded and underground, to proud and profitable. London is embedded in this emerging phenomenon due to its status as a global fashion capital and its numerous, multicultural and active LGBTQ+ communities. This thesis will investigate what connections queer fashion creatives draw between personal identity, community participation, and commercial practices, and with this it aims to offer an innovative intervention into existing research on sexuality, fashion and the market. Its objectives are to define queer fashion by mapping its key players, sites of intervention, and the connections forged between aesthetic practices, activism and commerce.