This research investigates the role of dress codes in queer subculture, exploring them as tools of expression, resistance and redefinition of identity representation models. Through a hybrid Outside IN-Inside OUT methodological approach, the thesis addresses the gap in the academic literature by placing fashion at the centre of an investigation into corporeality, gender and sexuality, not only as an aesthetic practice, but as an embodied device of subjectification and social transformation.To the extent that being coincides with appearing, dress becomes a field of political tension, a cultic trace and an expression of ideologies. This thesis explores the subversive potential of the queer perspective in rethinking the hybrid meta-modern body-dress, deconstructing the binary paradigm that traditionally opposes masculinity and femininity in a system of rigid complementarity. The research focuses on the Milanese fashion scene, identifying the queer ferments that, in continuity with the Antwerp avant-garde, are redefining the common sense of social corporeity, restoring centrality to difference as a value and to otherness as a generative principle. The investigation develops from the intersection of theory and practice, combining critical reflection with fieldwork conducted through interviews with Drag performers, designers and queer activists. Drag, here, is submitted as an analytical device to explore the gap between in drag and out of drag, revealing the fractures between authenticity and normative imposition. This dyscrasia is not only social, but projectual: the absence of alternative aesthetic models limits the emergence of new subjectivities, relegating otherness to a performative marginality rather than a fully lived existence. The research proposes a reinterpretation of gender as a fluid system of signs and meanings, integrating querness as a tool for a ‘radical tailoring’ capable of representing the superment of toxic masculinity and feminine fragility, overcoming the normativity of the identity conception of post-modernity. Artifacts are cultural traces and expressions of ideologies, in this sense the thesis wants to emphasise the importance of the role played by new designers, who are called upon to give visibility to new models by overcoming the gazed zone of the social stage, so that society manifests itself for its heterogeneity.This imposes a rethinking of Fashion itself, where the body is no longer bound to dominant aesthetic norms, and difference is elevated to a value. In this sense, creativity takes on a central role, becoming an act of care, and leading to a rethinking of the very sense of the designer's role, claiming the responsibility of operating by making the invisible visible through the formulation of new representative models functional to overcoming the binary paradigm. The study analyses the work of designers such as Rambaldi, Magliano, Seghezzi and Lessico Familiare, identifying them as avant-garde players in the Italian fashion panorama, operating in the wake of queer hacking, they subvert the narrative binary to generate new modes of identity representation. Design has the capacity to directly affect reality, as it is configured as a bearer of meanings, a vehicle of values and a promoter of new visions. This thesis does not limit itself to a critical analysis of contemporary queerness, but takes it as a perspective through which to rethink design making. With this in mind, an Expression Toolbox is formulated, a methodological device that reconsiders metaprojectuality in the construction of new expressive models, transforming otherness from a marginal condition to a generative principle of new languages and new possibilities of existence.
La tesi indaga il ruolo dei codici vestimentari nella subcultura queer, esplorandoli come strumenti di espressione, resistenza e ridefinizione dei modelli di rappresentazione identitaria. Attraverso un approccio metodologico ibrido Outside IN—Inside OUT, la tesi affronta la lacuna presente nella letteratura accademica, ponendo la moda al centro di un’indagine sulla corporeità, il genere e la sessualità, non solo come pratica estetica, ma come dispositivo incarnato di soggettivazione e trasformazione sociale.Nella misura in cui essere coincide con apparire, l’abito si fa campo di tensione politica, traccia cultuale ed espressione di ideologie. La tesi esplora il potenziale sovversivo della prospettiva queer nel ripensare l’ibrido corpo-vestimentario meta-moderno, decostruendo il paradigma binario che tradizionalmente oppne la mascolinità e la femminilità in un sistema di rigida complementarità. La ricerca si concentra sulla scena Moda milanese, individuando i fermenti queer che, in continuità con l’Avanguardia di Anversa, stanno ridefinendo il senso comune della corporeità sociale, restituendo centralità alla differenza come valore e all’alterità come principio generativo. L’indagine si sviluppa dall’intersezione tra teoria e pratica, coniugando una riflessione critica con un lavoro sul campo, condotto attraverso interviste a performer Drag, designer e attivistə queer. La parabola Drag, qui, viene sottoposta come espediente analitico per esplorare lo scarto tra in drag e out of drag, rivelando le fratture tra autenticità e imposizione normativa. Tale discrasia non è solo sociale, ma progettuale: l’assenza di modelli estetici alternativi limita l’emergere di nuove soggettività, relegando l’alterità a una marginalità performativa piuttosto che a un’esistenza pienamente vissuta. La ricerca propone una rilettura del genere come sistema fluido di segni e significati integrando la querness come strumento per una “sartoria radicale” in grado di rappresentare il supermento della mascolinità tossica e fragilità femminile, superando la normatività della concezione identitaria della post-modernità. Gli artefatti sono tracce cultuali ed espressioni di ideologie, in questo senso la tesi vuole sottolineare l’ importanza del ruolo che nuovi designer, chiamati a dare visibilità a nuovi modelli superando la alla gazed zone del palco scenico sociale, affinché la società si manifesti per la sua eterogeneità. Questo impone un ripensamento stesso della Moda, dove il corpo è inteso non più vincolato a norme estetiche dominanti, e la differenza viene elevata a valore. In questo senso la creatività, assume un ruolo centrale, facendosi atto di cura, e portando ad un ripensamento del senso stesso del ruolo del designer, rivendicandone la resposabilità di operare rendendo visibile l’ invisibile attraverso la formulazione di nuovi modelli rappresentativi funzionali al superamento del paradigma binario. Lo studio analizza il lavoro di designer quali Rambaldi, Magliano, Seghezzi e Lessico Familiare identificandoli come attori di un Avanguardia nel panorma moda italiano, operando nel solco del queer hacking, essi sovvertono il binarimo narrativo per generare nuove modalità di rappresentazione identitaria. Il design possiede la capacità di incidere direttamente sulla realtà, poiché si configura come portatore di significati, veicolo di valori e promotore di nuove visioni. Questa tesi non si limita a un’analisi critica della queerness contemporanea, ma la assume come prospettiva attraverso cui ripensare il fare design. In quest’ottica, viene formulato uno Strumentario di Espressione, un dispositivo metodologico che riconsidera la metaprogettualità nella costruzione di nuovi modelli espressivi, trasformando l’alterità da condizione marginale a principio generativo di linguaggi inediti e nuove possibilità di esistenza.
Queer hacking : design for the fashion system
Tonato, Miriam
2023/2024
Abstract
This research investigates the role of dress codes in queer subculture, exploring them as tools of expression, resistance and redefinition of identity representation models. Through a hybrid Outside IN-Inside OUT methodological approach, the thesis addresses the gap in the academic literature by placing fashion at the centre of an investigation into corporeality, gender and sexuality, not only as an aesthetic practice, but as an embodied device of subjectification and social transformation.To the extent that being coincides with appearing, dress becomes a field of political tension, a cultic trace and an expression of ideologies. This thesis explores the subversive potential of the queer perspective in rethinking the hybrid meta-modern body-dress, deconstructing the binary paradigm that traditionally opposes masculinity and femininity in a system of rigid complementarity. The research focuses on the Milanese fashion scene, identifying the queer ferments that, in continuity with the Antwerp avant-garde, are redefining the common sense of social corporeity, restoring centrality to difference as a value and to otherness as a generative principle. The investigation develops from the intersection of theory and practice, combining critical reflection with fieldwork conducted through interviews with Drag performers, designers and queer activists. Drag, here, is submitted as an analytical device to explore the gap between in drag and out of drag, revealing the fractures between authenticity and normative imposition. This dyscrasia is not only social, but projectual: the absence of alternative aesthetic models limits the emergence of new subjectivities, relegating otherness to a performative marginality rather than a fully lived existence. The research proposes a reinterpretation of gender as a fluid system of signs and meanings, integrating querness as a tool for a ‘radical tailoring’ capable of representing the superment of toxic masculinity and feminine fragility, overcoming the normativity of the identity conception of post-modernity. Artifacts are cultural traces and expressions of ideologies, in this sense the thesis wants to emphasise the importance of the role played by new designers, who are called upon to give visibility to new models by overcoming the gazed zone of the social stage, so that society manifests itself for its heterogeneity.This imposes a rethinking of Fashion itself, where the body is no longer bound to dominant aesthetic norms, and difference is elevated to a value. In this sense, creativity takes on a central role, becoming an act of care, and leading to a rethinking of the very sense of the designer's role, claiming the responsibility of operating by making the invisible visible through the formulation of new representative models functional to overcoming the binary paradigm. The study analyses the work of designers such as Rambaldi, Magliano, Seghezzi and Lessico Familiare, identifying them as avant-garde players in the Italian fashion panorama, operating in the wake of queer hacking, they subvert the narrative binary to generate new modes of identity representation. Design has the capacity to directly affect reality, as it is configured as a bearer of meanings, a vehicle of values and a promoter of new visions. This thesis does not limit itself to a critical analysis of contemporary queerness, but takes it as a perspective through which to rethink design making. With this in mind, an Expression Toolbox is formulated, a methodological device that reconsiders metaprojectuality in the construction of new expressive models, transforming otherness from a marginal condition to a generative principle of new languages and new possibilities of existence.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/235496