Clothing New York City's Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth

In 1990, the documentary Paris is Burning spotlighted the New York City drag ball culture, which was pioneered by the city’s black and Latino LGBTQ community. The documentary was filmed during the AIDS crisis, and many of the drag performers were homeless people who had been disowned by homophobic and transphobic families. Amazingly, members of a historically marginalized group’s profound sense of togetherness resulted in the creation of such an impactful contribution to the fashion world, as well as the mainstreaming of drag performances.

In the present year of 2020, the coronavirus has scourged the world, and among those most vulnerable are New York City’s homeless youths, 20%-45% of which identify as LGBTQ+. Deeply sympathizing with their plight, the founders of the menswear fashion label Private Policy sought to aid this downtrodden population. Collaborating with the Ali Forney Center, the largest homeless shelter for LGBTQ+ youth, designers Siying Qu and Haoran Li created the project #LoveAli. Private Policy is selling their own version of the traditional “I Heart New York” t-shirt for $80, with the proceeds going towards the aforementioned Ali Forney Center. A prestigious fashion label like Private Policy, which provides genderless clothing for both men and women, showing solidarity with the LGBTQ community is reflective of the social progress made since Paris is Burning. The film’s introduction of drag culture was integral to humanizing gay and trans people, as well as properly crediting them with their fashion innovations. Now, while there is still progress to be made, three decades of activism have led to outright, unabashed support from a plethora of public platforms.

Report: Nia Hunt

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