How My Many Years As A Walking Coat Hanger Taught Me To Appreciate Art

In all its unexpected forms.

LJ Black

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Photo by Michael Lee on Unsplash

Today I was most amused by a Facebook post by a classmate of mine in which she shared several photos from a supposed recent men’s fashion week. The photos were of a men’s fashion show where the male models were wearing all sorts of getup from women’s clothing articles like high heels and fishnet stockings, to more effeminate, or some might argue, emasculating attire, to more daring shapes like strips of wood, or hulking non-human forms.

My friends lamented the state of men, and that they felt sorry for the models as if they were trapped or tricked into such hilarious and demeaning attire.

They laughed. I did not.

I found myself actually bemused by their bewildered nature and realized they had only just cracked the surface of what they were seeing; what they were experiencing.

Arguments on gender roles, inclusivity, and sexism notwithstanding, having been in many fashion shows and fashion weeks, I can honestly attest to the mindset of the models backstage as being entirely ambivalent. Most professional models know their roles well: they are simply a blank canvas, devoid…

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LJ Black

Wife. Mother to an autistic son and an adopted daughter. Alpha female to my pack of dogs & lover of nature. Eagerly searching for that perfect Prosecco.