Interview with Jasmine Mckenna from Fluide
Jasmine McKenna, Social Media Manager
she/her | @jasandherson
= A photographer, photo editor, and artist, Jas is also a fashion designer and senior at FIT in NYC.
When I’m wearing We Are Fluide I feel like a bad b! I found a place where I could express my creative mind set knowing that it would be accepted. As someone who grew up afraid to express their full potential in art I finally moved to NYC living the dream and joining We Are Fluide was just the icing on the cake. No judgement, non stop fun and never ending makeup love!
YOUR
PRACTICE
How
would you describe your fashion practice?
I
describe my fashion practice as modern sporty meets vintage, everything I
create I take inspiration
from eras before my time, whether that’s through silhouettes or
patterns.
Is
there anything in this heteronormative universe of fashion which particularly
angers or irritates you? Why?
In
the past when I would see runway collections I never saw anything wrong with
who was wearing the garments or what they were wearing. We grow up being told
boys wear “boys clothes” and girls wear “girls clothes. Overtime, through
social media and the people I met I learned about designers and models that
were bending gender norms. Certain silhouettes like skirts or pants, should not
be subject to one gender. I think now we are seeing more and more designers and
artist appreciate gender identity, and I want to be apart of that.
On
Fluide, you described finding it difficult to express your full potential in
art before going to NYC. How has joining Fluide and its inclusive ethos enabled
you to feel more confident in your creative expression?
Before
even coming to New York City, I was so nervous. The city is a big change where
I am from, the people are different, the fashion is different, even time is
different it’s so fast pace. I was terrified by the confidence of everything
the city had to bring, but once I joined Fluide my confidence grew
tremendously. I was surrounded by people that expressed themselves however the
fuck they wanted to and did not pay any mind to what someone else had to say. I
thought I need to be more like them, just forget about what people have to say
and just go for it. I now express my art with colorful makeup, I started to steer away from the monotone
looks and bring color into everything I create. I’m a very bright and
colorful person inside, but was always afraid to show others because I cared
too much about what people had to say.
How
would you suggest approaching a gender inclusive garment? Is there anything to
avoid or particularly pursue in the areas of…
…Prints?
When
creating a gender inclusive garment I don’t think there are prints that should
be avoided. I believe it
comes down to who the target customer is. For example, I might make a
sheer top with green polka dots for a gay fem male that a straight fem female
would also love. Personally when it comes to prints I like to research different decades where
the fashion was loud through colors and silhouettes, take the 70s for example,
everyone from any gender wore bright colors, loud prints, exaggerated
silhouettes. While we aren’t in the 70s I have noticed that many people of any gender like
to take aesthetics from past decades.
…Silhouettes?
My answer is also the same for silhouettes, a
silhouette isn’t designated to one gender. Not one gender owns a silhouette
style. I don’t think that silhouettes are to be avoided, but there are silhouettes some
genders may not be interested in. There is a designer by the name of
Weslah, who I love! They create corseted silhouettes that have been seen on men
and women. But then take the brand Telfar that has some loser fitting
silhouettes for men and women. Both beautiful brands they both market towards
any gender, the use of
models in their silhouettes is a big selling point and tells consumers that
these garments are not for one gender.
Apart
from fashion, in what ways do you feel you are able to express your gender
identity?
Fashion
plays a huge role in expressing my identity, but I also can express that with
my makeup and writing. When I joined We Are Fluide, I joined it as a photo
editor. I was behind the scenes did little projects here and there, but every
project I would work on I more and more was falling involve with the use of color in makeup. I was
always a natural girl. Only wore brown tones, lip gloss, never eyeshadow. But
seeing the use of color makeup artist would bring to the table or individuals
that would tag We Are Fluide on Instagram, I realized color can look beautiful.
So I asked to do bigger projects help set up shoots, style, and eventually I
made my way to be the social media manager, graphic designer, content creator,
and occasional stylist. I now wear eyeshadow and glitter! 7-grade me would have
never thought. I also write screenplays, I started with creative writing but
wanted it to come to life as a visual piece. The best part about writing a
screenplay is the character development. Obviously you have to come up with a
story line but before I start writing I have to describe each one of my
characters from the day they were born up to the event I am writing about. It
makes it easier to put down a character in the screenplay so I can easily
express their behavior and attitude. I try my best to develop characters that
may not fit gender norms, with use of color. This may sound difficult, but I
don’t want a character to just out right be like “Yeah guys I’m gay”, while
that may happen sometimes, I think most people just express their gender
identity, but just living. I like to write about people just living, who happen
to be outside of stereotypical gender norms.
How
do you see your creative output developing in the future? Is there a specific
direction you are following or goal you are aiming to reach?
In
the near future I hope to create runway garments for individuals who don’t look
like the typical runway model. People come in so many different shapes and
sizes, so many ethnicities, and different genders, I just want to be someone
that can make people feel beautiful in high fashion.
How
do you approach social media and marketing for an inclusive audience?
This
is something I do spend a lot of time of thinking about, especially on Fluide’s
Instagram. I am constantly writing captions, responding to DMs, and creating
story posts. I try to make every response as gender neutral as possible, making
sure it doesn’t sound like we are excluding anyone. Along with responses, when posting images of individuals I
make sure that everyone of any gender, race, height, weight, etc. is seen as
beautiful.
As an insider in the fashion and
beauty industry, do you feel there has been progress towards fashion with a
more gender inclusive direction? How?
I
of course believe that there has been tremendous progress within both the
fashion and beauty industry, but there is still a long ways to go. You see non-binary models, you
see gays models, you see trans models, but for the most part you only see one
of these models on the runway. What about behind the scenes of what it takes to
produce a collection? What about the makeup team is it as diverse and
gender inclusive as we want it to be? My answer is no. There are so many ways
to be gender inclusive and gender inclusivity should be something normal and
common.
How
does change within these industries need to happen?
I
think change needs to happen by
allies like myself to include everyone in their line of work. The world
doesn’t consist of one gender we need to stop following societal rules and do
what makes us happy.
What form of fashion would you like to
see more of (such as gender neutral, more bold colours, more skirts for men and
so on)?
I
would love to see more bold colors. I think there are a lot of people like me
that are maybe too shy to wear bright multi color garments. I would to see this
everywhere, not just in liberal progressive cities. I also have what people in
my city would say a more of a masculine style because I fell more comfortable
clothes, but wearing bright pieces and fitted silhouettes in my city could
encourage even just one person that looking different than the norms is ok. I
hope to kick down more gender neutral doors and include everyone in my art,
creations, styles, whatever.
Are there any gender inclusive designers you admire?
I
have a few, I mentioned before I love the designer Weslah and Telfar, but I recently have been
obsessing over the designer Nicola Formichetti creator of the genderless clothing
brand Nicopanda.
The first page on their website flashes the words “Inclusivity”, “Diversity”,
and “Creativity”, this is a brand that makes garments for any and everyone
doesn’t matter the color, print, or silhouette.
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NICOPANDA
website interface immediately presents its ethos and values with a white screen and flashing words in multicolours "CREATIVITY" "INCLUSIVITY" etc.
The projects they take on are diverse but follow through with the same aesthetic of fun, playful and bold
https://www.telfar.net/collections/ss2013/lookbook/1
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CLOTHING I KNOW I WANT
- simple graphic t-shirts design for comfortable, casual clothing
- customised items I find (patterns and prints from charity shops)
(trousers, skirts, shirts, complicated items I won't be able to sew easily and quickly within the time frame)
= painting over, ironing patches I can produce
https://craftandleisure.com/painting-on-fabric-with-acrylic-paint-1619/#:~:text=You%20can%20definitely%20put%20your,to%20good%20use%20on%20fabrics.&text=After%20all%2C%20fabric%20paint%20is,or%20GAC%20900%20fabric%20medium.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkjet-Iron-Transfers-Paper-Shirt/dp/B000W4H606
= neutral tones colours for day time and brighter for evening?
= different clothes wouldn't have to be made but the matching with other clothes will emphasise these tones and changes
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