People
"I am a non-binary queer disabled Filipinx human from Chicago, IL and have had a life long panic disorder which shapes my art, organizing work, the people with whom I surround myself, and the community I foster. I started my clothing line shortly after my chronic stomach disorder began in college in the Fall of 2014. During this time, the waistband of most pants would cause me significant discomfort, aggravating my stomach condition. I make myself stretchy pants with soft waistbands which accommodate my stomach pain as well as seams on the outside for my sensory sensitivities.
I dreamt of making gender affirming garments when I was in high school and couldn’t access a chest binder - a garment used to flatten the chest, typically used by transmasculine people. Accessibility to gender affirming clothing is severely limited for those without a credit card to shop online or an ID that will allow them into the adult spaces where such clothing is typically located. Even when I could access binders I was disappointed by their medicalized appearance and feel. I decided to serve both needs in order to make an intersectional clothing line unlike any other.
Five years ago, I developed a piece of writing titled “Radical Visibility: a QueerCrip Dress Reform Movement Manifesto” in order to further articulate the ideologies behind my line. I challenge mainstream beauty standards that center cisgender, heterosexual, white, thin, able bodied/minded people, by using the ideology of Radical Visibility as a guide.
Radical Visibility is an unapologetic refusal to assimilate, a claim to our bodies, and a celebratory insistence on highlighting the parts of us that society typically shuns. Rebirth Garments embodies Radical Visibility through the use of bright colors, patterns, and innovative designs that accentuate instead of hide our bodies. As a multidisciplinary artist, I am interested in fulfilling the needs for disabled queer life, with an emphasis on joy."