Queer Beauty.
With a playful imagination that bursts the seams of convention and smooths the harsh contours of tradition; Gulliver Whitby is the divine face launching Queer Beauty. Let the exploration into the weird, wild and wonderful begin…
You're 19! and it feels like you’re living a complete fashion fairytale, how did your road to the runway begin?
My experiences in the industry have been defined by talented queer people. One person, in particular, championed me and has become my longest collaborator - CHARLES JEFFREY. I first met Charles stumbling out of a nightclub. I was wearing a powdery Dior jellyfish look! I was dripping in diamonds, or more like diamantes, dressed like a total cyborg. Since then, Charles has been a Peter Pan figure in my life. Flying me away to Neverland (Scotland), to shoot with Thurstan Redding or more recently Tim Walker. Meeting people I’ve idolised, watching them work, realising that they are just normal people, all sort of blew my mind. It really made me realise how limitless we all are. Anyone can do it. That has been Charles’ biest impact on me. No road is ever smooth, and at the end of the day you have to rely on your friends. When you get rejections, set backs, it’s your friends who remind you that you’re that bitch and you should never forget that!
The queer universe and the world of beauty seem to be colliding at full force, what do these words mean to you?
I feel my most queer and my most beautiful when I’m creating. My queer and artistic identity feel so interlinked because all my work is autobiographical. So, inevitably, it’s when I’m writing poetry, or filming montages of myself tap dancing on ice; or accidentally(!)burning down my garden, etc etc that I feel the most me. The way I present myself to the world is an extension of my creativity. But it’s more than just the superficial because creative visibility is political. There’s still a lot of homophobia in the world and queer beauty for many LGBTQ individuals can be dangerous. Unapologetic queerness is essential and beautiful because it challenges the norm - it disrupts and it celebrates. It’s electrifying, energising, magnifying, empowering, liberating, unifying and fucking fun!
Where did your sense of creative rebellion and experimentation originate from?
It’s probably no surprise that I was a drama kid. I grew up obsessed with movies, theatre, novels… always wanting to transform and become these characters. I remember a distinct point in my life, when I was moving from primary to secondary school, trying to reinvent myself. I cut my hair, mascedup my style, changed my attitude to assimilate the change. It was only through performing, where I made older friends, that I started experimenting. They’d dress me up in their clothes, sneak me into clubs and introduced me to queer content like Paris is Burning and The Rocky Horror Show. I’ve had buzzcuts, renaissance curls, bleached undercut fades, slitted eyebrows, no brows, devil horns, mullets, and even mohicans. This could easily be dismissed as just vanity …but reimagining myself externally always enabled me to explore my identity. All my Pokémon evolutions marked different emotional developments in my life. Inevitably someone always hates the new one and loves the old one and vice versa. I wonder what I will do if my hair falls out…. wigs?
This rollercoaster of experimentation must have trickled down into your personal style?
I was always kinda obsessed with the Garden Twins. They wore whatever, wherever and whenever. And of course, my BFF’s Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie circa Simple Life era was legendary! Nowadays, I’m more inspired by my friends. If they made it or if I can borrow it, I’ll find a way to wear it. My style shifts daily. I’m more excited by being a character for a day then settling on something permanent. When I was little it was Cinderella, now it wavers between preppy royal school kid, Die Antwoord hype man, punk goth meets neon techno raver. Even a Mika Rottenberg worker, an all-american cowboy, maybe a french cyclist meets a Palomo Spain leopard fantasy or a bunnyboy.
Do you think the fashion industry encourages and promotes this form of fluid queerness authentically or is it filtered into a ‘trend’?
I grew up going to Shambala. One of the beloved traditions of this festival is a day called Fruity Friday. A day for gender fluidity and dressing up. Although crude, it shows there is widespread appetite to break free from binary stigmatisation. There are some sensational young designers who explore genderless clothing for non binary bodies: Mowalola, Harris Reed, Stefan Cooke, Grace Wales Bonner and Ludovic de Saint Sernin. Fashion can open dialogues! Help people who are questioning and exploring their identity. I hope there will be more mainstream inclusivity and diversity within the fashion establishment. I died and went to heaven when I walked for the SS19 Maison Margiela Haute Couture show. Margiela once said “that’s the point in being avant-garde isn’t it? To disturb in some ways.” Fashion is confrontational, and if it’s not then it’s boring and doesn’t make a statement. Who wants to be one thing when they could be everything.
So you feel more support for the queer community is needed?
Demand it. Support it, emotionally. Support it, financially. People throughout fashion need opportunities. There is so much work that goes unpaid and uncredited at every level. Everyone needs to pay their bills. I was honoured to be a part of Alastair Mackie and Brett Lloyds collaboration in the Leopard Magazine (a one off publication that worked exclusively with queer talent). Let’s give queer talent more platforms! It would be major.