In a world of gender fluidity, words matter
There is a vast spectrum of terminology associated with gender fluidity, and Condé Nast College graduate, Julian Pinar Diaz, believes we all need to understand them better to fully recognise people for their differences.
Gender Fluidity & Gender Labels
For their final independent fashion communication project, Julian produced a series of thought-provoking photographs entitled Gender-Less accompanied by a short film entitled ‘Angels’ to further illustrate how nuanced the world of labels can be.
“Even in the world of fashion, which many people will think of as being more evolved than most when it comes to gender recognition, there is still so very far to go, and I wanted to try to celebrate queerness in all its diversity,” they said. “I used my own clothes for the photoshoot because I wanted to point out the need to curb our conspicuous consumption – buying new ones would have been totally inappropriate.”
“There are so many terms out there, hundreds of them in fact, and it’s really important for people who want to encourage and support diversity to understand them and be aware of them,” Julian said. “Terms like ‘intergender, bi-gender and non-binary,’ pass a lot of people by. Even if they’re aware of them they aren’t necessarily certain of the precise meanings, and I think that matters.”
Julian chose the title, Angels, for their film, because traditionally such celestial beings are neither male nor female.
“We don’t feel the need to ascribe a gender for angels, so it struck me as interesting that we often do so for real people.”
Julian grew up in Spain and found, as a young teenager reading Vogue and other fashion publications, that there weren’t many androgenous-looking people pictured.
“Representation is so important and there’s a risk that people will think all the battles are won. I know we’re moving forward but I wanted to remind people that there’s still a lot to do.” Julian Pinar Diaz
Studying at Condé Nast College
Julian says that coming to Condé Nast College, they found that staff and students were immediately accepting of their own gender fluidity and use of pronouns. “Everyone was totally supportive and adopted my chosen pronouns without question, which was really refreshing and made me feel secure and in a good place,” they said. “Anyone can come to the College, whoever they are and whoever they feel themselves to be. It is a very inclusive place. What I would say is that if you do enroll on a course, be prepared to work hard. The deadlines come thick and fast and you need to be really committed, but if you are, it’s a fabulous place to take you on the next step in your chosen career.”
Find out more about the BA (Hons) in Fashion Communication and Industry Practice