This is the sixth installment in a miniseries that elevates the work of up-and-coming queer individuals working in the fashion world. Check back at HuffPost Gay Voices regularly to learn more about some of the designers of tomorrow and the way their work in fashion intersects with their queer identity.
David Siferd is a queer fashion designer currently based out of Ohio, having previously lived and worked in New York City. Sold under the street wear label GODDESS, Sieferd’s designs are intended for a range of bodies and identities without limitation by an individual’s sex or gender. The target customer for GODDESS is broad, with Siferd noting that he views fashion as “the perfect platform to help people understand the entire range of human expression and identity.” Check out the interview below.
The Huffington Post: What has your journey as a queer artist and fashion designer entailed?
David Siferd: When I was in the third grade, I moved to a new school and told all the kids that I transferred from “fashion school” where I was kicked out for wearing plaid. As I grew older, I was always drawn to the world of fashion: enticing and glamorous and unlike anything I experienced in my small hometown in Ohio. Fashion seemed like a way for me to escape the pressures and anxieties of growing up. In middle school I became determined to be a fashion designer. Eventually I graduated high school and studied fashion design in college, launching my own label GODDESS after interning with Gerlan Jeans while finishing my degree.
Where have your designs appeared?
My designs for GODDESS have appeared in a number of media outlets, from BULLETT Media, LUTEFISK and GRAPE Magazine to Subjekt Magasin, Mask Magazine and The Cool Hour. My summer 2014 collection sold at the boutiques VFILES in New York and GR8 in Tokyo. Interestingly, several of my designs were used in an artwork by Bjarne Melgaard in 2013 as well.
All items produced by GODDESS are unisex. Why do you consider this to be important?
Unisex is very important to me. I don’t see clothing as only for a male or female-[identified individuals]. I think if someone likes something, they should be free to wear it regardless of their sex or gender. I think fashion is the perfect platform to help people understand the entire range of human expression and identity and, if I can help people be open to new things that way, I will feel I’ve made a positive impact.
You explicitly target queer people with your designs. Why is it important to you to create clothing for the LGBT community?
When I design, I try not to think about whether the person who buys the product and wears it identifies as male or female or trans or anything else. I simply want to create interesting designs that anyone might be interested in wearing. Certain designers and brands have an incredibly narrow and specific target customer in mind, but what’s more interesting to me is when people subvert the intentions of companies. Being appropriate is the most boring and innocuous thing, in my opinion, so playing with things like gender and class and trying to make people think about these things is very exciting to me. If my designs appeal to LGBT people, that’s awesome, but it’s just as interesting to me if I see someone I would never expect wearing my designs.
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Want to see more from GODDESS? Head here to check out the designer’s website. Missed the previous installments in this miniseries? Check out the slideshow below.
“To be queer is to be constantly reminded that you are different… There is power in reveling in your difference — accepting it and projecting it full force — you cut your critics at their knees if you can preempt their attack. I think to be queer is to fight; the very first collection I designed was about fashionable street warriors and I think that vibe is really prevalent in my work — being authentic and brave in the face of a tidal wave of homogenization. These are also the people that inspire me and that my clothing attracts… BCALLA is built on collaborations with other dreamers who refuse to see the world the way it is.” -Bradley Callahan of BCALLA
“The scaffolding-like structures we create at Chromat build on my architectural design foundation. We treat the body the same as an architect treats the building site — looking for context lines, experimenting with new materials and working on defining silhouettes. Chromat is swim, lingerie and harness structures that build on the body and built for strong, powerful women. The woman we design for is unafraid, intelligent and interested in standing out.” –Becca McCharen of Chromat
“I never wanted Sir New York to be for any specific type of person. If anything my thinking was way too broad. I wanted all genders — everyone wears menswear… Fashion has accustomed people to gender bending. We are more open to human expression rather than binaries. People are starting to let go of being uncomfortable about other people being different. Gender is often best expressed in presentation, how you wear your clothes and the swag you have when you feel good about your look. Fashion communicates identity with options.” –Auston Björkman of Sir New York
“For me, being a queer artist means having to pay attention to how things blend together and lose their edges. Right? That’s the kind of power that the idea of the spectrum has to offer us. It’s about being able to see presumptions and unnecessary barriers, tearing them down and revealing an unknown nature to things. I think this relates directly to queer experience and how something as mundane as attraction and who a person is attracted to can be this huge societal barrier that invites discrimination and violence to those just born the way they are. Thankfully, so many of those barriers have come down — but there are still more. It’s a dangerous and powerful thing to reveal yourself and be boldly strange and resist labels, but that is the good work that has to be done.” –Vincent Tiley
