Queer Style Breaks the Internet
Queer fashion is breaking the internet in 2025, but is this visibility helping the community reclaim its power or allowing corporations to dilute and sell it back?
Cover Photo from Getty Images. Photographed by Dimitrios Kambouris, May 2025. Available via Harper’s Bazaar. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. This image is from Hunter Scafer’s look from this year’s Met Gala, showing a more masculine style on a queer body. The theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, had a dress code of “Tailored for You”, asking guests to tailor their outfits to their own expression with an emphasis on menswear and suiting. Hunter’s look reaffirms the ongoing movement of personal expression and fluid dress in the queer community, with Hunter starting in this look and ending the night in more traditionally feminine look for the after party.
Queer visibility is at an all-time high, with members of the LGBTQ+ community being increasingly recognized and gaining popularity on the internet. Queer style, in particular, is an emerging category, with many members of the community drawing inspiration from queer celebrities and creators to challenge traditional gender norms and celebrate new forms of self-expression through both political and aesthetic lenses. Queer style is owning the internet in 2025, but is it being reclaimed as a source of power, or diluted and commodified as a means for companies to get their dollars?
Queer celebrities and creators are using fashion as a means of personal and political expression more than ever before, shedding light on queer issues and identities. With the current administration limiting recognition of gender identity in federal documents, erasing LGBTQ+ protections including policies that addressed equity and nondiscrimination, and restricting DEI programs (to name just a few of the harmful changes in legislation targeted towards the LGBTQ+ community), it’s vital that those with the privilege and access to speak out and express themselves politically continue to have the power to do so.
A recent and prominent example of political expression fighting this repression is with the ‘Protect the Dolls’ t-shirt, with “Dolls” referring to the slang word within the community meant to represent hyperfeminine trans women in the ballroom scene. Created by designer Connor Ives, it was a reactive act in response to the recent anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies from the current political administration, being a direct call to action to protect trans women who supported the Trans Lifeline organization.
The t-shirt was worn by Troye Sivan at Coachella, Pedro Pascal at the premiere of the Marvel movie Thunderbolts, and by several other prominent celebrities. Fashion, especially in queer spaces, is inherently political, and this has been an ongoing wave that has gained momentum with both queer and supporting celebrities and queer creators.
Photo from Getty Images. Photographed by Gareth Cattermole, April 2025. Available via The Guardian. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. This photo represents the support that the queer community has gotten not only from other queer celebrities and individuals, but well-known allies to the community such as Pedro Pascal pictured here.
However, queer fashion has also been facing commodification from mainstream culture, with brands releasing diluted Pride statements and merchandise as an expectation rather than truly supporting and taking the community into account. Many larger companies created Pride collections and campaigns this past June that were lackluster, with thoughtless taglines, a few subtly rainbow pieces, and some unrelated merchandise. Target’s collection this year in particular, seemed rushed and lacked thought for the community, also being placed at the back of many of their stores.
Many other companies declined to renew their sponsorships of Pride events this year, including Mastercard, PepsiCo, and Deloitte, among others. Several companies have even chosen not to rainbowify their corporate logos, a relatively inexpensive and easy way to show support for the community that has become increasingly popular over the past decade. This is because, above all, for these companies, Pride is a business decision, one that shows marketing the community as profitable is better than the alternative in today’s political climate.
It’s important to discuss social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram in this conversation, which have transformed into more mainstream spaces where queer style (political or aesthetic) can flourish. Although there is always backlash from other groups, LGBTQ+ creators and celebrities have worked hard to curate a supportive community where queer people can express themselves through style. On TikTok alone, there are over 97,000,000 posts under the hashtag ‘Finding Your Queer Style’ and 40,000 posts under #queerfashion. This marks a new era in which LGBTQ+ community members are seeking to reclaim their power and express themselves beyond traditional fashion norms.
The queer community online has also influenced more widespread trends and expressions, not only giving a voice to those who may not be able to express themselves in their day-to-day lives, but also allowing those who can to experiment with different ways of presenting themselves. Queer creators such as Hina Sabatine, Shuang Bright, Marquis Neil, Tyris Winter, and Eli Erlick are just a few online creators who produce content surrounding queer fashion and personal expression.
With 2025 being dubbed the year of the “lesbian renaissance”, more than ever, there is a spotlight on queer women's expression in various forms on social media. Androgynous dressing, hyper-femininity, and lesbian signaling are just a few ways that queer women have been expressing themselves through clothing to convey their identities. Hunter Schafer, in particular, is a trans and queer celebrity who utilizes personal expression in a way that has been in the spotlight. From the Met Gala to fashion weeks to awards shows, Hunter has consistently expressed herself under a variety of queer lenses and reclaimed power by doing so. Not only has she helped normalize the fluidity of gender expression within fashion, but she has also ensured that queer individuals have the freedom to express themselves however they choose.
The mainstream fashion industry welcoming and normalizing queer fashion is a monumental step within the grand scheme of things, however, it's important that the queer community help educate others on its roots. Though visibility of style, identity, and personal expression is essential to doing so, giving the historical context is a necessary step in helping create understanding. Educating with queer books, articles, short and long-form media and additional resources can not only help people become more informed on how we got here, but also on the struggle members of the LGBTQ+ community had to endure to get here.
So is queer fashion being reclaimed or exploited? To sum it up, it’s both. It is many of the same forces that are elevating queer visibility that also threaten to commodify it. The LGBTQ+ community faces ongoing tensions, including attempts to suppress, silence, and push queer expression back into the shadows, and dilution and commodification of their identities for brand recognition and profit. However, if queer celebrities and creators continue to assert themselves and challenge the brands that profit, the power of queer fashion will thrive.
