Why arent there more queer women in fashion?
While Nicolson is far from alone in feeling like an outsider in fashion, she is part of a minority that is vastly underrepresented in the industry. Of the 31 designers nominated for the CFDA awards in 2020  often dubbed the Oscars of the fashion world  none of the seven cis female nominees were openly queer. In her debut book, Everybody (Else) Is Perfect, the former editor-in-chief and fashion director of Nylon magazine, Gabrielle Korn, writes about joining a young female-focused media company aged 23 as an out lesbian and feeling very tokenised  and really responsible for answering everybodys questions because I felt like if I didnt, the queer stories wouldnt get told.  The book, released in January this year, is a searing and prescient series of essays, covering everything from Korns belief that magazines pretend lesbians dont exist to her nebulous queer aesthetic, which meant she couldnt be distinguished from first glance as gay.  Theres an idea that gay women wont be interested in fashion because they dont care as much about how they look, which is just ridiculous, Nicolson says. Im not going to wear what people think I should stereotypically wear because of my sexuality. Im attracted to women, and I am a feminine person who loves fashion.  Donna-Marie Mason, a London-based photographer and one half of photography duo The Masons, works with her wife, Maruska. Since the inception of their company in 2018, the pair have shot everybody from Munroe Bergdorf for the cover of Teen Vogue to Naomie Harris and Bridgertons Golda Rosheuvel.