Finding Sequins in the Rubble: Stitching Together an Archive of Trans Latina Los Angeles

This essay is based on the fashion choices, negotiations, and embodied knowledge or “theories in the flesh” of Bamby Salcedo and other trans Latinas in Los Angeles. Their experiences and memories are instrumental in the development of “finding sequins in the rubble,” a theoretical framework for understanding trans and queer Chicana/o and Latina/o life in the city, and how they make sense of their lives, engaging in an ongoing process of self-fashioning that involves aesthetic and affective strategies, fashion, and style practices. The essay explores the aesthetic, cultural, and archival relevance of physical and metaphorical sequins in the lives and memories of trans and queer Latinas/os.