The Crowns of Stuzo Clothing: Design, Representation, and Self-Craft

The fashion section of this issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly features an interview with the owners of Los Angeles–based Stuzo Clothing and images of their clothing. Stuzo Clothing is owned and operated by Stoney Michelli and Uzo Ejikeme. The designs and ethos of this fashion company complement the concerns of this issue of TSQ, as the vibrant prints and “genderless” style of clothing highlight the “Issue of Blackness” as it is addressed and questioned by the contributing authors in this volume. Stuzo Clothing designs highlight processes of representation and self-craft. For the first time, this section features photographs that will allow readers to see for themselves the formative power of fabric and silhouettes in “racial mattering” and the “sovereignty of bodies in world-shaping ways” (Nguyen 2015: 792). Stoney and Uzo describe their clothing as “genderless” as opposed to...