Fabulous Masculinities: Refashioning the Fat and Disabled Male Body

Abstract

At the start of the twenty-first century, three phenomena have converged in men’s fashion: the emergence of the slim-fit silhouette, a svelte fashionable male body, and men’s self-documentation of their clothing and physiques on social media. The nexus of these three forces has not only emphasized men’s dressed bodies but also marginalized and stigmatized men whose bodies do not conform to the current lean or muscular non-disabled fashionable male physique. In this paper, I analyze wardrobe interviews with three queer and trans men who are disabled and/or fat and also examine their participation in a fashion show. While these men are the most distanced from fashion’s male body ideals, they enact a series of strategies to make fashion and fashion culture work for their bodies. By drawing on Moore’s (2018) theory of fabulousness, I argue that these men practice what I theorize as fabulous masculinities: They make, assemble, wear and photograph outfits in ways that generate new relationships between the dressed body and masculinity. Although my participants are ostracized from the fashion system and dominant masculine ideals, they have power to assert agency over the fashionable male physique because men and masculinity have not been exclusively defined by and valued for the body.

Keywords:

• disability
• fat
• fashion
• masculinity
• men

Note

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Development Grant #430-2014-00876. Thank you to the participants who candidly shared their wardrobes and experiences with me. You helped me find the courage and understand the necessity to be fabulous in everyday life.

Notes

1 I intentionally use the word “fat” to align my work with fat studies scholars and fat activists who have reclaimed the word to signify pride instead of shame (Cooper 2010). I also use “disabled people” rather than “persons with disabilities” to center the disabled experience and not conceptualize disability in relation to non-disabled normativity (Titchkosky 2001).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ben Barry

Ben Barry is Chair and Associate Professor of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in the School of Fashion at Ryerson University. His research explores gender inequalities and transformations through fashion. He holds a PhD from Cambridge University.[email protected]