As told to Sam Escobar.
When I wake up in the morning, I ask myself a question: What am I feeling today?
And, from there, I dress.
Kohl Murdock
People knew that gender-nonconforming people were an integral part of cities like ours.
And now, they have the audacity to say thatImnew to media?
(What media are you consuming, sweetie?)
Kohl Murdock
I like people watching in my city.
I love that I see people who are different every day and people don’t bat an eyelid.
It gives me permission to wear what I want and not fear being seen as some sort of freak.
Or, rather, in New York, we’re comfortable with freaks and that’s a good thing.
I like being part of a mass of people.
I like things being open late; those late-night food runs are essential for me.
Growing up, beauty was a thing that I never felt like I could have.
I think I had a deeper and more intimate relationship with ugliness.
[Beauty would] feel like a failed project.
I was brown and hairy and queer and gender nonconforming and all the things that were “wrong.”
“We have to help one another be able to express each other, express ourselves.”
Suddenly, it wasn’t physically safe for me to present as myself.
It reconfirmed how instrumental and foundational self-expression is to me on a cellular level.
Beauty and glamor are collective projects I have always believed this.
We have to help one another be able to express each other, express ourselves.
I first learned how to feel beautiful in other people telling me I was.
I like how big my lips are and how hairy I am.
But Im not just pushing for gender rights or the acknowledgment of trans and nonbinary people.
Im fighting for a world where all people can creatively self-express, where creativitybelongsto all of us including you.
I want to challenge the judgment that self-expression is inessential.
Let me ask you this: What if self-expression actually is a basic fundamental need?
We all deserve to have our basic needs met and this is one of them.
Until we actually change beauty, we wont get at the marrow of what transphobia is in this country.
“I want to challenge the judgment that self-expression is inessential.”
Completely integrate it in what we think of as beautiful.
Beauty is play.It should not rely on aspiration or emulation, but on self-authorship.
How areyouinterpreting our products?
Maybe youre using our lipstick as a way to paint on your eyebrows.
Cool, show me."
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