Queer Mall: An Inclusive, Safe, and Accessible Space that Centers Marginalized Identities
In 2018, my lifelong obsession with secondhand clothes evolved into a more dedicated passion project exploring the intersection style and identity. I was so impressed by the incredible selection of discarded clothes I found in my neighborhood thrift stores – perhaps an especially L.A. phenomenon – that I felt compelled to re-sell my best finds at a nominal profit that covered the amount of time I spent scouring racks and scrubbing stains. I set out to create a safer, more comfortable space for trans and gender non-conforming folks to shop and find affirming, affordable additions to their closets. I created Worn Ware, named for the desire to shift attitudes towards used clothing and focus on what in our closets gets worn (and re-worn) with the most frequency and/or pleasure. As a result, it holistically combines an interest in sustainability, small business, and community wellness. How we feel in our clothes is deeply connected to how we feel about ourselves—our worth, attractiveness, and desirability—which exists in dialogue with internalized heteronormative, transphobic, racist, fatphobic, ableist, and classist narratives.
As I experimented with ways of getting items I’d selected into the hands of folks who would appreciate them most, it quickly became clear how gratifying selling in-person is in comparison to long-distance, which involves a trip to the post office with fingers crossed that the purchase meet expectations. I love witnessing the elusive alignment of taste, size, and fit as an item finds an enthusiastic new home, often with people who have historically struggled to find clothes that feel good. I started holding outdoor pop-ups in my backyard, setting up my racks and a makeshift dressing room, and inviting folks to come see if anything I'd collected spoke to them. The results were encouraging – no one ever walked away empty-handed – but only a handful of people consistently showed up. I always ended the day wishing for a larger audience. Thanks to a friendship with a fellow vintage purveyor, I was able to share a booth in the Rose Bowl Flea Market, one of the most famous markets in the world with an average attendance of 20,000 people. Participating in the rite-of-passage ritual of setting up racks at 4AM was exhilarating. However, my selling experience lacked the emotional spark that motivated my hours spent thrifting. The majority of my Rose Bowl customers were tourists looking to haggle for a deal or professional vintage purveyors who planned to resell, at a profit, what they bought from me. As a femme-presenting cis person, I also felt largely invisible to fellow LGBTQ+ folks at the market, my queer clothes project illegible within a sea of 2,500 vendors.
All Photographs ℅ Monica Nouwens
In the back of my mind, I always felt that my best audience would be the clientele at my local gym – EVERYBODY Los Angeles – which is full of rad queers, artists, and social justice-minded folks. I founded Queer Mall in fall 2019 as an accessible, queer and POC-centered market that also had the energy of a community-driven event. EVERYBODY co-owners Sam Rypinski and Lake Sharp were excited about my idea of Queer Mall and offered their new event space, SIBLING, as the venue. Los Angeles has many creative markets - including Echo Park Craft Fair, Renegade Craft, Mercado Sagrado - but the majority are invite-only and/or have a prohibitively expensive selling fee. I aimed to be a venue that was welcoming to people who had never had the opportunity to sell in-person before. I wanted a safer environment for trans and gender non-conforming folks nervous about being misread or misgendered in a cishetero setting, that actively prioritized the participation of vendors of color, and that was fully accessible to disabled folks. Queer Bazaar in Los Angeles and Queer Craft PDX in Portland are great examples of similarly inclusivity-minded events.
I recruited applicants selling everything from apothecary to wellness services to ceramics to art to food to clothes, with the goal that there be a vibrant cross-section of vendors and attendees and that all items be around $100 or less. As a core component of Queer Mall, I am committed to remaining free or low-cost for vendors, enabling folks of a wider range of backgrounds and resources to participate. I also created a vendor application form in order to gather demographic data on vendors and ensure diverse representation. Our mission statement puts forth expectations regarding behavior, which includes asking all participants—vendors, performers, and attendees—to be mindful of the ways in which systems of power and privilege operate in all spaces, including Queer Mall, and to withhold from making assumptions about identities or pronouns. Attendees contribute a sliding scale entrance fee, with all donations going to EVERYBODY’s Teacher/Trainer Sponsorship Program. This unique initiative provides full funding for people underrepresented in the fitness industry, which so far has included trans and non-binary people of color and fat folks, to become certified to teach classes and train members at the gym.
The first Queer Mall was a huge success, with over 30 vendors, 300 folks coming through, $2,000 raised, and overwhelmingly positive feedback from both sellers and attendees. Kindra Woo, a chiropractor who participated as a wellness provider, said about the event “Queer Mall exposes my business to queer [and] underrepresented communities that may not have access to inclusive healthcare and may not have health insurance. My practice is intentionally sliding scale, cash-based to allow chiropractic services to reach audiences seen at Queer Mall. Queer Mall never asked me to pay a vendor fee, which gives me a no-risk approach when spending my afternoon connecting with people without pressuring them to spend money." Photographer Haley Blavka, whom I became friends with when she found the perfect vintage dress for her upcoming birthday at my booth, said “community is good for your health. Just knowing such an inclusive and supportive environment like Queer Mall even exists instantly lifts my mood bringing a smile to my face and heart.” Larin Sullivan, whose project is Dyke Bar Mugs, reflected on her participation as a vendor in the event, saying “I loved Queer Mall because I hadn't sold any of my pieces before and was intimidated by the idea of explaining the concept and history of the project to a general audience at a regular fair. People at Queer Mall were super curious about each mug as a representation of a piece of history that they were already familiar with.” Queer Mall is now a quarterly event, a celebratory space for friendship-making, community-building, creativity-appreciation, and reallocation of resources. For more information on Queer Mall or to apply to be a vendor, please contact me at isabelosgoodroach@gmail.com or on Instagram.
About the Author
Isabel Osgood-Roach has a BA in Critical Theory & Social Justice with an emphasis in queer & feminist studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles. She received her Master’s in Early Childhood, Inclusive Education, Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in infant/toddler mental health from Portland State University. She spent five years working for an Early Head Start program at All Our Kin, an east coast-based non-profit whose mission is to train and sustain family child care providers. She also spent one year living abroad with her partner in Paris! Isabel is currently the Social Media Manager for EVERYBODY Los Angeles, the producer of Queer Mall, a maker & purveyor of clothes, and an aspiring stylist/costume designer/production assistant for queer media. You can follow her on Instagram here.
