Social and Psychological Aspects

“I Kicked Those Babies Off and Put the Typical Lesbian Birkenstocks on:” Authentic Style-Fashion-Dress Negotiations of Lesbian Married Couples on Their Wedding Day

Authors: Courtney Morgan (Colorado State University) , Jennifer Paff Ogle (Colorado State University) , Karen H. Hyllegard (Colorado State University) , Kelly L. Reddy Best (Iowa State University)

Abstract

We explored how lesbian married couples negotiated their style-fashion-dress on their wedding days, conducting in-depth interviews with 10 lesbian married couples. Our work was guided by theory exploring authenticity as related to self-expression through appearance. We analyzed our data using an abbreviated version of the constructionist grounded theory approach. Four themes emerged, including (1) ambivalence, re-negotiations, and labor surrounding the identity or concept of “bride” or what it means to be a bride; (2) gender expressions and experiences as central to the negotiation and construction of style-fashion-dress for the wedding day; (3) representations of the authentic self in wedding day style-fashion-dress; and (4) heteronormative experiences. The gender and other symbolic negotiations in the couples’ style-fashion-dress led to an authentic expression of self, resulting in feelings of empowerment for these couples on their wedding days, despite the fact that their style-fashion-dress sometimes prompted feelings of ambivalence, labor, re-negotiations and/or heteronormative experiences.

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How to Cite: Morgan, C. , Ogle, J. P. , Hyllegard, K. H. & Reddy Best, K. L. (2019) ““I Kicked Those Babies Off and Put the Typical Lesbian Birkenstocks on:” Authentic Style-Fashion-Dress Negotiations of Lesbian Married Couples on Their Wedding Day”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings. 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.8417