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    UM launches creative writing program

    UM launches creative writing program

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    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

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    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

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    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

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    Reduce, reuse, recycle with RebelTHON

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    Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

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    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

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    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

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    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

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    Ole Miss fails to live up to hype, loses to Bama on the road

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    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

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    Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

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    Sleepy Cactus introduces game day dinner events 

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    STEM students revive academic journal club

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    UM launches creative writing program

    UM launches creative writing program

    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

    Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

    Eat up, Rebs: UM expands dining options on campus

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

    ASB Senate prioritizes transparency, passes bill

    Can’t find a parking spot? Here’s why

    Can’t find a parking spot? Here’s why

    Reduce, reuse, recycle with RebelTHON

    Reduce, reuse, recycle with RebelTHON

  • Sports
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    • Game Recap
    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

    Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

    Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

    Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Football realigns conferences, but at what cost?

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

    Player Spotlight: Jaxson Dart beats skeptics

    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

    Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ disappointing loss to Alabama

    Ole Miss fails to live up to hype, loses to Bama on the road

    Ole Miss fails to live up to hype, loses to Bama on the road

  • Arts & Culture
    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

    Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

    Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

    Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

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    Sleepy Cactus introduces game day dinner events 

    STEM students revive academic journal club

    STEM students revive academic journal club

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    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

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    My Blackness isn’t on a schedule

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The importance of fashion in Ole Miss’ queer community

Paleif RaspberrybyPaleif Raspberry
November 21, 2022
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Lady Pluto performs during Code Pink at The Lyric on Oct. 27.

Entering the world of fashion can feel like being immersed into a fantasy: providing a sense of escape and community.

This is especially true for members of the LGBTQ+ community, who have spent centuries being

repressed from expressing their true identities. Numerous students from the University

of Mississippi enjoy escaping to this place.

Fashion plays an important role in Ole Miss’s history. From Greek life to dressing up for football

games, fashion at the university has always been very uniform. There’s a certain expectation that

students in the community have to uphold. But in recent years, some students have been

subverting those expectations.

Sitting in front of a makeup vanity listening to female powerhouses like Beyoncé and others,

student Jaquavious Lee journeys to that fantastical world by transforming into his drag persona,

Lady Pluto.

Inspired by iconic androgynous forces like Prince and Janelle Monae, Lady Pluto is an out-of-this-world manifestation of divine feminine energy. Lee says that performing as Lady Pluto feels like an “extreme dopamine rush” and uses this persona as a way to express “hyper pro-black” concepts that he wants to see in mainstream media.

Lady Pluto made her first appearance in October 2021 at a Halloween-themed Code Pink, a

series of monthly dance parties and drag shows held at the Lyric in Oxford. Her

drag-iversary was at the Code Pink event held on Oct. 27.

Code Pinks are a hotspot for off-the-wall and extravagant fashion because they always

have a theme. People adorn themselves with clothing that serves as a physical manifestation of

how they feel on the inside. They can also embrace different ideas and innovations with their

pieces. People from all walks of life attend, and no one cares about societal expectations.

Historically, fashion has always been an outlet for the queer community. In 1892, Oscar Wilde and his friends began to wear green carnations on their lapels to express that they were queer men. 

A more modern take on this nod towards one’s queer identity is incorporating the

colors of the different LGBTQ+ flags into their outfits and the way they accessorize.

Sophomore film production student Autumn Payne is no stranger to expressing herself visually due to her field of study. She has always used fashion as a way to express herself since she was a young child. 

Payne said that the way she dresses is a means for her to “silently communicate with other people in the community” and that it has been “an expression of (her) queerness for a while.” She takes influences of her style from gothic and punk subcultures in addition to the beauty of nature and the romantic whimsy of fairies.

Junior science education major Sol Adams just came into their personal style recently and breaks all the rules imposed on them. Adams talks about how it’s “frowned upon” to dress very flamboyantly living here in the South. But, since coming to college they’ve been able to experiment with fashion, saying that they “felt very liberated” and that they “could take control of (their) life.”

“I think that whenever you take aspects from both masculine and feminine wear and you

combine them together, that almost in a way is a sense of validity for, either Two Spirit people or

non-binary people who think that they’re both masculine and feminine, such as myself,” Adams said.

Attending an institution that has a conservative historical background, the queer community at

Ole Miss shows courage through its authenticity. Lee says that he hopes “it becomes easier for queer people to be queer.”

With more and more students becoming comfortable enough to show their true identity through fashion styling, students hope that the university will become a more inclusive environment for

everyone who wants to experiment with their style and break boundaries.

In Case You Missed It

Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

1 day ago
Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

1 day ago
Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

1 day ago
UM launches creative writing program

UM launches creative writing program

1 day ago
Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

1 day ago
Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

1 day ago

The importance of fashion in Ole Miss’ queer community

Paleif RaspberrybyPaleif Raspberry
November 21, 2022
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Lady Pluto performs during Code Pink at The Lyric on Oct. 27.

Entering the world of fashion can feel like being immersed into a fantasy: providing a sense of escape and community.

This is especially true for members of the LGBTQ+ community, who have spent centuries being

repressed from expressing their true identities. Numerous students from the University

of Mississippi enjoy escaping to this place.

Fashion plays an important role in Ole Miss’s history. From Greek life to dressing up for football

games, fashion at the university has always been very uniform. There’s a certain expectation that

students in the community have to uphold. But in recent years, some students have been

subverting those expectations.

Sitting in front of a makeup vanity listening to female powerhouses like Beyoncé and others,

student Jaquavious Lee journeys to that fantastical world by transforming into his drag persona,

Lady Pluto.

Inspired by iconic androgynous forces like Prince and Janelle Monae, Lady Pluto is an out-of-this-world manifestation of divine feminine energy. Lee says that performing as Lady Pluto feels like an “extreme dopamine rush” and uses this persona as a way to express “hyper pro-black” concepts that he wants to see in mainstream media.

Lady Pluto made her first appearance in October 2021 at a Halloween-themed Code Pink, a

series of monthly dance parties and drag shows held at the Lyric in Oxford. Her

drag-iversary was at the Code Pink event held on Oct. 27.

Code Pinks are a hotspot for off-the-wall and extravagant fashion because they always

have a theme. People adorn themselves with clothing that serves as a physical manifestation of

how they feel on the inside. They can also embrace different ideas and innovations with their

pieces. People from all walks of life attend, and no one cares about societal expectations.

Historically, fashion has always been an outlet for the queer community. In 1892, Oscar Wilde and his friends began to wear green carnations on their lapels to express that they were queer men. 

A more modern take on this nod towards one’s queer identity is incorporating the

colors of the different LGBTQ+ flags into their outfits and the way they accessorize.

Sophomore film production student Autumn Payne is no stranger to expressing herself visually due to her field of study. She has always used fashion as a way to express herself since she was a young child. 

Payne said that the way she dresses is a means for her to “silently communicate with other people in the community” and that it has been “an expression of (her) queerness for a while.” She takes influences of her style from gothic and punk subcultures in addition to the beauty of nature and the romantic whimsy of fairies.

Junior science education major Sol Adams just came into their personal style recently and breaks all the rules imposed on them. Adams talks about how it’s “frowned upon” to dress very flamboyantly living here in the South. But, since coming to college they’ve been able to experiment with fashion, saying that they “felt very liberated” and that they “could take control of (their) life.”

“I think that whenever you take aspects from both masculine and feminine wear and you

combine them together, that almost in a way is a sense of validity for, either Two Spirit people or

non-binary people who think that they’re both masculine and feminine, such as myself,” Adams said.

Attending an institution that has a conservative historical background, the queer community at

Ole Miss shows courage through its authenticity. Lee says that he hopes “it becomes easier for queer people to be queer.”

With more and more students becoming comfortable enough to show their true identity through fashion styling, students hope that the university will become a more inclusive environment for

everyone who wants to experiment with their style and break boundaries.

In Case You Missed It

Three takeaways from Ole Miss’ nail-biter in College Station

Player Spotlight: Quinshon Judkins promises to ramp things up

1 day ago
Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

Newbies take over Ole Miss ​Club​ Hockey team

1 day ago
Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

Iris Room passes the mic to local artists

1 day ago
UM launches creative writing program

UM launches creative writing program

1 day ago
Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

Strutting toward success: Career Center Fashion Show comes to campus

1 day ago
Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

Author Roosevelt Montás champions free thinking, liberal arts

1 day ago

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