She’s not gonna take it. Having created a trilogy of “introspective” shows that documented “the lived experience of transness from my perspective, but also from that of a lot of the people in my life,” Alectra Rothschild is looking outward. Reviewing the statistics of violence against transgender people elicited a feeling of “fem rage” and the creation of this collection, the last under NewTalent support, called Give the Girl a Gun. The show opened with a snippet from Donald-two-sexes-Trump’s day one speech about transgender rights. The subject couldn’t be more serious or pressing, but among the darkness there were literal and symbolic flashes of light. Lucy Liu’s Kill Bill character, O-Ren Ishii, was a reference. “I’m imagining the whole cast as assassins in this empowered way,” Rothschild said. The collection showed a clear evolution of the designer’s talent, showcasing not only draping and slashing but more tailoring as well. An “assassin’s” trench, slit high in the back, had high peaked shoulders, the collection’s power silhouette. Look five, a silver spangled showgirl gone awry, conveyed a sense of beauty and pathos.
“I want to word this really, really correctly, because people are already afraid of trans people—but they’re not afraid of trans people because they’re scared for their own safety—they’re scared of transness because we’re freaks to people,” said Rothschild. “And because we’re viewed like that, it also opens up a whole world of violence to us because we’re so othered and not really humanized, and people don’t see us as full fledged humans who deserve healthcare, and equal job opportunities, or equal housing, so I that’s why I want to do this. I think that with the last show, I wanted to put the entire cast on a pedestal for people to look up at us instead of looking down, and for this show, I need you to actually get scared of us in a different way than you are already, in a kind of don’t-fuck-with-us sort of way.”
