Living Legend

You are wearing them ironically.

You are failing to realize that Ethel Cain does not participate in rural American culture ironically. Rural cultural expression and queerness can coexist.

The fact that so many queer people cannot participate in rural American clothing/culture without needing to constantly state that they are participating ironically feels classist to me.

Instead of letting their identity be defined by their own beliefs they must loudly announce that their style juxtaposes their beliefs. It implies that they do not believe American rural culture and inclusivity can coexist. And that the wearer is only participating in the fashion as long as they are still signaling urban queer standards of virtue.

By wearing American rural ironically they attempt to place themselves in a social context superior to those who wear it as a genuine expression of identity. They fail to realize that one of the icons who wears those clothes not as an aesthetic, but as a symbol of a multifaceted cultural identity, is Ethel Cain.