Latin trans fashionistas work the runway & push boundaries in history-making fundraiser

The fashion industry rarely showcases trans and nonbinary Latine folks, but these models and designers are showing how it’s done.

A model walks the runway in a silvery gown during the TransLatin@ Coalition’s GARRAS fashion show.
Photo: TransLatin@ Coalition

Clothing is one of the first tools most people use to express their identity and feel comfortable in their own skin. Unfortunately, many trans people are robbed of this experience during their formative years because the clothes they want to wear break gender stereotypes. For Latin trans people, this issue is even more complex, as they face both near-invisibility in the fashion industry and higher rates of poverty, homelessness, and more limited access to gender-affirming care (which includes access to clothing that best expresses their gender identity).

While some trans individuals are fighting to make the fashion industry more inclusive from the inside, The TransLatin@ Coalition, a nonprofit organization founded in Los Angeles in 2009, has opted to show the industry how it’s done. Once again, they will host GARRAS on November 16 at the Pacific Design Center — a fashion runway show that invites Latin transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals to showcase the power of intersectional identity as designers and models.

Last year, GARRAS raised…

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