2020
The first day of middle school, Leanna (she/they) showed up in a black punk rock tee, pink clip on tie, pink plaid skirt, and her friends asked, “Are you goth now??” Leanna replied: “No, I just wanted to wear this today”. From a young age, Leanna’s mom allowed them freedom of creative expression, but at her Nebraska high school she was “one of 2 Asian kids”, and didn’t want to draw attention, so t-shirts and jeans became a defacto uniform. It wasn’t until Leanna arrived at college and cut off her long locks into a chic short look (similar to what they rock now) that Leanna finally came into their own. As a professional musician and educator, Leanna’s wardrobe has to play a few different roles—one of which is to create a dynamic and commanding visual presence to match her bold sounds on stage. Going through the Wardrobe Therapy process, it became clear that we were going to craft a piece that could make a statement on stage, as well as fill the jumpsuit gap in her repertoire.
