2019
Moonyeka is in a process of reclaiming black in their wardrobe. When they were in their teens, Moonyeka’s father threw away all of their black clothing. In Moonyeka’s words:
I hold a lot of sentimental value with my clothes as someone who grew up poor and often didnt have much access to fashion as expression. I didnt feel like I got to be me ever due to barriers outside of my control. For example, I was very influenced by my goth auntie who wore black and darker clothing in these super bold ways. As a young person I was super enamored by her fashion/goth/punk culture and invested in black clothing to be like her! One day I came home to find that my father had thrown away all my black clothing because he thought it was “boring and basic.” To this day i struggle finding ways to wear black without feeling like my investment was going to be thrown away by some man who wanted to control every way I present myself. To this day i struggle finding ways to wear black without feeling like my investment was going to be thrown away by some man who wanted to control every way I presented myself. Wardrobe Therapy helped me reclaim and heal parts of my own trauma in relationship to fashion by creating this fabulous top sourced from hand me downs from queer performance folks + ironically a black velvet dress my dad bought me.
