Covered this book in the weekend Pursuits section during Pride 2018; the author was interesting to speak with.

From social economist Thorstein Veblen, through more contemporary theatre historians, fashion stylists, cultural critics, film theorists, photographers, costume designers, black feminist theorists, art critics, writers of social commentary .....and on to encompass example, demonstration, interviews and quotations from famous drag queens and style icons such as Ru Paul and performance artists, poets and musicians such as Madaew Fashionista, Alok Vaid-Menon and Prince - Madison Moore has put together a heartfelt and accessible exploration of what it is to be Fabulous.

Moore talks of marginalised people, vulnerability, transfeminine, queer people of colour, who are fabulous not out of vanity and frivolity, but instead as a political statement ,a way of claiming space to be safely and truly themselves within a world of frightening and threatening white supremacy, misogyny, transmisogyny, patriarchy and queer bashing. The voguing and styling of the catwalk, club and ball is a loud and proud announcement of their presence on the margins of current cultural 'norms', a way of redefining long stagnated western white colonial and capitalist concepts of masculinity and femininity. We are introduced to people with Asian backgrounds who help us understand that not every societal group concurs when it comes to expressions and categorisation of gender and sexuality.

Some fascinating people are mentioned, quoted and interviewed - it took me so long to read this book, because I kept sliding off down rabbit holes of exploration, looking for more writing, photos and videos of and about those Moore talks about.(and I have added various books to my wish lists as well, so that I can continue reading about the subjects and people written about here)

All in all, 'Fabulous: The Rise Of The Beautiful Eccentric'' was an excellent insightful read, which informed without becoming too academic and inaccessible. It's important and a highly interesting entryway into further depths of work on this subject - which I for one am very thankful to begin to explore. Excellent writing and highly recommended.

this was such a fascinating book. I enjoyed reading it and seeing what others thought. Thank you for writing somethin unlike any other book I have read.