The Transfiguration of Cargo Shorts: Reclaiming the QueeRevolution

Lapid Mashall, K. (2022) The Transfiguration of Cargo Shorts: Reclaiming the QueeRevolution. Journal of Imaginary Research, 7,

Abstract

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Miss America bra-burning protest of 1968, a group of performers sparked the departure of the notorious queer revolution of 2018, best known as the QueeRevolution. In a series of synchronised performance-acts held in storefronts of US department stores, fifty cargo shorts were burnt at the stake. Examining this seminal event in contemporary queer theirstory, this paper utilises a dual approach: historiographic and practice-based. First, we examine the 1930s masculine, militant and economical origins of cargo pants and their surge into 1990s style, the semiotics of functional fashion burning, and the influence the 2018 event had on the QueeRevolution. We argue there was a counter-effect: the glorification of masculinity in symbolising the male as a victim of holy sacrifice. Second, inspired by the 1970s reclaiming of military surplus by protesters against the Vietnam War, this paper describes our practice-led work of the 2021 production of ‘Cargo shorts: the metamorphosis’. Seeking to concoct a queer cure to the toxicity embedded in cargo shorts, we devised a participatory communal ritual in which audience members were invited to reuse, recycle and repurpose cargo shorts. This ritual, we argue, effectively exposed and deconstructed the fragile combat-function of the cargo short, while criticising mechanisms of patriarchy, religion and consumerism.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Lapid Mashall, Kfir
• Authors: Lapid Mashall, K.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities
• Journal Name: Journal of Imaginary Research
• Publisher: Journal of Imaginary Research

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