When dealing with media pertaining to the 1950s, it is often times whitewashed and heterosexual. Only showcasing and advertising straight white people has caused an extreme lack of representation across the board. Not to mention, when a minority was shown back then it was often only to mock or shame them. During this time, there was a giant inequality gap as well (among other rifts between the privileged and the marginalized). This part of the 1950s is not usually discussed. We prefer to only consider and use the style of these times. The poodle skirts and greased hair are much easier to look at than the trials and tribulations minorities had to face. What makes it even sadder to me is that 68 years later we are still dealing with a lack of representation in media. 

Taking this idea of a past and present lack of representation, I decided to reinvent it, to mix both eras and create a photoshoot full of representation for people of color and the LGBT+ community. I wanted to give people the opportunity to live a stylized version of the 1950s that simply wasn’t an option back then. By doing this, I was hopefully able to pay homage to the people who were struggling and fighting for equality back then.

I just want to say thank you for the help from my co-creative director (@cecelpaige) and all of the models that helped contribute to this series. This would not have been able to happen without everyone’s help.