How one designer went from "praying away the gay" to launching her own queer clothing line

Bisexual artist Molly Alice Hoy, well known on social media for her viral comics, knows a thing or two about navigating the liminal space between private and public personas. Raised in a conservative religious home, she spent almost two decades unable to admit her sexuality to herself, let alone anyone else. After graduating college and publicly coming out as queer, she started drawing comics about the awkwardness of both handling strangers’ assumptions about her sexual orientation as well as facing rejection from family and friends

“I wasn’t expecting them to gain as much traction as they did,” she says, referring to her first few viral art pieces. “My art and comics became a way to connect with people and find validation for these new and often painful experiences.”

Burnt out on freelance illustration and looking for more artistic freedom, in 2017 she launched her first online store, Gold + Mean Design Co., selling a token queer pin design she funded on Kickstarter. From there, her store has expanded to include more enamel pin designs, as well as jewelry, apparel, mugs, and even a line of pride flag face masks that she made on her home sewing machine in response to the pandemic.

“My approach is very much, ‘See a need, fill a need’,” she says of her design process. “I make the products I wish existed, the kinds of things I want for myself but can’t find anywhere.”

It’s this impetus that inspired her new queer clothing brand Dearly & Queerly, a line of LGBT message tees featuring cheeky phrases such as "No Gender, No Problem" and "Not Your Unicorn" in bold pride flag colors. She also has a collection of pronoun shirts so that wearers can avoid being misgendered while out and about. Some designs are especially topical, like the rainbow flag shirt that simply reads "QUEERANTINE." But Hoy doesn't limit herself to rainbows, incorporating colors from the lesbian, nonbinary, and bisexual pride flags as well.

“Having a nonbinary spouse has made me much more aware of trans issues, so now I’m even more motivated to create inclusive designs for people who rarely feel seen or represented,” she notes.

LGBT folks (and the people who love them) can get a jump on their holiday shopping and support a queer indie artist by checking out the new Dearly & Queerly apparel collection on Teespring.

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Created on Oct 1st 2020 22:54. Viewed 247 times.

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