Josh's 2025 Lavender Sweater Vest (Black)
Lavender, and its association with queer people, can be traced as far back as 1926 when Abraham Lincoln biographer, Carl Sandberg used the phrase “a streak of lavender and spots soft as May violets” to describe the former US president’s male friendships. Later, in 1953, the USA went through a period of history known as the Lavender Scare, where homosexual people throughout American society were ousted from government jobs due to their perceived communist sympathies. In 1969, Betty Friedan sought to exclude lesbians from the women’s liberation movement by referring to queer women as part of the “lavender menace.” However, as early as the 1950s, we have witnessed queer groups reclaim the use of lavender as a slur through the formation of resistence groups such as The Lavender Panthers and The Lavender Brotherhood. The Lavender Sweater Vest has been designed as a “coffin sweater,” a term used to describe a construction strategy in “fast fashion” where a garmentw is designed only on one side for efficiency. There’s something compelling about using a cost-cutting measure to ventriloquize larger narratives around loss and identity construction.
This is a very small edition of 5 sweaters. Each sweater has been hand knit on a single bed Brother KH-940 Knitting Machine, using Cascade 220 wool yarns. Once the edition is gone, there will be no additional sweaters in this pattern.
All sweaters have been designed to fit the artists body. The measurements are as follows:
41" chest
17" shoulder to shoulder
8" neck
26.75" total length
13.5" hem to armhole
2.5" bottom hem
1" neck and arm bands
These measurements are roughly equivalent to a large Medium to small Large.
All sweaters arrive folded in a hand dyed draw string bag and a hand numbered, signed, limited edition Riso printed certificate of authenticity.
Sweaters are shipped Priority USPS. Please allow 3-5 days for processing and 2-3 days for shipping (6-10 days international).
Due to the nature of this edition, all sales are final.