#NTUMastered Spotlight: Glenys Johnson

Our latest Spotlight piece features MA Culture, Style and Fashion student Glenys Johnson

From 'Lesbians in Levis: Denim as a Queer Female Signifier’, Glenys Johnson, MA Culture, Style and Fashion 2019

In the run-up to Mastered, we will be sharing a series of student projects from across the participating courses through #NTUMastered Spotlights.

'Lesbians in Levis: Denim as a Queer Female Signifier’

For my MA thesis, I have chosen to explore the relationship between denim and the depictions of queer females throughout 1990s and 2000s TV. ‘Lesbians in Levis: Denim as a Queer Female Signifier’ explores how denim is used to communicate various messages around queerness in the wardrobes of figures from various popular programmes including Ellen, The L Word and Brookside.

I came to this topic through an interest in dissecting what it means to ‘look like a lesbian’, while tapping into my background of working with denim and working as a professional writer for the last eight years. As we move into what some consider to be a ‘post-gay’ society, I believe this era to be an especially interesting time for the representation of queer women and therefore saw it as important to document and analyse.

From 'Lesbians in Levis: Denim as a Queer Female Signifier’, Glenys Johnson, MA Culture, Style and Fashion 2019

Through using the selected TV programmes as a case study, I was able to theorise how denim was used to signal to audiences important aspects of the queer female identity. During my time at NTU, I have also explored topics such as inclusivity in the world of female indie magazines, and analysing the relationship between labour and subcultural youth in film.

Moving forward from this MA, I intend to angle my career more towards the cultural or academic sector to pursue more journalistic writing.

Glenys Johnson, MA Culture, Style and Fashion

Find out more about Mastered by visiting the website

Published on 25 June 2019