Equality Fashion Week® 2024 Amplifies Voices of the Underrepresented in the Face of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

Events

Apr 30

This year has been saddled by ongoing tragedy for the queer and trans community - legislations are attacking us at every angle all over the US (and diligently being fought round the clock by the amazing people at GLAD and the ACLU), so we need community and celebration more than ever. For those in the Los Angeles Area, Equality Fashion Week by shoe designer NiK Kacy is bringing an amazing program for its third annual event, May 15-19, 2024.

Festivities include an entire hotel takeover at Hotel Ziggy, a summit featuring a series of discussions aimed to enrich understanding and foster unity, a runway show at the upscale West Hollywood EDITION, two days of queer markets, and parties bringing various queer communities together.

Prices range from free to $5 Summit sessions / $120 dollars for VIP front row seats for the fashion show, making this four-day event accessible to everyone.

Featured designers include ArmaniDae, Bad Burro, Casa Couture, Dapper Boi, Dani Threads, Jovan Wolf, Origami Customs, Paulo Silva, Sharpe Suiting, and THÚY Custom Clothier. The fashion show will also feature appearances by influential figures in the LGBTQ+ community, including Aidan Park, Alexander Tries, Bamby Salcedo, Jazzmun, Karina Samala, Maria Roman, Rain Valdez, Rosalyne Blumstein, Rose Montoya, and even 90s pop icon & LGBTQ+ ally, Marcella Detroit, from The Shakespeare Sisters. Performances include Trans Chorus of LA, a custom tailored soundscape by music producer and DJ Little Dinosaur, with Chihsuan, Yaarrohs, and more.

“We live in a world that is constantly trying to tear our community a part, pit us against each other and create infighting so that we are weakened,” NiK Kacy told Qwear. “Equality Fashion Week and honestly, everything I do, is about breaking that pattern. I truly believe if we all could work together to support one another and connect on our similarities, rather than argue about our differences, we could break the systemic oppression that has existed for too long. I truly love our community so much and I hope we can meet our potential. This year's EFW will bring even more communities and representation. I hope it will inspire everyone to take on the mantra of community over competition.”

Explore the full line-up here and get tickets here!

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Nik Kacy Footwear

Sonny Oram

Boston-based multidisciplinary artist Sonny Oram is the founder of Qwear, a leading voice in the queer fashion movement for more than 15 years, and the author of the foreword to Queer and Trans Fashion Brands: Resistance and Revolution in the 21st Century (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025). His work has been featured in HuffPost, BuzzFeed, Design*Sponge, and QTYPE Magazine and he's spoken on panels at MIT, South by Southwest, and Simmons Nursing School.

His earliest published work was created at age ten: a series of collages made from cut-up magazines, accompanied by original text exploring themes of gender, cultural conditioning, predatory advertising, and media objectification. In 2025, images of these collages were published in Queer and Trans Fashion Brands: Resistance and Revolution (Bloomsbury Press) and the Fashion, Style & Popular Culture journal.

Through Qwear, Sonny has launched influential campaigns, including the award-winning #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike with Yasmin Benoit, and continues to create spaces for underrepresented communities across internet and print media. He has also used search engine optimization (SEO) to increase the visibility and diversity of queer representation in online search results, helping terms such as “androgynous style,” “bisexual style,” and “asexual” reflect a broader range of identities and experiences.

https://sonnyoram.com