Multiple Gender Expressions: Identity and Representation in Digital and Physical Realm

Abstract

The essay aims to explore the fluid and non-binary forms of body representation, self-image making and gender identities that are expressed through dress in digital culture. In fact, the use of fashion products makes the cultural system explicit and socially active through the construction of universes of values and everyday practices that help define individual identity as "belonging" to a complex system of cultural micro-worlds whose variety has a systemic impact on the conception and acceptance of the infinite possibilities of gender. Digital culture poses additional layers of complexity, proposing new norms and counter-norms that act in the sphere of influence between fashion and culture, altering, expanding and influencing the way fashion can be produced, remembered, communicated and known. In this framework, it is interesting to address the case of Ambrosia (Vincenzo D'Ambrosio, born in 1993), a performer and artist of the contemporary Italian scene, linked to fashion. Ambrosia seeks to intercept the now increasingly fluid and nonbinary forms of body representation, also tracing the historical roots of the Italian queer scene.

Keywords

• gender identity
• digital
• performance
• gender-blender
• self-image making