Dauphinette Designer Olivia Cheng's Spring-Summer Collection Highlights Her Unapologetic Queerness

Olivia Cheng of Dauphinette very clearly agonized over her designer statement. While it may have seemed perfectly charming, aesthetically pleasing, and commonplace, sitting at my assigned seat, the words on the page were anything but what one would expect from an artist whose sole purpose is to convey the years of work that went into it and why we should care. Here I was, sitting in a barstool seat at The Evelyn, toes hanging off the rung of the chair, and anxious about the flickering lights that maybe were meant to denote that the show would start soon, and Cheng is talking about SSRIs and being “Eeyore dressed in Piglet’s clothes.” Before a single design walked down the runway, I was sold. Her final statement, “I can’t help but be honest. It’s my decaying sense of girlish wit. It’s my animal instinct. It’s my human behavior.”

What followed was a collection of garments, covered in found objects, and arranged in organized chaos. It was loud, both visually and audibly; it was dramatic, from a black wide-brim hat that eclipsed the overhead lighting when it passed by to Vivian Wilson screaming bloody murder before she ran full speed down the runway. The models were covered in seashells and iridescent bugs and chainmail and lace with long, wavy hair or tousled braids. My impression: the Dauphinette wearer is on a mission to get somewhere and be someone, but her state of mind cannot be guaranteed. Wherever she goes, she will be best dressed, but no one knows what’s going on behind those eyes. Lose yourself in the details and all the shiny things, and don’t ask her too many questions.

Before the show, we caught up with Cheng to talk about a parallel journey she’s been on as Dauphinette’s trajectory has risen through the ranks in just eight short years. We also dove into her queer identity as it relates to her art, her instincts, and her decaying sense of girlish wit.

Teen Vogue: In this political climate, it feels like many institutions and even people have shifted focus away from queer identities and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Why does now feel like the right time for you to speak about your identity and let others into your journey?​

OC: I think that in any tense or divisive society like the one we’re in right now, it becomes increasingly important to be honest with yourself and to feel really solid in who you are. When society feels so isolating and difficult to rely upon, it becomes even more important to have a community, however small. I’m not really interested in corporate depictions of queerness — I understand why it’s appealing for companies to want to come off a certain inclusive way, but frankly, I cannot imagine how anybody looks to those companies and feels seen or validated by the way they depict something as simultaneously specific and diverse as sexuality. To be completely honest, I never used to see my personal identity as something that was relevant to my work and that I needed to share. However, as I’ve built this collection and simultaneously reflected upon my own position not only as a designer but as a person, I’ve increasingly found myself feeling drawn to opening up more because I don’t really know anybody else who has had a very similar “journey” or experience to me. Maybe there is someone else out there, and hearing my story can help them.

TV: What did the journey to being out and proud consist of?

​OC: I didn’t have a very traditional or thought-out “journey” to coming out or anything like that. I feel like queer media and culture often suggest that for all LGBTQ+ people, their queerness is a huge part of their outward identity and how they think about themselves on a daily basis. But to be honest, before I met my partner, I had never thought of myself as queer. I was already twenty-five when I met them and had literally never gone a day in my life thinking I would ever date women — then we met by chance through work, and once I realized I had feelings for them, I just went for it. Before that I had never even been focused on dating or relationships, and there have been times where I have felt like my sexuality or identity would be perceived as less “legitimate” because I don’t talk about it much and I seem quite straight and typically feminine. Ultimately, however, upon meeting my partner, I never second-guessed myself. I pursued the love I wanted. For those reasons, I feel confident in my identity and proud of myself. What this has allowed me to realize is that queerness, like literally anything else, comes in all shades. Being more or less “flamboyant” doesn’t make you less loving or less real.​