Anita Dolce Vita
Biography
Dolce Vita is the Owner, Creative Director, and Editor-in-Chief of dapperQ, a queer style digital magazine that uses fashion as a form of visual activism. She has developed the platform into a broader media and cultural brand encompassing editorial content, panels, fashion shows, and other programming. dapperQ was founded by Susan Herr in 2009; its current team page identifies Dolce Vita as its owner and creative director.
Her work includes producing dapperQ's annual Queer New York Fashion Week show at the Brooklyn Museum, as well as queer fashion programming at institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts/Boston. dapperQ produced the first queer style panel at SXSW as part of the official 2016 Sxstyle showcase and returned for programming in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Dolce Vita authored dapperQ Style: Ungendering Fashion, published by Harper Design in 2023. The book examines queer fashion, identity, visibility, and gender expression. Her work continues to connect fashion with broader conversations about gender, sexuality, race, and representation.
BQW Impact
Dolce Vita's significance to BQW comes directly from her identity and her sustained work as a Black queer femme creating space for queer communities within fashion and media. In her own writing, she has discussed experiencing racial and queer discrimination and challenged the erasure of queer and trans people from Black liberation movements.
Through dapperQ, she has used fashion as a vehicle for queer visibility and visual activism. She also launched Hi Femme!, a partner project created to address the lack of femme representation in queer fashion media and to celebrate femme fashion in its many forms.
Notable Works
dapperQ
Queer style digital magazine and multimedia platform led by Dolce Vita as owner, creative director, and editor-in-chief.
dapperQ Queer New York Fashion Week Show
Annual queer fashion production at Brooklyn Museum, for which Dolce Vita serves as executive producer.
Hi Femme! (2016)
Partner project launched by Dolce Vita to expand femme representation within queer fashion media.
dapperQ Style: Ungendering Fashion (2023)
Book examining queer fashion, identity, visibility, and gender expression.
Learn More
Dolce Vita's queer fashion and culture publication.
Professional information and portfolio.
Dolce Vita's verified public Instagram account.
Her professional profile.
dapperQ Style: Ungendering Fashion
Publisher information about her book.