In conversation with .. 5!
#PrideIssue - Welcome to our new digital issue: IN CONVERSATION WITH – Part 5, 144 pages fashion, art and illustrations! Out 17.07.2020 – featuring in conversation with Pabllo Vittar, Adrien Weiss, Ella Boucht, Davi, Phoebe Bridgers, Mateo Velasquez, Lil Botox. Featuring Crystal from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 1, Tom of Finland, Darren Skene, Pablo Solano, Damian Garcia, Sammy Finn Cullis, Jacopo Marchio, Ernst van Hoek and more. On the cover, Chris Flora photographed by Alberto Lanz.
#PrideIssue - Welcome to our new digital issue: IN CONVERSATION WITH – Part 5, 144 pages fashion, art and illustrations! Out 17.07.2020 – featuring in conversation with Pabllo Vittar, Adrien Weiss, Ella Boucht, Davi, Phoebe Bridgers, Mateo Velasquez, Lil Botox. Featuring Crystal from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 1, Tom of Finland, Darren Skene, Pablo Solano, Damian Garcia, Sammy Finn Cullis, Jacopo Marchio, Ernst van Hoek and more. On the cover, Chris Flora photographed by Alberto Lanz.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
IT’S DAVI,<br />
BITCH!<br />
Photography + Creative Direction Karl Slater @slaterkarl<br />
Stylist + Words Lewis Robert Cameron @lrcfashionstylist<br />
Grooming Sogol Ravi @sogolmakeup<br />
Model Davi @itzjustdavi<br />
KALBLUT chats to queer and proud <strong>In</strong>stagrammer/cowboy curator Davi - a singular title like Madonna, Cher and<br />
Rihanna but <strong>with</strong> more muscles, more tattoos and more bodysuits combined <strong>with</strong> discussing issues on combating<br />
racism, staying authentic and finding confidence in loving and accepting who you are. Both inside and out.<br />
[Whispers] It’s Davi, bitch!<br />
Hi Davi, tell us a little about yourself and what<br />
brought you to London?<br />
Ooh about myself, I am just a queer man making<br />
his way through this world. I’m in London quite<br />
often, I love the city, the energy, it’s always good<br />
to me. One of my dearest friends lives in London<br />
also so I visit and hang out <strong>with</strong> her a lot. Especially<br />
during the summertime [wink wink]. London has<br />
fashion, art culture music and youth tribes, it’s a<br />
whole vibe.<br />
This issue of KALBLUT is our Pride issue, when<br />
we look at you we see a strong, proud, queer,<br />
black man. Have you always felt this way?<br />
Confidence, for me, comes from <strong>with</strong>in. I didn’t get<br />
to experience trying to find confidence, I moved<br />
out from home at age 15 and I had to have the<br />
confidence to survive. Any insecurities had to be<br />
put aside. I have to be confident and strong and be<br />
a voice for all those queer black kids who don’t have<br />
anyone to look up to.<br />
Personally, I think that’s a major important element<br />
in the LGBTQIA+ community. Not everyone is<br />
strong and not everyone should be expected to<br />
be, I do think that continuing my journey and<br />
staying true to who I am will definitely show queer<br />
black kids out there that you can be beautiful and<br />
confident regardless of what society “expects” of<br />
you. Some people may be intimidated by confident<br />
queer people, but you either spend your life for<br />
others or for yourself.<br />
Have you ever felt that you have to look or act a certain way as a<br />
black queer person?<br />
No, I do my own thing, I don’t really fit in any boxes, I am like<br />
a wild-card I think the queer community sometimes “tries”<br />
to say how one should look, act, think or feel and that’s not<br />
something I’ve ever fallen into. I’ve always done my own thing,<br />
and I consider myself queer because I am artistic and I relate<br />
way more to queer people and I think in that respect ones’ race is<br />
irrelevant.<br />
Have you felt you’ve had to overcome any issues of racism and<br />
homophobia <strong>with</strong>in the fashion industry?<br />
I’ve always been into fashion, but I never really truly pursued it<br />
because I was an athlete; football player, the goal was to go pro,<br />
but art just kept finding its way into my brain, and I knew it was<br />
a sign. I’ve only been immersed in the fashion scene for the last<br />
two years. So this is just a very beautiful beginning for me.<br />
Thankfully I think the fashion industry is changing, I am<br />
relatively new to the fashion industry so I haven’t fully<br />
experienced anything as far as homophobia or racism but I know<br />
it exists and it happens. I’m grateful that things are changing so<br />
now I can explore the industry being my true self and feeling<br />
100% accepted.<br />
Have you ever felt fetishized by the queer community?<br />
I’m black, tatted and muscular so yes, in some people’s words I’m<br />
a walking “fantasy”. It’s constantly BBC or a thug or a prisoner<br />
or whatever bullshit that these racist gays have to come up <strong>with</strong>.<br />
Like I’ve said, I am very thick-skinned so I can handle a lot of<br />
shit, you can’t help ignorant people, you can try but they’ll stay<br />
ignorant regardless.<br />
96