(new) call for submissions!

Please note that this call for submissions has changed! Take a look at the about us page to read more about our redesign and the just femme & dandy mixtape. NOTE: If you have already submitted to this open call, we are still considering your submissions for this publication.

Moving forward, we will no longer publish under the consideration of themes or sections; all submissions must relate to LGBTQIA+ fashion/aeshetics created by and centering LGBTQIA+ artists, but our framework for that remains flexible. We do not expect nor require anyone be an “expert” on fashion. We see every human as a unique vessel, and we’ve long observed fashion, aesthetics, and style to be a powerful language and reclamation for the LGBTQIA+ community. One of the reasons we do what we do is to intervene in the elitist, inaccessible, ableist, white supremacist, gatekeeping frameworks that have surrounded mainstream fashion.

We’re interested in the conversations that arise in the role fashion offers within queer identity and queer life. Consider what we tend to think of when we think of fashion: clothing, hair, cosmetics, accessories, and shoes. Consider what we tend to think of when we think of LGBTQIA+ fashion: drag, cosplay, transness, disability and adaptive wear, gender play, performance, subversion, costume, and so on. As you consider submitting, imagine the body your submission can take and consider how that body would be printed and fit inside a vinyl dust jacket. We pay anywhere from $50-$150 depending on the piece.

Now that you know where we’re headed, if you are interested in submitting to the magazine and have designing chops, feel free to submit pieces specially formatted and designed with the mixtape in mind, but you can also send your piece traditionally and we’ll do the rest.

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We are currently taking submissions for including in the just femme & dandy mixtape! Read more about it here. The theme is DRAG. Our definition of drag is expansive, and we invite you to consider how drag as the performance of gender shows up in your lives. We want to hear about how/when/where gender is performed, the day to day lives behind the makeup, the politics of gender and normativity, different forms of drag, how this all coincides with fashion and dress. While we would love to hear from up and coming drag artists and independent fashion designers, this theme is for everyone, not just drag artists and enthusiasts. If you have something to say about gendered performance, we want to hear it!

Aside from submissions focusing particularly on drag, we also take general pitches or full pieces on LGBTQIA+ fashion in essay, fiction, poetry, tutorial, stickers, illustrations, interviews, etc from LGBTQIA+ writers and artists. Please make clear in your submission whether you are submitting to the just femme & dandy mixtape or the just femme & dandy video channel. Please include a short bio of no more than 150 words and your headshot (with an image description). Headshots are not mandatory, so feel free to not include them if you would not like them included, just let us know in your submission. If your submission includes images or video, please include descriptions for access. We take simultaneous submissions, but please be sure to let us know as soon as your submission has been accepted for publication elsewhere. We love all your many names and monikers, but please make it explicitly clear which name you would like to be published under.

We accept anything that can be printed and included within a 12x12 vinyl mixtape: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, tutorial, illustration, comix, photography, painting, drag, costume/fashion designs, hot takes, interviews, and so on! We are also taking video submissions for our video channel.

We pay using Venmo or PayPal and are unable to work with any other payment services.

SUBMISSIONS WILL BE OPEN UNTIL OCTOBER 11, 2024

ACCESS/DESIGN NOTE: Your submission MUST include descriptions for all visuals, including images, headshots, and audio descriptions/transcripts for video. Please send images separately instead of embedding them in the document, and make clear which description describes which image (by labeling it the same name as the file, etc.). If you’d like images to be placed in a specific location within the text, please make that clear as well. Please do not include more than 10 images for editing concerns and capacity. 

Please ask if you need help/support for resources on how to write alt text, and we’re happy to direct you to resources.

NOTE: Your submission will be considered incomplete until you have submitted all of these materials.

AI NOTE: We will not accept ANY SUBMISSION that uses AI. If your submission is accepted and we discover that it has been created using AI, we will pull your publication/submission and ask for you to repay your honorarium. We have no interest in participating in or contributing to a system that steals from artists.

Please do not submit any work that engages in violence, misogyny, racism, ableism, or other forms of bigotry. We will not publish any creator with a pattern of harmful and abusive behavior, and we will immediately remove work from any creator if such a pattern is exposed after publication. We only accept previously unpublished work, which includes online publications and blogs. If it’s been previously posted on a blog, that’s fine, but we would prefer it to be removed from a blog site before publication. just femme & dandy retains first publication rights. After publication, rights will revert back to the creator. Please credit just femme & dandy if the piece appears elsewhere after publication, including but not limited to journals, magazines, anthologies, chapbooks, books, YouTube, Vimeo, and other multimedia platforms. 

All general questions and submissions should be sent to info@justfemmeanddandy.com.