The studio space is full of bold and colorful fabrics and constructing tools along with the messy work studio of a busy young fashion designer, makeup artist and performance artist. Swatches of fabric cover the floor of the studio, which has high ceilings and with walls painted in colors just as bright as the clothing.
Sky Cubacub is the owner and creator of Rebirth Garments whose clothes fill the studio. Cubacub identifies as queercrip, in which crip can refer to physical or mental health; Cubacub has suffered from anxiety and panic disorders since they were young. Cubacub who identifies as genderqueer, genderfluid and nonbinary, doesn't see themself as a man or woman.
“I make clothing for these types of people just ‘cause these are all the identities that [I identify] with, and I saw the lack of things for us,” Cubacub says. “All my clothing can be worn by anybody of any gender.”
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The garments hanging on the racks and mannequins are full of eye-catching, neon colors and bold patterns. Most outfits are made from spandex, mesh and velour, which has the same texture as velvet. Decorating most of the outfits is handmade chainmaille that is either built into the clothes themselves or made into necklaces, headwear and bracelets.
Cubacub is often seen wearing their custom-made colorful headpiece, usually accompanied by brightly colored lipstick and colorful makeup.
They came to their identity after a long a long search for an identity.
“I think I’ve always just been very open to everything; whereas, I feel like a lot of other folks around me were like closed off,” says Cubacub.
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They fluctuated throughout their life between being attracted to males and females; they met their first girlfriend during sophomore year of high school. Initially, Cubacub wondered if they might be bisexual, but even that term felt weird.
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“The only stores in-person that sell binding and tucking garments are like sex toy shops, but you have to be over 18 to go into one of those,” Cubacub says.
They couldn’t find anything that would work as substitutes for binders and packers that fit with their small body in regular clothing stores, so they started by making their own, which led to Cubacub making clothing for friends before starting their company in the summer of 2014.
Cubacub had been designing and making homemade chainmaille since they were 13 and making clothing entirely out of it by 15, so they knew it was never going to be just a hobby.
“I was in school, but making this stuff was my main thing, and I knew that I would be doing it forever,” Cubacub says.
It wasn’t until August 2016 that Cubacub put up a Kickstarter page to fund their clothing endeavors Nina Litoff, a close friend since second grade, helped create the promotional video for the Kickstarter page and the official website for Rebirth Garments.
“Sky has incredible creative energy which means that often they are too busy designing and overwhelmed with work to deal with the ever growing details of owning a small business,” Litoff says. “I worked on a lot of projects that helped me grow as an artist, including producing and editing the Rebirth Garments Kickstarter video and designing the two Kickstarter reward handkerchiefs using Sky's digital drawings.”
The Kickstarter campaign raised $27,884 from 445 backers; and Cubacub’s business has been growing ever since.
“The reaction from the Kickstarter backers was really amazing,” Litoff says. “But not only was the number of backers amazing, people's reactions were really gratifying too.”
Cubacub says they have about “a million” orders to complete from their Etsy store and even had to put it on “vacation” mode, so they could catch up. They say they made about 150 custom outfits in the last year and a half.
When ordering more basic garments and designs from Cubacub, they only ask that the customer send in measurements. For those who want
Sky Cubacub
Orientation: Queer
Pronouns: They/them
Designer Sky Cubacub creates clothing for full spectrum of sizes, genders and disabilities
Story by Warner Gardner
Edited by Chido Nzvere-Tate
customized outfits, the process is much more in-depth. Some of the custom outfits that can be purchased through their Etsy page or as a Kickstarter backer have Cubacub doing extensive interviews with each person.
“I’ll get like 30 measurements, head-to-toe, and I ask them questions like, ‘What kind of gender-forming garments do you wish you had or wish existed in the world?’ Then I’d ask them, ‘What would make clothing be most accessible to you?’ So sometimes that means something looser,” says Cubacub. “Then I also ask what things they want to highlight about their body, what things they feel vulnerable about and what things they usually feel vulnerable about, but want to show off in this context.”
With the bright colors, chainmaille and sheer aspects of some of Rebirth’s clothing, the garments may not seem like everyday wear, but Cubacub assures that it can all be worn as such like they do. The various clothing items may seem a bit out there and complicated, but Cubacub says, “I know it’s complicated because I’m complicated.”
Cubacub's line of clothing includes hats. | Photos by Warner Gardner
Cubacub created Rebirth Garments to give clothing options to gender nonconforming people.
Later that year, they became president of the Gay/Straight Alliance. Cubacub remembers being completely out and embracing who they were, but somehow still felt boxed in. They didn’t understand the queer vocabulary yet, but they realized they had an attraction to people regardless of sex or gender.
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Cubacub attended the GSA where drag queens and kings were teaching about packing, referring to wearing padding in underwear, which is commonly practiced by transgender men; binding garments, used to bind down breasts, which is also commonly used by transgender men; wearing makeup, and putting on a fake beard. It was at this presentation when Cubacub became obsessed with creating different looks. However, Cubacub was too young at the time to go into the stores that sold packers and binding garments.