“I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old,” says Colombian-born Vanessa Rosales. But she also felt that she didn’t fit the typical mold of a writer. “I wasn’t one of the boys or someone’s muse,” she says. 

Rosales found her calling when she discovered other writers interested in the intersection of fashion, feminism, and culture. Truman Capote was an early hero, along with Kennedy Fraser, Holly Brubach, Cathy Horyn, Judith Thurman, and Guy Trebay.

After studying journalism in Argentina and writing for magazines, Rosales heard about a new fashion studies program at Parsons. Here was a rare opportunity to study “fashion as object, as image, as idea, in terms of social class, race, and politics,” says Rosales. 

Rosales found studying in the program a transformative experience. “One class changed my life,” says Rosales, referring to Marilyn Cohen’s course Film and Fashion. Being immersed in New York street style was also an eye-opener. “It’s wonderful to be an ogler in the city,” says Rosales.

Rosales has carved out a vibrant career as a writer, podcaster, and teacher who looks at “fashion through a lens of social class, race, and politics.” Her book of essays, Mujer incómoda (Uncomfortable Woman), tackles subjects like “the patriarchy, the female gaze, and what it means to be a woman,” says Rosales. The book has touched many Latin American readers and is now in its fifth edition. 

The self-described “disobedient scholar” also hosts two podcasts—Mujer incómoda and Popularmente (Popularly)—and is critic-in-residence at the School of Visual Arts. Through her various platforms, Rosales inspires us to think about how “fashion can be related to capitalism and misogyny, but it can also be revolutionary and liberating.”

@vanessarosales_