Portrait of a Fangirl is a new web series created by Monica Duarte and Emily Schuck. At the core of the project is the necessity of telling the stories of women who have found inspiration, growth, and power through fandom. Our second episode features Jordan Dené Ellis, owner of the geeky fashion brand Jordandene. She is also the co-editor of the Sartorial Geek, a geeky lifestyle magazine, podcast, and website.
Episode Two: Jordan Ellis
In this episode, Jordan tells us how she started creating geeky fashion, and discusses her feelings on gatekeeping, the fangirl community, and finding your geeky people.
Portraits
Portrait of a Fangirl began as a photography project with the goal of capturing the rich and diverse manifestations of fangirling. The idea was to take portraits of geeky women as a way to celebrate their fandoms. We soon came to realize that, even though a picture—as the cliché goes—as indeed worth a thousand words, these women are so much more than their fandoms and so much more than their portraits. As a result, we decided to interview them and find out more about them. What resulted was a web series. But, to us, the photos are still important. We believe that having photos of what fangirls do like would help break the stereotype of what a fangirl alleged to be. Fangirls are found everywhere from sports, music, movies, books, history, and countless other fandoms and their expression vast and unique.
Typically, we ask the fangirls that we feature to chose outfits that reflect their personal style, personality, and expressions of fandom. For this episode, the portraits were provided by Savannah Lauren and Phil Provencio. Jordan shared with us the photos she loves the most.
A common theme in Jordan’s photos is fashion and community. You can see the importance of both in her life through both her photos and in her interview. In this episode, she discusses the impact that social media has made in her friendships and in her business. These photos showcase the merging of both these things. The models wearing her brand’s tee shirts and bomber jackets are friends she has made along the way.
The Sartorial Geek is a magazine that Jordan co-edits with Liz Crowder Serota. Jordan and Liz are college friends who came together to create what ultimately turned into the Sartorial Geek. It acts as both a platform and a community for geeks. They focus on pop culture, girl power, and unique stories through articles from a vast range of contributors.
Follow Jordan Ellis on social media:
"Jordandené started as a need to combine good design with my favorite nerdy things. I felt like most of the geeky products I wanted to buy weren’t very feminine or very flattering or honestly didn’t look very good, and I wanted to change that!" https://t.co/t4KXtDSLBk pic.twitter.com/AfcsyugY88
— Jordandené (@jordandenenyc) February 24, 2018
To learn more, check out these links:
Portrait of a Fangirl Trailer
Temple Of Geek Podcast Announces Portrait Of A Fangirl
Portrait of a Fangirl – Episode One: “Utahime Cosplay”
Video by Monica Duarte
Edited by Emily Schuck
Produced by Monica Duarte, Emily Schuck, and Danniel Slade
Photography by Savannah Lauren & Phil Provencio
Music:
“How Bout Nah” by roljui
“Grand Avenue” by Text Me Records / Bobby Renz
“Tea for Tat” by Verified Picasso
About Author
