SOREL and PAPER on the Power of Fashion for Pride

Style is deeply personal, and especially for queer folks whose fashion choices help amplify our colorful identities. We often communicate through clothing first and create our own language with the styles we dress in every day.

For 2021 Pride, SOREL's rainbow footwear — now available exclusively at sorel.com — is helping the LGBTQ+ community celebrate this individuality.

Their goal was to "create a very wearable and versatile Pride shoe with playful design details," including a retro '70s-inspired color palette, pearlized finish on the heel and a "Love is Love" graphic that all interprets the Pride flag in a fresh way.

"Life is so serious sometimes and fashion doesn't have to be," says entrepreneur Jonathan Paul, who tells PAPER his style icon is former NBA player Dennis Rodman.

Meanwhile, DJ/ producer KITTENS credits Los Angeles' queer nightlife scene growing up as her biggest fashion influence. "Everyone was so interesting and diverse and authentic," she says, "and I just felt so inspired to figure out who I was."

Ella Snyder, the rising fashion model, explains how personal style makes her "feel safer and more comfortable in her identity." For her, picking out clothing is like creating "a field of armor for the rest of the world."

For SOREL, Pride is more than just a month. "It's a lifestyle, a daily celebration of living authentically and loving unapologetically. It's something worn on the regular. We've partnered with PAPER to spotlight three members of the LGBTQ+ community as they use style to express their everyday Pride — in the wear-all-year Pride Sneaker that we've created in their honor."

As part of their Pride commitments this year, SOREL has donated to three different charities to benefit the LGBTQ+ community.

Paul requested Helping F.A.I.T.H. to facilitate access into "transformative housing;" It Gets Better received a donation in KITTENS' name; and Camp Aranu'tiq, the first summer camp established for trans and nonbinary youth, from Snyder.

To shop SOREL's Pride collection, visit www.sorel.com.

Photography: Isaac Anthony
Styling: Kaitlyn Vitug
Styling assistants: Erin Zhang and Alyssa On
Makeup: Lilly Keys
Hair: Darine Sengseevong
Video direction: Symone Ridgell
DP: Stefan Vleming