-Within the first 30 seconds
of meeting someone,
people look at what you're
wearing more than anything else.
Oh, I love that.
I've seen firsthand
how clothes can transform
and elevate someone,
their spirits, their look,
their presence in the world.
And I think that's
really important.
It's really okay as women
to allow ourselves
to be present in the world.
I call myself a style activist.
When you are considered
to be someone
that should just go
to the sidelines and disappear,
and a lot of times
that does happen with people
that don't fit
the norms of fashion.
♪♪
♪♪
I'm Judith Rizzio,
I'm 65,
and I'm a style activist.
You're looking at
my collection --
well, part of my collection
of clothes that I love.
And the thing about them
is that you can't really find
these type of clothes anymore.
So they're real treasures.
They're little bits of art.
This is a great piece.
Look at this.
It's just so good.
Very '80s. I love it.
This is such a beautiful,
simple orange dress.
It is so much fun
for the summer.
This is all hand-embroidered.
My business is called
OutofOur Closet.
It's a double entendre
on many levels.
I have a couple of clients,
but being able to really help
people that have discovered
and are now living in different
ways and different bodies.
I love to work
with a variety of people,
and I'm really working hard at
moving into the trans community.
This is the real thing. Uh-huh.
From the '70s.
And also with older women
is being hidden in your closet
and stepping out that door
and finding a sense of placement
in the world.
I set my fee structure
so that my services
could be accessible to anyone,
including someone who can't pay.
It's one of my favorites,
and people really enjoy it
when I wear it
'cause I love this.
It's a bold, bold print
and fantastic heavy cotton.
This is a bunch of stuff
from my past.
And when I took it out
and looked at it,
it really amazed me.
Some of the experiences
that shaped me as an activist.
This photo means so much to me.
This is my Nana Banana in 1928.
She is with some friends,
and if you notice,
she's in a men's bathing suit.
And if you look down and see
how these two young men
are holding their hands.
It's not
a definite heterosexual hold.
She was so animated and fun
and she loved clothes
and she also gave me
her sewing machine.
She was very independent.
And so I know
that that affected me.
I just think
I got a lot of her DNA.
I mean, I think the fact that
I'm bisexual came through her,
and she definitely gave me
the permission,
the support, the love
to be who I was.
1976.
I was a part
of a political theater company,
and a thing that spinned off
of it
was a group called
the Fallen Angel Choir.
We had a huge following
in Portland
and we would sell out 20 nights,
but it was so pointedly
political that, you know,
people really loved it.
As a young person realizing
what you can do using art
in regards to making a statement
and pushing against the norm.
So that's when I realized
how important that was.
It's one of my most fantastic
experiences
about pushing the boundaries
as a woman.
1988, I was hired to work
at Our House of Portland.
It was a very wonderful
facility. Still is.
It's still being used
for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Here I am looking oh, so 1990s.
We threw great parties there,
including Halloween
was one of the best.
One of our residents --
it was a 12-bed facility.
He was a drag queen,
and he was very, very ill
at the time that this happened,
but he wanted so much
to dress up as Dolly,
and I watched him
do that holding his I.V. pole,
and I thought, "Oh, my gosh,
look at how that costume --
it means so much to him --
can bring him to life again."
I found myself with tears
flowing down my face
because I thought,
"Yeah, you're doing it.
You're doing it right
to the end."
A lot of the residents
there were young gay gentlemen.
They wanted to get dressed up.
We would go to the clothes
storage areas
that they had for people
living with HIV and AIDS
and get them new clothes
as they shrunk.
And it was
a very important thing.
And it gave people right
to the end a sense of dignity
and pride and beauty,
and that was very significant.
I've seen firsthand
how clothes can transform
and elevate someone,
and I think that's
really important,
and especially when you
are considered to be someone
that should just go
to the sidelines and disappear.
And a lot of times
that does happen with women
and people that don't fit
the norms of fashion.
And I used to get that a lot
in general over the years.
So, Kim is a new client of mine.
She contacted me and said,
you know, time to step it up,
feeling a little bit blah.
The reason why I'm an activist
is basically see something
that is not just or right
and then figure out a way
to maybe change that,
be it a small way
or a bigger way.
It's sort of this gift
they're doing for themselves.
And so I feel
such a responsibility
to do whatever I can with them.
Hi, Kim. [ Laughs ]
-Hello. How are you?
-Come on in.
One of the questions I ask is,
"How would you describe
your current fashion style?"
And she says tomboy.
I give hugs. Is that cool?
Oh! Hi.
-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, too.
-I volunteered and worked with
cats and dogs
and horses and rabbits and rats,
and so I'm always, like,
in jeans and sweatshirts
and T-shirts,
and I just feel like I want
to feel good about how I look.
-Okay, so check this out.
This is your classic '50s,
'60s cocktail dress.
Especially as we get older,
having clothes
that have sparkle,
having -- I always say
to every woman,
you know, that I know,
but especially women
that are 50 and above,
"Listen, your best friend
is a good bright silver hoop."
It brightens your face.
-I often find myself
being critical
when I look in the mirror.
I'm like, "Ooh, that doesn't --
That's not the way
things used to be."
I think that as women get older,
because our society is
so focused on youth and beauty,
your identity,
maybe your kids or your job,
but once you're past
those things,
you kind of start fading out.
It's time to reinvent myself
or get more excited
about myself again.
-You see older men
and they become this, like,
you know, hot fox, sexy guy
with a 27-year-old woman
on their arm,
you know, and that's cool.
Women, we are not allowed.
We -- In many ways, we're viewed
as vessels that procreate babies
and are moms,
and then we're done,
you know, on every level.
We're in a world
where patriarchy is the norm.
We keep moving towards
pushing against it.
But, you know,
but then all of a sudden
seeing that really flipping now
and realizing, you know,
we don't need to give
a flying fuck what anyone says.
So, this is
Hattie's Vintage Clothing,
and it's one of the most fun,
curated vintage stores
in Portland.
-Great.
-And I love coming here
because there's a great variety.
And I know that you have
a passion, like I do,
around clothing
of different periods --
Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O.
So let's see what
we can find here, okay?
-Looks great.
-I know. It is.
You know, physically, aging
can be real motherfucker.
I mean, it's really hard.
You have to keep adapting.
It's just tight. It's tight.
-Yeah.
-But it's a great color.
-Yeah. I love the colors.
-Yeah. I'm getting definitely
more radical
as I get older, and I love it.
What scares me
sometimes is the fact
that that might be cut short
before I can do it all.
But you know what?
As an activist,
you have to really come to terms
with a lot of what you're doing.
You might never see
the real results of.
You might never see the change,
but that's a part
of the process.
I have a son that, at 18,
we found out
he had terminal cancer.
He died at 25, and, uh...
He taught me the beauty of life,
and one of the last things
he said to me --
not, you know, the day he died,
but around three months
before he did,
he took me by the shoulders
and said,
"Listen, Mom,
this is my cancer, not yours.
And if you don't live --
if you don't live your life,
I will be so pissed off, okay?"
And I knew exactly
what he was saying,
and it was like -- it was a vow.
I miss him so much.
It's really shitty
losing a child.
That's another reason why,
when I'm in the world,
I really allow myself
to live strong.
And so have some fun with this.
So I'm not saying to do this,
but I just want to see,
and especially
that it has a wider flow,
a more narrow skirt with it.
-This is the classy look
I was looking for.
-Yeah, I know.
The work that I've done
and the work that I do now...
-It's been a successful day.
-Yay!
...really just keeps pushing
the reality that right
until the end, you matter
and you can enjoy that process.
I don't like to
give advice per se,
but I really just want
to encourage everyone out there
to believe that they have
the right, intrinsically
have the right to enjoy looking
beautiful in their clothes
and in their body and to realize
that it's radical.
It's radical to push against
that, and it's fun.
♪♪
Oh, I have this coat.
I would love
for you to have it.
-Thank you so much.
-I really, really, really would.
Oh!
-It's so fun.
-It's so fun.
-Oh! I have this coat.
I would love for you to have it.
-Thank you so much.
-I really, really, really would.
-I will take very good
care of it.
-I know you would.
Oh!
-It's so fun.
-It's so fun.
