WILLIENORRISWORKSHOP was founded in 2018 as a container for (and independent publisher of) the creative projects of Willie Norris. 

ABOUT Willie Norris

WILLIE NORRIS is the founder of WILLIENORRISWORKSHOP.

Working under the manifesto of “QUEER ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A MEANS OF DEFENSE,” Norris aims to celebrate, honor, and indulge queer identity by prioritizing the collective capital of LGBTQ+ people, rather than the external forces that seek to capitalize on them. Norris views queerness, in the words of L.A. Kauffman, as “more of a posture of opposition than a simple statement about sexuality,” and is constantly interested in de-centering static and stable conceptions of business structures, particularly how queer principles can exist at the core of a business operating within the apparel industry.

Norris has collaborated with HELMUT LANG, MOMA PS1, PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER NEW YORK and BROOKLYN LIBERATION.

In June 2019, Norris debuted RUNWAY 1 at La Mama Galleria in NoHo, Manhattan, which acted as an ambitious blueprint for her label to come: a composite of elevated but wearable staples produced locally using deadstock fabric and designed with LGBTQ+ consumers in mind. Attended by an impassioned queer community, the models featured included Brooklyn nightlife mainstays Charlene Incarnate and West Dakota, as well as rising-star Aaron Philip closing the show in her runway debut. 

Outside of WILLIENORRISWORKSHOP, Miss Norris is also an accomplished apparel designer, having worked in the design studios of ISAAC MIZRAHI, MARIA CORNEJO and SUSAN CIANCIOLO, and is currently design director for Brooklyn-based menswear brand Outlier. 

She has lived and worked in BROOKLYN,NYC since 2008.

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SELECTED PRESS

NY TIMES PROFILE / AUG. 2021 "Willie Norris Has Some Words For Us"

VOGUE / JUNE 2020 "Willie Norris Creates Clothes That Celebrate Queerness"

 GARAGE / JUNE 2020 "Willie Norris Wants You To Know "With Practice You Can Learn to Say Anything."