Protect the Dolls: Sales from Conner Ives T-shirt to raise vital funds for trans people
A T-shirt designed by Conner Ives, featuring the ’80s ballroom culture-inspired term Protect the Dolls, is to go on sale to raise funds for the US-based, trans-led organisation Trans Lifeline. Ives wore the T-shirt to close his autumn/winter 2025 collection at this year’s London Fashion Week. The sh
A T-shirt designed by Conner Ives, featuring the ’80s ballroom culture-inspired term Protect the Dolls, is to go on sale to raise funds for the US-based, trans-led organisation Trans Lifeline.
Ives wore the T-shirt to close his autumn/winter 2025 collection at this year’s London Fashion Week.
The shirt comes at a crucial time for trans people, especially in the US, where Donald Trump has recently declared that the government will only recognise two genders, trans people have been banned from the military and sports, and citizens are being denied their preferred gender on their passports.
“As much as we are in peril, I didn’t want to create a show that created the feeling of peril,” the American designer told Dazed backstage at the show. “I’ve been so nurtured and supported by such beautiful and incredible women. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for the dolls.”
Funds raised from T-shirt will go to Trans Lifeline, a US-based, trans-led organisation delivers potentially life-saving services, including direct emotional and financial support for trans people in crisis.
“The hotline connects trans people to a wider community, offering support and resources they need to survive and thrive,” Ives said in a statement on Instagram. “Resources like this are now more important than ever, given the hostility and oppression the federal government has adapted towards trans people in America. I would not be where I am without the support I have been given by the dolls, so this is the least I could ever do to say thanks.”
