Lena Dunham's New Documentary Will Explore Formalwear for Trans Folks

Girls creator Lena Dunham has begun work on a new HBO documentary series about New York's LGBT-friendly tailor Bindle & Keep, reports Vanity Fair. The show's focus will be on the suit shop's transgender clientele.

Bindle & Keep has provided formalwear for New York's genderqueer, trans-masculine, and broader trans community for the past year and a half. The shop exisst among a growing group of tailors that cater to the masculine-of-center and transgender communities, including Saint Harridan, Tomboy Tailors, and Haute Butch.

Bindle & Keep began cultivating a consciously trans-friendly approach after clothier Rachel Tutera started a conversation with Bindle & Keep owner David Friedman, reports the New York Times. Tutera said she identifies as navigating "a very tiny space that exists between being a butch dyke and being a trans man."

Today, the company has earned a reputation for being sensitive to the needs of trans and gender-nonconfirming clients, offering suit shapes that differ from that of the standard cisgender (nontrans) man's. Now Dunham, who's made a career based on her observations of contemporary life in New York, wants to make the shop's inclusive approach more widely known.

"We were totally blown away when Lena's team first reached out to us," Friedman told Vanity Fair. "The art we practice is so specialized that it was hard to believe heavy-hitters were taking an interest."

Earlier this week, Dunham tweeted a tentative documentary title: "Bindle & Keep: Breaking Down Binaries, Making Smarter Suits."