Mal Wright, A Fan Favorite on "The Ultimatum: Queer Love," Talks Fashion

Viewers of Netflix's "The Ultimatum: Queer Love" may not have gotten any of the fairy tale endings they were pulling for, but the season concluded with at least one satisfying take away: the emergence of contestant Mal Wright as a fan favorite and menswear style icon.

The show, which aired over the summer, was a big hit for Netflix. For those who haven't tuned in, "The Ultimatum: Queer Love" gave five queer couples eight weeks to either marry or part ways. While – spoiler alert – none of the couples ended up walking down the aisle, Mal Wright managed to make a big impression, winning the hearts of many viewers.

In an interview recently published by GQ, Wright, who uses she/they pronouns, leaned into their new role as a "style star" and opened up about their fashion inspirations, the influence that their queerness has had on the way they dress, and their style evolution.

Fans of Wright's style will tell you that their allure isn't only their genuine, assured personality, but also the way they embrace "masc-leaning" looks with plenty of streetwear influences and, sometimes, a dash of femininity.

The child of immigrants from Jamaica and Cuba, Wright picked up on colors and fashion staples from the cultures of their parents, as well as the hip hop influences of their brother, who Wright describes as a "very cool guy." The result of this mixture of Caribbean culture with the streetwear influences of her hip hop-loving brother all became a part of Wright's fashion DNA, even before they realized it.

"In true little sister fashion, if my brother was big into hip hop, I was too," they told GQ. "So, naturally, I wanted to move through the world like the music I was listening to. I'm also queer, right? And as far as I can tell, I've always been queer. But growing up in a Caribbean household, they're not always okay with that, so I was a lot more feminine presenting – or tried to be, anyway, as much as I could. I had to build out whatever identity looked like for me by emulating my brother. I was picking up nuggets about style and gender expression all the time, learning about the right cut of pants or the style of shirts he was getting."