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

In addition to the influence of their brother, Wright also said that they found inspiration in the women they wanted to emulate, like Aaliyah and TLC, awash in things like baggy jeans and boxer shorts. More than just a product of their Caribbean culture, Wright also absorbed the skater style of Southern California where they grew up: Cargo pants, skate shoes, and big graphic tees.

Interestingly, while Wright acknowledges that they are "masculine presenting," feeling pretty and expressing some token of femininity is still something they enjoy.

"All of it allows me space to tap into whatever expressions of femininity look like for me, while still keeping my masculine appearance. So even small things, like I might crop a T-shirt, and you see a lot more men tapping into this and throwing out all the rules and redefining all these constructs that get in the way of feeling good in your body."

Despite wholeheartedly embracing the masculine way they present, Wright was careful to point out to GQ that they're never going to be that masc-presenting female that throws on a three-piece suit when having to dress up, such as for the reunion episode that found Wright wearing a tight blouse adorned with a rose (and showing plenty of cleavage) rather than something typically masculine, like a suit.

"That's not me," they said. "I'm not doing that. I'm okay with my femme side – I really like it. I like feeling sexy. I want to feel pretty and I want to show my body. The high-femme girlies are doing it, so I wanted to join in."

Like many queer people whose style and relationship to their own queerness evolves over time, Wright presented as more feminine growing up, and GQ asked them about that evolution which, for Wright, began with their hair.

"For Black women, our hair is a big thing, right? I used to be, like, super tomboy, but I always had micro braids. And I was an athlete, too, so it was really thing of convenience. But once I had gotten out of a six-and-a-half-year relationship, I ended up cutting off my hair and it started this transition of learning about lineups and my own natural hair for the first time. I had no choice but to just be exactly who I was. I really leaned into that."

Finding one's footing in the world while exploring gender or sexuality is a tough thing, something that many queer people of all ages must contend with. For Wright, just like many of us, this era of self-rediscovery wasn't a seamless transition.

"It was my first time after college that I was making my own decisions about my presentation and not catering to anyone else's concerns," they told GQ. "Thankfully, I had some good people around me who let me fumble through all of my eras of expression. It's a matter of just trying [stuff out] and being in community with people who are just like, 'we love you anyway. We don't really care what you got going on.'"