Who is J.Q. Gagliastro, a Look Book
The Look Book is free and located only on Spotify under the About section of The Diary of a Sugarbaby Audiobook listed below EXTRAS and labeled 5600720.pdf
Who is J.Q. Gagliastro, a Look Book is split into seven parts and showcases photos of J.Q. Gagliastro and the narrators who star in the audiobook. Press photos from Gagliastro’s book tours the Sugarbaby Book Tour and the Mercurial Book Tour are included as well as screenshots of DMs and messages from fans. Part V is dedicated to the arts and how to find inspiration and exercise your imagination in everyday things from latte art and hand drawing to styling outfits and rolling dumplings. Part VI lays out just some of Gagliastro’s marketing tactics, i.e. branding, merchandise, book signing posters, themed packages, special editions, limited editions, copies sold, reviews from reputable platforms, bestseller statistics, even down to the coloring. And Part VII is about the greatest thing known to man.
Why create a free look book?
It is multifactorial why I created this Look Book — I of course wanted to welcome you into my world, my life, and visually show you my work and the hard work behind it all. And it is just another creative project of mine to be honest. But what sparked the idea for this Look Book was censorship. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have access to Instagram or any other platform really. It is public knowledge that Instagram and many other real-world institutions are actively silencing voices, implicitly penalizing users. Many leftist accounts have already been removed. Algorithms have disproportionately shadowbanned and even disabled posts and accounts related to queer identities, pocs, female bodies, and adult provocateurs under the guise of “community standards.” Ultimately, it’s just control.
And I know what you’re thinking — a) This all feels rather performative or catastrophization, or b) It’s just social media… And well, it’s not. It’s our freedom of speech and expression, our first amendment mind you. Because I don’t know how much longer I will have Instagram, I still want my work to be out there, to be seen, not just for my sake, but for posterity. Yes, I am building a legacy. And yes, I know humility is a virtue. and I know I am young — people at my signings have made that abundantly clear. But I don’t want to be forgotten. And I know damn sure some things about myself will transcend my time. While I feel love, I often feel hate. In my days, I find people — even people who have known me the longest, people I see all the time — have difficulty seeing all of me. I’ve tried to make things easier for people by compartmentalizing myself, creating J.Q. Gagliastro for my author self, creating Absinthe for my provocative self, all the while staying true to Jacob, and I’ve tried to weave them all together in a way where they can still stand on their own. But in the end, people will see what they want to see and ignore what they want to ignore. People will assume the worst. People will assume you must not love your mother. People will assume your partner must be your sugar daddy. And people will most definitely try to silence you if you go against the grain. Jacqueline Harpman, a person cyclically remembered and forgotten by time, once wrote “If you do something that is forbidden, it is the action that is the target. If you do something that isn’t forbidden, and they intervene, then it’s not the activity that’s attracting attention, it’s you yourself.”
I still have my website. I still have my current accounts. And I now have this Look Book. But who knows what Spotify could and would do.
