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Indya Moore and Her Mom Open Up About New Gap Campaign, Intersectionality and Growing Together

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus
The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

Indya Moore knows more than most how clothing can be a vehicle for bonding, identity, change and exclusion.

The Pose star and her mother, Gloria Feliciano, star in Gap's latest campaign as two of the faces of the Gap x The Brooklyn Circus collaboration.

The monumental moment for the mother-daughter duo came as a full-circle experience for the Bronx, New York, natives.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Moore talked about what this opportunity means to her.

"This opportunity to work on this project with Gap and Brooklyn Circus just means so much to me and has meant so much to me. First of all, Gap is a pretty iconic brand," she begins.

"I grew up on Gap with my family and my mom; Gap was our luxury," she adds. "When we'd go, we'd shop for really good quality clothes or looking for clothes that would last long and were name-brand; Gap was that brand for us. Being able to wear it for pleasure, and then to wear it for profession, is a big deal, especially for my mother and I both to be part of this campaign together."

Feliciano echoed the statements of her daughter, saying her reaction when her daughter asked her to join in on the campaign was simply, "I have no words."

She continues, "I was shocked that I got that call. I was honored that we were able to do something together. We always do a lot of things — we travel together, we do just about everything together. This was something we did together for the first time. It's like, 'Wow.'"

For the project, which also stars Euphoria actor Javon Walton, model Bethann Hardison and the late Stephen "tWitch" Boss, the two sat down on camera to talk about their relationship with each other and clothing while Moore was growing up.

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus
The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

In the heartfelt video spot, Moore and Feliciano talked of a time when Moore, who at the time was experimenting with her gender presentation and coming to terms with her gender identity, stole a pair of her mom's jeans, stuffed them in her bag and attempted to run off to school with them.

Moore said in the video, "I hid a lot of these parts of me as much as I could. And I remember, like, taking your pants from the closet and sneaking them to school and changing into your clothes. When I got caught, I got in trouble. I remember the family responding to my personality like it was bad behavior."

Feliciano and Moore dive deeper into the moment while talking to PEOPLE, recounting how their relationship has changed since then.

Feliciano tells PEOPLE that, at the time, she had difficulty understanding why her child would want a pair of her jeans. "We stop our kids if they want to wear a pair of jeans," she says. "We tried to understand why Indya wanted to wear my jeans at that time. I just couldn't comprehend the whole thing of Indya having my jeans."

She continues, "I always felt stretch jeans were supposed to be for a woman." Now, though, Feliciano is of the belief that "it doesn't matter — it doesn't matter your gender."

Since getting older and educating herself, Feliciano tells PEOPLE that her relationship with Moore has gotten even better, thanks to learning and understanding.

"It's too bad at this old age of mine, but we all learn at different paces in our lives," Feliciano says of getting to this point. "We will always be learning at any age. Our relationship, it's just stronger and stronger each passing day."

Feliciano's message of continued learning is at the heart of what the Gap x The Brooklyn Circus collaboration is all about.

Indya Moore Gap Campaign
Indya Moore Gap Campaign

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

The designs and aesthetics of the collection draw heavily from themes of academia and preppiness but add an intersectional critique of those concepts by combining the usually white and upper-class motifs with Black culture and streetwear — closing gender, race, class, body and age gaps in the process. This is done by using traditional school items like varsity jackets, oxford shirts and sweater vests.

Moore tells PEOPLE, "This collaboration is taking prep and is transforming it and making it really accessible to different people, different bodies, and there's a really beautiful intersection with age and race and class that I really appreciate as well."

"[This is the] blending of academia, music, Black culture and street style from the 1960s throughout today. It's the Brooklyn Circus' take on fashion throughout American history, with Gap and the way that's been defined since 1969 and all the way up to now. Seeing the way this modern prep has modernized so much, I think is really dope, and it speaks to the potential of fashion really brilliantly."

Being involved in this campaign means even more to the mother and daughter, both being high school dropouts who have their intellect and voices treated with respect.

"The thing about it is, like, I dropped out in 10th grade, I'm a high school dropout, and I'm self-taught, and my mom has a very, very similar experience as me," Moore shares. "So we weren't educated and informed in most of the traditional ways that are expected of people who have some level of success, right?"

She continues, "What I really love about this brand is that it's people like us who are representing it. We happen to be embodying the intersectional capacity of prep and the ways that it's transformed to not be something that is exclusive to class and academic culture but also regular people from the Bronx, the Puerto Rican woman who is a mother, my mom from the Bronx, and myself, a Dominican Haitian ally trans person from the Bronx."

Moore's allyship for the Haitian community was also a driving reason for why she joined in on the campaign. She points out that Brooklyn Circus is owned by Haiti-born Ouigi Theodore.

Theodore has long been using fashion as a way to tell stories of inclusion, including topics like Haitian identity. No one knew that better than his long-time friend and collaborator Stephen "tWitch" Boss, who also starred in this campaign just before his death.

The actress didn't know him all too well prior to their project together but described tWitch and Theodore's relationship as "moving" and tWitch's presence as "inspiring."

"I do remember when he was on set, he was extremely encouraging, and the way that he was on set to support Ouigi was something that was very moving to me," Moore tells PEOPLE. "It was something that stayed on my mind, and I thought about throughout."

Stephen “tWitch” Boss Gap campaign
Stephen “tWitch” Boss Gap campaign

The Gap x The Brooklyn Circus

She adds, "He was a very sweet and inspiring person, and I can see why Ouigi wanted him to be there as an artist and as a visionary that he was. I think that this campaign represents that love and that creative audacity, and that commitment that he showed up with because he was there to inspire it. I really appreciate the way that Ouigi has shown up for his family. I am also very grateful to have been a part of it and to witness such a love."

In honor of Boss, Gap is supporting The 988 Lifeline by donating to Vibrant Emotional Health, an organization helping those in distress without access to life-saving counseling, therapy or support.

The collection is now available for purchase on both of the brands' websites and will also be available to shop at select Gap stores as well as The Brooklyn Circus' Boreum Hill flagship.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or going to 988lifeline.org.