Reclaiming Femininity: Chloe Cole on Fashion, Faith, and Healing

By Quinn Delamater

Chloe Cole speaking outside the Supreme Court on January 15, 2026

The first time I met Chloe Cole, she commented on the Kappa Kappa Gamma key pin attached to my shirt. “I like your brooch,” she told me. “When I identified as a boy, one of the things I missed most about being a girl was wearing jewelry.”

I first met Chloe Cole at a meet-and-greet at Hillsdale College. Her dynamic energy filled the room, and she spoke to every student individually as if they were old friends. For years, I had followed Cole’s story, moved by her account of suffering from gender dysphoria, undergoing a double mastectomy at the age of 15, and ultimately detransitioning to become an anti-transgender ideology activist. I admired her courage and bravery. In many ways, she is a hero to me.

Her earnestness struck me. Cole dressed beautifully, wearing a polka-dot print top and a delicate pearl necklace. She appeared very feminine and relaxed, with a soft and almost ethereal glow about her.

Four years after her detransition at age 20, Cole is on a journey of re-embracing her femininity and re-discovering her style as a part of her God-given identity of being a woman. At the height of her gender dysphoria, however, Cole wanted nothing more than to present and be affirmed by those around her as male.

“I could change the way that I viewed reality, the way that people viewed and referred to me as, the way that I looked, and the way that my body functioned, but none of it was real. And eventually, that realization— it was just so crushing to me, because it was pretty much the foundation of my entire adolescent life,” she said.

During her “boy years,” Cole recalled dressing as masculine as possible.

Photos shared by @chooocole on Instagram June 1, 2025 captioned: It’s the first day of “pride month” and very soon it will be 5 years since I lost my breasts. For the first time in a very long time, June is no longer a month of grieving my lost innocence. I can celebrate who I truly am not for the sake of pride, but with gratitude for the journey God has given me. We don’t have to let our lives be led by our mistakes.”

“Looking back on a lot of the photos of me throughout my adolescent years, throughout my transition, and even early on and mid-transition, kind of show the mental state that I was in during those times and the phases that I was going through,” she said.

Cole cut her hair short to appear as a man and often wore dark outfits.

“There were things about being a woman that I absolutely did miss, even just the little things like being able to dress up and feel pretty, I really sorely missed out on,” she said.

She added that post-transition, some of her favorite looks and accessories include the colors of gold and rose gold, floral patterns, and leg warmers.

Oftentimes, Cole is on the road touring with Turning Point USA, speaking at various events and on college campuses. One of her signature hairstyles has become milkmaid braids.

Via @chooocole

“I think they have such an understated, classic look to them,” she told me. Recently, the feminine fashion scene in America has returned to its roots of tradition and elegance, which Cole said she appreciates.

For Cole, one of the most fun and significant aspects of re-embracing her identity as a woman was getting re-acquainted with feminine fashion again.

“I might still consider myself to be a tomboy, but I think that the vast majority of women are naturally very feminine, and they will want to embrace that part of themselves. And for me, it’s been the little things that have helped me to heal from all this and to be able to smile and to enjoy life again, and fashion actually was a major part of that, of re-establishing my identity and my femininity in my life,” Cole reflected.

Cole also said she appreciates the connection between creativity and fashion.

“It’s [fashion] always been an experimental thing for me. I have always been an artist, and I have always just enjoyed expressing myself through creative means… fashion and things like makeup have become my way of bringing that artistry and that creativity into how people see me a little bit more,” she said.

Cole said she considers her style to be ever-changing: “I don’t really adhere to one specific style or trend, so there’s a sort of an independence to it, I would say. And at its core, I think a lot of my style is very femininely inspired.”

Cole with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Host of Her Patriot Voice Savannah Craven, May 2025

Ultimately, Cole said she believes that inner beauty is the most important beauty a woman can possess.

“There are many women out there in the world who are beautiful in their appearance, but unfortunately, they don’t have a heart to match. And while I think that outward beauty is still something we should still aspire to, like taking care of ourselves and our hygiene and to make ourselves presentable to the world… ultimately, I think the truest beauty should rest in our hearts and in our faith,” Cole said.

To combat this issue of vanity in our culture, Cole said she believes the answer is focusing on spiritual life.

“We’re becoming more quickly shifting into such an image-focused culture, I feel like, at every level. It's disrupting so much of our media, even down to children’s media, and pretty much our entire music industry has become so oversexualized. It’s just a constant competition of who’s the hottest, but that’s not how it should be. This is again why we need to become more focused on faith, on true character in our culture, above aesthetics and above vanity.”