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QUEER HISTORY
How gay is fashion design?
August 18, 2004
Tom Ford
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While some in the GLBT community have criticized the popular television
series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for reinforcing the stereotype that
gay men have a superior sense of style, many of the best-known fashion
designers of the past century have, in fact, been gay or bisexual.
Until recently, most gay or bisexual designers did not publicly acknowledge
their sexuality. Both Sir Norman Hartnell (born 1901), the official
dressmaker for the British royal family, and Christian Dior (born 1905) were
life-long bachelors and moved in bohemian artistic circles, but neither
explicitly revealed his sexual orientation.
Rudi Gernreich (born 1922), who became famous for creating the first women's
topless bathing suit, also never came out as gay. In 1951, Gernreich, his
lover Harry Hay, and several other gay men founded the Mattachine Society,
one of the first U.S. homophile organizations. Although Hay later received
recognition as a gay rights pioneer, he kept Gernreich's secret, and the
latter's sexual orientation did not become known until after his death in
1985.
Other designers only revealed their sexuality late in life. Yves Saint
Laurent (born 1936) came out at age 55 in an interview with Le Figaro
newspaper. Similarly, 72-year-old Italian designer Valentino Garavani and
his former lover and long-time business partner Giancarlo Giammetti revealed
they were gay in the August 2004 issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
Some queer fashion designers gained fame through their connections with
celebrities. Halston (born 1932) and Calvin Klein (born 1942) were among the
circle connected with New York City's Studio 54 disco in the late 1970s,
inhabiting gossip columns along with the likes of Andy Warhol, Liza
Minnelli, and Bianca Jagger. Halston became one of the many casualties of
AIDS in the fashion world, along with Perry Ellis and Willi Smith (one of
the best-known African-American designers). As one of the first designers to
feature buff young men in his famous underwear ads, Klein "made
homoeroticism a staple of consumer culture," asserts fashion writer Shaun
Cole.
Gianni Versace, born to a poor family in southern Italy in 1946, also
hobnobbed with the rich and famous. Open about his homosexuality, he lived
with his lover, former model Antonio D'Amico, for more than 10 years. In
1997, Versace was shot on the steps of his Miami Beach home by gay serial
killer Andrew Cunanan, ending a cross-country murder spree that claimed four
other lives.
Today, a new generation of designers can live openly – and even
flamboyantly – gay lives. Among them are Jean-Paul Gaultier, who created
Madonna's famous bullet-bra corset; lovers and business partners Domenico
Dolce and Stefano Gabbana; Texas-bred Tom Ford, who designs for the houses
of Gucci and Saint Laurent; Alexander McQueen, who in 2002 married his male
lover on a yacht off the island of Ibiza; and Brooklyn-born Isaac Mizrahi,
who creates lavish gowns for Hollywood stars and hosts a television talk
show.
While queer men continue to play a prominent role in the world of fashion
design, it has become more acceptable for heterosexual (or "metrosexual")
men to take an interest in their appearance. "Men are finally accepting the
role of sexual attraction and are more comfortable with it," Dolce said in a
2001 interview. "It isn't just a gay thing to enjoy fashion any more."
Liz Highleyman is a freelance writer and editor who has written widely on health, sexuality, and politics.
Further Reading
Cole, Shaun. 2002. "Fashion." GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture.
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/fashion.html.
Gaines, Steven. 1991. Simply Halston (Putnam).
Orth, Maureen. 1999. Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and the
Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History (Bantam Dell).
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