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Don We Now Our Gay Apparel: Gay Men's Dress in the Twentieth Century
"Gay style actually sets trends. It's what straight people take fashion from."--Tony Woodcock
From the New Edwardians and muscle boys to Radical Drag and Genderfuck, gay men's dress has had a profound impact on fashion. However, it is easy to forget that, with few exceptions, gay men earlier in the century took great pains to conceal their sexual identity. Men such as Quentin Crisp, while highly influential, were far from the norm. Most gay men resorted to a number of subtle dress codes to identify themselves to other gay men -- from Oscar Wilde's famous green carnation, which was still being worn in the 1930s, through to suede shoes.
Beginning with a look at the subcultural world of gay men in the early part of this century -- particularly in New York and London -- this fascinating book analyzes the trends in dress adopted by gay men as well as the challenge gay style has made to mainstream men's fashion. The importance of dress choice to the formation of sexual identity is highlighted, as is gay influence on punk and the fashion industry as a whole. The rise of new dress choices in the wake of gay liberation is analyzed with particular emphasis on the masculinization of gay dress. The importance of the body to gay culture is addressed, from the physique magazines of the 1950s, through to tattooing and body piercing, and their origins in the S&M scene.
Anyone interested in gay culture or the history of dress will find this book to be essential reading.
From the New Edwardians and muscle boys to Radical Drag and Genderfuck, gay men's dress has had a profound impact on fashion. However, it is easy to forget that, with few exceptions, gay men earlier in the century took great pains to conceal their sexual identity. Men such as Quentin Crisp, while highly influential, were far from the norm. Most gay men resorted to a number of subtle dress codes to identify themselves to other gay men -- from Oscar Wilde's famous green carnation, which was still being worn in the 1930s, through to suede shoes.
Beginning with a look at the subcultural world of gay men in the early part of this century -- particularly in New York and London -- this fascinating book analyzes the trends in dress adopted by gay men as well as the challenge gay style has made to mainstream men's fashion. The importance of dress choice to the formation of sexual identity is highlighted, as is gay influence on punk and the fashion industry as a whole. The rise of new dress choices in the wake of gay liberation is analyzed with particular emphasis on the masculinization of gay dress. The importance of the body to gay culture is addressed, from the physique magazines of the 1950s, through to tattooing and body piercing, and their origins in the S&M scene.
Anyone interested in gay culture or the history of dress will find this book to be essential reading.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 26, 2023
Wanted a book detailing gay men’s fashion from a sociological perspective. This book nails it.
February 18, 2020
This book is a treasure! It follows the history of gay men's dress from the days of Oscar Wilde to the 90s, and by necessity along the way explains the cultural changes in and around gay groups.
It explains hidden and implicit cultural meanings, is sourced from interviews, magazines, and lots and lots of other books and articles. I can't overstate how in-depth and conscientously the information is presented.
While being very descriptive, it's also to the point, and comes with a huge bibliography and lots of footnotes. I'll follow up a couple of those, and I like I have a much better understanding of the evolution and context of a lot of gay … traditions, I guess?
My only niggle: I had the impression that the issue of race could've been tackled more: It's a part of the book, and occasionally mentioned in terms of how black gay men's dress was different from others, but not very much/often. I can't judge how much of this is just a scoping or sourcing issue, and I appreciated that it was mentioned repeatedly.
Since this book focuses on dress, it skirts the issue of differentiating between gay men and trans women – I completely understand and support this choice, but you should be aware that naturally a lot of the descriptions of late 19th/early 20th century dress sounds like a fair share of the gay men back then may have prefered to be trans women today, and if you don't want to engage in that topic, you may want to skip the book or the earlier chapters.
It explains hidden and implicit cultural meanings, is sourced from interviews, magazines, and lots and lots of other books and articles. I can't overstate how in-depth and conscientously the information is presented.
While being very descriptive, it's also to the point, and comes with a huge bibliography and lots of footnotes. I'll follow up a couple of those, and I like I have a much better understanding of the evolution and context of a lot of gay … traditions, I guess?
My only niggle: I had the impression that the issue of race could've been tackled more: It's a part of the book, and occasionally mentioned in terms of how black gay men's dress was different from others, but not very much/often. I can't judge how much of this is just a scoping or sourcing issue, and I appreciated that it was mentioned repeatedly.
Since this book focuses on dress, it skirts the issue of differentiating between gay men and trans women – I completely understand and support this choice, but you should be aware that naturally a lot of the descriptions of late 19th/early 20th century dress sounds like a fair share of the gay men back then may have prefered to be trans women today, and if you don't want to engage in that topic, you may want to skip the book or the earlier chapters.
May 12, 2023
Fashion history of gay men in the UK and the US for the last 100 years. The author interviewed gay men from both the UK and the US on what they wore, and why they wore it. In addition to quoting these interviews the author uses an extensive set of published sources including books and magazine articles. Limited number of illustrations, only in black and white, which don't always help to tell the more colorful story of gay men's fashion in the 20th century. With a focus on 'going out/clubbing' clothes, the author gives a bit of a skewed idea of gay men's fashion, as what is worn to a gay club is not, of course, what you wear to work on Monday morning. However, this doesn't limit the importance of this book as a good start in learning about gay men's fashion history from the last 100 years.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews