This week, the Museum at FIT opens a new exhibition, A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk, about the relationship of the LGBTQ community and fashion. By looking at high fashion as a source of gay culture, the exhibit also explores the ways in which gays and lesbians have used fashion and creativity as a tool to combat oppression. With more than 100 ensembles on display, the exhibition explores everything from dandyism to drag. The exhibition runs in New York City from September 13 through January 4, 2014.
Fashion Group Foundation
In the eighteenth century, gay men were seemingly shunned by society, being referred to as "cross-dressing 'mollies,' foppish 'macaronis,' and 'men miliners.'" Attempting to maintain acceptance, homosexuals worked to bring elegance to menswear, by sporting tighter, cropped pants and blazers with coat-tails.
The Museum at FIT
The 1920s and 1930s brought major awareness to the lesbian side of the gay movement. Womenswear became much more male-influenced, with pieces like Yves Saint Laurent's iconic Le Smoking jacket and more full-suits for women. Pierre Balmain was one of the leaders for structure in women's fashion, introducing designs like this skirt and cropped blazer from 1947.
John Bigelow Taylor, courtesy Beverly Birks
Amongst the several successful male designers for women was Christian Dior. Dior, who although not openly gay, was mone of the most influential homosexual designers of the twentieth century. His cocktail dresses and haute couture gowns -- like this one aubergine silk faille dress from 1953-1954 --understood what aesthetic made women feel beautiful and powerful. During the main span of his career, many other gay fashion designers, including himself, "faced discrimination and even arrest" should their sexuality become public. Regardless of their secrets, many believed that the women's ready-to-wear and haute couture realms were a designers's way of "living out their fantasies."
The Museum at FIT
In the 1980s, Jean Paul Gaultier emerged as a prominent gay designer, continuously blurring the lines between menswear and womenswear, and often creating skirts for men. His cone-bra velvet orange mini-dress from 1984 became one of his most iconic pieces. Gaultier is now recognized for his wild bustiers and dominatrix-inspired pieces.
The Museum at FIT
Gianni Versace became a prominent fashion designer during the 1980s, and was known for utilizing "queer subcultureal styles, like leather and uniforms." Versace himself was openly gay, and maintained his long-term relationship with partner Antonio D'Amico until his murder in 1997. One of Versace's most recognizable looks were his leather, cut-out evening gowns -- as well as the safety-pin dress worn by Elizabeth Hurley -- which Naomi Campbell modeled on the designer's Fall/Winter 1992 runway.
Fashion Group Foundation
John Bartlett, menswear designer and gay rights activist, created an ensemble for his Fall/Winter 2000-2001 collection that consisted of a variety of fabrics associated with queer style: leather, metal, and beading. Bartlett has translated the aesthetic of queer style in the 1980s into his menswear designs, drawing off of the similar foundations of leather and uniforms. The designer has also been a longtime activist for the gay community, having created special-edition t-shirts for the annual gay pride parade and openly writing about his sexuality.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY
Nineties supermodel Jenny Shimizu was famous for her androgyny. As the face of Calvin Klein One in 1995 -- whose tagline was "a fragrance for a man or a woman -- Shimizu's male-inspired look and openness about her lesbian sexuality (and romances with starlets like Angelina Jolie), she became a revolutionary pioneer for gay women. In 2012, Shimizu collaborated with online boutique House of Exposure to create a limited-edition lipstick named Helmut Red, inspired by Helmut Newton. Starring in the campaign for the beauty product, Shimizu stands fully-naked, holding an over-sized lipstick, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase "lipstick lesbian."
Mark Seliger
