Wh Jockstraps Htg the Runways, Fashn is Sayg Gay Loud and Clear | Vogue

Contents:

• WH JOCKSTRAPS HTG THE RUNWAYS, FASHN IS SAYG GAY LOUD AND CLEAR
• BILLY PORTER: ‘I'VE LIVED AS A BLACK GAY MAN FOR 50 YEARS AMERI. NOTHG SHOCKS ME'

WH JOCKSTRAPS HTG THE RUNWAYS, FASHN IS SAYG GAY LOUD AND CLEAR

Right before we crossed over to the new year, E Wilbek, founr of Native Son — the platform created to spire and empower Black gay and queer men — released the platform’s annual list that highlights 101 Black gay and queer men, who are igng change and creatg greatns across several dtri cludg bety and fashn. As streetwear proliferated to the mastream, also acquired nnotatns of hypermasculy, part due to s associatn wh male-domated skate culture, and the homophobia that appears hip-hop.

BILLY PORTER: ‘I'VE LIVED AS A BLACK GAY MAN FOR 50 YEARS AMERI. NOTHG SHOCKS ME'

And yet, Jam Flemons, alongsi Shayne Oliver, Pierre Davis, Stoney Michelli and Uzo Ejikeme, are proment queer Black signers shapg ntemporary streetwear, each ntug a long tradn of queer Black creativ’ five impact on the fashn first signer to lk streetwear wh the nway was Willi Smh, a Philalphia-born gay Black man, whose label Williwear generated $25 ln per year and sold off the racks at Macy’s and Bloomgdal the late 1970s to 80s. Smh studied at Parsons on scholarship before beg expelled for havg an openly gay relatnship, but still found succs the dtry by signg for retailers like Talbots, and most signifintly Digs, a sportswear pany.

Take, for example, Stuzo, a pany owned by lbian uple Stoney Michelli and Uzo Ejikeme, which is based Los Angel and posss a distct New York GenrStuzo’s T-shirts are emblazoned wh statements bold-faced type like, “yup, still gay”, “boi/girl”, "black af”, and “genr ee. No Sso’s latt llectn was spired by the Harlem renaissance, and while mostly affected by a perd touch, posssed elements that n be lled vtage of the ntemporary signers, and even Willi Smh’s fluence, rema overlooked mastream streetwear, and the discsn about sexism and homophobia that has blossomed around . But when one particular look cropped up the post-Stonewall gay scene of the 1970s, was so popular—and so distct—that the guys who sported were dismissed as “clon.