At a new Fashn Instute of Technology show, an attempt to wre gay men and lbians ‘back to history.’
Contents:
IN SEARCH OF A GAY ATHETIC
“And she answered, ‘Probably not as much as gay men.
Steele and her lleague, Fred Dennis — mak a gent se for a more balanced view of fashn history, one that, given the wily held perceptn that gay men domate fashn, has curly tend to skew heterosexual and male. Steele add, “Was how are you to gog to monstrate that there is a gay athetic?
” That was the task when they began anizg the show two years ago, wh ltle to go on but a termatn to rtore to a proper place history the untls lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people who, whout qutn, ntributed greatly to fashn. Somehow, gay men and lbians were left out of most official acunts of fashn history, Ms. ”Coverg three centuri through 100 garments, “Queer History of Fashn” intifi and chronicl the hidn--pla-sight prence of “queers” (the curators’ preferred term) — om the flamboyant 18th-century personag known as molli, to 20th-century avatars of butch lbian elegance, gay clon, drag queens and marquee signers whose open-secret sexualy was long kept ncealed.
:RABOW: GAY & BI-BOYS :TWO_MEN_HOLDG_HANDS:
In the age of gay marriage, n seem almost implsible that signers like Christian Dr, Bill Blass, Halston and untls others spent their profsnal liv the closet, or that homophobia was rampant a field where stereotyp have long held that many creative typ were gay. ’ ” at tim which their sexualy was not jt unwele but often illegal, gay men, bisexuals and lbians improvised a social theater most notably exprsed, Ms.