Do Gay Men in West Hollywood Lack Fashion Sense?
Dear Hank:
Everybody tells me that gay guys are into fashion. But honestly, when I go visit West Hollywood for my fag hag night out at the Abbey, I’m just not seeing it. Looks like it’s all about t-shirts and jeans or shorts during the daytime, and t-shirts and jeans at night, with a sweatshirt or hoodie tossed on for warmth. Is this another one of those stereotypes you keep writing about? I know fashion (used to work in the industry in New York City) and this isn’t fashion.
Gucci Girl
Dear Gucci Girl:
Fashion is a business that’s dominated by gays, much as hair styling and interior design are. To prove my point, take this test: Which of the following world-renowned fashion designers isn’t gay? Yves St. Laurent, John Galliano, Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Valentino. You’re right! None of them is straight, although it took Valentino a while to come out of his undoubtedly well-stocked closet, and Calvin did throw us for a loop with that now long-dissolved marriage with Kelly.
But while fashion is a business where gay men are, er, dominate, most of us walking down West Hollywood’s Santa Monica Boulevard past the Big Gay Starbucks wouldn’t be mistaken for runway models. It’s not that t-shirts and shorts and jeans and hoodies cannot be fashionable. I have an Italian friend who is an editor at Uomo Collezioni, one of the world’s leading men’s fashion magazines, who looks incredibly stylish in the jeans and white t-shirts he wears when Milanese weather permits. Alessandro stands out in comparison to those gay guys whose fashion insecurity makes them don the full Gooch — Gucci shirt, suit, shoes, and tie — in the belief that all it takes is the right label to look good.
So, t-shirts, shorts, hoodies, and jeans can be fashionable. Fashion, or style, really is more a matter of the choices we make when buying even simple clothing items and then how we put them together. For example, most fashionistas would agree that minimalism is an essential element of today’s style. I’m not speaking of the impulse to remove one’s shirt as soon as the weather hits 65 degrees, a common sight in West Hollywood’s Boystown. I’m talking about not buying clothes with objects and elements one will never need or use.
One of the worst examples of such clothes is baggy cargo shorts, still worn by some WeHo gay men, but long gone in New York City, where the gays many years ago embraced a sleeker design with two front pockets rather than four. However, there is some progress here. I am happy to say that in the past couple of years I have seen more gay guys in West Hollywood switch to short shorts, which allow them to show off those muscled thighs and the tattoos that sometimes adorn them. On the other hand, Esquire style director Jonathan Evans recently gave a worrisome welcome to the return of cargo shorts, albeit a caution that we need to look carefully for the right label.
I also cringe when I see jeans stitched on the outside with all sorts of strange patterns. And those horizontal-striped shorts that guys too often wear with patterned shirts — as eye-catching as a flashing neon sign, but not at all sexy. Then there are those design- and slogan-infested t-shirts, which turn a clean and sleek garment gaudy. There are shirts with epaulets, useful only if you’re attending a military academy.
I have seen some positive evolution in style in this town that some of us know as Gayberry (an allusion to “Mayberry” for those of you too young to know Sheriff Taylor and Barney Fife). I have a strong passion for those ripped jeans (and the guys who wear them) however, I can’t bring myself to paying double the price of a pair of jeans just because the manufacturer has ripped them before he shipped them.
A former New Yorker myself, I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut when commenting on the relative lack of style among gay men in West Hollywood (and Fort Lauderdale, and San Diego, and Chicago. And now I will shut up.) I know I’m going to be castigated as an arrogant New Yorker who can’t see what is a SoCal trend. But I also know that the “trends” that I see here existed in New York City some 10 years ago and now are long gone there.
So I quietly shop for pocketless t-shirts without slogans and dig deep in the piles for simple pairs of Levi’s jeans, waiting for the day when all those t-shirts with slogans and cargo shorts and flashy jeans are completely worn out. Maybe then WeHo’s gay guys will come to believe that simple is sexy.
Gaily yours,
Hank
Questions you can’t bring yourself to ask your gay friends and neighbors? Or maybe you’re just queer and befuddled. Send them to Hank@AskAGay.net. (Warning: The answers will be factually correct, but might not be politically correct)
