Gay Fashion Misfortune.....1963

The English fashion trends arrived in America....via movies such as this one......Proof that gay men do not all possess 'good taste'......by 1969, dozens of boutiques such as "The Rogue", "Merry-Go-Round", "Europa 101", where many of my friends worked, modelled and shopped for "Couture", opened around Atlanta, within the multitude of earnest attempts to bring 'Fashion' to the South........This film, is really an homage to 'gay' fashion of this period......I was then working at Saks 5th Avenue, that was having nothing to do with this, although it did sell those hideous, snaggy double-knit polyester bell bottom trousers and Nik-Nikish, skin-tight nylon shirts......I opted for cotton carny clothes in more subdued color pallets, feeling sorta conservative while watching the trending Carnaby Street Fashion Films of the period.... Well, the gay community ridiculing itself was a step up from crowded dark closets full of folks too terrified and guilt-ridden to express themselves...in public.....from fear of torture...even death.......

YET ANOTHER OBLIQUE ASSOCIATION.......SILVANA MANGANO'S JEWELLED ATTENTIVE 'BEE' BROOCH... BJORN ANDRESEN'S BORED INDIFFERENCE

 

EVERY DETAIL OF LUCHINO VISCONTI'S  "DEATH IN VENICE" IS MEANINGFUL AND SYMBOLIC