Queer History of Fashion

An unprecedented in-depth exploration of the complex interrelationship between high fashion and queer history and culture

From Christian Dior to Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, many of the greatest fashion designers of the past century have been gay.  Fashion and style have played an important role within the LGBTQ community, as well, even as early as the 18th century.  This provocative book looks at the history of fashion through a queer lens, examining high fashion as a site of gay cultural production and exploring the aesthetic sensibilities and unconventional dress of LGBTQ people, especially since the 1950s, to demonstrate the centrality of gay culture to the creation of modern fashion.  
 
Contributions by some of the world’s most acclaimed scholars of gay history and fashion – including Christopher Breward, Shaun Cole, Vicki Karaminas, Jonathan D. Katz, Peter McNeil, and Elizabeth Wilson – investigate topics such as the context in which key designers’ lives and works form part of a broader “gay” history; the “archeology” of queer attire back to the homosexual underworld of 18th-century Europe; and the influence of LGBTQ subcultural styles from the trouser suits worn by Marlene Dietrich (which inspired Yves Saint Laurent’s “Le Smoking”) to the iconography of leather. Sumptuous illustrations include both fashion photography and archival imagery.

O explorare aprofundata fara precedent a relatiei complexe dintre moda inalta si istoria si cultura queer De la Christian Dior la Yves Saint Laurent si Alexander McQueen, multi dintre cei mai mari designeri de moda din secolul trecut au fost gay. Moda si stilul au jucat un rol important si in comunitatea LGBTQ, inca din secolul al XVIII-lea. Aceasta carte provocatoare priveste istoria modei printr-o lentila ciudata, examinand moda inalta ca un site de productie culturala gay si explorand sensibilitatile estetice si imbracamintea neconventionala a persoanelor LGBTQ, mai ales din anii 1950, pentru a demonstra centralitatea culturii gay fata de crearea modei moderne. Contributii ale unora dintre cei mai apreciati carturari din istoria si moda homosexualilor din lume - inclusiv Christopher Breward, Shaun Cole, Vicki Karaminas, Jonathan D.