This is who I design for and who I’d be’.įantasy plays a role in Charles’ design ethos, but there’s once again a hint of wanting freedom. She’s expressive, elegant and surrounds herself with beautiful things. When we asked the graduate his thoughts on this, he said: ‘I’d want her to be fearless, strong, and take command of a room, without asking for it. What Charles says here, seems to suggest that gay designers are creating clothes for their female alter-ego. Men often have an inexpressible urge of style that could never be communicated on their own. When GSN spoke to Charles Lu, a recent womenswear design graduate from London’s prestigious Istituto Marangoni, he said: ‘There’s an escape in dressing for women that could never compare to men. So what do they enjoy about creating women’s clothing? There are a number of younger gay designers emerging who may not relate to the struggles that the older designers would. Of course, fashion is now global and the the world is a much more liberal place. When dressing people he wants them to be themselves, non-conformist and comfortable with who they are.īoth comments could easily be linked with the gay community, where after decades of hiding and being ashamed we can accept our sexuality and live how we choose to. It would appear that Jacobs feels the same as Galliano. Of dressing women, he says: ‘I’d like to believe that the women who wear my clothes are not dressing for other people, that they’re wearing what they like and what suits them.
He introduced the company’s pret-a-porter line in 1997, so had complete control of the direction of the label and what woman he would market it towards. His dress sense was outside of the norm, raised eyebrows and often broke the rules. This is a theme that still runs through the veins of the gay men ruling fashion.īefore his career disappeared into the abyss – after some choice words in a Parisian bar – John Galliano held, perhaps, fashion’s most coveted role at the helm of Christian Dior.Įccentric, arrogant and open about his sexuality, Galliano was the poster boy for the stereotypical ‘over the top’ fashion gay. She wanted to liberate women from the control of men, the restrictions of corsetry and social oppression. It’s strange that the designer would see women as a doll an object easily to manipulate and control.Ĭhanel was the opposite. When asked why he enjoys dressing the fairer sex he said: ‘The woman is the most perfect doll that I have dressed with delight and admiration.’ Karl Lagerfeld – who has worked at Chanel since the 80s – never met the house’s founder, yet still manages to create clothes that are consistently in the style of Mademoiselle Chanel, albeit a modern take. If we look to Paris, the birthplace of fashion, the likes of Chanel, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton are now governed by gay men. So why do gay men make such good fashion designers? Valentino Garavani arrived on the scene in 1962 then, with the explosion of pret-a-porter (ready-to-wear) collections, fashion became mainstream.įast forward to the present day the number of gay male designers as the creative heads of global fashion super brands now out number their straight counterparts. In 1953, gay designer Yves Saint Laurent began making his mark on the fashion industry. It took gay men a while to identify with this new industry, even longer for society to accept the fact that, men too, could be creative and understand women’s clothing. Many women followed suit, such as Elsa Schiaparelli and Madeleine Vionnet, completely changing the face of fashion. In the early 20th century, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel shocked Parisian high society with her forward thinking designs and alteration of the traditional silhouette favoured by the bourgeois.
It’s true that modern fashion was, technically, started by women.