FASHION Magazine

Fashion and art have always had a special relationship. Like JLo and Ben Affleck, they just can’t seem to keep away from each other. Toronto-born gallerist Hannah Traore understands this more than most. While the 27-year-old opened her own gallery in New York City during the pandemic, she made headlines for her statement fashion choices. […]

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“This is an incredible achievement that fills us with joy," says the restaurant's chef.

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A plain white T-shirt isn’t usually the kind of thing that gets put on display, but this year, the basic crewneck will get a piece of the spotlight as one of the star features in a new exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Items: Is Fashion Modern? (on display until January […]

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The night the news of Leonard Cohen’s death broke, I walked the few blocks from my apartment to join a crowd of Montrealers gathered at his doorstep, a vigil for the man we were all so proud to call one of us. Candles, letters, artworks, photos and faces encircled his home, the indelible mark he […]

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Say the name “Louis Vuitton” and monogrammed totes, cross-body bags and Damier duffles spring to mind, but travel is where the house got its start. What is now an empire of luxury goods grew from a single Paris storefront, opened in 1854, from which the visionary founder, Mr. Vuitton, outfitted an exclusive class of travellers […]

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Leave it to Valerie Steele, the first person to ever tout a fashion studies PhD, to tackle an industry-related question that’s rarely been explored before: why is it exactly that modern fashion history has had so many iconic gay designers?

Steele, a bona fide fashion expert who has pioneered fashion-related academia, said she wants to celebrate gay designers in an upcoming exhibit at The Museum at FIT, where she sits as director and chief curator. Along with these designers’ deserved nod of recognition, she wants to explore the ways in which their sexuality has helped develop the industry into what it is today.

It’s true: even when compared to other creative fields, many if not most of fashion’s influential leaders are gay, including (but obviously not limited to) Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

Despite the fact that generally speaking, this density of gay designers is common knowledge, Steele points out that no one has ever really delved further into the question of why so many gay people seem to flourish in the industry.

“[…] Nobody’s ever really thought consciously to put the gayness back into fashion history and say, ‘Why are there so many gay people in fashion?’ and ‘Is there a gay aesthetic?’ and ‘What have been the influences of having so many gay people in fashion?'” Steele told Fashionologie.

It’s an interesting and potentially groundbreaking point: given fashion’s runway-to-streets trickle down effect, is it even possible that the fashion industry’s early embracing of homosexuality has helped encourage similar acceptance outside of the industry’s confines? And Steele’s question of aesthetics makes us look at some famed designs in a completely different light: for example, could a straight man have ever created Le Smoking, or was Saint Laurent able to create such a game-changing design thanks in part to his sexuality?

Though we doubt these questions could ever be answered in full, given Steele’s past thought-provoking exhibits, it will definitely be interesting and insightful to see how she navigates her way through these questions.