BA2 CLASS READING - FASHION IN SOCIETY -HOMOSEXUAL FASHION GROUP SEMINAR PRESENTATION - this reading is extracts (...) from the set text.

INVISIBLE MEN? SHAUN COLE. 2000.

From the turn of the century right up until the 1960s, when changes in attitudes towards sexuality and men's fashions began to alter perceptions of homosexuality, the effeminate queen was was the dominate public image of male homosexuals. This could mean two things. On the one hand the flamboyant stereotype diverted attention from other more guarded men and made it relatively easy to 'pass' as straight. On the other it threatened to overwhelm any other images people had of anyone they discovered to be homosexual (Steward 1982; Chauncey 1994: 103). Just as there were men who expressed their homosexuality through the adoption of an effeminate appearance in both the gay and the straight worlds, so there were men who would not or could not express their sexuality in this way. They did not identify with the feminine, and regarded themselves as homosexuals but not 'fairies'. ...

For most homosexuals the 1930s through to the 1950s were characterized by the very real fear of exposure, blackmail and imprisonment. In both Britain and America the police were conducting a virtual witch-hunt of homosexuals (Weeks 1990; Marcus 1992; Loghery 1998; Berube 1990). In Britain this led to events like the Montague trials [Lord Montague and others were accused of indecent assault in 1953]. Gay men also had to contend with the threat of vigilante anti-gay violence and strove to remain invisible in public (Brighton Ourstory Project 1992: 37). ...

Dress for these gay men broadly followed conventions of fashion: they word 'dark suits, three pieces, very quiet shirts' that would not elicit comment or notice from outsiders (Porter and Weeks 1992 [1991]: 62). Dudley Cave, for example, tended to wear 'grey flannels, a sports coat and an extremely butch belt, an ex-army belt, a tie'. He 'wouldn't have dreamt of going into town in those days without wearing a tie and usually a sports jacket. Generally speaking we kept our heads down and tried to avoid being seen as what we were' (Author interview with Dudley Cave 1997). ...

In the light of society's and the law's attitudes toward gay men, they devised a variety of tactics that allowed them to move about more freely, to appropriate for themselves spaces that were not marked as gay, and to construct gay space in the midst of, yet invisible to, the dominant culture. They were aided in this effort, as always, by the disinclination of most people to believe that any 'normal'-looking man could be anything other than 'normal'. ...

Involvement in the gay world familiarised men with the styles of clothing and grooming, mannerisms, and conventions of speech that had become fashionable in that world, but were not stereotypically associated with effeminate homosexuals. ...

Accessories, such as red ties or suede shoes, were used to allow these gay men to recognise one another without drawing the attention of the uninitiated. ...

Suede shoes are perhaps one of the better-known historical signifiers of homosexuality, especially in Britain. Observers in America in the late nineteenth century noted that 'fairies' were wearing suede shoes in New York, and Thomas Painter observed that dark brown and grey suede shoes were 'practically a homosexual monopoly' (Painter 1941: 168-69, quoted in Chauncey 1994: 52). In Britain in the 1930s suede shoes were a sure sign of deviancy. ...



The colour of a man's clothing was also often an indicator that he might be homosexual. At a time when men's soothing was on the whole somber, certain colours were 'suspect'. In 1949 Mass Observation conducted a survey on sexual attitudes, and found that amongst its study group 'pale blue was a queer's "trade colour" ' - The group studies favoured pale blue for short socks, ties and pullovers (Mass Observation Survey). ...


In addressing what I have termed the invisible gay man I have concentrated on a number of signifiers and aspects of behaviour that gave an indication of homosexuality. There were always and still are many men who regard themselves as homosexual but have no desire to announce this either to other gay men or to straight society through their dress, and continue for all intents and purposes to maintain an invisible appearance. (Cole in Welters and Lillethun, 2011. pp.216-221).

REFERENCE

Cole, S. in Welters, L. and Lillethun, A. (eds.) (2011) The fashion reader. 2nd end. Oxford: Berg.