(Photographs of men in very little, but otherwise not alarming.)
For a month that has both Pride events and Fathers Day in it, two extremes of clothing for men: (2) high-macho sexy bodywear and (3) adaptations of women’s casual clothes — which will take us to (4) the gay rapper Cazwell, a study in outrageous, minimal, and sportsfan dress.
First, as lead-in, (1) a visit to the 2017 International Mr. Leather competition in Chicago on March 25th – 30th.
1. A Pakistani-American at IML. Young Muslim, teaching sociology at Long Beach City College, self-described as “very, very gay”. And pictured here in chaps — the link to what follows:
(#1)
On chaps, leather pants without a seat, see the section in my 12/24/15 posting “More harnesses”. In the next section of this posting, I’ll turn to what you might call chaplets: leather shorts without a seat.
But first some words about the enormously engaging Ali Mushtaq, from “Pakistani-American From California Blazes a Gay Leather and Fetish Trail” by Erik Piepenburg in the Style section of the 5/31/17 NYT (hat tip to Terry Bartlett):
Chicago — It was the Friday before Memorial Day and Ali Mushtaq was in his room at the Congress Plaza Hotel, dressed like a votary in the church of Tom of Finland: skin-seizing bluejeans, lace-up cuffs called gauntlets, disciplinarian jackboots and a belted leather strap that crisscrossed the defined chest of his 5-foot-6-inch frame.
As he looked in the mirror, Mr. Mushtaq, 27, who calls himself “very, very gay,” held a necklace against his dark and hairy chest. It was given to him by his mother when he was a teenager, and on it hung a tiny pendant with a word, rendered in stylized Arabic script, that Mr. Mushtaq knew would enchant some men and utterly enrage others.
The word: “Allah.”
“My presence here is an anomaly,” Mr. Mushtaq said. “My presence shows that people that look like me, that are Pakistani, that are Muslim, are here for peace. We are the sex symbol. We are the people that everybody wants to hit on.”
… Mr. Mushtaq, who competed as Mr. Long Beach Leather, was not the first Muslim contestant to compete at I.M.L., as the event is commonly known. But he was the first Pakistani-American contestant, and in the leather community his presence at I.M.L. was a big leap out of the pitch-black closet for Muslim men who are not only gay, but also into leather fetish.
… Mr. Mushtaq was born in California to Pakistani immigrant parents and came out as gay in high school in conservative Orange County at 15. But it wasn’t until he attended California State University, Fullerton, that he discovered he was “bored being gay.”
“I wanted to be more edgy, the libertine that everyone gossiped about and called a slut,” said Mr. Mushtaq, whose chatty, giggle-prone personality may seem at odds with the stereotype of an order-barking leatherman.
Today, Mr. Mushtaq sexually identifies as an impact-play and bondage switch, meaning he is comfortable assuming the dominant and submissive roles in the infliction of pain. His preferred tools are flogs and a whip he has named Wally. (“It’s the kinkiest thing I could think of.”)
… After several days of dress rehearsals, interviews and, of course, parties, Mr. Mushtaq took his place to compete with 62 other men from around the world. As it turns out, Mr. Mushtaq didn’t win or even make the first cut of 20. (The title went to Ralph Bruneau, who competed as Mr. Gay Naturists International Leather.)
But Mr. Mushtaq was far from crushed. After the competition, he went back to his hotel room, had pizza and made plans to return to his job as an adjunct professor of sociology at Long Beach College. He also wants to continue to spread the message that “visibility makes people secure.”
2, Buttboys in leather (and soft cotton/lycra). More appreciation of men’s bodies.
Mushtaq is in chaps above. Now I turn to two photos contributed by Kirk Bruce Pierce to the Stealthy Cam Men site:
(#2a)
(#2b)
Like chaps, but they’re shorts. Well, jockstraps are backless by nature, and there are also backless thongs, backless briefs, and backless singlets, as well as backless pants, and all of these things are available in leather, so why not backless leather shorts? Indeed there are — I suppose we can call them chaplets — and on the Ducati motorcycle guy in #2, they’re very fetching.
(Other senses of chaplet, from NOAD2:
1 a garland or wreath for a person’s head. 2 a string of 55 beads (one third of the rosary number) for counting prayers, or as a necklace. 3 a metal support for the core of a hollow casting mold.
Maybe we could call the garments chapslets.)
On to something similar, but softer, from the WhiteyTighties site:
(#3a)
(#3b)
The HardCore Street Gluteus Boxer Brief is made of soft cotton/lycra fabric with a backside design to perfectly cup your cheeks. This low rise boker brief trunk has a 10″ side seam along with spacious front pouch to cradle your boys in comfort as well as stretch pleather contrast trim around the legs.
There are corresponding garments (in all these categories) that are crotchless as well as backless, for an even bolder display of the masculine body.
3. Lacey sheer pastel shorts. Or: you could cover your butt and crotch this way, flaunting the feminine:
(#4)
On the Independent (UK) site yesterday, “See-Through, Pastel Shorts Are Dividing Opinion About What Is Acceptable for Men to Wear” by Kashmira Gander (hat tip to Kim Darnell):
Anyone still reeling from the thought of men wearing patterned playsuits [brand name RompHim] needs to brace themselves, because pastel-coloured, see-through lace shorts and shirts are here to shake you to your core.
The playful garments were designed by LA-based brand Hologram City for rapper Cazwell to wear in his video Loose Wrists.
Cazwell unveiled the lacey shorts and cut-sleeve shirts on his Instagram, alongside a photo of him and four men in pastel blue, lilac, yellow, pink and green shades of the outfit. The caption read “Yup. Lace WILL be in this summer.”
The reference to patterned jumpsuits takes us to another Independent article, here, with this example of a RompHim playsuit:
(#5)
4. The Cazwell connection. The instigator for the lacey sheer pastels was the white rapper Cazwell, who’s openly and outrageously gay (with macho flourishes, as in #4 and #5). On Cazwell, see my 8/20/10 posting “Exuberant morphology” and my 6/20/15 posting “Screaming for ice cream”.
From the photo album on Cazwell’s own site, three photos (it’s hard to pick just three):
(#6)
— On the loose with his big pink gun.
(#7)
— Cazwell in the eye of the Tiger.
(#8)
— And Cazwell with his Manhunt buddies.
The man is a fanatic for the Yankees and the Knicks, as well as hot guys in their underwear.
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