“We are entering a new and joyful era of lesbian fashion” : This is the title of an article by New York Times which deciphered, in June, the rise of a feminine wardrobe that borrows masculine codes, claiming an attitude butch (abbreviation for butcher“butcher” in French), free of coquetry and without putting the seduction of men at the centre of the theme. While fashion tends to exaggerate eroticism between men or deliberately flirt with a gay cultural corpus, London Fashion Week, from 12 to 17 September, highlighted two figures of British lesbian culture.
At SS Daley, whose front-row pop star Harry Styles became one of the investors this year, it was the painter Gluck (1895-1978) who inspired Steven Stokey-Daley to create his first women’s collection. “Hannah Gluckstein came from a great family of restaurateurs.the designer recalls. But at the age of 20, he decided to abandon his name, move from London to Cornwall, dress in flapper style and paint many very feminine lovers. : suits, short slicked-back hair and a pipe. His elegance, classic shapes and rebellious attitude inspired the 27-year-old designer to create noble short embroidered suits with a high collar or a wide-leg corduroy suit.
A black feather tie winks at Requiem (1964), a painting by the artist depicting a dead bird. As for the flowers painted by Gluck, who in the 1930s had a passion for Constance Spry, a florist to high society and royalty, they become bright prints on pleated dresses or are reproduced in pearls, creating pixelated skirts.
The Violet and the Monocle
Like Steven Stokey-Daley, Erdem Moralioglu stressed his mood board The androgynous silhouette of the American painter Romaine Brooks (1874-1970), another reference of lesbian culture, is her inspiration. But it is the English author Radclyffe Hall (1880-1943) who is at the centre of her collection. “His book, The well of lonelinessPublished in the UK in 1928, in which the heroine calls herself John and falls in love with a woman, it was banned on release before becoming a lesbian bible set under the cover of the film. »Erdem Moralioglu recalls.
Under the colonnades of the British Museum, it offers navy or grey wool suits cut according to Savile Row rules, striped double-breasted coats, pastel-coloured suits and white poplin shirts. Sophisticated evening dresses alternate, enhanced with trimmings: organza veils, lace, beaded embroidery, hand-made fringes. To prolong the clandestine aura of the banned novel, the designer had the original cover sewn into the sleeves, slipped the exergue into the lining of the jackets and sprinkled lesbian symbols of that time, such as the violet (embroidered) or the monocle (on a brooch).
The ensemble is a very varied but always elegant wardrobe, at a time when the first research work on the evolution of lesbian clothing is being carried out (Inappropriate. A history of lesbian fashionHurst Publishers, untranslated), signed by fashion historian Eleanor Medhurst, has just been published in the United Kingdom.
