Buckling up risqué gay culture: Who wore the leather harness first?
Queerty rides to the origins of leather harnesses in the LGBTQ+ community and the world. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.A leather harness is a bondage-inspired garment made of leather straps and metal buckles, typically worn across the chest and sometimes the torso.Unlike crop tops or jockstraps, the harness originated with gay culture – it’s dubbed the “gay uniform,” a sultry armor of sorts for all special occasions.
It’s the animal ears to our Halloweens and the fishnet stockings to our raves. Queer culture’s infatuation with the leather harness can be attributed to one factor: it was designed to make men look hot.
The tale of the harness, like much of BDSM and queer culture, has been passed like folklore because the world once made no space for it.
The underground nature of its evolution into the zeitgeist means modern historians have had to piece together its lineage. An archivist and collections librarian at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago told INthat leather harnesses appear in their earliest bar photos, dating back to the mid-1970s, and notice increased frequency into the ’80s.Another former archivist from the Leather Archives & Museum told HypeBeastharnesses only began decorating the torsos of contestants for the annual leatherman contest Mr.
