A multidisciplinary artist exploring black and gay identities, 27-year-old LaQuann Dawson often takes self-portraits at her home and studio in Brooklyn in women’s lingerie. But he found that the jumpsuit and crotch didn’t fit properly.
“Either it will be very small or I will find something that looks good from the back,” Dawson said.
To solve this problem, he will either wear his underwear again or buy a larger size shirt. Then one day, while scrolling through Instagram, he came across a company called Leak NYC, a menswear brand that makes sexy bodysuits out of fishnet and other see-through materials, with ample space in front. It is a revelation.
“The leak is like a gift from heaven,” says Dawson. “They’re really thinking of a more masculine body that complements the femininity.”
Men’s underwear is emerging among a segment of self-owned male consumers who are looking for sexier bras that are more gender-appropriate than a pair of panties.
Many of the products are from emerging brands with names like Menagerié, Candyman Fashion and Ciciful, often marketed with positive body and sex messages. “Your gender expression is all that matters,” reads on the website of Wicked Mmm, a Montreal lingerie brand.
A detail from Leak NYC’s stunning bodysuit, worn by artist LaQuann Dawson at his home in Brooklyn. (Justin J Wee / The New York Times)
Mainstream brands are also getting in on the action.
Cosabella, an Italian lingerie brand founded by a couple in 1983, started selling men’s lace briefs, ultra-thin panties and colorful G-strings on its website in November. last. That’s half the world’s population in terms of market size alone, said Guido Campello, 41, co-CEO of the company.
Savage x Fenty, the lingerie brand started by Rihanna, releasing its first menswear collection in 2020. “The entire product sold out in 12 hours,” said Christiane Pendarvis, the brand’s sales director. “We were blown away.” This year, a special collection with a cherry red belt and mesh crop top was launched for Valentine’s Day.
Many customers, Pendarvis adds, are not girlfriends, partners or spouses, but male shoppers themselves. “It’s about self-expression,” she said. “Want to wear some pine lace lingerie? Go right ahead. ”
And Fleur du Mal, a luxury lingerie line with stores in New York and Los Angeles, recently introduced the Fleur Pour Homme collection, which includes shorts made from sheer lace. According to Jennifer Zuccarini, the brand’s founder, the shorts sold out in two days and there were more than 500 people on the waiting list.
Underwear sales surged during the pandemic, and many underwear manufacturers see an untapped market for men watching another apparel trend: the rise of expansive clothing. sex.
“Men’s underwear is a small part of a larger movement,” said Francesca Muston, vice president of fashion content at WGSN, a trend forecasting company. “You have a whole generation that is very accepting of inclusion and gender diversity. And for the fashion industry, for our clients at WGSN, this is a big deal. ”
“Large” is a relative term, as sexist clothing still makes up less than 1% of all clothing sold in the United States, according to the WGSN.
Artist LaQuann Dawson wears a stunning Leak NYC bodysuit at his home in Brooklyn. “They’re really thinking of a more masculine body that complements the femininity,” says Dawson. (Justin J Wee / The New York Times)
Men’s underwear is not entirely new. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and author of Fetish: Fashion, Sex & Power, has been researching men’s underwear since at least the 1920s.
She cites International Male, a catalog first published in 1974 and often referred to as Victoria’s Secret for boys, which featured page after page of male models in open bikinis. cave. Steele sees it as a sign of overtly arousing underwear in men. “It mostly comes from gay culture, but it also comes from sexual emancipation in general,” she said.
Louis Dorantes, 30, who founded Leak NYC in 2016, thinks we’re in the midst of another moment like that. “We are entering a new age where male bodies feel comfortable wearing loosely shaped, flimsy fabrics that didn’t exist when I was growing up,” Dorantes said. “It feels like a brave new world. We are really trying to explore and promote and question the binary system that has restrained us for so long. ”
Kennie Mas, a menswear and fetish clothing brand founded in 2018 in Toronto, is also part of the LGBT community. Recent items include a shiny purple topless bra and a flower panty made of stretchy polyester.
Mas, 28, said: “The more feminine the items, the more I see them selling. “Men’s underwear or whatever you want to call it is definitely trending right now.”
Some men with a more traditional aesthetic are also gradually turning to new underwear.
Steven Green, 28, a photographer and plus-size model living in Kansas City, Missouri, was hired to walk the Savage x Fenty show in 2020. “I never thought about men’s underwear. until working with them,” Green said. Previously, he only wore Calvin Klein or Polo Ralph Lauren shorts, but since then he has expanded his underwear wardrobe.
Now, for what he calls “special occasions” with his wife, he’ll opt for Savage x Fenty’s red satin shorts. “If I wanted to make it a little sexier, I would go for those, just because the material is elevated,” says Green. “For men, we now have Victoria’s Secret.”
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