[Article to be found in the têtu· spring magazine, available at your newsstands or by subscription.] There is art and matter, sometimes animal. From Freddie Mercury’s sweaty performances to the flirtatious motorcycle outings in the film Pillion, leather has long been part of the wardrobe of queer pop culture, ideal for carrying narratives that blend fetishism and power, sexuality and freedom.
By Maurine Charrier, Laure Dasinieres and Florian Ques
Pillion or the Transmission of Leather
Celebrated by an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, Pillion, Harry Lighton’s debut feature released in theaters on March 4, follows the encounter between Colin, a naive young man, and Ray, the taciturn leader of a gay biker club. From erotic fascination to submission, there is only a small step that the latter, played by a magnetically charismatic Alexander Skarsgård in his leather jumpsuits, offers to help him cross by introducing him to the mechanisms of SM, which does not exclude tenderness.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a kitsch & leather monument
Although the cult musical from 1975 does not directly address fetishism, it is imbued with leather and biker iconography. It is Tim Curry tattooed, sometimes wearing a black sequined corset, sometimes a studded jacket. It also features Meat Loaf’s on-motorcycle appearance, who is slaughtered and cooked for dinner. Trashy and ironic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show continues to inspire drag queens and cosplay enthusiasts for looks that are as queer as they are sexy.
Freddie Mercury, sex machine
It is what one might call a transparent closet. At the end of the 1970s, Freddie Mercury exits his relationship with Mary Austin and does not yet wear his iconic moustache. But when the Queen frontman puts on his cap, his leather jacket and leather pants for the Jazz Tour in 1978, he opens a period of clothing nourished by fetish imagery distinctly gay, very Tom of Finland. I’m a sex machine, he sings in “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Only AIDS will stop Freddie.
“Relax”, Frankie goes kinky
Released in 1983, the Relax video by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is a plunge into a gay BDSM club imagined, between leather, coded looks and assumed pleasure. The lyrics are explicit and desire is shown as a spectacle, a threat, and a release. In Thatcher-era England, the video caused a scandal and was censored by the BBC, which replaced it with a much less suggestive video. It remains a memorable moment and greatly contributed to the band’s popularity.
Bound, little secrets between neighbors
Vintage thriller set against a backdrop of a sexy romance, the Wachowski sisters’ first feature film secures a place in the pantheon of lesbian cinema. In this gripping film, we follow the meeting between Violet, archetype of the butch feminine but submissive partner of a gangster, and Corky, a mechanic with short hair, tank top, tattoos and a pickup truck, freshly released from prison where she had been incarcerated for theft. Driven by palpable tension and delicately perverse, the duo intertwines and ignites in a near-claustrophobic setting. Between physical closeness and exchanges worthy of a sex line, the two become better acquainted as they develop a savage and bloody plan to steal two million dollars from the mafia.
Madonna, yes Mistress
“Do what I tell you”, Madonna commands us in her 1992 hit “Erotica.” In the clip, blindfolded, whip in hand, a black leather pencil skirt pulled up to the waist over a white shirt with a pointed collar enhanced by a black tie, she presents herself as “Mistress Dita.” “Let me do it my way”: soft and sultry, the tone invites surrender, but the words snap like a good spanking. From handcuffs to a harness to the Saint Andrew’s cross, Madam plays with all the BDSM codes to obtain our ultimate devotion. Without raising her voice, since we are already on our knees. “I won’t hurt you, just close your eyes…”
Al Pacino, serial cruiser
In Cruising—also known by its original title, Cruising—William Friedkin casts Al Pacino as a young detective tasked with infiltrating the New York gay SM scene, targeted by a serial killer. Accused even before filming of stigmatizing homosexuals, the film nonetheless saw the truth on one non-negotiable point: the place of leather in the gay community of the 1980s, from harnesses to thick jackets. The undercover cop wears one to blend in credibly.
Rob Halford, pioneer of biker metal style
In the rock world, let alone metal, openly gay singers are rare. Rob Halford, from Judas Priest, is among those who embrace it, and counts among the pioneers of the “biker metal” style, which he helped popularize as early as the mid-1970s. Today, still, at over 70, he takes the stage in a total leather and studs look to perform his famous song “Painkiller.”
American Horror Story, the sultriness of the 80s as seen by Ryan Murphy
If American Horror Story, the series created by Ryan Murphy, is racy from head to toe, we will remember season 11 which plunges us into gay New York of the 1980s, shaken by a string of disturbing disappearances set against mafia networks. Leather bars, saunas, clandestine orgies, and cruising nights in Central Park… One can almost smell the poppers emanating from the screen. Although this installment is inspired by the AIDS epidemic, the director does not forget to emphasize the sexy, vintage memory of the years of sexual freedom that preceded it.
