“I go to L.A. and people tell me, ‘I love the way you dress, but I could never do that because everyone will think I’m gay.’ American guys worry too much about what others think. Fashion is fun, and you should be able to play with your look” — Milan Vukmirovic in GQ

Vukmirovic couldn’t have been anymore honest or spot on. This issue relates to men of all races and cultures, but as a member of the Black community, the sexual stigma of dressing in and possessing a somewhat peculiar style is even more immediate.

Homosexual labels are quickly splashed out to the likes of Kanye West and Andre 3000 because their idea of fashion and dress is nested in a culture that is somewhat different from what African American/Black men are accustomed to. Rather than branding it gay, let’s just settle with “different from the norm” or “the French Perspective”.

“I don’t make men’s clothes, but I would have been really into dressing Winston Churchill. He’s really interesting, and he’s the founding member of this Sherlock Holmes fan club called the Bakers Street Regulars. But if I picked a girl…no, I’d pick him!” – Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte in NYLON

“People feel like, just because you like to dress well … that don’t mean you’re gay! I don’t know where that came from! My thing is the 1930s. You had rough guys who played football, but they were impeccably dressed. So now, if a guy wants to wash his face, they call him a metrosexual or whatever. So my thing is, cut all that out. You know? It’s clothes!” – Andre Benjamin in The New York Observer

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