GAYLETTER

Just last year, Nathan Korn graduated from Central Saint Martins with degrees in fashion design and print. His first collection, “An Archer’s Body” pulls from Mark Merlis’ book An Arrows Flight. Featuring Classics inspired sportswear and Greco-Roman draping, Nathan told us in an email that he always has to design around a story. “But it’s usually one I make up myself,” he said. “After reading Merlis’ book, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I needed to make it into something visual and physical. That sense of physical beauty that runs throughout all ancient Greek and Roman life, in the mythology and the art – I’m so drawn to that.”

At this point in time, it’s safe to say that clothes with homoerotic undertones and sensuality are in fact driven by homosexual histories and references. “I’m dressing queer guys and queer people who want to be a part of the stories I tell,” Nathan said. “When I was making this collection, I was thinking a lot about the sculptors who would spend ages carving these really tender masterpieces of beautiful men, preserving beauty in stone forever.” That’s a good thing, we no longer need to hide. It means that we are at a point in fashion where designers are comfortable enough to unleash their unabashed desire for how they’d like to see (and dress) the world. Plus, the market is ever growing. Fashion need not remain stagnant.

Nathan Korn, with “An Archer’s Body” propels his medium forward into the fluid and the neo-familiar.

All clothing by Nathan Korn
Styling by Federico Cantarelli + Nathan Korn
Models Noah Turner + James Vickery