GAYLETTER

Fantasy is defined as “the activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.” For many people, to fantasize is to escape, but for Alejandro Gómez Palomo , fantasy is reality. He lives the sort of life you only dare dream about, and yet toying with the idea of universal success crosses everyone’s mind. There are only a handful of people who are ever lucky enough to experience the quixotic circumstances of industry fame, and then to handle it with the particular degrees of care (as Palomo does) requires an entirely different skill set.

On a late November morning, Palomo took time away from what he described as a “chill day” at his atelier in Posadas to Skype with me. We chatted about Palomo Spain’s newest campaign, what his future holds, and the ideas surrounding this first spring/summer collection: “Boy Walks In An Exotic Forest.” Shot by Kito Muñoz, the campaign took a sexually explicit route with boys on all fours, and the shorts unapologetically short. Muñoz told me: “The inspiration for this campaign comes from my passion for vintage homoerotic imagery; the sensuality and poses of these beautiful boys. They’re innocent, but conscious of their bodies and sexuality.”

Palomo Spain, in just one year’s time, has gone from a Madrid secret to an Instagram favorite. His clothing has since been featured in various world-wide magazines (including the latest issue of GAYLETTER) and this coming February, Palomo will take his label’s imaginative and vibrant style to the CFDA’s New York Fashion Week. …

I was thinking to myself the other day “what’s that queen up to?” The queen I’m referring to is Richard Haines, the artist whose show I want to tell you about… I know Richard has been busy, at least according to his social media, he just can’t stop traveling and attending events. I am sure Richard would appreciate that I have been following his “journey,” ha!

This Thursday Richard’s second solo exhibition ‘Larger Than Life’ opens at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in NYC. This is the first time that Richard is showning his paintings, in the past his focus was more on his drawings, and what a lot of people know him for, his fashion illustrations. “For this exhibition Haines finds inspiration in his Bushwick neighborhood’s drag performers, street style and high fashion runways.”

It sounds like the opening will be a fun event… “The second gallery will be an intimate salon of Richard’s small drawings including drag and street style. The smaller works will continue to show Richard’s artistic and conceptual evolution in a more familiar landscape. The exhibition as a whole celebrates and challenges gender, sexuality, beauty, decadence and raunch.” We are so excited for Richard, can’t wait to see the new work in person. Yas queen!

Below is a preview of the show Larger Than Life:

FREE, Opening reception — 6:00PM-8:00PM, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, 508 – 526 West 26 St. #9C, NY, NY. …

As a queer person, I know two things to be true: We can never have enough shit with rainbows on them and we can never stop supporting the members of our community in need. Tim-Scapes has created a new design to benefit the victims of the Orlando massacre. It features a rainbow and Tim-Scapes’s signature duct tape lettering. The design can be purchased as a print, t-shirt or tank top, with 100% of the proceeds going to Equality Florida’s Pulse Victims’ Fund.

Tim-Scapes is known as the “little shop with the big gay heart” based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It’s run by Tim Convery, an ex-New York executive who moved to P-town back in 2010 and rediscovered his creativity with Tim-Scapes. As explained on his website, “Convery’s designs celebrate vintage travel posters utilizing his unique duct tape typeface and creating bold logos of over 50 American destinations. Each design is a colorful, geometric icon highlighting a famous landmark or drawing attention to a social cause.”

The Orlando logo was originally created only to show solidarity on social media. But, due to the reaction of his customers, Tim began selling shirts featuring the logo for charity. “I was really surprised about the design’s popularity and immediately went into production,” said Convery. “This whole project became a crystallization of what I want Tim-Scapes to be about – helping people through the power of design.”

While the exclusive Orlando design is available only through Labor Day, many of Tim’s logos are available as standalone prints, mugs and even trivets. …

We had a super busy Summer so far and we are very grateful for that. For those of you who were paying attention, we launched Issue 4 of our magazine with two separate covers, one by photographer Kostis Fokas and one by Gerardo Vizmanos. Our latest endeavour is a collaboration with Print All Over Me.

The official announcement should come soon, but you’re reading our newsletter so you get to find out first. “The collection is made up of utilitarian classics – T-shirts, baseball hats and tote bags – with full bleed prints of Issue 4’s striking covers…Their respective images depict a landscape of multiracial behinds and a portrait of a man making contact with his own reflection.”

More about Issue 4, which is almost sold out. It features work by photographer, Alvin Baltrop, Campbell Addy, Hal Fischer (author of Gay Semiotics), the comedian Josh Thomas, Rumi Mussabi (a founding member of The Cockettes), a look at the Tom of Finland house in Los Angeles, an amazing feature on Edmund White photographed by Slava Mogutin amongst other things.

The collection is available for purchase here. …

Society has debated for decades whether or not men follow their cocks over their hearts. The fashion brand Cockheart is here to tell us that the two are more intertwined than one might think. They combine two of the body’s most influential organs in a simple, playful cartoon and then proceed to put the image on every piece of clothing imaginable. Shown here are their pink and grey t-shirts.

Cockheart was founded in 2014 in the heart of the East London queer scene by East London queers. The logo was designed by Bence Baranyai who wanted to create “an iconic symbol, and a brand, that encompassed a union of traditionally masculine and feminine traits in one image.” Cockheart is not just for cisgendered males but for anyone looking to subvert what the image of a penis can mean. “Whatever your interpretation of the symbol, we want our clothes to inspire you, we want you to look- and feel- good wearing them, and we want you to have fun. We seek to challenge heteronormative values and rituals by creating a icon-based identity queer people can congregate around.”

Cockheart is wholeheartedly dedicated to the future of the queer community, and last year came out with a special shirt for World Aids Day. All proceeds from the shirt go to The Terrence Higgins Trust, a British organization that fights for the destigmatization of those living with HIV/AIDS and works to promote sexual health and safety within the UK. …