GAYLETTER

It’s always an appropriate time to buy new underwear, but now you don’t have to feel guilty about the whole spending money part. In support of Visual AIDS, Yuasa has teamed up with International Playground and GAYLETTER contributing photographer Benjamin Fredrickson to create a special pride edition of their already beloved undergarment. The look is cute and simple. A white boxer short featuring a small printed image of naked boys in various compromising positions. Choose between a front or back view, a man all tied up, and one crawling towards his destiny.

“Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS is the a contemporary arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS awareness and creating dialogue around HIV issues today. Visual AIDS produces and presents visual art projects, exhibitions, public forums and publications – while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS.”

In Yuasa’s own words, their “short boxers are designed to be right for any occasion, whether you’re wearing jeans, shorts, dress pants, or nothing else at all.” Pick your preference of boy and use these boxers as the bedroom dream board you never knew you needed. If you wear it…he will come.

Proceeds from the boxers go directly to Visual AIDS. You can purchase them here. …

Skateboards, after their rise to quintessential coolness in the 70s, have continued to be a focal point for fashion throughout the years.  Since their rise into popular culture, skateboards have gone on to do something not many objects end up doing, that is, transcending beyond object and becoming a symbol. Skateboards are cool by definition and have a heavy connotation with a certain laxity — all of this while paying no mind to class boundaries. Ultimately, they are a universal message of chill. For his Spring/Summer 2017 collection, Julian Zigerli has taken skateboards and used them as a playful prop to supplement his menswear that is full of lively prints, popping colors and men and women aware of how chic they look.

Infusing loungewear with classic separates and a few really great coats, Zigerli’s SS 2017 collection seems to pay homage to the city kids who travel in packs, dress effortlessly well and always damage the pavement. Featuring clouds, some lighthearted phrases, smiley faces, sunflowers and more, the look book strikes a modern chord for a generation drenched in eclectic colors and various graphics. It’s colors and long silhouettes keep an eye interested. Knits almost touch the ground, shorts go way below the knee — it all looks very breathable (the cloud print point nods to this quality as well) while still continuing to show off the ease Zigerli’s clothing often exudes.

In the trailer for the collection, boys traipse down a Parisian street riding skateboards, having cigarettes and letting the wind hit their outfits. …

Pride month is definitely not the time to blend in with the crowd. As every other Queen in town takes a glitter bath, the objective becomes finding an outfit that stands out, but still actually looks cute. If you’re over “queer” themed shirts that feature slight innuendoes or double entendres, then boy, do we have the shirt for you! No beating around the bush with this one, only maybe beating your bush. Valentine Amartey has created five different shirts displaying tender (and not so tender) love making for you to wear.

Featured here we have “The Kiss,” which is not your grandmother’s “The Kiss,” and a shirt that’s able to capture the delicate moment where a bottom looks back in thanks to his top. Last but certainly not least, “Ying Yang” is Armatey’s answer to Chinese philosophy. I suppose you can pick out which one to wear depending on your mood, but be warned that once you put these shirts on, you might forget whatever plans you had and just stand in front of the mirror…

Amartey is a Brooklyn based designer who has previously dressed Shakira and Lady Gaga. You can’t get much gayer than that. He has a background in costumes, and in addition to designing, also teaches part-time at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. We chatted briefly with Valentine and he explained how he sees the two sides of his business; “The T-shirts embody my masculine side and the costume side is all about celebrating the female spirit. …

I think about fashion a lot. Sometimes I’m walking down the street and I see someone throwing it, feeling themselves in their labels, and I’m like yaaassss, wow, *grunts*, ok then. But don’t get it twisted — just like size isn’t everything, neither are labels. The best kind of fashion comes from within and that’s why when I see a mom with her wild-ass children, in yoga pants and Versace sunglasses, I nearly fall over. Not only is she enduring motherhood (which is cunt) but she’s still expressing herself. Converse are unique in the way that they transcend that kind of class barrier. Converse are the original progressives in the way in which they don’t care if you’re black, latino, gay, trans, queer, mom, dad, step-sis, or half-brother. Whatever you define your style as, and however you choose to identify,  a pair of Converse can turn your look out!

If you are like me, then your first memorable pair of Converse were black, and purchased during middle school where you wore them into the ground and wrote cultish phrases on them during Italian class. I’ve since owned several other pairs of Chuck Taylor’s that, in their own way, serve as symbols of who I always felt I was and who I wanted to be. My icons, and the cool kids I looked up to in media, always wore Chuck’s. In 2016, you’ll still look effortlessly cool in a pair. They are timeless! Following their decades old mentality, and “encouraging the creative community to be their most authentic selves, Converse proudly unveils the 2016 Converse Pride Collection — three colorful new Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers designed to be worn at pride parades, concerts, jubilations and beyond. …

Artist and GAYLETTER Issue 2 contributor artist Richard Haines has created the perfect shirt for Pride season. In case you’ve never heard of him — Haines began his career as a menswear designer for classic American brands like Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis. We have been following his blog long before everyone knew about him in 2008 (What I Saw Today), and he has since collaborated with everyone from the New York Times to Prada.

The Richard Haines Limited Edition Today’s Mood: #Lovewins was designed last year, Haines has only a few limited edition #LoveWins shirts left for sale. The shirt is “printed on 100% cotton power washed T.” — trust us, it’s cute. It’s a very tasteful way to do Pride. Let’s be honest the famous Pride colors are a bit…over exposed, but hey, it’s history and we gotta wave that flag whenever we can. Each shirt is delivered with a numbered card and is hand stamped. Pictured is James, doesn’t he look lovely in that shirt?

Purchase your shirt just in time for Pride, right here.

  …

Let’s keep it real, things are in a sorry state. We live in a masc-centric culture that tells us to beef up and act butch, to believe that flabby stomachs and floppy wrists are not okay, to reject who we are. It’s a box that we don’t want to be stuffed into, so it was refreshing to see the Jack’d app put their own spin on the ‘No Fats, No Fems’ tank tops doing the rounds in Hell’s Kitchen… The result? ‘No Bullies, No Bigots’. Here’s what Director of Marketing, Kevin Letrourneau, had to say about it:

“Gay men are three times as likely to have an eating disorder, twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and suffer a suicide rate double those of other men. Words matter. They have consequences. That is why we were disheartened to see Marek + Richard perpetuate the toxic put-down, ‘No Fats, No Fems,’ in their new line of apparel. 

As the youngest, and most diverse community of gay men around the world, we see it as our responsibility to create a safe space to connect, and empower our generation to stamp out exclusionary phrases from our vocabulary once and for all. 

We appreciate the conversation this has sparked, but retroactive satire is not enough. All proceeds from our new #NoBulliesNoBigots apparel will go to support The Trevor Project, an organization focused on suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth. For every purchase, Jack’d will commit a dollar-for-dollar.

Please show your support, and challenge all of us, both on Jack’d and throughout the gay community at-large, to respect our differences and embrace our uniqueness as individuals.  …

Season 8 of RuPaul’s Drag Race created a few new legends for us to sop up and argue over. Kim Chi, Naomi, ChiChi (hey girl!) and Bob make up my personal set. However, a 13th queen snuck in who is on everyone’s lips and won the coveted catch phrase crown. We snagged the one and only interview with Bob the Drag Queen’s #pursefirst purse. She has a lot to say for a bag. A big thank you goes out to Bob the Drag Queen for translating.

Purse, do you have a name? My name is Purse Purse Imfurst. I’m named after Mimi Imfurst.

How old are you exactly? I was born on the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8 on the very first episode. That was somewhere around the 4th of July. Technically I’m a child star.

A child star, that says a lot about you. Do you consider yourself a millennial as well? I don’t think I am. As you can see, my style is very old lady. My aesthetic is very vintage. Young kids these days love walking in Purse First and acting older than they actually are.

So you think you’re above it? I’m above it.

Did you see Anna Kendrick doing Purse First at the Met Gala? How did you feel about that? Yeah, I mean, Purse First has taken on a life of its own. Bob started doing it as a bit of a joke and the girls thought it was funny and then everyone else started saying it. …

Remember those photos of pre-Titanic Leonardo Dicaprio when he was a full-on twink? You know the one of him snuggling a ‘kiss me’ inflatable whilst teasing us with his perfectly shaped eyebrows? Well, we have Bruce Weber to thank for those gems. And there are so many more reasons to love the American photographer. He refuses to shoot real fur, dismissed Cindy Crawford for being a bitch on set and gave us the only good thing to ever come from Abercrombie & Fitch — their homoerotic advertising campaigns and catalogs, duh! Weber is well known for his appreciation of the male form, but also for his impact on fashion photography. His work is simple, almost exclusively black and white photography and exudes a distinct wholesomeness to it regardless of whether he is shooting supermodels or super cute dogs (or shirtless men).

Bruce Weber photography at Agnes B. opening on February 16, 6:00-8:00PM will feature seventy of Weber’s photographs from an early collaboration with the French designer, celebrating the fashion brand’s fortieth anniversary. The exhibition launches tonight at Howard Street, New York’s original Agnes B. store. If you do decide to go, make sure you coordinate with the photography — black and white only — because everybody knows themes are important, and that monochrome is fly as fuck, okkkk?

FREE, 6:00-8:00PM, agnès b. 50 Howard St. NY, NY. …