Gay men fashion modeling
As Premier Model Management founder Carole White explained in a recent Dazed interview, social media “is changing how advertising is done it’s changing how we evaluate how much a job is worth.Followers have become a currency.” The allure of personality is bigger than ever in the age of Instagram: you only need to look at someone like bleach blonde overnight superstar Lucky Blue Smith (and his 900k followers) to see how valuable a savvy social presence can be.
The same is true in fashion, but for models, work is even more closely tied to their off camera lives and personalities than acting: more and more, their social media presences – a vital negotiating factor when it comes to contracts – are expected to be constantly updated, a 24/7 curation of their personal brand. The target audience of The Expendables franchise might shift slightly if its hyper-masculine, oiled up bro team (Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Statham etc) decided to come out of the closet. “The real issue here, of course, is economics,” wrote Geoffrey Macnab for The Independent on the topic of gay Hollywood, following Jodie Foster’s coming out speech at the Golden Globes in 2013. “Gay and lesbian directors, producers, studio heads and supporting actors can be open about their sexuality as long as it doesn't get in the way of the work.” The subtext: modern cinema is built on clear cut tropes around sex and gender: if you’re an actor known for playing the romantic hero, or a bombshell actress seen as fodder for the male gaze, coming out could get in the way of that. “The guy that scouted me online immediately told me his agency wouldn't sign me because they ‘don't work with gay men’. In any other industry that would be a lawsuit.” – Gay model John Tuite
GAY MEN FASHION MODELING PROFESSIONAL
“It's a strange thing to think about, because obviously there have been plenty of same-sex model couples before us, but for social and professional reasons they couldn't necessarily advertise that.” It seems that the same arguments of fear over getting type-cast that stop actors and actresses from coming out also apply to fashion – it’s a risky career move to do anything that could make yourself more niche, and thus less likely to book jobs.
The first rule of homoeroticism is that it's always hotter when the guys are straight,” argues Tuite. It's actually really reductive and sad.”īut why the discrimination, especially considering fashion’s penchant for homoerotic imagery? “It’s more convenient to hire straight guys to sell the image, and people are into that. They say they want 'machismo' as if gay men aren't able to provide that. “There's also a very strong veil of homophobia hidden under ‘preference’. In any other industry that would be a lawsuit, but because it’s ‘fashion,’ they get to call it ‘taste’ instead of discrimination.” Sadly, this seems to be the norm – “In NYC it's pretty common practice for your agent to tell you before signing to not be 'gay' and to 'act like a man' as if being gay demeans your manhood,” Santolalla adds. But this woman, who is in fact a lesbian, backed it up and said that it was her own business strategy. “The guy that scouted me online immediately told me his agency wouldn't sign me because they ‘don't work with gay men.’ Years later, the owner of that agency scouted me at an art show and I took the opportunity to tell her that I was very offended by what her booker had told me. “My very first experience with modelling was homophobic,” Tuite recalls.
But considering fashion’s status as one of the most gay-friendly industries on the planet, why is this such a big deal? While the list of openly gay designers is seemingly endless ( Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino, to name a few) perhaps surprisingly, models are encouraged to stay well and truly in the closet. Nicknamed Jarlos by their 22,000 devoted Instagram followers, the boys announced their history-making contract with New York’s Fusion on the social networking site. This week, DKNY campaign stars John Tuite and Carlos Santolalla became the first openly gay couple to be signed to a major agency as a duo.