ry-making contract with New York’s Fusion on the social networking
site. 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.
“My very first experience with modelling was homophobic,” Tuite
recalls. “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. But this woman, who is in fact a lesbian,
backed it up and said that it was her own business strategy. 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.
“There's also a very strong veil of homophobia hidden under
‘preference’... They say they want 'machismo' as if gay men aren't
able to provide that. It's actually really reductive and
sad.”
But 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. The
first rule of homoeroticism is that it's always hotter when the
guys are straight,” argues
Tuite. “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.
John Tuite & Carlos Santolalla
“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
“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 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 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. 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. There’s a pressure for gay models to keep
their sexuality a secret, in case coming out could lose them work.
Only a few months in, and 2015 has already proved to be a
groundbreaking year in terms of casting, with models like Hari Nef,
Lineisy Montero
and Bhumika Arora
kickstarting
discussions around gender identity and diversity (Nef has
been a strong voice for trans representation
in fashion,
while Montero has been credited with bringing natural afro hair
back to the catwalks
and
Arora has made waves as one
of fashion’s only Indian models). The idea of ‘what makes a model’
is
changing, and Jarlos aren’t the only LGBTQ models to
being proud of their sexuality, no matter the potential
consequences. Last year Cara Delevingne
publicly offered
support to National Coming Out Day, repping
queer photo
project Self Evident Truths with a
statement t-shirt,
saying “Don’t be scared to be who you are.” In March, Dazed
cover girl
Natalie Westling
appeared in
V
Magazine
in a lip lock with
real-life girlfriend
Carly Moore, no explanation needed.
When the reaction of both fashion fans and the general public to
models’ statements of LGBTQ pride is overwhelmingly positive
(Jarlos’s contract has generated an outpouring of support)
there’s little reason for the industry to remain
stuck in
its homophobic ways. Jarlos are already seeing the positive effects
of their actions. “The other day, this 19-year-old kid who's still
in the closet told us that we were his first gay role models,” says
Santolalla.
“He found our Instagram by searching for
‘gay models’. That was pretty cool to hear, and it proves how
important visibility is to bringing positive change.” Does the
couple’s
contract signify a tide change in the industry?
“Hopefully,” says
Santolalla, but “the idea that gay men
aren't strong and powerful has to change in society's mind
first.”
4/16/2015
