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Spotlight Fashion Design and Designers
 
  Fashion The association between homosexuality and Fashion is multifaceted, ranging from the role of clothes as signifiers of sexual orientation to the immense contributions gay men have made at all levels of the fashion industry.  
 
 
  Sir Hardy Amies (1909-2003) was official dress maker to the Queen of England for 48 years. He was known for his restrained, conservative, but beautifully tailored suits and dresses.  
 
 
  Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (b. 1934) is an Italian fashion designer who has made his name synonymous with sophisticated and elegant fashion, but even as he achieved spectacular success in business, he suffered the grievous loss of his partner from complications of AIDS.  
 
 
  Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972) is the best known Spanish fashion designer and is regarded as a master of twentieth-century fashion.  
 
 
  Leigh Bowery Leigh Bowery (1961-1994) was a club host, fashion designer, face about town, and artists' muse who transformed his body into a centerpiece of his performance art.  
 
 
  Ossie Clark (1942-1996) helped define the fashion mood of 1960s London.  
 
 
  Christian Dior (1905-1957) was a French designer who revitalized haute couture after World War II, creating luxurious designs characterized by a feminine classic elegance.  
 
 
  Dolce and Gabbana logo Dolce and Gabbana is an Italian luxury fashion house founded by business partners Domenico Dolce (b. 1958) and Stefano Gabbana (b. 1962). The design duo are known for their sexy, glamorous women's clothing and sharp men's tailoring, all of which embody a distinctively southern Italian feel.  
 
 
  Perry Ellis (1940-1986) was an American fashion designer who achieved spectacular success based on his clean-cut, casual, yet often whimsical designs. His career was cut short by his early death, rumored to have been the result of complications from AIDS.  
 
 
  Erté (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892-1990), one of the most innovative designers of the twentieth century, created striking Art Deco fashion designs.  
 
 
  Tom Ford Tom Ford (b. 1961) is an American-born fashion designer who worked as creative director at both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. The multi-talented designer also directed A Single Man (2009), a film based on Christopher Ishwerwood's 1964 novel.  
 
 
  John Galliano (b. 1960) is a British fashion designer whose highly theatrical style probably reflects his personal style as an openly gay man.  
 
 
  Jean-Paul Gaultier Jean-Paul Gaultier (b. 1952) incorporates elements of gay style into his clothes that typically fuse classic fashion with unconventional elements and challenge traditional notions of masculinity.  
 
 
  Costumes designed by Rudi Gernreich Rudi Gernreich (1922-1985) is associated particularly with the 1960s fashion revolution, and was one of the great modernists of fashion design, making his clothes futuristic both technically and stylistically.  
 
 
  Halston (Roy Halston Frowick, 1932-1990), the first international fashion superstar, was a master of cut, detail, and finish. He dressed and befriended some of America's most glamorous women including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bianca Jagger.  
 
 
  Sir Norman Hartnell Norman Hartnell (1901-1979) served as official dress maker to Queen Elizabeth II, the late Queen Mother, and occasionally, Queen Mary. He is best known for the intricately and lavishly decorated gowns he created for the royal family.  
 
 
  Calvin Klein (b. 1942) is an American designer who has created an extraordinarily successful fashion empire through his simple and elegant designs and his skilful employment of provocative advertising campaigns that are saturated with homoeroticism.  
 
 
  Marie Laurençin Marie Laurençin (1883-1956) is best known as a painter and portraitist, but she also designed costumes and sets for the Ballets Russes.  
 
 
  Costumes by William Ivey Long William Ivey Long (b. ca 1947) is among the most prolific and respected contemporary costume designers in America. In 2002, he developed a well-received ready-to-wear women's fashion line with partner Wendy Wasserstein, but the project died because of production and manufacturing problems.  
 
 
  Alexander McQueen Alexander McQueen (1969-2010), the youngest designer to achieve the coveted "British Designer of the Year" award, was a fashion innovator and provocateur.  
 
 
  Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008) is one of the seminal fashion designers of our era. He not only created a venerable fashion empire, but has also inspired many other designers.  
 
 
  Set and Costume Design for film and stage are fields that have often attracted gay men and lesbians. Some of the costume designers of Hollywood's Golden Age were considered on a par with world class couturiers and fashion designers and had a palpable influence on public taste.  
 
 
  Willi Smith (1948-1987) has been called "the most successful black designer in fashion history."  
 
 
  Versace home in Miami Gianni Versace (1946-1997) was renowned not only for his lavish tailoring and frequently ostentatious body-hugging garments, but also for his exuberant personal taste. Though some predicted that the house of Versace would die after the designer was murdered at his home in Miami, Florida, it continues to thrive.  
 
 
  New on glbtq  
 
  Pim FortuynPim Fortuyn
Openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002), who was assassinated in 2003, was in the political spotlight for only a few months, yet he managed to change the modern Netherlands. 		 
 
 
  James Schuyler
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Schuyler (1923-1991), a prominent member of the New York School of poets and painters, wrote openly about his homosexuality. 		 
 
 
  Patty SheehanPatty Sheehan
Hall of Fame golfer Patty Sheehan (b. 1956), who came out as a lesbian at the height of her career, continues to excel on the LPGA Legends tour. 		 
 
 
  Video Review  
 
  Small Town Gay BarSmall Town Gay Bar
Small Town Gay Bar (2006) tells the recent history of several Mississippi gay bars and paints a vivid picture of queer life in a part of the country where the closet is a prerequisite for survival for most glbtq people. In the film, glbtq men and women of Northeastern Mississippi describe the important role a few ramshackle gay bars play in helping them make do and even thrive in one of the most homophobic regions of the United States. 		 
 
 
notable birthdays this week
August 29
 
Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter
 AN EARLY CHAMPION OF WOMEN'S AND HOMOSEXUAL LIBERATION, 1844
Thom Gunn Thom Gunn
 MAJOR GAY POET AND A PERCEPTIVE CRITIC OF GAY POETRY, 1929
 
Mark Morris Mark Morris
 CHOREOGRAPHER WHO MIXES MANY DIFFERENT MUSICAL AND CULTURAL ELEMENTS, 1956
Meshell Ndegeocello Meshell Ndegeocello
 SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND BASSIST, 1968
 
August 30
 
Léonor Fini Léonor Fini
 ARTIST WHO PRESENTS AN EVOCATIVE WORLD DOMINATED BY WOMEN, 1908
Esther Tusquets
 WRITER WHOSE NOVELS INCLUDE EMBLEMATIC LESBIAN CHARACTERS, 1936
 
September 1
 
Emma Stebbins Emma Stebbins
 AMERICAN SCULPTOR WHO WENT TO ROME TO LEARN TO WORK IN MARBLE, 1815
Roger Casement Roger Casement
 HOMOSEXUAL IRISH PATRIOT WHO WAS EXECUTED BY THE BRITISH, 1864
 
Lily Tomlin Lily Tomlin
 COMEDIENNE KNOWN FOR THE MANY PERSONAGES SHE BECOMES DURING PERFORMANCES, 1939
 
September 2
 
Anne Whitney Anne Whitney
 POLITICALLY ACTIVE SCULPTOR WHO CHOSE ABOLITIONISTS, FEMINISTS, AND BLACKS AS HER SUBJECTS, 1821
Ferdinand Karsch-Haack
 CONTRIBUTOR TO GERMANY'S HOMOSEXUAL EMANCIPATION MOVEMENT, 1853
 
Evelyn Hooker
 PSYCHOLOGIST WHOSE RESEARCH CHALLENGED THE "SICKNESS" MODEL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, 1907
 
September 3
 
Sarah Orne Jewett Sarah Orne Jewett
 A MAJOR FIGURE IN THE LITERATURE OF FEMALE ROMANTIC FRIENDSHIP, 1849
 
September 4
 
Lyle Chambers Saxon
 NEW ORLEANS' MOST POPULAR EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY WRITER, 1891
Mary Renault
 WRITER WHOSE NOVELS ADDRESS LESBIANISM AND MALE HOMOSEXUALITY VERY DIFFERENTLY, 1905
 
About Notable Birthdays
 This feature lists people about whom glbtq.com has both entries and complete birth dates. Each person listed has made a significant contribution to or had a significant impact on glbtq culture or history. Most are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, though some are either heterosexual or cannot be adequately characterized using any of these labels.
 
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Congratulations to Emmy Award Winners
Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch. Photograph by Angela Brinskele.
At the Emmy Awards broadcast on August 29, 2010, Jane Lynch was honored as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her role in Glee. In accepting the award, Lynch thanked her wife and daughter.

Also honored was openly gay creator of Glee, Ryan Murphy, who won an Emmy for directing.

Modern Family, which features a gay couple, won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series. Eric Stonestreet, who plays half the gay couple but who is straight in real life, won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, edging out his openly gay partner in Modern Family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Neil Patrick Harris, who was nominated for his work in How I Met My Mother.

Harris had earlier won an Emmy for his guest appearance in Glee and shared another for his work as host of the Tony Awards.

Congratulations to California
Judge John Walker
Judge Vaughn Walker.
On August 4, 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, issued his decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the challenge to California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. Mounted by the American Foundation for Equal Rights and argued by renowned attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies, the suit argued that Proposition 8 violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In a wide-ranging and historic ruling, Judge Walker agreed with these arguments, concluding that "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples."

On August 16, 2010, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals stayed Judge Walker's decision pending review by the Appellate court. It expedited consideration of the appeal and ordered that briefs address the question of whether proponents of Proposition 8 have standing to appeal.

Related Encyclopedia Entry:
Congratulations to Ireland
Mary MacAleese
President Mary McAleese.
On July 19, 2010, the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, signed into law the Civil Partnership Bill, which provides a wide range of protections, rights, and obligations for same-sex couples in areas such as pensions, taxes, social welfare, domestic violence, inheritance, and joint tenancy. The bill, modeled on the U.K.'s civil partnership legislation, was, despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, passed without a vote in the Dàil and with an overwhelming majority in the Seanad at the beginning of July. It goes into effect on January 1, 2011.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern described the civil partnership bill as "one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation to be enacted since independence," adding that "Ireland will be a better place for its enactment."

Congratulations to Argentina
After a marathon debate of 16 hours, the Argentinian Senate passed a bill authorizing same-sex marriage on July 15, 2010. Supported by President Cristina Fernandez, the bill passed the House of Representatives in May. The law becomes effective after it is published in the nation's official bulletin. Although same-sex marriage is permitted in Mexico City, Argentina becomes the first country in Latin America to achieve marriage equality nationwide. Uruguay authorizes civil unions, as do some states in Brazil and Mexico. Colombia's Constitutional Court has mandated some rights to same-sex couples.

The victory in Argentina came after strenuous efforts to derail the legislation by the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches. President Fernandez criticized the tone taken by the religious groups, saying that they "recall the times of the Inquisition."

Marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson issued the following statement: "Today's historic vote shows how far Catholic Argentina has come, from dictatorship to true democratic values."

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