The rediscovery of Tom of Finland

JW Anderson x Tom of Finland

Here is a non-exhaustive list of all the Tom of Finland collaborations that have surfaced in recent years: JW Anderson, Diesel, Trashy Clothing, Comme des Garçons, CDLP, Carne Bollente, and Hiro Clark. It means Tom of Finland’s gleeful depictions of a homo-wonderland have been spilt across countless limited-edition t-shirts, vests, and novelty jockstraps – closing the Venn diagram on porn and fashion. Tom’s work was dismissed as cheap smut for much of his career but it’s been posthumously reclaimed and preserved by fashion designers as an important part of the queer art canon, and so the idea that someone might want to cloak themselves in kitsch illustrations of swollen nipples and pendulous appendages has become significantly little less risqué.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY DANIEL RODGERS

Published: 23rd August 2023

Categorised in: News