Tom All Over My Body: The capsule collection by Julian Zigerli x Tom of Finland

Swiss design provocateur Julian Zigerli has collaborated with Tom of Finland Foundation to develop the collection Tom All Over My Body. Each of the twenty designs celebrates legendary illustrator Tom of Finland, who became one of the most influential artists in Queer cultural history.

His muscular male figures, always drawn with mustaches and tight leather, could today be interpreted as clichéd or even one-sidedly hypermasculine and lacking in body diversity. Yet Tom of Finland’s illustrations—the first of which were created in the late 1940s—embody Gay self-confidence and depict motifs of strength, humor, and security, qualities that were not associated with homosexuality in his time.

At that time, sex between men was illegal in many countries and considered sodomy, illness, and weakness—attributes that later became increasingly associated with homosexuality, particularly so due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Tom himself was arrested in Los Angeles in 1973 because his works were considered obscene, pornographic depictions. That same year, homosexuality was finally removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual and depathologized in the United States. In Germany, homosexuality was not fully legalized until 1994 with the final repeal of Paragraph 175. Tom of Finland died in 1991, but his legacy leaves a lasting impact on art history and Queer identity.

SEE THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY FABIAN HART

Published: 26th March 2025

Categorised in: News