A Very Gay Timeline of Queer Influence on Mainstream Fashion

It’s no secret that fashion is super gay. What’s worn casually by queers in West Hollywood or Fire Island, though, also ends up on straight folks as they take to runways and red carpets. How does that happen, and how long has it been happening? According to scholar Angelos Bollas, author of Fashioning Queerness: Straight Appropriation of Queer Fashion, trends often come from the margins and the freedom of queer culture makes the community more creative. But what recent trends actually have queer influence? Here’s a timeline that charts just how queer they are, and how far back that goes. 

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Brooches

Having some sparkle on the lapel is a queer classic, but was recently dubbed the “bro-brooch.” Everyone from Michael B. Jordan to Patrick Schwarzenegger has been pinning one on for the red carpet. But wearing a brooch used to be a way for gay men to find each other–in the 19th century, for example, you might wear a brooch with the face of Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous on it to secretly share your interest in other men. Men have worn brooches to note power and status throughout history, and gay men also wore brooches with flair. As jewelry historian Levi Higgs wrote in Out, “a bygone era's caricature of a gay person would absolutely be dripping in gaudy jewels, effeminate pinkie rings, campy brooches, and gold chains a la Liberace.” And as Bollas says, “We expect now to see businessmen having an eccentric accessory to be cool.” 

Ballet Flats‍

Though Jacob Elordi and Bad Bunny have been boosting the ballet flat, there have been gay men in ballet forever. Especially Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which has featured male ballet dancers in drag since it began in 1974. Men have also been wearing opera pumps–slippers with bows–since Bridgerton-era England’s dandy years. And 2026 isn’t the first year of the ballet flat, either–check the 2017 Telfar runway, among others, not to mention Balenciaga’s S/S 2023 Leopold flat or Spanish brand Hereu’s version from the same year. The brand’s founders told GQ at the time that their style choices “are not so strict in terms of gender.” A ballet flat is, and has been, a powerful choice for showing old-school machismo the door. 

Oversized Suit‍

Worn by the likes of Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar, the oversized suit has queer roots, too. In the 1930s and 1940s, many men of color chose the “zoot suit” look in Harlem and LA. In the time of World War II rations, their white counterparts considered them “unpatriotic” for the amount of fabric they used, and there are many stories of men in zoot suits getting beaten up. When the suit was worn by women, known as pachucas, they queered the zoot suit, especially since women often weren’t allowed to wear pants in public. In the 1980s ballroom world, the oversized suit was “Executive Realness” personified, as Armani corporate chic became the order of the day in mainstream culture. 

‍Skinny Jeans‍

By the 1950s, skinny jeans swaggered onto the screen with Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Bursting with bikers in tight jeans and leather, the film inspired artists like Tom of Finland and Etienne. In the 1970s, the “clone” look of mustaches and tight jeans took over while glam rockstars like David Bowie served a hot androgynous vibe. When high school bullies said Hedi Slimane’s lean physique was “gay,” he was inspired by Bowie and musicians like him. “They looked the same and I wanted to do everything to be like them, and not hide myself in baggy clothes to avoid negative comments,” he said in 2015, according to i-D. That look stuck: he created a skinny jean for the Dior Homme runway in 2005.  Slimane’s runway led to an explosion of skinny jeans anywhere you’d look, a queer culture staple that became totally mainstream decades later.

‍Short Shorts‍

Prada, Dsquared, and Zegna all sent short shorts down recent spring/summer runways, not long after Paul Mescal and Harry Styles were snapped flashing serious thigh. But before that, queer culture knew what was up. After Stonewall, showing off your body became chic, and short shorts became a gay staple, according to the Museum at FIT. Straight men like tennis stars Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe adopted the look as well. Short shorts have actually been in and out of style for decades–there was even another wave of popularity in 2014. “As queer men and male-bodied folks, I think we're used to sort of being sexy for each other, right?,” poet Danez Smith told NPR in 2022. “The straight men are finally giving my sisters a little bit of eye candy, you know? It's just something a little sexy to whet their appetite.”

‍Halter Tops

That moment Timothée Chalamet showed up at the 2022 Venice Film Festival in a red Haider Ackermann halter top filled everyone’s Instagram feeds for like a week (or more). He was followed recently by Alexander Skarsgård, who wore a white halter top with a leather tie to the London premier of Pillion. But the backless wonders were also a staple of the 1970s gay scene, when showing off your body was key. Queer designers like JW Anderson and Ludovic de Saint Sernin have brought the look back many times over the last 15 years, moving away from gender stereotypes. For de Saint Sernin, including halters in his 2021 collection was about 2000s style icons like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, as he told i-D: “I always felt like only they could wear halters, and as a man I couldn’t have access to it…When I started my own brand, I wanted to make sure to create a safe space where I could express that and have guys wear these looks influenced by the 2000s and feel confident.”

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And this is just a taste of some mainstream trends that have queer roots. Next time you take a look at a runway, you might even think twice about how it came together.