Is it a bib or a harness? That was the question we were all left to ponder two weeks ago, after Beautiful Boy star Timothée Chalamet wore an embellished accessory over his tight black button-down at the Golden Globes. Technically speaking, and according to the public relations team at Louis Vuitton, it was a bib, but that didn’t stop the vast majority of the Chalamet fan base, this writer included, from referring to it as a harness. That’s because it very closely resembles what has historically been referred to as the male fashion harness, which has in the past included bib-type apparatuses that look like they’re either meant for a parachute or some form of S&M act. Furthermore, the man who designed Chalamet’s accessory is currently the modern-day poster boy for men’s harnesses, bibs, skydiving gear, whatever you want to call it.
Virgil Abloh showed harnesses on dudes for his Spring 2019 debut as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, and since then, celebrities such as Chalamet and Chadwick Boseman have been testing them out on the red carpet. Abloh himself has also been known to wear a harness over a T-shirt from time to time. On the day when Abloh unveils his new Michael Jackson–themed lineup for LV, one has to wonder how and why this personal obsession of his came to be.
The King of Pop famously wore a harness to perform at the Super Bowl in 1993, a gilded, military-inspired version that became one of Jackson’s most memorable stage ensembles. Before MJ made it look cool, men’s harnesses became staples of the leather bar scene in queer culture. It’s a product of sexual fetish that eventually entered the creative consciousness via artists like Tom of Finland, architect Peter Marino, musicians Marilyn Manson and Madonna, and most recently Lil Uzi Vert. Such fashion designers as Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Alexander McQueen, and Rick Owens also became intrigued by the body contraption.
Westwood brought bondage into the mainstream when she opened her Sex fetish boutique in London in 1974. This idea trickled down into the collections of designers who took the traditional codes of menswear—crisp suiting and shirting—and strapped a harness on top. Lang did it many times over, with minimal white harnesses on bare-chested models wearing only a pair of pristinely tailored black trousers. McQueen put harnesses on men in jumpsuits, and Owens added a one-shoulder version to a male skirt-and-sleeveless-T-shirt combo. More literal interpretations have been crafted by designers who have often used S&M as an inspirational starting point in their collections, including Jeremy Scott and Shayne Oliver.
Abloh’s iteration isn’t outwardly sexual, but it does have deep connections to the S&M-driven runway pieces and those worn by pop culture icons, including Abloh’s current muse, Jackson. For Fall 2019, the designer may have only nodded to the harness with giant leather sashes and a bulletproof vest-like piece, but the vibe still looms large in his aesthetic. And as awards season ramps up and more male actors turn up wearing LV-branded harnesses (bibs?), it opens up the opportunity for man straps to surge in 2019. If anyone can make it happen, it’s Abloh: designer, artist, DJ, champion of the male fashion harness.
