Ladyfag and Opening Ceremony team up to create hanky code collection.
Fetish signifiers are slowly but steadily gaining prevalence in mainstream fashion and in popular culture. In recent years, several brands and celebrities have incorporated BDSM elements into their styles. At this year’s Academy Awards, Olympian Adam Rippon walked the red carpet in a Moschino leather harness; and Kim Kardashian occasionally makes appearances in glossy latex outfits.
Although fashion’s adoption of fetish themes is purely stylistic, some brands are taking the custom to the next level. In a fresh collaboration between Opening Ceremony and nightlife diva Ladyfag, the infamous Hanky Code motivated their entire partnership.
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In the early 1970s, many gay men tucked assorted colored bandanas in their back pockets. Each color represented a specific sexual preference, which came in very handy while cruising for love. Ladyfag explained how the technique functioned as a secret code during less tolerant times:
“While these days we can be a lot more free in public, now cell phones and hookup apps have dampened the art of cruising,” she says. “The hankies are steeped in queer history from the days when you still had to be so secretive about what and whom you liked. I love that we found a way to subvert that right in front of people’s eyes, and they were never the wiser.”
To celebrate this significant bit of queer history, Ladyfag teamed up with Opening Ceremony to produce an exclusive collection of colorful bandanas and T-shirts, which are available in Opening Ceremony stores and online. All profits from the collection are donated to the Ali Forney Center, an organization focused on protecting queer youth at risk of homelessness. On June 22, the hanky code collection will be available at Ladyfag’s inaugural LGBTQ music festival, LadyLand.
“How nice would it be to see someone at the club that you think is cute with a blank hankie in their left pocket, knowing you wear yours on your right?” Ladyfag remarks. “Come to LadyLand with a hanky in your pocket and meet your Pride match!”
