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Gay wool from gay sheep? What do you mean, wool can be gay? Let me explain.
In a publicity holy grail, the queer hookup app Grindr debuted a knitwear collection by celebrity designer Michael Schmidt in New York City last week. The textiles were created with wool culled from the world’s “first flock of gay sheep” in Germany. On Thursday, November 13, Rainbow Wool teamed up with the dating app and the fashion designer to debut a 36-piece collection at Manhattan’s Altman Building in a show titled I Wool Survive.
A gay wool Greco-Roman look (photo by Randy Brooke)
Wool for the designs originated on a farm in Löhne, Germany, overseen by Michael Stücke. Stücke, an openly gay man, rescues “gay rams,” male sexually-oriented sheep, that his company Rainbow Wool claims are often slaughtered because they don’t procreate. Scientists estimate that as many as 8% of rams are sexually oriented toward other males, a statistic prominently displayed on Rainbow Wool’s website.
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Gay sheep.
The unbahhhhlievable pieces, inspired by “fantasy and fetish” — including knit leather daddy, slutty Adam from Genesis, Knight, and a woven Greco-Roman figure — will be auctioned to benefit LGBTQ+ causes at a later date.
Anyone can sponsor a homosexual ram (a coveted sponsorsheep) with names including Horny, Franz Kafka, and Wollie Wonka, for $25, every dollar of which the company ominously notes “guarantees one gay sheep another day on the farm.”
A gay wool knight (photo Randy Brooke)
Schmidt, who has designed for high-profile clients including Madonna and Taylor Swift, said that while his gay wool collection was light-hearted, it addresses he serious topics of mistreatment of homosexual animals and prejudice against LGBTQ+ communities around the world.
Stücke said in a press release that the fashion collection “proves that being gay is part of nature itself.”
“The wool from these rams isn’t just material — it’s a message spun from animals who live freely and are loved,” Stücke continued.
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Become a member Tagged: Fashion, LGBTQ, Textile Art
Isa Farfan
Isa Farfan is a staff reporter for Hyperallergic. In May 2024, she graduated from Barnard College, where she studied Political Science and English and served as the Columbia Daily Spectator's Arts &... More by Isa Farfan
