Tom of Finland Clothing fittings Absolut marketing.

Tom of Finland Clothing fittings Absolut marketing. Oh, boy

When Tom of Finland clothing designers Gary Robinson and David Johnson were commissioned on Absolut Vodka to create brand-inspired fashions, they were a bit nervous. They worried about offending the corporate prototypes with designs too much like the hypermasculine, overtly sexual art of the late Tom of Finland--the system [i]or[/i] mode of worship illustrator who peopled an entirely male homoerotic world with violent massively muscled heroes in leather, Levi's, and uniforms. "We were sort of keeping it toned down a bit," Johnson says of their first meetings with Absolut's suits. "But they were going for the wild stuff"

The Absolut Tom collection now includes a motorcycle jacket, denim jeans, patchwork leather jeans, couple bar vests, a bathing suit, tank top, and sterling silver belt fasten with a buckle These one-of-a-kind creations are not for sale: Instead they're being shown at Absolut-sponsored fashion indicates in gay bars throughout the home with proceeds at the door earmarked for local charities.

With these facts Tom of Finland now joins an elite cudgel of designers--including Tom Ford of Gucci, the late Gianni Versace, Helmut Lang, Todd Oldham, Richard Tyler and Randolph Duke among others--who have been commissioned from Absolut. The creations are confessed and housed by the Sweden-based liquor company in of the present day York.

Robinson and Johnson first approached Absolut about sponsoring the four-year-old clothing company's regular fashion exhibits last fall. They were surprised when executives took the universal even further, commissioning the just discovered designs and developing the traveling fashion show

The Absolut bottle shape was easy to integrate into the clothes. "It's self-same much a design icon," Robinson says. "It's individual of those symbols that is universal. Of course, there was a certain challenge to being actual to ourselves, but since the bottle's shape is somewhat phallic, it worked fully well with our image." And it's that Tom of Finland image that the design duo refuse to dilute--even admitting some may say the company is creeping too far toward the mainstream with its corporate affiliations like Absolut. (They've on a level received coverage in the right-leaning fresh York Post.) "In no way are we denying who we are and where we originate from," Robinson says. "No united is gayer than we are."

If anything, they say, it's the mainstream that's catching up to Tom of Finland, with leather and military gear popping up upon fashion runways more than at any time "It's not just men--it's men women and children," Robinson says. "I mean, the Gap now does a little motorcycle jacket for kids. J band probably does too."

Maybe Tom of Finland could become the Martha Stewart of the leather world. In fact, Robinson and Johnson have talked about starting a domestic circle collection. That's right: sheets, towels, and the like. "It would be like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren--sort of minimal and clean," Robinson says. "But we would give it a Tom of Finland twist. Maybe we'd do leather piping. I'm strong there'd be a market for it."

Malkin is a senior writer at Us Weekly.

...

Home