Yes, currently the fashion world is drenched in porn coded visuals, latex, chokers, see-through everything, but not all of it is thoughtless imitation from sex on screens. Designers are taking these tantalising tropes and giving them new life. These designers are doing sexy right. They’re not just showing skin for the scroll. They’re twisting the tropes, teasing the norms, and reclaiming the runway in lace, latex, and leather. We are looking at how well these designers are disrupting the male gaze and reclaiming these tropes.

Luis De Javier 

Luis De Javier blends his perspective of queer sex, his Spanish heritage, and religious upbringing into runway looks that feel more like declarations of war. He uses porn and kink references not to titillate, but to be daring and dominant. 

Luis De Javier told Metal Magazine, when questioned about what women meant to him and his brand, “I was honouring them in my head, but I could not make them feel empowered in a 3D printed corset where they couldn’t move. So, I really wanted to dip into more wearable stuff(...) I wanted to give everything the female visual starting point, then make sure that it would look good on any type of body ” And for that we think he is disrupting the male gaze and taking ownership of these sexualised porn tropes we see within fashion. 

Nensi Dojaka

Her dresses are soft and delicate like whispers that are made of silk. They are strappy, sheer, and intertwined around the body like thoughts. It’s sexy and emotional. Vulnerable. Messy. This is what happens when a woman designs desire for other women. Nensi Dojaka acknowledges the male gaze and understands the tropes we have adopted, but she feels her designs exel that concept and are a part of the female gaze, creating a blanket of admiration for women around the body. 

Dilara Fındıkoğlu

She’s a testament to fashion and disrupting sexuality. Dilara references everything from 19th-century erotica to ultra-feminine, and there’s nothing submissive about it. Dilara told Harper's Bazaar that she viewed her AW24 show “as a mass ritual to end toxic masculinity” Dilara placed manifestos on each of the attendees chairs which read, “This is a manifesto for a world order born of an unrelenting vortex of femme energy, a way of being and feeling that transcends the parochial structures of conventional masculinity.”  Thank you Dilara Fındıkoğlu for using your voice and creating beautifully expressive designs.