fashion review by Chance Goode
all images from The Leather Man
The Leather Man
111 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014
Dressed in Black: Exploring the Leather Man
Most of the leather that I own is vintage Gucci or Claude Montana. As much as I love my archival leather pieces, I craved something new. Being a queer man in New York City, I felt there was one place that I needed to check out, The Leather Man. The Leather Man was erected on Christopher Street in June 1965, just three years before Marsha P. Johnson threw a brick at Stonewall. I remembered reading in POPism that Andy Warhol got his leather pants from there. Good enough for Andy, good enough for me.
When I walked in, a tattooed gentleman standing behind a counter displaying an array of different lubes greeted me. I immediately felt at home. The store clerk told me he loved my lace-up pants and asked if I made them myself. I told them they were designed by Ludovic De Saint
Sernin. He politely nodded and told me to look around because they had plenty of lace-up garments that would match.
Caged walls were decorated with leather vests, jackets, and pants. I ran my hands across the merchandise and was seduced by the quality of the leather. At that moment, I knew I had to add one of their pieces to my collection. I already owned leather pants and coats, but a vest was something I was missing from my repertoire. While trying on leather vests I noticed a Patrick Dempsey lookalike walk into the store. He looked stiff and out of place in a suit that was probably Zegna or Loro Piana. When I saw him go downstairs to the dungeon, I followed him out of curiosity.
Downstairs was where all the pure unadulterated fun was, no pun intended. I watched as the suit man stood over by the sex-swings and gimp masks. Beside him was a wall of sex toys in every size and color but what really got me excited was the engineer boots on the other side of the dungeon. Engineer boots have dominated fashion runways from designers such as Ann Demeulemeester, Dsquared2, and Loewe. There is an authenticity to the Leather Man’s engineer boots that can’t be replicated.
Anyone who thinks that the store is seedy or louche is doing themselves a disservice as this is one of the best places in New York to purchase leather. The Leather Man had something for
every fetish. My fetish just so happens to be for fashion. They truly are master craftsmen with leather. Their pieces have even been worn to the Met Gala by the likes of Troye Sivan. I really wanted a new pair of boots but decided to take the clerk’s advice and go with a vest with lace-up accoutrements to match my pants. Something tells me that I will be back soon to claim those boots.