In Praise of Y-Fronts - 2. Catalogues

I don't imagine I am the only person in the world whose adolescent development was lit up by images of men in newspapers, pictures from football matches and other sporting events and adverts selling men's underwear. Later I discovered Shopping Catalogues and feasted my eyes on the wide selection of garments on offer.

These underwear ads were the most exciting because they showed garments that were supposed to be hidden from view and worn by handsome young men too. I loved the way these ads placed men in underwear in situations where they ought to be fully dressed – it was quite shocking to my youthful sensibilities – and unbelievably sexy.

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The sop to 'decency' was that the models always wore vests as well as pants, so no nipples or belly buttons, which might inflame the reader, were visible - even through the cotton. The vests were always tucked into the pants and the tackle was generally morphed into a smooth unrecognisable lump. One of the pictures shown here seems to have slipped through the last test.

Read Part 3

Read this series from the start

In Praise of Y-Fronts - 1 (Boys will be Boys)

Today's post introduces a series of articles called 'In Praise of Y-Fronts'
in which I show my appreciation of a much loved garment.

 I love to dress my boys in white underwear.

In this series I explain why
and give some favourite pictures of how to wear them well.

Mitchell - Boys Will Be Boys

This picture is an image from Mitchell's "S+M Clinic" series posted at mitchmen (Yahoo Group).
All the pictures and Story can be seen by joining the mitchmen Yahoo Group (link in right sidebar).

Read Part 2 

Other titles in the In Praise Of..... series covered 
jock straps, swimming trunks and sailors 
and can be found by using the search functions.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Conclusion of Letter 'I'

I generally select a favourite artist for each letter. Very often it's an obvious choice and sometimes I have to weigh up a couple of contenders, but I find it difficult with this group. I don't feel I know any of the artists really well, either because of lack of material or because their genre is not my thing. The Japanese contenders generate a lot of atmosphere in their pictures but the facial expressions are not really the stuff of erotic dreams and, in my collection at least, there's more sex than fetish. So I'm going to plump for Iceman on the grounds of cute men and plenty of pain. See the example below.

For link see original Iceman post

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Iwao

Iwao completes a trio of comic artists beginning with 'I', his style contrasts with the other 2. There is a bit more 'production' about these images and the shading is more complex. His men are inclined too be very big, overweight even, with distinctly muscular arms. The faces are probably the most realistic of the trio but with a distinctive cuteness about them attributable to their slightly exaggerated ears and small noses – yet another example of the youth enhancing devices available to artists!

Iwao's hero looks more 20th Century than Iceman's and his voluptuous muscles, neat hair grooming, shiny accessories and carefully shredded loin cloth have a touch of Hollywood about them but it's still a nice image.

The nose ring picture is an unusual punishment image and a most effective one. The artist works hard to bring out the humiliation of the victim. The facial expressions tell a story of their own – pain and embarrassment - vindictive mischief - amusement and satisfaction. The victim's nudity contrasts with his tormentors everyday clothing. Only the open front on the young man's overalls at the back suggest a possible sexual motivation. I must say he looks very sweet – which makes his participation in the cruel behaviour all the more erotic. If you are wondering 'why the ring', take a close look at the lower left background and you will see some more members of the audience which explains all.


Sorry no link for Iwao, it's a common Japanese name.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Irizarry

At first glance this looks like a picture by 'Sean', there are similarities both in the drawing line and facial characteristics.

However, when you put an example of Sean's art alongside, as I have here, the differences are readily apparent and you can see that Irizarry has a greater command of his craft.
The foreground is shaded in a most sophisticated way, the facial detail is convincing and the use of perspective for the body is ambitious and successful. The result is a little bit 'staged' however and this looks like a pretty friendly encounter despite the bondage.

Sean's picture scores more highly for drama and eroticism - despite the humorous overtones (which I suppose are rooted in politically incorrect stereotypes in this day and age). I don't have many pictures by Irizarry or know very much about him but on this picture alone he is worth a mention.

I have no website information for this artist.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Kobaro

I originally posted the artist under the name 'ie' but a reader has now identified him as Kobaro. I wanted to include him as an example of Japanese comic art which is firmly focussed on adult males.

These pictures show men, often big men, captured and under threat. The drawing style has a sort of exaggerated, almost carved appearance which is very 3-dimensional. Interestingly, the bondage detail doesn't seem to capture this effect, there isn't a strong sense of tightness or indentation of the flesh. There is a sense of drama and emotion conveyed by facial expressions, flying perspiration and the close placing of the characters in relation to each other. Of course the eyes and bared teeth are stock stylisations anchoring the pictures in the comic realm but much of the drawing is more representational.

In the knife attack picture the attention to detail in the clothing is fascinating and you could not have a better example of clothes being used to add detail to characters and situations. In fact this picture is chillingly convincing if you study it. The captives over-large eyes are another example of exaggerated size conveying youthfulness and innocence but the craggy jaw and muscular neck affirm his adulthood so there is no ambiguity about age here.

I have no website information for this artist but a search on his name will turn up plenty of examples.


For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Letter 'I' - Iceman

After the riches of the letter 'H' we're on slightly different rations for 'I'. I have picked out Iceman, 'ie', Irizarry and Iwao. Virtually every one of these poses an identity issue of one sort or another so there may turn out to be very few entries indeed if my identification is mistaken!

IcemanIceman uses the classic comic style to show typical comic heroes in conflict with typical comic baddies. It's the captivity situations which are atypical! In the pictures which I have collected the hero is young, muscular and handsome whilst the enemy seem barely human except for basic anatomy. The superhero genre is not particularly alluring to me ( although I lusted after Superman in my youth). For this reason I don't claim exhaustive knowledge of this artist (and indeed am not 100% sure that this name is just one artist) but I have shown a couple of his heroes here.

I particularly like The Barbarian tied to his horse, a highly erotic image and not simply because of the novel seating arrangement. The twisted body pose cleverly shows both rear and frontal curves and the artist has used the lightest of shading to turn those curves into voluptuous 3D surfaces. The accessories – gag, gauntlets and thigh boots – throw additional emphasis onto the man's muscular limbs and nudity invoking a high level of sexual interest but without any sense of 'over-egging' the cake. Meanwhile, the minimal but delightfully awkward bondage and the rearing horse create a sense of danger and excitement, the whole picture is full of action.

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As with Fillion's snake picture (see letter F), I marvel at the ability of comic artists like this to use apparently simple techniques to create such powerful, memorable images. Of course the muscular horse, like the sensuous snake, brings his own sexual persona to the party.

In the second picture the effect is not so great, the scene is less convincing, but this is one of a tryptich and the interest lies in the developments from scene to scene which you can probably guess from the clues in picture 1. I like the ripped briefs and chunky boots, reminiscent of moon-boots. The cartoon device of exaggerating the size of certain body parts - like feet – adds a boyish dimension to the character. This has a direct appeal to most people on a subconscious level but in a sexual context can be quite disturbing. Iceman avoids that trap fortunately.

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I don't recommend the web address on the pictures as it seems to have been hijacked. There's a blog at iceman blogger and a selection of his pictures at
http://yaoiai.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=521

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below