Ministry of Silly Hats - 5 The Cloth Cap

Edu Boxer

The cloth cap used to be almost universal, 

equally at home on the heads of working men trudging to the pit 

and tweeded aristocrats killing defenceless animals on the moors. 

Nowadays, it is also picked up and plugged periodically by the fashion trade. 

Suave it may be, chic too perhaps, if worn at a suitable angle, 

but it's hardly the garment of choice for a beefcake shoot 

as Edu Boxer proves in this this moment of indignity, 

provided courtesy of 'Unzipped magazine'

Pretentious? - moi?

I was always told, never put your hands on your hips when throwing a tantrum, it looks camp. Perhaps Edu is protesting his maltreatment? 

Maybe he wants to keep the hat on for the whole shoot?

Edu Boxer looking great

Thankfully the hat is jettisoned and the result is this glorious image 

which you probably already know. 

A sublime example of clothes maketh man sexy.

Edu Misbehaving

I'll let Edu present his full chunky credentials. 

I understand why he's wearing boots and nothing else 

but why he's standing on the bed in them is anyone's guess. 

His mum won't thank him for it!

For other posts in this series, click on 'hats' in the lable list below

Guys in Uniform Studio No 12 Changing Shorts

Changing Shorts

1

Guys in Uniform Studio - Runner

This group of pictures from the 'Guys In Uniform' Studio features the same model as my last post on GIU, No 11 Military Intimidation in which he threatens a dejected athlete. This time he's in rather nice athletic shorts that reveal a good deal of detail of what lies within. I don't know if this is the Royale wet fabric trick again, but it works for me!

2

Trying to sequence these vintage pictures by reference to clothing is often quite futile as the photographer clearly tried out various clothing combinations and undress sequences. Here the model has removed shorts and one legs-worth of shoe and sock. The bare foot in this picture is an angular treat in the Etienne mould.

3

Here he is apparently removing his shorts, or perhaps underwear, but this time with no shoes or socks on at all. Another interesting foot shot. There's a tantalising glimpse of cock in the shadows. 

4

Now we see him removing what looks like a jockstrap, again with no footwear on. It's a bit frustrating for lovers of orderly strip sequences but the photographer must have had fun directing proceedings.

5

Here he is donning a pair of 50's style soccer shorts and little dick comes out into the open, flaccid, of course - and cut which is not particularly common in the UK. Around this time there was much pushing of boundaries regarding frontal nudity, for Guys In Uniform it was all in vain.

6

In the final picture our hero wriggles into a football/rugby style shirt with hoops and button up neck. Not very alluring visually, despite the hitched up leg hems and subtle bulge. Modern day sporting gear is rather more flattering, but the attraction of gays to sportsmen then was equally potent.

GIU Continues in Part 13

For previous posts about Guys In Uniform Studio and Royale Studio, click on the GIU/Royale label below

Boy to Man - Will Clark

Will Clark's transition from boy to man has produced some memorable images along the way.
This post follows his journey.


Will Clark
I love a man who can fill out a Tee shirt - and Y-fronts.


Will Clark - Sweet Youth

 I love the chunky bulkiness of Will's torso,
which somehow seems at odds with the college boy haircut.


Will Clark - Older and Thoughtful

Looking a little sad and weary here, strangely alluring.


Will Clark - Knowing Looks

More lighthearted and mischievous - and a sign of things to come - bit of facial hair

Will Clark - Salty Dog

Tattoos and piercings make their appearance, coming of age?

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artsts - My Favourite 'P'

It is my custom to select a favourite artist for each letter based on technical quality, fetish content, sensuality and sheer personal preference. I won't consider lesser artists whose work strays into areas I personally find unappealing or where I have too few samples of their work to make a balanced assessment.

In letter 'P' we have a number of heavyweight professional illustrators and artists - Parker, Pashke, Patterson, Pichard, Player, Platter and Prevot - whose ability is unquestioned but I think it's fair to say that, except for Pashke and maybe Player, their fetish content is incidental to the sexual adventures. For me Palanca undoubtedly tops the fetish league in this group, he puts his interest in feet (and sex!) in the forefront of his pictures and even for a non-convert like me it is absolutely fascinating and very convincing. Paschke also deserves a mention for the honesty of his portayals. When it comes to sensuality - the sheer erotic attractiveness of the images - the stars for me are Patterson, Prevot and Palanca.

Palanca - Melons

It's a no brainer for me, Palanca is my favourite and this final picture, which I call 'melons' is one I reluctantly left out of my main review of his work. It's a celebration of oral sensuality and I like it not so much for it's artistic qualities, it's an energetic but somewhat confused image, but because I just love the melon eater eagerly burying his jaw between upraised ass cheeks. The portrayal of this man hits so many buttons for me, his youthful square jaw (nicely stubbled), his neat trimmed sideburns, his cap turned round back to front, his muscular arms and abdomen emerging from a clinging T-shirt, the bowing forward curve of his body accentuating plump buns and allowing his cock to rest on his companion's slobbering tongue, a slippery runway into the greedy waiting mouth.
The fact that the other characters in the picture are not particularly attractive merely accentuates his desirability as he is absorbed into the animal lust of the proceedings. There is something peculiarly erotic too about the central figure's impossible, upside-down, backbreaking position.

Palanca's enthusiasm for his subject shines through in his work are we are fortunate to be able to enjoy it.

See my main review of Palanca's work for a link to his blog.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Proco

Proco - Spank the Boy

My last 'P' artist is Proco. This is the only picture I have by him but it's a cracker, showing an older man giving his younger partner a hell of a spanking. The characterisation of both men contains unexpected and pleasing contrasts - the grizzled, cuddly-looking, bear showing an evil streak and the excessively beautiful youth revelling in painful chastisement.

It's a neat composition full of life and strong sense of the two men sharing a memorable experience which isn't easy to achieve with back-turned, spanking situations. Part of this 'sharing' comes from the characterful facial expressions (Poserartists note!). But there's another reason, the picture is filled with angular, zig zag shapes and diagonals that flow through the limbs and bodies of the two men visually linking them together and creating a satisfying overall 'pattern' that looks very coherent. You can also see that their individual poses are like mirror image 'Z' shapes superimposed on each other, a sort of angular yin and yang if you like, pulling them neatly together. If I also compare these zig-zag shapes to lightning, you will see where some of the impression of urgent, sharp action comes from.

I can't find a website for Proco and I would welcome any information from readers.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Prevot

Prevot - Angelface (cover)

Benoit Prevot has carved a unique niche in gay art. His images look back with nostalgia to the decadent, early 20^th Century. Wealthy young toffs sporting waved hair, top hats and morning suits mingle with obsequious but obliging servants and rough, cloth-capped workers. His technical style also draws inspiration from the illustrative art of that period. He is perhaps best known for erotic flavoured narratives like 'Angelface' for Class Comics above.

Prevot - Slick it Up

Prevot's fetish credentials are incidental to his main work, but the confident light touch in this image for Slick It Up, suggests he knows what he is talking about. The dramatic background shadow rounding out the scene is typical of his style

Prevot - Tulips

Many of his pictures have two layers of meaning with devices like shadows and mirrors giving a wry twist to the surface image. Tulips (my title) is a simple, not very subtle, example. A young man poses for an 'arty' picture unaware that the shadow on the wall behind shows him in a different light. There's an element of class manipulation in this picture, the pugnacious face and the belted trousers suggest he's an ordinary working guy, he looks uninterested and would probably be unwilling to bare any more, even for ready money. But the scheming artist still manages to compromise him. This visual trickery in erotic art (and there's a nice pun on the flower's name too) has pretty much died out now, but was commonplace (in more subtle form of course) in the days of censorship and more oppressive attitudes. I discussed other examples by Tom of Finland and by Royale Studios in a recent posts here. It's nice to see someone carrying on an erotic tradition.

Prevot - Cleavage

There are similar undercurrents of class and manipulation in 'Cleavage' (my title). A workman in a fashion house is commandeered to help the model a new garment for the catalogue illustration. In this marvellous image, Prevot creates a power and humiliation scenario full of unexpected twists and contrasts.

The smooth, young, stylists are distinctly upper crust and full of confidence and this enables them to exercise complete power over the stereotypical, humble workman who is so straight and conventional he could almost be your dad. They casually humiliate him by persuading him to expose his ass (quite a feat in that era) and must have been thrilled to find such peachy cheeks beneath such an unpromising exterior. And if this exposure were not embarrassing enough for the poor workman, his backside is now compared to a woman's bosom and matched up with a frilly dress, a fetish overtone in it's own right which I've not covered much in this series of articles. We're not quite sure if the illustrator looking on is seriously assessing neckline options or lasciviously enjoying the male 'décolletage' - or perhaps he's noticed the even more embarrassing reflection in the mirror.

This sort of comic scenario (bar the mirror image) could easily have featured in the famous saucy postcards of the pre-WW2 period by Donald McGill, but by taking it a little more seriously and sensuously, Prevot gives it a real erotic kick.

Prevot has a blog and you'll find lots about him very easily via Google

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Prescott

Prescott - Preparation

Prescott produced art for the infamous Katharsis extreme art website, now defunct. My sample sums up his subject matter, but I prefer not to post anything more explicit on this blog. I would refer seekers after more to the GMBA Google Group (link in sidebar). His style appears to be based on traced photographs spliced with geometric drawings of guillotines. It's crude but effective.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.