Men Sharing Clothes - 15 Painter's Overalls

This series brings together images of models wearing clothes already used by others before them. In this group it's a rather well stained set of painter's overalls belonging to the Photographer Gilles Crofta.

 

'Chris '

I can only identify this model as 'Chris'. I rather like his softly contoured bulkiness and young jock look. There's a distinctly unkempt look about his facial and pubic hair that certainly fits the workman image, nice hairy forearms too, but it does make the total absence of chest hair seem a little odd. I wonder who got the job of applying those pec smears? At this stage, despite the black oil stains, the overalls look as though they might be freshly laundered. But judging by Chris's oily body they are going to get pretty dirty inside if the shoot gets hot. There's lot of scope here for identifying paint spots for comparison with other pictures for those who doubt the re-use of this item of clothing.

Nick Hird (Hirdy)

Nick Hird's face and slender, tightly muscled body don't quite match the casual, macho image of the worker's overalls but the photography itself is quite interesting. 'Hirdy' has the air of a long-suffering renaissance martyr, an impression reinforced by the bruise-like mark on his forehead. He stands with hands overhead, body unprotected, resigned to his fate (as a canvass for greasy hands and a clothes horse for dirty gear). His finely etched torso seems to grow out of the rolled-down overall top, which has taken on the appearance of an improvised loin cloth, as traditionally worn by your actual mediaeval martyr on his last public appearance. The greasy smear across his lower abdomen makes you wish you were here earlier to witness it's application. 

 

Stuart Reardon

Stuart Reardon, moonlighting from his rugby career, certainly cuts the manly mustard, facially and physique-wise but looks pretty puzzled by the spade. Admittedly, the digging implement, paint spots and oil stains are a confusing collection, covering several, quite different types of manual labour. However, he's clearly not fazed by going without any underwear, which is what really counts at the end of the day. I'm thinking of a career in abdomen smearing.

Dwayne K

Dwayne K gets full marks for offering the most sweaty-looking, finger-marked body of them all, but he doesn't seem too thrilled at having to clad it in overalls in an even grungier state. Notice how he tries to keep the contaminated cloth away from his most prized possession, no doubt dreading the order to place his hands on his head. 

 

Craig Bramley

Craig Bramley must have been the apple of his mother's eye, but I'm not sure she'd approve of the tattoos, or the near-explicit exposure! Craig seems to be quite comfortable with the dirtying up process and this is the best picture of the lot for my money. We never get to see these models wearing the top half of the overalls, but here it looks as though they are of a bib and brace design, which is less sexy than the chest-revealing-when-open, 'all-in-one' style. Of course you may prefer to imagine the photographer has just shredded the garment on Craig's body. His face does seem like he's determined to retain some dignity in the face of humiliation.

 

Danny Reeve

Danny Reeve is having none of this erotic smut, he's keeping his Calvin's on thank you very much. This ensures he keeps his gear unsullied and the overalls are hoisted up at a respectable height. You can forget about those random oily body smears too. It shows a nice male modesty, getting into character. The baby oil is less helpful for this manly image, it doesn't really pass as genuine sweat and here's another man who doesn't look as though he really knows what to do with that shovel. I'm not quite sure what to make of the chest stubble, Danny's slab-like pecs probably looked great when they were shaved a few days ago and they'll probably look terrific again with a bit more grow-back showing, but they don't look very workman-like at this point. I can imagine the photographer getting quite cross about him turning up in this state, which might explain Mr Reeve's sulky expression.

 

Aaro Mack

No-one wants to be the last in line and the look on Aaron Mack's face and the way he's holding the overalls away from his body suggests he's also twigged that their recent history is suspect and they ain't that clean any more. Perhaps he's also being modest about showing his pubes and is getting a tongue-lashing for his trouble (so to speak). I love to see a handsome man discomforted.

My thanks to Gilles Crofta and his delightful models 

(and apologies for impugning their cleanliness!)

You can find a number of sites for Gilles using any search engine, Crofta's studio site has a gallery and Gilles on Facebook is quite interesting too, there's a plentiful selection of his images on-line if you simply do an image search.

For other articles in this series click on 'sharing' in the label list below

Manflesh has a blog

I'm pleased to see there is now a Manflesh blog.
This rather adventurous image is part of a series showing how his pictures are created.

There are lots of pix of his recent and older work and well worth a browse.

I've always admired the handsome faces of his men .....

 but I wish he'd start using a more subtle palette!
 See also my A-Z entry on Manflesh.

Rubber Suit

 Somehow I missed these pictures when they came out about a year ago. I'm not an avid rubber man, but I love the way these garments cling to the body contours of these models, even the sexy groove down the middle of his six pack. His arms are spendidly showcased too.

Notice how the neck opening and rolled back collar create a 'peeled back' look as though the neck is bursting upwards out of the constraining skin of rubber. 

Or you might see it as the lips of a jug, ready to be poured.

This mirror shot is quite atmospheric, as though an intruder has been caught in the act. The bare feet look a bit incongruous though.

I love views of the backs of heads, but preferably with a lower collar line than this. This model has massive musculature at the base of his neck which prevents the collar from drooping and revealing more. His reflection in the mirror appears to be a slender man at first, but those chunky rugby thighs testify to hours of straining in the gym.

 Who lies on a bed wearing a rubber suit and looking expectant?

Nice highlights on his pecs and thighs but one might have wished for a little more in-between. This studio seems to tread a delicate path between artiness and eroticism. I'm not quite sure it works, but the imagery is food for the imagination.

Close-up shots of unconventional parts of the body, always seem intimate. My comment about body contours and grooves down the middle applies equally here, tasty.

There are more free images in this vein at Hoxton Rubber

Their subscription policy - separate payment for each 'exhibition' - is a little unusual for a photo site. They don't seem to have a regular roll-out schedule either. As far as I can tell the images don't get any more explicit than this.

Cowboy antics from Klaus Von Brandenburg

Klaus Von Brandenburg - Cowboys Torment The New Sheriff

I don't remember having seen a Klaus drawing of Cowboys before. 

I rather like his portrayal of the hairy, squared-jawed sheriff 

becoming better aquainted with the local ruffians! 

Not exactly 'riding the wedge' (see below), but something similar!

My A-Z article on Klaus' work is here

Hurrah for Tom Daley!

British gays are feeling extra pride today,

 after Tom Daley, the UK's cutest diver and Olympic medal winner
 'came out' in a video statement. 

He chose this method to avoid anyone twisting his words - brainy as well as brave!

"Is it a big deal?" he asks.

Yes it probably is, but Tom, you've done the right thing

 and young gays throughout the land can stand a little bit taller today.

Well Done!

see the video here

Bound Guy Donovan

Donovan at Bound Guys

This is Donovan, handcuffed to a metal frame and naked as the day he was born. I like the tension in his straining body and his concentration on the frustratingly simple, restraining device.  His fair-skinned hairless body won't appeal to everyone, I suppose, but for me it highlights the absence of his usual cloak of protective clothing giving a sense that this nudity is not at all normal. 

The plentiful head hair (distinctly un-fetish-like) suggests he comes from a world of freedom, wealth and pleasure. In contrast his shaved groin reinforces the 'rarely exposed' effect and suggests that 'processing' has begun. Transitioning him to a domain of service and pleasure-giving where his captor decides what he will do, how he will look and what he will be allowed to wear.

I'm often an advocate of clothes as props, but this picture shows that a man and his handcuffs make a pretty good picture too. A simple bondage arrangement like this can be a lot more erotic than a plethora of ropes and straps and other gear which obscure the object of desire.

This image comes from a recently published series at BoundGuys.com. This often overlooked bondage site is refreshingly different to the muscle jock specialists. It features a wide range of ages and body types and the straight-forward, unglossy photography gives the images a nice sense of immediacy and realism.

Ministry of Silly Hats - 7 The Bowler

Jesse Santana bowled over

I quite enjoy looking at Jesse Santana, He carries more iron-mongery and tattoos than I like, but he flashes a delightful, boyish look sometimes and seems to have a flair for athletic, erotic, body acting that few porn actors can match (see below). My mild hero-worship took a bit of a jolt, however, when he was filmed a little while ago wearing this undignified, bowler hat.

The bowler is pretty much a vanished species, although it still turns up in Fosse-type, dance musicals and occasionally on the catwalk as an accessory to conjure up the respectable City Gent, in order to sell some mildly racy item of clothing, like garish Bermuda shorts.

Ministry Man

As far as I am concerned, however, the bowler indelibly represents middle-aged, grey, overweight and utterly un-sexy City Bankers in suits infused with cigarette smoke and other unpleasant smells. Dogmatic Men from the Ministry too, as immortalised in John Cleese's “Ministry of Silly Walks” (whose inspiration for this series I happily acknowledge!).

But sexy? No.

 D.O. Examines Marc Dylan's accounts

I thought a gentleman was supposed to remove his hat when entering! 

These video stills come from Raging Stallion's video 'Cockwork'. The title is an allusion to “Clockwork Orange” of course, which (together with Oddjob in 'Goldfinger') gifted this hat an element of menace, but it also restated the traditional connection with clowning. Thankfully the studio did not inflict this equally un-sexy indignity on Jesse and his colleagues, although the poor loves did have to wear bright orange knee-pads. Health and Safety. Ho hum!

Jesse interviewed by Dominic Sol

From, 'Suited for Sex' by the same studio, this still shows how city attire can be sexy, although the blue shirt is a trifle loud. Jesse gives us his confused, young innocent look as a searching interview gets personal.

Jesse Santana rides again in Cowboys

No innocence here! An nice example of Jesse's body-art athleticism from Raging Stallion's 'Cowboys' with Tom Wolfe. This image succeeds in being beautiful and romantic as well as sexy.

Back to the bowler. This effort by Kevin McDermott actually comes a lot closer to the spirit of Clockwork Orange. You can mentally flip this image from tomfoolery to menace by focussing on the face and teeth. If this chap was your boyfriend you might think it sexy, but whether the bowler really contributes anything to that feeling is debatable!

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