Sex sells, so it should come as no surprise that fashion has long held an obsession with it. The latest to kink-ify things were masters of sex and humor Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2. For their spring 2025 menswear show in Milan, titled “soft sado,” the brothers mashed up pro-wrestling uniforms with an “added side helping of ‘Magic Mike’ bump and grind,” wrote WWD.
The highlights were references to Robert Mapplethorpe’s leather daddies with quarterback shoulders and “swimsuits with less material than a slingshot.”
Dsquared2 men’s spring 2025
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
Through the years, designers have incorporated fetish leather, harnesses and masks into runway looks while certain body parts have sporadically emerged as erogenous zones du jour — and sometimes emerged completely, as in Rick Owens’ famed full frontal peepholes in his fall 2015 men’s collection.
Erotica has been associated with punk rock fashion since the 1970s when Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren opened their legendary Sex boutique on Kings Road in London selling bondage clothing next to leather and lingerie. Corsets continued to be a key part of Westwood’s historical designs throughout her runway career.
Runway at Vivienne Westwood RTW spring 2023 photographed on Oct. 1, 2022, in Paris.
Dominique Maitre for WWD
Gianni Versace was also famous for his high-fashion take on erotica, and his knack for concealing and revealing skin, as on his iconic safety-pin dress from 1994 worn on the runway by Christy Turlington and by Elizabeth Hurley at the Oscars that year.
Meanwhile, Tom Ford fetishized his male models just as much as his female ones, selling Gucci condom cases and at his namesake brand giving fragrances alluring names such as Vanilla Sex. Anthony Vaccarello of Saint Laurent has had a similar spirit to his collections, carrying forth the heritage of Yves Saint Laurent who popularized the sheer trend for women on his runways.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin, fall 2024
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
Ludovic de Saint Sernin is among the next generation of designers pushing a new aesthetic for queer sensuality with liberated styles that use as little fabric as possible. Bringing the trend full-circle, he (like the Catens) drew inspiration from Robert Mapplethorpe for his fall 2024 collection, collaborating directly with the photographer’s foundation.
Click on the gallery to see more erotica on the runway through the decades.