• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.1-18
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• 2012

This study explores the clothing behavior of homosexual men for identity creation. Since homosexuality has been viewed in terms of immoral, medical or social problems, gay males have made efforts to construct presentational styles in order to hide or reveal their sexual identities. Kate Schofield and Ruth A. Schmidt found that there were three different layers of individual gay identity construction expressed in clothing: shared gay identity, tribal identity, and situational identity. Using their framework, 630 gay men's outfits found in the U.S drama 'Queer as folk' were analyzed, which dealt with the lives of a group of gay men living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Findings point that gay males use their clothing effectively to express their sexual identity. Firstly, they use certain fashion items as the signifier of homosexuality on a gay community level. They use their clothing to attract the sexual partners. On tribal identity level, diverse and fragmented styles could be shown besides the effeminate style. Homosexual men's clothing can be classified into the following four dominate styles: the drag look, the macho look, the androgynous look and conventional look. Findings also indicate that gay males make different clothing choices for different situations in order to blend into the heterosexual or homosexual society.