Diesel pay homage to queer artist Tom of Finland with their Pride collection.
Diesel has released a Pride collection featuring Tom of Finland’s iconic homoerotic artwork.
The capsule collection features artwork selected from the Tom of Finland Foundation’s catalogue on gender neutral pieces.
This includes his recognisable designs of leather daddies with bulges printed on t-shirts, tote bags, shorts and shirts
There’s also a jockstrap in the collection, which is white and features the Diesel logo alongside the Tom of Finland capsule logo.
The genderless collection features Diesel’s signature denim, with pieces including a Trucker jacket, pants and shorts with a patch featuring the words “AllTogether by Tom Finland Foundation and The Community with Diesel”.
It’s now available to shop at uk.diesel.com and shop.diesel.com, with prices starting from £30.
The capsule collection also features designs from seven creators including Silvia Prada, whose collage of shirtless men is digitally printed in grayscale puzzle pieces on a collared shirt.
Others include Florian Hetz, whose photograph of tightly crossed arms is plastered on a dark brown hoodie and Peter Berlin, whose self portrait appears on a T-shirt.
The creators making up the capsule collection are Palanca, Michael Kirwan, Paul Tankersley aka Tank and Heather Benjamin.
Diesel’s creative director, Glenn Martens said: “We want to bring a light to a long legacy of queer imagination and perseverance worldwide.
“Stories of artists in which many have faced discrimination and misrepresentation due to the nature of who they are and what they create.”
He added that the multi-tiered approach to this year’s Pride celebration “demonstrates my own viewpoint – and Diesel’s position – of needing to amplify our social responsibility”.
The seven artist’s work will be showcased at a two-installment homoerotic art exhibition with more than 200 pieces dating back to the 1940s.
In partnership with art organisation Tom of Finland Foundation and Paris art gallery The Community, the exhibition will run through June 26 in Paris and Venice.
It marks the first exhibition of its kind outside of Tom House in Los Angeles, which was home to the erotic artwork of Touko Laaksonen, the late artist known as Tom of Finland.
The foundation launched in 1984 to preserve his work and compile what it calls the world’s most extensive collection of LGBTQ+ art.
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Pride Month 2022
A number of brands have started to release their Pride-themed collections for 2022.
However, each year brands come under fire for chasing after the “pink pound” with their Pride clothing and ignoring LGBT+ people for the rest of the year.
In order to combat this, in recent years a number of brands have collaborated with LGBT+ artists and highlighted exactly how much money they’ll be donating to LGBT+ charities, and which charities will benefit from the Pride clothing sales.
This includes Target who have teamed up with queer, female-founded brands, TomboyX and Humankind for two limited edition ranges in 2022.
While Converse has launched its main collection alongside “Converse By You”, which lets fans create their own personalised “All Star” patch, license plate and laces, using the Progress Pride flag colours.
Levi’s has confirmed a $100,000 donation to OutRightAction International alongside its collection, while watch brand Skagen will donate all proceeds from its Pride range to InterPride throughout June.
Another recent release is Dr. Martens, who have reimagined their classic 1461 shoes with a subtle rainbow design against the monochrome white base.