Sophisticated in Leather

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Leather culture had its origins in the increasingly public and specifically gay culture that flourished in major U. S. port cities during and after World War II.

Some gay men shared an interest in military life, its hierarchy and its honor codes, as well as its trappings, especially uniforms, close-cropped hair, the motorcycle, and its requisite leather attire.

The first of these institutions were motorcycle clubs, already being formed by the early 1950s. Clubs staged runs, public events where people could meet and members of different clubs come together.

Conduct within some clubs was strictly regimented, following quasi-military conceptions of hierarchy and protocol.

Leather came to be known as a dominant material, a material worn by those in authority. The Leather culture spilled over into the heterosexual community as dominant women began to wear leather as a societal signal of their desire to dominate men.

The origins of leather were thus multiple, and the "Old Guard" had many faces. But with the coming of the sexual revolution, and the women's liberation and the gay liberation movements, the conception of leather culture was further broadened and transformed.

People have loved leather since the first civilizations. There are fragments of clothing and footwear still intact today from biblical times that were found in the caves of Masada in Israel.