Sophisticated in Leather

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Leather is the hide of an animal made into a smooth and sexy material. When a woman is adorned in leather, it sends off psychological and subliminal messages to the submissive顺从 — willing to obey male. In the nineteenth century, Fur was a popular European fetish恋物 — a strong sexual focus on one thing. The book "Venus in Furs" was about a man's desire to be whipped by a woman while she was wearing fur.

Fur represented man's natural conquest through the hunting and dominating of the animal kingdom. When a woman wore fur and disciplined a man, it represented the female conquering and dominating the male. That is what leather represents today. It contains an animalistic meaning, as the traditional hunter is now the hunted. When a woman wears leather, it represents the female conquering and dominating this so-called man's world.

Leather became known as a clothing of sexuality. Leather became popular with Rock and Roll bands, especially Heavy Metal bands and Punk Rock bands of the 1980's.

Teenagers and College students began to wear leather as a popular fad, complete with the S&M imagery of chains and studs, as a way of indentifying with their favorite Rock bands.

The fashion world began to become bolder and more sexual in the 1980's and 1990's. What was wild and untamed in the 1980's was scaled back to become more conservative and mainstream in the 1990's.