Queerying:

Slick It Up for Halloween
From:  Queer Click

It's on!

The time is NOW to figure out what you're going to wear for Halloween. And quite frankly, as we see our straight brother and sisters take Halloween at their one chance a year to dress up in drag or as the slutty nurse they've always imagined themselves to be, it's easy to become rather apathetic about the holiday. No! If there was one holiday we could claim as our's, let it be Halloween and let us take the level of costuming to the next level.

Be damned bad Halloween store plastic and ill-fitting superhero suits that are afraid to show off your goods!!! Why not make your Halloween masculine and sexy this year? And for me, I will be looking no further than New York based, Slick It Up for ideas. Not only do they sell a lot of sexy and fun clothes year round, but they sell the stuff that generates all sorts of unique costume ideas. Just start here on their Total Packages category to get the creative juices jizzing.

I had the pleasure of meeting of with Slick It Up mastermind, David Mason in New York two weeks ago and it sold me more than ever that this is where I want to put my Halloween fetish dollar! David is a tall, built and wonderfully confident guy who is exactly what you think the owner of Slick It Up and it's pink sister site, Trophy Pony would be like. He's funny, handsome and curiously sexy.

David had just finished filming of his Halloween ad for Slick It Up with none other than Amanda Lepore. And he'd been teasing us on Twitter and Facebook about it. (There was a great shot him and Amanda and him playing video games on the bed.) But when I arrived at the studio, I was hoping to get the details on it. But he remained hush-hush about the commercial's plot itself, but you could tell he was excited about something great. When it premiered this past Monday, I understood his excitement! It's a perfect holiday ad:

This wasn't the first time David had talked to QueerClick about Slick It Up, (see our previous interview in 2011), but this time I got to thinking more about what Slick It Up represents to me. We started our conversation comfortably in his design studio amongst a stuffed hyena below a glass coffee table and beautifully glowing posters that features his work wonderfully photographed by Aaron Cobbett, Tim Palen and Exterface who (famously) photographed David as a diamond-clad unicorn stud!

David, who had been patiently waiting for me, seemed eager and excited to talk about his business. And as I asked a few of the standard interview-type questions, something occurred to me. Slick It Up just isn't a business of spandex fetish pieces and fun street clothes, but something a little more significant to me. When David said, "Everything I do, I make for myself or because friends and I are talking about something and so I make a T-shirt based off it," that's when it clicked. Slick It Up is the result of a creative mind, who has to express himself, or he'd likely explode! These clothes are a reflection of him, his dreams, musings perhaps on how he'd like us to live and best of all... a confidence in being a gay man in 2013.

It's easy to first say, Slick It Up is a merchant of fetish gear. But if you ask any of the serious leather guys or bondage crowd about the clothing, they'd likely discredit it as not being leather or truly for a heavy bound session—or even truly fetish gear. Not that the leather scene doesn't have it's place in our culture, Slick It Up's largely spandex-based line seems influenced by the 80s and 90s, where color, texture, where tight spandex workout gear and where sexual ambiguity were explored. These are David's decades of influence, as a kid and it all makes sense. This is also an era when saying your gay wasn't so taboo as the 50s or 60s, where the post-war leather scene was born out of. In contrast, Slick It Up is about fetish that's accessible and fun. There's a bit of humor and playfulness in everything sold. In addition, more than fetish, I'd venture to say Slick It Up is largely about fantasy in a queer, individually-inspired sense. Slick It Up inspires me to be my own superhero.

As we spoke and laughed more, I got to witness the man in action as he took a few work-related phone calls. It was his NYC-based factory with questions about the next piece they were developing. And that impressed me, everything that Slick It Up produces is not only designed first-hand by David, but is sourced and stitched downtown in New York City. His wonderfully fitting, Vented Leatherette Jacket is made incredibly well and stitched with details that flatter and well... just look good on a guy. And that goes for everything. Swimsuits, shorts, pants and even the hoods he sells are made to fit your body in a particular way. It's impressive the care and detail that goes into each piece.

And as we spoke more, the one thing that inspired me so much, as a writer and designer, myself was that this is a guy who is truly following his heart and his passion.

The one thing that inspired me so much, as a writer and designer, myself was that this is a guy who is truly following his heart and his passion. While you may not like every garment Slick It Up makes, you can't deny the clothing are a wonderful reflection of man who seems to have a wonderfully inspiring grasp on masculinity and being gay today in our world. I know this sounds heavy and well, a bit dramatic, but these clothes are confident, proudly flaunting what it means to be a guy and the art of being playful. These clothes are not afraid to be silly at times. It understands our influences, whether it be Dolly Parton or a reference to Paris Is Burning. And it's doing things that are new or that no one has seen before (pink spandex fetish wear?). And while everything David is creating is from his own

tastes and inspirations, it remains inclusive to all. That's in part due do to the playfulness Slick It Up does so well, and the fact that David's inspirations are a wonderful blend of pop culture, comic superhero fantasy and a keen sense of trend. When I step back and think about wearing one of his creations (from t-shirt to jock strap to spandex body suit), you can't help but feel a little bit of what's inspiring Slick It Up's creator too. At least, that was my reaction. And I'll tell you, while I am not regularly wearing black spandex pants that zip open on the ass, I do find that even just sporting a FREE ICE CREAM t-shirt on the Upper East Side of NYC gets surprisingly positive comments and attention that make me like the world I live in a little better.

So for me, it's decided. This Halloween I am going to explore not being a "character" or a slutty "insert whatever profession here" like so many tend to do. While I like to keep a secret of what I am going to be until the day, I can tell you my visit with David convinced me more than ever, I am going to be proudly wearing Slick It Up as a reflection of who I am. Confident, sexual and well, perhaps the best dressed at the Halloween party.