We are excited to announce the launch of our 'Guts Carabiners', celebrating the history of queer culture.
“Queerness has historically been encoded in clothes and accessories: secret signals when discreteness was crucial. Alongside symbols such as the green carnation worn by Oscar Wilde, the hanky, and the thumb ring, carabiners have been enfolded into queer semiotics, as well. They remain a sartorial symbol of lesbian culture that took hold during WW2, as women entered the labor force in roles traditionally occupied by men. Carabiners served women in the blue collar workforce as a multifunctional tool, and over time, they came to symbolize lesbian identity. The working class associations of carabiners in this context flourished in the 1970s among feminists who dressed to subvert the male gaze. The carabiner later played a small but important part in American cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir, Fun Home, about the relationship between a father and daughter, both of whom are gay.”
– © Johannes Reponen