Just when I think NYC has seen it all, then comes something so ridiculous, it’s actually brilliant. Regular wool was apparently too straight for Michael Schmidt’s latest fashion show. The same went for the other Michael, sorry, Michel Stücke, the German farmer, Grindr, the key collaborator, Kelly Cutrone, the PR agent, Suss and Hanna Cousins, the knitting duo, and 36 looks of their joined forces.
It all started when a farmer near Cologne, Michel started rescuing rams that declined all offers from the female flock, yes, about one in twelve rams is gay, and in times like these, turns out even sheep need defending. In other words, if Stücke’s “Rainbow Wool” didn’t step in, those guys would have been unavailable forever, in fashion, in dating, in life in general. No one really wants an unexpected career change to… well, dinner. So when this story’s golden boy came out to his family at 24, this little saga began and somehow made its way to LA, landing in the hands of Tristan Pineiro, Grindr’s senior vice president of marketing. Naturally, he tapped PR queen Kelly Cutrone, who reconnected with Schmidt, her very first client from 1989.
We’ve seen Schmidt’s work on Beyoncé, Cher, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Doja Cat, Versace and Chrome Hearts, but never on sheep. That, of course, changes quickly. “It’s not just an animal rights story,” Michael told Dazed at the “I Wool Survive” show. He knew homosexuality isn’t limited to humans, animals live it too. A plain fashion show wouldn’t cut it, so he went full Grindr. Campy, sexy, and over-the-top, making sure to remind us that queer desire exists everywhere, discrimination on the other hand, should not.
With the help of mother-and-daughter knitters, Suss and Hanna Cousins, the show featured 36 models, raising a toast to Stücke and his 35 “black sheep”. The collection played in the territory of gay fantasy archetypes, think sailors, policemen, cowboys, doctors, boxers, pizza delivery guys, I even saw a knitted snake strutting down the runway at some point. But in the end, the show wasn’t about cute knitwear, it packed a far more serious message. Love and desire, human or animal, deserve respect, and if a runway full of gay wool can make that point, so be it. Fashion might’ve just leveled up.
