Condoms: what do they have to do with fashion?

Jean Paul Gaultier’s regret? Only one: «Not having invented condoms». The French couturier said this during an interview in 1990, not as a provocation (as his fashion often used to do) but following the death of his partner Francis Menuge from HIV. Surprisingly, but not too much, fashion and sex have always been two interconnected themes much deeper than you can even imagine. To the point that the condom itself – or rather, the concept underlying the condom itself – has once again become the subject of discussion and a vehicle for debate in fashion. Seeing is believing celebrity looks.

Last May, she was the model Julia Fox to show off a look on the streets of Los Angeles that seems to be an invitation to free but safe sexuality. The top, the bag and the shoes worn over the sandals leave no doubts: those wedged between two layers of soft transparent Plexi are all condoms.

Instead, it was in June Rihanna – pregnant with her second child – to stir up her Instagram community: Use a condom, literally «Use a condom» is what can be read in large letters on his maxi black T-shirt, an archive piece of his brand Fenty. The T-shirt has had the approval of his followers, as someone confirms by writing: «Happy to use them. But even happier for you that you didn’t use one », he jokes in reference to the belly hidden under the shirt.

Community engagement is just confirmation of how millennials and Gen Z are much more inclined to have an open dialogue on sexuality todaya dialogue of which fashion is increasingly becoming the intermediary. For Successful Living is for example the claim that the Diesel fashion house brought to the catwalk with the Autumn-Winter 2023/2024 collection. And yet, the setting of the fashion show has remained even more imprinted in memory: a mountain of two hundred thousand boxes of Durex condoms, supporting the Diesel x Durex capsules with which the two brands have combined their values ​​to celebrate democracy, freedom of choice and sex positivity.

Added to this are the examples of small independent brands, such as the leather condom holder by Neil Barrettmade in a limited edition, e the one in crochet by the Jem brandwho by the way echoes Rihanna with a fitted white T-shirt that’s also printed on Use a condom.

The claim is obviously anything but new, because going back in time will remember the fashion moment of Naomi Campbell on the catwalk for Katharine Hamnett: the supermodel closed the Spring-Summer 2004 show wearing a crop top in transparent black tulle, studded with silver sequins to form the very phrase Use a Condom.

If one wanted to jump to hasty conclusions – and this is not the case – one could trivialize the discussion by thinking that fashion is making money on sex: this is the charge potentially levied against the condom for sale on the Saint Laurent e-commerce site at a cost of three euros (it’s sold out), preciously kept in a gold-colored package complete with a visible logo.

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The real conclusion, however, could be another, namely the real need to reintroduce the condom into the sexual life of the new generations. The Guardian reports that in 2021 condom use had declined considerably, according to a report from the Trojan brand. The pandemic then took its toll, lowering sales levels by 40% on a global scale. Who knows, perhaps the contribution of fashion may not support the sales and results currently set in the sector: the latest report on the subject, disclosed in June 2023 by Research and Marketslets us know that the condom industry is aiming for $13.4 billion by 2023, up from $8.5 billion in 2022. As Rihanna says, as Naomi says: Use a Condom!