The Hornissance
Unpacking the horny culture of the most "sex-negative generation"
“Gen Z is sex-negative” seems to be thrown around by the media and amateur culture critics as some sort of universal truth. The Atlantic declared a sex recession, The New York Times practically equated getting laid to a patriotic act, and people all over social media argued that my peers are the generation of “puriteens” who want to cancel porn, censor kink at pride, and skip R-rated scenes in movies.
My universal take on moral panic essays, especially about young people, is that most of it, if not all, is dumb and exaggerated, but nonetheless a really fun read and a fascinating display of what too much internet can do to one’s brain. “Young boys not getting laid” isn’t ranking very high on my World’s Most Pressing Issues list at the moment, but even if it did, on a personal level, the solution seems comically obvious. Honestly, the solution to the majority of the culture discourse seems to be obvious. Hate social media? Don’t have any. Worried the algorithm is affecting your taste? Look for inspiration elsewhere. Exhausted by dating apps? Flirt at a bar. Look, I know that some of it spills over into the mainstream culture, consumption, and larger problems, but does any of this really need a systemic solution, like the housing crisis and international conflicts? Keep your eyes on the prize!
In any case, worry not, because horny culture is alive and well on my side of the “sexless generation” experience. In fact, I think there might be an uptick in horny brand visuals, music, and movies as of late.
Raimundo Langlois, a 26-year-old New York-based designer, is bringing horny prep back with ultra low-rise jeans, fitted track sweaters, and brand imagery that looks like a Y2K Abercrombie & Fitch fever dream shot through the lens of post-modern parody. Abercrombie & Fitch is a brand with complicated, messed up history, but its catalogue shoots from the 90s are so funny and almost endearing to look at today because of how disconnected its suggestive, homoerotic imagery is from its deeply straight all-American brand positioning. Sometimes it’s quite literally just a bunch of beefy dudes laughing together in the backyard of what looks like a summer house in Rhode Island with their pants hanging off their calves. Fellas, who among you hasn’t done that? Raimundo Langlois captures this unintentionally corny horny imagery with the type of humor that exists somewhere in between fantasy and hyperrealism.
On the luxury fashion side, Nicolas Di Felice, a designer at the helm of the Courrèges’s rebrand, is also “in search of a thrill.” He isn’t part of my generation, but his main goal at Courrèges is to make clothes that young people want to wear. And having more than doubled sales each year since his arrival at the brand, it’s safe to say, he is good at it. Di Felice’s Fall 24 Women’s collection features an abundance of provocative front pockets on otherwise quite minimal and full-coverage garments — below-the-knee skirts, flared pants, and floor-length coats.
Women’s empowerment is one of the core Courrèges motifs. The brand is widely credited with the invention of miniskirts in the 60s and putting women in geometrically-shaped clothes in attempt to conceal their curves and free them from excessive objectification. And Di Felice’s modern, masculine, and almost trivial take on it is quite compelling. His “explicit-but-not garments” are far more intriguing and interesting than Saint Laurent’s nostalgia-inspired sheer dresses, presented during the same season, possibly because showing a lot of skin isn’t the revolutionary act of rebellion it used to be in the 60s. And even if you are convinced that young people are sex-negative, Chelsea Peng offered an interesting interpretation of the front-pocket garments that takes this theory for a spin:
“What’s more interesting to me is that these pieces are selling a facsimile of sex in a time when young people are famously squeamish about getting it on. By displacing the idea of self-pleasure (or even the nether regions themselves) to an outer layer of fabric, we simultaneously remove ourselves from the body beneath while drawing attention to it. In a way, this brand of arm’s-length sexuality is spot-on for the current clime, where we’ll put on our most daring outfits to post a pic — but then never actually wear them out in the environments that present opportunities for attraction (and acting on it).”
Di Felice’s garments are a good representation of how indirect horny references in young people’s culture can be. Possibly the sluttiest thing a young man can do is read feminist fiction outside of a wine bar or strategically place a copy of Bell Hooks in his “boy room.” And according to some of my boy friends, if you are looking for love in New York, it’s best to skip the bar and the club in favor of a late afternoon run down the West Side Highway, aka “the horniest trail in New York” (although the one time I tried doing that, I got distracted by Airbnb’s Brian Chesky walking his dogs during a work call). Also, I like the Saint Laurent hosiery dress but realistically, where would I wear it? In that sense, Courrèges’s front pockets aren’t only a more nuanced and modern take on sex appeal but also a far more practical one.
Another, maybe more obvious, shift in provocative creative direction is that more brands and artists are speaking to “the girls and the gays” rather than straight men. The golden era of “sex sells” marketing had women eating burgers in bikinis and posing with a Tom Ford Men’s fragrance on their naked chest. Every hot piece of media produced in the past few years has some version of Troye Sivan in hot drag, terrifyingly hot internet girls, Zendaya wrapping two skinny white boys around her finger, or a hot older woman striking up a romance with a young pop singer. Maybe we are getting more seats at the table or creating whole new tables, or maybe even the straight male execs are starting to realize who moves the culture forward and keeps the economy afloat.
In any case, it’s fun to read the comments under suggestive imagery that doesn’t center the straight men’s fantasies — from Marc Jacobs’s Valentine’s Day campaign to SSENSE’s weirdly sensual Salomon photoshoot, directed by Pietro d’Azzo. It may not be Tom Ford for Gucci, but in 2024, does it need to be? What most brands and industry “adults” are mistaking as sex-negative may actually be just a more mature and modern take on how to portray sex. Can you seriously blame the people who grew up not the internet for wanting to see something that’s more interesting and meaningful than a naked chest? Give me humor, give me representation, and show how weird, vulnerable, and awkward sex and the culture around it can be.
IN THE MARGINS
Besides apparently collecting horny imagery all over the internet, I’ve got a couple more things I’ve been obsessed with:
Read Running Culture Is The New Streetwear in
last week, and hyperfixated on casually styled running vests, Satisfy’s dusty and sweaty take on running gear, Global Advisory’s On case study, and Samantha Sugarman’s rec.center for community sports.
LA Chess Club because I’d rather have a man teach me how to play chess than mansplain the economy or tell me all about his frat parties in college. It also speaks to the last week’s issue. Shout out
for talking about the club in !Marc Jacobs’s Met Gala nails. When we talk about why Marc Jacobs the brand has been killing it on TikTok, we need to consider that it’s possibly because Marc Jacobs himself is obsessed with TikTok.
Every time I read something about Gen Z being sex negative I'm so confused because me and everyone I talk to agree that this is the horniest culture has ever been!
fun!! this is such a timely read considering bumble's recent campaign flop. maybe they should have considered upping the ante and leaning into a more sexy messaging rather than whatever they did do lol