and because he’s a proud gay man, and also a proud chav. because it’s a part of his culture and childhood. My experience tells me that louis isn’t wearing streetwear because it’s something his team have forced him to do.
We reclaimed the classist slur ‘chav’, and we turned it into a badge of pride. how dare they survive and thrive together and create art and music telling the world the truth about how the government abandoned and abused them for decades. those rough, dirty, troublemaking chavs in their cheap rebok trackies, how dare they create their own subculture and exist within their own demographic. In reality it’s a deeply important and ingrained part of working class culture, and one that has been used against us. to this day, I go down my local pub for a drink and there are gay people wearing tracksuits, presenting as what people outside of wc communities interpret as solely masculine. streetwear at its core was made to be easy, comfortable, and cheap in the 80s/90s, and early 2000s. it’s a subversion of stereotype and also just a comfort. his engagement with the polari brand is a good example. There is a very profound overlap of lgbt and working class culture in the uk.
but overall, the arguments regarding louis’ gender expression regarding his clothes and personal style lack an understanding of the way working class communities in britain navigate very prevalent lgbt identities. there are multiple reasons why streetwear was adopted and worn by uk working class communities and a lot of it can be found in a google search. so, everyone dismisses louis’ general style in 2019 as something that is regulated and highly influenced by the abusive people on louis’ team trying to push a het narrative, and not a genuine love of streetwear evolving from louis’ roots of growing up in a working class neighbourhood.