After Dark: the boys of LC:M as 70s soft-core pin ups

Last season, LC:M cooked up a darkly sexual S&M vibe, but for SS15, we’ve been seeing a much more languid and quietly confident sensuality, in pieces that feel like they could slip off a shoulder and onto the floor at any moment. Add to that Katie Eary and Topman’s seventies-nineties vibe, Astrid Andersen’s sexy sumo-warrior athletes and Moschino’s beefcakes and our thoughts immediately went to the pages of legendary seventies homoerotic entertainment mag After Dark.

Born from a defunct ballroom dancing magazine (plenty of excuses for near-naked dance shots and close-up crotch action), After Dark hid in plain sight in its glass closet from 1968 to 1982, featuring Broadway stars and major Hollywood names photographed by the likes of Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts and Greg Gorman. With headlines like ‘Male skater mystique’ and ‘Musclebound for glory’, the magazine was an ode to the buff, male physique.

So in honour of the hot boys of LC:M, we’ve looked through the epic After Dark archives and paired up five of this week’s collections with what we think would be their spirit animal cover.

ASTRID ANDERSEN

If Astrid Andersen SS15 were an After Dark cover it would be May 1973 – giving some serious, strong attitude in a chest-baring kimono, playing on ideas of the ceremonial preening and dressing up of Japanese sumo-wrestlers and their fragile-tough aesthetics. 

J.W. ANDERSON

If J.W. Anderson SS15 were an After Dark cover it would be November 1971 – a bit arty and performative, playing a reveal and conceal game with the male body and pointing at you to rethink concepts like erogenous zones and what constitutes the male wardrobe.

MOSCHINO

If Moschino SS15 were an After Dark cover it would be Arnold on the February 1977 cover – loud, big and in-your-face while quietly pondering over things like OTT consumer consumption, vanity and counterfeit designer goods. 

KATIE EARY

If Katie Eary SS15 were an After Dark cover it would be September 1975, with Jim Dandy's macho (and very OTT) Southern rocker vibes, complete with bullet belt, sherriff's star and bare chest. 

TOPMAN DESIGN

If Topman Design SS15 were an After Dark cover it would be Andy Gibb as May 1979's poster boy. The Bee Gees' little brother's huge collar and eye-wateringly tight trousers (our bet is that they're generously flared) a bold declaration of that 70s sex god attitude.