(Un)covered bodies: fashion and masculinities in an ethnographic propose

Abstract

As part of the final results obtained in a doctoral research (an urban photoethnography applied to fashion), an urban group is presented here, formed by men, between 25 and 50 years old, with a strong desire for consumption, frequenters of pool parties and after parties (electronic parties). aimed at the homosexual public), which elaborates its fashion lexicon through the choice of clothing and aesthetic interventions that project and frame their (re)designed bodies. From there, reflections on consumption and identity (BAUMAN, 2008), corporeality (LE BRETON, 2012, 2013, 2016) and symbolic capital (BOURDIEU, 1989, 2015) converge. Pool party goers translate their ideals of fashion consumption into the belief that their musculature — bought, built and standardized — is synonymous with success and social insertion, therefore it must be evidenced. The selection of photographs, carried out by this researcher, reports their immersions in the following places: Brasília, Recife, São Paulo, João Pessoa, Natal, Tibau do Sul and Maceió, between December 2020 and March 2022. The ethnographic data presented corroborate, thus, the thesis that, in face of the countless pressures of consumption, the male body (covered by tattoos, cut during gym hours, hormonal modulations and large and invasive dermato-cosmetic procedures, to different degrees) — before a mere adjunct to dressing — it is (re)designed and elevated to the central position of a fashion element, generating a desire for belonging comparable to that
provoked by menswear products.