Interlude: Summer Leather

It is summer here in Florida and I also just returned from Kink Down South , a relatively new event in Atlanta Only their second year , but it's really growing , quite incredibly , by leaps and bounds . It's also summer in Atlanta , let me tell you .

So I've been thinking about the transition to gear during the summer and in part I'm a little blessed in that I have more than enough gear , that I have winter weight leather and I have summer weight leather . So I have some leather jeans that are a little thinner than I can wear for a while during the summer , and obviously the heavier stuff is for winter .

So I thought it might be useful to reflect a little bit on how to do gear in the summer , particularly as climate change continues to be an issue for us all . We're facing hotter and hotter summers .

Some of the essentials , I think , for summer gear First of all , short lace-up boots , because those look best with shorts , and at some point you're going to be wearing shorts in the summer in a leather space . I'm a big fan of the Carolina Lager .

They are fairly affordable under $200 , available widely , including Amazon , and that's really your base , because if you've got boots on , you're there right . Add a hanky and a pocket , a pair of jean shorts and a tank top and a hanky and boots and a pair of gloves and you're good to go .

So if you don't have a pair of short , lace-up boots , I would recommend getting some . And then think about leather shorts . I have two pairs of leather cargo shorts one from pre-op in Montreal from decades ago and one that I had made for me locally . I also have a pair of really booty kind of leather gym shorts that are fun to wear sometimes .

Um , you know , mr Regalio actually has a great selection of shorts at their usual affordable prices Most of their shorts are under $200 , a variety of colors . They have five pocket jean shorts and they have cargo shorts .

So if you're thinking about , well , I don't have any , well , that's great for you , edge , but I don't have any leather shorts , it's a good investment to make . They do really quality , decent gear . I will occasionally go out in jeans with taller boots , but obviously then I'm creating double layer around my calves and ankles and they just get a little sweaty .

So I am a little more inclined to wear shorts when I go out during the summer , but jeans particularly if it's the evening , I can wear jeans and I can wear boots and I'm good to go .

I am extra challenged because I'm a cigar smoker and that means that I am always driven to the outdoor spaces and so I have to be really mindful that I'm not going to be someplace that's air conditioned . If you are not a cigar smoker , god bless you . Hopefully , whatever leather spaces you're entering have really good air conditioning .

Not a guarantee , I will say that . Not a guarantee . We have two leather bars here in Fort Lauderdale . We are quite blessed , and I find the air conditioning really uneven in both of them . So you kind of have to know where the air conditioning vents are and where to stand to get that beautiful blast of cold air .

So it's not simply the fact that , oh well , if you're a cigar smoker , you're going to be outside in the heat . Sometimes you're not a cigar smoker You're going to be indoor in a hotter part of the bar . So these are really broad questions of what can I wear ? What can I wear ?

Jeans , boots , shorts , boots on the top , t-shirts it's a great time for T-shirts . It is a great time for vests . It's a great time for sleeveless shirts Great time to just wear a pair of suspenders .

I carry a lot of body privilege right , so I will go shirtless to the bar quite a bit , and that was a journey that is actually a lifelong journey for me , and it's probably only been in the past eight well , maybe past seven years where I've felt comfortable taking my shirt off in a bar . So I get it .

If that's not a place you are , or who you are , or if you're not at that level of comfort within your skin , it's hard . It's so hard , and so you may not have the privilege of being able to take your shirt off and just walk around with whatever pants you're wearing . That's where vests come in handy .

A vest is fairly light and I'd actually have winter weight vests and summer weight vests . But a vest is fairly light and it also is really good at dressing the body . It sort of hides a lot of what we want hidden and it shows a lot of what we want shown .

So a good vest is a good friend of yours because it is kind to you and to your body and perhaps to some of your body insecurities . Suspenders are great . Suspenders are great with a t-shirt , without a shirt , maybe with a tank top , depending on the tank top , and those are your options up top right . You want comfort ?

Oh , I have a leather tank top , depending on the tank top , and those are your options up top right . You want comfort ? Oh , I have a leather tank top too , and you can get perforated leather . My experience is it's like just as hot as regular leathers .

I don't know why people bother and I'm not a big fan of the kind of textural residue from all the tiny little holes . So I'm not a big fan of perforated leather . I do have a really fl leather tank top that I had made and that's something to keep in mind . You know there are very few great custom makers for leather right now .

I think we're all keeping an eye out for who's able to do that work and who's coming up . But if you have a tank top that really fits you and if you have a good local seamstress or tailor , they might be able to reproduce it in leather probably not cheaply .

The good news is that for summer weight stuff we want the thinnest , thinnest leather possible , probably going to be lambskin right Something really soft , something really light . That means it can be worked on a regular sewing machine with someone with just sufficient experience in working with thinner weights of leather .

And so what you could do is find a tank top that you think looks great on you , do some local research and see if there's someone locally who would be willing to reproduce it in leather . That's actually how I got my leather tank top .

It was just this sort of super slutty tank top from International Mail which is dating myself and also telling you how slutty it is , and I brought it in . I said make this in leather please . And they did , and so that's one of my summer weight items . I'll also say I disappear a lot in the summer . It's just too hot to go out at all and so I don't .

I don't . I will not go out to the bar , as often I may not go out to the bar for weeks . We have a lot of different social events connected in our community . Not many of those will run during the summer and if they do , I will show up in the minimum amount of gear . In some ways , summer is a kind of reverse hibernation for me .

I hunker down in the chilly , chilly cold of my condo and I wait . It's not great , it is not great .

It is not great to be less connected to the people in my community but also less connected to the spaces that feed me , those leather spaces where I feel so at home , and I got to say maybe it's just aging , but like the older I get , the longer , the more I'm just like no , we are not going out tonight , it's not happening , and I'm becoming pretty okay

with that . I gotta say I do still have some regular connections . Right , I have my monthly cigars with my best leather friend , steve .

I have weekly cigars with my best friend , tj , and those aren't gear , fortunately , those are just regular clothes and they are hot enough because we are both outside on both those occasions and so it's not like I don't have any connection and I'm certainly open to people coming over to my beautifully air-conditioned cigar-friendly condo and us having some fun .

I don't really have any regular play buddies at the moment and of course I remain single . I don't have anyone special moment , and of course I remain single . I don't have anyone special , although I do have special people in my life that I will go spend time with , but none of them are here . So this and goodness , I'm recording this June 16th .

Oh , happy Father's Day . Everyone , happy Father's Day . I record this June 16th in Florida , which is miserably hot and humid , knowing that it's probably going to be four to six months before I'm really out in gear again .

Florida only has two seasons we have winter and we have summer , and the winter is beautiful and the summer is miserable , and it usually breaks . Maybe it breaks late October , maybe it breaks in November , maybe it breaks in December .

So I have a period of retreat coming , and as part of that too , I've cut back on travel so much I feel like I've been traveling the entire first half of this year . My trip to Kingtown South is the last scheduled leather event that I have on the calendar .

There's a good chance I'm going to be going to one in the fall , but that , I don't know , is super duper definite . So I'm not going to announce that yet , and so I'm done with travel for a little bit . I'm going to go see my very special person , my sex buddy boy . I don't know what we are , but we're really good together .

It is nice to be home and not have to travel . Travel is just exhausting . But enough about me . Let me think about offering you some more takeaways for your summer gear . First of all , no hats , do not wear hats . Hats just make you hot . Hats are miserable , especially covers . I will not wear a cover during the summer .

If I do , I make sure I have a hanky with me so I can wipe the sweat off my head and wipe the sweat out of the cover . Now , if you have hair , you've got a little bit of cushion in there , because you've got essentially a giant sponge on your head that's going to soak up all your sweat . I don't have any hair and it's just a pool of sweat .

No , no hats . I do not recommend hats during the summer . Think about tank tops , t-shirts , no shirts . A vest is your very best friend because it covers everything you want covered and it shows everything you want to show . And I do think leather shorts are a really great addition .

I will say you know Mr S sells these chap shorts and they're very summer appropriate and if that's a look that appeals to you , go for it . I don't love them and in part because if we're being street legal , if we're going to the bar in these , then I'm wearing a pair of jean shorts and then leather on top of that , so it ends up just being sweatier .

Presumably , depending on your local context , you can wear them just with a jockstrap , I suppose , but they don't appeal to me aesthetically . That's all I will say . I know people who have them . I know people who love them . It's a good option because it has a lot of ventilation front and back , but it's not something I would necessarily wear

. Shorts great , shorts are fantastic . Plus , shorts have pockets and we need pockets when we go out . Speaking of pockets , rubber does not have pockets . When I went to Kingtown South , I saw a number of people in Atlanta daylight bearing , beating brutal sun in full rubber , and I honestly do not know how they did it .

I have a very tenuous relationship with rubber because I think it's so hot in a sexy sense , but I also think it is quite demanding of attention and work , whereas my leather is not . So if you wear rubber during the summer , god bless you . You are certainly a fetishist beyond . You're a fetishist beyond . That is not who I am .

Wherever you are in the world , I hope summer is less than brutal . I think . Increasingly we're getting reports that it's bad everywhere . There are heat domes popping up here in the United States that are literally deadly , but we hear across the world that people are suffering from extraordinary heat .

The one thing I will say about Florida is that we are built for extraordinary heat . Every place has really good air conditioning , really good air conditioning , and that was funny because when I went to Atlanta again , you think Atlanta , certainly they would have really good air conditioning .

No , there are a couple places I went that didn't seem to have air conditioning or hadn't turned it on , and I was so deeply baffled . I know from my time in the Northeast that cities in Canada may not have air conditioning , cities in Minnesota may not have air conditioning . Cities in the Pacific Northwest you may not have air conditioning .

So , as brutal as it is , here in Florida , we are ready for it . So there is that If you're in some place that is moving into the effects of climate change and having more brutal of a summer , I hope you have access to good air conditioning .

I hope , if you don't , that you stay hydrated and perhaps , like me , maybe we all just do a little reverse hibernation , maybe connect a little bit more online , maybe turn inward a little and do some inner work to get ready for the return of cooler weather and heavier gear . That's all I've got for you this time , guys . Thank you so much .

Oh wait , that's all I've got for you this time , people . I don't like to be gendered . Gendering is not cool . That's all I've got for you this time , people . I don't like to be gendered . Gendering is not cool . That's all I've got for you this time , people . So whatever you're doing , be safe .