We have had a couple of posts about New York Rangers hockey thug and fashion maven Sean Avery, which prompted me to joke that, given his tastes and interests, he is gayer than me. A summer intern at Vogue, Avery has a fashion photo slideshow, where he has the good sense in some shots to pose shirtless.
We have had a couple of posts about New York Rangers hockey thug and fashion maven Sean Avery, which prompted me to joke that, given his tastes and interests, he is gayer than me. A summer intern at Vogue, Avery has a fashion photo slideshow, where he has the good sense in some shots to pose shirtless.
“Why would a 28-year-old pro hockey player want to be an intern at Vogue?” I guess the answer could be complicated, but to me it’s simple: I like clothes. Always have. What started innocently enough with my first tie-dyed Chip & Pepper shirt at age 12 has evolved over a decade and a half into a closet full of Dries Van Noten, YSL, Dior, and Costume National, to name just a few. (Strange as it may seem, I think women’s clothes are especially interesting — there are so many options, and they can tell more of a story.) And somewhere along the way, this love of clothes led me to what’s become known as “the bible of fashion.”
Avery also blogs. In one post, he discusses the worst-looking uniforms in sports history.
On the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup uniforms: “It takes a lot to make the average pro golfer look even less fashionable, but the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team did just that with these patterned shirts. “
Pittsburgh Pirates: “In 1977 the Pittsbugh Pirates adopted these mix-and-match uniforms. They sometimes wore all gold, sometimes all black, sometimes a combo. They always wore the striped pillbox hat.”
Avery does address his love of fashion and the reception it receives:
I don’t watch sports. I don’t read about sports. Generally, other than spending a lot of time in dressing rooms both at home and on the road, I don’t hang out with other athletes. Over breakfast in hotels when the Rangers are on the road, I read the Style section in The New York Times. Some people question whether I’m straight; others give me compliments. Some women find it a turn-on. My teammates are very supportive and cool about my interest in fashion — sometimes they even ask for my advice on what to wear. But I’d be lying to you if I said that I don’t take some verbal abuse from opposing players for the clothes I wear, or for my interest in something — ‘fashion’ — that I think sounds a little frightening to narrow-minded blockheads. I also realize that this isn’t necessarily their fault — they think it’s what they’re supposed to think.
Outsports’ Jim Allen also reads the Style section of the New York Times, but he does it on my couch while watching NFL games. So that makes each of us less gay than Avery in our tastes. —Jim Buzinski
Hat tip to Outsports reader Lawrence Young.
