Clone

The Clone, often called the Castro Clone after San Francisco's gay neighborhood, was a distinct gay male style that emerged in the 1970s and lasted into the early 1980s. The uniform was deliberately rugged and working-class: a full mustache, short-cropped hair, a flannel shirt or tight white T-shirt, snug Levi's 501s, and work or construction boots. It appeared in cities like San Francisco and New York as a conscious rejection of the effeminate stereotypes that films and magazines had long pinned on gay men. By making masculinity visible and shared, the look also helped forge a sense of collective identity in the post-Stonewall years. Its influence still echoes in queer fashion today.