I originally wanted to play a game of “Folsom Street Fair Bingo” at yesterday’s 40th annual iteration of San Francisco’s iconic kink and fetish event, until I quickly realized that half the bingo squares would probably be stuff I shouldn’t write about here, while the other half are things we best not show in photos.
“I’m just here for the shopping,” said Red Bettie, a local performer perusing the gear and goods at the many stalls selling BDSM toys, kink-related artwork, and — most especially — custom-made sexy apparel. And that’s when I realized the best part of Folsom isn’t the action — it’s the fits. Come for the kink, but stay for the looks.
Attending the fair with anyone dressed to the nines in their fetish wear finery means “S&M” takes on a whole new meaning, especially when trying to walk the length of the fair, which is normally just a 15-minute stroll from 8th Street to 12th Street. But for anyone dressed to kill, those four blocks can take half the day, as one gets endlessly stopped for photographs by the more sartorial-challenged. Indeed, for many Folsom Street Fair attendees, S&M means “stand & model.”
But of course, San Francisco’s favorite street fair has always been a fashion show, and yesterday’s sunny — and thankfully mostly warm — day brought out the fashionistas in droves. Long gone are the days of Folsom being a predominantly gay male event with everyone looking like they just stepped out of a Tom of Finland illustration. Now it’s fetish fashion for every stripe, gender, and sexual identity.
Over the past four decades, the street fair has slowly transitioned from being a strictly gay leather event into an explosion of sexual variety, a veritable buffet of kinky self-expression, erotic exploration, and gender identity (or non-gender identity — do furries and pups even have a gender?). And we’re not just talking about the expansion of fashion choices beyond the BDSM clichés of leather and latex, either. The Playground stage, for instance, prided itself on being a “space for women of every kind and all trans and nonbinary folks.” The increasing inclusivity for this old-school gay event is what has kept Folsom Street Fair so much fun and vibrant over the years.
Perhaps nobody embodies this new spirit more than Mx. SF Leather Denali Winter, San Francisco’s first non-binary leather title winner. “This is the first year this category even exists,” they explained. “So there’s not even an official leather winner’s sash made yet!” Instead, Mx. Denali made DO with a temporary cloth version, wearing it with obvious pride.
As the day wore on and the streets got more crowded, it became increasingly difficult to move through the crowds, so local designer Rissa Noell and I sought refuge from the throngs by checking in on her custom RosyRipe latex collar designs, being sold at the MikroBlack booth.
This was the first year at Folsom for this new, high-end fashion shop in the Castro. With a focus on fetish-inspired, all-black clothing, it’s no surprise that proprietress Jewels Good wanted to bring her wares to the fair. Her booth was busy all day. I asked if she thought “S&M” stood for “stand & model.” “Yes!” she exclaimed. “But it also stands for small and medium,” she said with a wink as she turned back to fit a customer into an outfit they’ll no doubt be wearing at next year’s Folsom Street Fair.
Adriana Roberts is a DJ and performer with her Bootie Mashup parties, as well as a writer and trans influencer.
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More photos from Folsom Street Fair 2023
