Where did body harness come from?

Fashion body harness is a hot thing right now and to be honest it has been a topic for discussion ever since its debut. Let's get a little in what it is and what path had it taken on its way to the fashion Olympus. 

The name "harness" in English is a courtesy of the fetish days this accessory lived through before hitting runaways. The French call it porte-épée which comes from the words carry(porte) and sword(épée). This little French lesson actually gives us more insight on the original background of the body harness. It had the same roots as an iconic jacket of Jimmy Hendrix and combat boots(dear to all the of us rock stars at heart) – it came from the military background. Originally used to hold a weapon these beautiful belts were heavily used in the revolution of sexually oppressed nation in the 70s. This is how harness had gained reputation of a leather kink. 

Since then a lot of brands contributed to the upbringing of the harness as a fashion statement. For example Fleet Ilya that was featured on many covers and genius Zana Bayne who rocked the fashion world in 2010 causing the extreme popularization of the accessory. We all remember the beginning 2010th - it was highly leathery and daring and we were all here for that. Rihanna and Lady Gaga put the hand on harness hitting the mass market and from there it went up. Asos, Dolls Kill and the list goes on and on, from gothic themed online shop like Nasty Gal to your regular mass market shops like H&M.

Since it’s big boom in 2011-2013 fashion body harness had a little bit of a vacation, never really disappearing from the market. The body chains that you’ve seen all over your Instagram last summer? Well it’s a love child of harness and your regular chain necklace. 

But now we are stepping into the era that nobody expected would happen(and thank god they were wrong)– male body harness is a big thing right now and boy doesn’t it look stunning. Before this AW2019- 2020 collection body harness wasn’t really popular with men who weren’t in the LGBTQ+ community(apart from them TV-show detectives). And now we have them male harnesses that completely flipped the idea of harness being a sexual dare and nothing more. The new harness is about the statement, but it’s completely different statement that mirrors modern society. 

At Dark Mariposa we took a different turn than DSTM and mentioned earlier Fleet Ilya – we believe that harness is not about sex anymore. It had played huge role in popularizing and emerging sex culture into our every day lives (as it should be, because you know... everybody is having sex). But nowadays it’s a completely independent accessory. It is safe to say that unlike most of the brands mentioned earlier our body harnesses are 100% Eco leather that don't contain hurtful PVC. 

Dark Mariposa is a young blood in the leather goods business, that is true. But sometimes the fresh face is all you need to change the idea behind the product.