Retro Leather Biker Bandana — Vintage Queer Illustration

This hand silk-screened bandana features a vintage, artist-unknown illustration drawn from the visual world of mid-century and 1970s gay leather and biker culture. Rendered in bold black silhouette and framed by a traditional paisley border, the image reflects the graphic language of an era when style, posture, and uniform carried meaning long before words were safe.

The artwork is presented here as archival queer illustration—not explicit, but iconic. Leather caps, harness lines, and biker stance become visual shorthand for identity, community, and coded belonging. Much of this imagery circulated without attribution, a result of the social and legal realities facing queer artists and publishers at the time.

Each bandana is hand silk-screened in NYC in small batches, giving the print a crisp, high-contrast finish with subtle variation from piece to piece. The classic square format and paisley frame reference workwear and Western bandanas, while the central figure anchors the piece firmly in queer leather history.

Details

• Hand silk-screened in NYC
• Black permanent acrylic silkscreen ink on 100% cotton bandanas
• Bandana size: 21" × 21"
• Image size: approximately 17" × 17"
• Multiple colorways available

Part accessory, part artifact, this bandana reads as wearable visual culture — a nod to the silhouettes and codes that shaped modern leather and biker aesthetics.