Celebrating Five Years of the Tom of Finland Store Through Pics of Its Hunky Model/Muse, Terry Miller
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April 1 marks the official five-year anniversary of the Tom of Finland Store, located in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles, and a birthday celebration is in order!
Created by Joakim Andreasson, the Tom of Finland store is a hybrid brick-and-mortar boutique and gallery space, specializing in high-brow queerness. Shoppers will find a mix of outrageous ready-to-wear pieces, accessories, home goods, art and adult toys, and art-lovers can peruse work by some of the queerest names in the art world, like Bruce LaBruce and upcoming exhibition artist Pol Anglada.
Andreasson tells Hornet, “Our five-year anniversary highlights quite the evolution, from us solely carrying Tom of Finland products to blending a broad assortment of queer designs across categories — that just like Tom’s work uphold sex-positivity, freedom of expression, artistic integrity and infuses a lighthearted sense of humor into our daily lives.”
The April 1 five-year anniversary event is being held in honor of the icon himself, legendary queer artist Tom of Finland. Produced by D’Mahdnes LaVaughn, the event will be sponsored by the brand’s namesake vodka and wine, and will feature some of Los Angeles’ favorite go-go boys. (No party understands the value of eye candy like an L.A. party.)
And from its beginnings, one man has been the chiseled face of the Tom of Finland Store: Terry Miller. Model, father and activist Miller (whose husband’s name, Dan Savage, you may also recognize) has long been the store’s muse, advertising its wares online like a hunkier version of Price Is Right‘s “Barker Beauties.” In those five years, Miller’s own personal brand of bulging leather man and “professional daddy” has also taken off. He’s one of the web’s sexiest thirst traps and one of its most outspoken Metaverse critics, regularly detailing the tribulations of life as a queer content creator on mainstream social media.
“I was asked to be the face of the Tom of Finland Store five years ago,” Terry Miller tells us. “It was a perfect coupling of fashion and leather man, which worked perfectly with theirs and my aesthetic. Together we’ve managed to make some amazing magic and impactful images that have been flying around the internet since.”
To appropriately honor those impactful images — and the fifth birthday of the Tom of Finland Store — let’s take a look at (a small selection of) the many times Terry Miller has played the role of model and muse:
The Tom of Finland Store is located at 1105 N. El Centro Ave. in Los Angeles, California. The store’s April 1 event takes place 5-8 p.m.
You can also visit the store online here, and check them out on Instagram.
All photos courtesy of the Tom of Finland Store