California-based Tom Banwell's handcrafted leather masks have made the rounds lately (Kingdom of Style, Style Bubble, and Fashion Me Fabulous, for instance, but it's certain that he's a familiar figure amongst the steampunk set) and it's easy to see why. His Etsy store features his intricate creations at incredibly affordable prices, including some lovely filigreed masks as well as this glittering, glamorous unicorn.I'm quite tempted to buy this unicorn mask in light of Christina Hanhardt's wonderful lecture last spring, during which she noted the queer radicalism of these mythical creatures, citing both Audre Lorde's The Black Unicorn and the mysterious '70s lesbian feminist affinity group L.A.U.R.E.L. --a.k.a., Lesbians and Unicorns Resisting Every Limit-- for which she wore a silk-screened t-shirt under her "respectable" crew-neck sweater (yes, she did disrobe as part of the performance, and we liked it!). The question then becomes, What if you're both queer and a unicorn?
