19 Pride Month gifts that aren’t rainbow-washed

Pride Month isn’t about rainbow-washing your feed with slogans no one means or wearing a glittery plastic pin made in a factory that actively underpays its workers. It’s about taste. Bad taste that circles back to brilliance. And gifts that speak queer in fluency, not marketing decks. Whether you’re shopping for your best friend, your sneaky link or your gorgeously complex self, here are 19 Pride gifts that aren’t tragic.

1. A bumbag (or a version of it)

Prada – Triangular embellished satin and leather mini-pouch, Price on request

Because nothing says “I’m curated, calculating and armoured” louder than an embellished pouch slung across the chest.

2. A cigarette box

Saint Laurent Paris – Cigarette box in vegetable tanned leather, ₹63,551

It looks like it holds cigarettes, but actually holds boundary issues and three unsent drafts of a breakup text.

3. Vivienne Westwood orb necklace

Vivienne Westwood – Mini bas relief pendant necklace, ₹16,675

It is not a phase, it is a queer rite of passage.

4. Paul Mescal’s micro Gucci shorts

Gucci – Striped cotton shorts with embroidery, ₹77,400

Getty Images

Because thighs are a right, not a privilege.

5. Alone Together by Perfumehead

Perfumehead – Alone Together Extrait de Parfum, ₹21,377/30ml

Smells like queer summer heartbreak and moss. Wear it while listening to Sufjan Stevens.

6. Jacob Elordi’s bathwater-scented candle (Saltburn edition)

Etsy – Jacob Elordi’s bathwater candle, ₹2,603

Smells like unresolved tension.

7. A Nan Goldin print

Yvon Lambert – Nan Goldin – Print (2004), ₹4,960

Emotionally wrecked in soft lighting. Just like you.

8. A Diptyque shampoo

Diptyque – Perfumed shampoo, ₹4,900

For the softboi in healing. Smells like hope and longing.

9. A Polaroid camera

Polaroid – I-2 instant camera ₹58,664

Not all memories are meant to be clear.

10. A very good fan that snaps open with force and fury. Even better if it’s vintage.

Farfetch – Pre-owned vintage 1920s feather fan, ₹34,878

Great for club exits, shade and mildly violent flirting.

11. Anything by Jonathan Anderson

JW Anderson – Cafe scene all-over print t-shirt, ₹18,500

It doesn’t matter what. It’s already queer-coded.

12. Gaultier mesh tops

Jean Paul Gaultier – The ‘le classique’ top, ₹8,950

A trompe l’oeil fever dream for the fashion-insecure and fabulous.

13. Laetitia Rouget’s candle holders

Laetitia Rouget – Pink tulip candle holder, ₹16,308

Looks like a candelabra in drag.

14. A silk robe

Versace – Graphic-print silk robe, ₹1,95,289

Clearly not for modest mornings. You don’t wear it, you enter in it.

15. A leather harness

Dsquared2 – Leather harness, ₹41,874

For fashion reasons only, duh.

16. A bottle of hand mist for post-encounter reflection

Aesop – Resurrection rinse-free hand mist, ₹1,369

Clean hands. Dirty thoughts.

17. Margiela Replica fragrances that smell like emotional weather

Maison Margiela – Replica whispers in the library, ₹11,200

Vague, chic and definitely about a boy.

18. A banana-shaped lamp

Seletti – Banana lamp louie, ₹19,575

Unhinged and somehow romantic.

19. Reading glasses

Tom Ford Eyewear – Oversize-frame glasses, ₹48,920

…because reading is what? Fundamental.

Also read:

10 queer romance books that deserve Pride of place on your shelf

How this queer couple’s wedding beside Kerala’s Vembanad lake made Indian traditions their own

18 things to buy if a Labubu isn’t for you