Transvestite in Paris — Gay Pulp Novel Tee (Replica) Artwork by Gene Bilbrew
Before queer visibility had marketing budgets, it had pulp paperbacks.
In the early 1960s, gay and trans-themed pulp novels circulated quietly through mail-order ads, bus-station racks, and discreet bookstores. One of the most striking covers of the era was Transvestite in Paris, featuring artwork by legendary illustrator Gene Bilbrew — also known by his pen name “Enrico.”
Bilbrew’s illustrations were unmistakable: hyper-stylized bodies, dramatic lighting, lingerie details rendered with precision, figures posed in tension between glamour and danger. His work straddled underground fetish art and commercial paperback illustration, becoming foundational to mid-century queer visual culture.
At a time when mainstream publishing erased or sensationalized queer lives, pulp covers did something complicated — they exploited, yes, but they also preserved. They documented desire, coded identity, and subculture aesthetics decades before museums would.
