Billy Porter made history, fashion history. For the very first time, a man wears a gown to Hollywood’s golden night and he just overkilled any red carpet moment of the season and those of years back in time. Porter, a star in Ryan Murphy’s Pose (2018) refused to stick to the many-a-time boring dress code of the Oscars, and, like those queer men from Paris Is Burning (1990), held is head high as he clapped back at boring and ridiculously standards on masculinity.
The full-skirted strapless black velvet gown and the tailored tuxedo jacket on top were designed by Christian Siriano, a former contestant in Project Runway who made it big in fashion. For Porter, however, wearing a gown at such a high profile Hollywood event, and one that has been reluctant on visibility and inclusivity, was a moment of self-liberation. Growing up black and queer, he states:
“one’s masculinity is in question. When I had my first working contract at A&M Records, I was silent for a long time. I was trying to fit in to what other people felt I should look like.” (Vogue)
Porter is very open about his deep and long lasting love for fashion. To him, attires are just another way of finding self-expression and representation. His Oscar gown was jaw dropping and for all the right reasons. Fashion is just as powerful as any other form of art. Porter says that whenever he goes to a red carpet, he’s going to be a political work of art, and what better way to do it than by wearing a gown for this 91st Oscar Awards? His outfit said “This is what queer looks like. This is what unapologetically fabulous looks like,” and we loved it.
So far in Oscar history, this has been the most subversive and groundbreaking moment in Oscars red carpet. Porter says that
“What is masculinity? What does that mean? Women show up every day in pants, but the minute a man wears a dress, the seas part” (Vogue).
However, he’s not alone in setting milestones on how men should dress for A-list events. More and more celebrities are ditching the strict and boring dress code for guys, which limits itself to a suit and tie, and dare to go for more daring and creative looks. Last year, Jonathan Van Ness from Netflix’s Queer Eye (2018) attended the Emmys wearing a black mesh dress with high leather boots and was hailed on social media as one of the top ten best dressed of the night.
In addition to that, Shangela, one of the most celebrated artists from RuPaul’s Drag Race (2019) became not only the first drag queen to attend the show but also the one celebrity that officially inaugurated the red carpet. It is good to see that finally the Oscars are applauding those differences that actually bring us together.
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