To quote and to paraphrase Vogue magazine, Billy Porter “defied fashion norms” at the 2019 Academy Awards by stepping onto the red carpet in an “unapologetically fabulous[, . . .] sharply tailored tuxedo jacket overtop a full-skirted velvet gown”—”a play on masculinity and femininity [that] challenged the rigid Hollywood dress code and was boundary-pushing in all the right ways.”
What is particularly captivating—and the reason for this post—is how Porter demonstrates
- clothing is unisex (or can be made unisex), not rigidly “masculine” or “feminine”
- clothing can be First-Amendment speech (a message of equality, of sociocultural defiance, of indomitablity, of self-determination)
I do not suggest with this post that Porter’s entre merits imitation, but he makes it very clear that it is the wearer’s confidence and presence which shape the perception of the wearer’s intent. In other words, Porter’s confidence projects masculinity and no one would (mis)interpret his aesthetic as any shade of a trans or sissy statement, all of which applies to the skirted man. Here is the full Vogue writeup.