On Sunday, Janelle Monáe attended the BET Awards in Los Angeles, showing us exactly what it looks like to be a “free-ass motherfucker.” She walked the red carpet in a Nicholas Jebran green lace bodice, rainbow skirt, a conductor hat, and matching crystal-embellished bag, slaying in a look perfect for Pride Month. She finished the look with Tiffany & Co. jewellery.
Since ditching her alter-ego Cindi Mayweather, an android based on the 1927 film Metropolis; Mayweather represented a mediator between the mind and the hand, the heart that brings people together, and was who Monáe used to comment on cultural and political issues, Monae said goodbye to her signature colour palette, too.
And while Monáe wasn’t wearing THE pussy pants from her “Pynk” music video that broke the internet, her skirt did have Twitter going crazy as Monáe identifies as queer (and is rumoured to be dating actress Tessa Thompson). As she told Refinery29 in May, “The truth is that this was a time for me to discuss my sexual identity. I said it before and I'll say it again: I'm proud to be a young, Black, queer, American woman.”
Of her latest and most personal album to date, Dirty Computer, Monáe told Rolling Stone, “I want young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality, dealing with feeling ostracised or bullied for just being their unique selves, to know that I see you. This album is for you. Be proud” — and her skirt was just another reminder to live your best rainbow life.