Cody Fern, Troye Sivan: The Rise Of Queer Fashion At The Golden Globes
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Happy Golden Globes 2019, everyone! We're just going to come out and say it: It should be obvious by now that minorities watch and receive award shows differently. The chance for people who, outside of their fame, would usually be "othered" to represent their respective communities on the reddest of red carpets impacts those who identify with them. This goes for people of colour, people whose sexualities or gender are yet considered mainstream, and everyone in between.
Even though most of us don't actually know these famous folk, we look to them to represent us in spaces that we've — until only recently — never really been welcomed in. It's why awards season (which kicked off at tonight's Globes) can be celebratory and controversial at the same time. And it's why, at a time when LGBTQ+ people are slowly but steadily taking their deserved places in Hollywood (to represent themselves — not to be played by cisgender, heterosexual actors instead), even the decision of who hosts the ceremony can be just as important as who wins.
It's also why what they're wearing means a lot to us, too. Like, for example, when Lena Waithe took to last year's religion-themed Met Gala red carpet in a custom rainbow cape and told reporters "I'm proud to be in it and put the community on my back to make sure they know I got 'em all the time." (And Janelle Monae followed suit.) Or when Olympic figure skating star Adam Rippon wore a Moschino harness to the Oscars and Bloomberg editor Chris Rovzar summed up how a lot of queer onlookers felt about the stunt: "Somewhere in heaven, Oscar Wilde, Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, and Michelangelo just shared a margarita."
These stars may not have asked to carry the torch for their entire communities, but upon accepting their global recognition, they took it anyway. Sure, a woman wearing a men's suit or a man wearing heels on the red carpet may seem like not much, but those moments are more than just one-offs for people who want to try the same thing and may risk their own safety in doing so. It's not all that serious, of course, but these moments do prove that red carpet fashion is more than just self-promotion. It's visibility, too.
From Cody Fern wearing Maison Martin Margiela heels, to Troye Sivan in a flamboyant Calvin Klein By Appointment suit, the transgender actresses of Pose, and more, we rounded up our favourite nods to queer style from the Golden Globes — including those who may not consider themselves members of the queer community but said no to tradition anyway.
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