The in-your-face politics behind Billy Porter's perfect tuxedo gown


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His work in “Pose” has put him on the awards shows red carpets this year. His first attention-grabbing outfit – an embroidered suit and matching full-length cape with hot pink lining – was a step toward the Oscars night ball gown.


“I have subjugated this instinct in myself for years,” he said. “It’s the very thing I have run from my whole life. When you are black and gay and you grow up in the church in the African American culture, it’s like your masculinity is in question at every turn.


“But what does that mean, to be masculine? To be strong and powerful? Women wear pants all the time, and nobody bats an eye, but a man puts on a dress and that’s disgusting?”


Just like the fashion runways of the world, the Oscars red carpet is a fashion fantasy land. For the fantasy to work, everyone must buy in. But every once in a while, someone refuses to play along. Or bends the rules. A Frances McDormand, say, whose sack-like dresses, Birkenstocks and bare face constitute an aggressive rejection of Hollywood’s artifice (and a metaphor for her career).


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