Entertainment
I hate to say it, but straight men wearing skirts makes my life easier-Samuel Sims-Entertainment – Metro
It’s beyond annoying that cis-heterosexual men can experiment with gender and it’s celebrated, yet LGBTQ+ people are still discriminated against for doing the same thing.
It’s not fair that it takes cis-heterosexual men to make clothing more mainstream (Picture: Getty)
Recently, it’s felt as though the internet is, once again, obsessing over male celebrities wearing gender fluid clothing.
We saw it with Brad Pitt when he wore a skirt at the Berlin premiere of his film, Bullet Train, and again at the Venice Film Festival, when Timothee Chalamet adorned a red, backless pantsuit.
And although it is frustrating to see straight celebrities do something so easily that members of the LGBTQ+ community are often demonised for, I do think these men embracing a more traditionally ‘feminine’ style is, in the long term, a positive thing.
Seeing Hollywood icons normalise gender fluidity is only going to make it easier and safer for the rest of us.
That’s not to say everyone has had kind words to say about these men’s looks.
I have seen many accusing Harry Styles of ‘queerbaiting’ and appropriating this aesthetic. Whenever these stars do adopt dresses – and we are seeing more of them – there is a collective sigh from some people in the LGBTQ+ community who resent gender fluid clothing becoming a ‘trend’.
The cynic in me looks at someone like Styles and all I see is ‘marketing’ in big sparkly letters (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Harry Styles)
Even though I do think it’s something we should begrudgingly celebrate, I can see where this frustration comes from.
It’s beyond annoying that cis-heterosexual men can experiment with gender and it’s celebrated, yet LGBTQ+ people are still discriminated against for doing the same thing.
Pose star Billy Porter has previously criticised Styles for his carefully crafted image: ‘He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do. This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars… All he has to do is be white and straight.’
I agree. LGBTQ+ people have long been mocked and humiliated because underneath the clothes we still don’t ‘pass’ for what conventional masculinity should be.
Throughout my life, I’ve been mocked for the way I walk, speak, veer towards hobbies – because they’re ‘weird’ and ‘too feminine’. But having more girlfriends and not wanting to play football is just part of who I am.
Samuel Sims (right) and his husband (Picture: Alice May)
Being fluid in our clothing choices is more personal for the LGBTQ+ community because the way we dress is linked intrinsically to how we feel on a deeply emotional level. It’s also, like Porter said, ‘political’. Some of us are making an active statement against the oppression that has stalked us our entire lives.
In that way, it’s not fair that it takes cis-heterosexual men to make clothing more mainstream; they already hold enough power.
It is triggering for us that a group of people we majorly identify as being our oppressors are now doing the very thing they have historically mocked and killed us for.
And it’s especially hurtful when these celebs don’t even realise the power and politics involved in their clothing choices.
When asked why he chose to wear a skirt, Pitt responded with ‘the breeze.’ Styles gave a similar answer in a 2019 interview: ‘I think it looks cool’.
Unfortunately, it is this flippancy that is going to serve members of the LGBTQ+ community who want to dress fluidly.
Being so nonchalant is what is going to normalise and carry more of this clothing into the mainstream – but I still wish they would at least express some passion for how defying convention (which is exactly what they’re doing) makes them feel.
We need cis-heterosexual celebrities like Styles and Chalamet to continue doing what they’re doing (Picture: Invision/Getty)
The cynic in me looks at someone like Styles and all I see is ‘marketing’ in big sparkly letters. His journey from X Factor to Hollywood feels like a very well crafted campaign and the way he dresses – as Generation Z’s Bowie – also feels a bit, well, manipulative.
As frustrating as it is though, marginalised people like Porter – and me to a lesser extent – are not taken as seriously as cis-heterosexual men. That’s just the way it’s always been. Which is again why I think it’s cis-het men who are going to normalise gender-fluid clothing.
You can already see it happening. I read an article the other day that saw a middle-aged cis-heterosexual man spend the day in a variety of skirts to see what response he got, because Pitt did it. The response was mostly positive, but just the act of doing this speaks volumes for the way masculinity vs clothing is being deconstructed.
So the issue remains a grey area for me – because what we’re seeing now, thanks to Styles, Chalamet and the like, is a shift from the unattainable – and fashion as simply art – to the mainstream.
I wish we didn’t need these celebrities to normalise gender fluid fashion (Picture: Gerald Matzka/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)
And that’s what’s going to gradually make real change. I can envisage a world where in five years time – perhaps even less, I will be able to walk down the street in the small Northern city I live in, wearing something gender-fluid and feel safe doing it.
For this reason, I appreciate what this celebrity exposure is doing. As a queer person who’s never felt like he belonged in a historically strict binary of what masculinity should be, and someone who defies gender as a model, I love the fact that doing so is becoming more widely accepted.
So ultimately, I believe that if any male-identifying or presenting person wants to wear something ‘fluid’ in public and not be abused for it, we need cis-heterosexual celebrities like Styles and Chalamet to continue doing what they’re doing. They are the accepted default of what masculinity is.
I wish we didn’t need these celebrities to normalise gender fluid fashion, but what could happen instead? Obviously many non-cis-heterosexual people wear what the hell they want every day and they don’t care what people think, but that doesn’t stop them encountering ignorance and danger. Obliterating this – at least as much as we can – should be the aim.
Personally, I loved the outfit Chalamet wore and instantly shared it to my Instagram stories. I thought the blood-red colour of the jump-suit was stunning and he looked fit in it.
I just hope he knows the power of his halterneck.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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