American actor
Billy Porter wore a
tuxedo dress in black
velvet designed by
Christian Siriano on the
red carpet of the
91st Academy Awards on February 24, 2019. At the time, Porter had recently come into public view for his
breakout role in the
FX television series Pose and had been receiving attention for his boundary-pushing red carpet attire during the
2018–19 film awards season. Following his appearance at the
76th Golden Globe Awards in a custom silver suit with
fuchsia-lined cape, he was invited to host red carpet interviews at the upcoming Oscars pre-show. Porter approached Siriano and together they conceived the tuxedo gown.
The gown was well received by
fashion journalists, who highlighted its elegant design. It cemented Porter's status as a celebrity and as a
fashion icon. Critics have described it as a favorite
Oscars dress and one of Porter's most fashionable red carpet looks. Porter considers the outfit a piece of political art intended to drive a conversation about
men's fashion and
masculinity, for which it has received praise from fashion writers, academics, and the general public, as well as criticism from
conservative commentators.
Porter was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama for his role in Pose.[5] On January 6, 2019, he walked the red carpet at the
76th Golden Globe Awards in a custom silver suit with
fuchsia-lined cape designed by
Randi Rahm. Porter, who is gay, said he wanted to wear an outfit that would prompt a conversation about
red carpet fashion and its relationship to masculinity for his first major
awards show appearance.[6] Following the Golden Globes, Porter's popularity soared; he later said the outfit "changed everything for me."[4][6]
Design and development
In early February 2019,
ABC News asked Porter to host Oscars pre-show interviews on the red carpet at the
91st Academy Awards, scheduled for February 24.[7] Porter wanted to wear a custom gown, and selected designer
Christian Siriano based on his reputation for dressing celebrities whose bodies and style do not fit into conventional norms of
beauty and fashion. Porter and his stylist Sam Ratelle approached Siriano after his February 9 show at
New York Fashion Week.[8][9][10]
Despite the short notice – custom red carpet gowns typically take months to complete – Siriano accepted immediately. Working from Porter's desire to play with
gender norms, Siriano came up with the combined ball gown and tuxedo concept. He also designed a secondary outfit for Porter after discovering that the gown would be impractical for the stage where Porter was set to conduct interviews.[7][8] The entire design was created over a single week. Siriano, Ratelle, and their teams worked up to 18 hours a day to complete the outfits.[7]
The final ensemble comprised a full-length black velvet
ball gown with a strapless
bodice worn over a high-necked white
tuxedo shirt with
ruffled cuffs, topped by a black velvet tuxedo jacket with
silk lapels and large black
bow tie.[11][12] The ball gown's skirt is reminiscent of
gowns from the 1860s, with a flattened front and volume at the back and sides. The exaggerated size of the bow tie references the ornamental use of bows on feminine clothing.[13] Porter wore jewelry by
Oscar Heyman and six-inch heeled boots by
Rick Owens with the outfit.[8] After his arrival, Porter changed into a tuxedo with black velvet
palazzo pants to conduct pre-show interviews.[7]
Ratelle said the design had been inspired by the 1878
Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children. Users on
social media compared Porter's outfit to a similar 1980s look by ball culture icon
Hector Xtravaganza. Ratelle confirmed that the resemblance was unintentional, but stated that he and Porter felt it was an honor "to pay our respects to Hector".[7] Fashion historian Lydia Edwards suggested that the use of black connected the dress to historical menswear and contemporary womenswear, and gave the ensemble a dignified yet dramatic impact.[13]
Porter described the ensemble as a political statement that challenges norms of
masculinity and
femininity. Speaking to Vogue in 2019, he said, "This look was interesting because it's not drag. I'm not a drag queen, I'm a man in a dress."[8] He later explained to Variety that he was interested in continuing to push the norms for what was considered acceptable for masculine red carpet fashion.[14] He also called his choice to wear a dress to the Oscars a business decision, saying that as an entertainer, seeking attention via fashion was part of how he earned a living.[15]
Reception
Fashion critics responded positively to the dress upon its debut, highlighting its elegant design and boundary-pushing
gender expression. Erica Gonzales of Harper's Bazaar wrote that it "looked worthy of its own Academy Award."[12]Vanity Fair placed Porter on its "best dressed" list for 2019.[16]People called the dress "one of the biggest style moments of the Oscars red carpet".[17]Choire Sicha of The New York Times called his arrival "an exciting start" to the night, and expressed disappointment that few other guests dressed to subvert gender roles in the same way.[18]The Philadelphia Inquirer called Porter "the belle of the gender-bending red carpet season".[19]TheNew Yorker described it as "a sumptuous collision of butch-femme aesthetics".[9] Several outlets felt that Porter's look had stolen the show.[7][20] Some critics joked that he had "won" the red carpet completely.[9][21][22] Several critics noted that the dress generated a significant response on social media platforms like
Instagram and
Twitter.[23][24][25] Year-end data from the
Google search engine showed that Porter's gown was the most-searched-for red carpet outfit of 2019.[26]
Porter did attract some criticism for wearing a dress on the red carpet.[27][28] American conservative political commentator
Tomi Lahren called the look an "assault on masculinity".[29] Users on social media accused him of contributing to the emasculation of black men.[19][28] Porter dismissed these criticisms, saying, "I don't understand why my putting on a dress causes this much strife in your life."[4]
In February 2020, the Twitter account of long-running children's show Sesame Street posted photos of Porter wearing the dress while filming an appearance on the show, prompting criticism from conservative commentators. Arkansas
Republican state senator
Jason Rapert made a series of critical posts on Facebook, culminating in the suggestion that he would pass a bill to cut funding from
Arkansas PBS, the local
PBS affiliate.[30] Although long associated with Sesame Street, PBS had not actually funded the series since the program's move to
HBO in 2015.[31] Porter went ahead with the episode as planned, saying "If you don't like it, don't watch it."[32][33]
Legacy
Following his appearance at the 91st Academy Awards, Porter became popularly known as a
fashion icon; the tuxedo gown was frequently mentioned as his first high-profile fashion moment and one of his most fashionable overall.[35][36][37] According to Porter, his public profile took off after the Oscars, which he attributed directly to the impact of the tuxedo gown.[38][39] Porter expressed surprise at the reaction to the gown, saying "I didn't know it was going to be a thiiinnng."[40] In contrast, Siriano expected the dress to be a hit, saying "I don't think any man has ever worn a gown on the Oscars red carpet before."[17]
Fashion critics writing in retrospect have described the tuxedo gown as an iconic Oscars dress.[41][42] Writing for
Allure in 2020, Ashley C. Ford called the look "the picture of poise and regality."[28]CNN Style writer Marianna Cerini remembered Porter's outfit as "the only look everyone wanted to talk about".[43]Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian, in a 2022 column about Oscars fashion, called the tuxedo gown a "tasteful way to challenge fashion orthodoxies."[44]
Academics have also considered the legacy of the dress.
Queer theoristKathryn Bond Stockton agreed with Porter's statement that the dress was an expression of power, rhetorically asking if it could "move whole systems".[45] Lydia Edwards agreed that the gown was a "powerful statement of the individual's queer identity", but felt that the ball gown was unlikely to become known as a "genderless" garment given its "unrelenting feminine history".[46] Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén placed the tuxedo dress in counterpoint to a long history of women wearing suits at the Oscars. Lundén also noted that although Porter wore another gown to the
92nd Academy Awards in 2020, the press had by then "incorporated his fashion statement into the usual pool of red-carpet critique", so it was no longer treated as unusual.[47]
In October 2021, Porter criticized Vogue for featuring English musician
Harry Styles in a
blue Gucci dress as their first
male solo cover model.[48] He felt selecting a "straight white man" to represent
genderfluid fashion was inappropriate, saying that he "had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down. All he has to do is be white and straight".[49] Porter later apologized for bringing Styles into the conversation and said that his criticism was directed at "the systems of oppression and erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture" rather than Styles personally.[50]
Porter attended the
80th Golden Globe Awards in 2023 as a presenter, wearing a
fuchsia pink velvet tuxedo gown also by Siriano. He presented the
Carol Burnett Award to his friend
Ryan Murphy, with whom he had worked on Pose.[53] In his acceptance speech, Murphy explained that he had asked Porter to wear the original tuxedo gown again, and Porter replied, "Bitch, it’s in a museum".[54] Siriano created a new tuxedo gown for him to wear instead.[54]
^Steel, Emily (August 13, 2015).
"'Sesame Street' to Air First on HBO for Next 5 Seasons". The New York Times.
Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2019. Now, PBS will not pay Sesame Workshop a licensing fee, which now is about $4 million a year, according to an executive with knowledge of the funding who spoke on the condition of anonymity.