Billy Porter freed ‘from the bondage of masculinity’ with butterfly tattoos and strapless jumpsuit
Billy Porter wore a green jumpsuit to the Critics’ Choice Awards 2020. (Getty)
Billy Porter continued his quest to render all other celebrity red carpet looks obsolete while making a profound statement on gender at the Critics’ Choice Awards 2020.
The Pose actor wore seafoam green jumpsuit with ultra-wide legs by designer Hogan McLaughlin, his exposed arms and décolletage covered in hand-painted butterfly tattoos.
Porter explained that the look was inspired “by the free-spiritedness of David Bowie and the 1970’s disco era – my all-time favourite”.
“The category is: Fashion Gumby Butterfly Realness,” he wrote on Instagram.
“The hand-painted butterfly tattoos by @heyannabee continue my theme for 2020, which is being released from the bondage of masculinity and flying free.
“Just like the beautiful ladies from @poseonfx, we are often born into one stage of life and then cocoon into an incubation of self-discovery, transformation, and acceptance, ultimately being released into freedom as beautiful creatures.”
Posing for the cameras at the awards ceremony, Porter told reporters: “I’m not traditional.”
He explained that over the years, he has “spent a lot of time on the masculinity train” being bound by the expectations of his gender.
“The minute I freed myself from it, all of these wonderful things started happening,” he added. “Authenticity is the truth.”
Porter was nominated for best actor in a drama at the Critics’ Choice Awards, but lost to Succession‘s Jeremy Strong.
Among the night’s biggest winners was Fleabag, with “hot priest” Andrew Scott taking home the award for best actor in a comedy.
Billy Porter invented fashion.
Since his break-out role in Pose, Porter has reinvented the rules of the red carpet time and again, staking a claim to Hollywood’s best-dressed person.
Last week he arrived at the Golden Globes in a Swarovski-encrusted white tuxedo complete with a feathered 14-yard train and a 40-carat diamond necklace.
The look was a sequel of sorts to the iconic tuxedo ballgown that he wore to the 2019 Oscars, a look which saw homophobes accuse Porter of “emasculating black men”.
The actor previously told PinkNews that before the backlash, he didn’t know how much power he held in his appearance.
“But now that I know I do, you can expect me to be wielding it every f***ing chance I get,” he added.
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