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 Poses 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.
