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So this morning my news feed featured an item about Harry Styles on the cover of Vogue in a dress. There’s quite alot to unpack, and I’m taking a chance since I haven’t read the magazine, only articles about it. I don’t do social media but this is one shining example of when it can serve as a force for progress and acceptance: if you have time to browse a few articles on this, there are so many wonderful, creative twitter or instagram responses to the hysterical backwardness of certain figures who either can’t help themselves, or simply are obligated to comment since they make a nice living leveraging bigotry into business.
I feel a little internal conflict too, over the fact that this is not new ground anyone here, and that no one should need a celebrity endorsement for validation. You can tell I am thinking ahead to when my wife brings this up: See, the Queen’s Gambit dude wears dresses! Well, whadaya know? Should I be ok that this will make it incrementally more ok?
But never mind that, I am beyond happy about having the power of that voice speak to the freedom from having to think about what it means and the feeling of creation that comes from dressing. ‘Playing’ is too frivolous a word, but otherwise it is as good a match as there is for the happiness I find in my own experiences, and in sharing them.
The following is quoted from a Los Angeles Times article
In conversation with Vogue’s Hamish Bowles, Styles credited rock legends Prince, Elton John and David Bowie with inspiring him to embrace all kinds of fashion, adding, “When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play.”
“I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing,” the “Fine Line” artist said.
“Any time you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”
Amanda,
Don’t worry about any flak to your post, I will get it all when I ask who is he?
This all sort of reminds me of the AARP magazines with pictures and articles about big stars, and I have to ask what the heck that has to do with me and my life (or the lives of most of the readers lives). This all seems to have the same feel to it!
As the Bard said, “sound and fury and signifying nothing”.
I think when it comes to a lot of “this kind of thing” in the broadest sense of all – androgyny, the evolution of fashion, LGBTQ representation, et al, the progress is stunted by congratulation of the recycled more than anything else. Each pop start to play with gender in appearance (still a much bigger step than what Styles has done here) is treated as a trailblazer, as if Marlene Dietrich – clearly not even the originator, just perhaps the first famous one in the post-visual media world wasn’t doing it OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. This probably bothered me the most when Young Thug did an album cover in a dress and it was really treated like the first time a *black* man had ever done this kind of thing, as if Dennis Rodman wasn’t doing big public events in a full wedding gown 20 years before.
Society needs to either normalise it or keep resisting instead of just celebrating the same minor stunts over and over again.
Isn’t this congratulation of the recycled, the appearance of trailblazing, a consequence of the fact that pop stars or celebrities who are willing to take a few steps down the paths that have already been cut, are so few and far between? I’m glad he didn’t look at the idea through the lens of ‘so-and-so did this twenty or fifty or a hundred years ago, and if I can’t out-trailblaze them there’s no point.’ I can understand the skepticism that it is all posturing and none of it will change the day-to-day reality. But on the other hand, it provoked responses from powerful voices of non-acceptance, the Ben Shapiros and Candace Owens of the world, which in turn were confronted and rejected, in most cases by people who aren’t immersed, but whose voices in support are still meaningful if the idea of normalization has any hope of being realized. I don’t think society can begin to see this as normal, not needing justification, without that process occurring. The possibility that exists in that provocation and response is what really drew my attention to the story, moreso than the article.
My daughter got me into Harry Styles. Seen him in concert in Scotland, wearing a kilt which he loved. His first album had some Fleetwood Mac influences, one of his parents favourites.
He should definitely be a member here, a style icon, love his bright floral Gucci suits, and he is always pushing the androgyny limits. A great role model for the younger generation, showing them not to be afraid to look how you want to look.
Not sure who admires him more me or my daughter🤣
❤️B
They are just clothes. Why is it so taboo for a man to crossdress but perfectly fine for a woman to wear men’s clothes? There are crossdressers that look better than most women. It isn’t wrong to take care of yourselves, to wear pretty things, to want to look pretty. Women are free to express themselves in any way they want without judgement. When will our time come?
Hi girls
So Harry who?? posed in a dress..I expect one of his ” team” has been on CDH and thought…..wow, if we could sell albums to all those beautiful girls!!!…
quick Harry, what’s your dress size!!
smiles, grace xx
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Grace, my post was modified by someone else, 😞😤😤😤😤😤😤, I am now throwing my toys out the pram, absolutely ruined it.Omg…Amanda
What with your love of “strictly”…and your obvious devotion to harry…why do I keep getting these weird PM’s….do you know where Amanda lives???
do you think they are from your fanclub??
worriedly, grace xx
Grace, it’s a hit squad, I need a fast getaway, call PY, and tell her to bring the dumper round. Can I hide out with with you?. I’ll wear all black and stand in a dark corner, no one will see me,i promise.
Ok Amanda…I have a better idea. I will be round in the Volvo, I will keep the engine running, while you ” tuck in” behind the driver’s seat…round to Steph’s ( she’s out with two poo’s)..we can hide you there!!!….give me five minutes……grace xx
Wow you have a “Volvo” that big, I’m very good at “tucking”, if Stephanie won’t let me stay, I still have my squirrel’s disguise, I could hide in the woods. Oh to have such beautiful friends I am truly blessed.. ❤️
Incrementally, I do think our society is slowly moving toward greater acceptance for trans-folks in general. I think the specific areas that have become the most acceptable are drag queens (gay men like RuPaul, Trixie Mattel, La Cage, Drag Race, etc.), transgender celebs (Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, etc) and occasionally you get the gender-bender celeb (I’m thinking about this Harry photoshoot or Marc Jacobs putting men in skirts). Not sure why, but it always seems to involve kilts.
While I think that all of this is great, I still don’t feel like there is a “spokesperson”, a celebrity or whatever that speaks to me as a crossdresser (or to use the dated term, Transvestite) and I think that is a real drag. By Crossdresser, I specifically mean a person that is content and happy as a man and presenting as a man, but occasionally wants to express himself and present himself as a woman. The only person that I can think of that might fit this description is Eddie Izzard. Ladies, please let me know if I’m missing someone. I even Googled this and found nothing except people like Kelsey Grammar or Oscar De La Hoya. Cases in which an ex-wife spilled their secret or a photo in drag was leaked, only to be adamantly denied as if it was the worst possible thing that could be revealed. The horror of it all!
That is not to say that I’m not encouraged and happy at the direction the tide is turning. Since I was a teen in the 80s, there have been a number of people over the years that have made me feel reassured as a CD. For me, it all started with David Bowie. He was my idol. Then came Boy George, Pete Burns and Marilyn. MAC and RuPaul’s Viva Glam campaign in the 90s was huge. In more recent years, there has been a trend with trans and androgynous models like Andreja Pejic and Hari Nef, Queer gender-non-conforming activists like Jacob Tobia and Candy magazine cover darlings like James Franco. Anything that moves the needle with public exposure and acceptance makes me happy. I’m just reluctant to overstate the impact of it all when it comes to the publics understanding of crossdressing. I would really love to see a celebrity come out as a “covergirl” for the type of Crossdresser I feel like many of us on CDH would identify with and could point to and say, “Yes! Finally, there’s someone with a spotlight and a microphone that speaks for us.”
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I follow the free web versions of a number of fashion magazines and read the Vogue article with its pics.
I had conflicting reactions to it. One the one hand, I was pleased that Vogue were promoting fashion with a cis male.
But my major impression was that they were treating it all as a bit of a joke, a little fun by getting a pop singer to dress up. The ballerina photo especially shouted that at me. It was flippant albeit a beautiful photo. It didn’t convince me it was genuine or in any way addressing the reality that many of us want to be accepted in public and be given the freedom and respect to present as women.I guess any promotion of crossdressing by influencers like Vogue and Harry Styles is better than nothing but I was left with an emotion of sadness that on some level they were laughing at my ( and all of us here) reality.
For example, I don’t just find myself sneaking a look at women’s fashions when I am shopping which was what HS was quoted as saying. I am actually enjoying the experience of being authentic and finding garments to try on and buy. Or, I am drifting around looking at clothes I will never try on, buy or wear but which I dream of doing so if I was much younger. There is a world of difference in who he is and who I am.
Vogue is all glamour and does not cater for promoting ordinary people but it would be wonderful if there were a follow up article on the fashion choices of a genuine ordinary crossdresser. In the final analysis, it’s better that the article and pics was published than not.
We all deserve to glam up occasionally and be a supermodel!
Shame some people still think all talented popular celebrities in the public eye, whether it be in TV, film or music, are ‘airheads’ blindly following a team of publicists telling him what he must do. Don’t see any other ‘airheads’ in a dress. He would not have done this if he did not want to. Give the man some credit for showing how good a man can look in a dress.
Guess it’s my turn to take some flak for defending a brave young man pushing the fashion limits in our favour.
❤️B
❤️B…..no flak from me….ever… different opinions are what makes this place so special. There is nothing wrong with agreeing to disagree..I always value your wise words honey xx
I was wondering who ‘they’ and what ‘context’ you were referring to.
I had to think for a bit, stop myself from wishing that I had just started a favorite pantyhose poll instead or something like that, but if theres something you think I really got wrong in all this, please just say what it is. I’m glad its cleared up.
Here is the text of that Candace Owens tweet.
There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.
It is good to read this and let it sink in, because the thought tradition it comes from (men wearing dresses is an existential threat to western civilization) probably has a lot to do why the gaps in public consciousness of who and what we are remain so deep, why everyone has forgotten about the last cheap celebrity stunt/trailblazing act of bravery by the time the next one comes along. At a moment when they have society’s attention, most men make a different choice not to risk their aspirations or alienate their audience (which is everyone) or lose their status. There may be less risk and more reward now than historically, for those up in the cultural stratosphere, but this reaction shows the act isn’t seen as trivial, and the response to it shows theres a chance it won’t last forever.
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