POPSUGAR UK

If I Bow Down to Billy Porter's Tony Awards Skirt, I Might Never Get Back Up

10/06/2019 - 03:46 PM

Oh OK, this is like no big deal: Billy Porter [1] just fashioned the Kinky Boots Broadway show curtain into a floor-sweeping skirt for the 2019 Tony Awards [2]. The Pose star stole the spotlight in the design, which was finished with pink tulle and made to match a pair of pants embroidered with a uterus in support of women's reproductive rights [3] — and those would've been enough of a statement on their own!

But you may still be wondering how the red velvet curtain made its way onto Billy's body for the evening in the first place. When handbag company Scenery Bags purchased it after the April 2019 closing, Billy was made an offer to wear a piece of it in accessory form, having won a Tony for his 1,150 Kinky Boots show run. But Celestino Couture took the look one step further when Billy decided his outfit should be much more dramatic [4] than one cool bag. (FYI: his pants also come from the same material as the skirt!)

"I want to flip the question of what it means to be a man [5]. This question of masculinity, this sort of microscope of heteronormative masculinity that we are very often held up to, especially as leading men, needs to be shattered. You know, it's toxic and I'm over it and I've lived it and I'm not doing it anymore," Billy told The New York Times.

Read on to see Billy's big moment and zoom in on his accessories — a gemstone ring, bedazzled bag, and hand-painted floral mules that were later swapped out for luxe Gucci loafers, once Billy shed layers from his outfit backstage. Plus, read all the way through to see some BTS shots of Billy getting ready for the event at The Lowell Hotel.

Billy Porter at the 2019 Tony Awards

Billy Porter Getting Ready for the 2019 Tony Awards at the Lowell Hotel in NYC


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fashion/Billy-Porter-Wears-Kinky-Boots-Curtain-Tony-Awards-2019-46250523