Remember when Harry Styles wore a dress on the cover of Vogue magazine in 2020 and everyone’s grandmother had some shit to say about it? When this blew up the news for 48 hours straight (despite being mid-global pandemic) I thought to myself if the patriarchy is so fragile that it can be rattled over a queer British man on the cover of a fashion magazine wearing a dress, hell, I want every part in that. It’s like when a younger sibling annoys the snot out of the older one just to get a reaction for pure entertainment, yeah, this is like that. It’s just too damn easy, and I’m just too damn bored. 

 

BILLOWS is my response to that uproar. Using the FRUIT PUNCH coral red to display femininity and vulnerability, the dress explodes from underneath a constricting clear vinyl cape. BILLOWS is a visual representation of the Harry Styles dress debacle: conservative men (and women!) attempting to control the gender spectrum in regards to standards of dress, and all of us who are tired of hearing their opinions. In this scenario, toxic masculinity is the vinyl cape and those of us who understand the idiocy of a man wearing a dress headlining the media are the uncontrollable red tulle.