It’s not easy to stand out on the Oscars red carpet, where the powers of designers, stylists, makeup artists, and hair stylists combine to help Hollywood A-listers dress for attention. A full-skirted gown is not usually sufficient means for creating a notable fashion moment. But it is if you’re a man. And that’s how Billy Porter—who appropriately stars in the FX shows Pose—stole the spotlight during the early hours of the pre-ceremony fashion parade. The actor wore a velvet gown by Christian Siriano that was a fitted tuxedo on top, and a floor-sweeping skirt on the bottom. Several female actresses also dressed to upend the boring gender norms of the red carpet, wearing pants and suits instead of gowns. Eighth Grade‘s Elsie Fisher wore Thom Browne, Amy Poehler wore all-black Alberta Ferretti, and Awkwafina wore sparkling DSquared. Wouldn’t it be nice if no norms were the new norm? Invision/AP/Richard Shotwell Elsie Fisher in Thom Browne. Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss Melissa McCarthy in a jumpsuit and cape. Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss Awkwafina in DSquared.<doc-sep>The Oscars’ red carpet spouted a variety of looks—including the tuxedo gown. Singer and actor Billy Porter made a statement when he wore a dramatic velvet tuxedo gown to the 91st Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. “This look was interesting because it’s not drag. I’m not a drag queen, I’m a man in a dress,” Porter told Vogue magazine. Porter explained to Vogue that even though people might not agree with other’s choices, it’s important to remember to respect each other. The piece was designed by Christian Siriano and featured a bow tie, a classic ruffle-cuff white shirt, tuxedo jacket and, of course, a full-length, velvet black gown. Porter’s attire prompted an outpouring of reaction on social media. On his way to appearing on our @ABCNetwork #Oscars red carpet show, @theebillyporter stopped to "pose" for this shot. pic.twitter.com/EF0bqDOpd8 — The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 24, 2019 Jennifer Hudson also wore a suit and gown hybrid while performing her hit song, “I’ll Fight.” The long tuxedo gown trailed behind her as she sang. Chadwick Boseman stepped out of the conventional suit and into something a little more bold. He wore wide-legged trousers with a sequined train and matching blazer. Porter also wore a hand-beaded embroidered jacket with an attached fuchsia-lined cape to last month’s Golden Globes. It was designed by Randi Rahm and took six months to make.<doc-sep>It's hard for the men of the Oscar's to compete with the glamorous gowns and glittering gems on the night's female attendees. The award show has a black tie dress code, meaning men are limited to tuxedos, but this year a few men managed to grab the spotlight. See the best dressed actors from the 2019 Oscars red carpet:<doc-sep>Billy Porter, speaking to Vogue before he walked the Oscars red carpet, knew what he was in for among some social media users: "People are going to be really uncomfortable with my black ass in a ball gown, but it's not anybody's business but mine." The remark from the Tony-winning stage performer, actor and singer was both prescient and disproven. There was mega-praise for his velvet custom tuxedo look by Christian Siriano and outrage over the notion that an African American man in a dress was a threat to black masculinity. BILLY PORTER'S OSCARS TUXEDO DRESS TURNS HEADS, SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FRENZY It was just the conversation Porter had hoped to provoke, not to collect virulent hate but to help move along the idea that we all deserve respect, across racial lines and the gender divide. "I was ready to create the conversation," Porter told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday the day after the Oscars. "We have to teach people how to treat us, we have to teach people how to love us, we have to teach people how to respect us, and the only way we do that is to respect ourselves." Porter, the black and gay breakout star of the boundary-expanding FX series "Pose," spent awards season using fashion as political art, as he describes it. There were previous dresses, and there was help from powerhouses Tom Ford and Michael Kors in the later weeks, along with smaller designers who embrace a greater gender fluidity in their collections and were thrilled early on to dress him. As a nominee at the Golden Globes, Porter's custom trouser look by Randi Rahm, including a huge, hot pink-lined cape and floral embellishments, grabbed attention, but social media support and disdain after the 49-year-old took to the Oscars carpet took the debate into the stratosphere. Porter understands where established notions of black masculinity originated, and he understands how toxic they can be. He and his stylist, Sam Ratelle, also realize how rigid gender-driven taboos can be and want to help the walls come down. "It goes all the way back to the earliest of emasculations, which is slavery, so the only way to sort of overcome that is to be the strongest and the most masculine and the most powerful and now, what has become toxic," Porter said. "And I don't think it's just black people. I think it's men in general. Every ethnicity has their version of it." BILLY PORTER BLASTS KEVIN HART FOR NOT APOLOGIZING FOR ANTI-LGBTQ COMMENTS Porter couldn't care less about negative comments. "The comments are not my business. What people think about what I'm doing is not my business. I lived that already," he said. "I'm inside of my authenticity and the whole point is that you have to respect me as much as I respect you. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. You don't have to look. It's not about you. I don't understand why my putting on a dress causes this much strife in your life." Ratelle said he began working with Porter about a year ago. "He said, 'I want to be a piece of walking art,' and we just went from there," Ratelle said. "It's been really awesome to work with a bunch of great designers. Randi Rahm was certainly completely open. Issey Miyake was fantastic for the Radio City show (Porter was a study in white). Christian Siriano, the fact that he did this custom gown in one week, was incredible after saying, 'Absolutely. There's no question we'll do this.' Michael Kors has been the most gracious human. So has Tom Ford." Porter said he's just getting started in terms of pushing along the conversation. OSCARS 2019 RED CARPET: SEE WHAT THE STARS WORE "People are actually listening," he said. "I hope it opens up a dialogue of healing. I will always continue to do me. If there's anything I've learned in the 49 years that I've lived on this planet, is that being authentic is the only version of the story that anybody should be." Porter has always been a fashion lover. This year, he was an ambassador for the Council of Fashion Designers of America for men's fashion week in New York and attended a variety of shows featuring a variety of looks, from traditional to gender fluid. Now that awards season is over, and the fashion week cycle is finishing up in Paris, Porter said he'll continue to wear whatever he likes, with a great number of designers on board to help with pulls from their lines and custom outfits. "Pre-Golden Globes it was difficult," he said of options available to him, considering that he's not sample size. "After the Golden Globes it has not been difficult. You work with the people who work with you. You walk through the doors that are open. I'm never a beggar." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In real life, or at least on live TV during the Oscars, Helen Mirren appeared ready for change, noting that both she and her co-presenter, Jason Momoa, were dressed in pink. "It just goes to show, doesn't it, that these days a Hawaiian god and a very mature Englishwoman can actually wear the same color. We can both wear pink," she said to claps. Momoa agreed: "Finally. The times are changin'."<doc-sep>
The 91st Academy Awards are expected to deliver on the usual Academy cliches: golf claps, quietly furious nominees, Jack Nicholson sat behind a giant pair of sunglasses on the front row. But in one very important regard, things have changed. Where once homogenous penguin suits dominated the red carpet, Hollywood style has shifted with the tides of menswear at large and now, there's fun to be had. Check out the best-dressed leading men from the Oscars 2019 red carpet. Mahershala Ali Did you ever doubt Esquire's current cover star would be one of the best-dressed men at the Oscars 2019? Of course not. The Green Book star didn't disappoint, wearing all black tailoring with a mandarin collar dress shirt from Ermenegildo Zegna XXX, and - in a possible Oscars first - a beanie. Hard to think of a cooler man alive right now. Chadwick Boseman As the runner-up in Esquire's best-dressed man of 2018 contest, Chadwick Boseman is gunning for gold. That means a glittering sequinned jacket, an architectural silk shirt, and long, long coattails. Chris Evans Deviating from conventional black tie doesn't have to mean going completely avant-garde (though obviously, for many of the men on this list, that's worked out just fine). In the case of Chris Evans, it can just mean swapping out a black tux for some powder blue velvet. Nicholas Hoult & Joe Alwyn The Favourite co-stars Nicholas Hoult and Joe Alwyn ditched the royal court uniform for two other eras, instead: Hoult heading for the future in an origami structured Dior tux, and Alwyn looking to the old classics in Tom Ford. David Oyelowo Thanks to one choice velvet suit, David Oyelowo took the jewel carriageway past traditional red carpet with a three-piece in a deep emerald hue, with a subtle chain detail. Great work. Henry Golding During our fashion shoot with Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding last year, he told us "I'm a big fan of old Hollywood." No surprise, then, that he's attending his first Oscars in a classic custom tux from Ralph Lauren with a slick 'do Carey Grant would approve of. Willem Dafoe After more than three decades of attending the Oscars, do you think Willem Dafoe gives a damn about your red carpet 'style rules'? Boring old diktats like 'don't wear a black shirt' or 'never mix black and blue'? He does not. And the 63-year-old has never looked better. Richard E. Grant There's our boy! Britain's great hope (after Olivia Colman) and the man who has enjoyed the circus of the Oscars more than perhaps any other in living memory, Can You Ever Forgive Me? star Richard E. Grant has brought the same joie de vivre to his outfit this evening with a red velvet contrast colour tux with peak lapels. Billy Porter The actor's tux-gown hybrid was an early contender for outfit of the evening and quickly enjoyed a viral moment on Twitter. And rightly so: it was as flattering as it was rule-breaking and a reminder that, on the red carpet at least, Hollywood has never been more interesting. Spike Lee With a pair of custom gold Jordan 3s and a Prince-symbol necklace framed in diamonds, director Spike Lee didn't waste the opportunity to make a big impact on what is - shockingly - his first Oscar nomination night.