Billy Porter wore the curtain from his 'Kinky Boots' Broadway show at the 2019 Tony Awards on Sunday (09.06.19) evening.
Billy Porter
The 49-year-old actor donned a red Elizabethan trouser-skirt ensemble on the Radio City Music Hall red carpet - that featured a nod to his Tony Award-winning run in the Cyndi Lauper musical - and the outfit's train was constructed from the exact red curtain that fell for approximately 1,150 shows during his time at the Broadway show, which he led in 2012 and won him his first gong.
Billy - who teamed up with Celestino Couture to design his iconic Tony look - played cabaret performer Lola in the show until April 2019 and revealed designers initially wanted to "do a representation" of his alter ego but he didn't want to "confuse" people.
He said: "Initially they wanted to do a representation of Lola but I had to go back to them and say, 'He's not a drag queen. He's a man in a dress.' We don't want to confuse people, because he actually is not a drag queen. One day he might want to wear a dress, one day he might not.
"Putting on the dress, playing Lola, made me feel the most masculine and grounded that I've ever felt in my life because I was finally not apologising for anything."
The 'Pose' star wants his award show outfits to challenge masculinity and "questions" what it means.
He told The New York Times newspaper: "I want to flip the question of what it means to be a man.
"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."
And as well as paying homage to 'Kinky Boots', Billy wanted his crystal encrusted look to be a subtle pro-choice statement about women's abortion rights.
He told 'The Hollywood Reporter': "At the fitting, we spoke about making a pattern on the train that was in the shape of a uterus, but not obvious of course. And I thought it was awesome because women's rights are under attack right now. I'm an advocate for all who are disenfranchised. None of us are free until we're all free!
"I really want to make sure that I'm showing up for all of the disenfranchised people I can so that we can find power in our unity. This government is trying to take away the woman's right to choose and that's unacceptable. No!"
Tagged in Cyndi Lauper