With the upcoming Met Gala marking the beginning of a new decade — and unfortunately postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions and quarantining — I have decided, after hours of scouring the internet for as many Met Gala looks as I could find, to commemorate this turn of the decade by rewinding and remembering some of my favorite looks.
For some, the body is a vessel that allows us to perform many different activities and functions. For others, it can be a cage. As for me, I’ve always seen the body as a form of torture. I always saw my body as punishment from God. Or at least I used to.
When I think of culture I think of pain — at least, for most of my life, I did. I felt this pain because the culture I was raised to appreciate, black culture, ended up being more oppressive and suppressive than understanding and progressive.
Many men—such as James Charles, Manny MUA and Jeffree Star—are advocating for the use of makeup by men in everyday life, while other figures such as RuPaul Charles, Harris Glenn Milstead, otherwise known as Divine, and many others advocate for its use by men in drag performance as well as the drag aesthetic. Nevertheless, we as a society are still divided on the issue.