Harry Styles made history earlier this month when he became the first solo male to grace the cover of Vogue magazine for their December 2020 issue. Donning a lace Gucci gown for the editorial, Harry sparked a ton of conversations about gender expression and identity within the online LGBTQ+ community, and while there are still plenty of rightful discussions and criticisms that should be had when it comes to who gets elevated and celebrated for breaking down gender norms, it was still a big deal to see a star as big as himself get a platform to break some of society's expectation of what men should be doing.
"I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit," Styles told the iconic fashion mag about experimenting with clothing regardless of who it's intended for. "Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away. When you take away 'There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,' once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s like anything — anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something."
Unfortunately, because we can't have nice things, Harry's Vogue cover was met with a lot of hate from conservative talking heads who, in 2020, still think it's okay to subscribe to toxic and suffocating gender roles.
But lucky for us, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was having none of it!
The New York congresswoman was taking follower questions on her Instagram story this past weekend, and when someone asked her about her thoughts on Harry Styles and his history-making Vogue cover and the weird backlash he received for proudly wearing a dress, she responded in the absolute best way!
"It looks wonderful," she wrote in response to the question about Harry's Vogue cover on her IG story. "The masculine and feminine elements are balanced beautifully — the hair and jacket styling give me James Dean vibes too."
She continued:
"Some people are mad at it [because] some folks are very sensitive to examining and exploring gender roles in society. Perhaps for some people it provokes some anger or insecurity around masculinity/femininity/etc. If it does, then maybe that’s part of the point. Sit with that reaction and think about it, examine it, explore it, engage it, and grow with it."
"What’s the point of creating things if they don’t make people think? Or feel or reflect? Especially as an artist or creative?" she questioned in the conclusion of her response. "Who wants to see the same thing all the time? And never explore their assumptions? Anyways it looks bomb so."
Now THIS is why we love AOC!
