After Kid Cudi rocked a dress by Off-White’s Virgil Abloh on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, it made things very clear. Cudi wasn’t the first or last male artist to rock a dress.
So we wanted to take a moment to honour all of the best moments in which we’ve seen male artists rock dresses on an international stage – who also killed it. As the great Nirvana frontman put it back in 1993, “Men wearing dresses isn’t controversial.”
David Bowie
A crucial artist not only in music, but in exploring the concept of gender norms is the legendary David Bowie, who rocked a floral printed dress by Michael Fish on the cover of The Man Who Sold the World album in 1970.
Harry Styles
There was that time Styles rocked a number of different dresses for the December issue of US Vogue last year, where he said, “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.”
Young Thug
The rapper once rocked a dress for the cover of his album, JEFFERY. In an interview with GQ where he was asked why he wears ‘women’s clothing’, he said, “Because women’s clothes are [slimmer] than men’s clothes. The jeans I got on right now, they’re women’s jeans. But they fit how they’re supposed to fit. Like a rock star. The only thing I probably have in men’s is, like, briefs. T-shirts. Ninety percent of my clothes are women’s.”
Outkast
Throwing it back to 2001, Andre 3000 rocked a dress for the cover of their smash hit ‘Ms. Jackson’.
Iggy Pop
In 2011, Iggy Pop was photographed donning a cocktail dress and a Dior handbag. The image was created by Mikael Jansson for T Magazine. Accompanying the shot, Iggy Pop said, “I’m not ashamed to dress ‘like a woman’ because I don’t think it’s shameful to be a woman.”
Jaden Smith
In 2016, Jaden Smith hopped into something considered a little more feminine. While the ‘Rainbow Bap’ singer didn’t rock a dress, he was styled in a head to toe Louis Vuitton kit, which included a skirt. In his caption he thanked the brand, saying, “Thank You So Much For The Opportunity To Impact This World.”
Kid Cudi
Mr. Rager proved that anything he can do, he can do better in a dress. The artist took to the Saturday Night Live in a kit designed by prolific designer, Virgil Abloh, on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.
Kurt Cobain
Last and certainly not least, we have the Nirvana frontman who rocked a floral button-up dress on the cover of 1993 September issue of The Face (and many times after that). It was in that iconic interview titled ‘Who Gives A Frock?’ in which he said, “I like to wear dresses because they’re comfortable. Men wearing dresses isn’t controversial.”
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