Black Artists’ Influence on Gender Nonconformity in Fashion
We all know Harry Styles’s iconic December 2020 Vogue cover. In a blue and black dress and with a hand on his hip—the English singer, songwriter, and actor made history. Styles was the first cisgender man to have a solo feature on the cover of Vogue, and he received praise for his choice to be gender-nonconforming on such an influential platform. But many people don’t know that Styles wasn’t the first to do it. In fact, Black artists have used fashion to express gender nonconformity for decades. From Ma Rainey to Jaden Smith, many Black artists spearhead voguish expressions and refuse to conform to gender norms. But Black artists continue to go unrecognized in a society based on whiteness, prejudice, and privilege; Harry Styles and other white artists receive so much praise because their race advantages their influence. To shed some light on this issue, we’ve created a list of some of the Black artists who expressed, and continue to represent, gender nonconformity in fashion.
Ma Rainey
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886-1939) was an American blues singer and recording artist. The “Mother of the Blues,” Rainey sometimes sang about wearing three-piece suits and having intimate connections with women. Her 1928 song “Prove It on Me” is a prime example of Rainey’s expressions of gender nonconformity:
“Went out last night with a crowd of my friends.
They must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men.
It’s true I wear a collar and tie.
Makes the wind blow all the while”
Gladys Bentley
Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. Bentley—who identified as a lesbian for most of her life—was famous for wearing men’s clothing, singing with drag queens, and flirting with women in the audience during her performances. Revolutionary for her masculinity, Bentley “challenged distinctions between Black and white and masculine and feminine.”
Jackie Shane
Jackie Shane (1940-2019) was an American soul and rhythm and blues singer. A pioneer for the Black trans community, Shane was famous for her contributions to Toronto Sound—a characteristic R&B sound in the 1960s. She often mixed masculinity with femininity in her choice of clothing; Shane wore both suits and dresses during her career. Shane is best known for her song “Any Other Way,” released in 1962, which plays on the double meaning of the word gay.
Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. Known for his androgyny and flamboyancy, Prince trailblazed the Minneapolis sound—a subgenre of funk-rock—in the 1970s and 80s. He often wore high heels, makeup, and frilled garments; Prince’s “audacious, idiosyncratic fashion sense” played with denotations of gender and racial stereotypes.
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe Robinson (born 1985) is an American singer, rapper, and actress. An advocate for gender nonconformity and LGBTQ+ acceptance (Monáe is openly pansexual), she receives attention for her signature attire: a tuxedo wardrobe.
“I feel like I have a responsibility to my community and other young girls to help redefine what it looks like to be a woman. I don’t believe in men’s wear or women’s wear, I just like what I like.” –Monáe, on her image and artistic expression”
Grace Jones
The Hon. Grace Beverly Jones OJ (born 1948) is a Jamaican-American model, singer, songwriter, and actress (and a member of the Order of Jamaica; she’s the equivalent of a knight!) who influenced the cross-dressing
movement of the 1980s. Known for her “distinctive androgynous appearance, square-cut, angular padded clothing, manner, and height,” Jones is an inspiration for artists such as Annie Lennox, Lorde, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Solange.
Big Freedia
Freddie Ross Jr. (born 1978), stage name Big Freedia, is an American rapper known for popularizing bounce music—the New Orleans genre of hip hop. Identifying as a gay man with ambivalent and fluid pronouns (she primarily uses she/her pronouns) Freedia “thinks gender identity is on a spectrum.” She often dons women’s hairstyles, makeup, and fun nail designs on and off the stage.
Billy Porter
Billy Porter (born 1969) is an American actor, singer, and author. A Tony, Grammy, and Primetime Emmy Award winner (the last of which was the first Emmy awarded to a gay Black man), Porter “[cracks] open his feminine side to confront toxic masculinity.” He famously wore a Christian Siriano gown to the 91st Academy Awards, defying gendered fashion norms. Porter spoke on Harry Styles and criticized his appearance for Vogue last week, noting Styles’ heterosexuality and whiteness as reasons for his praise regarding gender nonconformity. He later apologized for his comments on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: “Harry Styles, I apologize to you for having your name in my mouth. It’s not about you. The conversation is actually deeper than that. It is about the systems of oppression and erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture [of gender nonconformity].”
Jaden Smith
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998) is an American actor and rapper (and the son of actor, rapper, and film producer Will Smith). Smith, who launched a gender-fluid clothing line in 2016, fights for “self-expression for his generation and the next.” In 2016, Smith appeared in Louis Vuitton’s Series 4 womenswear campaign, receiving praise for his gender nonconformity and advocacy for younger generations to embrace individual expression.
We hope that—through this publication—you learned a little bit about Black artists who expressed gender nonconformity in fashion long before white artists like Harry Styles. The recognition and appreciation for Black artists are long overdue; let’s pay tribute to those who paved the way for expression, acceptance, and gender nonconformity in a society that refuses to give credit where it’s deserved.