There were quite a few notable moments at the 91st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night: some awards were unexpected, others were entirely deserved (Best Costume Design to Ruth E Carter for "Black Panther"; Best Supporting Actor to Mahershala Ali for "Green Book", Best Adapted Screenplay to Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman"; Best Original Song to Lady Gaga's "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born" and Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma" walking away with three awards – Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Director).
Then there were emotional moments such as Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's duet that had the audience swooning. And finally there was a fashion performance courtesy of Billy Porter: the "Pose" actor and recent ambassador of the New York Fashion Week Men's shows, arrived on the red carpet in a gender-bending neck-to-heel velvet tuxedo gown, that is a voluminous black gown matched with a tuxedo jacket. For the Vanity Fair after party, Porter removed his white ruffled tuxedo shirt and bow tie and opted for a shining necklace.
The design was courtesy of Christian Siriano and Porter used it to play with masculinity and femininity, provoke people and engage audiences in a sort of fashion moment of political art (the actor has been enjoying these fashion provocations in pushing boundaries also at other events and ceremonies such as the Golden Globes awards where he wore a dramatic cape with a pink lining).
Siriano may not be a desperately original designer (but he embraces diversity and accepts to dress people with all sorts of shapes and silhouettes and that's refreshing in an industry in which zero sizes are favoured despite all the talks about models' health...) and the ensembles he created for Porter had its origins - as it was revealed on the official House of Xtravaganza Instagram page - in a look donned by ballroom icon Hector Xtravaganza, Grandfather of the House of Xtravaganza.
In the original version the gown featured a tulle-skirt (this is the sort of ensemble you may have seen on a Jean Paul Gaultier or a Moschino runway in the mid-'80s, and maybe it could also be the inspiration behind Jeremy Scott's Moschino Men's A/W 19 tuxedo-cum-tutus) and while you may argue that this is just an updated version of Hector's dress, at the moment copyright is not the issue (even though it must be stated that inspiration today is definitely too close to the idea of imitation...), as the meaning and the reference behind the gown are definitely more important.
The House of Extravaganza, the first Latino ballroom house (the houses were tight groups of people, safe havens for queer black or Latino kids rejected by their own families) in New York City, was founded in 1982 by its father, Hector Valle (1960-1985), known for his elegant and athletic style of voguing. The house first walked in a house in 1983, then, after its founder died, Angie Xtravaganza became the mother.
In the fall of 1989 the House changed its name to House of Xtravaganza and in the same year it started a sort of collaboration with the fashion world: the house took part in the Love Ball, a celebrity fundraiser organized by the Design Industry Foundation for AIDS, that boasted among its participants also designers Carolina Herrera and Thierry Mugler, supermodel Iman and performance artist Leigh Bowery. In that occasion several Xtravaganza members along with fashion retailer Barneys formed the one-night-only "House of Barneys". The collaboration was renewed in 2014 when retailer Barneys released a catalogue and supporting campaign featuring 17 transgender men and women, including Gisele Xtravaganza photographed along with other House of Xtravaganza members.
As the years passed the house continued to be active and, while remaining loyal to its Latino ball house roots, it also opened up to African American, Asian, and Caucasian members who became cultural forces in different fields, including dance, music, visual arts and fashion.
Hector Crespo, a member of the ballroom community since 1979, became the father of the House of Xtravaganza in 1993; he was Father of the house until 1997 and then again from 1999 to 2003, when he became "Grandfather" of the house.
Television producer Ryan Murphy enlisted Hector as consultant for his series "Pose" premiered on the FX network in June 2018, that also featured several members of the House of Xtravaganza in its episodes.
A creative mind (he created outfits for stars like Lil' Kim) and an activist for HIV awareness, Hector Xtravaganza sadly died last December.
While on March 9, an event will be held in memory of Hector Xtravaganza at New York's El Museo Del Barrio, Porter's gown was a way to anticipate the celebrations and pay homage to him, challenging the Hollywood dress code and making a statement through fashion, something that even the fashion industry itself, centred on people who are famous for being famous and influencers ready to advertise all sorts of brands throwing money at them, has forgotten how to do.
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