Twenty-six-year-old musician Harry Styles became the first male to land a Vogue magazine cover, and he did so wearing gowns, skirts, and dresses. The creative’s shoot was praised not just inside the space of fashion but hyped for “challenging gender norms” and influencing younger generations.
Conservative author and speaker Candace Owens pushed-back on the praise in a viral tweet that urged, “Bring back manly men.”
Speaking with Vogue, Style said, “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,” he continued. “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.”
"There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.": Read our full December cover story starring @Harry_Styles here: https://t.co/yILujUQQae pic.twitter.com/qwpGKBSQey
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) November 13, 2020
Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, who’s previously dressed Styles, praised the “Falling” singer: “He’s really in touch with his feminine side because it’s something natural. And he’s a big inspiration to a younger generation — about how you can be in a totally free playground when you feel comfortable,” Michele said. “I think that he’s a revolutionary.”
Owens pushed back against the “challenging gender norms” narrative and said the widespread praise of the shoot was part of an “outright attack” on masculinity and the West.
“There is no society that can survive without strong men,” she asserted. “The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack.”
“Bring back manly men,” Owens added.
There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence.
It is an outright attack.Bring back manly men. https://t.co/sY4IJF7VkK
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) November 14, 2020
Owens’ name began trending on Twitter Monday morning over her rather benign post.
“Candace Owens is trending because a bunch of whiney idiots are mad that she said men who wear dresses aren’t manly. Her statement, of course, is true and utterly self-evident, and would have provoked no reaction as recently as a decade ago,” Daily Wire podcast host and author Matt Walsh responded.
Candace Owens is trending because a bunch of whiney idiots are mad that she said men who wear dresses aren't manly. Her statement, of course, is true and utterly self-evident, and would have provoked no reaction as recently as a decade ago. https://t.co/lIyv3nndxz
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) November 16, 2020
Biden gets elected by promising a return to normal. Then the left goes all in on men in dresses.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) November 16, 2020
Ben Shapiro, likewise, defended Owens: “This is perfectly obvious. Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot,” he wrote.
“Masculinity and femininity exist,” he explained. “Outward indicators of masculinity and femininity exist in nearly every human culture. Boys are taught to be more masculine in virtually every human culture because the role of men is not always the same as the role of women.”
“The Left knows this, of course. The POINT of Styles doing this photo shoot is to feminize masculinity. Otherwise why would it be headline-worthy for Styles to don a dress?” “The Ben Shapiro Show” host added. “The Left knows this; they openly say that gender is both important and socially constructed (which is why they tell you that a man can be a woman, e.g., despite no biological underpinning).”
Masculinity and femininity exist. Outward indicators of masculinity and femininity exist in nearly every human culture. Boys are taught to be more masculine in virtually every human culture because the role of men is not always the same as the role of women.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 16, 2020
The Left knows this; they openly say that gender is both important and socially constructed (which is why they tell you that a man can be a woman, e.g., despite no biological underpinning).
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 16, 2020
Owens later “clarified” her position: “Since I’m trending I’d like to clarify what I meant when I said ‘bring back manly men,'” she wrote. “I meant: Bring back manly men. Terms like ‘toxic masculinity’, were created by toxic females. Real women don’t do fake feminism. Sorry I’m not sorry.”
Since I’m trending I’d like to clarify what I meant when I said “bring back manly men”.
I meant: Bring back manly men.
Terms like “toxic masculinity”, were created by toxic females.
Real women don’t do fake feminism.
Sorry I’m not sorry.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) November 16, 2020