Flamboyant musician LittleRichard leaves a legacy of gender fluid looks behind.
He was born Richard Wayne Penniman, but we knew him as Little Richard. We also knew him as “the architect of rock and roll”—the person who brought upbeat, exciting music to the masses in a way they’d never heard, or seen, before. And for that reason, we should know Little Richard as one of the original pioneers of gender fluid fashion. Before Billy Porter, who played him in the miniseriesin 1999. Before Prince and his purple reign. Before David Bowie and Aladdin Sane.
When Little Richard emerged on the music scene in the 1950s, he wasn’t the amped-up exhibitionist that’s perhaps most familiar to us. Sure, he wore snappier examples of the popular suiting styles of the time, but there wasn’t glitter applied just yet. There was, though, a wavy pompadour; darkened, elegant eyebrows; eyes with just a slight kohl enhancement; and a moustache unrivalled in its manicured state. All rarefied and exciting hints at what was to come next.
During an appearance on singer-songwriter Glen Campbell’s popular television show in 1971, Little Richard’s seafoam green ensemble—which boasted silvery fringing and mirrored embellishment—made waves for being something more likely to be worn by divas of the time; Cher or Diana Ross, perhaps.
His was the kind of stylistic freedom that we endeavour to embrace and champion today, some fifty years after he entered pop culture’s collective consciousness. And it’s a gift he’s given us all as we’re left to comb through his catalogue of songs and style; something to keep in mind as we strive to adopt a more diverse, expressive attitude towards dressing. Little Richard’s most memorable outfits always veered to the extreme but never wore him.
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