We went to the National Portrait Gallery today! We got to see a million different portraits from a million different eras. Of all the portraits, I have to say the contemporary exhibit on the ground floor was my favorite. It was just one wall, and maybe it was because I was familiar with many of the people in the portraits (though I don’t think it was!) but I absolutely loved it. The ones on the upper floors were mostly paintings, which was amazing to see, and the talent as well as the way each person or people was captured was stunning, it just didn’t hit the same way that the photos did. There were photos of Marcus Rashford (boooooo), Andrew Scott (my forever Priest and Hamlet!), and the best portrait I have ever seen, which was The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate’s official 40th birthday portrait. It was the most beautiful photo I have ever seen. It looked like it was taken on an old-timey camera. But, the portrait that meant the most to me was the portrait of Harry Styles from the December 2020 Vogue cover. I will never forget the day it came out. Both my sister and I are massive Harry Styles fans, and she also has a Vogue subscription so it was such a big deal to us the morning the photos dropped. And then, the controversy happened. The slogan “bring back manly men” went crazy viral, and that Thanksgiving and Christmas it felt like all you saw were people making videos and jokes about how that was the only topic at the table. It was so polarizing, which I always found hilarious. The arguments against him wearing a dress fall apart the second you start pulling at the loose thread (see what I did there?!). “Women wear dresses, not men”, have you ever seen the portraits of Henry VIII, Scottish men, or Romans, both seen as the peak of masculinity in their culture and time. Men used to wear heels and wigs, our standard of masculinity is not a legacy of the entirety of the human race, it’s just a social standard we have for today, thats made up and dare I say stupid.
Anyway, I’m getting off my soap box now. I love the question asking what I would feel if I stepped into this painting. Based on my minimal knowledge of the shoot and the photo itself, I would say I would feel some very fresh wind on my face. Light, but enough to move the fabric of the clothes I am wearing. It is a cloudy day, so I think I would alternate between feeling the sun on my skin and clouds stopping direct beams from hitting my skin. I am sure I would see the massive crew of people, as well as the wardrobe and trailer for changing and getting ready somewhere behind the camera. The noise would be lots of directions directed toward Harry, but also towards to the other creatives in the space, making sure his makeup was always touched up, the fabric was flowing right, and that he had water or whatever else he would need. I would hope that if I got a moment to step into this space, I would be fully present and soak it up. I would be standing in a historic moment for gender and societal norm shifts.
I hope that one day this portrait is just a beautiful photo with a crazy backstory, and not sneered at or seen as controversial. It was, and is, such an important conversation starter, but my hope is that it moved beyond that and instead is recognized as a stepping stone.
Theatre in London U of A 