Dear Gossips,
Yesterday in my post about Tracee Ellis Ross at the SAGs, and how she nailed it when she talked about “agency” and “shoes” in the show open, efficiently articulating that women can have agency and shoes and be both and so many other things, I also mentioned Laverne Cox to highlight what the value of the red carpet can be. Every time I’ve seen Laverne Cox on a red carpet she’s a representation of progress. And every time I’ve seen her on a red carpet she’s capable of talking about her career and how her career is at once acting and modelling and branding and so many other things. When she was at the Emmys, she was promoting a nail colour collection she’d just launched with Orly. At the time she’d also just been announced as the new face of Beyoncé’s Ivy Park. So here’s a trans woman giving us beauty and fashion recommendations from an award show, on the red carpet, also known as the longest runway in the world.
Now Laverne is Cosmopolitan’s first openly trans cover model – here she is featured in Cosmo South Africa’s #SayYesToLove February 2018 issue. And here she is acknowledging the women who came before her and thanking Beverley Johnson for “paving the way for all of the black women who have followed”.
Of course the hope here is that, one day, someone else will be thanking Laverne in the same way. And, hopefully, it won’t take 42 years. Every time Laverne Cox is visible, she’s challenging standards and the status quo.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
