Lizzo grants queer writer Aurielle Marie’s wish: A fab dress to wear to Out100 honors
Lizzo has a very specific way of thinking about the clothes she wears, and it’s not because she’s a prissy dresser and not because she’s a lesbian, but because she takes pride in the way clothing makes you feel.
After getting dressed, the Houston singer-songwriter and producer of “Kill You,” Lizzo told me she was “kind of sad because nobody wore dresses like that” at the annual OUT100 queer dance awards, where she got the honor of serving as emcee for a group of queer women.
“I like the way dresses work with my body and I’m really happy that I have a dress that I can use to look at and say, ‘Yes, I look good in this,’ ” she told me over the phone. “I see it as a real form of self-expression.”
To Lizzo, being able to own a piece of herself is a huge part of who she is and what her music is about. After all, the Texas native’s songs about sex are not just about being a straight woman, because, like some of her fans say, there’s plenty of that. She also is a queer femme, which, as she put it to me, is a whole different thing.
It’s a different world being a femme in the U.S. — it’s a word often used to describe women who, though they dress masculine, are still feminine and not afraid to bare some flesh. While many believe there’s a lack of acceptance for femmes in the U.S., Lizzo made it clear that the only reason she’s comfortable enough to wear a dress is because she’s confident enough to wear it. “I do find it difficult because I feel that some would feel that if I don’t feel comfortable in a dress, then I would be saying that I feel uncomfortable in any form of clothing,” she said. “But I just don’t feel that way…I feel very self-assured.”
And it’s not that Lizzo is trying to come out, she says: “I don’t feel like I’m coming out — I don’t feel like this is a
