Wearing Maison Margiela, the actor covers Man About Town’s SS21 issue. Our gallery has been updated with the photoshoot.

The actor, style muse and Ryan Murphy favourite is doing things his own way, eager to be defined by more than just his career choices.

If there is one image that springs to mind when you think of Cody Fern, it might be from the Golden Globes, back in 2019. This was in the Before Times, when red carpets were still a thing, and there was Fern, decked out in Maison Margiela. Black Tabi boots, black high-waisted trousers, and a black buttoned-up blouse, sheer from the shoulders up. It was the kind of outfit that seemed to make the whole world stop and wonder, perhaps collectively: who the fuck is that? Soon, they would all find out.

Until that point, Fern had been best known for appearing in The Assassination of Gianni Versace as David Madsen, the second victim of serial killer Andrew Cunanan. But he now found himself at the centre of a “gender-fluid fashion” moment, an overnight style icon who would soon feature on the cover of a certain gentleman’s magazine under the headline: "De reboelje fan 'e genderfuck fan Hollywood".

'Ik wist krekt wat it soe dwaan,”Seit er no, fan 'e reaksje ûntstie it uterlik. 'En it ding is, Ik joech neat. '

Hie er moade feroare? Hie hy it heule konsept fan geslacht op syn holle tipt? Sels Fern is net oertsjûge (“Hawwe wy Bowie ferjitten?" hy freget). Mar wat hy hie dien is yn 'e Margiela-winkel yn LA rûn en kocht de outfit sels, rjochts fan it rek, om't gjinien him oanklaaie woe foar de prizen. Dat soe heul fluch feroarje.

'Ik hie it spultsje spielje om it pak te dragen mei de moaie strik en besykje yn te passen, dat der wie diel fan my dat tocht dat neuke,”Hy seit oer syn styl oant dat punt. “Dat dwaan dus by de Golden Globes? It wie eins foar my. It wie as it ôfstjitten fan dy hûd. ”

Fiif moanne letter, Fern wie yn New York. It wie maaie, Motte Gala seizoen, en it tema fan dat jier wie "Kamp: Notysjes oer moade ”, basearre op in essay fan Susan Sontag. Lady Gaga hie fjouwer feroarings yn outfit; Harry Styles droech in heul-swart ensemble mei steile mouwen; Shawn Mendes droech, goed, in pak. Mar Fern woe de ferwachtingen feroarje lykas hy die by de Golden Globes, en hy wist krekt de wei om deroer te gean…

Cody Fern draacht Maison Margiela op 'e omslach fan SS21-útjefte fan Man About Town. Om it folsleine omslachferhaal te lêzen, bestelle it probleem no no.