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. Ba é an cineál chulaith é a raibh an chuma air go gcuirfeadh an domhan ar fad stad agus iontas air, le chéile b’fhéidir: cé hé an fuck sin? Go gairid, gheobhadh siad go léir amach.

Go dtí an pointe sin, Bhí aithne níos fearr ar Fern as a bheith i láthair in The Assassination of Gianni Versace mar David Madsen, an dara íospartach de mharú sraitheach Andrew Cunanan. Ach fuair sé anois é i lár nóiméad “faisin sreabhach inscne”, íocón stíl thar oíche a bheadh ​​le feiceáil go luath ar chlúdach iris duine uasail áirithe faoin gceannlíne: “Hollywood’s genderfuck rebel”.

“I knew exactly what it was going to do,” he says now, of the reaction the look generated. “And the thing is, I didn’t give a shit.”

Had he changed fashion? Had he tipped the very concept of gender on its head? Even Fern is unconvinced (“did we forget about Bowie?” he asks). But what he had done is walked into the Margiela store in LA and bought the outfit himself, right off the rack, because no one had wanted to dress him for the awards. That would change very quickly.

“I had been playing the game of wearing the suit with the nice tie and trying to fit in, so there was part of me that thought fuck that,” he says of his style up until that point. “So doing that at the Golden Globes? It was actually for me. It was like shedding that skin.”

Five months later, Fern was in New York. It was May, Met Gala season, and that year’s theme was “Camp: Notes on Fashion”, based on an essay by Susan Sontag. Lady Gaga had four outfit changes; Harry Styles wore an all-black ensemble with sheer sleeves; Chaith Shawn Mendes, bhuel, culaith. Ach bhí Fern ag iarraidh ionchais a athrú ar an mbealach a rinne sé ag na Golden Globes, agus ní raibh a fhios aige ach an bealach le dul faoi…

Caitheann Cody Fern Maison Margiela ar chlúdach eagrán Man About Town’s SS21. Chun scéal iomlán an chlúdaigh a léamh, an cheist a ordú roimh ré anois.