PHOTOGRAPHER LYRA AOKO EXPLAINS WHY GOVERNOR’S SON JUNIOR NYONG’O WAS WEARING A DRESS & THONG

It all went viral when Governor Anyang Nyong’o son, Junior Nyong’o was photographed wearing a red thong and heels.

But top photographer Lyra Aoko came out to explain the main objective of the photos. According to her website the photos concept dubbed What If Adam was Eve? Was to create visuals challenging the stereotypes related to gendered clothing.

“To create visuals challenging the stereotypes related to gendered clothing. This is the most powerful force perpetuating the fashion divide; the fact that we have all been trained from an early age to regard some clothes as strictly for men, and other clothes as strictly for women. And anyone who refuses to follow this code is seen as making a huge statement.

The most telling part about all this is what it says about the value we attach to masculinity and femininity. When a man wears pants and trousers most people will think little of it. The rules are however very different for men wearing clothes that are deemed to be for women.

Put a man in a dress and it’s the stuff of comedy and ridicule, as if there could be nothing more absurd than a guy in a skirt.

Underlying these reactions is a profound disrespect for women and all that we associate with femininity. In the end, the “rules” around gendered clothes aren’t about fashion, or taste. They’re about how we mark difference, enforcing and reiterating restrictive ideas about what it is to be a girl or a boy,a man or a woman.

Perhaps this is the real issue; that to challenge the rules of fashion is to challenge our settled ideas about gender roles,” Lyra Posted.

[hit_count]