Director David Wilson was been nominated for Best Music Video for the gut-wrenching film for Arcade Fire's song, "We Exist," which follows a young person exploring their own gender identity one evening. It’s a beautifully shot, powerful video that subverts many ideas and symbols we have about traditional masculinity, and — in some ways — is about the transformative power of getting dressed up to feel beautiful. The video itself has been a recent anthem for the trans* community, and we're stoked it was recognized by the Grammys. Helping to fortify the video’s message, Wilson chose to engage in a norm-flouting of his own.
Wilson wore a fitted plum suit with a super-skinny tie, which was already a bold choice for the red carpet, but he also chose to ignore a handful of menswear rules for the overall styling. For one, Wilson had both his buttons fastened on his blazer (it's Men's Fashion 101 to never button the bottommost button of any suit). His skinny tie and tie bar, too, wouldn’t pass the GQ Man muster. And those shoes — with a healthy three-inch heel and pointed toe, we're pretty sure that they're not an accessory that you’ll soon see in men’s fashion magazines. But, you know what? Who cares. Wilson is shaking up the men’s red carpet fashion game, which can be unbearably boring, and we love all the sartorial-transgressing happening here (and the sass and joy stemming from said transgressing — this pose says it all). But next time, we'd be happy to introduce Wilson to Sophia Webster, Alaïa, and Aquazurra in case he's interested in taking things to that next level. Because, honestly, once you get that vertical boost, it's pointless to ever come back down to earth.
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Wilson was up against many other strong contenders, including Sia's "Chandelier," DJ Snake & Lil' John's "Turn Down For What," and Pharrell's "Happy"," which ended up winning. Watch the video below if you haven't already seen it, and tune into the Grammys, which airs live on CBS at 8 p.m. tonight.