Tony-winning singer-actor Billy Porter shuts down the black carpet of the Pose Season 2 premiere night in a custom Francis Libiran couture creation.
Seems like Francis Libiran’s momentum in Hollywood is far from slowing down. After garbing Hollywood celebrities Darren Criss and Mena Massoud, he’s back with another award-winner—enter Billy Porter.
Famed for breaking the gender norms in fashion, Billy has been commanding crowds with countless showstopping pieces. At the Met Gala, he stepped out as the sun god wearing a breathtaking caped Egyptian-inspired look by The Blonds.
Then this time, at the season 2 premiere of Pose, he wore a gorgeous black and white ensemble that effortlessly made him standout amongst the crowd. In fact, Billy dubbed his look as what he calls “matador-realness” on his Instagram.
How did this come about? Francis Libiran shared to MEGA, “I was so moved by the Pose that after watching it, I messaged Billy Porter and MJ Rodriguez. I told them I’m from the Philippines, and I would want to design something for them.” Eventually, both of the Pose stars replied.
When Billy replied to Francis via Instagram, he gave him the creative freedom to design a dress for him. “He gave no direction at all, he wanted me to freehand [sketch]. Then he’ll forward it to his stylist,” he explained.
Now, this led Francis to showcase the brilliant artistry of a Filipino designer. He incorporated his signature Art Deco pattern with a lavishly embellished details. But when everything was done, Francis shared that he looked at the mannequin and felt something was missing.
“Sabi ko, may kulang eh. It’s not Billy Porter without that big train. So I told them, give me one day to produce that train,” he added. Lo and behold, he finished the voluminous train just in time.
So now that we’ve seen Billy wearing Francis, will we be seeing more of him wearing one of our country’s beloved designer? Francis Libiran told us that he actually sent two pieces to Billy. But we just need to cross our fingers that we can see it very soon.
