While filming his first scene in The Shards, Jordan Roth — a Tony-winning Broadway producer of Hadestown and Kinky Boots who has long worked outside the spotlight — had an epiphany. “Everything has been leading to this. All my work in the theater, all my work in fashion has been leading to this moment," he recalls telling himself.
Roth’s character Steven was a deliciously wicked standout of the Ryan Murphy production set in 1980s Los Angeles — which is saying something for a Bret Easton Ellis adaptation. But Roth is no stranger to making an impression. His avant-garde looks often steal the show at the Met Gala, and he even staged his sartorial talents at the Louvre last year in a 30-minute performance piece, Radical Acts of Unrelenting Beauty.
Roth knows that, for LGBTQ+ people especially, there’s power in clothes. “Fashion for me has become a daily practice of creative expression…. We don’t need anybody’s permission to get dressed. We just put it on,” he says.
Being out in the world is also a daily act. “It's not just about sexuality or gender, it is a kind of constant evolution of self, a constant conversation of, ‘Who am I now?’... And I think the more we engage in that practice, the more boundless we become.” @jordan_roth
