campaign, in an ode to glamour during lockdown.
Welcoming the viewer back into his domestic self-portraiture once more, this yet-to-be-titled series sees a decorated Bates “cross-dressing” at home in outfits inspired by an unusual amalgam of 1980s Yves Saint Laurent, Victorian dresses for dolls, and John Singer Sargent paintings. The elaborate costuming would swallow him if not for his commanding gaze and poses.
All the while, some viewers see the images in essence as a man wearing a dress instead of valuing the artistic expression behind them. Distracted by their own misunderstandings of the nuances of gender expression, Bates opens the floodgates for assumption. “People do see it as fetish imagery sometimes. I have gotten a lot of DMs from interested parties, and some of the shit they say is wild.