Elliot Page is dressing for himself these days.
The “Umbrella Academy” actor, who came out as transgender in December 2020, stars on the cover of Esquire’s summer issue in a white tank top and dark Ralph Lauren Purple Label jeans, a silver chain dangling from his neck.
Inside the issue, Page models more menswear styles from Celine, Giorgio Armani, Gucci and Saint Laurent, looking at ease in his own skin.
But it wasn’t always so; in an accompanying essay for the publication, the 35-year-old recalls struggling to promote his 2007 film “Juno” while wearing women’s clothing.
“When ‘Juno’ was at the height of its popularity, during awards-season time, I was closeted, dressed in heels and the whole look — I wasn’t okay, and I didn’t know how to talk about that with anyone,” Page wrote, adding that the studio told him to wear a dress to the movie’s Toronto Film Festival premiere.
“I said I wanted to wear a suit, and Fox Searchlight was basically like, ‘No, you need to wear a dress.’ And they took me in a big rush to one of those fancy stores on Bloor Street [in Toronto]. They had me wear a dress, and … that was that. And then all the ‘Juno’ press, all the photo shoots — Michael Cera was in slacks and sneakers.”
The actor called the incident “really extremely, extremely f—ked up.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m trans or cis. Lots of cis women dress how I dress. That has nothing to f—king do with it,” Page wrote.
“I get that people don’t understand. Oh, f—k you, you’re famous, and you have money, and you had to wear a dress, boo-hoo. I don’t not understand that reaction. But that’s mixed with: I wish people would understand that that s—t literally did almost kill me.”
In a 2021 interview for Time — Page’s first since disclosing he is trans — the actor said he ‘never recognized’ himself on the red carpet before sharing his truth.
“Even though [I was] an actor, just putting on a T-shirt cut for a woman would make me so unwell,” he said, adding that feminine clothing felt like a “costume.”
Since then, Page has made his Met Gala debut in a sharp Balenciaga suit and hit the 2022 Oscars in a Gucci tux, the latter of which he described as a moment of “trans joy.”
