The Latin Grammys Red Carpet Was a Great Place for Protest Fashion (And Other Looks)
Entertainment
The Latin Grammys have long been a flashpoint for the complicated ways the U.S. relates to Latinxs, and the way our vast and infinitely diverse diaspora relates to itself. The short answer to the main prevailing question—why there gotta be a separate “Latin” Grammys tho?—has been U.S. English-speaking audiences’ disinterest in Spanish language music, and also the separate music industries that have emerged because of that. But as English radio has embraced certain Spanish-language artists in the post-“Despacito” era, even as U.S. leadership has become increasingly racist and xenophobic towards every stripe of Latinxs and Latin Americans, the conversation has become more nuanced within Latinidad (including whether “Latinidad” is in itself a racist concept).
In this context, the Latin Grammys red carpet has become more of a site for making a statement, whether protesting Trump for his racist policies against immigrants or, in the case of Thursday night’s red carpet and Mexican-Chilean singer Mon Laferte, above, drawing attention to ongoing human rights abuses in Chile by pulling off a topless protest.
“EN CHILE TORTURAN VIOLAN Y MATAN”—they’re torturing, raping, and killing in Chile—in support of the protesters rallying for a more just government that does not abuse its citizens. It got the appropriate amount of attention, the point—and she wasn’t alone in turning the carpet into a sincere, real-time plea for people to give a shit.
Singer Alex Anwandter, in sleek black, also stood up for freedom in his home country; Laferte’s full look, which is sending me; Robert Vogu stood up against xenophobia towards immigrants from his own home country, Venezuela (and wore a fantastic coat); Vanessa Añez was subtler, holding up the Bolivian flag in light of the recent U.S.-supported coup against now-former President Evo Morales.
Mariachi Sol de México just looks nice. We should always be giving mariachis credit for having the sickest fits in all of music.
There was a lot of good going on out there in the purely sartorial sense too. The women of Brazilian duo Anavitória did lovely contrasting tent gowns; Anitta turned it out with a tube top bow and perfect finger waves; my king Bad Bunny wore what appears to be a Samsung Galaxy as eyewear and square-toed hard-bottom shoes, in keeping with his current Y2K/Matrix fashion story; Evelyn Sicairos paired a gorgeous forest green sequin gown with AF1s, of-the-moment and practical for those of us trying to buck the oppressive system of shitty stilettos on the carpet!
