Why Troye Sivan’s ‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirt was the style hit of Coachella

Standing out among the supermodels and influencers at the Coachella music festival in the Californian desert usually requires the baggiest skater pants, the tightest of corsets and the most bedazzled cowboy hat. Against all odds, Melbourne-based singer and beauty entrepreneur Troye Sivan managed to outshine Lady Gaga, Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner by creating a fashion moment last weekend in a simple slogan T-shirt . Sivan cemented his trend-setting status, honed on the Milan runway where he modelled for Miu Miu in 2023, by wearing a white T-shirt by UK-based American designer Conner Ives with the slogan “Protect The Dolls.

” What does ‘Protect the Dolls’ mean? “Dolls” is a term for transgender women used in ’80s ballroom culture, depicted in the Ryan Murphy television series Pose, which spawned the vogueing dance craze popularised by Madonna. Ives consulted transgender members of the fashion community, including model Hunter Pifer, before designing the T-shirt that he wore at the end of his London Fashion Week ready-to-wear show in February. The T-shirt was a response to US politicians targeting the transgender community.



Ives was encouraged to produce a collection to raise funds for the US hotline service Translifeline. “Resources like this are now more important than ever, given the hostility and oppression the federal government has adapted [sic] towards trans people in America,” Ives posted to his Instagram account ..