Earlier this week, Pedro Pascal attended the premiere of new Marvel blockbuster Thunderbolts. In the sea of formalwear and gowns, Pascal made his own statement: Protect the Dolls.
The Last Of Us actor was wearing a T-shirt by the London-based designer Conner Ives, which calls for the protection of transgender women (“dolls” being an affectionate term for trans women), as well as the queer community in general. The week before, the same T-shirt was worn on stage at Coachella by Australian singer Troye Sivan. Ascendant pop star Addison Rae was also wandering around the Indio Valley in hers. Before that, Tom Ford creative director Haider Ackermann posted his on Instagram, arm-in-arm with Tilda Swinton, who posted a selfie wearing one later.
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It’s a response that Ives “never could have expected.”
“My autumn-winter ’25 show was a response to the times we find ourselves in,” Ives said to GQ. At the end of the collection, presented at London Fashion Week, Ives wore the shirt for his finale bow. “Rather than giving in and admitting defeat, I wanted to say something with my chest. It was a message that felt the most urgent.”
Thanks to the support from the likes of Pascal, Sivan, Ackermann, and Swinton, the T-shirt has emerged as an emblem for the recent groundswell of support for the trans community at a time when it is desperately needed. This month, the UK supreme court ruled that the definition of a “woman” is based on biological sex. Regardless of identity, gender reassignment or even a gender recognition certificate (GRC), trans women are now no longer recognized as women under the Equality Act 2010. In 2024, 4,780 transgender hate crimes were reported to the UK police, according to the UK Government’s website. (Pascal, whose sister, Lux, came out as trans in 2021 called out author JK Rowling, one of the ruling’s supporters and funders, writing “Heinous LOSER behaviour” on Instagram.)
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