What? Orville Peck? Check the Masked Cowboy on British GQ Style Magazine here with us.
Strap in and surrender to Autumn/Winter 2019 GQ Style, led by fringe country star Orville Peck on the cover, shot by Louie Banks and styled by Luke Day
Riding into a “yee-haw” moment that has gripped fashion and pop culture in 2019, Orville wears a carousel of looks from Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton, combined with iconic vintage western wear – all topped off with his self-made fringe masks.
With acclaim from Vogue and the New Yorker, and signed to Nirvana’s former label Sub Pop, Orville’s star is on an uneditable ascent.
In a wide-ranging interview with Jamieson Cox, the enigmatic outlaw says that while he may seem to be the embodiment of a carefully constructed stage persona, he’s never felt closer to his true self.
Elsewhere in the new Autumn/Winter 2019 issue of GQ Style, we also meet Latin pop sex bomb and Madonna collaborator Maluma in Miami, where he reveals his plan for global dominance on his own terms (45 million Instagram followers can’t be wrong).
Italian-Egyptian Eurovision scion Mahmood discusses becoming an unlikely symbol for diversity in his home country, and Game Of Thrones firebrand Gwendoline Christie explains – with characteristic humour – her next move after being in the biggest show on earth.
Plus: John Waters on his “filth empire”, a survey of UK political creatives and an essay on musicians who use flamboyance as armour. Not to mention the very best of this season’s fashion – it wouldn’t be GQ Style without it.
Read on for an exclusive preview of the Orville Peck feature…
On his fans
“I can say this objectively: having been a performer in many different ways and for a very long time, I think it’s the most diverse crowd I’ve ever seen in a live setting,” says Peck. “We have drag queens and the LGBTQ community, skateboarders and punks and metal kids. That’s the subversive mix of people, and then there’s the other side of the spectrum, these well-adjusted couples and older people who come to my shows.I’m big with grandparents.”
On wearing a mask
“You can start to see the small details about a person that you don’t usually notice,” says Peck. “A lot of it comes through the eyes; a lot of it comes through movements in the body. You can watch someone wearing a mask for hours and they can tell an entire story. It’s an intense process, but it’s really fascinating. People think that masks are there to conceal something,” he says, “but a lot of the time, they show you who someone really is.”
On his music
“I have time for everyone’s perspective. And if you’re a middle-aged, straight, white male living in the Midwest and you hear my song and the fact that I’m singing about love between two men exhilarates you? I’m all for that,” says Peck, calling in from his Toronto home. “The things on the album I think are more risqué are the moments where I’m being more open emotionally. So much of the album is vulnerable, and I’ve never really done much of that, and I think that’s what’s held me back in the past as an artist.”
GQ Style’s Autumn/Winter 2019 issue is out on 19 September via newsstands and the GQ Style app. @thegqstyle
Listen “Pony” by Orville Peck
Photographed Louie Banks @louiebanksshoots
Style Luke Jefferson Day @luke_jefferson_day
Cast Orville Peck @orvillepeck
I do n’t like masques!
This is a good mask!!!!!
Probably yes, but I prefer to see faces