Lord Troy Made This ELOQUII Look For You To Feel Like A Pop Princess

Queer musician Lord Troy just wants to feel like a pop princess. And when I enter a Friday afternoon Zoom with him, that's exactly what I see. He's wearing a sheer pink top with small polka dots and a huge pussy bow at the collar — part of Troy's look from ELOQUII's new Drop Collection, consisting of five other looks designed by the hottest figures in the plus-size space. His green satin cropped blazer, another part of the look, is laid on the seat next to him, with his billowing wide-leg pants close by. The look is bold. It's in your face. It's exactly what Troy wanted it to be. "When I think about that girl walking into a holiday party in this outfit, I'm like, 'There ain't nobody that's not going to pay attention to her,'" he tells me.

Depicting that feeling through his look was paramount after ELOQUII approached Troy about designing and modeling a look for ELOQUII's The DROP, which is finally complete with the birth of The Troy Crop Jacket ($80, ELOQUII), The Troy Bow Blouse ($40, ELOQUII), and The Troy Palazzo Pant ($70, ELOQUII). "With this [look], I was like, 'I need the shoulders to be big, and I want them to be squared and shoulder pads and '80s.' I really wanted that, and I wondered if [the brand] was going to make me tame this down," says Troy. "They were like, 'Nope. Big shoulders, big bows, tulle, pink, green.' I think they just really believed in what I was creating."

Troy's creation wraps up a whirlwind six days of new 'fits in the DROP Collection. He joins the ranks of other prominent figures in the plus-size community, like Nabela, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, and Retta. Each look is a picture-perfect embodiment of that creator's personality, and just as important, each look feels luxurious. Like high fashion. Like fat people are not being escorted to a microscopic rack of different ill-fitting sacks, each preceded by the word "slimming," at the back of a store.

Similar to most things in "drop" culture, the stakes for this collection are high. Meaning: Once the looks sell out, the brand says they aren't coming back. (Although I, personally, feel plus-size fashion of this caliber deserves to stay around for longer.) You can shop these game-changing looks on the ELOQUII website. Below, read on as Troy shares, in his own words, how his look was conceived, the unique hoops plus-size people have to jump through in fashion, and how style helps to mitigate his anxiety.

Elite Daily: Tell me about partnering with ELOQUII, this look, how it came to be, and all of the magical things about it.

Lord Troy: When this opportunity came up I was like, "Holy sh*t." It came through my email and I cried because it means a lot for me on so many levels. I've been such a fan of the brand for so long, and I've worked with them in different ways. This is like working with them on steroids. Thinking about it for me, I'm a queer person, I'm not female-identifying. So there are just so many layers to it that I'm like, "Wow, for them to take this chance on me, believe in me, and see me as someone who connects with them — it was just an emotional realization to have ... I hand drew the sketch for this outfit.

ED: I saw it. I was like, "Wait, why is this art? It's so good!"

LT: Thanks for that, because I was like, "Look at this little kindergartner drawing. It is so cute." I've always loved style; it's been a throughline for me in my entire life and my career. Even when I couldn't express myself through fashion, which was a really sad time when I was closeted, I've always loved it ... When I thought of what I wanted to wear, I was like, "I want to wear something that makes me feel like a pop princess. I want to wear something that will make me feel like I just walked off the runway at Paris Fashion Week." And I think it's rare that we see plus-size fashion brands really take that risk in giving people something that's a little high fashion.

ED: Absolutely. And as a fat person myself, I've seen so many brands claim to cater to larger bodies, but still give them clothes that imply you need to take up less space, like "this is slimming, this is black." What I loved about this outfit is that it's the complete opposite of that.

LT: The funny thing is, in my mind, when the outfit's fully together, you look like a physical star. It has broad shoulders, and the pants are really wide, so [the silhouette] creates this cool David Bowie lightning bolt star. This is a big outfit. It's big, it's bold in color, and it's bold in the fabric and the texture — all of it is just bold. We see [this trend] happen all the time in fashion for straight sizes, but why can't we have the same exact thing? In pop culture and TV shows that talk about style, I'm always like, "Are we still on this? How are we still talking about things that make us look slimmer?"

ED: Growing up, what is a trend or a type of thing that you never thought that you would have the confidence to wear that you absolutely love wearing now?

LT: The thing that I love to wear now that I never thought I would really dive into wearing is more so what I saw as an adult looking back on style trends. I really do think it's a pantsuit moment with no shirt underneath it. I think that's a really big statement, and I see fat people wearing that all the time and I'm always like, "Yes!" We see a lot of very, very, very thin models wear that in ad campaigns. A lot of the things I yearn for in style and push myself to figure how can I wear [are] usually from '80s ad campaigns, [where] there's no shirt under a suit jacket, and I'm like, "I could do that." Now, that's half of my look.

ED: For you, what can catapult a plain suit to a power suit?

LT: As a fat person, I have never been able to find suits that fit me properly, and they've never fit me in a way that's comfortable, at least... Once I discovered Eloquii suits, it became a whole new world I could play with, because these aren't your dad's suits, these are fashion. For me, I love a suit jacket that feels kind of boxy, and I can roll the sleeves up. The pants can be really wide, like the ones I made, or really tailored. Either way, you've got to feel like you can move in that jacket. You got to be able to move your hands and point to the numbers and point to the figures. You've got to be able to have mobility.

ED: Speaking of comfort, we've all seen in quarantine that fashion has shifted completely to loungewear. I've always been a fan of loungewear, but I've felt like I couldn't wear it out because of the negative reactions plus-size people with people thinking it makes you look frumpy.

LT: Let me tell you, as flashy and bold as my outfits get, I am a soft clothes person. That is my personality. If you watch my Instagram stories, you'll see I'm most likely in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of gym shorts because I like to be a comfortable b*tch. I think the underlying message behind this conversation is, no matter what, we as plus-size people, fat people — whatever term you want to use — when we present ourselves to the world, we are politicized. We are turned into a statement.

I remember, one time, I was wearing these little black running shorts and an oversized black hoodie that had gold sequins on the pouch and the hood ... and I didn't think twice about it. I was just taking my dog out so they can go poop. I'm walking down the street, and someone stops at the stop sign, and they just started hollering and cheering for me. They were being so nice, like, "Yes, you go, queen. F*ck it up." And I'm like, "I just went out the door today."

ED: What's the perfect loungewear look for you that you want to celebrate?

LT: To me, my perfect comfort outfit is a little pair of running shorts and an oversized T-shirt. And maybe I'll cuff the sleeves just so we can have a moment. And always Crocs or Birkenstocks.

ED: I am so sad for all the times that I bashed Crocs in the past, because now I have, like, three pairs of them.

LT: They're so comfortable. The fleece-lined ones or whatever they call it? Oh my God, they're so comfortable. You've got Bad Bunny wearing them, Justin Bieber — everyone's wearing them now. It's like, OK, we can stop sh*tting on Crocs.

ED: I want to touch on your new single "Me and My Anxiety." You've been so open about talking about anxiety on Instagram and with your music. Does being able to express your style openly ever help to mitigate the anxiety you feel?

LT: The coolest thing about fashion and whatever your relationship is with it is that it does help make you feel a certain way. It can show how you're feeling. It can enhance. It can hurt. It can do a lot of things to how you feel. For me, anxiety and mental health go hand in hand with literally everything, but in this case of style, I think they have to go hand in hand.

Yesterday, I was just going stir crazy, so I was like, "I have to do something." I literally went in the bathroom, put on a full face of makeup, put on a cute outfit, came in this room, sat on this bed, played music videos for three hours, and just sang and danced into my hairbrush. It was a true cliché '80s moment, but it's what I did. And I think we should not be afraid of having those little intimate moments with ourselves, in our best outfit and our best glam look, having a time by ourselves. All these different things can really help in managing our anxiety and our stress.

Shop Troy's ELOQUII DROP look below:

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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.