Willie Norris Talks Turning 33 During Pride Month
June may be Pride Month, but this year it’s also Willie Norris month.
The trans-feminine design director of the Outlier streetwear label, fittingly rang in her 33rd birthday in three installments. First, there was a dance party at a local boxing ring; then a trip to Paris for her actual birthday on June 12, and the grand finale Tuesday evening, an intimate dinner at Brooklyn’s Le Crocodile brasserie.
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She had a lot to make up for, having held off on any celebrations for last year’s birthday. “I wanted to save it all for 33,” she said during cocktail hour. “I’ve wanted to be 33 my whole life because Nickelodeon was on Channel 33 when I was a kid, and I was always thinking about what I was going to be like.”
Now a queer activist with a large following in New York’s LGBTQ art scene, the fact that her birthday falls smack in the middle of Pride Month is the icing on the cake — even though none was served, per her request. “I already had it once this year and it feels sacrilegious to have it twice,” she joked.
Instead, friends and close collaborators like designer Christopher John Rogers, model Aaron Rose Philip, drag queen West Dakota and photographer Hunter Abrams satisfied their sweet tooth with profiteroles and sorbet inside Le Crocodile’s underground “Cellar,” recently made over with barreled ceilings, vintage crystal chandeliers and mosaic tile floors.
“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to bring a varied group of people that I’ve known throughout my career into the same room and just really thank them,” Norris said. “Thanking them throughout the month of June in particular is pretty precious to me.”
Asked what’s on her wishlist this year, Norris was equally sentimental. “Continued opportunities…I love working. I love creating and, to me, work begets more work,” she said.
With upcoming summer plans that include trips to Fire Island in July and a wilderness camping adventure in August, Norris will have a hard time making good on her second birthday wish.
“I want to continue sleeping as much as I did last year,” she said. “I get a good eight hours every night. And I would really like to continue doing that.”
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