My Chemical Romance, after a six-year-long hiatus and three years of the pandemic, is finally back on tour. The band, which produces alternative-rock and pop-punk music, officially broke up in 2013, three years after the release of their final album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. In October of 2019, the band suddenly announced their return. Delayed until 2022 because of COVID, they finally began their tour in May.

The lead singer of the band is Gerard Way, who is also the mastermind behind comics such as the new Doom Patrol and The Umbrella Academy. He’s a lyrical and artistic genius whose outfits never cease to amaze fans. He’s previously stated that traditional masculinity has always felt “like it wasn’t right for me.” Just to name a few, a skeleton costume, a cat costume, and a bat costume are just some of the outfits they’ve worn on this tour. 

My favorites were meticulously picked from a wide array of his outfits throughout the past four months of tour. The first insane outfit of the tour was lovingly named ‘Meta Man’. Meta Man consisted of a white suit covered in fake blood, and a white mask that had the Meta (formerly Facebook) logo on it. Personally, I thought the outfit would have been better without the mask, but the mask definitely made the costume very ‘Gerard Way’-esque. 

Soon after the appearance of Meta Man came Gerard’s yellow clown costume. One Boise High student interpreted the outfit beyond the superficial layer. “…besides it being cool, I think it says a lot about performers and how they are only there to entertain.” 

The outfit that shook the My Chemical Romance side of the internet occurred when the band stopped to play a show in Nashville, Tennessee. The cheerleader dress. The dress had a green skirt and white top and had a school-letter ‘W’ on the front, overlapping a cheer cone. Gerard themself seemed to be comfortable and happy in the dress, and ultimately, that’s more important than anyone else’s opinion. 

More recently, he wore an old-fashioned nurse’s dress and cap. I think that they looked absolutely stunning, and, as per usual, never ceased to surprise me with his clothing choices. The creativity that goes into their outfits challenges all gender-stereotypes, which I find admirable and refreshing to see. Gerard Way continues to be an astounding role model for anybody who doesn’t fit the cis-het societal expectations. 

My favorite by far was a recent one that consisted of a red cropped shirt, a red floral silk neck scarf, tan slacks, and four-inch heeled boots. Absolutely stunning. 

With another month or so of tour, the outfits are bound to become more and more insane as we near the end. Whenever we think we’ve seen the best of them, they always surprise us with new outfits. Show us what you’ve got, Gerard Way.