Billboard Music Awards 2018: Shawn Mendes Sports Men's Heels on Red Carpet

Shawn Mendes joined the growing trend of bringing back men's heels on the red carpet at the 2018 [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Shawn Mendes joined the growing trend of bringing back men's heels on the red carpet at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards.

Mendes, who was nominated for the fan-voted Top Social Artist award, wore burgundy, Western-inspired leather boots, matched with a single-breasted grey suit. As Vogue points out, he also layered two button-up shirts under the jacket.

Mendes is following in a recent trend, after Harry Styles, Kanye West and Justin Bieber were all spotted wearing boots with heels. Even Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wore Florsheim-brand boots with heels during his 2016 presidential campaign, which earned him some criticism. The New York Times even dubbed the incident "Bootgate."

Mendes later performed "In My Blood" on the MGM Grand Garden Arena stage during the show. He is also teaming up with Khalid to perform "Youth," which was released earlier this month.

The performance of "Youth" will be a tribute to the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14.

The show already featured one tribute to the victims of a mass shooting. On Friday, 17-year-old Dimitrious Pagourtzis opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, killing eight students and two teachers.

Host Kelly Clarkson opened the show with a tearful speech to the audience and viewers, calling for a "moment of action" instead of "moments of silence."

"I'm so sick of moments of silence," Clarkson, a Texas native, said. "It's not working, obviously. So, why don't we not do a moment of silence? Why don't we do a moment of action? Why don't we do a moment of change? Why don't we change what's happening because it's horrible. And mommies and daddies should be able to send their children to school, to church, to the movie theaters, to clubs. You should be able to live your life without the fear."

Clarkson continued, "So we need to do better. People are failing our children. We're failing our communities. We're failing their families."

"We share the public's hunger for answers as to why this happened, and will await the outcome of the investigation before speaking about these events," Pagourtzis' family said in a statement. "We have been and will continue to cooperate with the authorities conducting the investigation, and ask for the public's patience while it moves forward. We ask the public to please extend privacy, both to the victims and to our own family, as all of us try process these events, and begin the healing process."

Photo credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty

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