Spoiler warning: this article contains spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII.

“True beauty is an expression of the heart. A thing without shame to which notions of gender don’t apply.” Andrea Rodea, Final Fantasy VII Remake.

These words are the thesis of the new-and-improved Honey Bee Inn sequence of Final Fantasy VII Remake. This is the part of the game where main character Cloud Strife wears women’s clothing to gain access to an ‘audition’ with Don Corneo, the head of organized crime in the Midgar under-plate red-light district known as Wal Market. And, quite frankly, this is where Cloud, from head to toe, nails his look as a woman.

Obviously, it helps that his dress is provided by Madame M who is clearly the best dressmaker in town and that his hair and makeup are styled by the staff of Andrea Rodea’s Honey Bee Cabaret. It’s also just as clear that Cloud wears the heck out of those outfits. Yes, outfits, plural. Depending on which side quests are completed in chapter nine of the game, Cloud will wear one of three dresses to meet up with Tifa and takedown Don Corneo. There’s a simple black and grey cotton farm girl style dress, a black and navy Gothic Corseted dress, and a flashy lavender ball gown.

Without fail, Cloud is sublime in all three looks. A lot of this has to do with his phenomenal posture. Even when sulking and hanging his head, which he does often, Cloud’s back is straight as an arrow. It also doesn’t hurt that Cloud is a wonderful dancer. Pulling off a glamorous look, whether it’s ‘meant for’ your assigned gender or not is mostly about attitude. Apparently, it happens to be the case that there is some overlap in attitude between people who look fantastic in evening wear and people who can effectively wield a Buster Sword.

Some will read this piece and say that this conclusion is apparent from playing the game. That anyone who plays this chapter of Final Fantasy VII Remake would acknowledge that Cloud Strife is just as hot in a dress as he is in a sleeveless turtleneck. Those kind people would be forgetting the small but insufferable corner of the gaming community that haven’t moved on from 1997 when the original Final Fantasy VII was published. In that version of this sequence, the very idea that a Cloud would wear a dress is played as a joke. The fact is that in 2020 a man dressing in drag in a game being done in a celebratory dance number instead of as fodder for tired transphobic and homophobic jokes is a huge step forward.

On the other hand, the sequence in the Remake could have easily come from a film like The Birdcage which was released almost a year before the original Final Fantasy VII. Perhaps games still have a ways to go with the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters and issues.

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