Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran’s outfits have sparked a debate about gender standards

Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran performed at the Global Citizen Festival at the weekend - with two of the biggest artists in the industry sharing the stage.

The pair performed their 'Perfect' duet from Ed’s Divide album and paid homage to Nelson Mandela - however, people were more interested in what they wore during the performance.

While Beyoncé wore a flamboyant, fuchsia dress, 27-year-old Sheeran dressed in his signature shirt-and-jeans combo.

Now, it’s known that Beyoncé tends to go extra on her concert costumes, and Ed Sheeran is known to dress down in his.

Still, the contrast was enough to get people to prompt a rather heated discussion online.

It all began when comedian and writer Shon Faye highlighted the stark difference in attire on Twitter, writing: "Ed Sheeran is a 27-year-old man the fact we’ve enabled him to feel it’s ok to dress like this at all, let alone next to Beyonce really boils my p*ss."

Faye’s tweet gained traction as tends of thousands of people commented and retweeted.

Fans of both artists waded into the conversation, and many agreed with Faye.

Another Twitter user, Daniel, echoed her sentiments: "This photo is v v v v representative of what we expect from men and women at the top of their game, isn’t it?"

A third person added that such is the natural of gender standards, that "men can stand more on their hard work and talent alone while women often have to 10/10 everything".

However, not everybody agreed with this characterisation of the pair's wardrobe.

Others argued that what they chose to wear is simply part of their respective images.

And pointed out there are plenty of other female artists who 'dress down' - Beyoncé, they say, simply loves being extra.

Besides, assuming Beyoncé was forced or compelled into wearing something is taking away her agency...

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