And it's not just classic categories of the arts that can help us express and understand our humanity. Fashion and beauty possess that power too. "I like clothes, but I'm not necessarily a fashion girl," Palmer candidly stated when we asked what role style plays in her life. "I don't know if I can keep up with trends, but it's still incredible to me. It's a different art form. I'm thinking about writers and directors and cinematographers, and the fashion set is thinking about designers and the houses." Ironically, although Palmer doesn't identify as a fashion person, she's caught the eye of the fashion industry over the past few years. Last year, Vogue tapped Palmer to host the Met Gala—a role she excelled in with her gregarious interviews and gorgeous Sergio Hudson gown. She may feel more comfortable in her "producer's uniform"—a blazer, a graphic T-shirt, jeans, New Balance sneakers, and a hat—but upon further probing of her experimental red carpet style and her constant exploration of different hairstyles through various wigs, braids, and curls, it's clear that Palmer has the same reverence for fashion and beauty that she has for any other form of self-expression. 

By embracing her fashion and beauty sense, she's shifted her perspective of herself and the broader concept of beauty. "I think my hair and my style have become representative of who I am," she said. "In each moment, every type of expression I made through my hair has been correlated to how I was feeling inside." Getting to that point took time. Palmer recalled, "When I was younger, I always felt like having straight hair and assimilating to that kind of corporate look was a means to damn near survive. With clothing, I felt ostracized for showcasing some of my more masculine characteristics through choosing to wear pieces that didn't fit within the ideas of how a woman is supposed to be like in this world. It took me a while to get to a place where I could reject other people's ideas of beauty and embrace my idea of what beauty looked like for me. I've finally regained my power over my image."