Billy Porter has dragged Vogue for their 2020 cover featuring Harry Styles in a dress.
In a recent interview with The Times UK, Billy Porter criticises Vogue for their 2020 December cover featuring Harry Styles in a dress. He told the publication that “I. Personally. Changed. The. Whole. Game. And that is not ego, that is just fact. I was the first one doing it and now everybody is doing it. I created the conversation [about non-binary fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time”.
While the singer insisted he wasn’t trying to actively “bash” on the singer, he stated that Style’s challenging of gender norms was not motivated by a lived experience.
“This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned now. All he has to do is be white and straight.”
Public Reactions
Reactions to Billy Porter’s statements are definitely mixed. Many state that while Porter is gay, he is also cisgender (when a person’s gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth) and not non-binary, seen as “gatekeeping” men who choose to wear dresses simply because they want to.
People were also pointing out examples of men breaking the gender norms in media, decades before Billy Porter’s rise in media.
His comments also recall how he has previously snubbed his transgender co-stars when he won the Emmy for Pose.
On the other hand, there has been notable criticism from those who state that he was rightfully calling out the anti-blackness present in the industry. It also brought to mind when Jaden Smith wore a skirt in Vogue Korea and was highly criticised for his appearance.