Billy Porter Calls Out Vogue For Their Harry Styles Dress Cover

Billy Porter is sharing his thoughts on Vogue's decision to put Harry Styles on the cover of their print magazine in a dress.

In a new interview with The Times of London, the Emmy-winning Pose star and beloved theater legend called out the long-running fashion and lifestyle publication for putting Styles, a Grammy-winning British singer, actor, and former member of the boy band One Direction, on the cover of their December 2020 issue last year, where he made history as the magazine's first solo, male cover star.

The cover made headlines all over the world since Styles (who was photographed by Tyler Mitchell) donned a long, blue Gucci gown, but many critics said someone like Styles, a cisgender white man, was the wrong choice for the history-making cover, especially since queer and trans people of color are the ones who deserve the credit for breaking down barriers when it comes to gender expectations in the fashion world. And Porter is echoing that sentiment.

"I changed the whole game," Porter told The Times. "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."

He continued:

"I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to. I'm not necessarily convinced and here is why. 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."

Porter, who recently starred as the genderless fairy godparent Fab G in the Camila Cabello-starring Amazon Prime Video musical retelling of the Cinderella story, is known for his sense of style and making bold statements on the red carpet that pay no mind to gender roles, and is absolutely no stranger to wearing beautiful gowns.

"I'm not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you're going to try and use to represent this new conversation?" Porter said. "He doesn't care, he's just doing it because it's the thing to do. This is politics for me. 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."

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