Billy Porter has revived the debate about Harry Styles’ 2020 Vogue cover, alleging that the former One Direction artist was “using” his LGBTQ+ community after appearing on the renowned title in a dress.
Styles made news in December 2020 when he became US Vogue’s first-ever male solo cover star, sporting a Gucci dress and skirt.
Porter went out after Vogue released its December 2020 edition, which had Styles donning a lace dress on the cover, about how he believed his influence was driving the trend of males adopting apparel traditionally worn by women.
Despite Porter’s public apology to Styles, he still has a problem with the cover.
Why Was Billy Porter Not Happy With The Cover?
The actor, 53, gave his thoughts on the “As It Was” singer having become the first solo man to feature on the fashion magazine cover in a fresh interview published on Friday by The Telegraph. Styles, 29, is well-known for posing in a Gucci gown for Vogue’s December 2020 edition.
Porter, famed for his gender-fluid clothes, believes the One Direction star was chosen for the cover because he is “white and straight.”
“It doesn’t feel right. You’re utilizing my community to raise yourself, or your people are doing so. “You haven’t had to make any sacrifices,” he explained of Styles’ fashion style.
Porter claimed that he sat down for an interview with Anna Wintour many months before the cover was announced, and the Vogue editor-in-chief asked him for his opinions on how to lead the magazine during this experimental new period of fashion. “At the end, that b*tch asked me, “How can we do better?” And because I was taken off guard, I didn’t say what I should have,” he explained.
Porter should have told Wintour, “Use your position of influence as Vogue to highlight the opinions of those at the forefront of this de-gendering of fashion trends.”
“Six months afterward, Harry Styles became the very first man to be displayed on the cover,” he said.
Porter’s Explanation For The Situation
The Kinky Boots singer said he did not hold Styles responsible for the magazine’s choice to showcase him on the cover. “It’s not Harry Styles’ fault that he’s white, cute, right, and fits into the infrastructure…
“I summoned the gatekeepers,” Porter explained. He did send Harry flowers’ as an apology’ after first disliking the cover and claiming that he has nothing against the Watermelon Sugar singer.
Porter has already expressed his dissatisfaction with the treatment of the historical cover. In Oct 2021, he shared with The Sunday Times, “I sense that the fashion industry was willing to accept me because they have to.
“Even though I started a discussion [about nonbinary fashion], Vogue kept featuring Harry Styles, a straight white man, underneath a dress on their issue for the first time.”
“I was the initial person to do it, and since then,n everyone else is doing it,” Porter said. “I’m not bringing Harry Styles here,” she says, “but…” He doesn’t care; he’s doing it because it’s proper. This is politics to me. “This is my life.”
Following significant backlash for his statements, Porter later stated on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the issue is “much deeper” than Styles.
“It is about systems of oppression as well as the erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture,” he stated before apologizing to Styles: “I apologize, Harry. I had no malicious intent. I identify as a homosexual man. Harry is appealing to us. He’s adorable.”
