In an interview released on Friday,
actor-singer Billy Porter talked about his fashion choices.
The 50-year-old Porter currently stars
on FX's Pose, the first scripted television series to include
a majority transgender and gay cast. He's also played Lola in the
Broadway production of Kinky Boots.
Porter has turned heads and created
controversy with his fashion choices. He wore a velvet tuxedo gown
with a full train designed by Christian Siriano to the 2019 Academy
Awards and was carried into the 2019 Met Gala by six shirtless men
while wearing a bejeweled jumpsuit complete with 10-foot wings.
During an appearance on GoodGayNews,
host Thomas Roberts asked Porter what was the most outlandish outfit
he has worn.
Porter said that the velvet tuxedo gown
“changed his life.”
“It was the most outlandish because
it was the thing that got everybody's attention,” he said, adding
that it was his favorite because it was his idea.
“It was the Oscar dress that changed
the world,” Porter said.
“For me, boy clothes ultimately end
up being very boring,” Porter explained. “I had always associated
wearing dresses with being a classic drag queen. And I never felt
like a drag queen. No shade. I played a drag queen in a show on
Broadway, and that was fabulous, but in my real life, I don't feel
that energy. That's not who I am.”
“But I would like to wear a dress
sometimes. So, why can't I wear a dress as a man? … A cisgender
black gay man who just wants to wear a dress because it's fierce,”
he said.