Out actor-singer Billy Porter has
criticized Harry Styles' groundbreaking Vogue cover, saying
that Styles “doesn't care” about nonbinary fashion.
Styles, who is known for his flamboyant
fashion, made history last year when he became the first man to
appear solo on the cover of Vogue magazine. Styles covered the
magazine wearing a dress and blazer.
Porter, who is best known for playing
Pray Tell in FX's Pose, in 2019 attended the Oscars wearing a
Christian Siriano tuxedo gown.
Porter told The Sunday Times
that for him wearing a dress was a political statement.
“I changed the whole game,” Porter
said. “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.”
Styles, however, credited Prince, David
Bowie, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John for influencing
his style.
“As a kid it was completely
mind-blowing,” he told Vogue in 2020. “Now I'll put on
something that feels really flamboyant, and I don't feel crazy
wearing it.”
Porter went on to criticize Vogue
for choosing “a straight white man” to represent nonbinary
fashion.
“I created the conversation [about
nonbinary fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a
straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time,”
he said.
“I'm not dragging Harry Styles, but
he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new
conversation?” Porter asked. “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.”