Nearly three years after Harry Styles made history on Vogue’s cover, Billy Porter still has some thoughts.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Porter once again aired his grievances about Vogue’s decision to feature Styles dressed in a Gucci gown as the magazine’s first solo male cover star in December 2020. But in a new revelation, Porter told the outlet that Vogue’s longtime editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, consulted him ahead of the cover.
Porter told The Telegraph that months before the cover was released, he sat down for an interview with Wintour, and she asked for insight on how to lead the magazine through a burgeoning new era of fashion.
“Six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover,” he said.
Despite Styles’ repeated incorporation of gender-fluid dressing into his style evolution, Porter wasn’t a fan of the cover going to Styles, a white man he presumes is straight.
“It doesn’t feel good to me. You’re using my community — or your people are using my community — to elevate you. You haven’t had to sacrifice anything,” he said.
What further torments Porter about the situation is he regrets not being more honest with Wintour during their conversation.
“That b— said to me at the end, ‘How can we do better?’ And I was so taken off guard that I didn’t say what I should have said,” he explained, saying he should have told Wintour: “Use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement.”
Porter’s initial criticism of the Styles cover was made public in an October 2021 interview with the Sunday Times.
“I was the first one [dressing in nonbinary fashion], and now everybody is doing it,” Porter said. “I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but… 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.”
He later clarified his statements on an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“It is about the systems of oppression and erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture,” he said. “I’m sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean no harm. I’m a gay man. We like Harry. He’s cute.”
The Telegraph’s interview lands amid recent reports of Porter’s pending divorce from his husband of six years, his being forced to sell his home due to the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes. Earlier this month, the Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner revealed the financial toll of the strikes in an interview with the Evening Standard.
“So to the person who said ‘we’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments, you’ve already starved me out,” he said.
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