Vogue's Controversy: Billy Porter Slams Harry Styles' Dressing, Questions Authenticity
- IndiaGlitz, [Monday,August 14 2023]
While his outspoken nature ensured that he commented more recently on the Harry Styles cover of Vogue Magazine, where Style models dresses and skirts, Billy Porter made another controversial revelation in an open confession with The Telegraph. He comments on how he felt about the cover as well as what Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, had to say to him afterwards.
Porter noted that he had started a discussion on non-binary fashion with Wintour. He pointed out how Vogue, which featured Harry Styles as its cover boy, featured a straight white man in a dress. Porter remembered his goof and wished that he had pushed Vogue to use its voice to amplify the voices speaking up for the de-gendering of the fashion movement.
Still, Porter clarified that his critique is not against Styles. He said that Styles belong within the mainstream framework of the industry; instead, he called out industry gatekeepers for using marginalized groups for elevation without sincerity.
Doesnât necessarily mean that he never talked about it before. He commented on the 2021 Vogue cover and said that necessity had led the industry to accept him. Porter then followed up with an apology for Styles, explicitly stating his intentions to address wider systemic issues.
As noted above, in this critique, Porter raises important questions around authentic representation and participation within the fashion sphere. The argument as to whether or not Stylesâ cover was offensive still rages on to pour even more fuel onto litigating discourse concerning a responsibility by the industry towards amplifying marginalized voices genuinely.