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Playing Pray Tell in FX series Pose, it’s Billy Porter’s red carpet appearances that have made his style a talking point worldwide. Here’s how he uses fashion to make a point
Read more from the autumn/winter 2019 edition of The Fashion, our biannual fashion supplement
In February, Billy Porter, star of Broadway and the TV series Pose, went to the Oscars wearing a black velvet tuxedo gown. As he stood, statuesque, in tailored jacket over full-skirted dress, he wasn’t just enjoying his moment in front of the world’s press. In fact this went beyond the Oscars, the red carpet or even fashion. Porter was releasing himself from the constraints of conventional gender expectations – and sparking a discussion about what it means for the rest of us, too. “I’m not a drag queen,” he said at the time. “I’m a man in a dress.”
Six months later, Porter reflects on the reaction – which saw images of him shared around the world, and a bump in his fashion profile. After a 30-year career, he says it was the moment that introduced him to the mainstream. “I knew it was going to be a thing,” he says. “I didn’t know it was going to be,” his voice drops to a stage whisper, “a thiiinnng.” Continue reading...