Harry Styles Vogue cover, non-binary fashion and queerbaiting
Harry Styles has long been accused of queerbaiting and whilst many have come to his defence, it appears American actor Billy Porter is not impressed. In a recent interview, he criticised Styles for being the first solo man to feature on US Vogue – a cover shoot that was all the more talked about as Harry Styles wore a dress.
Porter criticised Styles’ historic cover saying “I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to,” he said. “I created the conversation (about non-binary fashion) and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time.”
“I was the first one doing it and now everybody is doing it,” he 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.”
“I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars,” Porter continued. “All (Styles) has to do is be white and straight.”
Whist Billy Porter believes he ‘created the conversation about non-binary fashion’ it’s important to acknowledge plenty of musicians have famously worn dresses – David Bowie, Prince, Sir Elton and so on – long before Porter or Styles.
https://twitter.com/xelamanrique/status/1450183110113431554
I love Harry styles but he definitely be queerbaiting
— BIG B (@BRIMAFIA) October 18, 2021
see the thing about harry styles that pisses me off is that he's profiting and building his image off of queerness. at that point idc if he wants to be "unlabeled" or whatever, he needs to speak up or I'm gonna say he's a straight man queerbaiting n him and his fans can't get mad
— n 🫧 (@parasolsi) October 18, 2021