Billy Porter says Anna Wintour asked him how Vogue could 'do better' with diversity months before Harry Styles dress cover controversy

• Billy Porter isn't over Harry Styles being the first man to wear a dress on a Vogue cover.
• Porter told The Telegraph that Styles was chosen for the cover because he's "white" and "straight."

Billy Porter is not over Vogue's decision to make Harry Styles the first man to wear a dress on the cover of its magazine.

After Vogue published its December 2020 issue, which featured Styles wearing a lace dress on the cover, Porter spoke out about how he felt that his own influence was behind the trend of men embracing clothing typically worn by women.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Porter said that he "created the conversation" around gender-fluid fashion and criticized Vogue's decision to make Styles, "a straight white man," the first to wear a dress on the cover.

Though Porter went onto publicly apologize to Styles, it seems he still has an issue with the cover.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Porter said the reason why Styles, who has declined to publicly label his sexuality, was chosen for the photoshoot was because he is "straight and white."

"That's why he's on the cover. Non-binary blah blah blah blah. No. It doesn't feel good to me. You're using my community — or your people are using my community — to elevate you," Porter said of Styles. "You haven't had to sacrifice anything."

The "Pose" star added that he was particularly bothered by the cover because of a conversation he said he had with Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, months before its release.

According to Porter, during a Q&A with Anna Wintour six months before the 2020 December issue was published, she asked him how she and her staff could do better to support and give recognition to style pioneers in the LGBTQ+ community.

"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 said.

Porter said what he should've responded was: "Use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement."