Billy Porter on the Oscars outfit that broke the internet: 'I should have worn this f***ing dress 20 years ago'

'Nobody would have been ready for it'

(AFP/Getty Images)

Billy Porter has spoken out about the show stopping tuxedo gown he wore to the Oscars in February, explaining he “should have worn this f***ing dress 20 years ago”.

The 49-year-old actor’s outfit, designed by Christian Siriano, prompted widespread praise for defying gender norms and became a key talking point from the annual awards ceremony.

The custom ensemble included a sharply tailored tuxedo jacket worn over a full-skirted strapless velvet gown; it was hailed on social media as "iconic" and "groundbreaking".

Now, recalling the moment in an interview with The Sunday Times Style, Porter explained he wished he’d worn the gown years earlier.

“Nobody would have been ready for it,” Porter said. “That’s the reason why I didn’t. Because the world wasn’t ready for it, but, like, really? Really, y’all?”

Shortly after the ceremony, America’s Next Top Model creator Tyra Banks sent Porter a direct message on Instagram lauding the look, writing: “Bitch, I can’t even with you.”

“I was, like, ‘Bitch, I learnt it from you!’" Porter said of the message,adding: “I’m just trying to make you proud.”

Porter went on to touch on some of the restrictive gender ideals society imposes on young men, recalling being cast as Romeo in a student production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

“I have a fraught relationship with the idea of being a leading man,” he told the publication, remembering how casting directors told him: "You’re a leading man."

"I was like, 'where? Where am I gonna be a leading man?'" Porter said. "There is not a bone in my body that is ever going to be able to hold a candle to the masculinity, to the straightness, that the archetypes require.”

The Pose star went on to reference the most famous black male lead actors when he was a student, citing James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy.

“The patriarch, the sex symbol and the genius clown,” Porter said of each of them. “Those were the only three archetypes black men had and they were violently straight. I never thought it could look like Pray Tell. There was no context to dream about that.”