Billy Porter brought the avant-garde to the BET Awards [1]. The actor attended the June 26 award show in Los Angeles wearing quite the statement-making Rick Owens outfit consisting of a gray crewneck knit top with bell sleeves and sharp, pointed shoulders paired with a matching skirt featuring a train and vertical seams. Porter completed the look with platform boots with lucite heels and a grill detail at the toe, also by Owens.
Porter has become known for his dramatic style. There was the all-gold "Sun God" outfit [2] by The Blonds he wore to the 2019 Met Gala and the blue Botter suit and umbrella hat [3] he wore to the latest American Music Awards. Porter also inspired many memes [4] when he appeared at the 2020 Grammy Awards in a Baja East hat with a mechanical fringe, which he would later reveal was inspired by a Gucci veil [5] Billie Eilish [6] had previously worn to an award show.
Porter has been very open about experimenting with different silhouettes and challenging traditional gender expectations [7]. He told Stephen Colbert [8] on "The Late Show" in 2019, "We've moved beyond the idea that women wearing pants is a problem — thank you, Katharine Hepburn. Women wearing pants is powerful, it's strong, everybody accepts it, and it's associated with the patriarchy. It's associated with being male. The minute a man puts on a dress, it's disgusting." Porter added, "I'm not doing that anymore. I'm done with that. I'm a man in a dress, and if I feel like wearing a dress, I'm going to wear one."
See photos of Porter's latest red carpet look ahead.
Billy Porter Wearing Rick Owens at the 2022 BET Awards
