Trendsetter Billy Porter says his first exposure to high fashion was in the black Pentecostal church in Pittsburgh where he grew up.
“Every week was a fashion show, and the aisle was the runway!” the “Pose” star told Fern Mallis at the 92nd Street Y. “Where you sat in the sanctuary is how good you felt that day. The closer you sat to the pulpit, the longer the walk down the aisle, giving more time to show off your Sunday best.”
Porter said of the Christian Siriano tuxedo ballgown he wore to the Oscars: “I wanted to do this gender-bending, fluid thing. We just got a lot of no’s from a lot of people … He is the only person who will look me in the face and say yes.”