MAN OF THE YEAR

Billy Porter SUPPORTED BY Virgin atlantic

CATEGORY IS… MAN OF THE YEAR, AND THERE COULD ONLY BE ONE WINNER: BILLY PORTER. SMASHING CEILINGS, THE ACTOR, WRITER, STORYTELLER AND RED-CARPET EXTRAORDINAIRE LIVES HIS LIFE UNAPOLOGETICALLY AND ISN’T AFRAID TO SPEAK HIS TRUTH – 10, 10, 10, 10’S ACROSS THE BOARD

Words Owen Myers

Billy wears outfit, by Victoria Hayes, hat, by Gigi Burris, earring, by Erickson Beamon, rings, by Jill Herlands

Photography Taylor Miller Fashion director Joseph Kocharian Stylists Ty Hunter and Colin Anderson

Billy Porter is on top of the world. Or, at least, on top of New York City. On a late summer’s afternoon, the fearless actor, musician, and advocate is lounging at the poolside bar on the roof of a swish members’ club in the Meatpacking district, sipping on a spicy margarita and kicking his shoes off. “Excuse me, I like to have my feet out!” he hoots, as his chunky designer trainers go flying.

The Manhattan neighbourhood we’re in was an LGBTQ+ hub in the ’70s, with back-alley bars like Mineshaft that catered to every shade of kink. But although the designer shops and boutique hotels that line the streets today attract quite a different crowd from the leather daddies and sex workers of previous decades, Porter’s fierce energy is an energizing reminder of the subversive creativity that New York is known for.

When he arrived in the city in the ’90s, Porter knew that, as a gay, Black man, he’d risk being put in a box if he didn’t beat his own path. When speaking about the hurdles he had to overcome, he’s a dose of unapologetic realness.

“I had to consciously choose the track,” he says. “What was available to me in the ‘80s and ’90s was a clown show, a coon show. I had to consciously extract myself from my own trajectory and create a different one.”

After a few false starts, Porter, now 51, hit gold in 2013 with Kinky Boots, winning a Grammy and a Tony Award for his performance as Lola, the fabulous drag queen on a quest for the perfect heel. When Ryan Murphy’s brilliant ballroom-set drama Pose premiered in 2018, he became a star overnight. Porter is electric in the show as Pray Tell, the balls’ MC, with sharp looks and an even sharper tongue. But the character is, poignantly, also a kind of glue that keeps the fractious community together, teaching Blanca, Angel, Elektra and co that “a house is much more than a home. It’s family.” Porter played the role with a ferocious (and Emmy-winning) intensity, as if fuelled by his earlier decades of being side-lined by the mainstream, with doors slammed in his face.