Billy Porter Says He's Not Stressing About His Awards Season Outfits: 'I Show Up as Myself'
Billy Porter has already worn pinstripes, pink tulle, all-white, metallic gold wings and a black velvet tuxedo dress on the red carpet, so naturally, he’s often asked how he’ll be able to top his iconic looks in 2020.
The answer? He won’t.
“I’m not trying to top myself and I don’t feel any pressure about that,” the Pose star, 50, told PEOPLE at the 2019 Footwear News Achievement Awards on Tuesday night at New York City’s IAC Building. “It’s interesting to me that that’s always the question and that we’re always in this space of who’s the best [dressed] and who’s the worst [dressed]. There is room and space for everything and everybody.”
Rocking a yellow leather peacoat, a blue leather shirt-and-pants combo, Jimmy Choo heels and a balck fedora hat tilted to the side (his signature style!), Porter also said “the whole fashion thing” came as a surprise because he doesn’t go out of his way to make a statement on the red carpet.
“It’s not that deep y’all. It’s clothes!” Porter quipped. “I show up as myself and that’s all I’m doing.”
So no, the Broadway veteran doesn’t feel pressured to put together another show-stopping line-up of red carpet looks for the 2020 award season.
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“I can’t top the Oscars dress. That was its own thing. Now we’re going onto something else that’s going to be its own thing. That’s what I’m trying to do because life is hard enough and there’s already enough pressure,” he says. “My job is actually being an actor and a writer and that’s pressure you know what I mean? It’s like I’m trying to actually get that next gig.”
For the Pose star, that “next gig” is an exciting one — Porter is set to star in the live action remake of Cinderella, alongside Camila Cabello. The release date and plot details are still under wraps, but Porter assures, “It’s fun!”
“The script is amazing. It’s a Cinderella for the Me Too era, which is great,” he adds. “I think we need that.”
In October, Deadline reported that Broadway veteran (and the voice of Frozen‘s Queen Elsa) Idina Menzel was in talks to join the cast as well, playing Evelyn, the evil stepmother.
The story is reportedly a modern re-imagining of the classic fairytale from the mind of James Corden, in which an orphaned girl becomes a princess. Cabello’s Cuban and Mexican roots will likely play a part in the modern aspect of the story, and she will also be involved with the film’s music, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
