Allure February 2020 : Billy Porter by Ben Hassett

[vogue28]

 

[Benn98]

Looks like a Gay Times cover. I should like this more but I don't. You've got the clashing fonts, the off eyebrow art, with a white masthead. Whose choice was that?

Is Billy the first man ever to cover Allure? Don't recall on in earlier years, not even as a couple.

 

[KoV]

Looks like a Gay Times cover. I should like this more but I don't. You've got the clashing fonts, the off eyebrow art, with a white masthead. Whose choice was that?

Agreed, completely. A missed opportunity.

 

[tigerrouge]

I welcome the idea that anyone who makes a statement with their fashion or beauty styling can appear on the cover of Allure - but the end product still has to be worth looking at to convince me to buy it.

The eyebrows remind me of the sheets of sticky geometric shapes that young children are encouraged to play with. If I put them on my face and went to work, that would also seem like a radical act.

 

[JPineapple]

I love Billy but I need him on the cover of GQ or Vanity Fair... not in a magazine that no one reads anymore.

 

[serendipity8777]

Photographer: Ben Hassett
Stylist: Nicola Formichetti
Groomer: Melissa DeZarate
Makeup: Peter Philips
Nails: Naomi Yasuda




allure.com

 

[Srdjan]

Why does a man have to squeeze himself onto an Allure cover? How pointless.

 

[mikel]

Why does a man have to squeeze himself onto an Allure cover? How pointless.

Really? You know it’s 2020. Not 1920.
The art of beauty has no gender. Why can’t a man be on the cover of a beauty magazine?

 

[MissMagAddict]

Make it stop.

 

[jal718]

Truly hideous

 

[slayage]

Beautiful. I love the artwork around his eyes.

 

[slayage]

Why does a man have to squeeze himself onto an Allure cover? How pointless.

Allure is a beauty magazine and the last time I checked, beauty has no gender. That’s why.
It’s far from pointless, especially in today’s political climate, imo.

 

[tigerrouge]

Sales would probably pick up if they started putting drag queens on the front. It might even achieve the status of a magazine with the power to offend people seeing it in the supermarket, like Cosmo.

 

[Srdjan]

6x^ & ^^ Yeah, beauty might not have gender, but last time I checked, Allure is a women's beauty magazine, so what feels pointless to me is to feature a man on it. I am a man myself, and I don't feel the need to be represented on a women's magazine by someone of my own gender. Does any man though?

Also, I understand why you believe a cover like this is important in regards to inclusion (he's a black man who wears dresses and the USA can be tough on guys like him), but I very much doubt he got this cover for his beauty (I believe handsomeness is the correct word) and/or talent. I am sure the reason lies in those few thousand likes this will generate on social media.

Still, this is just a magazine cover, so I won't make a fuss about it...

 

[mikel]

6x^ & ^^ Yeah, beauty might not have gender, but last time I checked, Allure is a women's beauty magazine, so what feels pointless to me is to feature a man on it. I am a man myself, and I don't feel the need to be represented on a women's magazine by someone of my own gender. Does any man though?

Also, I understand why you believe a cover like this is important in regards to inclusion (he's a black man who wears dresses and the USA can be tough on guys like him), but I very much doubt he got this cover for his beauty (I believe handsomeness is the correct word) and/or talent. I am sure the reason lies in those few thousand likes this will generate on social media.

Still, this is just a magazine cover, so I won't make a fuss about it...

Ok boomer. Moving on.

 

[Srdjan]

Ok boomer. Moving on.

Thanks, I shall remember to use this phrase once I run out of constructive arguments in a future conversation.

 

[slayage]

6x^ & ^^ Yeah, beauty might not have gender, but last time I checked, Allure is a women's beauty magazine, so what feels pointless to me is to feature a man on it. I am a man myself, and I don't feel the need to be represented on a women's magazine by someone of my own gender. Does any man though?

Also, I understand why you believe a cover like this is important in regards to inclusion (he's a black man who wears dresses and the USA can be tough on guys like him), but I very much doubt he got this cover for his beauty (I believe handsomeness is the correct word) and/or talent. I am sure the reason lies in those few thousand likes this will generate on social media.

Still, this is just a magazine cover, so I won't make a fuss about it...

I partly get where you’re coming from but I don’t think labeling magazines as women’s or men’s is needed anymore nor is it healthy.
It creates a very marginalized group of people who should appear on the covers or even read the actual magazines. And what about non-binary people? It’s not always that black and white.

That’s why I think it’s important for the likes of Billy Porter to grace covers because they represent different kind of people with their beauty and fashion choices, stretching the normal beauty standards a bit. Of course, social media and the attention it can possibly offer are important on choosing the cover stars nowadays but I consider Billy beautiful enough to appear on a beauty magazine solely for his beauty, too.

 

[aracic]

I definitely feel like the gay in me should be quaking, but he's not. We both hate it!
I love Billy a lot but clearly not enough to tolerate this buffoonery. Geometric cut-outs, neon lights and glitter... could they be any more basic? Imagine if they booked Pat to properly do a Galliano-esque full couture beauty look for Billy and dressed him in proper fashion not some cheap off-the-rack gimmicks. Now that would've been the art of beauty. This is just the art of men channeling their inner gay energy and perception on another man. And it's ugly!

 

[mikel]

Thanks, I shall remember to use this phrase once I run out of constructive arguments in a future conversation.

This is just a magazine cover, so I won't make a fuss about it

 

[MON]

A missed opportunity. They took Art in Beauty literally and that just screams laziness.

Women’s magazines have time and again featured men on their covers without any female subject. Vogue Korea, Vogue China, Vogue India, and Vogue Netherlands to name a few. Further, why can’t a man cover a women’s magazine, while it is perfectly acceptable for a man to be the EIC of a woman’s magazine?

GQ consistently puts women on their covers. I don’t see any complaints. A woman can be recognized by a men’s magazine as person of the year, while a gay man cannot be considered beautiful by a women’s magazine? Double standard really.

The world has moved on from gender stereotypes in magazine cover stars, and to continue to deny this is a choice.