Billy Porter has criticised US Vogue’s decision to feature Harry Style in a dress for a groundbreaking cover shoot, saying “all he had to do is be white and straight.”

The former One Direction singer, 27, became the first ever male solo cover star in the iconic fashion magazine’s history when he posed in a Gucci dress last December.

Pose star Porter, 52, who is known for his flamboyant fashion at red carpet events, said he had to “fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down”.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he said: “I created the conversation [about non-binary fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time.

“I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do.”

Adding: “This is politics for me. This is my life. All he had to do is be white and straight.”

The Watermelon Sugar hit-maker has yet to to respond.