Harry Styles covers the December issue of Vogue, the first man to cover Vogue solo. He’s generally promoting an album which should be coming out at some point – I take him at his word that he’s been working on new stuff, and that it will be out soon-ish, maybe. His 2019 album, Fine Line, was a big success financially and culturally. People really think that he’s the next great rock star or pop star. He has the love and acceptance of all the older rock legends too. Harry also seems to have grown into just a lovely guy who likes to play with fashion and he wants everyone to feel loved and respected. There’s a real gentleness around him, not because he’s fragile (he’s not), but because he’s just so positive and joyful. You can read the full Vogue piece here (it’s pretty long) and here are some highlights:
He loves author Alain de Botton. “I love his writing. I just think he’s brilliant. I saw him give a talk about the keys to happiness, and how one of the keys is living among friends, and how real friendship stems from being vulnerable with someone.” De Botton’s 2016 novel The Course of Love taught Styles that “when it comes to relationships, you just expect yourself to be good at it…[but] being in a real relationship with someone is a skill.”
He meditates & practices Pilates: “I’ve got very tight hamstrings—trying to get those open” and meditates twice a day. “It has changed my life but it’s so subtle. It’s helped me just be more present. I feel like I’m able to enjoy the things that are happening right in front of me, even if it’s food or it’s coffee or it’s being with a friend—or a swim in a really cold pond! Meditation just brings a stillness that has been really beneficial, I think, for my mental health.”
Lockdown for months in LA: After a few days on his own, however, he moved in with a pod of three friends. They “would put names in a hat and plan the week out. If you were Monday, you would choose the movie, dinner, and the activity for that day. I like to make soups, and there was a big array of movies; we went all over the board,” from Goodfellas to Clueless. The experience, says Styles, “has been a really good lesson in what makes me happy now. It’s such a good example of living in the moment. I honestly just like being around my friends. That’s been my biggest takeaway. Just being on my own the whole time, I would have been miserable.”
On BLM & social change: “I think it’s a time for opening up and learning and listening. I’ve been trying to read and educate myself so that in 20 years I’m still doing the right things and taking the right steps. I believe in karma, and I think it’s just a time right now where we could use a little more kindness and empathy and patience with people, be a little more prepared to listen and grow.”
He drives a Primrose Yellow ’73 Jaguar. “Me and my dad have always bonded over cars. I never thought I’d be someone who just went out for a leisurely drive, purely for enjoyment.”
His love of fashion: “You can never be overdressed. There’s no such thing. The people that I looked up to in music—Prince and David Bowie and Elvis and Freddie Mercury and Elton John—they’re such showmen. As a kid it was completely mind-blowing. Now I’ll put on something that feels really flamboyant, and I don’t feel crazy wearing it. I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit. Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away. When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”
I love what he says about looking at amazing women’s clothing, and if you go to the Vogue editorial, you can see that the magazine had so much fun dressing him up in dresses, skirts, pretty blouses, bold menswear looks and everything else. And all of it works on him. In Dunkirk, he also showed that he has a perfect look for period clothes too – you can easily put him in WWII gear, and I would imagine he would look perfectly at home in Edwardian or Victorian gear too. Now, that being said, there’s a nagging part of me that wants to point out that of course he looks good in high-style women’s fashion – he has the body type for women’s clothes. Haute couture is made for thin women with narrow hips and small breasts, i.e. men built like Harry Styles.
Dressing up, making music, living in the moment: This is what matters to @harry_styles. Boundaries and labels? Not so much. Read the full December cover story: https://t.co/XpEzTsnQY9 pic.twitter.com/sbVeXgtZee
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) November 13, 2020
Photos and cover courtesy of Vogue, additional pics courtesy of Avalon Red.
I did not pay attention to him at all during his One Direction days because ….snobbery? Aversion to all things Simon Cowell? He looked very, very young? All of those? But his more recent album is fantastic (I am getting more familiar with the first one) and he is delightful- smart, thoughtful, interesting. And gorgeous af. I think he probably has to tour for the last album before he releases new music, he had a worldwide tour announced with dates etc when COVID hit but I guess he is not alone in figuring that out.
I find myself looking at Harry Styles thinking he’s amazing.
He just seems filled with joie de vivre and this post is one of my personal antidepressants today.
Thank you!
I agree. I’m not saying he’s some perfect little angel by any means, but he just seems very kind and self confident enough that he doesn’t feel the need to put others down.
OK, I am 59, I am aware of Harry but not his market. He is a cutie pie tho, and his music is pretty good, I youtube a lot during lockdown.
After seeing him on SNL, he’s got talent.
I honestly am from the hay day of Van Halen and DLR was my crush back in the day. Hey, he was hot with excellent hair. Fight me. DLR wore some outrageous stuff back in the day, taking the stage shirtless with ass less chaps and permed blonde hair flowing..damn!
I don’t care what Harry wears. But IMO, that black hoop skirt dress is ugly. Ugly.
When you can afford to have the best designers, most beautiful custom clothing, etc. why are ya wearing that? Btw, I think Harry should wear more hats, he could bring back hats.
Or a modified version of Camillas’ wedding dress in a deep brown velvet to go with his hair, just a shorter jacket.
Go on HS be yourself.
Btw, Eddie Izzard, the british comedy star, who often did his shows in womens clothes had some gorgeous outfits and looked goood in makeup and heels, quick witted, clever and funny.
No fight here. I am in your age group and DLR was outrageous for his time (as were a lot of hair metal bands). Madonna used to do the same type of thing and shed her persona and reinvent regularly (and outrageous…remember her book, “Sex?”). During those time periods, artists did these things as part of their persona/who they were.
I will be slightly unpopular here in that: While I agree Harry is beautiful, but I did not care for his Vogue styling. He carries it off (he has great poise), however I did not care for the black dress either. I think he’ll find his stride fashion-wise.
He drives a Jag. And my lingering confusion as to how his car broke down outside that fangirl’s house is put to rest. I grew up with Jag owner parents. They loved those asshole cars more than their children. My mother once told me “not knowing if you’ll get where you’re going or if you’ll get home again is part of the fun”. Be careful Harry! Those 1970 jags are death traps!
I had one from the 80’s and it was a dream, loved every minute.
Well. If you’re from Dallas, that does explain a lot about your folks.
#parforthecourseindallas
It’s true that plenty of women’s fashions are designed for someone tall and svelt which is a more common body type for (cis) men than (cis) women. The fashion industry is pretty misogynist in that regard but let’s turn that on its head and embrace (cis) men in “women’s” fashions.
He is such a try-hard
I agree! I think in general he’s harmless, but good god every move he makes is calculated for his kind, rock n roll image. He gets away with a lot of things because he’s good looking. He was asked earlier in the year on why he wasn’t more socially aware with BLM, LGBTQ, etc (His fans were begging him to) and he basically responded that nothing appealed to him yet. Like imagine Taylor Swift responding with that- and I don’t even like Taylor.
“I think in general he’s harmless, but good god every move he makes is calculated for his kind, rock n roll image.”
Exactly! Nothing original. It’s how I feel about Lady Gaga. We have Madonna and we have the work of the late David Bowie. We don’t need either one of these two.
He said that? Oof. I was not aware. He has definitely been pro LGBTQ in his work and in comments and he was at the George Floyd protests and he made some comments in that space but I haven’t seen anything where he was asked directly about it.
Here’s the thing, though. He isn’t that active on social media. As soon as the BLM protests started, people did just that and begged him to say something. When he didn’t respond right away, they took it as a sign of ignorance, willful or otherwise. The main criticism appears to be that he didn’t act fast enough, and when he did, they were like, “Oh, only because we said something. Fake.” He was damned either way.
I’m not a Harry stan, although I do like him, so I’m not saying this as a fangirl or anything. That’s how it appeared to unfold to me.
IMO, he isn’t required to take a political stance. I just don’t think he’s that interesting as an artist. He seems to be dying to be controversial or shocking but comes off as as a bit bland.
When celebrities make comments about social awareness or politics, they are just using it to sell their brand. They are just celebrities, they are not here to save the world. Believing that is the problem though.
“They are just celebrities, they are not here to save the world.”
Yes. They are entertainers. Not politicians. Their job is to entertain.
I have no problem with him dressing as pleases and in “woman’s” clothing. But yeah, I think he’s just really trying hard to be edgy here. I don’t think he does this in like day to day life as something that’s a genuine part of him and that he truly enjoys from photos I’ve seen.
IDK, my only hesitation is that this seems like an act. Performative.
He’s trying to repeat the Jagger and Bowie aesthetic. But I thought we were like past this stage in society.
But to me it just kind seems to disrespect or trivialize the real men who do enjoy dressing this way day to day. He’s putting on their identities for attention.
But did any of them cut about in their stage clothes when they weren’t performing? You never saw Bowie doing his groceries dressed like Ziggy Stardust. Jagger wore t-shirts onstage. Freddie Mercury didn’t wear his yellow jacket all the time.
I’ve seen this point made before, and I’m not getting what it has to do with authenticity. Anyone who wears some kind of costume or uniform onstage is going to reserve those looks for when they’re going to be seen.
He rocks 🖤
I’m a woman, and I find myself thinking the same about men’s clothing! Especially suits. I love suits.
Oh man me too. I LOVE a good suit. When I was in Jr High (age 14ish) I was so uncomfortable with fashion and my body that I would just wear black pants, a white shirt and one of my dad’s ties. Every damn day. It gave me so much confidence. I sometimes think I should go back to that look
You should! That sounds like a great look. I wanted to dress that way in high school but never did. We wore uniforms, so I kind of came close when I wore the dress pants and shirt. I just didn’t have a tie to complete the look. 😉
I never paid much attention to him beyond is hair initially. When he went off on his own, I started to really appreciate his talent, his fashion sense. Then, when he hosted SNL, he blew me away with his versatility and self-deprecation. I like him.
I’m rooting for him! His SNL hosting was so funny, and I appreciate anyone who doesn’t take themself too seriously and can poke fun at themselves. Otherwise it’s all ego.
People should wear whatever they want, and these days they largely do. Heck, even in my day they did. Nobody could look at Prince and Boy George and accuse my generation of being conformist, either.
As early as 1979 there was a very brave and cutting edge boy in my middle school who wore adult ladies’ dresses to school. He had quite the collection and we girls were so envious! The boys were bemused. We all just enjoyed seeing what he would show up to school in next. (It makes me kind of sad to know some of those kids grew up to be MAGATS on FB).
All that being said, that black dress with the lace and how Harry’s nips are squashed up in the lace is not a hot look on anyone. It looks like he got into a drunken mix up after a funeral.
There were some other photos of him in feminine fashions the other day that were much more flattering.
I think what makes female fashion flattering on the male frame is a more structured silhouette. Prince played around with fabric but I don’t recall seeing him go out in anything that looked poorly fitted like this black dress.
Daily Fail commenters were shading him for this shoot. Brad Pitt wore dresses for photoshoots decades back and nobody made a fuss. He looked very macho and kind of a modern version of those ancient Greek/whatever men though. David Beckham used to wear sarongs all the time, when Posh was still Posh Spice.
Saw him a number of years ago at the Annenburg photography museum in Century City. Only noticed him as he stopped and stared at me quite intently willing me to notice him. So yes at the time quite needy for attention and try hard.