display
Unconventionality is his trademark: 27-year-old Harry Styles likes to adorn himself with pearl necklaces, paint his nails, appear in glittering overalls and wear a see-through blouse with high heels at the New York Met Gala.
The cute member of the former boy band One Direction has become a style role model for the new generation - for men and women alike.
Harry Styles only proved that last week when he appeared at the Grammys in a feather boa and leather jacket.
During the course of the evening he was written about more often on social media than anyone else.
Because behind his often extravagant, always cool looks, there is a special feeling for gender-neutral fashion, with which styles break traditional boundaries.
Less flashy than Elton John, more casual than David Bowie and always with a British wink.
Here is his fashionable rise in five chapters.
1. From boy band boy to fashion icon
Usually, members of a boy band appear in color-coordinated outfits.
Harry Styles was already 17 years old and had no interest in this uniformity.
He was the one with his own refined style, the "Posh Spice" Victoria Beckham at One Direction, so to speak.
He wore teen-friendly tracksuits from Jack Wills, but also preppy looks with a jacket and trousers in the style of Tommy Hilfiger.
Preppy: Harry Styles at an appearance with One Direction in 2012. Back then with the famous curls
Source: Redferns
display
While his peers continued to favor sneakers, hoodies, and leather jackets, Styles began taking inspiration from the catwalks in 2013.
With the international breakthrough of his band, the then 19-year-old turned to the luxurious outfits of Burberry and Saint Laurent, the legendary Brit plaid print here or the combination of skinny jeans and Chelsea boots typical of the designer Hedi Slimane.
There was also an ever-expanding collection of tattoos all over the body.
This change did not go unnoticed in the judging eyes of the fashion world.
At the end of 2013, the singer received a British Fashion Award for his personal style and prevailed against the other nominees David Beckham, Alexa Chung, Duchess Kate and Cara Delevingne.
2013 still in the "Brit Chic" look
Source: Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for Burberry)
The “Rock Chic” look from Saint Laurent became his trademark in the coming year.
When Styles set off with his band on the Where We Are Tour in 2014, he was rarely seen without a piece from Hedi Slimane's collections.
Both on and off the stage, smoking jackets, patterned silk shirts, chunky “Wyatt” boots and silk scarves shaped his wardrobe.
2. The Gucci phase
With One Direction it came to an end silently and without an official separation.
Styles turned to acting for a brief moment, but most of all to his solo singing career.
After cutting off his famous curls for a role in director Christopher Nolan's war film “Dunkirk” in 2017, he experimented again with his appearance on the subsequent promotional tour for his new album.
Diva-like: styles in Gucci leather with feather boa at the Grammy Awards
Source: Anthony Pham via Getty Images
display
Instead of Saint Laurent, it was now Gucci, under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, whose designs shaped his appearances from then on.
As for extravagance, a definite upgrade.
Printed satin trousers, high heels, suits in cotton candy pink and a multitude of large, chunky rings dominated his appearances from then on.
The accolade for the fashion icon came in 2018 when Gucci announced that he would become the face of the new campaign.
For the opening evening of the Met Gala 2019, Michele and Styles worked together as co-presenters and stepped on the pink carpet together.
Styles' look of feminine elements such as a see-through blouse, ruffles and high-heeled boots contrasted with his sailor tattoos, his male stature and his image as a heterosexual sex symbol.
Fashion Olympus: Styles in a see-through blouse with Gucci designer Alessandro Michele at the Met Gala 2019
Source: WireImage
But he didn't specifically refute the rumors of a sexual reorientation afterwards, but said at a concert on stage: "I think we're all a bit gay, right?" This kind of playful ambivalence had already proven itself with Robbie Williams.
Gucci remained a fixture in Harry Styles' fashion cosmos, but he also wore lesser-known “gender fluid” brands such as Harris Reed and Lazoschmidl.
In 2020 he was the first man to be photographed alone for the cover of the US “Vogue” - in a pale blue lace dress by Alessandro Michele.
3. Man's pearls
display
At the Met Gala, Style showed his fondness for jewelry, which was previously reserved for women and originally only for Julius Caesar.
The Roman emperor had decreed that pearls could only be worn by men of the ruling class.
Around 2000 years later, Styles seems to be one of them: in New York, he wore a single pearl earring.
The rings and crucifix he wore since the bold Britpop days of Saint Laurent were soon joined by a pearl necklace.
From now on always with you: the pearl necklace
Source: Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images
Vogue tells Styles that his love of female fashion and disguises goes back to childhood, when his mother put him and his sister Gemma in costumes and he was cast as a church mouse in a school performance.
“It is so much fun to play with clothes.
I've never really thought about what it means - it's just another part of creating something, ”said the musician.
4. The TikTok cardigan
Once you are established as a style icon, such as the actor Timothee Chalamet or the pop star and designer Rihanna, every outfit becomes a sensation.
This is what happened to the oversized grandfather cardigan that Harry Styles only wore to a rehearsal on the "Today" television show last February.
It was actually just a rehearsal outfit
Source: NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
The brightly colored cardigan by designer JW Anderson was reminiscent of a magic cube, the famous Rubik's Cube, and Styles wore his characteristic pearl necklace on his neck.
The look went viral.
His fans knitted the jacket and presented their products on TikTok: declarations of love for the singer and the designer.
This made Anderson so proud that he shared samples and instructions on YouTube.
Now everyone could imitate the Harry Styles cardigan perfectly.
5. Off to the fashion museum
According to his stylist Harry Lambert, Styles keeps his clothes in a refrigerated vault in London that can be operated via iPad and is guarded around the clock.
Even if this archive should sufficiently preserve Styles' fashion influence for posterity, his fashion can also be admired in museums.
Not only did Gucci request some pieces on loan for exhibitions, the London Victoria & Albert Museum also added the original JW Anderson cardigan to its collection.
And these won't have been the last Harry Styles pieces to make fashion history.
Our podcast THE REAL WORD is about the important big and small questions in life: What do breast selfies have to do with feminism? How does the long-term relationship stay happy? And what can you learn from the TV bachelorette? Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Deezer, iTunes or Google Podcasts or subscribe to us directly via RSS feed.