Harry Styles has just made history in spectacular fashion.
The 26-year-old singer is featured on the cover of Vogue’s December issue – becoming the first-ever male cover star to front the magazine solo – where he rocked a stunning, lace-adorned Gucci gown.
Harry shares that he’s been down to dress up since he was a kid.
“As a kid I definitely liked fancy dress,” he says. “I was really young, and I wore tights for [the play]. I remember it was crazy to me that I was wearing a pair of tights. And that was maybe where it all kicked off!”
And he’s carried that love for dressing up all the way to adulthood.
“I like playing dress-up in general,” he tells the magazine.
And one fashion rule he firmly believes in now is “there is no such thing” as being overdressed.
“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,” he says. “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,” Harry continues. “Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with.”
And he’s all for blurring the lines between genders in clothing.
“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,” Harry shares. “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,” he adds. “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.”
Quarantine kinda put a damper on his fashion sense – he says his usual ensemble was “sweatpants constantly.”
However, quarantine did teach him to look at “what makes me happy now.”
“It’s such a good example of living in the moment,” he says. “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.”
He’s also taken the time to work on self-growth, learning and getting involved in ongoing social justice discussions.
“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,” he says. “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.”
