Fan Girl

by Sophie Speyer

I haven’t chosen Harry Styles for this week’s visual diary just because I have a huge crush on him! I made a mistake on my Instagram after seeing Harry on stage. I presumed he was wearing a Gucci jumpsuit, and I was wrong. It was a fabulous sequinned piece by Arturo Obegero. My mistake got me thinking about fashion needing to sell clothes as well as identity. Everyone wants Harry as their Brand Ambassador. It is not a new idea to sell fashion by asking celebrities to wear it. So why then is Harry Styles such a huge hit on the Runway now, and why does he connect with so many people? I think the 2 biggest reasons are that he’s a really good-looking and talented young man; and that somehow he makes fashion feel emotional. He represents a modern masculinity. 

I am less interested in focusing on Harry’s cross-dressing or gender-fluid looks. Mostly because I wonder whether these are all of his choosing, or simply styled onto him because he’s a handsome clothes-horse, and menswear is beginning to diversify into womenswear? There’s no doubt that if he really hated outfits chosen for him, Harry could refuse to wear them. On some level we must trust that Harry Styles genuinely likes to wear dresses. But I don’t think fashion (or his fans) love Harry because he looks good in a frock. 

I think Fashion loves Harry because he’s prepared to take risks with what he wears, and is having fun experimenting. His performances are really confident. Harry leaps around the stage, note-perfect on every track. As a performer, Harry is a high-energy extrovert. He is big on costume and being the best Showman that he can be. Harry is selling us fashion as the rock ‘n’ roll Hero. He appears to be living his best life because he can command the stage and the audience loves him...all while he’s wearing a striped sequinned jumpsuit. If you believe in yourself, and wear a striped sequinned jumpsuit, your life could be successful too. 

It is well-documented that Harry found growing up in the public eye hard. I think fashion protects Harry from his fans, so that we don’t really know what kind of guy he is off-stage. When Harry plays with fashion, he’s playing with us: ‘Am I Gay?’ ‘Am I lost?’ ‘Am I freaking out?’ It’s right that we don’t truly know the answer. Because people have seen Harry Styles grow up, his fans are invested in him emotionally. Maybe what he wears is an open expression of who he is, but I’m not sure. Perhaps when Harry wears women’s clothes he’s expressing something more vulnerable? It’s certainly a contrast to the 70’s rock-glamour that we see on stage. But I’m sure Styles uses dressing up in the truest sense, making life a party with many different themes. I bet at home he’s very comfy in a tracksuit (probably a Gucci one). 

I’ve made an illustration from Gucci’s 2018 Tailoring Campaign video where Harry appears at a Fish n’ Chip shop with a Chicken. It was directed by famous fashion photographer Glen Luchford, and feels full of English wit. Harry’s charm is that his good looks fall just on the line between pretty and handsome. The simplicity of the Gucci-Check dressing gown over a pin-stripe suit is charming. Watch it on YouTube, the film is delightful. 

Please watch the official video for ‘As it was’ directed by Arturo Obegero. In the video he is dancing in a fabulous red Obegero jumpsuit. I took countless screen grabs from this pop video and would like to develop more of them. You can see my sketch, taken from a moment in the Barbican when he is dancing alone. I made a 5 colour screen printed and then drew over the image with Promarkers and Watercolour pencils. Screen printing just got fun again! 

I also made a fairly disastrous etching of Styles wearing Molly Goddard AW22. The print sent me back to the catwalk footage of her show, and I made a photopolymer etching of the look that wore the same T-shirt as Styles did in my original inspiration. You can’t see this detail in the print, but the T-shirt was the visual link into the drawing. I love Molly Goddard, and Harry wears her well. 

*NB If you type ‘Harry Styles’ into Wikipedia there is a lot to read for someone who is only 28 years old. Harry entered British culture on ITV’s X Factor. Including his time as a band member of One Direction, Harry has been performing around the world for nearly 12 years. Harry Styles is a Pro and like many others, I’m a fan.