Harry Styles’ Daring Year In Fashion — How The One Direction Star Has Evolved
Harry Styles dropped jaws the world over with his daring fashion choices in 2015.
The 21-year-old star first entered the popular imagination in 2011/2012, boasting a short mop of curls, some preppy bow-ties, vests and chinos, and dapper awards night outfits that were often subtly coordinated with those of bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne.
Harry’s look during the “Take Me Home” and “Up All Night” era was almost too schoolboy-ish for comfort — this picture was taken around the time Harry caused a scandal by dating 32-year-old Caroline Flack, as reported by The Daily Mail.
“Please know I didn’t ‘dump’ Caroline. This was a mutual decision. She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know,” tweeted 18-year-old Harry as the pair parted ways. And it wasn’t just the romance that ended — a fashion era was drawing to a close for the fresh-faced singer. Soon after the split with Flack Harry dropped his prep school look and started to experiment, diverging further and further from the stylish but “safer” looks favored by his One Direction bandmates.
The fashion evolution continued as Harry covered himself with an array of tats and started wearing his shirts unbuttoned, baring a deep V of skin even at formal events. The distinctive swallow tattoos on the star’s chest were often on show, along with a low-hanging crucifix. As he became more comfortable with the press, Harry didn’t only reveal more skin, he revealed the meaning of the tattoos: they symbolized travel. The sparrows were an intricate ink-tribute to the jet-setting lifestyle of One Direction, which was sometimes a burden and sometimes a pleasure, as reported by Sugarscape.
“They symbolise traveling, and we travel a lot.”
In 2013 Harry also began wearing wide-brimmed hats and skinny jeans, sometimes pulled together with a braided belt that added a tinge of subtle Americana to the British star’s look. “Cowboy Harry” peaked with 2014’s excellent “Four” album — the star showed acres of his tanned chest on the album cover as he posed with soon-to-be-departed bandmate Zayn Malik’s arm slung around his shoulder, a wide-rimmed black hat on his head and his face caught in a candid moment by the “Four” photographer. Harry’s tongue peeks out through his lips and his eyes are lazy and relaxed. The curls that once sat in glossy barrels on his youthful head are getting longer, covering his ears and looking looser and more unruly. A single sparrow wing and head peep out from beneath the fold of his patterned shirt.
In 2015 Harry took his look from Subtle Americana to History Of Rock 101, channeling ’70s rock icons like Mick Jagger and David Bowie as he stepped out in an array of bold suits. Harry was not averse to a flared trouser leg and a loud print, and even incorporated a pussybow and a feminine bootcut into his look, following the lead of his gender-bending fashion-loving pop predecessor David Bowie.
Much has been made of Harry Styles’ hair, which is now so long it barely curls anymore, and which the star has taken to tousling and throwing back over his forehead, as if he wants to make it look even wilder than it already does. This may be a wise way to offset the calculated vibe of the Gucci suits, which are heavily “stylized” and incorporate some traditionally-feminine detailing. A wild, greasy mop may be just the thing Harry needs to take the look from “costume party Mick Jagger” to 2015 fashion trendsetter.
The One Direction star has a feel for fashion and he has even been feeling fashion models lately. Harry Styles-watchers spotted that he followed this account on Instagram just yesterday:
Harry followed this account on Instagram -K pic.twitter.com/SLXoY0RzzN
— Harry Styles Updates (@HSUpdating) December 22, 2015
Anna Ewers may be set to become a big thing in fashion — she has just been voted Model of The Year by Models.com, beating out headline-grabbers Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, as reported by Vogue.
Harry fans also noted that he liked a cute picture posted by celebrated designer Stella McCartney recently.
Harry liked this pic on Instagram today!#VideoMTV2015 One Direction
-M pic.twitter.com/lIXzWmPRDq— Harry Styles Updates (@HSUpdating) December 21, 2015
Styles has previously been linked to models Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne and Georgia Fowler. Could Harry be moving onto German model Anna Ewers?
— Joanna ? (@golden_lirry) December 22, 2015
What do you think of Harry Styles’ looks?
(Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP, Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
