Everybody loves Harry Styles, right? The boy from Cheshire, who hung up his bakery apron to make an Abercrombie and Fitch-clad winning appearance on The X Factor in 2010, has charmed the world with his catchy modern pop and joy-fuelled outfits. Styles never looks like he’s not having fun, even when on a Lime bike with James Corden, which is surely some sort of achievement in itself.
He grew up in the bucolic village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, just south of Manchester, with his older sister Gemma and parents Des Styles and Anne Twist, who divorced when he was seven. He’s now reached an epoch shaking 30-years-old, a milestone for any pop star. But Styles, who lives in Hampstead, is thriving.
His gender-fluid style has hit a zeitgeist nerve, pulling in adoration from TikTok knitting Gen Z to their mums. And it is that appeal that he’s now leaning into with a focus on business opportunities beyond going viral on a red carpet.
Part Abba tribute, part Broadway market with a bit of Northern lad thrown in for good measure, his spangly jumpsuits, feather boas, décolletéflashing blouses, pearl jewellery, Seventies suiting, knitwear and hoodies have come to solidify the modern attitude to getting dressed. Anything goes as long as it’s a ‘fit, as they say on social media.