How Louis Tomlinson Helped Harry Styles Be Comfortable In Nail Polish
Ever since he left One Direction, Harry Styles has become something of an unlikely fashion icon thanks to his courageous style choices, which include, but are not limited to, experimenting with women's clothing and nail polish.
Styles caused a stir when he posed on the cover of Vogue in a dress, as The Guardian reported, with several conservative commentators decrying the move as the end of masculinity as we know it. For his part, the British star reasoned he simply wears whatever he feels like.
"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," he told Vogue.
The British star confessed to being more excited by women's clothing in general, but he also acknowledged, "I've never really thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something." As far as Styles is concerned, in fact, it's not really that deep, either way.
Following the intense backlash to the shoot, the "Watermelon Sugar" hit-maker doubled down on his position in a chat with Variety. "To not wear [something] because it's females' clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes," he said.
It might shock you to learn, though, that Louis Tomlinson was an early supporter of Styles' style evolution.
Louis Tomlinson encouraged Harry Styles to fully go for it
As CheatSheet notes, when One Direction first began, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were 16 and 18 years of age, respectively. The boys grew up together, in front of the world no less, touring the globe and figuring out how to be famous in real time.
However, although Styles has since emerged as a rule-breaking fashionista, he was scared to even paint his nails back in the day.
In a recently resurfaced interview from the early days of the band, Tomlinson notably encourages Styles to "do the whole nail" and "embrace it" rather than being shy about experimenting. In an effort to further coax a clearly nervous Styles, he gets out of his chair and holds his buddy's hands and arms still while Styles' nails are delicately painted.
Later, he quips, "What about, 'Painted Nails Make Harry Beautiful'?" in a reference to the band's massive hit single "What Makes You Beautiful," which is about a girl who doesn't realize what truly makes her stand out from the crowd. By the end of the interview, Styles is thrilled with his pink nails and confidently showing them off.
Tomlinson and Styles were close from the very beginning of the band's formation and frequently showed off their rapport in interviews. They were also unfailingly supportive of each other, which clearly affected the "Sign of the Times" singer deeply, since, these days, he's frequently spotted rocking colorful and artistic nails. In fact, he even has a nail polish brand, Pleasing.