Lambert has been central to this, a sort of Thomas Cromwell to Styles’s Henry VIII, but dissolving binaries instead of monasteries.
From the sheer black blouse and single pearl earring at the 2019 Met Gala, to the tight crimson Arturo Obegero jumpsuit in the video to As It Was, Styles became mainstream pop’s most determined subverter of gender stereotypes. Photograph: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for HS
Styles performs in New York City in 2021. Rumours of a solo career were circulating, and Styles was going through his “Jagger period”, wearing black Saint Laurent suits, Chelsea boots and leonine hair tamed by bright bandanas – fashion filtered through NME rather than GQ. Harry met Harry around the time of One Direction’s 2014 album, Four. It’s an intimate space! I’m aware that a lot of the attention I get is because of him, but I want to be very careful. I’m often the last person they see before they go on stage. You have to remember I am there in the most intimate times with people I work with. “When it comes to questions about Harry, I just consider our relationship too private to go too deep. Getting him to talk about Styles is like getting blood from a stone. W alking down the narrow corridor towards stylist Harry Lambert’s studio, I can’t be the first person to wonder if Harry Styles – Lambert’s most famous client – has trod the same blue carpet.
