all the ways in which harry styles is saying fuck you to gender norms

So by now we all know that I am so far up Harry Styles’ ass, I love every little thing he does – from the way he sings, to the way he handles interviews, and how he pouts as he picks up the mic he just dropped. But the one thing he does that I love the most is challenge gender norms. In the most public years of his life he’s doing things that society used to deem as ‘female’ and, although he still has his masculine traits, he’s embracing the full spectrum of gender by throwing on a pink shirt, and he looks pretty good doing it too.

As they did their sound check for Jimmy Kimmel yesterday, the hundreds of cameras around them spotted Harry pulling out a rose gold iPhone from the back pocket of his jeans. Now I can almost guarantee you haven’t seen another male celebrity with this colour phone, and it shows how he’s taking this huge step towards just doing whatever the heck you like. It’s so obvious that anyone can own any colour phone they like (permitting you’re minted enough to get the new iPhone as soon as it appears in its multitude of colours), but it’s the traditional portrayal of men to have the black phone and women to have the pink phone which is just total bullshit and it’s cool someone in the public eye doing something to symbolise the eye-roll we all give to that out-dated view.

In the same way, Harry often dons a pink shirt, or a floral shirt, or a silk shirt, or a women’s shirt – basically his wardrobe is 80% shirts, 12% jazzy boots, 5% patterned suits, and 3% jeans. You could make a Kim Kardashian-style photo book out of all the cool shirts Harry has ever worn (can someone actually make this I would buy it so fast) and it would be Urban Outfitters’ no.1 best seller. Admittedly he stumbles in the pitfalls of clashing textures, suede and silk… please Harry, but when you feel good and you’re nice and snug in your sheepskin gilet (yes, really) who gives a hoot if you look like a bit silly. We’re all the victim of a poor outfit choice we make in the 30 minutes between getting out of bed and leaving to go out for the day, so why should it be any different if you just happen to be in a band?

And its not just women’s shirts Harry has in his repertoire of clothes. He has previously been spotted wearing stripy women’s jeans and the odd women’s scarf. I can’t think of many other male celebrities who would be bold enough to go out in women’s clothes when its inevitable you’re going to get papped (okay, maybe that Matthew Grey Gobbler tweet springs to mind). I also want to mention those patterned suits he wears because he takes it so much further than a cool pinstripe. Whether it’s a printed Gucci suit or a velvet Lanvin blazer, whenever Harry steps out on the red carpet, you can guarantee he’s going to look good doing it. The point I’m trying to make, aside from cramming in as many pictures of Harry Styles as possible, is that all of this is in the public eye and all of this is being seen by young people – fans or not. And that’s one of the good things that gets put about them in the press.

Harry’s long hair has become something of a novelty to the media with articles like ‘Is this Harry Styles’ hair or a silky dog?’ and ’10 times Harry Styles could’ve been in a shampoo advert’. But it’s really grown on people (pun unintended). He’s probably been one of the celebrities at the forefront of the man-bun trend (love it or hate it), but he really makes long hair work. It’s become his number one accessory whilst he’s performing live – from a classic head bang, to flipping it back with his hand and making some excellent GIFs in the process, to letting their groomer (this is her official title, I apologise Lou) braid it into plaits I could only dream of. After he recently said he’ll be cutting it eventually for charity, you could almost feel millions of people putting their hand to their heart. On top of cutting off his tresses, Harry’s been known to slick on a bit of nail varnish for campaigns against domestic violence further brushing gender norms under the rug.

With all this in mind, is it any surprise that Harry was given the British Style Award at the BFAs (British Fashion Awards)? Also, props to the people who nominated and voted for Harry because you’re doing your bit to challenge gender norms too. On top of that (as if it could get any better) these people weren’t even One Direction fans, they were genuine fashionistas who know their stuff – proof that Harry really does make a ribbon neck tie look good.