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Styles isn't concerned about fitting into any box people put him in.
By Liza Walter — Written on Mar 11, 2021
Harry Styles is not only known for his killer singing chops but also his unique sense of fashion and gender-defying style.
The former One Direction singer showed off his passion for fashion in the December 2020 issue of Vogue, donning feminine styles in a spread for the iconic magazine.
Styles' Vogue shoot caused quite a stir on social media, and while most fans applauded him for sporting feminine fashion, others wondered whether his style choices were alluding to his sexuality.
This isn't the first time the "Watermelon Sugar" singer got the rumor mill going because of his style, though.
When Harry Styles arrived at the Met Gala 2019 dressed in Gucci, he was the perfect mix of both feminine and masculine.
Is Harry Styles gay?
In 2019 he famously addressed the questions surrounding his sexuality in an interview with The Guardian.
“Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No... In terms of how I wanna dress, and what the album sleeve’s gonna be, I tend to make decisions in terms of collaborators I want to work with," he explained.
"I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool. And more than that, I dunno, I just think sexuality’s something that’s fun. Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more thought than that.”
However, fans continue speculating about his sexual orientation and gender preference.
1. Styles said that being female isn't an important trait in a potential partner.
In a 2014 interview, the host asked questions that were sent over from Twitter.
One fan asked what are 'four important traits you would look for in a girl'?
While Liam Payne said "female" as his first answer, Harry Styles shook his head and said, "Not that important," instead opting for a "sense of humor."
This obviously wasn't his "coming out" interview, but it did give me pause to hear him say that.
2. Fans have theorized that Styles and his former bandmate, Louis Tomlinson, have been together for years.
This is nothing new. Directioners (as fans of the band call themselves) — and the ones who call themselves "Larries" in particular — have been speculating about a relationship between two of the band's members, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, for years now.
According to them, record executives did not want the band members to come out of the closet because they could lose their female fanbase.
"Larry Stylinson," as they so affectionately call the relationship (a mix of their names), is truly a rabbit hole to fall down in on the internet once you get started.
And if you do decide to venture in, be forewarned that there is some ... pornographic images that might not be suitable for children or middle-aged married women who feel weird about seeing young men in such precarious positions.
3. Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson may have matching tattoos.
Apparently, according to the people who believe Larry is real, "Hi," and, "Oops" were the first words they ever uttered to each other when they met. And as you can see for yourself in the below picture, a lot of the tattoos do look like they are ones that match.
4. A mystery surrounds Rainbow Bondage Bear (RBB) and Sugar Baby Bear (SBB).
During the band's Where We Are tour in 2014, a fan threw a rainbow-colored Build-A-Bear on the stage, and during the rest of their time touring, it became their unofficial mascot.
The bear even had its own Twitter account (which has since been deactivated by the bear himself) that was supposedly run by the band.
However, Larry shippers believe it was run by Harry Styles and Larry Tomlinson, sending cryptic and secret messages to fans about their hidden love affair.
And then another bear appeared, a smaller one which fans dubbed "Sugar Baby Bear."
As per Urban Dictionary, a sugar baby is a young female or male who is financially pampered/cared for by a sugar daddy or sugar mama in exchange for companionship (i.e. sexual favors).
This whole bear thing just added to the rumors that Larry is real.
An essay by writer Daniella Lollie on her blog, which is no longer active, states:
"That bear started being set up on the stage featuring more and more elaborate get–ups and was subsequently named Rainbow Bondage Bear, or RBB. As time went on the costumes became increasingly more gay-themed, celebrating queer icons (Freddie Mercury and Judy Garland references are frequent and varying), reading gay non-fiction, and eventually started featuring the smaller gay bear.
Dubbed Sugar Baby Bear or SBB, he even got married to his larger counterpoint. The kicker? That guy in the picture frame is none other than Larry Grayson, a famous British gay entertainer.
The only Tweet that the official account has ever favorited was one that simply stated, “larry ok”, though the fave wasn’t up for longer than a few days. Apart from this, it is clear that the bears became increasingly aware of details within the Larry fandom.
For instance, the colors green and blue are associated with Harry and Louis because of the color of the plastic markers on their microphones and their eye colors."
5. Harry Styles may be a beard for some closeted female celebrities.
In October 2012, Harry Styles started dating singer Taylor Swift.
There have also been many conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift being gay (and closeted), including one that she's dated Glee's Dianna Agron and former squad member Karlie Kloss.
Though their romance was brief, it supposedly inspired an entire album from Swift, 1989, with the songs "Style" and "Out Of The Woods" supposedly being about their relationship.
Styles was also linked to Kendall Jenner, who's been the subject of gay rumors for quite some time.
A blind item insinuated that management put the two together since they're both gay, and being with each other would make the world believe otherwise.
6. Other celebrities have called out Harry Styles for being gay or bisexual.
Though Boy George admitted that he wouldn't know One Direction if they fell on his head, he did have something interesting to say about the former boy band.
80's gay icon Boy George said of the band, "The odds are one of One Direction must be gay ... I think everyone is a bit bisexual deep down, so the odds are they are probably all bisexual."
"They’re rock stars so it’s what you’d expect, isn’t it?" he added. "I’d be disappointed if they weren’t. Tattoos don’t make you butch. Look at me.”
In an interview, Lance Bass also mentioned that one of the members could be gay, saying:
"Statistically speaking, one probably is [gay] ... The market is 100 percent young women and they fantasize about these [One Direction] guys.
Then you have the record labels and everyone kind of grooming you to make sure that you don’t even mention that you have a girlfriend ... So screw the fact that you’re going to come out as being gay — it ruins their whole business plan.”
In the Guardian interview when asked about what he thinks on people speculating that he's bisexual, Harry responded with, "it’s not like I’m sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back... It’s who cares?"
7. Harry Styles Instagram has been more colorful as of late.
Let's be clear: you aren't automatically gay if you post pictures of a rainbow and a rainbow flag.
What Harry Styles' colorful Instagram presence does show, however, is that he is in full support of the community.
8. Styles recently posed in a beautiful dress in his December Vogue shoot.
And he absolutely slayed it!
Harry Styles' album Fine Line also seems to mark a new high-fashion and fashion-forward era for Harry as he wears a bright pink blouse with some killer white high-waisted bell-bottoms on the album cover.
Styles also opened up about his unique sense of style and where he gets his fashion inspiration from, saying:
"The people that I looked up to in music—Prince and David Bowie and Elvis and Freddie Mercury and Elton John—they’re such showmen. As a kid it was completely mind-blowing. Now I’ll put on something that feels really flamboyant, and I don’t feel crazy wearing it. I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit.
Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away.
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. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing.
It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”
In the Guardian interview, he also stated that it's not a question of what women wear or what men wear. "If I see a nice shirt and get told, ‘But it’s for ladies.’ I think: ‘Okaaaay? Doesn’t make me want to wear it less though.’ I think the moment you feel more comfortable with yourself, it all becomes a lot easier.”
No matter what Harry Styles' sexuality is, one thing is clear: he's a fashion and performing icon, and he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Liza Walter is a writer whose work has appeared on Yahoo Lifestyle, Ravishly, BUST Magazine, Huffpost, and more.