Harry Styles Dress 'Vogue' Cover

Overview

Harry Styles Dress 'Vogue' Cover refers to pop star Harry Styles appearing on the cover of Vogue Magazine in a dress and discussing in the magazine's profile his love of playing with gendered clothing, often publically wearing clothes that are usually seen as women's. The cover sparked much debate online, with conservative critics, notably Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens, criticizing and mocking the look for the feminine portrayal of a man. However, the look also inspired support and praise from online critics, including Logan Paul.

Background

On November 13th, 2020, Vogue^[1] profiled pop star Harry Styles, featuring him on a dress on the cover and in several pictures in his profile (cover shown below).

Developments

The cover became a hot topic among internet commenters, with users praising the bold look and others criticizing it for being too feminine. Actor Harry Shum Jr.^[2] praised the look, writing, "Being comfortable in your own skin as a man is manly. However that is expressed. Props to Harry Styles for doing him. There are plenty of men who are so insecure w/ themselves already so spare me “the world only needs more agro/aggressive men” crap," gaining over 1,500 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below, left). User @Jesus_official^[3] joked, "not yalls homophobic assess getting pressed that the Harry Styles, the most good looking man on earth, wore a dress. He is the first solo male to be on the cover of vogue in 128 years. Focus on that instead of hating on him just cause you accidentally got turned on this morning," gaining over 440 retweets and 4,900 likes (shown below, right).

Conservative media figures Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro both offered critical takes on the dress. Owens^[4] wrote, "There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack." Shapiro^[5] quote-tweeted her, writing, "This is perfectly obvious. Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot." The tweets were widely criticized on social media, as covered in the Los Angeles Times.^[6]

Logan Paul chimed in on the debate on his podcast, criticizing guests who said the Styles cover was "not manly." Paul defended the photos, saying that Styles was comfortable in his own skin (shown below).

The clip went viral on Twitter on November 18th, 2020, as people expressed their surprise and support for Paul's statement (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References