Harry Styles & Lil Nas X: Fashion friends or fashion foes?

After serving look after look, night after night on his tour, the unforgettable and unmissable Vogue cover, and his partnership with Gucci, I think it’s fair to say that Harry Styles has been making pretty significant waves in the fashion industry. However, despite how good he looks (and boy, does he look GOOD), we must remind ourselves that he is not the only male artist who plays around with their masculinity through their clothing. Rapper and musician Lil Nas X has, if you look closely enough, a rather similar sense of expression as Harry. Both artists explore gender fluid fashion, not forcing themselves to conform to a specific style, and both understand that clothes have no gender. Unfortunately, and rather unfairly for him, the reactions from the public, from the internet, and from general passers-by have not been quite as welcoming and uplifting as the one Harry has received. And we can’t help but ask: would Lil Nas X’s fashion choices be more accepted if he was white? 

Furthermore, both Harry and Lil Nas have their own collaborations with luxury brands: Harry leading his Gucci campaign and Lil Nas becoming the face of the new Coach collaboration. However, whilst Harry (and Gucci) were met with excitement, pride, and a dose of intrigue from the public, Lil Nas was met predominantly with talks of boycotting the brand, with upset from many people, and with nowhere near as much hype as Harry got. It would be unfair to say that Harry’s fashion choices and decisions have always been plain sailing, and it must be said that he has received his own fair share of backlash, but his race never played into the complaints and negativity.

Image Credits: @gucci

We all remember Candace Owens’ own ‘bring back manly men!’ complaint, but it is important to remember that whilst receiving the same sexist remarks Harry was receiving, Lil Nas X was also getting racist abuse hurled his way, along with unbelievably homophobic responses online. One scroll through TikTok comments will show how negatively people reacted, with people saying the collaboration had “dark satanic vibes” and questioning why Coach would choose “such a demonic person.” It is pretty clear that these comments were made solely due to Lil Nas’ race, as the teddy bear designs he has on select items of the collection are far from demonic or satanic. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this, is that if you do even a little bit of research, you’ll find that Harry and Lil Nas have made more than one similar fashion choice. So, the question to be asked is: why do people act as if Harry is the first man to openly wear a dress? People like Billy Porter, and Lil Nas have been showing their ‘feminine’ and androgynous sides for a lot longer than Harry Styles, but their choices and their fashion statements appear to be overlooked, and all the credit, glory, and praise seems to have been credited to a white man.

Image Credits: @lilnasx on Instagram

The nuances of the situation are, of course, slightly more complex than I have made it seem, but if you break it down, ultimately, part of the reason for Harry’s predominantly positive response is because of his race. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the media response to a white person’s fashion choice has been vastly different to the response to similar fashion statements made by black people. It is also not the first time that white people have been awarded credit for ideas that were already executed by black people. There is still such a strong imbalance between media responses and reactions to black fashion and white fashion, and when you take a look at it closely, you can see that the similarities are often so strong, bordering on imitation. The backlash hurled at black communities, artists, models, and celebrities who generally take interest in fashion, mysteriously disappear when a white person decides it’s fashionable or trendy. 

At the end of the day, both of these artists are revolutionizing the fashion industry, and are proving to people that they can wear what they want, however they want. It is just a shame that Lil Nas doesn’t get the same praise and positivity as Harry often gets, and can’t feel the pride he should feel for the difference he is making.