“Harry Styles in a dress – so what?” designer Harris Reed opens up about breaking barriers and being authentic

As he debuts his demi-couture collection, Harry Styles’ “secret weapon” talks to Naomi May about making that viral Vogue dress and what’s next
Tyler Mitchell/Vogue
Naomi May18 February 2021

Has Harris Reed, the designer behind the “suit-gown” Harry Styles wore in the December issue of American Vogue, succumbed to loungewear during lockdown?

“Eurgh, no!” Reed exclaims over Zoom, while looking like a self-confessed “old pirate” in a floaty, cream lace pussy-bow blouse and a fistful of rings. “I just can’t! If I’m not going to sleep, then I just cannot do loungewear!” He laughs.

Laughing is a common theme throughout our chat, which is surprising given that Reed – who is nonetheless radiant with what he calls a ‘renaissance glow’ - is subsisting on just three hours’ sleep. For the last month, he’s been the sole resident of the Standard hotel in King’s Cross alongside his team of three, working on his debut demi-couture collection, which makes its way into the world today to coincide with London Fashion Week.

Reed in his own viral suit-gown design
Courtesy of Harris Reed

“I used the outrage to Harry in the dress as fuel for my new collection. Like, Harry Styles is in a dress – so what?” he says, “I knew it would be controversial just because I’ve lived all over America where simply not being straight and white is an issue, so I knew that someone of that magnitude in a dress would cause a stir.”

It’s been quite the rollercoaster few years for 24-year-old Reed. He’s modelled for Gucci and dressed Solange Knowles and Ezra Miller, which is no small feat given that he only graduated from Central Saint Martins in June 2020. Shortly after, the One Direction alum broke the internet sporting a Harris Reed “suit-gown” in the December issue of American Vogue. The ensemble, a tailored suit attached to a crinoline draped in ivory and fuchsia tulle, took Reed, his friend Molly and his two interns six days to make and was crafted entirely by hand.

Harry Styles in the December issue of American Vogue
Tyler Mitchell

“Anna Wintour’s team called me and asked me to make something from my graduate collection which was incredible because that was the last collection I did during lockdown,” Reed explains, “I had to go off of some old measurements I had on my phone so we were just praying that it fit.”

Styles’ stylist Harry Lambert can be credited with forging the relationship. In 2017, through the Central Saint Martins tag on Instagram, Lambert stumbled upon Reed’s work and asked him to conceptualise some pieces for a client of his. It wasn’t until he arrived at the Hammersmith Apollo to meet Lambert’s mystery client that he realised it was the Watermelon Sugar hit maker.

“Harry [Styles] and I clicked as soon as we met. He instantly understood my messaging and what I stand for,” Reed states, “He’s fabulous. It’s been amazing that I’ve been able to focus on school, but alongside it share these beautiful moments with him.”

Look 6 from For Now, Unexplained
Courtesy of Harris Reed

The collection that Reed launches this week, named For Now, Unexplained, is his first since graduating and continues the riff on the suit-dress hybrid which Styles catapulted into public consciousness. In true whimsical Reed style, the decision to make the collection was only made in January, allowing his team just a month to isolate together and hand-make the sextet of pieces. The team of four have been hand-dying fabric in baths at the Standard and spray-painting tulle in the back gardens of local pubs.

Reed aims for the collection “to be like moving art” and chose to craft just six pieces because “it felt like six pieces could tangibly be made in a month, given we can’t get fabric from Italy and we can’t get seamstresses.” He’s also conscious of his Instagram following, which is just shy of 300,000, and wanted six looks that would “work for a swipe-through post.”

The designer, who is gender fluid, up until recently used the pronouns they/them. “It’s difficult because I’m trying to eradicate barriers between gender but then you almost make yourself an example of what something is,” he asserts, “I don’t want to be tokenised: tomorrow, I might be they/them, in twenty years, I might be she/her. It’s an ever-changing journey.” He now identifies as he/him.

Harris Reed x MAC Cosmetics
MAC Cosmetics

Today also marks the launch of Reed’s genderless make-up collaboration with beauty behemoth MAC, a first for the brand which has never crafted a designated gender-fluid line before. The partnership’s genesis can be traced back several years to friendships Reed made with make-up artists at fashion events he attended. “Having been ‘that’ bullied kid, I’m always nervous about walking into a room and being ridiculed, but I really felt at home with these fellow artists,” he says.

The idea of a collaboration quickly snowballed into the seven-piece, limited-edition range which launches this week. “It’s for everyone: no tubes, no brushes. Make-up is meant to be fun! We love contouring, but it’s time for beauty to be shaken up a little bit.”

To escape bullying in his younger years, Reed, who grew up in Arizona and LA, would “get lost in the society pages of magazines” and began to idealise London as an escape from “the bullying and the harassment.”

Harris Reed and Harry Styles
Courtesy of Harris Reed Instagram

“I remember arriving at Liverpool Street station five years ago and just thinking: I’m home,” he laughs, “I love that you can walk down the street and somebody’s in full drag and a wedding dress and someone else is in a business suit and nobody bats an eyelid. Once you get into Central Saint Martins, you realise that you’re surrounded by those other fellow bullied kids, all those other fellow dreamers that were put down. You’re part of a community.”

As for the future, next on the Harris Reed hit list to dress is his “ultimate dream” Tilda Swinton and Euphoria protagonists Zendaya and Hunter Schafer, who is his “girl crush for life.”

Reed concludes, “To be honest, I just really want to keep on growing as a designer and pushing the boundaries.” He beams, and before long he’s off: back to the sequin-strewn, tulle-tastic and ethereal world of Harris Reed.

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