Harry’s Amsterdam Wardrobe, Piet Mondrian, and Queer-Coding ~ An Analysis
I've seen people talk about the symbolism of Harry's clothing choices-the business attire, slowly undressing throughout the show, how he dresses more casually on the weekends... But I haven't seen anyone discuss the colors (other than everybody's favorite blue!).
You may have noticed that for most of the Amsterdam leg of Harry’s tour, he’s stuck to the same color palette. We’ve primarily seen him wear red, yellow, blue, grey, black, and white.
I've been theorizing that these colors were going to be part of his new era since January, and he's continued to prove me right! Then, while writing my newest fic, I made a joke about how these colors are reminiscent of paintings done by Piet Mondrian, a Dutch painter from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. You may recognize some of his geometric paintings!
I decided to take a closer look at this man, his beliefs, and his life, and I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole.
Mondrian, educated in Amsterdam (oh hey, that's where Harry's been!), believed in “universal beauty,” and that art was a type of higher, spiritual reality that is completely different than the reality we experience. He helped found the art theory of Neoplasticism and the De Stijl art movement, which promoted these beliefs, along with the idea of “pure” abstract art and a need to move on from the “plasticity of the past”.
In his later paintings, under the theory of Neoplasticism, he only used the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), and the three value shades (white, grey, and black). Sound familiar? He also only used straight lines and right angles.
Who else has featured a lot of straight lines in his clothing lately? Mr. Harry Styles and his striped stage outfits.
But Mondrian didn’t only paint geometric patterns at first. He also painted flowers. This was a bit taboo during the time when abstract paintings and Neoplasticism were widespread, but he continued to paint flowers in secret, telling his friends that it was purely for commercial reasons.
We mentioned that Harry has worn stripes on stage. But what else has he worn? That’s right. Flowers.
But wait. There’s more. How about Mondrian’s personal life? Did it show any resemblance to Harry’s? I’ll let this excerpt from an article by a biographer answer that question for you.
“I found an unpublished text in which Mondrian’s closest friend described him fleeing to solitude in the countryside only to be followed there by a man from Amsterdam claiming that they were lovers. I learned of his engagement to marry a woman from a solid bourgeois family, of the party to celebrate it, and then of his precipitately breaking it off without explanation.”
Sorry, what? Solitude? Like Harry taking a long break and spending time away from the crowd? With his male lover? Oh, but he was "engaged" to a woman... (?!) Sounds a bit familiar...
Mondrian was also friends with and inspired by queer artist Marlow Moss, and he even introduced her to her lifelong lover. Just another queer fun fact for ya, and similar to how Harry has surrounded himself with and taken inspiration from many queer people.
I’m sure some of you are shouting at me, “But he wore pink on night eight! That doesn’t fit with the Mondrian style!” Perhaps not. But do we remember him specifically saying “I’ve got a new top!”? He was drawing attention to it and the fact that it was different than the other clothing he has worn.
And he chose pink, of all colors! Not only that, but several of his band members and dancers were wearing pink as well. Pink as a color has significant history and importance in the queer community. In the original Pride flag, the color pink represented sex, celebrating the human body, intimacy, and sexual freedom. The pink triangle was used to label homosexual men, trans women, and other “sexual deviants” in concentration camps during World War II, and it was later reclaimed as a symbol of pride, positive self identity, and safe spaces.
And guess what? The pink triangle circles back to Amsterdam too. The first monument in the world to commemorate gays and lesbians who were killed during World War II is in Amsterdam. It’s called the Homomonument, and it consists of three pink triangles that connect to make a larger triangle.
Every year in May (May?! You mean the month Harry’s tour started?!) there is a Remembrance Day on the 4th, in which wreaths are laid on the monument, and on the 5th, it becomes the site of a street party for Liberation Day to mark the end of the German occupation of the Netherlands. The monument commemorates not only queer folk who lost their lives during World War II, but all queer individuals who have been persecuted and murdered.
So, on Harry’s last show of the month, the last day of his tour before Pride, one of his last shows in a place where there is a monument of remembrance for persecuted queer individuals, he chose to wear pink. And put his band and dancers in pink. AND pointed out to us that he was wearing a new top. He also chose to wave a pride flag on that day, and the day before.
Man oh man, that's a lot of layers!!
I’m very curious to see what Harry wears next, on the last two days of tour (especially now that we’re in pride month), as well as once he leaves Amsterdam. Will he have another local artist that he connects with and chooses to embody with his outfits? We’ll have to see!
