When Sarita Rampersad's dad, Nari, surprised her with tickets to not one, but both nights of pop icon Harry Styles' sold-out "Love on Tour" concerts at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto for her birthday, she wasted no time getting to work on the important details: their outfits.
She had done her homework. The 16-year-old Canadian, who has been a fan of Styles since she was 7 and he was still a member of the boy band One Direction, maintains a vision board on Pinterest she started in 2018 for this exact purpose.
Sarita's plan for the first night, as she informed her dad ("I didn't ask," she said), was to wear coordinating blue and pink outfits to honor Styles' album "Fine Line" — "because that's the album when I finally got my dad to start listening to Harry too," she explained.
Nari knew better than to argue with his daughter, who had Google docs and spreadsheets detailing what they would need to accomplish the right look. The two hit the thrift stores.
"She had the idea for the outfits, but I did find two pairs of pants myself," Nari said proudly. "He did!" Sarita confirmed.
The end result made them stand out even in a very well-dressed crowd. Fans who attend Styles' concerts are famous themselves for their sartorial splendor, which regularly includes elements like brightly colored feather boas, cowboy hats, heart-shaped sunglasses, platform shoes, fruit motifs to honor songs like "Kiwi," "Cherry," or "Watermelon Sugar," and pants bedazzled with the singer's initials in rhinestones on them.
The Rampersads ended up wearing flare pants, white undershirts, cowboy hats, boas, and matching white Doc Maartens. Nari had to borrow his pair from Sarita's cousin for the occasion. "The Docs were non-negotiable," he said. "She told me not to bring a suit or running shoes, but the Docs had to come. They didn't hurt my feet as much as I feared," he said.
No detail was overlooked. In fact, Nari even painted his fingernails for the occasion.
"I found everything in the women's section!" he said proudly. "It fit so much better than the men's clothing! But nothing had pockets. How do you live without pockets? We had to buy a tote bag to carry my wallet and phone!"
In the past, Styles has been known to call out dads who have come to his concerts wearing tucked-in "golf shirts" and khaki pants, but because Nari blended in with the rest of the fans, he was in no danger of Harry mocking him.
In fact, fans approached Sarita and Nari at the show, giving their approval for his outfit in particular. "Lots of people were saying, 'You did great!" Nari said. When the two hit the arena for night two, this time in royal blue and red, they were even approached by professional photographers.
For concert dates, Styles' fans are known to post their outfits on social media apps TikTok or Instagram as part of the fun of preparing to go to the show. Sarita posted videos of her and her dad and their transformations each night on her TikTok account, and each now have over a million views.Nari, who also has 22 and 18-year-old daughters, said he was game for all that went along with the attending a Harry Styles concert with Sarita because he is aware that in parenting, "It's the experiences that count."
"Seeing her happy is just pretty much all I want," he said. "I knew Harry would put on a good show, but I was living through her. Her excitement pushed mine to a different level."
Still, this experience did push him outside of his comfort zone, he said. "I wouldn't usually do this. A boa? I did have to set some boundaries."
Sarita said she chose to go to the concert with her dad rather than a friend because, "I knew he would put in the work. He was so good," she said. "The months leading up to the concert, he was using Spotify to read the lyrics to the songs, because fans will yell at you if you get the words wrong. He was studying. Lots of my friends wouldn't do that.
"That's the kind of energy I want — someone to match my energy at a Harry Styles concert," Sarita said. "That's pretty cool, because lots of kids don't get that."
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