Harry Styles's fans are flipping over pics of him dressed as Ariel from "The Little Mermaid."
Images that show the heavily inked British pop star posing in a shell bra, fish tail and long bright red wig have resurfaced this week on the internet. The photos are reportedly from a 2019 "Saturday Night Live" promo photoshoot that were never used. TODAY reached out to "SNL" for confirmation on this, and we will update this post if we hear back.
In the pics, the "Golden" singer, 27, looks like a rock-star version of the sweet mermaid who dreamed of being human. He poses insouciantly while holding a glass of champagne and a cigarette.
The mermaid costume makes perfect sense for Styles, who's made no secret of his love for women's clothes — or for mermaids. The former One Direction star has a large mermaid tattoo on his arm. When a reporter for Hollywood Life asked Styles in 2014 why he got the tattoo, the singer smiled and said, "I am a mermaid."
In 2019, Styles turned down the role of Prince Eric — Ariel's beloved — in an upcoming live-action version of the Disney animated classic starring Halley Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as the villainous Ursula.
The singer explained to The Face that he gave up the part to continue focusing on his music, but he was excited to see the film when it hit theaters. "I’ll enjoy watching it, I’m sure," he said.
Fans can assume Styles is a fan of the original movie, which came out in 1989, more than four years before he was born. One Twitter user gleefully shared a throwback pic of the singer wearing a shirt with Ariel's famous quote "But daddy, I love him."
Styles's "Little Mermaid" pics are hardly the first time he's caused a stir by wearing gender-bending clothes.
He showed up to the 2019 Met Gala rocking a sheer sheer black blouse and pearl earrings.
He rocked a bright yellow suit from designer Marc Jacobs' spring/summer 2020 women's collection at this year's Brit Awards in February.
Style also became the first man to pose on the cover of Vogue's U.S. edition last December. He appeared in the pic wearing a lovely lace ballgown by Gucci.
After some naysayers complained about the photo, Styles defended his androgynous fashion choices.
“To not wear (something) because it’s females' clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes,” he told Variety. "And I think what’s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like"
"It doesn’t have to be X or Y," he added. "Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.”