The pop megastar and the buzzy actress have yet to hard-launch their relationship—but they’re already sharing clothes.
It’s no secret that, individually, Harry Styles and Taylor Russell have a lot to offer the fashion world. The pop megastar became a Gucci ambassador in 2017, parlaying his close friendship with the house’s former creative director Alessandro Michele into a splashy tour wardrobe and a co-designed capsule collection. Styles is also a big fan of Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson, who crowned Russell as one of the Spanish label’s official brand ambassadors in 2022. The on-the-rise actress—who made her entry into the spotlight opposite Timothée Chalamet in Bones and All, Luca Guadagnino’s 2022 romance-drama about a couple of young cannibals on the lam—had already become a fashion-week It girl, frequently sitting alongside Guadagnino at Anderson’s runway shows.
We can only speculate on how fashion brands must have reacted when the duo, per Teen Vogue’s timeline, started hanging out last summer—but it’s almost like you could’ve smelled the industry’s collective keyboards burning as they fired off internal memos at warp speed. And though Styles and Russell have yet to officially confirm their romantic relationship, they’re already leaning into their collective big-label prowess.
Styles and Russell visited New York City this week, where they were photographed descending the steps of a friend’s Brooklyn brownstone. The pair, in easygoing outfits, appeared to be in transit, as they clutched four four-figure designer bags between them.
The singer—in a white tee, a nubby mocha-brown cardigan from The Row, tan corduroy trousers, and Adidas Sambas—had The Row’s crescent-shaped Banana bag slung over one shoulder while he lugged the label’s leather Margaux weekender, which was filled to the brim with a change of loafers, in his opposite hand. (Imagine if Styles, a noted Succession fan, heard the taunting voice of Tom Wambsgans in his head as he packed his sufficiently capacious bag: “What’s even in there, huh? Flat shoes for the subway?”)
Russell looked classic in a vintage Armani trench coat, Loewe blue jeans, and The Row ballet flats and carried Loewe’s black Puzzle tote and burgundy Flamenco shoulder bag. The actress also donned a blue baseball cap from The Shed, a New York City arts center and performance space where she is currently starring in a play called The Effect.
Taylor Russell, wearing an outfit mostly from The Row, in New York City.
The next day, Russell was photographed again leaving the same townhouse in another menswear-y ensemble, which was also almost entirely from The Row: an oversized butter-yellow shirt, blue jeans, black kitten-heeled boots, and a buttery olive-green leather coat, which she carried in the crook of her arm. She sported dark sunglasses and a vintage U.S. Open 1999 baseball cap—the same hat Styles was previously spotted wearing out in London last month.
Indeed, lacking a public relationship confirmation, the apparent fluidity of the pair’s wardrobes as of late feels like a tell. There are garments they share: the aforementioned U.S. Open baseball cap, as well as an orange quilted Nike puffer (Russell wore it on a coffee run; Styles wore it on a bike ride). But their brand harmony—particularly this alignment on conspicuously wearing The Row—is where things really get interesting. True to the spirit of “quiet luxury,” Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s label has never officially copped to hiring celebrity ambassadors. But over the past few years, we’ve seen several candid-seeming instances of high-profile celebrities (among them Kendall Jenner, Zoë Kravitz, and Jonah Hill) in casual settings fully decked out in the brand’s fantastically expensive clothes.
Staff writer Samuel Hine reports straight from the runway shows, parties, and insider events on the international fashion circuit.
Per The Row’s own standard practices, the appearance of Styles and Russell wearing the brand in a few well-shot paparazzi photos is probably not a coincidence. It seems like only a matter of time before a less discreet luxury label decides to hand the hotly-observed celebrity couple a more official endorsement deal.