I dressed up as Harry Styles for lookalike contest…& got destroyed by trolls who said I looked like Margaret Thatcher
“Over here Harry!” a photographer screamed in my face. “Give us a pose!” shouted the one hanging off my other shoulder.
My name’s not Harry, but I obliged every time – and the mob of teenage fans screaming after me weren’t doing it because they loved my articles.
This was the Harry Styles lookalike contest, which took over a park in central London on Saturday in the wake of an unlikely Gen Z craze for celeb doppelganger pageants.
What better way to find out what the hype is all about than to take part myself – and answer the question no one is asking: can a man who looks nothing like Harry Styles win a Harry Styles lookalike contest?
The viral phenomenon all kicked off in late October with a competition to find dead ringers for Timothee Chalamet held in New York.
It turned to pandemonium when the Wonka and Dune actor, 28, actually turned up.
In no time at all, copycat-contests have started to spring up.
Next it was Dublin’s turn to hold one, this time for imitation Paul Mescals.
Come Saturday then, and it was London’s time to shine. And who else makes for a better contest than the all-British heartthrob Harry Styles?
The flyer advertising the event was sparse. It gave the time – Saturday at 1pm – and the location – Soho Square – and nothing else. Even the prizes were kept a secret.
But that was all the information I needed. I had to enter to see what the fuss was about.
There was the slight issue that I looked nothing like Harry – but with some wardrobe wizardry thanks to The Sun’s fashion department I soon had an outfit rivalling his snazziest looks from the red carpet.
With a sequined dark-blue two-piece velvet suit, 70s-style shades, and of course his signature pearl necklaces, it wasn’t like anything I’d worn before.
But if Harry can pull it off, why can’t I?
I arrived early, expecting a mob to have already descended on this corner of central London – but I was the only one there.
But then a tickle of Harrys started to arrive. Some were dressed up, others not – but many of them did have a passing resemblance to the singer.
And then things took off.
In what felt like the space of ten minutes, the park was filled with hundreds of fans who’d seemingly appeared out of nowhere, jostling for a look at us.
“You have so much aura!” one young fan screamed at me, while others took selfies and one person even asked me to record a birthday greeting for their friend.
Then there were the hordes of photographers poking their cameras at us – “This way Harry!” – while I kept finding myself dragged off for interviews and having microphones shoved in my face.
Stood there in front of the camera flashes and giant mob, I quickly realised that I was not simply experiencing what it was like to do the Harry Styles lookalike competition.
I was finding out what it was like to be Harry Styles.
Ultimately, the competition and a prize of £50 was won by Oscar, a musician himself who, to his credit, does actually look like the ex-One Direction member.
Worst lookalike (and a prize of three beers) went to a chap called Mikhal who’s costume consisted of only a watermelon, and a bag of sugar – a reference to the hit song Watermelon Sugar.
And a whole new category was created for one latecomer – that of “Daddy Harry” – for a man called Andy who was a spitting image of the star but only happened to be in town to do some shopping.
Less than an hour after it ended, the park was empty. Gone were the phones, the mics, the cameras, and the fans.
This was 15 minutes of fame taken to the next level – living proof of the internet-first culture we live in where things exist to be viral and are forgotten about the next day.
At least, semi-forgotten – because now, my face plastered all over global news sites, comments came flooding in.
“Are these men blind??” said one X user. Another added: “Why are they all dressed like Margaret Thatcher?”
Even my ex got in touch to ask what on earth I’d been doing with my weekend.
Having failed to win and now facing a pile-on, it wasn’t quite the high life I was hoping for.
But I’d like to see you do better in the Tom Bryden lookalike contest, Harry…