He may go out of style after all.
Harry Styles and Gucci are facing a backlash as the result of a T-shirt and photos from the “As It Was” singer’s HA HA HA Gucci ad campaign.
In the photos posted to the fashion house’s Instagram account last week, the 28-year-old, who has worked with Gucci for years, holds and stands in front of what appears to be a child-size mattress while modeling a shirt with an angry-looking pink teddy bear on it.
“I want more berries and that summer feeling,” the shirt reads, borrowing a lyric from his Grammy-winning 2019 song “Watermelon Sugar.”
The Gucci photos arrive just weeks after Balenciaga’s recent controversial campaign in which children were pictured with BDSM-themed teddy bears. Another photo included papers from a Supreme Court case that upheld part of a federal child pornography law sitting under a handbag.
“A performance piece starring Harry Styles and the Gucci HA HA HA collection. Discover the campaign at the link in bio,” Gucci captioned their new photos on Instagram.
“The House presents the Gucci HA HA HA campaign featuring British singer-songwriter and actor, Harry Styles,” Gucci added on its website. “Arising from the friendship between him and creative director Alessandro Michele, play is at the very heart of the collection, which uses menswear as a tool of the avant-garde.
“Captured by Mark Borthwick, the series of images sees Harry Styles showcase the ‘dream wardrobe’ defined by the eccentric use of romantic accents, whimsical prints, vintage details, and the expressive emotionality of the individual,” the Gucci site concludes.
But Twitter users said the photos are “not a good look” for Styles “as a grown man.”
“Why are all fashion brand ad makers sick creeps?” another person asked.
“A child’s mattress and a teddy bear shirt, nothing to see here unless you’re a perv,” another declared.
“But honestly. @Harry_Styles what’s fashionable about anything here? Your shades? The twin sized mattress is weird AF. What does it imply? Why’s it there? A kids mattress and you’re wearing a pink teddy bear… why are actors so desperately clueless,” another wrote.
The campaign was shot in November and conceptualized under creative director Alessandro Michele, who has since left his role.
Both Gucci and Balenciaga are owned by Kering, a Paris-based international luxury goods group.
Gucci has made several Instagram posts since then but has not addressed Styles’ photos. He hasn’t, either.
The Post has reached out to reps for Styles and Gucci for comment.
Balenciaga faced a firestorm of criticism for its own earlier controversial ad campaign, and the photographer who shot the images, Gabriele Galimberti, feared for his life as death threats poured in. Earlier this month, Balenciaga’s creative director Demna addressed the BDSM ad scandal, which was torched online with allegations of normalizing sexual fetishization and abuse of children.
“I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility,” the 41-year-old wrote. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.
“As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn. Period,” Demna continued. “I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organizations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject.”
The fashion house pulled the ads, apologized and vowed internal and external investigations. It also filed a $25 million lawsuit against the ad’s producers that was later dropped.