Harry Styles in London: Kensal Green in 2012 and Soho in 2013

Kensal Green and Soho, London · August 2012 and April 2013

I am Charles Pycraft, a London photographer.

Harry Styles is in the middle of 30 nights at Madison Square Garden in New York, a residency that runs until Halloween (Time Out). So here he is in London from my archive, back when the beanie was standard issue.

Who he is

Harry Styles was 16 when he auditioned for The X Factor in 2010 and was put into One Direction, the band that went on to sell out stadiums around the world. Since going solo he has had hits including Sign of the Times, Watermelon Sugar and As It Was, and his current Together, Together world tour has taken him from Amsterdam and London to São Paulo, Mexico City and now New York.

Kensal Green, 31 August 2012

On the last night of August 2012 he arrived at The Paradise by Way of Kensal Green on Kilburn Lane, where his friend Nick Grimshaw was DJing (The Upcoming). Grey T-shirt, black jeans, khaki beanie and a grin for the pavement. Grimshaw arrives in a cream jacket in one frame.

It was a busy few weeks for both of them. A week later, on 6 September, One Direction won three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards (BBC Newsbeat). Live While We're Young, the first single from Take Me Home, came out at the end of September (BBC Newsbeat), and on Monday 24 September Grimshaw presented his first Radio 1 Breakfast Show (BBC Media Centre). One Direction were on the playlist that morning.

Soho, 3 April 2013

Seven months later the beanie had gone and the hair had grown. In the early hours after a birthday party at the Groucho Club on Dean Street, he walked through Soho in a long black coat and a blue shirt (Evening Standard). It was a night off in the middle of a run at The O2, where One Direction played five London dates on the Take Me Home Tour that week (Take Me Home Tour). In February their Comic Relief single, One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks), had gone straight to number 1 (Official Charts).

Now

Fourteen years on, he is playing 30 nights at one of the world's most famous arenas, his only US shows this year (MSG Entertainment), before the tour heads to Melbourne in November and Sydney in December (Time Out). The coat, at least, has stood the test of time.

My photography years ran from 1999 to 2014, and that archive is now licensed through Backgrid UK.

The pictures

Six frames from two London nights.

Credit: Charlie Pycraft / BACKGRID. Licensing: Backgrid UK Sales, backgrid_uksales@shutterstock.com

Harry Styles smiling, in a khaki beanie, grey T-shirt and black jeans, walking along a London pavement at night.
KENSAL GREEN, AUGUST 2012. Harry Styles arrives at The Paradise by Way of Kensal Green on 31 August 2012.
Harry Styles in a beanie and grey T-shirt walking towards the camera beside a yellow kerb line.
On Kilburn Lane, where Nick Grimshaw was on the decks.
Harry Styles in a beanie, grey T-shirt and black jeans striding along a dark street.
A week before One Direction's three MTV awards.
Nick Grimshaw with a quiff, in a cream zip jacket and striped top, holding a pink phone at night.
Nick Grimshaw arrives to DJ, weeks before taking over the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
Harry Styles with longer hair, in a long black coat and blue shirt, walking past a white tiled wall at night.
SOHO, APRIL 2013. Harry Styles in Soho after leaving the Groucho Club, early on 4 April 2013.
Harry Styles in a long black coat and open blue shirt, hands in pockets, on a Soho pavement.
The long coat era begins.