Harry Styles’s “As It Was” Video Offers a Fresh Twist on ‘70s Style

Last week, Harry Styles teased an imminent return by posting his new album cover for Harry’s House. The low-key visuals for his third solo record, released on May 20, feature the singer standing in an upside-down apartment wearing an airy, crocheted white blouse and flared jeans by Molly Goddard. The look foreshadows a style pivot to something a little lighter and looser than the flamboyant fashions he sported throughout his Fine Line era.

The release of the first song from the album, “As It Was”, shows Styles’s knack for putting a fresh twist on classic ’70s pieces looks set to continue. Filmed in and around a number of London landmarks—including the central hall of Camberwell’s South London Gallery and the brutalist gardens of the Barbican Centre—Styles and his stylist Harry Lambert showcase an array of charming, more laid-back looks that lose none of his signature eye for glitz and kaleidoscopic color.

Weaving through a group of passers-by on their daily commute, Styles first wears a boxy scarlet coat by the rising London designer Bianca Saunders, topped off with a long mohair scarf by Dries van Noten. Casting the coat aside, he then launches into a slickly choreographed dance routine on a revolving platform in a delightfully jazzy red sequined jumpsuit by the young Spanish designer Arturo Obegero, with his partner in the routine wearing a matching look in blue: think circus performers, but make it fashion.

In keeping with the gentle, graceful vibe Styles is going for across both album sound and visuals, the song’s laid-back cadence—which features an ’80s-inspired earworm of a synth line that nods to A-Ha’s new wave classic “Take on Me”—serves as a perfect clean slate to introduce the singer’s warm, welcoming vibe. (The intro even includes his five-year-old goddaughter Ruby calling out: “Come on, Harry, we want to say goodnight to you!”) Thankfully, his charming new style groove is a perfect match, too.