Liam Payne lauds Harry Styles for his much-talked-about Vogue cover

Liam Payne has lauded his former One Direction bandmate Harry Styles for his bold Vogue cover shoot earlier this year.

Harry, 26, courted attention when he appeared on the cover of the fashion magazine wearing a dress for their December issue.

This provoked much debate, with the pop star merely responding by taking part in an equally flamboyant shoot for Variety.

And Liam – who was in One Direction from 2010–2016 – declared on Monday that his pal should feel ‘free to do as he wishes’.

Appearing on Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, Liam, 27, was asked by Roman, 27, whether Harry belonged on 2020’s Naughty List or Nice List?

‘Oh nice! Nice nice nice!’ Liam insisted, without hesitation.

‘I would say Harry is up there, with yourself, as one of the nicer pop stars,’ Roman gushed.

‘Aw, thank you. No for sure, he’s never really lost himself, even in spite of everything,’ Liam insisted. ‘After the band we didn’t speak for a long time actually and then I remember seeing him, it was actually at a Jingle Bell Ball, backstage for the first time in a long time.

‘He’s still the same guy he always was when we left each other in that dressing room as the band kind of stopped for a little bit.’

Roman replied: ‘He’s not someone to cause controversy. Looking through this year, the most-talked-about thing was his Vogue cover. His reaction to it was perfect.’

Roman was referring to Harry’s mocking of conservative commentator Candace Owens who declared that ‘no society can survive without strong men’ when she saw his Vogue cover shoot. 

Harry then shared his Variety images to Instagram, seen in a frill-sleeved blouse while chomping on a banana, alongside the tongue in cheek caption ‘bring back manly men’.

‘What did you make of it when you saw him on the cover of Vogue?’ Roman went on to ask Liam.

‘Oh I thought it was great! I think he’s enjoying himself and he’s free to do as he wishes!’ Liam replied. ‘And you know I just think that people don’t need to be so bothered about stuff.

‘There’s been a lot more stuff going on this year than whether or not he’s wearing the right clothes in someone else’s mind. Just let him go on with it, he’s enjoying himself.’

Owens had tweeted: ‘There is no society that can survive without strong men. The east knows this. In the west, the steady feminisation of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men!’

Although Harry didn’t publicly comment at the time, he told Variety in an interview accompanying the striking new images: ‘To not wear [something] because it’s females’ clothing, you shut off a whole world of great clothes.

‘And I think what’s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like. It doesn’t have to be X or Y. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.’

After making her initial comments, Owens doubled down on her criticism of Harry, renewing her calls to ‘bring back manly men’ days after she slammed the former One Direction star. 

In a thread of tweets she addressed the controversy her comments have since provoked and sought also to reiterate her stance on the matter.

‘Since I’m trending I’d like to clarify what I meant when I said ‘bring back manly men’,’ she wrote. ‘I meant: Bring back manly men. Terms like ‘toxic masculinity’, were created by toxic females. Real women don’t do fake feminism. Sorry I’m not sorry.’

Among them was Olivia Wilde, the director behind the upcoming movie, Don’t Worry Darling, in which Harry stars in a leading role.

In her response, Wilde simply wrote: ‘You’re pathetic.’

Owens then directly referenced Wilde’s recent split with actor Jason Sudeikis when she shockingly hit back: ‘You’re single for a reason.’ The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood also offered his two cents, writing: ‘I think you’ve missed the definition of what a man is. Masculinity alone does not make a man.’

‘DON’T TEMPT ME, FRODO,’ she wrote in response, before later adding: ‘Sorry. One of my favorite movies. Couldn’t miss the opportunity. I’m only human.’