There is a certain kind of man who thinks sports shorts are acceptable outside the gym when worn with a knowing logo tee or hoodie, ribbed socks, and gently bruised “fashion” trainers. Harry Styles and Paul Mescal are those men. Both performers wear their alternative PE kits with cropped mullet haircuts that are almost woman repellers, but will, of course, never be, because they both represent the peak of internet boyfriend-dom.
When in sports dad mode, Styles and Mescal are not as picky about the brands on their backs that will inevitably get pored over by, well, us. Harry, for example, has been known to swap his Adidas three-stripe thigh-grazers for Under Armour versions, which seems unfathomable for someone in Alessandro Michele’s inner circle. But when he’s not making feather boas a thing or singing about watermelons in sequined jumpsuits, Styles is just a regular guy trying to Lime bike to Hampstead Heath in the shade of his Augusta National Golf Club cap and Gucci Gg0912S 001 sunglasses. As for Paul Mescal’s O’Neills GAA short-shorts? Well, they don’t deserve any more column inches.