For those of you who missed the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards this past weekend, you have another opportunity to catch the latest boy band sensation One Direction on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Though the five U.K. boys had to turn down an invitation from First Lady Michelle Obama to join in the White House Easter egg hunt, they aren’t missing much else.
Ever since One Direction came in third in the reality competition X Factor in 2010, things have become rather busy. The band’s debut album came out last month and hit number one on the Billboard charts, but they were already a big hit back home and are now poised to become one of the biggest things since, wait for it: the Beatles.
But while the Beatles were indeed a band filled with boys, One Direction is most decidedly a boy band. Though that might seem confusing, it isn’t when you think of the thing that most distinguishes a band from a boy band, and that is fashion.
While you may be able to recall songs from ’N Sync, Backstreets Boys, New Kids on the Block, et al. – you can also probably remember just as easily Justin’s cute curls, Danny’s bandana and AJ’s leopard-spotted cowboy hat.
“The stylist is the unsung hero of most successful boy bands,” says Steven Schelling, stylist, editor of PINQ.ca and fashion writer for the Georgia Straight. “They launch their own trends. But at first all the guys hate the boy bands because all the girls like them and then they start dressing like all the boy bands.”
For those of you unfamiliar with One Direction’s Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, they most often sport a cleaned-up preppy look that is as much American Apparel as it is Gap. Their big video for “What Makes You Beautiful” features the band in khakis and T-shirts on a beach. And while the setting is familiar to fans of B4-4 in the 2000 video “Get Down,” you won’t see any puka shells or spiky hair.
But hey, that was then, this is now. And though boy band songs are all catchy and stay with you, it’s their connection to current fashion that usually sends them down the charts faster than bands with boys. In other words, their look dates pretty quickly.
“The look is so today, so what’s right now, so what’s the hop topic – it doesn’t translate,” Schelling explains. “Boy bands are a product of the adolescent girls, and gay boys, who listen to them at the time.”
And this is why boy bands often take a few years off before they try for a comeback, but this time as a vocal group. You need a few years to get away from the look you were known for when you were the big thing.
In terms of style, Schelling expects One Direction to explode. He feels they were picked well, they have a fresh look with not too-much hair but enough for the Bieber fans, there’s some ethnic diversity, and really – they are “awfully cute.” He also feels that the band’s style will change as the personality of each member emerges and their look reflects their uniqueness.
But for now One Direction will continue its quest for world domination. They have a plan to play Madison Square Garden this Christmas, and according to the Mirror, even Paul McCartney is after their style. We’ll see if they break his records.
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