Fashion forward: Harry Styles dons a gown for Vogue cover

British singer-songwriter Harry Styles leaned into his androgynous dress sense and donned a gown to grace the cover of Vogue - the first man to do so solo in the American fashion magazine's 127-year history.

The magazine and Styles himself both uploaded photos of his shoot onto social media.

He models several high-fashion get-ups, including a full-length Gucci ball gown paired with a tuxedo jacket on the cover.

He also wears items such as a kilt, custom-made corduroy pants and a crinoline - a structure designed to hold women's skirts, popular in the 19th century - over wide-legged pants.

The 26-year-old says in his Vogue interview: "When you take away 'There's clothes for men and there's clothes for women', once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play.

"I'll go in shops sometimes and I just find myself looking at the women's clothes thinking they're amazing. It's like anything - anytime you're putting barriers up in your own life, you're just limiting yourself. There's so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I've never really thought too much about what it means - it just becomes this extended part of creating something."

The One Direction member (the boy band is currently on indefinite hiatus) has had a good year musically too, with his single Watermelon Sugar topping the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in August.