
After a few days on his own, however, he moved in with a pod of three friends (and subsequently with two band members, Mitch Rowland and Sarah Jones). At the onset of lockdown, Styles found himself in his second home, in the canyons of Los Angeles. It seems that he has had a productive year. I feel like I’m able to enjoy the things that are happening right in front of me, even if it’s food or it’s coffee or it’s being with a friend-or a swim in a really cold pond!” Styles also feels that his meditation practices have helped him through the tumult of 2020: “Meditation just brings a stillness that has been really beneficial, I think, for my mental health.” “It has changed my life,” he avers, “but it’s so subtle. He practices Pilates (“I’ve got very tight hamstrings-trying to get those open”) and meditates twice a day. Styles has been on a six-day juice cleanse in readiness for Vogue’s photographer Tyler Mitchell.


A handful of intrepid fellow patrons in various states of undress are blissfully unaware of the 26-year-old supernova in their midst, although I must admit I’m finding it rather difficult to take my eyes off him, try as I might.

That sweatshirt and the Columbia Records tracksuit bottoms are removed in the quaint wooden open-air changing room, with its Swallows and Amazons vibe.
