It’s ‘Harry Styles Day’, and we think we’ve found his biggest fan.
The eccentric, three-time Grammy award winner begins the Australian leg of his Love On Tour show tonight in Perth, playing to a sold-out HBF Park. Despite the venue warning fans they weren’t allowed to line up before 8:00 am, people arrived as early as 2:00 am this morning to stake their claim on the best concert real estate.
To say that lovers of Harry Styles are fanatics is an understatement. Concertgoers often spend weeks — sometimes months — finding the perfect outfit to wear in the hopes the star will spot them in the crowd and pull them up on stage with them.
Enter artist Emily Ingham, who spent weeks painting four portraits of Styles and his iconic butterfly stomach tattoo onto a denim dress. It’s her bid to be the one he notices on Monday night.
“He has such a charismatic personality, and he picks up people in the audience. I was like, ‘you know what’? You never know, and you’ll never know until you try,” Ingham told So Perth ahead of Styles’ show.
“I’m an artist, and I’ve never done something this painted before. I thought, ‘let’s just do it’.”
Based in Townsville, Queensland, Ingham flew to Perth to see her idol in person. She didn’t take any chances when it came to her outfit.
“The dress is now my baby. I even took it on the plane with me. I didn’t pack it [in my suitcase] in case anything happened,” she said.
Following in her artist mum’s footsteps, Ingham decided to make a career out of painting celebrity faces on denim after winning a competition where she was required to do just that. She’s come a long way from her winning Princess Polly piece, honing her skills to paint uncannily life-like on the lesser-used medium.
“I have learned over the years, trial and error, what works and what doesn’t work. But now I definitely think I’ve mastered the skill. I have to prime a lot of layers. I’ve learned now, and I use a fabric primer to really get into the pores of the denim,” Ingham said.
Harry Styles isn’t the only famous face Ingham has painted. She’s personally handed Guy Sebastian a denim jacket emblazoned with his portrait and painted Rihanna’s face on an NFL ball (which Rihanna, herself, showed her approval of on Instagram).
Ingham hopes to see her work on the bigger stage and, one day, design an outfit Styles would wear. It’s a lofty goal, but one that fellow Australian designer, Rachel Burke of imakestagram, made a good crack at just a few weeks ago when she was commissioned to custom-design a tinsel birthday suit for the star.
“My goal in life is to be famous. I want to be a famous artist,” says Ingham. “Over the years, I’ve just kept posting celebrities, and it’s got me amazing opportunities. I’ve done work for Meghan Trainor and some of the Selling Sunset cast. I’ve met Guy Sebastian, too, all through painting their faces.”
Trust So Perth to bring you all the fun things happening across the city.
Lead Image: Getty Images
