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dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram · 3 years

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Ralph when you have the time and have formed an opinion I am dying to hear what you think about Harry’s merch

So there are like three big questions I have about Harry's merch. One is what do I think about it, the second is when in the timeline is it from and what if anything can this tell us about Harry's aesthetic. And the third is the ever looming question about merch - is Harry uninterested in merch - or does this tell us that his taste is not nearly as impecable as we'd think.

In general, I think this merch is a little bit less terrible than previously. The layout of TPWK doesn't look like it was done as soon as someone had typed the slogan into Word. The cropping in the Fine Line t-shirts is an abomination I think the bunny image works particularly well on the grey hoody. I don't think any of the merch is interesting or cool and I'm sure you could do much better. But my expectations are very low.

For me, the bigger question has always been the relationship between Harry's merch and his aesthetic. There's always been a vast gulf between his personal aesthetic and the merch he put out, which meant the merch fundamentally didn't work.

The problem this time round is that we really don't know when the merch is from. They have obviously printed some new merch - the poster has the date and I assume the t-shirts have the dates on teh back (please if I'm wrong someone correct me, because this is very important). So that merch was obviously made this year. But I'm really curious about the water bottles and the tote bags and the hoodies. Are they new? Is this the merch Harry has chosen to have now? Or in this merch are we seeing what Harry intended his tour to be like in 2020? (as a related question what is the cost of storing merch for a year and a half vs. just destroying it?)

I feel like in some ways we'll be better able to talk about this merch tomorrow night (which is why I answered htis anon today - all the better for two lots of discoursing), when we'll have some sense of the aestehtics of how he's presenting himself in concert. The checkerboard was present in Fine Line one night only. Are the bunnies going to be a symbol that he plays with on stage? If so in what way?

I personally find it hard connecting the bunny image with Watermelong Sugar Grammy performance Harry, and easier connecting it with the Fine Line uniform Harry. But the fact that his merch aesthetic is often disconnected with his personal aesethtic makes it hard to know if that means anything.

Finally - I think we have to conclude that this is the merch Harry wants to have. I know people want to find someone to blame it on and suggest that he's never even looked at it (although even though that's a choice). But Alex pointed out quite a while back that he does wear his own merch, and he also wears a lot of other people's merch. He clearly likes merch as clothing. And (also from Alex) he was wearing a hat that was very much liek the "Harry is my friend" merch, not long ago. I find it very interesting that he apparently wants his merch to look like this, but I find it difficult to come to any other conclusion.

#More merch discourse tomorrow #when we know a little bit about how he's presenting himself on tour #I can't wait

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