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Congratulations to Harry Styles, as he has just made history by becoming the first male to cover Vogue on his own!

However, it hasn’t all been positive, as his magazine cover outfit has received quite a lot of backlash…

On the Vogue US December cover, the former One Direction singer is wearing a stunning Gucci ballgown with a Gucci blazer on top; and to say it has been met with mixed reviews is a severe understatement.

American conservative author Candace Owens said the fact that he is wearing a dress was an “outright attack”, and said society should “bring back manly men”…

“There is no society that can survive without strong men,” she wrote on Twitter.

“The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence.”

Conservative pundit, Ben Shapiro, echoed Candace’s views by re-tweeting her…

“Anyone who pretends this is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you like a full-on idiot,” he added.

However, among the criticism was a whole lot of support, as many people jumped to the singer’s defense…

“I think you’ve missed the definition of what a man is. masculinity alone does not make a man. In fact it’s got nothing to do with it.” Elijah Wood said, in response to Candace Owens.

Olivia Wilde – who is currently directing Harry Styles in Don’t Worry Darling – said that Candace Owens was “pathetic”…

“I hope that this brand of confidence as a male that Harry has—truly devoid of any traces of toxic masculinity — is indicative of his generation and therefore the future of the world,” she added.

“Our whole lives boys and men are told we need to be manly. Life is short. Be whatever the f**k you want to be,” Zach Braff said.

Jameela Jamil, who is never afraid to weigh in, also commented…

“Harry Styles is plenty manly, because manly is whatever you want it to be,” she wrote on social media.

“He’s 104% perfect.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time we have seen a man wear – nay, completely rock – a dress. Simply look at Billy Porter’s red carpet highlights if you don’t believe us…

And this isn’t even the first time Harry Styles has worn a dress, either, as he famously wore a black Commes Des Garçons dress on the cover of The Guardian Weekend.

“I’m not just sprinkling in sexual ambiguity to be interesting,” he said at the time.

“I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool.”

He also referenced the way he sees fashion in his accompanying Vogue interview, too…

“I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit,” he told the magazine.

“Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away.

“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.

“It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself.”

Well said.

What do you think of the history-making cover?