Two Harry Styles impersonators were crowned dual winners of a vibes-heavy look-alike contest in Manhattan on Wednesday, scoring tickets to the pop star’s Madison Square Garden show.
Nicholas Kraft, 25, of Bed Stuy, and Sean Mac, 35, a British tribute performer vacationing from Spain, beat four other competitors at RiseNY in Times Square. The event favored energy and charisma over strict resemblance, with contestants channeling different eras of the former One Direction member’s solo career.
Kraft, a Brooklyn actor, drew on Styles’ “Harry’s House” album era for his look. He arrived in a long silver feather coat that concealed a cropped blue blazer underneath, shedding the outer layer to loud crowd approval. The students he had spent the summer working with had already mistaken him for the singer, giving him confidence going in.
“It’s all about the energy anyway, so I was trying to give off his confidence because that’s what he celebrates,” Kraft said.
He also deployed the sidestep dance moves Styles is known for. “I felt confident in what I was wearing and I luckily had a good hair day. I was like, ‘If I don’t have a good hair day today, I’m cooked,’ but I woke up today confident,” he said.
Mac, who works as a Styles tribute performer in Benidorm, Spain, happened to be in New York on vacation and had a suit and tie with him. His outfit was relatively plain compared to the flamboyant sets Styles has been wearing on his current “Together, Together” tour, but the European contestant suspected his natural advantages helped carry him.
“Before getting here, I didn’t expect to get in the top three…but I’m over the moon. Maybe the accent helped it and the dance moves,” Mac said.
The pair treated the stage like a New York Fashion Week runway, according to observers, and were each awarded two tickets to Styles’ Friday concert at the Garden.
Comedian Jessie Joles, who hosted the event, told the assembled crowd that the competition “has to do with the fashion, the energy, the charisma” of Styles.
The four eliminated contestants included three women, one of whom sported a mustache in homage to the singer’s occasional facial hair looks. All left without prizes despite their Styles-esque outfits.
The look-alike competition was one of numerous events surrounding the British performer’s 30-show residency at Madison Square Garden, which has drawn intense fan activity across New York City. A “Together, Together” pop-up in the West Village last month caused significant disruption when the massive line of fans blocked traffic, slowed mail delivery, and led to one local resident being arrested for allegedly threatening a security guard’s throat with a key.
The contest took place at RiseNY, an immersive venue in Times Square, as part of the broader citywide celebration of the “Watermelon Sugar” singer’s extended run at the arena.
Styles’ “Together, Together” tour continues with his Friday show at Madison Square Garden.