Harry Styles look-alikes compete for MSG tix in vibes-heavy doppelgänger contest
It’s kinda the same as it was.
A crew of Harry Styles fans battled Wednesday to be crowned as the singer’s doppelgänger, in a look-alike contest that was yet another part of the boy-band crooner’s NYC take over during his Madison Square Garden residency.
The competition at RiseNY in Times Square was based more on vibes than looks — but a Brooklyn actor with One Direction-era hair and a Styles tribute player with a Harry-esque ‘stash were ultimately named the Brit’s twins.
The pair beat out the other four competitors after treating the stage like a New York Fashion Week runway, but pulled inspiration from different eras of the Watermelon Sugar singer’s solo career.
“It’s all about the energy anyway, so I was trying to give off his confidence because that’s what he celebrates,” said Nicholas Kraft, of Bed Stuy, who wore a long silver feather coat that called back to the Harry’s House album days.
The crowd roared when Kraft shed the jacket to reveal a cropped blue blazer beneath.
What may have won Kraft, 25, the title, however, was the sidestep dance moves Styles is known for — and that students he spent the summer working with mistook him for the former boy bander.
“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.
The other winner had somewhat of an unfair advantage — Sean Mac works as a Styles tribute performer in Benidorm, Spain.
Mac, 35, happened to be on vacation in the Big Apple and is traveling with a suit and tie, though the garb is rather plain compared to the flamboyant sets Styles has been performing in during his current “Together, Together tour.”
“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,” the European said.
The pair were crowned the dual winners of the six-person contest, and were each gifted two tickets to Styles’ Friday concert at Madison Square Garden.
The four losers — which included three women, one of whom donned a mustache — went home empty-handed, despite showing up in Styles-esque garb.
Comedian Jessie Joles told the crowd the competition “has to do with the fashion, the energy, the charisma” of Styles.
The contest, put on by RiseNYC, is one of many Styles-centered events celebrating the singer’s 30-show residency at MSG.
A “Together, Together” pop-up in the West Village sparked havoc last month after as the massive line of the crooner’s fans is blocked traffic, slowed the mail and even led to one local being arrested for threatening a guard’s throat with a key.