I saw their video for "Best Song Ever" and really liked the song, so it was only by chance that after the video ended on YouTube one of the suggested videos was about Larry Stylinson and when I watched it I was like, "Oh, cute - two of them are together. Speaking to Vox via email, the blog's author - known on the web only as SAO - said she was shocked when she realized they weren't actually a couple: The anonymous blogger behind Sex at Oxbridge, a well-known tell-all blog run by a 20-something student in London, found herself drawn to the Larry ship in 2013, totally by chance and purely on the strength of Styles and Tomlinson's interactions with one another. Some One Direction fans view this affection as an obvious sign of more than friendship. hazzalovesboo ( Tumblr)Īlways in my heart. Indeed, the internet is teeming with Larries - as Directioners who ship Larry often refer to themselves - who've spent years chronicling every microgesture and millisecond of the way Styles and Tomlinson interact with each other: Louis and Harry in 2012. One Direction's members have always enjoyed an easy physical intimacy, but fans decided soon after the band hit it big in 2010 that these two were special. Styles and Tomlinson have, or at the least used to have, a very obvious friendship. "Larry" has existed almost as long as the band itself Thus, the internet's biggest boy band ship name is "Larry Stylinson," or just Larry for short. If you combine the names "Harry" and "Louis," you get "Larry." If you combine the names "Styles" and "Tomlinson," you get "Stylinson."
Which brings us to One Direction and Styles and Tomlinson.
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These days, you can be part of a fandom for a TV show, film, franchise, book, or band and never interact with people outside your ship. The ship name is a huge part of how people self-identify in fandom. If I ship Glee's Kurt and Blaine, I say I ship Klaine. In the post-'90s world of fandom, shippers usually label their favorite hypothetical relationships with a unique name, usually a portmanteau of some sort. For instance, if I really wanted Mulder and Scully to kiss when I was watching The X-Files, I might say that I really ship Mulder and Scully, or I might say I love the Mulder/Scully ship. "Ship" in this context can be both a verb and a noun. In fandom terms, shipping generally means rooting for two fictional characters, or in some cases real people, to get together. To understand what's happening in the One Direction fandom, you have to understand what shipping is. Cooper Neill/Getty Images for iHeartMedia What is Larry Stylinson? To fans like Courtney and Jorie, Styles's bird tattoo is crucial evidence in favor of one of the internet's most fascinating and convoluted conspiracy theories: the widespread belief among One Direction fans that Styles and Tomlinson are in love with each other. The birds' size difference is said to represent the size difference between Styles and Tomlinson - and also, doesn't the bird on the right clearly have Styles's slanted eyebrows? The smaller bird on the left represents his fellow band member Louis Tomlinson (sometimes called Tommo).
According to their theory, the bird on the right, the larger one, represents Styles. Look closely at the photo above: The bird on the right is slightly larger than the bird on the left, and if you squint, you'll notice it also has a straighter, slantier hood marking where its eyebrow might be.įor millions of Directioners, these two little birds are deeply symbolic. "Jorie is getting what has been deemed the 'Harry' one and I am getting the one deemed 'Louis,'" Courtney tells Vox, "due to me calling her Tommo and her calling me Haz."Ĭourtney is referring to the slight differences in the two birds as they appear below Styles's collarbone. (One Direction's other contender for "hottest," Zayn Malik, famously left the band in 2015 and recently released a record-breaking solo album.) Styles has covered his body with tattoos, but this one - at least to a large subsection of One Direction fans - has special significance. Sometimes called Haz, Styles is the perpetually tousled hunky one, often inaccurately portrayed as the band's lead singer mainly by virtue of being deemed the hottest. In fact, here they are as seen on one incredibly famous chest: that of One Direction band member Harry Styles. The tattoos will commemorate their friendship - but they also carry a much deeper meaning, even though at first glance they're just a pair of cute little birds. These days they go to shows together about three times a week. A pair of 22-year-olds from Texas, the two met a few years ago at a concert, bonded over their love of the same bands, and have been best friends ever since. This summer, Courtney and Jorie are planning to get matching tattoos.