At this point, Zayn Malik’s public appearances are rarer than a blue moon. If that blue moon happened on a Sunday, as part of a leap year, and Yellowstone erupted on the same day.
But lo and behold, Zayn has decided to leave his Pennsylvanian ranch and beloved vegetable patch for a few special outings recently, including a stint sitting front row at Off-White’s show at New York Fashion Week.
And he was sporting a noticably different look, too. The former One Direction star, once known for his perfectly shaven face and coiffed hair, has now gone full dad-core, embracing a bushy beard and long, grown out hair.
Malik, who was wearing an all-black look paired with a crocodile-collared brown leather coat, posed for pictures with fellow attendees Camila Cabello and Paris Jackson as he sat front row at the fashion show.
And if Malik is boy band royalty, he was kept in good company by girl band royalty, with former Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall also in attendance.
This is a relatively rare outing for Zayn Malik, who has embraced dad-core in both body and mind, spending much of his time tending to his farm animals on his ranch in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and looking after his daughter, Khai, who he shares with Gigi Hadid.
“I’ve got a farm, I’ve lived on my farm for about five or six years now,” he told Capital FM earlier this year. “I’ve got chickens, couple of turtles, dogs, cats.”
Malik has also shared how he lets Khai, who turns four this month, bond with animals on the farm. “You have to be somewhat connected to your animals, and I like to name, my daughter helps me with naming them now too so it’s fun,” he said in the same interview.
So it’s no surprise, then, that Malik’s look has adapted to his more rugged lifestyle. However, his public appearances are becoming slightly more regular as he prepares to release new music.
As well as New York Fashion Week, he was also spotted at the women’s final of the US Open, and first debuted his new floppy mop hair via Instagram last month.
Malik is known for changing up his hairstyles, having sported blonde, pink and blue hair in the past, with differing lengths too.
But Zayn seems pretty damn serious about his farmer lifestyle, so the dad-core look seems like it might be here to stay.
