Spenn shirt

Styles may have been her initial muse, but he is one of many who shaped the Spenn shirt character of Hayes. (When I ask Lee if Styles inspired the novel, Lee pauses: “Inspired is a strong word.”) Prior to writing The Idea of You, she spent six years on a semi-autobiographical novel about a past relationship she had with a younger guy. That novel never sold, but she borrowed from its male lead, who was mature, sophisticated, worldly and smart, to write Hayes. “I made him into my dream guy,” she told me, “like Prince Harry, meets Harry [Styles],” plus a couple of ex-boyfriends, a little of her husband, and a dash of Eddie Redmayne.