At the 2023 Oscars, Hollywood’s Menswear Freak Flag Flew at Half-Mast

For the ninety fifth Annual Academy Awards, on what would fairly have been his remaining night channeling Elvis Presley, actor Austin Butler wore an ultra-slim, double-breasted tux.

“That is Saint Laurent,” the Finest Actor nominee instructed E! crimson carpet host Laverne Cox, when she’d requested for the story behind his outfit. “I don’t know what story I’m telling. I simply thought it was an exquisite tuxedo.”

He was proper, it was an exquisite tuxedo: all angles, with blunt peak lapels and whetted shoulders paired with pointy patent boots with a tall-enough block heel. However Butler, who’s spent the final 4 years within the thoughts palace of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, has been telling a narrative along with his red-carpet wardrobe this complete yr, from the preliminary summertime press cycle into awards season. In conserving issues each on theme and on pattern, he’s opted for loads of retro-sharp suiting by the likes of Saint Laurent, Prada, and Celine, together with billowing, high-waisted trousers and sharp jackets to ’50s-esque casualwear. Garments are emotive, and large ol’ fits had been an enormous factor for the actual Elvis Presley; he used to purchase them on credit score from Memphis tailor Bernard Lansky earlier than he began making actual cash. Whereas Butler by no means fairly did The King cosplay on any carpets (although, c’mon, you already know he saved the leather-based comeback-special jumpsuit), he actually knew what was up.

At that time within the night, Butler was nonetheless a Finest Actor hopeful (the prize ultimately went to Brendan Fraser), so he was most likely fairly nervous and perhaps additionally a little bit sick of being requested about his designer duds all season. However his lovely, principally traditional tuxedo—and the best way he didn’t speak about it—signified a wider sample in Oscars menswear final evening: after months of letting their freak flags fly, the main males principally determined to play issues tastefully.

Paul Mescal in a Gucci dinner jacket tux.

Mike Coppola/Getty Photos

Riz Ahmed in pointy Prada.

Arturo Holmes/Getty Photos

Since the final Oscars ceremony, which Timothée Chalamet attended shirtless, a landmark yr for left-of-center superstar menswear has handed, marked by louche fits, exaggerated silhouettes, and funky detailing rendered in lots of colours past the usual black-and-white. It arguably culminated two months in the past, at the 2023 Golden Globes, when it appeared like lots of the actors who additionally attended final evening’s Academy Awards had given their stylists carte blanche to get bizarre with it. And whereas the Globes and the Oscars actually have very completely different awards-show vibes, solely the Irish actor Barry Keoghan (who’d scored a Finest Supporting nomination for his position in The Banshees of Inisherin) stayed the course on Sunday, in a lilac-purple Louis Vuitton swimsuit with starburst buttons that was very a lot in step with the edgy pastel swimsuit wave he’s been using all season.

However on the Oscars, classicism dominated the carpet. Fraser and Ke Huy Quan, the night’s large actor winners, regarded nice of their exact Armani fits. As Dave Schilling wrote in the LA Occasions right this moment, characterizing Armani’s clear strains, “it’s tailoring made to not be retweeted however to be worn.” The hunky High Gun: Maverick crew, who’ve beforehand dabbled within the menswear darkish arts, went ultra-traditional. Colin Farrell and his son Henry, carrying matching Dolce & Gabbana, and John Cho, in Zegna, opted for black velvet—a little bit of spice, comparatively talking.

Leave a Reply

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings