Oh, to have the confidence of a beautiful, 23-year-old boy!
It’s been a real pleasure watching actor Timothée “Timmy” Chalamet blossom from a La Guardia High School drama kid into exactly the kind of young man a La Guardia High School drama kid dreams of becoming. Not only does he have talent and career success, but he’s also got the bold haircut, the actress girlfriend, and the avant-garde style of a true artiste.
Chalamet’s press tour for The King, which premieres November 1, has allowed him to really experiment in the style department. I might even go as far as saying that we’re in the midst of a Timo-aissance. Following an awards season that included “mid-layer garments” (read: a harness), Chalamet outdid himself with a liquid-silver Haider Ackermann suit in September. He ended the month in a custom Louis Vuitton sequined hoodie, which he apparently texted designer Virgil Abloh about directly. (Texting about sequin hoodies? Classic specialized art high school graduate move.) And finally, on Tuesday at the 24th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, he wore an advanced tie-dye outfit worthy of its own gallery show. (And an SNL skit starring Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as kooky art dealers.)
The above paint-splattered overalls, matching button-up shirt, and clean white “Therapist Boots,” as a press release calls them, are the work of real-life artist Sterling Ruby, who debuted the look as part of his first official runway show during Pitti Uomo in Florence this summer under the very artsy name S.R. Studio. LA. CA. The collection was a natural extension of Ruby’s body of work, which includes actual clothes as well as art pieces made from fabric and yarn. (Designer Raf Simons is a fan, and commissioned them for his Calvin Klein store renovation in 2017.) Ruby calls these pieces “soft sculptures,” which now also happens to be a perfectly pretentious descriptor for his luxury clothing.
Menswear enthusiasts went gaga for it. Nothing says “disposable income” quite like an $8,000, one-of-a-kind, dry-clean-only bleached-denim “S.R. Studio. LA. CA.” poncho. (The New Yorker compared it to a Chanel jacket.) A$AP Rocky immediately wanted a pair of paint-splattered jeans. Abloh himself was also front row. Only Chalamet, though, has been brave enough to take his look from the runway to the red carpet.
GQ predicted earlier this year that celebrities would start to embrace the “art guy” look. Actress Jennifer Lawrence even agreed to marry an art guy. But is this a sign of menswear becoming more thoughtful — or just high off its own fumes? Either way, we’re still high off Timmy.
