Following a storied streak that is at this point signature, we look back at the command and charm of Timothée Chalamet over his fashion kingdom as he makes a shiny comeback to the red carpet with Tilda Swinton, no less.
“Do you feel a sense of achievement?” a seemingly bare-faced Lily Rose Depp with a thick French accent asks Timothée Chalamet’s King Henry in Netflix’s The King. Scored by an overlaying ominous sound, the Tudor monarch in this iteration, who sports a precocious yet anachronistic bowl cut whilst swathed in fur-lined threads replies in a modulated timbre: “In what regard,” before a mysterious exposition of his initial rise to the throne is essayed.
Clearly, there is an effort to portray this king in a different light—one that toes the line between diligent to the pages of history, but with enough creative liberties to draw in an audience wrapped up in the allure of Hollywood’s golden boy. While he stood his ground in the David Michôd film, which follows the young royal navigating politics, the war his father left behind, and the weight of monarchy weighing on him, it is obvious how Timothée Chalamet’s penchant for irreverent fashion factors in his assumption of the role of Henry V, at least stylistically for good measure. It works well, especially with that much-talked about haircut and the young man’s signature brooding demeanor, which lends itself well to his sunken features as if lifted from the strokes of a Renaissance painting.
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A Fanboy
While our boy, Timothée Chalamet, is no stranger to fashion of the atypical sort, with the ascending royal of the silver screen preferring to tread the carpet-lined paths of many a film premiere, awards ceremony, and glitzy gala in designer threads sans the celebrity crutch of a stylist. A decision unusual for a Hollywood A-lister, it has nonetheless served him well, because by doing so, we not only got to him a little bit more personally, it has shaped him into a style star that is all of his own doing.
With a designer black book that has seen the names of Virgil Abloh, Alexander McQueen, Raf Simons, Hedi Slimane, and his close friend, Haider Ackermann, Timothée Chalamet is not afraid to have fun and take risks, all of which have had great pay-off. “I’m such a fan boy. [Being involved] with fashion has been really fun, just as a fan. I don’t want to work with a stylist or anything,” he relates to Frank Ocean in V Magazine. “I hear about celebrities who have stylists, and that blows my mind. It’s certainly not why I act, but I can wear cool clothes from some of the nicest designers in the world. [So why] am I going to pay someone to figure out what I should be wearing? That’s the fun part,” he furthers in a separate interview with Time Out.
Always hitting the right mark in fashion, he strikes even harder each time, with looks that are varied, daring, and chock full of personality that speaks volumes of the man he is. It is hard to single out a favorite, because Timothée Chalamet is completely on point. From the ivory Haider Ackermann suit he sported at The King’s premiere in Venice, which won religious pundits over with its double-looped cinched waist and bad-ass boots to another Ackermann original with a block of color peeking from the slate gray look, there is an air of grace to his choices, which is a wisdom that belies his age. But that isn’t to say that he only favors the typical, because Chalamet is consistent in denouncing the dogmas of menswear that has long indoctrinated our systems.
You Were Missed, Timothée Chalamet
Whether it be easing into it with a slice of highlighter neon against an all-black Givenchy ensemble, exploding into the red carpet like a galaxy of stars in a sequinned hoodie by Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh that takes pride in a unique piece that took 30 hours to make with over 3000 Swarovski crystals and 15,000 sequins (to top it off, he paired the look with a bracelet that said: Treat people with kindness), or in another field day for the fashion stenographers, a smattering of colors in hand-dyed overalls, long-sleeved button-down, and white slip-on therapist boots, which he rocked straight from the runways of Sterling Ruby’s S.R. Studio LA. CA. collection in Florence.
After a barren year for fashion spectacle, Timothée Chalamet marks a triumphant return to the glamour of it all at the Cannes Film Festival where he attended the long-awaited premiere of one of his many sidelined projects, The French Dispatch. Together with the stars of the Wes Anderson film, most notably, Tilda Swinton in the signature irreverence of Haider Ackermann, the rightful heir to the throne of stylish men made a statement in a striking skinny silver suit by Tom Ford. Fitted to perfection on his lithe frame, the young actor completed the metallic moment with a pair of cream boots (also from Mr. Ford), a crisp collarless shirt, seven Cartier rings decorating his fingers, and black Celine Homme sunglasses and cartilage piercings to edge up his elven features. While it is significantly tepid compared to his previous appearances, it was still a knockout, considering this was a comeback from comfort after all. Besides, this could just be him warming up for bigger swings in the fashion department. In Timmy Tim we trust.
All Hail The King
His exuberant energy with fashion heralds a dawn of a new age in menswear, where in an age of breaking borders and barriers, the young man has taken a big swing at the dictates of traditional style and even gender stereotypes by wearing what he wants, where he wants, and how he wants, which is the same mind set many men (and women) should be embodying.
Sure, he has access to some of the greatest names in fashion, some perhaps even on his speed dial list, but even on your own accord, you can man up and fit into threads that make you you. In effect, that is what makes a great leader, when one is able to incite a surge of inspiration to go beyond what has been set before us, paving a path to a new world that is completely and unapologetically definitive of the times at hand.
While many kings of the past have slipped and stumbled with the power at their helm, it sure looks like crowned royal of the red carpet (and fashion in general) is handling his reign very well, because by the looks of it, we will be seeing more of him in a signature style that is set by presets, by what he feels like expressing himself. That said, it is only right to bow down to Timothée Chalamet, to which we say in rousing unison: all hail the king.
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