A few years ago, there would've been a sharp intake of breath at Robert Pattinson in a skirt. Even at something like the Met Gala 2023. But the actor's always been at the vanguard of doing cool new weird stuff. Eveyone kinda got used to it. The wavy menswear age is still at its apex. And it would never have been this shiny, nor this prosperous, without someone like him.
At this year's Met Gala – an ode to the late Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away in early 2019 – Pattinson went for a Dior drape coat. It's classic Dior under the Kim Jones administration: an era in which the incumbent creative director balances the immaculate archives with a sci-fi, Dune-ish vision. And it's a good bit of fashion weird: theatrical, polished, familiar and unfamiliar all at once.
But weird isn't so weird anymore. Even at a night like the Met Gala, where the echelons of E! society are encouraged to really unleash their inner histrion, Pattinson's refusal to bow to the Old Ways have set a new normal.
It's a nice place to be! And, of course, there's been a sudden spike in classic fits. But it's no longer a case of the pendulum swinging back and forth; this is no grandfather's clock. It's more like a Jackson Pollock in the making: there's no more colouring in-between the lines, no more single agenda, no one clear line towards the next big thing. Everyone's doing their own thing and it is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Of course, big Met Gala fits always pay attention to the dress code. It's a clear-cut Dior suit. But there's an echo of Lagerfeld in the swish of the draped skirt coat, and the Chanel-like brooch, and the not-giving-a-single-effness of it all. Like James McAvoy's splendid little fan, Pattinson's tribute was subtle.
But there's a more significant marker of just how far Pattinson's wardrobe has come. This fashion weird dress coat would live – and thrive – on red carpets everywhere else.
