His turn as Prince Charles in series three of The Crown was a masterclass in precision, and it’s apparent that actor Josh O’Connor takes a similarly exacting approach to his style. The 31-year-old consistently toys with notions of what defines red carpet formality, and his most recent outing at last night’s BAFTAs is a fine example.

The actor wore a bespoke navy blue, double-breasted suit by rising menswear star Steven Stokey-Daley, whose young label SS Daley has attracted attention from dressing Harry Styles, as well as the designer’s billowing silhouettes and beautifully crafted, embroidered shirts. The suit’s particularly USP was its playful proportions; loose, billowing trousers (a hallmark of the brand) with a nipped in waist, alongside exaggerated lapels and oversized, hand-painted ceramic buttons. The exaggerated collar on the shirt nods to 70s loucheness, and the actor sported a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic on his wrist.

It follows a series of outré outings by O’Connor, who happily doesn’t adhere to the traditional black tie playbook. The actor was dressed by luxury Spanish house Loewe for the Golden Globes earlier this year, wearing an updated take on ‘black tie formal’ via a monochrome dinner suit with contrasting lapels and cascading cravat in lieu of a shirt.

At the 2019 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, he donned a quirky checked jacket with oversized trousers and exaggerating lapel pin. Clearly, he’s having a hell of a lot of fun dressing up and shaking up the rule book. It's also laudable that he's opting for young and lesser-known labels, instead of the identikit big name brands.

O’Connor’s wardrobe verve and vim comes courtesy of stylist Harry Lambert, who has also helped craft Harry Styles’ look too, and also works with Stephen Stokey-Daley. The SS Daley suit worn at last night’s BAFTAs also smartly draws parallels with the tailoring codes of Prince Charles, O’Connor’s most identifiable screen character. The Prince of Wales has a stellar line-up of navy double-breasted suits, and the SS Daley one is a playful update on a traditional classic.

It’s also interesting to see a young actor break ground with regards to style experimentation. Historically, the standard formula for event dressing has been somewhat uniformed and homogenised; a black tuxedo with bow tie, or single breasted suit if you’re really pushing it. But slowly the red carpet for men has evolved somewhat; in our pre-Covid existence, there was a steady trickle of bold turns from the likes of Riz Ahmed, Harry Styles and Ezra Miller. If the trickle-down effect is that young men are encouraged to feel more expressive with their personal style, that’s no bad thing.

Sign up for the Telegraph Luxury newsletter for your weekly dose of exquisite taste and expert opinion.