Sam Rockwell Makes Danger-Zone Style Look Pretty Good

Megan Gustashaw
Updated

A purple tropical shirt with a slick black suit, purple socks, and purple alligator shoes. A plaid suit with plenty of extra fabric around the ankles. A pajama-style shirt (or is it a blouse?) worn under a ‘70s-inspired shearling-and-leather jacket. These are clothes best left in the 1970s. But they're also a few of the outfits Sam Rockwell has worn to promote his latest film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (playing a racist cop who's caused some serious consternation), over the last several months. On paper, these are highly questionable style choices. A little too loud, and a little too out-there, for a guy that, let's be real, doesn't have the height and youth of say, Russell Westbrook. In reality though, Rockwell pulls these clothes off exceptionally well.

It certainly helps that Rockwell's stylist, Michael Fisher, is known for dressing character actors and leading men with plenty of personality in bold clothes from daring menswear labels like Stella McCartney and SSS World Cup. Fisher's clients include stylish bros like Adam Driver, Dan Stevens, and Jonah Hill when he needs to go formal without losing his street cred. But Fisher also dresses guys with more classic tastes, like Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman. So we know that part of Rockwell's secret sauce is Sam Rockwell himself. The dude's off-kilter personality and ability to own his uniqueness with confidence are just as important as anything a stylist is going to pull—a useful lesson for dudes on and off red carpets.

In Valentino at the BAFTA Los Angeles Tea Party on January 6, 2018
In Valentino at the BAFTA Los Angeles Tea Party on January 6, 2018
In an Our Legacy shirt, Stella McCartney pants, and Happy Socks socks at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 3, 2018
In an Our Legacy shirt, Stella McCartney pants, and Happy Socks socks at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 3, 2018
In a fur coat at MoMA's Contenders Opening Night on November 9, 2017
In a fur coat at MoMA's Contenders Opening Night on November 9, 2017

Are there hard-and-fast lessons here? Not exactly. We're not gonna tell you to hustle out and buy an embroidery-on-acid shirt, or the matching socks. And we're always going to encourage you to hit up your tailor when your suit is baggy at the ankles. But the willingness to give those things a shot—along with the kind of shearling coat that's always a good choice—bespeaks a dude who's comfortable in his own skin, and stoked to try new things. The best lesson Sam Rockwell can teach you? Be more like you.