The 83rd Venice International Film Festival kicked off last week and hosted some of the most-anticipated premieres of the season over the weekend. In one of the tightest, most stacked slates in recent memory, these included Ink, Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch biopic, Primetime, Robert Pattinson’s much-anticipated Chris Hanson movie, and Martin McDonagh’s latest joint, Wild Horse One, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. We’ll have to wait a bit to get eyes on them, but in the meantime there was plenty of action on the red carpet, where a colorful cast of characters, from George Clooney to Noel and Liam Gallagher, absolutely crushed the black-tie dress code. If you have a black-tie event in your future, consider this a primer on eight unconventional ways to do it right.
John Malkovich
Among the weekend’s best surprises was John Malkovich, rocking a string of elite-tier fits, the biggest of which was a Dior ensemble featuring a wide peak-lapel suit over an Elizabethan-style shirt with a ruffled collar. There was also a Bode getup including a shawl-collar dinner jacket, a retro-print shirt, and a pair of kilim mules from LA’s King Kennedy. Both looks reflected his quirky persona and offer a prime example for anyone looking to take a similarly big swing at a formal event. In such cases, there’s only one rule to follow: own it.
Noel and Liam Gallagher
The brothers Gallagher were in town to promote a doc about their reunion tour, titled (what else?) Look Back in Anger, sporting matching scowls and dueling takes on high-low for the film’s Saturday premiere. Dressing down for a gala might seem simple, but it’s far more complicated than swapping your tuxedo trousers for a pair of jeans or wearing sneakers instead of shiny leather shoes. In this case, Liam and Noel circumvented the stuffiness of black-tie with ensembles that hit the perfect balance of tailoring (Liam’s tuxedo jacket; Noel’s patent leather Oxfords), workwear (their monochrome tees), and sportswear (Liam’s Loewe espadrilles).
