What’s the Luckiest Menswear Look at the Oscars?
Ahead of the 97th Academy Awards ceremony on March 2, we asked ourselves:
What’s the luckiest menswear look at the Academy Awards in recent history?
To answer that question, OTAA pored over dozens of best-dressed lists, fashion magazines, news outlets, professional photographs, and social media posts to analyse the Oscars outfits of the 29 most recent winners: 14 Best Actors and 15 Best Supporting Actors. (Anthony Hopkins, who won Best Actor for his role in The Father, didn’t attend the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony.)
Remember, we looked at the winners only, not the nominees, to get a handle on what it takes to dress like a true Hollywood legend. Also, we counted Christoph Waltz and Mahershala Ali twice since each actor has two Best Supporting Actor awards — twice the Little Gold Men and twice the number of red-carpet looks.
Here’s what we discovered.
Summary
1. 90% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a tuxedo versus 10% who wore a suit. The “luckiest” look among recent winners was a black tuxedo with a white shirt, black bow tie, no pocket square, no lapel pin, and facial hair.
2. Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors were 34% more likely to have facial hair than not to have facial hair.
3. Best Supporting Actors were more likely than Best Actors to embrace facial hair as part of their Oscars look: 73% of Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair, compared to 43% of Best Actors.
4. The acting categories have had different preferences regarding lapels. 71% of the Best Actors wore peak lapels, while 60% of the Best Supporting Actors wore shawl lapels.
5. Every one of the past 14 Best Actors who attended the Academy Awards wore a white shirt. However, one-third of Best Supporting Actors chose to wear a black shirt (the others wore white shirts).
6. The Oscars are a “bow-tie” affair: 83% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore bow ties over other ties or no ties.
7. Black (66%) and blue (17%) were the most common tuxedo or suit colours among the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors.
8. 86% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a black tie versus another colour. Of the winners who didn’t wear a black-coloured tie, only one (1) was the Best Actor.
9. It’s more popular to go without a pocket square than it is to wear one: 76% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors left their pocket square at home.
10. Hats and glasses were not popular accessories, although roughly one-third of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a lapel pin. Best Supporting Actors were 80% more likely than Best Actors to wear a lapel pin.
11. Giorgio Armani and Saint Laurent were the most popular designers among the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors, with the fashion houses each dressing three (3) winners.
1. Confirmed: Most Winners Wore Tuxedos
You might guess that more Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors have opted for a tuxedo over a suit. After all, the Academy Awards ceremony is a black-tie affair, and Hollywood does love to dress up.
In the past 15 years, 90% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a tuxedo, compared to 10% who wore a suit.
The “luckiest” look among the recent winners was a black tuxedo with either a peak or shawl lapel (the group was evenly split), a white shirt, a black bow tie, no pocket square, no lapel pin, and facial hair.
The three men who have worn suits to the Academy Awards are Best Supporting Actors Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah), and Best Actor Will Smith (King Richard).
2. Most Winners Wore Facial Hair
To be or not to be … clean-shaven? The answer is likely not to be. Whether it was a full beard or well-groomed stubble, 59% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair.
Notable beards among the winners include those of Best Actors Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), as well as Supporting Actors Troy Kotsur (CODA) and Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club).
Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Actor for The Revenant), Christopher Plummer (Best Supporting Actor for Beginners) and Brad Pitt (Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) were among the winners who chose to walk the red carpet with some barely there facial hair. Mahershala Ali, who won Best Supporting Actor awards for Moonlight and Green Book, sported facial hair on both occasions.
The amount of facial hair didn’t seem to be a lucky factor. Of the 17 winners who had facial hair, there was a relatively even split between those who wore a little (9) and those who wore a lot (8).
3. Best Supporting Actors Were More Likely to Skip Shaving
Are Best Supporting Actors cooler or more relaxed? Do they feel less pressure to look like their counterparts from the Golden Age of Hollywood, when it was en vogue for the men to be clean-shaven (or, at the most, a very thin moustache, à la Errol Flynn or Clark Gable)?
Whatever the reason, 73% of Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair, compared to 43% of Best Actors.
4. Peak and Shawl Lapels Were the Most Popular
Notch lapels were out, and peak and shawl lapels were in — 90% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore peak or shawl lapels, with an even split between the two (13 winners each).
However, when we looked at the lapels of the winners with their distinct acting categories in mind, a preference emerged: 71% of Best Actors wore peak lapels. In comparison, 60% of Best Supporting Actors wore shawl lapels.
Best Supporting Actors Robert Downey Jr., Christopher Plummer and Troy Kotsur are the only ones who dared to be different and wore notch lapels to the ceremony.
No Best Actors in the past 15 years have worn notch lapels.
5. Blue Was the Second Most Popular Tuxedo Color
As you might assume, black was the most common tuxedo or suit colour among the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors, at 66%. The next most popular colour was blue, with 17%.
You may recall the brilliant blue tuxedo of Eddie Redmayne when he won Best Actor for The Theory of Everything. There was also the navy tuxedo Daniel Day-Lewis wore when taking home his third Best Actor award (this time for Lincoln).
Christoph Waltz wore navy blue when he accepted the Best Supporting Actor Award for Django Unchained (he previously won the same award for Inglourious Basterds). Brendan Fraser (Best Actor for The Whale) and Christopher Plummer chose a deep blue that you could almost mistake for black.
Other colour choices included green (Troy Kotsur, Mark Rylance) and white (Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto).
Best Supporting Actor Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) is all alone on his island of grey (although Daniel Kaluuya’s soft black peak-lapeled suit is just a stone’s throw away.)
Notably, all three winners who wore suits rather than tuxedos (Robert Downey Jr., Will Smith, Daniel Kaluuya) selected black for their looks.
6. Best Actors Wore White Shirts Only
A black tuxedo and a white shirt are practically synonymous, so it’s no surprise that every one of the past 14 Best Actors who attended the Academy Awards wore a white dress shirt.
On the other hand, the Best Supporting Actor category has proven time and time again that it’s the place to take more fashion risks. While most Best Supporting Actor winners wore white shirts, one-third wore black shirts instead.
7. It Was Bow Tie or Bust for Most Winners
A bow tie has been the clear favourite for neckwear, with 83% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors choosing a self-tie bow tie over another type of tie or no tie.
The winners have passed on their neckwear twice (Daniel Kaluuya and Mahershala Ali, for the latter’s second win). Will Smith wore an ascot with a single diamond stud affixed to it, and Robert Downey Jr. wore a bolo tie.
In one of the most controversial Oscars looks of all time, Christian Bale wore a black necktie to match his black shirt and black shawl-collar tuxedo jacket when he won Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Fighter.
8. Most Winners Wore Black-Colored Ties
Apparently, “black tie” does mean black tie, even in a town full of sartorial rule breakers — 86% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a black tie versus another colour.
But there was also one red bow tie (Jared Leto) and one blue bow tie (Brendan Fraser).
Brendan Fraser is the only Best Actor in the past 15 years to not wear a black-coloured tie, although his bow tie, like his suit, was dyed such a deep shade of blue as to be nearly black.
9. Pocket Squares Were Not Popular
Most winners (76%) skipped wearing a pocket square. However, a few winners selected jackets with contrasting trim at the top of their breast pockets. For example, Matthew McConaughey (Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club) wore an off-white jacket with black trim.
No colour proved to be most popular among the 24% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors who chose to wear pocket squares.
But who can forget Jared Leto’s crimson pocket square dyed to match his bow tie or J.K. Simmons’ (Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash) purple pocket square dyed to match his wife’s dress?
10. Lapel Pins Were a Popular Accessory
While most Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors chose not to wear any lapel embellishments, 34% of the winners wore a lapel pin.
Best Supporting Actors were incredibly expressive when adding sparkle to their outfits. Best Supporting Actors were 80% more likely than Best Actors to wear a lapel pin.
Cillian Murphy wore one of the more unique lapel pins. This 18-karat gold brooch featured eight trapeziums arranged in a starburst-like circle. Sauvereign, who designed and created the brooch, said it was a nod to the internal components of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s infamous invention. Cillian Murphy won an Oscar for his portrayal of the theoretical physicist.
In addition to other accessories, winners have worn four (4) hats and five (5) pairs of glasses.
Every winner who wore a hat to the Academy Awards was a Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, Mahershala Ali, J.K. Simmons and Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies). The latter two made a case for the red carpet fedora, while Troy Kotsur wore a messenger cap. And Mahershala Ali memorably turned a structured beanie into black tie attire when accepting his second Best Supporting Actor statuette, this time for his role in Green Book.
Best Supporting Actors who wore glasses to the ceremony include Robert Downey Jr., Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Christoph Waltz (to accept his second award) and Mahershala Ali (while accepting his second award).
Gary Oldman, who won for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, is the only Best Actor in the past 15 years to have worn glasses to the ceremony.
11. Giorgio Armani and Saint Laurent Dressed the Most Winners
Giorgio Armani and Saint Laurent were the most popular designers among the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor winners in recent history, with the fashion houses each dressing three (3) winners.
Giorgio Armani dressed Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan. In contrast, Saint Laurent dressed Rami Malek (Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody), Jared Leto and Robert Downey Jr.
Looking at the Best Actor category alone, Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani have each dressed two (2) of the past 14 winners (Will Smith and Matthew McConaughey in Dolce & Gabbana, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Brendan Fraser in Giorgio Armani).
Other popular designers include Prada (Sam Rockwell, Christoph Waltz) and Ermenegildo Zegna (Mahershala Ali twice).
What About the Watches?
Some winners showed off their wristwear more readily than others. A handful of winners had their tuxedos tailored in such a way as to allow a glimpse of their stunning timepieces. In contrast, others kept their watches to themselves. As a result, it’s challenging to know what watch every winner wore. However, we did identify the following beauties.
Daniel Kaluuya and Mahershala Ali wore Cartier Santos de Cartier Skeletons for their second win. Rami Malek also chose a Cartier watch, the timeless Tank Americaine.
Cillian Murphy (Best Actor for Oppenheimer) and Troy Kotsur wore the Omega De Ville Prestige. In contrast, Ke Huy Quan wore an Omega Constellation Globemaster.
Matthew McConaughey and Colin Firth (Best Actor for The King’s Speech) selected watches from Chopard’s L.U.C. collection. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. and Jean Dujardin (Best Actor for The Artist) wore Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces — a Reverso Tribute Chronograph for Downey and a Memovox Tribute to Deep Sea for Dujardin.
Other stunning masterpieces included an IWC Da Vinci Chronograph Edition "Laureus Sport for Good Foundation" watch on Mahershala Ali's wrist the night of his first win and a Rolex GMT on Sam Rockwell.
Conclusion
Now we know: The luckiest look among the most recent Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor winners was a black tuxedo paired with a white shirt and black bow tie, although facial hair and lapel preferences varied by category.
While most winners may have played it safe with timeless looks that could work in any decade, we salute those who chose to break the Oscar mould with bold colours or unique accessories for their own looks.
Ahead of this year's Academy Awards ceremony, we wish all the nominees good luck — and we can't wait to see what everyone wears on the red carpet!
