What’s the Luckiest Menswear Look at the Oscars?

To uncover the luckiest Oscars look in recent history, OTAA took a unique approach, rewinding time to the 2009 Academy Awards.

We pored over dozens of best-dressed lists, fashion magazines, news outlets, professional photographs, and social media posts to analyse the Oscars outfits of the 31 most recent winners: 15 Best Actors and 16 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, as each actor has won two Best Supporting Actor awards since 2009 — that’s twice the Little Gold Men and twice the number of red carpet looks.

Here’s what we unearthed, some of which might surprise you.

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. 61% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair.

3. Best Supporting Actors were more likely than Best Actors to embrace facial hair as part of their Oscars look: 75% of Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair, compared to 47% of Best Actors.

4. The acting categories have had different preferences regarding lapels. 73% of the Best Actors wore peak lapels, while 63% of the Best Supporting Actors wore shawl lapels.

5. Black (65%) and blue (16%) were the most common tuxedo or suit colours among the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors.

6. Every one of the past 15 Best Actors who attended the Academy Awards wore a white shirt. Comparatively, just 63% of Best Supporting Actors wore a white shirt (the remaining 37% wore black shirts).

7. 84% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore bow ties over other ties or no ties.

8. 87% 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 a Best Actor.

9. It’s more popular to go without a pocket square than it is to wear one: 77% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors left their pocket squares at home.

10. Hats and glasses were not popular accessories, although 34% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a lapel pin or brooch. Best Supporting Actors were 67% more likely than Best Actors to wear a lapel pin.

11. Giorgio Armani is the most popular designer among the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor winners, having dressed four (4) 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 16 years, 90% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore tuxedos, compared to 10% who wore suits.

The “luckiest” look among the recent winners was a black tuxedo with either a peak or shawl lapel, a white shirt, a black bow tie, no pocket square, no lapel pin or brooch, 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, 61% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair.

Notable beards include those of Best Actors Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), and Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), as well as Supporting Actors Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Troy Kotsur (CODA), and Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club).

Meanwhile, Adrien Brody (Best Actor for The Brutalist), 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 19 winners who had facial hair, there was a relatively even split between those who wore a little (10) and those who wore a lot (9).

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, to have a very thin moustache, à la Errol Flynn or Clark Gable)?

Whatever the reason, 75% of Best Supporting Actors wore facial hair, compared to 47% 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 (14 winners each).

However, when we looked at the lapels of the winners with their distinct acting categories in mind, a preference emerged: 73% of Best Actors wore peak lapels. In comparison, 63% 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 16 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, at 65%. The next most popular colour was blue, at 16%.

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, Kieran Culkin) 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, and Daniel Kaluuya) selected black for their looks.

6. The Best Actors Wore White Shirts Only

A black tuxedo and a white shirt are practically synonymous, so it’s no surprise that every single one of the past 15 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 Actors wore white shirts, 37% 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 84% of the Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors choosing a self-tie bow tie over another type of tie or no tie.

Two winners (Daniel Kaluuya and Mahershala Ali, for the latter’s second win) avoided neckwear altogether. Meanwhile, 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” really does mean black tie, even in a town full of sartorial rule breakers — 87% of Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors wore a black tie versus another colour.

But there was also one red bow tie (worn by Jared Leto) and one blue bow tie (worn by Brendan Fraser).

Brendan Fraser is the only Best Actor in the past 16 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 (77%) 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 particular colour proved to be the most popular among the 23% 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’s (Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash) purple pocket square dyed to match his wife’s dress?

10. Lapel Pins & Brooches Were a Popular Accessory

While most Best Actors and Best Supporting Actors chose not to wear any embellishments on their jackets, 39% of the winners wore a lapel pin or brooch.

Best Supporting Actors were incredibly expressive when adding sparkle to their outfits. Best Supporting Actors were 67% more likely than Best Actors to wear a lapel pin or brooch.

Cillian Murphy, who won his Best Actor Oscar for portraying J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer, wore one of the more unique lapel pins. The 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 the theoretical physicist’s infamous invention.

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 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 16 years to have worn glasses to the ceremony.  

11. Giorgio Armani Dressed the Most Winners

Giorgio Armani was the most popular fashion designer among the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor winners in recent history, dressing four (4) winners: Adrien Brody, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan.

Meanwhile, Ermenegildo Zegna has dressed three (3) winners: Kieran Culkin and Mahershala Ali (twice).

Saint Laurent has also dressed three (3) winners: Rami Malek (Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody), Jared Leto and Robert Downey Jr.

Other popular designers include Dolce & Gabbana (Matthew McConaughey and Will Smith) and Prada (Sam Rockwell and Christoph Waltz, for his second win).

What About the Watches?

A handful of winners had their tuxedos tailored to allow a glimpse of their stunning timepieces, while others kept their watches more 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. Ke Huy Quan wore an Omega Constellation Globemaster. And Kieran Culkin flashed Omega’s De Ville Trésor timepiece with a burgundy dial.

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 has been a black tuxedo paired with a white shirt and black bow tie, although facial hair and lapel preferences have 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 looks.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to seeing what everyone wears on the red carpet next year!

Updated March 2025.