Timothée Chalamet Styled Himself for His Role of Laurie in 'Little Women'
The film’s costume designer called the actor “one of the most stylish people I’ve ever met.”
There’s no question that Timothée Chalamet is a burgeoning fashion icon. His sartorial instincts are so strong, in fact, that Little Women director Greta Gerwig revealed during an interview on Variety’s The Big Ticket podcast that Chalamet essentially styled himself for his role of Laurie Laurence in the latest adaption of the literary classic.
“The truth is Jacqueline [Durran], the costume designer, said Timothée has such a fabulous sense of style that she basically would just let him do what he wanted,” said Gerwig during the interview. “She did hang a bunch of different costumes in his trailer and say, ‘Whatever you want to put together.’”
Gerwig added that she encouraged Chalamet to research and read essays about dandies and flaneurs—a.k.a. fashionable French male socialites—as well as the work of 19th-century poet Charles Baudelaire to prepare for his role as Little Women’s leading man.
According to Vulture, Durran had Chalamet’s fiercely loyal fan base in mind as well when it came to styling the actor, which is why his Laurie wardrobe ever so subtly echoes his own.
“I was looking for a style of suit that would be accessible to a young audience in terms of what they wanted to look at Timothée wearing,” explained Durran. “I tried to find a way into a look that wasn’t alienating. I had lots of modern references.” In addition to Chalamet’s personal love of ruffled satin blouses and tailored suits, Durran revealed that her main creative influences for Laurie’s wardrobe were a young Bob Dylan, the subculture of British Teddy Boys, and, most specifically, James Tissot’s impressionist painting The Circle of the Rue Royale.
“[Chalamet] contributed so strongly to how he wore the clothes. When we were fitting for them, I’d tell him, ‘Look at these things, this is what you got, how would you wear it?’ That’s how we went on and got the flavor of Timothée into the style of the clothes,” Durran told Vulture. “He has a way of wearing things. He’s a very iconic kind of boy. He’s one of the most stylish people I’ve ever met.”
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