Oscars 2025 Countdown: Timothée Chalamet-ology

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And now, a reconsideration.

At the Los Angeles Premiere in Prada
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Timothee Chalamet has always been adventurous in his red carpet choices, spending the earlier years of his career developing a lightly queer-tinged dandyism that suited his twink looks and the kinds of roles he was playing, from Call Me By Your Name to Dune to Wonka, sporting backless jumpsuits and lace shirts with swagger and style.

At the New York Premiere in Celine
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But with A Complete Unknown, he went in a surprising direction. First, he got seriously into theme-dressing, showing up at several events in updated versions of fairly obscure Bob Dylan outfits.

At the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards in Wrangler
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The theme-dressing was something he picked up from his Dune co-star Zendaya, who infamously wore tennis balls on her person while promoting Challengers and got Timmee to hit the red carpet with her in matching leather jumpsuits.

At the Golden Globes in Tom Ford
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But what’s more notable about this style turn isn’t the theme-dressing, it’s the sudden shift toward bro styles.

At the Paris Premiere in Chanel and Isabel Marant
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Part of that could be a loosening up of his style now that he’s well-established, critically-acclaimed, and aiming toward “greatness” in his career. Even twinks get tired of dressing like twinks at a certain point.

At the Rome Premiere in True Religion
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But we tend to think a lot of is simply about appealing to the film’s most likely fan base: Boomers.

At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in Prada
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There’s a semi-decent argument to be made that it would be weird if not downright disrespectful to promote a Bob Dylan biopic in Prada jumpsuits and Dior lace tops. The man is not a fashion icon by any stretch of the imagination.

At the Berlin International Film Festival Premiere in Chrome Hearts
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And sure, you could assume that his relationship with Kylie Jenner might have something to do with this latest turn, but we tend to think that casts her as far more of a manipulative temptress than she actually is. The fact is, Timmee’s always been in complete control of his career and his image. Among stars in his age group, you won’t find many with a greater sense of control over how they conduct themselves in public.

At the BAFTA Awards in Bottega Veneta
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We’re willing to reconsider some of our critiques of this style period in his career, partly because we feel very strongly that performers should dress like performers and partly because dressing this way has clearly done nothing to hurt the film or his awards chances.

At the SAG Awards in Chrome Hearts
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If there’s one thing we know for sure after a decade and a half of delivering obsessive red carpet commentary it’s that the red carpet tends to shift slightly with each new generation and we think Timothee Chalamet’s 2025 awards season wardrobe is signaling another shift. Looking over this collection of ensembles, one thing is very clear: this was a thoughtful approach, even if it was partially designed to look like it wasn’t. You can’t accuse the guy of half-assing any of it. If he didn’t care, he’d have shown up in ratty t-shirts and ripped jeans.

STYLED BY TAYLOR MCNEILL

[Photo Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages, Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com, Darla Khazei/INSTARimages, Stewart Cook/CBS, Phil McCarten/CBS, MediaPunch/INSTARimages, Jennifer Bloc/Future Image/Cover Images, Marc Piasecki/Getty Images for Disney, Abaca Press/INSTARimages, Carla Van Wagoner/Future Image/Cover Images, Carla Van Wagoner/Future Image/Cover Images, Robert Smith/INSTARimages, Faye’s Vision/Cover Images ]

• A Complete Unknown
• Ologies
• Oscars 2025
• Red Carpet
• Taylor McNeill
• Timothée Chalamet