What’s the sexiest item of clothing a man can wear? Is it the Raimundo Langlois ultra-bum-bearing jeans? The Thom Browne couture-grade jockstrap? That perfect thrashed vintage tee that says I actually don’t care about fashion at all? Maybe it’s the teensy, thigh-grazing sport shorts that Paul Mescal wears while sprinting through London and Dublin? Since the Irish actor’s rise to god-tier levels of fame, the world has fallen in love with him — and his wardrobe.
But real Mescal-heads know that the hottest garment he wears isn’t his trackies. It’s his cardigans.
Over the course of his Gladiator II press tour, Mescal has sported teensy cardis from Gucci, &Daughter, AV Vattev, and one as-yet-unidentified cardi so teensy its buttons nearly stretched apart while Mescal yapped on The Graham Norton Show. The sight of one of our foremost hunks in a garment traditionally associated with grannycore, girliecore, and other twee movements was enough to send r/mensfashion acolytes into a spiral. “Is this look intentional?” wrote one concerned fan on the cardi forum. “It’s about 3 sizes too small, those buttons are about to POP, but the collar is so so wide. What am i missing??”
What you’re missing, my guy, is a risk taking sense of flair that’s been happening on menswear catwalks for a while. “Fall/Winter 2024 is when Prada first showed all those colorful cardigans and obviously we’ve been seeing them with Miu Miu, but sometimes I think seeing it on the runway is not enough for the menswear bro to have their take on it,” wrote my friend and personal menswear north star Mark Pourshafiey. Auralee, Zegna, Bode and Magliano have also been at the forefront of the tight-on-top knitwear look, padding out their seasonal collections with narrower knits that counter the trend for oversized and slouchy sweaters.
“Having a co-sign by someone like Paul Mescal is the validation normal dudes need that they can also pull it off,” Pourshafiey went on. “We’ve seen his impact with the short shorts and it’s fun to see how he continues to push the bros to be more daring and sexy. When you think about it, he’s just getting guys into body-con under the guise of a cardigan — a great way to show off the gains.”
Still, the menswear experts recommend approaching the tight cardi with caution, regardless of the time spent in the gym. “A normal dude cannot pull off this look…exactly,” warned Throwing Fits co-host Lawrence Schlossmann. “With that said, this is more or less the advanced version of the well-trodden tiny top, big bottom look that resonates with a lot of people — even if most of them are too busy being functioning members of society to spend even a second considering the reason this looks so good is because of a silhouette that juxtaposes volumes.”
Buffy Reid, the founder and designer of &Daughter, whose woolen cardigans have been worn by both Mescal and Gracie Abrams, agrees it’s about shape and knowing what works. “Even when a knit is shrunken there should be a sense of ease about it, and this is especially true of a cardigan which is a style we tend to relate to in a more relaxed way,” she told i-D. “A cardigan with some gentle drape through the body but a slightly shorter fit is a great piece that feels relaxed yet elegant.”
Whether super slim or slightly loose, the cardigan still has a long way to go, maybe, before it’s certified hunk material. If anything, Mescal and his brilliant stylist Felicity Kay are doing their part to make it a staple in the closets of guys willing to take a fashion risk. The pale blue lace-up style by AV Vattev, worn by Mescal earlier this month, is a good place for those wading into cardi waters to start. In a wide range of colours, the sweater can work in a wardrobe in a variety of ways. “For a sexy vibe, wear it on its own with nothing underneath,” says designer Antonio Vattev. “For a casual, effortless look, layer it over a plain tee. And if you’re aiming for a smart, office-appropriate twist, style it over a button-up shirt.”
Playing up the perverse nature of the cardigan also helps bring the outfit together — which is to say, lean into the subversive sex appeal. Mescal’s Gladiator II co-star Pedro Pescal knows a thing or two about how to make the knitwear work for you, having sported sparkly knits from 4SDesigns and holey cardis from Bode. His stylist, Julie Ragolia, says the hot vibes are intentional. “The shrunken cardigan was a way to play with something warm and approachable, as is Pedro’s personality, but sexy by making it tighter than the typical cardigan fit. In thinking about how to approach his overall direction, twisting fatherly or professor-like tropes into something new was fun and unexpected,” Ragolia said, adding with a knowing wink, “I knew it would hit, but didn’t predict the full ‘daddy’ power of it all.”
Maybe that’s the true lesson of the Gladiator II press tour: Do as your daddy does and shrink your sweater in the wash. The most advanced dressers are giving this look the thumbs up in the colosseum of style.