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‘Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?” Kristen Stewart said last year, the implication being that method acting is the exclusive preserve of a particular type of man, unburdened by caring responsibilities or needing to be agreeable. But what is available to all actors (without getting their teeth pulled, taking magic mushrooms or demanding to be spoon-fed on set) is method dressing: that is, promoting a film in an outfit inspired by their character.
Everyone seems to be doing it, particularly in the past few months as Wicked: For Good and now Wuthering Heights have hit the red carpet. Why? It’s a low-stakes way to offer an extra endorsement for the film the actor is promoting (they liked it so much they’re willing to stay in character) and to drum up column inches and excitable TikTok commentary. It can also be a knowing wink – a gift, even – to fans. Some actors (or their stylists) include subtler sartorial semiotics and Easter egg accessories in their outfits that only the hardcore fandom and fashion nerds can appreciate. Either way, there’s a lot of it about. But who are the Daniel Day-Lewises and Robert De Niros of promo tour dressing?
Margot Robbie – Wuthering Heights
The undisputed queen of method and her stylist Andrew Mukamal have outdone themselves in the past week, with a high gothic Wuthering Heights “tour-drobe” that requires a close line reading of the 1847 classic to decode. Her outfits feature lots of red (a leitmotif in the film; Kate Bush may approve), a snakeskin motif referencing Heathcliff’s line “I’d rather be hugged by a snake” and Elizabeth Taylor’s heart-shaped Taj Mahal necklace (more Heathcliff; this time: “I have not broken your heart - you have broken it”). Perhaps its most floridly OTT expression came with last week’s London premiere, at which Robbie wore a Dilara Findikoglu dress crafted from (fake) hair, accessorised with a replica of Charlotte Brontë’s amethyst mourning bracelet, which incorporated (real) hair from her dead sisters, Emily and Anne.
Margot Robbie – Barbie
Robbie has been method dressing for years: she was clocked doing it for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood back in 2019, for Babylon in 2022 and, most famously, Barbie. For the 2023 press tour, she and Mukamal created looks, complete with hairstyles and accessories, that precisely referenced multiple specific dolls, including a black sequined sheath with a frill (“Solo in the Spotlight Barbie”), psychedelic mini (“Totally Hair Barbie”), pink polka dots (“Pink and Fabulous Barbie”) and even a black-and-white striped number paying homage to the original doll.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
The two stars of Wicked are exceptionally disciplined method dressers when promoting the franchise, sticking to a palette of Glinda pink for Grande and black or green (referencing Elphaba’s skin tone) for Erivo. Grande often goes further: at the LA premiere in 2024, her Thom Browne pink gingham and Swarovski-crystal-encrusted round-toed pumps directly referenced Judy Garland’s wide-skirted blue and white dress and sparkling red slippers, while in Sydney, her Vivienne Westwood floofy pink meringue of a gown closely echoed the dress Billie Burke, the original 1939 Glinda, wore in the Wizard of Oz. Shamed or inspired by the stars’ commitment, the supporting cast have got in on the act: Jeff Goldblum has worn all sorts of wizardly whimsy, and Colman Domingo appeared at the For Good premiere in a faux fur coat imitating the pelt of his Cowardly Lion character.
Zendaya – Challengers/Dune
For Luca Guadagnino’s sexy tennis flick Challengers, Zendaya appeared on the red carpet not merely in a Wimbledon-ish green Loewe sparkly shift, but one embellished with a still from the film of a player serving a ball. On the promo circuit, her stylist Law Roach had her dressed in a succession of “tennis-core” looks: short, white and green and even tennis ball heel shoes. Zendaya is another repeat method dresser: she wore a silky red ringmaster jacket promoting The Greatest Showman way back in 2017 and her Dune: Part Two promotional tour-drobe spanned everything from the kind of “space desert warrior” garb her character Chani would wear to a full-on metallic Mugler robot suit.
Alexander Skarsgård
Promoting his “gay biker dom-com” Pillion, Skarsgård looked to be enjoying himself immensely in what Vogue described as “kinky method”: leather and fetish details, most notably thigh-high black shiny boots and a boot-licking motif T-shirt at Cannes. That said, he might have worn them even if he wasn’t promoting a BDSM biker movie – the infamous teeny-weeny shorts he wore on Lorraine weren’t method; just Skarsgård having fun.
Jenna Ortega
Ortega seems to embrace the spooky goth aesthetic joyfully when she’s promoting her Addams Family spin-off Wednesday, turning out in shredded black leather, Victorian ghost white and even a green Simone Rocha ghoul bodysuit. For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice she went one further, wearing a near-exact Thom Browne replica of Winona Ryder’s character Lydia Deetz’s outfit from the 1988 original film – schoolgirl-style plaid midi skirt, white shirt and cardie.
Jacob Elordi
Robbie’s co-star Elordi hasn’t matched her heroic efforts promoting Wuthering Heights (this Yorkshirewoman is still smarting from hearing him say the sexiest thing about the county is “rocks”). For Frankenstein, however, he did wear a Christopher Kane jumper featuring the monster’s face on the Jimmy Fallon show; GQ also argued, tenuously, that his silky, sober suits channelled the original Victor Frankenstein (“a quiet, privileged, obsessive student who made disastrous choices in expensive clothes”).
Timothée Chalamet
A gamely weird dresser on the promo circuit generally, Chalamet promoted Wonka in various method-ish outfits including a lavender Prada suit and white platform boots, Tom Ford ruby velour, an Oompa Loompa hoodie and Wonka-inspired Nike Dunks he designed himself.
His Marty Supreme promo looks have been upsettingly, relentlessly orange in homage to his character’s desire for orange, rather than white, ping-pong balls, including the eyeball-searing his ’n’ hers Chrome Hearts orange combo he and Kylie Jenner wore in December that prompted one Redditor to comment: “I have now confirmed there is such a thing as too much orange.” It’s a commitment to his craft that Marlon Brando could only have dreamt of.
