Timothée Chalamet’s Effect on Male Fashion Redefining Masculinity

Timothée Chalamet is not only breaking the traditional viewpoint of perceiving a male in the world of glamour but is also redefining it at the same time. Since his breakout year in 2017, Chalamet has been challenging this traditionalist perspective of masculinity both through his sense of fashion and on-screen.
At the Venice Film Festival in 2022, Chalamet was seen wearing a custom-made Haider Ackermann red backless top, while in the same year at the Academy Awards, he was seen in a button-less Louis Vuitton tux. These fashion choices totally depart from the orthodox men's clothing elements—black or grey tuxedos, black leather jackets, and trousers—that people are used to seeing on the red carpet.
As per reports, Chalamet does not work with fashion stylists but instead calls upon popular designers to help him with outfits, which not only create style statements but, more so, conversations. Fashion, which is set in the traditionalist perspective of masculinity, is often perceived as being safe as there is no challenge to the status quo. However, Chalamet, who identifies as a heterosexual, with his unique and definitive fashion, is tackling this status quo head-on.
Apart from fashion, Chalamet's on-screen roles also depict a similar pattern of not conforming to traditionalist masculine ideas. In the film 'Call Me By Your Name,' he played the character of Elio, a teenager who gets attracted to his father's older male intern. In 2016, in 'Manchester by the Sea,' he played a teenager who was trying to understand and come to terms with the death of his father, a role that earned him an Oscar nomination as well. With characters like these, Chalamet is helping people observe masculinity in various forms—a masculinity that is more expressive and transparent rather than portraying the traditional alpha male.
Chalamet's fashion ideals have created ripples, as recently, in June this year, he was chosen to be the new face of Bleu de Chanel, a men's fragrance product by Chanel. This is a notable phenomenon, as Chanel previously worked with Hollywood actors like Brad Pitt, Pharrell Williams, and the late Gaspard Ulliel, who represented a more traditional and stereotypical view of masculinity.