It’s been an exceptional year for spotting well-dressed movie directors. We’ve seen the likes of Luca Guadagnino, Taika Waititi, and Noah Baumbach show in top-tier fits at premieres across the globe. Even the newly revamped J.Crew tapped beloved filmmaker Mike Mills to model its latest collaboration. And now we can add the three-time Oscar-nominated director Todd Field to the growing list.
Field is wrapping up the press blitz for Tár, which stars Cate Blanchett as a complicated (and menswear-y) conductor. The tour has required every corner of his closet, suiting and casual attire alike. His suited looks are relatively straightforward, usually worn without a tie and the addition of a perplexingly wide hat. But his personal style really shines when he dresses down, cleverly mixing unfussy staples with some sharper prep-inclined pieces. This is the same sort of dressing we’ve seen out in the wider culture, a quietly bubbling movement led by designer Brendon Babenzien at Noah and the new J.Crew: a casual-classic way of getting dressed, rooted in time-tested menswear but styled so as not to feel too stuffy.
So: specifics. Field paired a barely-structured blazer with a navy button-down and some khaki pants for a Venice Film Festival photocall. He rounded out the outfit with a baseball cap and suede Birkenstock clogs, looking like a hip Cooper Union professor who teaches a niche course on typography. At the New York Film Festival, Field leaned into a classic East Coast autumn fit: a rugged blazer, a thin sweater over an oxford, and blue jeans worn with excellent oxblood boots. (Again, with the same baseball cap.)
When one thinks of Hollywood’s best dressed, the mind usually sprints to A-list actors and high-fashion tailoring. But as Field and others have proven, movie directors can get dressed with the best of them. Field, in particular, has hit the bullseye on a certain corner of today’s old-meets-new menswear. Dressing this way won’t make you the flashiest dresser at a Hollywood event, but as Todd Field proves, you’ll still look pretty damn good.
