The wacky wardrobe of Shia LaBeouf
Oddball actor-provocateur Shia LaBeouf gives normcore a good name. By Charlie Teasdale
While LaBeouf’s rival thespians are regularly included on best-dressed lists, few of them have a look as distinctive as that of the star described as ‘the ultimate embodiment of anti-fashion’
“I wish I dressed as fresh as Shia LaBeouf,” declared Kanye West on an outtake of his
2016 track “No More Parties in LA”, referring to the eccentric Hollywood actor and alleged performance artist.
LaBeouf’s dress is, indeed, fresh. So much so that for street style aficionados, the 32-year-old Californian has become close to a cult figure. While plenty of LaBeouf’s rival thespians — Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Reynolds — appear dashing on red carpets, and are regularly included on best-dressed lists, few of them have a look as distinctive as that of the star of Transformers and, erm, Nymphomaniac, who has been described — admiringly, one presumes? — as “the ultimate embodiment of anti-fashion.”
Essentially, LaBeouf takes normcore — the phenomenon whereby cutting-edge trendies deliberately dress like boring suburban losers — and adds his own witty twists.
He tucks skinny jeans into combat boots and graphic T-shirts into shorts. He layers Patagonia half-zips on top of battered hoodies, pairs cut-offs with white socks and Crocs, and hiked-up sweats with Ugg boots. He customises stuff, scribbling on baseball caps and bomber jackets and Nike tennis shoes to make them his own. He once wore pink leggings on a dare from Ellen DeGeneres.
There is even an Instagram account, @shiasoutfits. It has nearly 65,000 followers. On YouTube, you’ll find videos telling you how to dress like him. And there’s a persistent rumour that LaBeouf’s iconoclastic style did more than influence Kanye West’s personal look; it may also have partly formed the basis of the rapper’s clothing line, Yeezy. In a recent interview with American Esquire, LaBeouf said of West: “He took all my fucking clothes.” (Long story involving the rapper’s kindness to the actor’s mother, some loaned items of clothing, an on-stage diss and the phrase “dude has a lot of my shit.”)
Not that LaBeouf is the only Hollywood actor making a bid for street style supremacy. Jonah Hill, the funny chubby guy from Superbad and The Wolf of Wall Street, knows how to pick a statement bomber jacket, dabbles in streetwear to the correct extent for a man in his mid-thirties and appreciates the power of Stan Smiths. Hunky Armie Hammer, perhaps for a bet, spent the worldwide press tour for Call Me By Your Name in a series of retro Adidas Superstar tracksuits.
Those guys look great.
But they don’t live it like Shia does.
They don’t commit with quite the same intensity to the task of dressing like a heavily medicated handyman or a partially sighted youth outreach worker. They just wear nice clothes. Still, at least they’re safe from Kanye and his wardrobe raids. For now.