The Best-Dressed Men of the 2012 Oscars

Another year, another Academy Awards ceremony — the 84th Academy Awards, apparently, though we had to Google it.

To be honest no one here at Real Men Real Style is a huge Hollywood fashion follower. We’re all about the timeless styles that look good on every man — not so much with the weekly-changing fads. But people do care about the Oscars, and we did see some men dressing very well there, so here’s our quick rundown on the solid, timeless looks that some of the world’s most famous actors were sporting this year:

Colin Firth – Textbook Traditional

Here’s a man that did it all by the book: shawl lapels, black bow tie (hand-tied, we trust); cuffs showing just the right amount. Notice, too, that he’s a reasonably low-contrast man (light skin and light hair) and made the sensible choice of light-colored shirt studs rather than contrasting black ones. A small detail, but one that worked well on him.

The jacket is single-button with jetted pockets, the fit looks good, and all around this is a guy you could emulate. He’s at a black tie event and he’s wearing proper black tie. Kudos to him.

Tom Hanks – Double-Breasted Elegance

Tom Hanks wore a double-breasted tux from Tom Ford, and he might have been the best-dressed man of all — we loved the look and how he wore it. Very good fit, just the right amount of shirt cuff showing, nice crisp pocket square, and a big, clearly hand-tied bow tie.

The jacket is entirely matte — no contrasting lining on the lapels — which makes it a little more subdued than most black tie looks. On Tom we think that worked well. Very, very solid choice here.

Jean Dujardin – Updated Classic

For a slightly more modern look we liked Jean Dujardin. He’s changed the details of black tie while sticking with the classics in a very noticeable way, particularly in his choice of a wing collar.

The jacket and shirt are classic, and the bow tie is excellent, bold, and clearly hand-tied. What he’s changed is losing the pocket square and adding a wristwatch, which traditionally wouldn’t be included — black tie events are supposed to be the sort of thing where you’re not concerned about pedestrian details like time. But given the highly-scheduled nature of the Oscars we kind of liked the gesture.

Uggie the dog got a bow tie too, we noticed, and who can argue with that?

Christopher Plummer – The Velvet Jacket

Oh, Chris Plummer. Here’s a gentleman whose age and experience justify a bit of fun, and he knows it. The velvet jacket with the tiny little boutonniere — it’s not classic black tie. But it is a style from the time when black tie was evolving and becoming what we know today, and he wears it so confidently it’s almost like a dare to say something.

We don’t recommend that you try things like this until you’ve gone completely gray. Some things are still the privilege of age.

Jonah Hill – Back to Black

The black shirt isn’t proper black tie. We’ll get that out right up front. Technically this is wrong. But — the unspoken understanding has always been that you can break a rule if there’s a good reason for it and you do it boldly enough.

That leads to a lot of people breaking rules they didn’t need to and looking bad, but Jonah Hill’s not one of those people. He’s clearly going for a slimming look and between the great fit of his jacket and the dark shirtfront we think he got it. This guy’s a good role model for men who carry a little more weight and don’t want to dress like it’s a bad thing. If we could change anything, it would be the trouser break — he’s short enough that he could do with less extra cloth drawing our eyes down around the ankles. Hemming them a little higher would have helped his look.

Robert Downy Jr. – The Contemporary Experiment

We actually usually like Robert Downy Jr.’s style, as far as it goes. And his Oscars outfit was clearly designed to be noteworthy — it breaks a bunch of classic black tie rules all at once, most notably with a black shirt and an off-color bow tie (remember, gentleman, that “black tie” is right there in the name of the style). We like the peak lapels but the fit in the chest also seemed a little tight – you can see it bowing off his body a little there, like its pinching in the back.

This is pretty fashion-forward stuff. It’s probably not a look we’d tell most guys to try at a black tie event. Robert Downy Jr.’s a guy who likes to make a splash, make a bit of a name for himself, and that’s all right — but file this one under “experimental” rather than “classic role model.”

Sasha Baron Cohen as The Dictator

I don’t think we need to say too much about this one, do we? It’s theater; he’s in costume not in formal dress. Let it slide gently.

Outfits like these are a good reminder for ordinary men watching: the Oscars are their own unique world. It’s not real life, even very formally-dressed real life. You can enjoy the costumes, but don’t automatically take them as an example of how your black tie outfits should look.

And that’s the big takeaway here. Men’s fashion has always been a bit of a sidenote at the Oscars compared to the attention the women get — and that’s mostly a good thing. At any formal event your job as a gentleman is to lend the occasion the dignity it deserves. Most of the guys we’ve highlighted here did a great job with that.