Annual best-dressed lists often make little sense. That's because a whole lot of backroom politicking and planning go into them. So Esquire is once again asking you, dear reader, to decide upon our Best-Dressed Man of the Year. Last week, Harry Styles claimed a victory over Richard Madden, and now for round 2: Héctor Bellerín vs. Tom Holland.
Note: voting is now closed.
Footballers and actors aren't so dissimilar. A chemical reaction between sheer talent and sheer good luck, they're taken by pipette from an ocean of would-be professionals. A special breed, then, and the public do love to emulate those special enough to be, well, special.
But where stars of the silver screen so often settled for a classic menu, the stars of the pitch were often chastised for a lack of taste. Traditional two-piece for another premiere, another meat string headband for the World Cup. No longer, though. Marvel wunderkind Tom Holland is proof that actors don't always bland a punch. Héctor Bellerín is breaking the mould in the Premier League, too.
The latter's rise to style paragon proper has been swift. Bellerín, once known for sporadic bursts of left-fieldism, long settled for a short back and sides above gear that didn't ruffle too many feathers. But that all changed. The 24-year-old leant into streetwear, the directional kind, the high-brow high-end pieces that trumped go-to terrace threads. Instead, we saw puffer jackets in jacquard florals, Beetlejuice stripes on the front row of Paria Farzaneh and Prada bucket hats as Bellerín became a fashion week mainstay. This wasn't just a way to fill tabloids, either: the Arsenal right back has a real passion in menswear.
Interest that was ultimately paid in kind. For Louis Vuitton's SS20 show, Bellerín walked amongst a brigade of models all handpicked by creative director Virgil Abloh. Footballers do have a place in fashion.
Tom Holland's trajectory however, wasn't on the runways of Paris. Instead, Spider-Man used the long and winding road of a Marvel marketing campaign to quickly craft a signature. Where his co-stars go simple, Holland consistently hits a high-low tailoring high note. A tall order at the tender age of 23, but a successful one.
Take the pyjama shirt and tailored trouser in Indonesia. Or, perhaps, the fail-safe black suit dressed down with a grey T-shirt on the late night TV circuit. Both point to a star on the ascendance that's wise beyond his years. And better yet, it's nuance replicated in Holland's off-duty rotation: denim jackets that fit in all the right places, and a lot of other incredibly sharp jackets too come to think of it.
So, who wins? The footballer that's joined Beckham in the ranks of well-dressed Premier Leaguers, or the prince of the premiere making a claim for the throne?
