For actors and filmmakers alike, awards season is a constant ebb and flow of excitement and anxiety. There’s the anticipation about whether your performance/TV show/film will be nominated, which, if it is, allows for a small amount of celebration before more nail-biting ensues. Next, the countdown until the big night. Weeks and days pass until finally, it’s time! Glasses are continually topped with champagne to help the evening go slightly faster, and then, as if no time has passed at all, it’s your category. And with as long as it takes to open an envelope, the moment you’ve waited for – or rather wished it hadn’t happened at all – is all over.
And if a potential acceptance speech wasn’t enough to already have to prep, there’s the red carpet to consider. Whether you leave with a golden gong or not, you’re expected to enter with a charming smile and award-winning ensemble to match. The pressure is constant.
With that in mind, Matt Smith couldn’t have looked better on Sunday evening. Walking into the Critics Choice Awards, where he was nominated for Supporting Actor in Drama Series for House of Dragon, the Northampton-born actor was dressed head to toe in Valentino sporting a look from their Pre-Fall ’23 collection. Not only did he break away from the bog-standard black-tie uniform, the 40-year-old made best-dressed lists worldwide for his nonchalant choice of suiting. With an open collar, wide-leg trousers and Bond-esque dinner jacket, Smith’s look was so suave you wouldn’t believe he had walked the red carpet with anywhere near pent-up nervousness of his fellow actors.
“Valentino has the perfect balance of chic and cool for Matt,” says Rose Forde, the stylist who helped him formulate his look. “This look has a fluidity to it, from the lines of the shirt with the scarf to the volume of the trouser, that feels effortless and elevated. It’s what you want to wear to the ceremony but most importantly a decadent after party.” Spotted chatting away to The Crown co-star, Claire Foy, during the ceremony, Smith clearly was more than comfortable in his outfit whatever the award result would have been.
It was also an opportunity to get creative. “I love Valentino because it’s a beautiful Italian brand,” Smith tells Esquire. “With this suit in particular; I’d never worn an ivory jacket. I liked the shirt and the sort of long tie piece that you could be inventive with, and I loved the high waisted trouser with the slight flare and break in the bottom. I thought it gave it an elegant twist.”
While the 40-year-old didn’t come home with a trophy to put on the mantelpiece, he did manage to win some style kudos. Until the next pomp, this look will be lingering in our memory.
