Robert Downey Jr. owes Tony Stark. Big time. Iron Man (2008) relaunched his career and put the actor firmly back in the Hollywood limelight.
Still, that doesn't mean he should take fashion prompts from his on-screen counterpart.
At a Marvel Studios 10th Anniversary event in Shanghai, RDJ went full-on eccentric, 'blue sky thinking' business tycoon - which, in this instance, meant a double-breasted two piece that looked like the lone, fifteen-year-old Liquorice All Sort that sits at the bottom of your nan's sweet jar (and the same one she fails to flog each time you visit). Let's not even grapple with sunglasses indoors, either.
What made it worse was the contrast with the other heroes on-stage - a handsome mix of tailored classics with the odd minimal sneak.
That's not to say statement-making is wrong. You just have to get it right. What works in Marvel land doesn't always translate so well in the real one. Instead, Downey Jr. should limit the wavemaker - the stripes - to one piece, and tone things down with monochrome tailoring elsewhere. A better fit (see the puddling at his shoes) would help, too.
Or you can say f**k all that, embrace mid-life eccentricities, throw caution to the wind and give tradition the two fingers. Just expect a public reaction close to that of Mark Ruffalo here.
