In Artist Uniform, a column for Highsnobiety, Chris Erik Thomas traces how personal style shapes an artist's identity.

“A cross between a Yugoslavian fullback and a ballerina.” “Part brute, part beauty.” “Legs like sequoias.” 

These aren’t the kind of descriptors you’d think of when describing a style icon, and yet, John Malkovich has always defied easy classification. That’s his charm. The hulkingly elegant actor really is an enigma of strength and an almost sensual lightness — able to contort himself into seemingly any role. He’s played unhinged, villainous assassins and manipulative French aristocrats and even a surrealist meta-version of himself. 

But while his onscreen career may be one long exercise in chameleonic transformation (as one would expect from an actor), Malkovich has consistently played one role for decades: fashion enthusiast. 

This was evident last week, when he stepped onto the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in an instantly unforgettable Dior fit: slouchy black wool suit, offset in its ordinariness by an explosively frilly shirt — fitted with a Shakespearean neck ruff. It’s something that could’ve only come from the theatrical mind of designer Jonathan Anderson. But really, the fit could’ve only been pulled off by someone as in command of their own contrasts as Malkovich. 

That command isn’t new. Malkovich understands the power of clothing better than most, and his love for it has run concurrent with his career. He took a costuming class in college and worked in the wardrobe department of Chicago’s historic Steppenwolf Theatre Company. (He’d go on to join the ensemble as an actor, winning an Obie Award for his acting within six years.) 

It was his first proper step into fashion, walking for the COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS Spring/Summer 1990 show, that marked the merger of his two worlds. He’d go on to star in Prada’s first-ever menswear campaign in 1995 and has modeled for the likes of Yohji Yamamoto and JW Anderson over the years. (The JWA linkup to Dior red carpet look feels solid here.) He’s played French couturier Lucien Lelong in the Apple TV series The New Look, and even tried his hand at building brands — designing, sketching, and picking the fabric for three short-lived fashion labels in the 2000s and 2010s.

These ties to fashion may be as much a part of Malkovich as his filmography, but it’s style, in the grander sense of the word, that guides him. “I’ve always referred to style as being the only constant in life,” he told Port Magazine last year. “[It’s] a way of regarding the world and perhaps a way of perceiving the world around you, and maybe even a way of behaving in that world.”

The philosophy should serve him well in the months ahead: judging by the early rave reviews for his new film Wild Horse Nine, directed by Martin McDonagh and co-starring Sam Rockwell, many more iconic Malkovich fits are on the way.

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