If you’ve been on the fence about how to wear a crop top, Normal People star Paul Mescal nailed the look on his way to Jimmy Kimmel’s Los Angeles studio November 16. The ever-stylish Irish actor was on his way to promote his new movie, All Of Us Strangers, and wore a cropped t-shirt to such a degree that even your stodgy uncle would be impressed.
Mescal’s cropped tee, printed with an image of an unlaced boot and “Untie Your Tongues”, might’ve even been a DIY vintage sweater chop job, going off the loose body and short sleeves. Either way, it’s a clean match for his cropped jeans, simple adidas sneakers (who needs Sambas?) and sunglasses.
Mescal nailed an effortless casual look as much as he gave a masterclass in how to style a crop top in an otherwise ordinary outfit, especially if you’re not trying to show too much skin.
Showing a little skin is sort of the point of a crop top, to be fair, but Mescal’s look ought to be the gold standard of dressing short shirts up for daily wear. The crop hit right at his waist, a perfect example of purposeful crop that works because of what it doesn’t show. Mescal’s proportions are on point. Also, having a good graphic to divert the eyes never hurts.
The loose fit of the cropped shirt over the slim, short jeans helped balance the two while his low-profile adidas shoes further kept the shapes in check. Chunky shoes would’ve made his outfit too bottom-heavy.
For Mescal’s actual appearance on Kimmel, he went with an all-black ensemble: an unbuttoned collarless shirt, wide-legged black pants, gold chain, white socks, and black loafers. It was essentially the flipside of his daytime look, again tapping into Mescal’s mastery of proportions and the “I barely thought about this outfit, but definitely thought about this outfit” attitude.
Men’s crop tops have been very much in over the past few years, and there are endless ways to style them, as he’s demonstrated with aplomb. Mescal’s choice of a semi-conservative graphic cropped shirt was the way to go if you’re looking to dip your toe into the style without taking on all the responsibility of a barely-there layer. If so, take notes: there’s no better teacher than crop top master Paul Mescal.
