Tonight, at GQ Men of the Year 2023, it’s official: Phil Dunster is trying leather for the very first time. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about it,” the 31-year-old Ted Lasso star says over the phone from his East London home. He only moved in a couple of years ago. “There was a lot of thigh slapping in the fitting. Just to get the most out of the leather.”
In his day-to-day life, the man best known to TV fans as Jamie Tartt prefers fits from brands like Toast, Universal Work, and Folk — which aren’t “necessarily utilitarian, they’re industrious feeling,” because he likes being comfortable, and not feeling like he’s trying too hard. Oh, and the cut is really important. Especially down below. “I need a lot of space around the bunda,” he says, such is the eternal tragedy of men with girth, lost in a sea of trousers made to fit their slender, slighter brothers. But hey, that’s a footballer’s build for you. Just think of all those Instagram accounts dedicated to Jack Grealish’s thighs. “There isn’t going to be any Ross Geller getting the leather trousers on, hopefully.”
Vicky Grout
But that isn’t to say he doesn’t like dressing up. Tonight, it’s bold with Fendi: leather boots, those same leather trousers to match, and a sheer knit top. “It sounds more revealing than it is,” he says. “Then on top, I’ve got this lovely grey overcoat with a beautiful Fendi insignia on it. It’s going to be really nice arriving in that heavy coat — I really love, for want of a better phrase, a blocky shape.” It’s one of his first outings with Fendi, too: “a lovely match of that ambition of high fashion, and something comfortable you can enjoy wearing.” The pièce de résistance, the cherry on the icing on the cake? An Omega watch. Nice.
He loves taking a fairly hands-on approach with his stylists, Warren Baker and James Yardley. “They work in brilliant tandem. I love working with them together.” They put forward options, and Dunster has learned over the past couple of years to “find a bit of a gut instinct” with the different looks, while also looking to adventure out of his comfort zone.
