If the fourth episode of the third season of Succession is any indication, the actor Adrien Brody knows his way around a piece of outerwear. Hell, why stop at one? Layer on the vests. Pile up the puffers.
But sometimes one great coat is all you need—as Brody deftly demonstrated at British GQ’s Men of the Year 2024 party in London this week. The actor, who is currently garnering Oscar buzz for his performance in director Brady Corbet’s historical epic The Brutalist, rolled up to the event in one of the most dastardly coats we’ve seen in ages: a Maison Margiela double-breasted gray wool overcoat with enormous contrasting notched lapels, offset by the label’s signature white stitching. Layered over a black turtleneck with shiny black Chelsea boots, the coat made Brody look like a cinematic villain in a spy thriller who’s primed to reap the profits of a high-profile art heist.
The wearer-designer matchup makes sense—Brody and Margiela have some recent history, as the Oscar winner wore a double-breasted tux and a pair of black leather Tabi lace-ups from the brand to this year’s Met Gala. The detailing, too, jibes; the coat isn’t not a winterized version of the knife-sharp jacket Brody’s Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis (!) wears in the Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
But more generally, the bad-guy floor-length top coat is holding onto its spot as one of the only two kinds of jackets that matter in menswear right now. We’ve seen other Hollywood guys like Jacob Elordi and Paul Mescal wear similar styles. The best part is knowing we’re still so early in both the winter and Oscar-campaign season, so who knows how many outerwear wonders Brody has yet up his sleeves.
