In July, Cillian Murphy and his fellow Oppenheimer cast walked off a London red carpet in solidarity as SAG-AFTRA joined WGA on the picket line, a dramatic flourish that kicked off the months-long Hollywood strike in earnest. Among the lowest-priority consequences of that harrowing stretch, it looked like we might miss out on the full scope of Murphy’s fashion renaissance. That day, the actor had worn a pinstriped Saint Laurent suit with a gauzy sheer shirt and a gold-tipped bolo tie. He’d never looked cooler, and then—as the opening sequence of Avatar: The Last Airbender goes—he vanished.
Cut to November and the guilds had scored fairer contracts, so Murphy was back on the red carpets for the awards circuit. He’s since scored several best actor trophies already this season— including the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, and the SAG award—for his portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the Christopher Nolan-directed epic. Now, with the Oscars just a few weeks away, he and the rest of his nominated Oppenheimer cohort are in full press mode. On Thursday, Murphy and company hit Jimmy Kimmel wearing what he wears best: a pinstripe suit.
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The Irish actor and his stylist Rose Forde paired the double-breasted, slim-straight suit with a black mock-neck shirt and a heeled Chelsea boot, in what could be construed as a daytime version of his storied London premiere look.
Speaking of galaxy-brain comparisons, Murphy’s co-star Robert Downey Jr. hit the Kimmel lot wearing a polar-opposite ensemble: slouchy linen lounge pants, a blue V-neck sweater, taupe lug-soled combat boots, and an “Oppenhomie” trucker cap. RDJ’s always been a silly-goofy-mood type of dresser, though he’s taken things to new out-of-pocket heights this awards season, during which he’s been a categorial best-supporting-actor frontrunner for his role as Lewis Strauss in the film. That said, he did change into a (slightly less kooky) olive-green Givenchy suit with zipper detailing for the actual taping, though he still remained the out-of-pocket foil to Murphy’s unwavering austerity.
And now that we’re here, we can’t help but wonder: are Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. the Gen-X version of Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan? I won’t be elaborating, but it’s something to consider.
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