Rupert Everett’s Tatler cover proves he’s still swoon worthy
Gen Z might have Jacob Elordi, and younger millennials might have Jeremy Allen White, but for teenagers who came of age in the Eighties, there was only one film star to swoon over. Actually, there were many – Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze – but for those desiring a more boyish, vulnerable type than was presented by these Alpha males, only one man reigned supreme: Rupert Everett, the floppy-haired, chisel-jawed star of Another Country.
Like Timothée Chalamet today, Everett was starter crush of choice for teenage girls and boys unimpressed by more hirsute or angry types. As Guy Bennett, an openly gay outcast at an elite public school in 1930s England, Everett had the best lines and the best wardrobe. When he sullenly declared “I’m not going to pretend any more – I am never going to love women,” female hearts knew the sentiment applied as much to Everett himself as to his character. But still they adored him, reframing him as the ultimate GBF (Gay Best Friend).
As a new Tatler interview reminds us, it’s a role in which Everett excels. Whether playing Julia Roberts’ GBF in the hilarious My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) or Madonna’s in the unintentionally hilarious The Next Best Thing (2000), nobody does solicitous/sardonic camaraderie like Rupert. Nobody does quirky English style like him either. Dressed in a flamboyant robe on the cover of Tatler’s October issue, he embodies the slightly dandyish eccentric that is arguably a dying breed.
Although if anyone can keep the tradition alive, it’s Everett. With a new film (about the 5th Marquess of Anglesey), a new book (The American No), and a fun role in the new season of Emily in Paris (playing a camp interior designer, obviously), the “deliciously devilish” 65-year-old thespian is having something of a renaissance. We chart his style evolution over the years.
Pretty in pink, 1987
“Why would I wear pink trousers? It’s hard enough being gay,” Everett once opined in an interview. Presumably, the same logic didn’t apply to jackets – at least, not in 1987. Three years after his breakout role in Another Country, he teamed a dusty pink jacket with a pale pink shirt at the Cannes Film Festival, layering a white T-shirt underneath in true Eighties style.
For men wanting to dress a little more adventurously, colour is a good starting point. “Colour is your friend. Just be a bit braver, and get out of your rut,” counsels Steven Moore, the Antiques Roadshow host and interiors impresario whose impeccable English style frequently delights his 341k Instagram followers. “British men can be afraid of colour, but pre-1850, before the Victorians spoiled everything, it was the men who were always the peacocks, and liked to dress up.” He advises wearing pink and burnt orange to give pale complexions an extra glow.
Military chic, 1995
While his co-star in Another Country, Colin Firth, might give good jumper, Everett can always be relied upon to give good coat. Here he is at a Jean Paul Gaultier party in Paris, Gaultier being one of several French designers who have admired Everett over the years (other fans included Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent). Lapels pulled up to his ears, Everett loved to gaze smoulderingly over his shoulder in the latest tweed, the only prerequisite of the coat being that its shoulders were oversized. You can take the man out of the Eighties, but you can’t take the eighties out of the man.
Bijoux boy, 1996
As a guest at Yves Saint Laurent’s show in Paris, Everett wore a black velvet YSL jacket with a black V-neck jumper – all the better to showcase his silver pendants on their leather chain. He also had a penchant for signet rings and rosary beads. “Men tend to forget about wearing jewellery,” says Moore. “When my mother died, I inherited some of hers, including a 1960s charm bracelet. Some might think ‘that’s a woman’s thing’, but it looks good on me. I also have some of her brooches and rings. If you’ve inherited some jewellery, don’t feel it has to go to a female family member – keep a ring for yourself.”
The wide collar, 1998
The year: 1998. The film: My Best Friend’s Wedding. The look: collars wider than the Severn Estuary. Men might wear skirts, corsets and heels to awards ceremonies these days, but in the late Nineties, Everett’s eschewal of black tie at the Golden Globe Awards was quite the rebellion. The late Nineties saw him fully committed to the wide-lapelled look, which he wore to squire co-star Julia Roberts to the Globes, in an oversized black suit that may or may not have been Armani.
Polo player, 2000
Before Everett called her a “whiny old barmaid” in his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Banana Skins, he and Madonna were close friends, with Everett frequently escorting her about town in a succession of dapper looks. The early 2000s saw him entering his polo shirt era, a classic but casual English garment that he would team with oversized trousers and love beads. This one is a take on Fred Perry’s iconic black and yellow M3600.
The everyman trendsetter, 2002
Long before they were co-opted by Prince William, Gareth Southgate and Rishi Sunak, Everett was a fan of the quarter zip, wearing what’s been dubbed “the most Tory item of clothing ever” to a New York film premier in 2002. A staunch Labour voter, these connotations would certainly not have been on his radar then. Bar the overt whiskering on the top of his jeans, it’s striking how little his look has dated in the intervening 22 years: it could be worn today, right down to the bubble-soled trainers.
Neat knots, 2018
Why is Rupes clutching a chicken? Were it a pheasant, he could barely look more “Englishman abroad.” Visiting a Christmas market in Germany in 2018, he chose that classic combination of beige chinos, needlecord jacket and striped woollen scarf knotted at the neck, albeit in a Parisian knot. No Just For Men dalliances for him: his greying hair looks very distinguished.
The full modern dandy, 2024
Gracing Tatler’s cover in his purple robe – the same one he wore in his 1996 ad campaign as the face of Opium Pour Homme – Everett looks every inch the regal queen, in a white Saint Laurent shirt and black trousers. Like a souped up version of the house robe he wore in Another Country, it’s a full circle moment, as well as a reminder that nothing screams “English eccentric” like a soignee dressing gown.
“There is nothing nicer than coming home from a long day, taking your clothes off and slipping into a silk dressing gown,” agrees Moore, whose own was handmade by Harvey & Hudson on Jermyn Street. If a dressing gown is a dandyish step too far, Moore suggests using the sash as a belt on trousers or jeans. “It’s all about possibilities, and giving things a try.”
