Alexander Skarsgard, Please Stop Dressing Like a Mob Wife

Take, for example, his recent appearance at the London Wicker premiere where he showed up in head-to-toe gold by Saint Laurent. But not like “subtle hint of gold.” It was far more “spray-paint gold.” Paired with no shirt (who are you, J.Lo?!), the long metallic coat and matching skinny suit pants screamed “mob wife”—and that’s not a compliment. And in case you overlooked the “footwear heard ‘round the world,” he donned a pair of clear Saint Laurent oxfords that have since gone viral. (Vinyl shoes, really? And were we totally out of socks at home, Alex?!)

Seeing such a fine actor hit the carpet showing off his feet (even if they are well manicured) is confusing, and it doesn’t exactly fit the world of the film he’s promoting.

But this isn’t his only moment dabbling in this intentionally tacky aesthetic.

Over at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, we got Skarsgard in a head-scratching, Valentino leopard-print coat that would’ve made “Big Ang” blush. The Fashion Times UK called the piece “the collection’s loudest piece of outerwear.” Umm, yeah, I’ll say.

And as if the coat weren’t mob wife enough, popping out the bottom was a pair of bright fuchsia track pants. (To be fair, this was the exact styling Valentino included in its Resort 2027 collection lookbook, but that doesn’t make it any less cringey.) Someone needs to hit the brakes on these choices.

Now, Skarsgard is one to toe the line when it comes to bold looks—and in the past I’ve been a semi-fan. I wasn’t mad when he wore cleavage-baring tops during press events for his queer film Pillion. But they felt in line with a movie that was about bikers, kink and BDSM.

There is the argument that ‘90s fashion is back, so why wouldn’t the mob wife look come along with it? But again, I say, can we please draw the line somewhere? You wanna make me trade my skinny jeans for JNCOs, I’ll begrudgingly do it. However, I’m not going to roll over and start wearing an animal print coat and purple athleisurewear—a pairing that’s eerily similar to what my kooky neighbor wears when she walks her dog in the morning.

Fortunately, I think there is little danger that the 50-year-old Skarsgard is going to push us all into a new Big Ang Era with his questionable outfits. Though, stranger things have happened (did I already mention the animatronic bird?!).