Famous People Do Not Know How to Dress for Summer

It’s been one of the steamiest summers on record. And while you’re out here struggling to dress appropriately for the heat—navigating the arcane rules of shorts-wearing and stocking up on flattering tanks—the celebrities among us are…well, they’re not changing the way they dress at all. Famous people, you see, don’t really need to have seasonal wardrobes. They can comfortably move in and out of doors during the summertime, knowing they will soon be entering an air-conditioned lobby, restaurant, arena, or Sprinter van where the climatic circumstances of the outside world do not matter. The sorts of places, I imagine, that tend to run even a little chilly year round.

As GQ’s Frazier Tharpe once observed, “Nothing exudes wealth and fame quite like a disregard for seasonally appropriate attire.” Wearing a hefty leather jacket, sweatsuit, Canadian tuxedo, or fur coat on an 85-degree day is the sartorial equivalent of carrying a caseless MacBook by its corner as it precariously dangles above the unforgiving pavement, teetering on the bleeding edge of reality and consequence. Certainly, celebs dressing without regard for the weather isn’t anything new. Whether it’s dressing in a skimpy outfit in the winter or a snuggly ensemble in the summer, wearing an egregiously unseasonal outfit is also an easy way to garner media attention in articles such as this one (or this one, or this one.) GQ’s Cam Wolf wrote about the phenomenon for Complex back in 2016, even speaking to Krystle Rodriguez, who at the time was a tour wardrobe director for Pharrell, Ye, and Mariah Carey, about why celebs tend not to adhere to seasonal outfit norms.

“I’m a firm believer for dressing for the climate that you’re in because, to me, it makes you feel more real to everyone,” Rodriguez said. “If you're walking around in hot climates with winter clothes on, it makes you seem as if you're not normal.” And yet.

To test the theory, we gathered an arbitrary smattering of famous guys wearing unseasonal summer outfits, past and present—from Joe Namath’s iconic August fur coat to Timothée Chalamet’s penchant for midsummer layering—and contrasted it with the historical meteorological data. There are repeat offenders (headstrong fashion plates like Justin Bieber, Offset, and Tyga) and frequent occasions; fashion weeks, indoor sporting events, and summertime festival performances are especially ripe for incongruous heat-index dressing. Sometimes you’ve got to get a fit off, no matter the cost to one’s eccrine glands—especially if there’s a brand partnership in the mix that renders the fit in question a contractual obligation. Crank up the dial on that box fan and scroll on for more.