Shortly before Cillian Murphy and his fellow Oppenheimer cast members walked off a London red carpet on Thursday in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA joining the WGA on the picket line, the actor debuted his biggest fit yet: a black-pinstriped Saint Laurent suit worn open over a gauzy sheer shirt, with a gold-tipped bolo tie, high-waisted trousers, and a pair of the brand’s Wyatt boots—or, as they’re known ’round these parts, “the Rolex of Chelsea boots.”
Photos of Murphy—whose ice-blue eyes could gouge a diamond—attending various Oppenheimer premieres over the last week have already garnered meme cachet online. But this look—and his facial expressions while wearing it—seemed to signal that he (and his stylist, Rose Forde) had saved the best for last. (The London event could be his final red carpet for a while; per the strike, SAG members cannot participate in press tours or events.) Throughout the truncated promotional run, the actor’s fashion choices have emitted a certain “nuclear Kenergy” in stark contrast with his bubblegum confrères over in Barbie Land, which has become Oppenheimer’s spiritual counter-realm. In other words, Cillian Murphy, who portrays the titular “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer in his film, has sort of been dressing like the Anti-Ken.
Where there’s Ryan Gosling, in his pastel cotton-candy-pink and blue-raspberry-hued Gucci suits, there’s also Murphy, in his brooding, pseudo-sexy YSL. (Inside you are two wolves, as they say.) At Oppenheimer’s first premiere in Paris, Murphy arrived in a custom Prada tan shirt and matching short tie—not unlike a World War II-era khaki summer service uniform, making it nearly period-appropriate given Oppenheimer’s milieu—with a dark jacket worn, chicly, with just the top button buttoned. During a rainy photocall in London’s Trafalgar Square, Murphy wore Margiela shades and a staunch Studio Nicholson cardigan over a simple white T-shirt, tucked into another pair of high-waisted trousers; he wore a similar look, this time with a nubby red cardigan and Ray-Bans, the next day.
Though the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer style rivalry held strong, the movies’ respective stars—in another show of solidarity—have expressed nothing but excitement for their fellow thespians’ efforts. “I mean, I’ll be going to see Barbie, 100 percent. I can’t wait to see it,” Murphy told IGN this week. “I think it’s just great for the industry and for audiences that we have two amazing films by amazing filmmakers coming out the same day. Yeah, you can spend the whole day in the cinema—what’s better than that?”
