Alexander Skarsgård brought an unusually revealing take on formal footwear to the BFI London Film Festival’s Wicker screening.
The actor attended the Oct. 8 event alongside Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Debicki and Peter Dinklage as the cast promoted its new fantasy romance.
Harry Lambert styled Skarsgård’s Saint Laurent look, according to Red Carpet Fashion Awards.
Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson wrote and directed the film, which casts Skarsgård as its title character.
Gold Tailoring Came With Clear Shoes and No Socks
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Skarsgård wore a metallic-gold single-breasted jacket and matching trousers, leaving his chest bare beneath the tailoring. The pointed lace-up shoes were made from clear PVC, according to Vogue. He wore them without socks.
When the shoes debuted on the runway, one commenter wrote, “I can already smell the foot sweat,” Vogue reported.
Fashion writer Catherine Kallon questioned the suit’s proportions, saying the fabric appeared stiff through the jacket and the trousers needed a cleaner fall. She nevertheless praised Skarsgård’s willingness to experiment with menswear.
Vaccarello Said Socks Would Defeat the Design
The shoes appeared in Saint Laurent’s Spring 2027 menswear collection, presented in Paris in June. Anthony Vaccarello had teased the design in a photograph ahead of the show.
Speaking with GQ at the time, Vaccarello explained that the shoes were a menswear variation on transparent stilettos from an earlier women’s collection. He specifically argued that adding socks would defeat their purpose. “It’s the fine line between classy and kinky,” he said.
Skarsgård Had Already Tried Thigh-High Boots at Cannes
During the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Skarsgård attended The Phoenician Scheme premiere in a double-breasted Saint Laurent suit and thigh-high leather boots.
For the Pillion photocall, Lambert dressed him in leather Loewe trousers, biker boots and a T-shirt featuring a boot above a man’s face, according to Vogue.
At the Eagles of the Republic premiere, Skarsgård wore a gray Magliano pinstripe blazer and pale pink bow tie with blue sequined Bianca Saunders trousers.
His ‘Wicker’ Costume Created an Overheating Problem
Skarsgård joked in a September interview with Entertainment Weekly that age had made the Wicker Husband’s stiff movements easy to perform. Getting out of bed, he said, “it feels like my entire body is made of wicker.”
Fischer and Wilson praised his patience during long filming days, but Fischer said direct sunlight made wearing the costume difficult. “It was the overheating that was the problem,” he recalled.
Wētā Workshop created the fabricated suit and facial prosthetics, with Joe Dunckley leading prosthetic design and Sarah Rubano overseeing application. Most shots of the character used the physical costume, while selected visual effects added light through its weave to suggest a hollow body.
The directors also credited Skarsgård with the idea of beginning with rigid movements and gradually relaxing them as the character develops.
Olivia Colman’s Character Commissions a Husband
Colman plays a Fisherwoman living on the outskirts of a seaside village, where her neighbors ridicule her. She asks Dinklage’s Basketmaker to build her a husband from wicker, and her romance with his creation unsettles the community, stirring jealousy and outrage.
Fischer and Wilson adapted the film from Ursula Wills-Jones’ short story “The Wicker Husband.” The 105-minute feature has additional London Film Festival screenings scheduled for Oct. 10 and 14. Black Bear opens Wicker in select U.S. theaters on Oct. 23, with a wider release following Oct. 30.