Paul Mescal has a knack for turning deeply regular items of clothing into menswear sensations. Fellas everywhere scrambled to find their own silver “Connell chains” and thigh-baring rugby shorts after the Irish actor’s star-making turn in the 2020 Hulu series Normal People, and he’s been off to the style races ever since.
This week, Mescal attended a big Gucci party in London wearing an outfit so regular (a white T-shirt and jeans) that, at first glance, you might not realize he was sporting the Italian luxury label from head to toe. Upon closer inspection, though, the details are the giveaway: his snug blue jeans boast a crisp center crease and a slight kicked-out flare; his pristine white socks are tucked into a thick-soled, shiny black leather pair of the house’s signature horsebit loafers. Inside the party, Mescal—who is a Gucci ambassador—posed alongside the label’s new creative director Sabato de Sarno, whose understated designs mark a sharp turn for the legacy house. Offset by his great fashion mullet, the actor looked how he always does: like a really keen version of some guy you know.
The pièce de résistance here is Mescal’s deceptively simple cropped white T-shirt—the hemline rising up just above the hip bones, the short sleeves rolled just so. (The tee appears to be a favorite of his: The actor also sported it at last month’s Soho House Awards with flared khakis and black Adidas Sambas.) While Paul’s Gucci tee has a finished hem, do-it-yourself crop tops became a menswear TikTok trend earlier this year—which makes sense given how flattering shorter tees look on a wide spectrum of bodies. Hacking off a few inches off a hemline is an accessible, homespun method to achieve, as longtime GQ contributor Max Berlinger put it, “that golden ratio of menswear: the rule of thirds, where the top comprises one-third of an outfit while the pants make up the remaining two-thirds.” Plus, a crop top eliminates the bulky fuss that comes with tucking in a T-shirt—while offering a bit of flirty breeze.
As GQ’s own style editor Yang-Yi Goh once said on the topic, “No matter how comfortable with your body you think you are, walking outside with your stomach exposed is going to feel the teensiest bit intimidating.” But you can ease into this. If you follow Mescal’s lead and find a great-fitting pair of high-rise trousers or jeans, you too can be the chicest, most normal-dressed guy around.