The first time I meet Lenny Kravitz, he says I am the only person he’s ever met whose jewellery he could wear as his own. Yes, including other men. Thing is, he has a point — we’re both wearing similar stacked leather and alligator skin bracelets, some beaded wraps and two or three silver necklaces.
Not exactly a simple look — but then Kravitz is a man for whom too much is never enough. His pale brown skin is beautifully tattooed with dragons and a new black heart on his wrist; he has multiple piercings, including a double-pierced nose. Of course, Lenny’s style has always been a statement. From his lizard skin cowboy-booted toes to his famous bottom-skimming dreads, his clothes ooze Kravitzness, a sexually charged, 1970s-infused style.
His look for the movie The Hunger Games, then, is radically different. After making a promising start as an actor three years ago in Precious, he is now playing Cinna in the film based on the young adult books by Suzanne Collins. Set in a dystopian future where teenagers are selected to fight each other to the death for a TV show, it is also set to be bigger than Twilight.
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Lenny drapes himself feline-like on a sofa, making the generic creamy yellow of the Beverly Hills Hotel seem just that little bit cooler. His character in The Hunger Games is a stylist — but you can forget any OTT camp clichés. “I played him a little bit more laid-back than a lot of fans imagined he would be portrayed. You might imagine him to be flamboyant, but when I was discussing the character with Gary [Ross, the director], I thought it would be interesting if I played him as more of an Yves Saint Laurent or a Tom Ford.”
His hair in the movie is tamed, clipped and neat; his style simple — think black shirt/slick black suit combo. Sort of anonymous chic. “Although he’s the stylist, he is the most subdued in his clothes. He’s very streamlined; a little piece of jewellery, perhaps a touch of gold eyeliner, and that’s it.”
I had dreads for ten years — now they’re in storage. My hair is like this because it’s easier for films
Not like him at all, then. He laughs rather heartily and tells me there have been no new piercings and only one new tattoo — that black heart — to commemorate his Black and White America tour.
“I have a lot of different moods, so I go between being laid-back and flamboyant, depending on the mood.”
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Today’s mood is an Emma Cross leather jacket whose tight-fitted sleeves flare out just over the knuckles. Black jeans, black boots, several necklaces.
His style has evolved. “I’ve gone through phases. I started out very retro.” Now it’s more subtle, less vintage — although he can still wear jewellery like almost no other. How did he develop his style?
“It started very young, when I was a little kid, five or six. I used to play in my mother’s closet — she was an actress and was surrounded by theatre folk — and put on hats, scarves, belts. I would play in there all day, and put stuff on like I was Jimi Hendrix — and that’s how it started.”
(At this point, he appropriately notices I have a 1970s-style, black-felt floppy hat with gold chain ribbon on the seat next to me, and demands I put it on and conduct the rest of the interview behatted.) “I loved being around such colourful people,” he continues. “I thought it looked great; it was very expressive.”
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It’s this creative upbringing that continues to inform his work — while Lenny intends to carry on acting and is already recording songs for a new album, he’s also launching a home furnishings line and designing the new SLS Hotel in Miami with Philippe Starck.
“Philippe and I have known each other casually over the years,” he explains. “I invited him to my house in Paris, and he saw my furniture and really liked the pieces. He just said, ‘You need to be doing this — I will support you.’ And he did.”
So what does the Kravitz couch look like? “Once you sit in it, you don’t want to get up. Extremely stylish, but extremely comfortable.”
As for his own home — well, there’s his luxurious house in Paris, a trailer in the Bahamas and a farm in Brazil. “Paris is a house for living in, for friends and family to come together,” he explains. It was to this house that his actress daughter Zoë, when working on the X-Men film, brought back her friend Jennifer Lawrence, with whom Lenny is now starring in The Hunger Games.
“It made filming very comfortable since we were already close,” he admits. “The role in the film has the same kind of dynamic that we already have, someone looking out for her.”
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As the father of a twentysomething woman, does he think there’s an age where a man needs to pay less attention to fashion? (He is now 47.) “No. My dad was very stylish the whole time I knew him — he loved clothes until he died. His suits were De Niro meets Warren Beatty, double-breasted. I have a couple of jackets that I wear like that.”
And then there’s that famous hair. “My hair has changed a lot. I’ve had it from shaved to Afro and now it’s just a little Afro. I had dreads for 10 years — now they’re in storage. My hair is like this because it’s easier for films.”
Is his Paris wardrobe very different to his one in the Bahamas? Most of the time he is, he says, “a complete clothes whore”, but when he’s at home in the Bahamas, he’s a little more relaxed. “There’s no thought of shoes or wallets. I will wear the same clothes for two weeks, wash them down and put them out on a rock and get them later.”
It might be difficult for him to live with someone else in the Bahamas, I say — they might complain about the not-changing-your-clothes-for-two-weeks thing. “No, the dirt there is clean. It’s all natural,” he laughs. “And I would love to share my life. That is the purpose and I’m open to that.
“I think I’ll have to find somebody who is willing to travel round the planet with me, though, because seeing somebody three or four times a year is not happening for me. You’ve got to have a relationship, not just Skype. I’ve been a gypsy since I was 15 and I haven’t stopped moving.”
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Odd, then, with all this moving around, that he spends time designing a home line, from couches to candlesticks. “I design all the things I want. Each day is a gift, even if you are feeling tired or a little down with whatever might be my schedule. I have to remember how blessed I am.”
Speaking of schedules, today’s is some free time in LA — which means there will be just enough time to take in one of his favourite shops, The Church — full of one-off, vintage-inspired lines. One thing’s for sure — however busy Lenny is, he’s never too tired to shop.