It’s as central to Bob Dylan as a harmonica – it is, of course, a scarf, Dylan’s preferred accessory, and one that has become a go-to for Timothée Chalamet, who has been wearing them constantly since filming the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. But the brown, bedraggled scarf scrunched around his neck at the beginning of the film, as a young and carefree Dylan, isn’t quite what it seems. According to costume designer Arianne Phillips, the well-worn shawl was a last-minute fix. “We had a hard time making [our original scarf] look authentically raggedy,” she says. “So that was actually a piece of blanket that we found at a charity shop. That was very last-minute – we did everything on the spot, leading up to the final moments where Timmy was walking on set, to give it that aged look.”
Otherwise it’s Dylan’s trademark denim, boots and hair that unify each era of his low-key yet instantly recognisable clothing style, says Phillips. As the costume designer on James Mangold’s film – currently topping the UK box office – she was tasked with showing the subtle progression of the rock veteran’s wardrobe. Through Chalamet – who plays him with a winning mix of arrogance and indifference – we see Dylan evolve from scraggly, scruffy young kid, to an aloof mod in Wayfarers in line with his growing fame. Recreating iconic looks – from his Freewheelin’ album cover to the leather jacket and super-skinny jeans he sported on stage at the Newport folk festival in 1965, at the peak of the electric Dylan controversy – we see his fashions change over time. By the end of the film he’s drawing sartorially and musically from across the Atlantic – inspired by the likes of the Kinks and the Beatles – and even beginning to dabble with colour and playful polka dots.
