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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Ellie Violet Bramley

Getting it off his chest: the myth and meaning of Paul Mescal’s vest

Paul Mescal.
Distancing the vest from past associations with toxic masculinity … Paul Mescal. Composite: Tommaso Boddi/Getty/Jeff Vespa/Rex/Shutterstock/Eamonn M McCormack/Getty

Paul Mescal, the actor who rose to fame after his role in the BBC’s adaptation of Normal People, loves wearing vests. He wears them to the shops, he wears them to star in musicals and he wears them to dance around hotel rooms for the Rolling Stones’ music videos. He even wore one vest on top of another vest on top of a smart white shirt in the Financial Times. Most recently, he wore one under a double-breasted duck-egg blue jacket on the red carpet. He is, officially, first in line to the singlet throne.

Mescal pictured in 2022.
Chest hair-baringly low … Mescal pictured in 2022. Photograph: Alan Chapman/Dave M Benett/Getty Images
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