Fashion
Brett Gelman Is Setting the Standard for Character-Actor Drip

Brett Gelman Is Setting the Standard for Character-Actor Drip

Brett Gelman is still on one, sartorially speaking. Fresh off the fourth season of the Netflix megahit Stranger Things, in which Gelman plays the chaotically affable ex-journalist Murray, the actor is keeping up his newish sidegig as a fashion gourmand. 

And while he may have spent recent weeks mixing it up in bespoke Bode, the outfit particulars from his Tuesday appearance on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show read like an editorial fashion credit: a Dalmatian-patterned pajama-cardigan set from Hedi Slimane’s Celine (featuring a print created for the brand by artist Amy Dorian), Gucci sunglasses, Bottega boots.  

In the realm of Hollywood dressing, character actors sometimes move the style needle best—only by eschewing the gray-flannel confines of Hollywood tropes can one really dig into true luxury. (See also: Brad Pitt’s latest attempt to skirt his leading-man image with a newfound dark-fashion era.) But for Gelman, fashion is also a piece of a larger ideological puzzle, a facet of the “Jaddy” multiverse. “It’s about pushing me as a more sexual, hot guy: I’m a Jew in his early 40s who’s bald with a giant beard and a man’s body and face. And I’m really taking pride in that and being like, ‘Hey guys, let’s embrace our sexuality,’” Gelman told GQ in early 2020, after devising his “Jaddy” (as in, Jewish Zaddy) persona. “I don’t think people like me are seen as sexy as much as they should be, so I wanted to really push that—both for my people, but also for my career. I feel like I keep getting the opportunity to redefine myself as an actor, and what it is I can do.”

And he clearly takes pride in dressing up, too. On Instagram, the actor gleefully ID’d the pieces he wore on Colbert (if you were wondering, “the bling bling of all bling” around his neck are pearl-and-green-onyx necklaces from Julia Lang’s brand Veert), and gave enthusiastic shoutouts to his style and glam teams. 

“Prepare for a few posts of this drip,” he wrote. “So much love and artistry. Jaddy kvellin!”