Highlights
- Alexander Skarsgard wore a gold Saint Laurent suit and transparent plastic shoes to the Wicker screening.
- The see-through oxfords, named after OnlyFans, sparked sweat jokes and foot discourse online.
- Wicker, starring Skarsgard as a living wicker man, hits US theaters Oct. 23 and UK Oct. 30.
Alexander Skarsgård showed up to the BFI London Film Festival screening of Wicker on Oct. 8 wearing a gold Saint Laurent suit with no shirt and shoes you could read a newspaper through.
The 50-year-old Swede laced up in Saint Laurent’s transparent vinyl oxfords from the spring/summer 2027 collection, a pair the house cheekily named “O.Fan” after OnlyFans. He stood next to co-stars Olivia Colman, Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki, all in sensible black, looking like a man who got dressed in the dark and won anyway.
The shoes were never meant to be subtle. Saint Laurent’s freelance design director of shoes, Corrado De Biase, told WWD it started as a joke: “I don’t understand why men are scared to show their feet,” he said, “because there’s a lot of beautiful men that have beautiful feet and like to show it.”
And the name? “That’s why those shoes are called “O. Fan,” like OnlyFans, because everyone knows that’s the new obsession of gay communities, to show their feet on OnlyFans. So why not celebrate this?”
Fair. But the internet was never going to behave. When the shoes debuted on the runway in June, USA Today rounded up the carnage. “They must look fancy with all the sweat and condensation,” one Instagram user wrote. “I’m calling the police,” said another.
On a GQ post of Skarsgård’s carpet moment, the verdicts rolled in: “Men’s feet should be illegal.” “No socks is crazy.” “Just looking at those shoes is making my feet sweaty.” One generous soul offered, “Because it’s him, I’ll allow it.”
The Cut summed up the whole situation with admirable economy: “These shoes are going to be sweaty as hell, and when he takes them off they will likely stink to high heaven.” That is real journalism.
To be fair, Skarsgård has built a second career out of wearing controversy-baiting menswear to premieres. He’s done purple sequin Dior tops, a Ludovic de Saint Sernin halter, a butt-plug-print chemise and Saint Laurent thigh-high boots. His own explanation is disarmingly honest.
“I think it’s just a lack of sense of style, but at least I’m having fun,” he told W Magazine. “Whatever you wear, it’s about how you feel. Are you excited to wear it? Does it make you happy? I was very happy in all those outfits. You want to wear something that makes you radiate happiness and excitement.”
And the movie justifies the madness, sort of. In Wicker, he plays a man woven out of wicker who comes to life to satisfy a lonely, fishy-smelling fisherwoman played by Colman. Described as “vulgar, horny yet unexpectedly heartwarming,” it already sits at 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes after Sundance. Colman has called it “in my top three favourite scripts I’ve ever read.”
If you’re playing a horny basket, you don’t wear loafers. You wear see-through plastic and let the world argue about your toes. Wicker hits US theaters Oct. 23 and the UK Oct. 30.
