Chris Pine isn’t method acting. He’s method dressing.
In the run-up to his directorial debut Poolman, the people’s favorite Hollywood Chris has been piggybacking off of his recent style metamorphosis by blurring the line between his character’s wardrobe and his own. During his recent visit to beloved Los Angeles deli Langer’s, the actor sported a Big Boy Burgers tank top, red corduroy short shorts, and a big salt-and-pepper beard. It was plausible that he was just stopping by for a pastrami on rye. As it turned out, of course, he was there to film a promotional video for the film.
This week, the actor attended the film’s Los Angeles premiere dressed like his titular character: an “I Heart L.A.” tee shirt under a peachy jacket with a flowering pink boutonniere, a snug pair of Banks Journal high-waisted corduroy shorts, and red-laced hiking boots. He accessorized with gas-station-style rainbow mirrored sunglasses and a maneful of stringy hair extensions.
He looked charming, retro, and disheveled. Was he Chris? Or was he Poolman?
And despite the prevailing shorts-for-men trends—these last few summers, savvy dressers have been reaching for flowy, dressier styles—he is contributing to the mounting evidence for a Short Shorts Revival, for which the likes of Paul Mescal, Donald Glover, and Jeremy Allen White have already laid the groundwork.
But Pine isn’t new to this game, either: “It’s called short shorts, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be short,” the actor told E! News last fall, after he’d worn another pair of short shorts that made the rounds online. (Corduroy shorts, he said, were his favorite: “I mean, it’s a vibe. It’s the best vibe. It’s like a Tom Selleck vibe. It’s like a ’70s surfer vibe. I prefer that.” A likely thing for a future Poolman to say.) He’ll keep wearing them, he added, “until the legs go.”
