Throughout his career, Hollywood's go-to bad guy Mads Mikkelsen has gone against the grain and has stuck to a minimalist aesthetic that goes against the fits you're used to seeing on other Big Names, like Timothée Chalamet and Andrew Garfield.
Instead, he's gone pared-back. Mystical. No frills. Never try hard. Barely any colour. Just expertly-cut pieces like a sharply-cut Zegna suit in pitch black. There's a little bit of mob boss to it; a tiny bit Rami Malek in No Time To Die, but without the rudderless motives for world domination. A lot Le Chiffre on a funeral march. Very Polar assassin Duncan Vizla. Definitely the sort of thing that the Hannibal alumnus will be sporting in the upcoming Indiana Jones flick (yes, he's playing villain).
Mads Mikkelsen's attendance at the Ermenegildo Zegna Autumn/Winter 2023 show in Milan this week fell into that wider plan. Looking as though he'd raided the wardrobe of his on-screen counterpart, he sang to the pros of all-black in Zegna – it's easy to wear, and even easier to look sick – and went for cropped black cropped slacks, black wool roll-neck, black laceless sneakers, black shirt and a black knee-length car coat. A streamlined silhouette that stood out against the greys streets of the Italian fashion capital. Side-parted haircut and cigarette in hand. Villain shit.
In menswear at least, being a baddie is good.
