Pedro Pascal’s Knee-High Leather Boots Broke My Brain
It all began when Pedro Pascal showed knee at the Met Gala. It was 2023 and the actor was riding high on the blockbuster first season of HBO’s The Last of Us; his zaddyish fashion cache had only boosted his momentum. He arrived at the Met in a lipstick-red Valentino ensemble, rendered unconventional from the waist down: Sandwiched between the hem of his above-the-knee tuxedo shorts and the tops of his lace-up military boots was a hammy glimpse of his buff, hairy quads. Then, last month, Pascal eschewed the knee—but not the titilation—when he wore a pair of Saint Laurent thigh-high leather waders to the Last of Us’s season-two premiere. Both looks set his fandom’s loins on fire.
But to riff on a pivotal omen uttered in the most recent season of another HBO hit series, The White Lotus: Boot things happen in threes.
And so it was. When Pascal hit the stage at the Star Wars Celebration convention in Japan on Friday, he reignited passions—among other, more divisive emotions—in a striped silk trompe l’oeil shirt, taut black shorts, and beefy fold-over leather boots from Acne Studios. Since he was there to promote his role in the upcoming film The Mandalorian & Grogu, this was also what he was wearing when he and director Jon Favreau greeted an animatronic Grogu on stage.
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The look was so beguiling that it incited coverage by publications as populist as Parade, which rounded up the “mixed reviews” on Pascal’s outfit. One commentator said he looked like “a pirate that forgot his pants.” Another wrote, “I love him and this won’t change easily, but his clothes man.”
Wearing shorts, boots, or a saucy combination of both has become something of a go-to move for Pascal and his stylist, Julie Ragolia, who once cheekily tweeted, “I’m not a celebrity stylist. I just enjoy shaking up the internet for people.” (Ragolia is also a fan of putting Pascal in single-designer looks: The Acne Studios outfit, like his Valentino shorts suit at the Met Gala and his Saint Laurent leather ensemble at the Last of Us premiere, were all pulled directly from the brands’ respective runways.)
On Friday, Ragolia returned to X to anoint her client’s latest look as “Shorts, Act II.” Keeping in mind whatever tricks the duo might have up their sleeves for next month’s Met Gala, we may be in for a trilogy.
