Words: Zak Maoui
Ed Westwick is best known for playing one of the most put together men in small screen history. The British actor took on household name status after assuming the role of Chuck Bartholomew Bass in HBO's Manhattanite Gossip Girl, which hit screens in early 2008 and has gone on to be one of the most influential programmes among those who watched at the very beginning and TikTokers who have rediscovered it in 2024. Bass, unlike IRL Noughties teenagers at the time, refreshingly embraced a rakish Old Money aesthetic, and his image was defined by his pressed and tailored suits (usually Michael Kors and Giorgio Armani), perfectly knotted cravats and a pair of polished brogues. His clothes, as well as the actions of the character, landed him a “hateable fuckboy billionaire” status, as one Vogue article puts it, but there's no denying that Bass dressed well.
Photographer: Claire Guillon
Photographer: Claire Guillon
"He had great style, and why would you not want great style," Stevenage-born Westwick says over a Zoom video call from Milan, where he is attending the city's fashion week. "Eric Damon, the costume designer of Gossip Girl, created timeless looks. It could be a show that’s set today, if you get away from the flip phones. Did it influence my own style? A little, I guess."
It was a role that had 37-year-old Westwick travelling the world, for work onscreen and work offscreen. "When I was in New York doing Gossip Girl, I used to go to New York Fashion Week and I’d fly in for some shows in London, and occasionally Paris and Milan," he says, explaining that when the show ended and he moved to Los Angeles he wasn't as much a regular on the fashion week circuit. "That was a natural thing, because fashion was such an organic element of that show."
Photographer: Claire Guillon
Today Westwick is in Milan for the Ferrari catwalk show with his new wife Amy Jackson. It's a return to the fashion week run for him, which he explains he's relieved about. He had missed the grandiose styling of it all. "When I was living out in Los Angeles there’s not a lot of orchestrated fashion, so I didn’t do too much there," he says. "The clothes are so good," he says of the Ferrari show creative directed by Rocco Iannone, for which he is wearing a slick black double-breasted suit, under which he went sans shirt. "High fashion, high design, there’s some engineering in there. It’s sleek and sexy, yet industrial. It’s that feeling that comes with Ferrari. The purse that Amy used was sprayed in the factory and is an actual mini car. It’s so sick."
Westwick admits that he has had his own illustrious journey with his personal style. While he was never as dandified as Bass, over the years he has trod the waters of many different walks of life. "In my late teens and early twenties I was a little rebellious," he tells me. "It’s so cliché, but it was the height of Indie sleaze and I was inspired by that and I had all these stupid junkie idols. It took a while to get out of that. I was all skinny jeans with a rip in them, à la Pete Doherty." Following that he tried his hand at the whole über cool Los Angeles downtime actor thing you see the likes of Austin Butler finessing right now. "I was in LA and I tried out the whole sweatpants thing that you see a lot of, but I just looked like an unemployed actor."
Today, and indeed in lieu with his outfit for the Ferrari show, Westwick is all about keeping things "smart and sophisticated." He recently saw on the Internet that someone had said "the soul of Chuck Bass has taken over Ed Westwick," likely in response to his more demure sense of style, which he finds humorous.
He puts it down to his aforementioned wife Amy, who he married a little under a month ago. "In my thirties I thought I was being a cool guy, but it just happened to come across as lazy," he says. "Amy helped me raise my game. I just needed some more motivation, and a little more self respect. I threw out everything. I kept one hoodie and one pair of sweatpants. Stupid tops with stupid prints are gone." Take for instance his recent nuptials, which saw him wear a Giorgio Armani suit for the big day in Italy, and a chocolate brown Hackett double-breasted suit for the civil ceremony. "I’m a big fan of a nice pair of trousers, that don’t sit too short on the legs, nice jumpers and good boots," he says. "Nice overcoats. Stuff that’s low-key. I used to be a little lairy, and a part of me wants to show off - surprise, I’m an actor."
But that's what makes his day job more enjoyable, he explains. While his next on-screen role sees him wear worn-in leather as a fictional detective, another future film allowed Westwick to embrace the frivolity of fashion. "In Sandokan I play an opium obsessed pirate," he says. "The looks are amazing. It’s so fantastical in its costumes, even though this was once the reality of dressing, and so you can really get into it."
Now read an interview with actor Charlie Rowe as he prepared for his first fashion week
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