CULTURE

Robin Williams’s Style Is Finally Getting the Attention It Deserves

Remember when he wore Issey Miyake to the 1997 premiere of Flubber?


Robin Williams wearing Issey Miyake
Getty Images

Robin Williams was my fellow Bape brother,” reads a tweet posted on the day that the late comedian died in 2014. It included two photos of Williams wearing the Japanese streetwear brand, and only ever got two retweets and three likes.

Now, nearly six years later, more Twitter users are finally giving Williams’s style the appreciation it deserves. That’s in part thanks to his daughter, Zelda Williams, who responded to a tweet recognizing that Williams wore Issey Miyake to the 1999 Flubber premiere. “Weirdly, refound these exact glasses two days ago!,” she replied on Tuesday, sharing a photo. “They look like they’re probably antique pilot glasses he had his prescription put in.”

As it turns out, Williams loved war memorabilia. He also “genuinely loved” biking, meaning that in addition to Miyake, he wore a lot of “sweaty, skintight neon spandex.” Apparently, it “made his body hair look like smuggled earthworms.” (“Welcome to my childhood,” Zelda responded to a user who replied that they “just threw up a little.”)

From there, the actress took a trip down “memory lane,” joining in with those posting that her late father was “legit a style god” and “the drip lord.” “Dad casually, daily wore things I have never seen another person dare wear, and I have always respected that flex,” Zelda tweeted. “He was so regularly in the fashion police, we could’ve wallpapered his closet.”

As Twitter continued to herald Williams “the original hypebeast,” Zelda shared an anecdote. “He would’ve very much appreciated the compliment,” she replied to a tweet that read “your pops had drip.” “I remember going into Bape with him as a kid and he knew EVERYONE that worked there,” she wrote. “And so many now eponymous skate brands. And any new ‘cool’ brand from Japan.” (Bape was founded in Ura-Harajaku in 1993, though it was years after Williams started wearing it that the brand came to prominence in the U.S.)

Williams was also ahead of his time in wearing a Chrome Industries messenger bag—which, by the way, he used as it was intended, while riding a bike. He was also particularly fond of Etro—especially the label’s brightly colored blazers—and the Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.

Williams closed out the ‘90s with a bang, playing a game of tennis with the Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras while wearing a bucket hat by Enyce. His early Aughts accessories, like fedoras, haven’t aged as well, but nothing has aged better than the Jean Paul Gaultier op-art print that he wore to a premiere in the mid-‘90s. Twenty-five years later, it’s now showing up on everyone from Cardi B to Charli XCX and FlubberKim Kardashian.

Related: Jean Paul Gaultier’s ’90s Op-Art Print Is Suddenly Everywhere