Exclusive: Tommy Dorfman Takes Us Inside Saint Laurent’s Spring 2020 Men’s Show With Hailey Bieber, Nicole Richie, and More
The day before Tommy Dorfman took a seat in the front row of Saint Laurent’s spring 2020 men’s-wear show on Thursday, the actor made what he thought would be a quick pit stop. “I went to the salon to dye my hair back brown yesterday,” he said on the phone from Los Angeles, before adding, with a laugh, “and I walked out with it blue.”
The realization that his next project doesn’t start until August (he’s shooting a movie in New York) may have made him impulsive, but it’s not like Dorfman isn’t busy making public appearances these days. So he was relieved to find that the aqua suited him. “I thought it was going to look fucking terrible and I was going to have to come to the Saint Laurent show and then to Europe for more men’s shows looking like a troll doll,” Dorfman said. But he needn’t have worried; if anything, he blended right in with the glam-rock vibe of the collection, which took Mick Jagger as its main inspiration (though thanks to Dorfman, who unbuttoned his sequined Saint Laurent shirt nearly down to his navel, there was also a hint of Iggy Pop).
Tommy Dorfman, Nicole Richie, and Amber Valletta at the Saint Laurent men’s spring/summer 2020 show in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Dorfman.
As for the creative director Anthony Vaccarello’s other inspiration, well, it was unmissable. To get across his vision of Los Angeles as the new Marrakech, he sent models out on a boardwalk that had been painted black and set atop sand. (This was no Chanel spring 2019 show, though, which saw the house install a beach inside Paris’s Grand Palais.) Vaccarello has never lacked imagination or ambition when it comes to Saint Laurent’s runway shows—in the past year alone, his models have both walked on water and glowed in the dark—and this time was no different. The show took place on a beach in Malibu, much to Dorfman’s delight.
Tommy Dorfman backstage at the Saint Laurent men’s spring/summer 2020 show in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Dorfman.
“To have the waves crashing in the background—it was remarkable,” he said of taking in the collection’s many flow-y blouses and billowing pants on the shore. (A one-shoulder sequined top already has him “obsessed.”) “There’s such a fluidity with Anthony’s men’s wear that I really appreciate—a femininity that often also lends itself to masculinity, because it provides a certain type of confidence in a person to wear the clothes,” Dorfman said.
King Princess, and a model on the runway, at the Saint Laurent men’s spring/summer 2020 show in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Dorfman.
And while the house’s commitment to authenticity meant getting sand “everywhere,” Dorfman didn’t mind one bit. “I mean, what do you expect? We’re on a beach,” he said with a laugh. “They offered flip-flops, but I opted out of that journey—mostly because it was cold.” His seatmate Hailey Bieber also declined: “She was in stilettos. It was kind of chic,” Dorfman said.
Hailey Bieber at the Saint Laurent men’s spring/summer 2020 show in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Dorfman.
Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, King Princess, Laura Dern, Amber Valletta, and Lakeith Stanfield—to name a few—were also in attendance, but at this point Dorfman is used to star-studded front rows. Still, this show definitely brought a first: “Usually, I only drink water at those things, and this time I had fresh coconut water,” he said with a laugh. By the next morning, it was still on his mind: “I mean, what company provides that service?” he asked enthusiastically. “I would like to know how to get my name stamped on a coconut so when people come over to my house I can just hand them one with my name on it.”
Backstage at the Saint Laurent men’s spring/summer 2020 show in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Dorfman.
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