Robert Pattinson skyrocketed to fame playing Edward on Twilight and will soon reach new levels as Batman in the Matt Reeves film. Now the actor is explaining just how stressful stardom can be when facing hoards of paparazzi. “I have so many terror memories of the paparazzi … and I still don full-on protective armor: hood up, hat down,” Pattinson told GQ in an article published Wednesday.
His time in the spotlight has also provided a platform for some stand-out style moments on the red carpet, having worked with Dior since 2012. “If I was choosing to wear clothes myself, I don’t think I would have gone in a lot the directions that I have ended up going in with Dior and people like [designer] Kim Jones,” Pattinson said. “I never would have thought I would be wearing chiffon, silk and satin. I wore this tuxedo, which had basketball shorts last year – never would have imagined that!” The ensemble was from Dior’s spring 2019 collection, worn to a screening of High Life in New York in 2018. (More recently, Pattinson sat front row at the Dior menswear show in January alongside Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss).
Turns out, one of Pattinson’s biggest fashion regrets has been the outfit he wore to the 2005 premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. “I was wearing leather trousers with these cowboy boots and a velvet jacket. I mean, it literally looked like a kid had gone into a dressing-up box,” he said.
His modern style icon is A$AP Rocky, saying, “I wish I could dress like A$AP Rocky; he just has serious style. … We have been to quite a few different fittings together, and I will see the craziest thing and really want to wear it but look like a total moron. Then we will go to the show and I will see Rocky in it and be like, ‘Jesus Christ, you can literally wear anything!'” A$AP Rocky joined Pattinson at the Dior Homme Menswear spring/summer 2019 show during Paris Fashion Week in 2018.
This week, Pattinson’s The Batman co-star Zoe Kravitz (who plays Catwoman) took Paris Fashion Week by storm, sitting front row of the Yves Saint Laurent runway show with father Lenny Kravitz on Tuesday (she released a line of lipstick with the French label last year). Also this month, The Batman offered a first glimpse of Pattinson in costume.
The actor previously opened up to GQ in 2017 about his struggles with paparazzi. Pattinson said, “People were like, ‘It’s fine, who cares?’ … ‘They’re just photos or whatever.’ They’ll say, ‘Just live your life.’ But that’s not life for me, if someone’s observing it.” He used to ride in the trunks of cars or change his clothes in parking lots, all to avoid being seen or followed.
Back in 2014, Pattinson’s Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart spoke about her strained relationship with the paparazzi and her reputation for not smiling in photos. “Now I feel like if I smiled for a paparazzi photo — not that I ever would — that’s exactly what people would be desecrating me for,” she told Elle. “They’d be like, ‘Now you’re going to give it up! Now you’re a sellout.’ Like, OK. What do you want? What would you like?” A face of another French house, Chanel, Stewart is currently working on the romantic comedy Happiest Season with Alison Brie and Mackenzie Davis.
