Editor’s Note: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
Jerry Seinfeld is known for many things but being a style icon was never among them. Unless, of course, you count the “The Puffy Shirt” from the “Seinfeld” episode of the same name – a garment that is so iconic that it now lives permanently at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
So, it came as a surprise to many that New York streetwear brand Kith chose the 68-year-old as the face of its new collection.
On Tuesday, the label unveiled a series of campaign images that immediately set the internet alight. Shot by celebrated photographer Mark Seliger, the pictures show Seinfeld perching on heritage furniture, leaning on stacks of dusty books and sitting at a desk with a typewriter.
The comedian is seen wearing – somewhat effortlessly, it must be said – a range of Kith’s new hoodies, sweatpants, varsity jackets and floral prints. Taken from a Fall 2022 collection rich in neutral tones and paisley fabrics, the items modeled by Seinfeld are part of a capsule developed alongside clothing brand Russell Athletic and the City University of New York (namely Brooklyn College and Queens College, the latter of which he graduated from a mere 46 years ago).
Completing the looks with high-top sneakers and baseball caps with brims of varying curvature, Seinfeld has invited comparisons ranging from a “Web3 startup founder” to “hip-hop mixtape DJ” on social media. “The Jerry Seinfeld for Kith collection looks like everyone who tried to sell me drugs in high school,” tweeted reporter Connor D. Wolf.
Others were more sympathetic, however. “Jerry Seinfeld looks great in all those outfits,” wrote one Twitter user. “I don’t know why everyone is making fun of him.”
And soon the discussion was not only about whether he looked cool but whether the sexagenarian comedian also looked… hot.
“Does Jerry Seinfeld look hot in Kith?” asked The Cut. The Daily Beast was more assertive, titling its definitive take: “I regret to inform you that Jerry Seinfeld is hot.”
Kith founder Ronnie Fieg, who started the label in 2011, meanwhile described Seinfeld as “one of my heroes.”
“There are a handful of people that I’ve dreamed of working with from a young age,” Fieg wrote on Instagram alongside an on-set photo of the pair. “On the very top of that list was Jerry.”
Seinfeld is not the only 60-something star to appear in a Kith campaign in recent years. The label’s Spring 2022 collection was modeled by none other than Steve Buscemi, who was pictured wearing the collection amid some colorful flower beds.
It appears Hollywood boomers are having a fashion moment with Jeff Goldblum and Kyle MacLachlan making surprise cameos at a Prada fashion show earlier this year.