On Fellow Travelers, the decade-spanning epic that earned them both nominations at the Emmy Awards 2024, Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey play a pair of star-crossed, intensely passionate lovers. And on tonight’s Emmys red carpet, the costars arrived dressed the way any good couple should: in perfectly complementary—but not totally matching—outfits.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Bailey sported a flowy, wide-legged Giorgio Armani tuxedo with a shimmering silk shirt; Bomer, meanwhile, suited up in a slimmer, crisper custom Brioni look with a plum-toned shirt and jacket. (Both actors were dressed by stylist Warren Alfie Baker.) Beyond their suggestively unbuttoned tops, however, the thing that really tied these disparate looks together was the cummerbunds around their waists.
That’s right: cummerbunds. Perhaps you’ve heard that the traditional black-tie waistband is very much back—and will, in fact, help to make you look a good deal hotter any time you find yourself in a tuxedo. It does so by smoothing out the oft-sloppy area where your shirt and trousers meet, slimming your waistline, and lengthening your silhouette—all good things when you’re dressed up for a fancy night out.
Whether you’re going big and bombastic like Bailey or trim and tailored like Bomer, a great cummerbund is always the answer. No word yet on whether they can also help your show secure a rare Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor one-two punch at the Emmys, but we’ll find out soon enough.
