AfriPulse
If you’re driving in Los Angeles these days, there’s a good chance you’ll see the back of Paul Anthony Kelly’s head. In this town, billboards for Love Story, FX’s hit series chronicling the romance of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette—starring Kelly as America’s first son—tower on seemingly every corner. “They’re everywhere,” Kelly says. “It feels amazing. It’s proof that we did it. We made it.”
By Christian Högstedt.
And after you’ve made it in Hollywood, there’s only one place to go: the annual Vanity Fair Oscar Party. While getting ready for the event at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Oscar Sunday, Kelly tells me that he’s a little overwhelmed to attend for the first time. “But I’m ready,” he says. “I’m ready to just go hang out with everybody and say what’s up and congratulate people.”
There is one problem with his plan, though: Kelly, who’s been doing a nonstop press blitz since before his show debuted, recently lost his voice. At a time when he has to rely on being seen more than being heard, what he’s wearing is of utmost importance. And luckily, he’s being dressed for the VF party by famed menswear designer Brunello Cucinelli.
Rather than going with a classic black penguin suit, Kelly and his team, which consists of stylist Warren Alfie Baker and his groomer Jessica Ortiz, put a fun twist on the archetype by sporting a chestnut brown dinner jacket. “It’s a shawl one and a half-breasted tux that’s this kind of light-brown blushy tone,” he gently croaks to me. Along with the “Marron glacé” jacket, Kelly will also be sporting a Vacheron Constantin American 1921 watch, “a beautiful, beautiful piece of horology.”
By Christian Högstedt.
It’s fitting that Kelly would wear something this spiffy, considering he got his big break playing JFK Jr.—a style icon in and of himself. The first son was so beloved that, just a week ago, hundreds gathered in New York’s Washington Square Park for a JFK Jr. lookalike competition. Kelly did not attend the event—it would have been a bit unfair—but thought “it looked insane.”
In a good way. “It’s neat to see the resurgence of their life and how interests and fashion choices are all coming back in such a big way,” he says.
Kelly is excited to reunite with his onscreen love interest Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Carolyn to his John, at the VF party, saying it’ll be like “getting the band back together.” As for the Oscars, he’s got a few films he’s secretly rooting for. “One Battle After Another is so good. I watched Train Dreams recently, and it’s so beautiful. Hamnet, super good.”
By Christian Högstedt.
By Christian Högstedt.
At the party itself, Kelly looked as suave as ever, catching up with his costars Pidgeon and Grace Gummer—who plays his character’s sister Caroline Kennedy on the series—and chatting up Dua Lipa and Callum Turner. He also helped one partygoer fix his bowtie when it was going askew. (That partygoer was me).
When it was all over, he could share tales of the event with his wife, Syd Widziszewski, and their newborn baby at home. “The baby’s so good. Wife’s great,” he says. “It’s hard. I’m traveling so much, but they’re doing it. They’re figuring it out. It’s wonderful.”
By Christian Högstedt.
It’s a season of firsts for the actor—first child, first hit show, and now, first Vanity Fair Oscar Party. He’s still soaking it all in. “I’m a little nervous for it, but also not,” Kelly says of his success. “I think this is something I’ve wanted for so long, and now it’s here.”
Watch the Vanity Fair Oscar Party livestream—hosted by Quenlin Blackwell, Jake Shane, and Brittany Broski—directly after the Academy Awards at youtube.com/vanityfair on Sunday, March 15, 10:30 p.m. ET and 7:30 p.m. PT.
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Source: VanityFair | Read the Full Story…
