What does Dior have to do with "Tenet" and "The Batman"?

Until a few years ago, Robert Pattinson's name inspired cinephiles from around the world a grimace of dislike. The English actor was known, at least until 2014, as the protagonist of one of cinema history's least-loved sagas, Twilight – a memory that is now widely surpassed, as Pattinson became one of the leading actors in American cinema and Pattinson will soon appear as the protagonist of two of the most anticipated films of the year: Christopher Nolan's anticipated Tenet and , in the eponymous role of Batman, in Matt Reeves' The Batman. In both trailers released in recent days, the actor wears a series of tailored suits that closely resemble the looks he has worn for the numerous Dior Homme campaigns he has starred in as the brand ambassador of the fashion house. It is unlikely that the brand collaborated on the production of the two films, but at the same time, as Highsnobiety's Josefin Wing points out, the image of Pattison and his outfits in both films is a testament to the enormous influence that Dior's tailoring has had in the modern conception of men's tailoring.

The relationship between Dior and Pattinson began during the long reign of Kris van Assche that ended just two years ago with the arrival of Kim Jones at the helm of the maison. After the first Dior Homme fragrance campaign in 2013, Pattinson was the star of three other campaigns for the brand collaborating with Karl Lagerfeld, Romain Gavras, Peter Lindbergh and Nan Golding (who also published a book dedicated to the campaign) and became the face of the clothing line as well as perfume in 2016. Throughout all these years, the style of Dior's men's suits, designed by Van Assche first and then Jones, has evolved radically, taking its cue from the skinny silhouette inaugurated by Hedi Slimane between 2000 and 2007 that Van Assche reinvented and deconstructed in his ten years of tenure to the theatricality and opulence of Kim Jones' outfits.

The Batman vs Dior Magazine by Peter Lindbergh (2016)

Tenet vs. Dior Homme SS19

Tenet vs. Dior Homme Pre-Fall 19

Tenet vs. Dior Homme FW19

Tenet vs. Dior Homme SS19

Wanting to ideally start from Pattinson's look as Bruce Wayne in The Batman, the look in which he appears in the trailer shows him wearing a black suit with micro-tie and a white shirt with a tight Windsor collar paired with a grey wool coat that immediately recalls the iconography of the British Mods to which Slimane drew full hands for his Dior collections – a milestone of men's fashion that Kris Van Assche continued to redefine and enrich for the next ten years. 

Tenet's looks are different, with a less gothic and more 80s Pattinson, with blond, well-groomed hair and at least two different outfits: one is grey and decorated with a silk scarf tight around her neck while the latter has a dark double-breasted blazer with a cornering silhouette – both garments on which Kim Jones has worked for her Dior collections , trying to deconstruct the original concept of the double-breasted blazer, now with the model Oblique jacket, now with models without lapels.