Paul Mescal is making up for lost time. He became a star when the critically adored TV adaptation of Normal People was released in June 2020, but with the world in the grip of the first wave of Covid, Mescal spent the ensuing months in his living room, rather than on the red carpet. Though the planned New York Film Festival premiere for the show was not to be, 18 months on, the rollercoaster of glittering events that traditionally accompanies overnight fame is really ramping up for the actor. “It’s been a whirlwind,” Mescal says over the phone from Berlin, where he was a guest of honour at a dinner to celebrate Cartier’s new Clash de Cartier capsule collection. “This is really the first event I’ve done that hasn’t been related to the show. Berlin is amazing.”
There were some advantages to his unlikely introduction to fame, Mescal admits. “I feel like I’ve spent the last year in the public eye, but on stabilisers, or with armbands on,” he says. “I imagine the alternative could feel quite mentally overwhelming, but I had a bit of time while I was figuring out who I am, and what my relationship to the wider industry is going to be.”
Now that Mescal’s mantelpiece is overflowing with invites, he’s busy honing a wardrobe befitting all the A-list events to come. His personal style is “classic”, he says, singling out the Gucci suit he wore to the TV BAFTAs (where, incidentally, he collected the Best Leading Actor statue for his performance as the taciturn but deeply sensitive Connell Waldron), as his favourite red-carpet look to date. “It was my first in-person awards show,” he says, adding that he wanted to acknowledge the formality of the special occasion. “That suit felt very classic to me. And then the Cartier brooch I wore just elevated the whole thing.”
Gucci’s quintessential tux reflects just the sort of timeless menswear that Mescal most admires. “I love those old photos of the Venice Film Festival. If you looked at pictures from the ’50s all the way up to now, not that much would have changed. It’s so glamorous. I love seeing people get off the boats.”
The actor says he’s also enjoying exploring the elegance that jewellery can bring to a look. “It’s weird,” he says. “I feel like when I was younger, jewellery was viewed as feminine. Like, my father would wear a wedding band, but that was about the extent of it. It has definitely come into my life more.” Cartier’s exquisite sparkle aside, his most treasured piece is a signet ring. “It was a gift. I actually thought I’d lost it recently. I was on a job at the time so I’d been taking it off for work, and you know that feeling when it’s like the bottom of your stomach falls out?”
After his whirlwind Berlin trip, Mescal will be preparing to head to Australia in the new year to start filming Foe, in which he will star with LaKeith Stanfield and another much in-demand Irish actor, Saoirse Ronan (“When Normal People came out she actually reached out to me and said very kind things”). Until then, he’s enjoying a well-earned break – and presumably a few more parties.