PEOPLE

Colman Domingo: Storytelling in Style

Whether he’s appearing on the stage, screen or red carpet, everything actor Colman Domingo does is connected by his effortlessly luxurious sense of style.

'When it comes to fashion, I want to feel like I’m not just at the party, I am the party!' says actor, writer and director Colman Domingo from his sunny hotel room. It’s a beautiful morning in Milan and the Emmy winner dials up the positive vibes in hot-orange knitwear; easy to see why he wins at awards-season fashion, here is a man who dresses in a way that feels as generous as it is expressive. 'I wore something bright because we’re meeting online', he says. 'The least I can do is give you some color!' Whatever the occasion, Domingo tells his story through clothes.

Both the first Afro-Latino and first openly gay Afro-American to be nominated for an Oscar, for playing a civil rights activist in the Netflix biopic Rustin, the youthful 54-year-old is an actor who exists outside the boxes used to categorise artists from backgrounds like his. While he represents many communities, it’s his work that has repeatedly defined and redefined him over a career that spans three decades. 'But what I most look forward to is never being the first anything again', he says. 'I look forward to there being many, many brothers and sisters doing unique work that takes them out of their own boxes too.'

Philadelphia-born but now based in Malibu, he spent his formative years in San Francisco’s theatre scene then New York, working between TV, film, and Broadway. Best known for films like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and 2023’s remake of The Color Purple, as well as zombie series Fear the Walking Dead, it was playing Ali, sponsor to Zendaya’s character Rue in the groundbreaking Euphoria, that unlocked both an Emmy award and unseen depths to his talent.

'Sam Levinson, the showrunner, wrote Ali for me because he knew what I could do', he says. 'He elevated my work in a way that hadn't been done before.' And as the on-screen success gathers pace – upcoming movie Sing Sing is already generating Oscars buzz – his off-screen style captures similar levels of attention, with Domingo regularly topping best-dressed lists.

From fluid tailoring to extreme proportions and hyper-real color, he brings a new masculine elegance to the red carpet that feels as chic and opulent as it is rooted in classic menswear. It radiates a joyful drama that only comes with an authentic love of fashion. 'I like to think of it as effortlessly luxurious', he says. 'Sometimes I’m buttoned up, others I’m showing some skin, but either way I want to feel sexy and timeless.'

Bringing a European tour taking in Cannes, Paris and Amsterdam to an end, he talks about being inspired by audacious actors, having a plan but believing in fate, and why Anna Wintour gets the Met Gala so right.

‘When it comes to fashion, I want to feel like I’m not just at the party, I am the party!'

PICKING HIS LANE
‘I'm a strong actor, and I write work that I believe in, but I think I'm an even more astute director because I know how to collaborate. I know the right questions to ask and how to inspire. That's my true gift, bringing out the best in people.’


BETTER REPRESENTATION
‘We all have a job to do, but we must demand more from the upper echelons in the industry. It can't just be actors, directors, producers. It has to be everyone in the C-suites as well. That's where we can make a difference. We have to make strides to be in those rooms. I don’t have a production company for egotistical reasons, I want to make the work that needs to exist.’


BEING AUDACIOUS
‘My role models are Sidney Poitier, Meryl Streep, James Earl Jones. People like Sophia Loren who were audacious in the way they created work and made platforms for themselves. Look at Diane Keaton, she's an original. Jodie Foster is the same, I admire how she knows when to put herself behind the camera or in front of it.’


MAKING YOUR OWN LUCK
‘Believing in faith, fate and magic was instilled in me from a young age. I believe that love is found in unusual places, not on apps. It’s about analogue things like using your senses and feeling an energy. You can have a plan and work hard but you still have to be open to unexpected invitations, who knows what you might learn. Sometimes you just have to say yes.’

STORYTELLING WITH STYLE
‘Costume designer Avery Plewes taught me a lot about using fit, style and references to build a character. I love storytelling through clothes – anything I've worn on a red carpet has had a story attached. It’s always been important, even in the days when I had $5 to get something from a vintage store.’


FASHION LEGACY
‘I was struggling to decide what to wear for the Emmy Awards until someone asked what I’d like to see when I look back at a picture from that night 25 years from now. That question unlocked everything. I saw cream. I saw my long legs emphasised in high waisted, cropped tailoring – an elegant take on the tuxedo. It made me consider the cornerstones of my legacy.’


BEING UNEXPECTED
‘When you wear something wild on the red carpet, people expect you to double-down next time, but that’s when you need to do the unexpected instead. I wore classic French tailoring at Cannes because it felt right, in the same way that I wasn’t going to wear hot pink and sparkles for promoting Sing Sing, a film about prison. Make design choices that fit your story.’

'Sometimes I’m buttoned up, others I’m showing some skin, but either way I want to feel sexy and timeless.'

LIVING ART
‘Maybe it’s my roots in theatre but I’m very conscious of lighting and sound, and to feel comfortable, whether at home or in a hotel room, I like all the elements to be just right. Someone who really gets that is Anna Wintour, the only way I can describe the Met Gala is like being inside an artwork. That’s what I aspire to be, living art.’

TAKING A MOMENT
‘For the first time in a while I can catch my breath, sleep in, go for a sunset walk. I don't have to download scripts; I can think about the work coming up. I can pour into my creativity by going to museums and eating good food. You can't create art without having something poured into you, so right now I'm at the pouring-in stage.’

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

If you could only wear one accessory?
A diamond bracelet

New York, Los Angeles or Philadelphia?
Tokyo

Stage or screen?
Screen

Favourite photo saved in your phone?
My mother in Paris


Words by Ben Perdue
Colman Domingo wears the Autumn Winter 2024 collection for COS. Photography by Karim Sadli. Styling by Jane How.