Russell Brand's Wardrobe in "Arthur" is Inspired by Lapo Elkann

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What would you do if you were designing the costumes for a remake of classic movie about a young-heir-gone-wild and the directors told you they'd cast wildman Russell Brand? Well, the guys over at GiltManual scored an interview with Arthur costume designer Juliet Polcsa, who reveals that the wardrobe for Brand's out-there character was inspired by a real-life heir to a real-life fortune. Polcsa said:

When they cast Russell everyone was a little scared. They wondered, okay, how is this going to translate? What are we going to do? I was doing some research and trying to find something that would solve that problem. And, indeed, I found it in GQ. There was a 50 best-dressed men issue or something like that, and one of them is Lapo Elkann, the heir to the Fiat fortune. Lapo’s always on these international best-dressed lists; Tom Ford has always said that he is inspired by him. He is this Italian rogue playboy—millionaire, billionaire, I don’t know how much money he has.

The thing about Lapo is he has the look: he has the rock ‘n’ roll hair and he has the tailored suits but he wears them with such non-conformity. When I brought that to the table and showed the director and the producers they all just said, that’s it! When I presented it to Russell, I think he was kind of searching for a way he could hang on to the character and everybody was like, Okay, Lapo Elkann, let’s go. I wish we had bracelets made that read, “What Would Lapo Do?”