what words would I use to describe my
personal style
I'd say playful adventurous I go for
elegance you know whether I achieve it
or not is up to you to decide
my name is Jeff Ethan young and this is
my fashion time this was at the Toronto
International Film Festival back in 2013
this is my first red carpet for the
promotion of 12 years of slave and it's
a product gown it was the first time I
was working with my stylist Michaela
Erlanger this look and we tried all
sorts of things I remember telling her
about five different things that I was
like I was afraid of velvet lace frills
bias cuts and print all those things
were really dodgy to me and I asked her
to like kind of wean me into them this
didn't have any of them and I remember
it was one of the last things it was
actually the last thing I tried on and
when I put it on it was just so
comfortable
it felt effortless and it was really
elegant and I felt like I would be safe
in it you know cause it covered
everything
so those restrictions the velvet the
lace the frills the bias cuts somehow
she's successfully introduced me to all
those things and I want all those things
this was my first Oscars in 2014 I was
nominated this is a custom product áown
has been good to me and I remember the
whole process I think this was the first
gown that I was involved in like the the
making of you know the consultation and
just coming building it together fun
fact I didn't know I was gonna wear this
dress until the day of the Oscars they
had made two dresses for me and they had
different bonuses to go with both
dresses so
I had four options of bodices and then
two skirts and the other one was this
gorgeous I want to call it vomit green
but it was really really beautiful and
for the longest time I thought that was
the dress that was gonna win and then it
wasn't until either the evening before
the morning of that we put on this gown
and it just won and I remember just I
would definitely wept when I put it on
and for this moment I wanted it to
capture I remember talking to Michaela
about just wanting to capture the cloud
that I felt like I was floating on and
then another thing I was wearing Fred
Leighton jewelry and they made me my
family totem as a frog and so they made
me a pinkie ring
with a frog on it and there's an
inscription inside that says frogs can
fly my best friend and I went through
like this like homemade orientation so I
looked at a lot of magazines and stuff
and looked at how people were posing and
whatnot and I definitely had a few
practices in the mirror and then my
friend Michelle Dockery she had given me
a little secret tip that when you're on
a carpet oftentimes you're smiling for
so long that your lips begin to twitch
and so she recommended that I sing a
song that makes me smile in my head and
that was very very helpful it kind of
calms down your face I mean I really
like bossa nova dananana dananana
dananana dananana this is my first Met
Gala in 2014 again this is Prada
I love affair with product the story
behind this was that they made me to
other gowns to try on and this will had
been a sketch an early sketch that they
had sent and me and Michaela nixed it
cuz we were just like
didn't understand it and so we nixed it
and they made the other two dresses but
they very strategically put this gown on
a mannequin in the fitting room it was
like the first thing I saw when I walked
into the fitting room so I walked in and
it was down and I was like oh my god
what's that and I proceeded to go and
try on my other dresses and they were
nice and then I turned around and I was
like who's wearing that one and they
just had this coy smile on their faces
and I tried it on and I was like well
obviously it's this it was just so fun
we called it the taxi dress and it was a
lot of fun to wear and he made a lot of
noise all the product carl's that year
had like beading and so when we were
walking down you could just hear the
church what's coming you know I've never
really felt the pressure of my looks
because fundamentally I want to enjoy
what I'm wearing and it's never a
competition for me it's always just an
expression an artistic expression and
it's a chance to collaborate with you
know Michaela and and my hair and makeup
artists and you have fun you know life
is too short man this is my second
Oscars in 2015 and this is a Calvin
Klein gown and it had a six thousand
pearls now the story behind this is that
it was stolen from my hotel room after
wearing it and that was traumatizing I
mean it was a heist and I wasn't ready
for that kind of thing I remember I had
gone out for the day to work and I came
back and my stylist had come to collect
duck down and it's six thousand pearls
it's extremely heavy and I was like oh
yeah it's hanging right there and she
was like no it's not and I was like no
no no it's hanging right and there was
nothing there and then I was so confused
like where is it weighed like over 20
pounds like where could it possibly be I
remember
looking in like sock drawers because I
just couldn't fathom where it could be
and then in a moment of desperation I
called the laundry to be like ah have
you seen my dress and they were like
well maybe it's an it's being washed I
was like it's got six thousand pearls it
really shouldn't be washed and it
couldn't be found anywhere but
eventually the thief returned it a few
days later I think it was like four days
later there's too much stress my fashion
before red carpets and fame was very you
know homegrown and I never spent much
time looking at night magazines or you
know thinking too deeply about trend
necessarily I was familiar of course
there's certain designers that you can't
help but be familiar of because they're
household names you know the Prada the
balance ER as the Louie Vuitton and all
this that you know you know about them
but I definitely couldn't pick them out
now it's so crazy because I can see a
zipper and be like oh that's not bad
that's so weird to me I can't believe
somehow I became that first this is for
the premiere of queen of Katwe in 2016
the head wrap was inspired by the Zulu
hat and Vernon Francois who is the
mastermind behind these head wrap he
uses the such in crazy things to come up
with these things and and under here is
like a straw mat that he kind of broke
down and structured in order to create
that like poufy thing on my head one of
the things that me and Michaela do when
we're working on the promotion of a film
is we look for inspiration or like an
intention word for the mood or the
feeling that I'm trying to capture in
that particular run and so for queen of
Pat's way we wanted to pay homage to the
head wrap and so we did all sorts of fun
things you are always always always
inspired by the movie for its promotion
we find a way to leave it into what
we're doing I was so excited because
it's rare that I find a pant that fits
me
and so that's why I haven't weren't very
many pounds on the carpet so this was a
hoorah moment for me and it's Rosie as
Alina for me makeup is never a mask it's
always a frames and you know it's an
accessory and I really enjoy playing
with makeup
my mom forbade me from wearing makeup
when I was younger because she never
wore makeup she still does it and so I
wasn't allowed to wear makeup until I
had like a sort of makeup makeover from
my aunt I must have been like sixteen
and so now of course I have freedom I
can do whatever I want and so I like to
play with makeup it's fun to you know
push the boundaries this is a Calvin
Klein look at New York Fashion Week in
2017 and the triumph of this is wearing
jeans because I never get to wear jeans
really too much of anything I find it
really hard to wear jeans just generally
but this pair was nice the flare and
everything it worked well for me and
it's a nice casual look and I love those
earrings I mean on my days I I can get
casual but jeans are things that I wear
seldom for some reason it's difficult
for me to figure out a jeep look so I'm
more of like a jumpsuit person or I like
wearing cotton pants or you know that
kind of thing I've always really cared
about what I wear and I think growing up
in Kenya in Nairobi
there's just formality in the way we
dress especially in our household so
growing up I would plan what I was
wearing the night before if anything
I've grown a little more casual coming
to America because you know in American
people wear slacks
things like that I had that never
happened that's what like for sleeping
was growing up so I wouldn't plan my
outfit the day before I also wore a
uniform all through my childhood so the
only days that I had to express myself
and my individuality was on the weekend
so
I would always look forward to that and
therefore I plan what I was gonna wear
and my mom was big on ironing so you had
I new clothes the night before and I
remember doing that even when I got to
undergrad here in the US and people were
baffled by it the first thing I bought I
remember one of the first things I
bought was an ironing board and a knife
of course life in college I realized was
a lot more laid back then and then that
kind of habit and I've since kind of
lost it this is the Black Panther
premiere in 2018 and this is a Versace
custom gown and the theme for Black
Panther was sensuality and warrior those
are the two words and this dress
captured that for me
they made me two dresses actually and
this was one Anna Knight the kind of
armor of the this bodice detail and then
obviously vibranium is purple and that's
what inspired the color and then we
found out that the carpet was gonna be
purple and we were just like wow and
then we have a gown I ended up wearing
to the Oscars I never really factored in
doing the Wakanda forever salute when I
was thinking about what I was gonna wear
but I am always looking for mobility as
much as I can when I wear a gown I don't
want to feel like the down is wearing me
I don't want to feel outside of myself
so even when I have restrictions its
restrictions that I have kind of like
massaged myself into being this
hairstyle was inspired by some images
we'd seen on we go we're always looking
for inspiration from the great good
continent of Africa where I'm from we
want to pay homage to those African
expressions as well as putting our own
spin on it and so that's where this came
from my lip always starts with the
outfit and then we built from there to
compliment and elevate Oh
Vanity Fair yes here we go this was 2009
what is it 19 this was 2009
this was just yesterday and this is an
Oscar de la Renta feathered gown it was
funny because I remember there was a
headline that talked about me winning
the red carpet without even attending it
I missed the Oscars red carpet because I
had a function that is the truth and so
this was the second gown believe it or
not and it was fabulous and I was very
happy to be in it and I'm glad I made it
eventually to the Oscars this is the US
premiere at the South by Southwest in
2019 this is a her native suit the theme
for this press tour was definitely
duality which is a theme in the film
just embracing the darker side of things
because it was a horror film and the
color red was a very big deal in the
film and so that's what inspired my eyes
you know kind of disco eighties eyes
that my makeup artist Nikki Burroughs
came up with and then my hair the story
behind them eclipse was that Vernon was
laying them down you know setting my
hair and then we took a look at the
mirror with some of them in and I'm like
oh that's kind of fabulous and it and it
was also we were inspired by this idea
of the inside coming out and so we were
like well why don't we do something with
these clips and just bring what is
hidden into the and I loved it
it was risky and fun I'd like to take a
risk there had been this image this
inspirational image that I had seen for
years and I had it on a Pinterest board
of snoop and he had these kinds of clips
similar but different and his hair and
we just remembered that is like this is
all Maj to Stu and I'd actually met him
at the Black Panther for me
and he'd said to me oh my goodness I
love what you do with your style and
your hair is such an inspiration to me
and I was like well your hair's an
inspiration to me so you know it's kind
of like back and forth good means I've
always loved the style and expressing
myself through clothing and accessory
but I didn't I couldn't have imagined
how much it would become a part and
parcel of my work as an actor you know
and so that has been a delightful and
sometimes very taxing addition to my
life
[Music]