Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan Is Turning Heads

Celebrity is never far from fashion, but it seems that when Fashion Week rolls around, distinct huddles of star power emerge. For a while, TikTok creators were front and center. Sometimes there’s a higher-than-usual concentration of musicians. Sometimes (a lot of the time?) it’s nepo babies. Yet at the just-concluded menswear and haute couture shows in Europe, one cluster burned brightest on the front row: actors in hyperbuzzy TV shows, spanning from Emily in Paris’s Lucien Laviscount at Louis Vuitton to The White Lotus’s Adam DiMarco at Prada and Dior to Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan. 

Doohan (who plays Tyler in the show) is one of the leads on arguably the hottest of these programs, having just crossed 1.5 billion hours viewed on its home streamer, Netflix. To illustrate just how drastic his ascent has been: Between Wednesday’s release date two months ago and now, Doohan has gained some four million followers on Instagram. His very first fashion show ever? He swung for the fences: Fendi, in Milan. 

“Fendi being the first blew my mind,” says Doohan over a Zoom call from Burbank, California. “I couldn’t believe what a spectacle it all was and how much production value went into it. Then it’s over in 15 minutes and everyone jumps out of their seat and runs on to the next thing.” He flashes a little smile. “I loved it.”  

Naturally, he wore Fendi to Fendi. His fit was a cropped, luxe T-shirt with a knit hem, collar, and cuffs, which gave it a sort of vintage collegiate air. The tee’s pulled, fuzzy fabric was dyed in a cowhide motif. His trousers were ochre in color and featured utility pockets with white topstitching. “I’ve never had a pair of pants that fit so well,” says Doohan. 

At his next show—Louis Vuitton in Paris—Doohan’s look was more theatrical. It consisted of a white, boxy blazer with extended peak lapels, a crystal brooch, a black shirt with elongated collars that he fashionably tied into something scarf-esque, and swishy trousers. 

Doohan says he’s cool with pushing things a bit with high-visibility dressing. “I want to wear things that I wouldn’t normally get to wear,” he says of attending Fashion Week. “It’s a chance to play and have fun.” He adds: “I’m not quite as into some of the current trends, especially the big, baggy looks that seem to be in right now. I want to take risks, but also I don’t want it to be something where your friends see a photo of you and text you asking, ‘What’s that?’”  

Talking Fendi and Vuitton shop aside, the chat leads to bigger-picture territory: What’s next? And what has been the hardest thing to get used to during his rapid rise to fame? 

Regarding the latter question: “The negative side of social media [is that] there’s homophobia. People comment things along the lines of, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were gay, this ruins the show for me.’ Or they’ll put throwing-up emojis under my wedding pictures.” Doohan is married to producer Fielder Jewett; they attended Milan and Paris fashion weeks together.

Doohan, however, is good-natured. He seems to see and emanate far more positivity than negativity and has forged meaningful memories during his come-up. For one, young fans come out to him, saying he’s helped them. And there’s much more to come: Besides shooting Wednesday’s second season this year, he is reading more and more script offers and juggling what projects to take on. This is another thing he’s acclimating to.

“I’m back to self-taped auditions. I just do them here, in my apartment. I’ve actually turned down a few things. I don’t have a next role locked in yet,” Doohan says. “I feel like, for the first time, I am at a point where I truly have a say in what I do next. So I’m trying to really choose something that feels right, and I’m trying to find a character that is different from what I’ve played so far. It’s scary, though, as someone who has been trying to act for 10 years. All of a sudden, to turn down a job, it feels like a big no-no.”  

Wherever he lands, there are no doubt many more red carpets in his future. Does he have a model for best-dressed success?

“Timothée Chalamet,” Doohan says. “He takes big swings and always looks incredible.”