Iron Willed
by James Servin, Woman To Woman
February 20, 2001
Everything about Jeremy Irons exudes a gentleman's strength of character. Calling from a Paris hotel room (imagine the steaming cup of tea by his side, the fresh croissant on the plate,) he speaks in a low, sonorous voice. Every thought is articulated in measured phrases. It was, in fact, the cerebral nature of the Donna Karan New York campaign starring Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman that attracted him to the current project, his first ad campaign: "I liked seeing what Gary did with Milla last year. It was a cut above the normal pictures you see in advertising. The campaign took you into the heads of the players."
That breakthrough campaign featured compelling series of vignettes, almost film stills, depicting a turbulent, passionate night in the lives of a Parisian couple. The questions raised gave luster to the project: What were they discussing, possibly arguing, about? Milla's pairing with Jeremy Irons this time around offers some tantalizing possible answers. Maybe that's what they were so upset about in the last campaign: Milla's breaking the news to Gary that Jeremy was in the picture (a premise echoed by Irons's love scenes in Damage with his character's son's fiancee, played by Juliette Binoche.) Did he feel like the new man in the drama? "A bit," he says, chuckling at the idea. Of the shoot, he says, "It's like playing jazz. Assemble the players, introduce the clothes into the situation, and play around with it."
The backdrop of Vietnam added an intensity to the shoot, as well as an opportunity for Irons to sample the local culture, as a man of the world is wont to do (don't we always imagine him at the end of a film escaping to a land far away?) "I loved it," he ways of Vietnam. "The people were warm, glorious." When not mingling with the locals, Irons had a chance to do some shopping. He is a serious shopper, rarely leaving the activity to anyone else. As a man with a definite retail friendliness, he's sent from heaven to his wife, actress Sinead Cusack. "I bought a lot of linen in Vietnam," he recalls. "Some had different embroideries; others had initials of different colors. I like shopping for my wife. I'll choose things at shops and put them aside. Then I'll return with her and have her try them on. Very quickly."
Irons's most unique purchase in Vietnam, he says, was "three very nice rice cutters -- extra-sharp bladed knives that look like goat's horns." These will be showcased in a castle he's decorating in Cork, Ireland. It's not enough for a man of style to reside in a castle. With Irons, the premise takes a stylish twist in the form of the rooms he's decorating, each with a theme. "There's a Chinese room and a circus room," he says. He reveals a bit but not too much: This air of (possibly) dark mystery swirls about Irons and is part of his considerable appeal as a performer.
What does he find sexy in a woman? It's not surprising that he doesn't have a pat answer. "A myriad of things," he says. "I couldn't encapsulate it in a few words," he says, the answer followed by one of those sugnature significant Irons pauses. So, then, is it the elusiveness that is sexy? "Precisely," he says. "It's nothing you can manufacture."
Irons is the definition of elegance: careful, with an eye for quality, but never rigid. Style, he demonstrates, is a balance between refined choice making and risk taking. "It's all about keeping things a cut above," he says. Is Irons as choosy about scripts as he is about his wardrobe? "There's indeed a parallel there," says Irons, who once said, appropriately enough, "Actors so often behave like children, and we're taken for children. I want to be grown-up." He's our Cary Grant, or Rex Harrison, making any item elegant with the integrity he brings to it. When he speaks of clothes he likes, there is intense appreciation in his voice. He's cerebral yet in touch with how materials have a language of their own. "If the cut is good, the style is great. I hate man-made fabrics," he says. "I like cottons and linens and wools and cashmere." He says the last bit seductively.
Irons's view of the proper wardrobe includes some necessary time off: "I like work clothes, clothes that suit the occasion. Leisure clothes for when you want to be comfortable. Work clothes with a good cut." So, it is surmised, Jeremy Irons is always well turned out, never slovenly? "I'm often slovenly," he says with a chuckle. "I slop around like the best of them." It's a style secret of the man with incredible taste: taking time out to recharge the batteries and cleanse the palette before putting on the next impressive outfit.
There's always a bit of a surprise element with Irons, both in his work and in his wardrobe. It's not widely known that he's an accomplished singer, having performed in My Fair Lady in London and on its sound track. "I sing like an actor," he admits. "My wife likes it when I sing to her." When it comes to wardrobe, a recurring surprise is his shoes: At the Academy Awards a few years back, he created a stir by wearing Keds with a tuxedo. Today he has a pair of red leather shoes he considers his sartorial wild card. "I like to laugh at footwear," he says. Keeping it unpredictable yet another hallmark of Irons's innate style.