Levi’s have announced a new clothing line inspired by Timothée Chalamet’s depiction of Bob Dylan in the new biopic A Complete Unknown.
The film, which charts the music great’s transition from acoustic folk idol to electric rock star in the mid-’60s, is released in the US on December 25 and in UK cinemas on January 17.
Now, the clothing company has launched ‘Levi’s Vintage Clothing x A Complete Unknown’, a collection that includes a jacket and a pair of jeans that are directly inspired by Chalamet’s look in the film, which itself was closely modelled on original outfits donned by Dylan in the ‘60s.
Among the options are a yellow tan, 100 per cent leather jacket for $1200 (£955), which comes with sheet music for ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’, a replica cue card from the ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ video, special costume lining notes and a still of Chalamet wearing the same jacket.
Also available are a $495 (£395) pair of jeans with a D-shaped buckle belt and sheet music for ‘Girl From The North Country’ and a liner note quoting Dylan: “I’ll let you be in my dreams / If I can be in yours”.
Costumer designer Arianne Phillips has said: “While researching costumes for the film, I kept noticing that Bob Dylan wore Levi’s consistently throughout his career, both on and off stage. So I worked with Paul O’Neill at Levi’s to help me source original Levi’s denim and produce the bootcut 501 jeans, as well as recreate the Super Slim Levi’s jeans that Dylan wore in ‘65… To my surprise and delight, I found that Dylan’s journey could be authentically traced through his Levi’s.”
Paul O’Neill added: “It was exciting to reproduce Dylan’s original jeans with the inserted panel and include unique ephemera in the presentation, ensuring our new collection captures the film’s romantic themes while faithfully recreating the iconic Levi’s look of an unparalleled genius.”
Earlier this month, Chalamet channelled Dylan directly himself at the A Complete Unknown premiere in New York City, complete with facial hair, blonde locks, leather jacket and grey scarf.
The actor also learned to play 30 songs from the Dylan catalogue in his years-long preparation for the film and took lessons from a vocal coach, a guitar teacher, a dialect coach, a movement coach and a harmonica tutor.
Dylan recently praised Chalamet’s efforts in the film and said “Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”
He continued: “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”
Chalamet has since responded to the praise while quote-tweeting Dylan’s post. “Floored,” he wrote. “I am so grateful. Thank you Bob.”
In NME’s four-star review of the film, Alex Flood wrote: “The most important (and often trickiest) job of any music movie is to get the music right. And this nails that. If you’re a Bob newbie, you’ll leave the cinema ready to dive into his back catalogue.
“If you’re already a fan, the next few weeks will be spent making playlists of lesser-known B-sides or reading the lore around a scene you weren’t familiar with. And that’s why it was a good idea to make this film – a mad idea, but a good one.”
