You should steal Austin Butler’s mohair cardigan

The 'Caught Stealing' actor appeared on the Jimmy Fallon talk show in a fuzzy mohair cardigan

By Tyler Dane Wingco

Published: Aug 14, 2025

austin butler cardigan — Austin Butler on *The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon*. Image: Getty

WHAT IS IT ABOUT The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and its guests having great knits? First there was the grey polo jumper from Ami Paris that Jacob Elordi wore last year. Sure, the most basic garment will garner headlines on Australian actor’s 6’5″ frame, but this particular knit’s star factor – which sold out instantly after his segment aired – coupled with the talk show’s casual setting, is that it’s the elevated version of a wardrobe staple. Paying attention to texture and fit is key. Now, Austin Butler joins the ranks, appearing on the sofa in a green plaid mohair cardigan.

Yet to be identified, Austin’s cardigan punches above Elordi’s with its rough fuzzy texture, as though he just escaped the rain en route. While cardigans would appear on a dad character in a 2010s Steve Carell comedy, we are in 2025 and Austin’s is anything but. Sleeves pushed half-way up his arm arms, layered over the same sheer Henley top her wore last week in Puerto Rico, and paired with black trousers and brown Chucks on the feet, its the nonchalant leading man MO that’s currently defining this class of young Hollywood actors.

An updated take on mid-century menswear has also been the emulated image of choice for a few of Butler’s contemporaries. That same preppy and playful feel was seen throughout Pedro Pascal’s Fantastic Four press run. Paul Mescal’s cropped cardigans whiffed of the female gaze on his Gladiator II press tour to contrast the brutish sequel. And as Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme nears, be sure to expect more of the film’s mid-century menswear to be ‘method-styled’ at its premieres, but in Chalamet’s signature messy attitude.

That said, menswear has been veering more to the Americana of the ’50s and ’60s, and the V-neck cardigan is emerging as its hero product. But to make it make sense for our non-serious times, playing on texture, pattern, and fit is paramount to not look like a lost time-traveller (and hopefully without the era’s prejudice). A style note from Butler: something fuzzy to contrast the sex appeal of an unbuttoned Henley shirt will bring it into your own play book.