As the year in great television draws to a close, we take a look back through the wardrobes of our favorite leading men
Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), Hannibal
Well, obviously. From the beginning one of the best things about Bryan Fuller’s basically flawless Red Dragon prequel Hannibal has been seeing its irrepressible supervillain plot and dine in style, and his turn this season is no different. We may not share Dr. Lecter’s taste in meat, but good god does the man know his suiting.
John Oliver (Himself), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Last Week Tonight isn’t a work of fiction, but over the course of its first year John Oliver has certainly proven a character. He earns a spot on this list for having single-handedly elevated the menswear game for talk show hosts across the country, showing his more mainstream colleagues how it’s done
Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Mad Men
Scarcely has a fictional character had such a profound effect on real-world fashion as Don Draper has over the last half-decade, and, if Mad Men’s stellar seventh season is any indication, that influence isn’t about to be diminished anytime soon.
Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), True Detective
One of the best cable dramas in many years, True Detective was also plainly the handsomest, shot in gorgeous widescreen on location by series director Cary Fukunaga. It’s no surprise, then, that it also boasted one of the year’s most stylish male leads: the nihilistic Rust Cohle, played by a career-best Matthew McConaughey.
Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), Community
Dan Harmon’s on-again off-again relationship with NBC has made the future of Community rather precarious since the middle of its third season, but there’s been nothing inconsistent about Joel McHale’s Jeff Winger. The stylish student-cum-teacher returned to Greendale this season every bit as well dressed as we’ve come to expect over the last five years
Dr. John Thackery (Clive Owen), The Knick
Steven Soderbergh’s early 20th century medical drama The Knick stars none other than Clive Owen as Dr. John Thackery, a cocaine-addicted surgeon practicing at a time when the art was… er, not so encouraging. Still, in full three-piece suit and hat, he’s certainly among the most stylish doctors on TV, even if he isn’t the one we’d most working on us when ill.
Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), Hannibal
Though he’s positioned as the antisocial savant in relation to Dr. Lecter’s immaculate paragon of charm and charisma, Hugh Dancy’s spin on Will Graham nevertheless rocks a winter wardrobe like nobody’s business. Think of it as the low-key casual wear to Hannibal’s formal attire—not worse so much as different.