Patrick Bateman is turning 25 today. Well, not quite. Mary Harron’s on-screen adaptation of American Psycho, the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, starring Christian Bale as Bateman, is now officially a quarter century old. Throw in the fact that Luca Guadagnino is working on his own adaptation of the book, possibly featuring Austin Butler as Bateman, and it’s no wonder the terrifying and chiseled (and terrifyingly chiseled, because… how?) financier-turned-serial killer is trending both on TikTok and the runways.
It’s not just pinstripe suits, though those have been everywhere from Balenciaga to Gabriela Hearst. Some of these briefcase-carrying gentlemen have been direct references to Patrick Bateman himself. Louis Gabriel Nouchi designed a collection based on the OG corporate bro not too long ago and cast Lucas Bravo of Emily in Paris fame as the title character. And Anthony Vaccarello said that American Psycho had been lingering in the back of his mind when working on his fall 2024 menswear lineup for Saint Laurent—the one with all the Monsieur Saint Laurent doppelgängers on the runway. Butler, let’s remember, is a Saint Laurent ambassador. Could Vaccarello outfit him in his deliciously cut double-breasted suits the same way Giorgio Armani did with Richard Gere in American Gigolo? Something to think about.
It’s more than a little bit troubling that this proper-but-not prototype of masculinity has taken over the culture once more. Optimistically, let’s chalk it up to the fact that men look good in suits, Bale’s Bateman maybe most of all. Scroll through to see the many times American Psycho influenced the runways, and click here to play a Patrick Bateman-themed edition of our Runway Genius quiz on the Vogue app.
