The Story Behind Meg Stalter and Paul W. Downs’s Viral Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner Cosplay

Last night at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, Timothée Chalamet took home his first major statuette for his starring role in Marty Supreme, winning the award for best actor. Wearing a pinstripe suit in a look the actor himself described on the red carpet as “full Marty,” Chalamet shouted out his “partner of three years,” Kylie Jenner, thanking her for their “foundation” in his acceptance speech. To this, Jenner mouthed “I love you” from their table. In case you’ve been offline for the past 24 hours, clips of their interaction have been inescapable on feeds everywhere from Instagram and TikTok to X and Threads.

Still, it was not the most talked about moment of the evening.

When a friend sent a photo of the Hacks stars Meg Stalter and Paul W. Downs posing on the red carpet last night to one of my group chats, the response from another pal was “I thought this was AI!” It was real. Indeed, Stalter and Downs had replicated Chalamet and Jenner’s most viral look and appearance to date: Their matchy-matchy ping-pong ball orange Chrome Hearts looks from the Marty Supreme Los Angeles premiere, which saw Jenner dressed in a vertiginously cut orange leather dress to match Chalamet’s suit of the same material. The actor accessorized his outfit with, you guessed it, a custom Chrome Hearts ping-pong paddle case.

Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the Los Angeles premiere of Marty Supreme.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

Chalamet, who is working with stylist Taylor McNeill for his press tour looks, has proved that some great, buzzy fits might just help sell tickets for an indie film: Per Collider, the film is on track to become A24’s first film to reach the $100 million mark at the domestic box office.

Stalter and Downs are two of Hollywood’s favorite funny folks, a superlative they cemented last night with a pitch-perfect parody of the awards season circuit altogether. The duo, who were celebrating Hacks being nominated for best comedy series and Downs for best supporting actor in a comedy series, pulled off a send-up of Hollywood’s current eagerness for virality and the way fashion and style play a crucial role in this strategy today.

On the red carpet, Downs and Stalter joked that “friends” had lent them their outfits. “We’ve been shooting season five [of Hacks] so we haven’t had time, so they were like, ‘We’re just gonna pull and borrow from friends,’” Downs said. “My really close friend, I’m not going to name any names, but she let me borrow this dress,” Stalter said, adding that it “fits like a glove.” Of course, the looks were, in fact, neither borrowed nor an AI prompt. Below, stylist Kat Typaldos breaks down how Stalter and Downs pulled off the stunt.

This interview has been ​​lightly edited for clarity and length.

Vanity Fair: This was the gag of the night. Whose idea was it?

Kat Typaldos: This was all Meg and Paul, and the most Jimmy-and-Kayla [Downs and Stalter’s characters in Hacks, respectively] thing ever. My text thread with them, I was just cackling every day because I felt like I was guest-starring on Hacks. And I was not the intern, but I was the first assistant, executive assistant to Kayla [laughs].

When did you first hear about this?

Babe, I heard this in December, basically Christmas Eve! This was a holiday miracle. I think I got a gentle inquiry from Meg on the 23rd about this. She and Paul had this idea to replicate this look for the Critics Choice Awards, and I loved it so much. Of course, I was terrified because the timing was psychotic, as this time of the year people don’t want to work on anything anymore.

Still, I started to put some feelers out to see who was in town, since I was staying in Los Angeles and laying very low. This was actually a very complicated endeavor. Even though we live in a movie city, it’s the holidays and there’s the logistical issues, but it was such a fun thing to try to pull off. My main thing is that it had to be intentional, there had to be so much nuance behind it for it to not look janky.

How did you actually pull it off?

I have the utmost respect for costume designers and film people, which I am not. I’m a stylist. I thought of having a designer do this, as I know people who work with leather, but again, it was the timing as people were not in town. I ended up reaching out on Last Looks, which is a platform we use for stylists, tailors, et cetera. After asking, I got feedback from a costume designer, Erica D. Schwartz. We chatted on the phone, and then put together a proposal. I showed it to Meg and Paul. I also had an idea of having another designer do this in vinyl, which would have been the more abracadabra version of this. Once they saw the ideas they were like, “Let’s go hard and replicate the entire thing.”

Erica then assembled a fantastic team. Everything was built from the ground up. We 3D-printed buttons, painted the shoes, I painted Meg’s nails to match, and secured actual Chrome Hearts jewelry from a rental place I work with. The rings and the bracelet were real, the necklace was completely fabricated. Marissa Soto, Heather Vandergriff, and Kristen Carr were the costume and bags makers, and Robin Gurney was our costume painter. It truly takes a village!

Amazing. How long did it take you to do this?

Well, our first fitting was on Friday right after the holiday to make sure everything fit and that everything was dyed right and figuring out all the details. Meg and I also had to chat about the glam perspective, because it is definitely cosplay, but it still needs to be fab and feel embodied. We had printouts of every single detail of Timmy and Kylie: how they were holding each other—we practiced the poses—everything!

As a stylist, when you hear the idea of replicating a look, do you have any reservations?

No, I loved this. I’m a stylist, I’m a Pisces [laughs]. I’m very fluid, and a people pleaser, and I like to accommodate. When I work with someone, I’m in full synergy with them, and Meg and I have worked together for five years now. She just cares about the totality of things, and she has a great sense of humor, and not to toot my own horn, but I love having fun and I think I’m funny!

I was so down to do something so meta and so thoughtful and spot-on with artists who are going to take it to the next level. And it doesn’t work for everybody. I think it worked really well because it’s so authentic to Meg and Paul and also the campaign of the Marty Supreme of it all. Everybody went full method.

You are funny. What did you think of Timmy and Kylie’s look when you first saw it?

I’m obsessed with their relationship. Every day I ask my husband, Please, can we be a couple that works out together or wear something similar? And he’s like, No [laughs]. When you’re experiencing those types of visuals, you really understand how strong the partnerships are, with their stylists and with them as a couple. It’s a level of commitment, everybody is going full in. I loved last night’s carpet, I thought that there were so many striking looks, but I also think there’s space for all of this. We need respite from the heaviness.