Jeremy Piven not as stylish as his alter ego Ari Gold
Jeremy Piven makes freaking out look good on “Entourage,” which shows his character, Ari Gold, decked out in the designer attire required of a high-strung, high-powerd Hollywood agent.
In real life, Piven is happy to loosen the tie.
“I’m a pretty casual person,” the 42-year-old actor told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I usually gravitate toward things that feel good -- just, like, a really soft T-shirt or something like that.”
“For me, work is always having to button that top button -- from the get-go, they made it clear that Ari is kind of like a machine and he just never goes unbuttoned,” he said. “And I’m still trying to lose my neck from high-school football, so collars are always an interesting proposition.”
While he admires fashion designers like Tom Ford, Piven joked: “It’s not like I’m hunting down the perfect ascot to wear.”
Thursday night, Piven will suit up to host the fourth annual Fashion Rocks concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The concert, part of New York Fashion Week events, will be telecast Friday in a two-hour special on CBS.
“It’s totally uncharted territory,” he said. “Some people do extreme sports -- you know, people like Laird Hamilton surf, like, 60-foot waves -- I just, like, host things that I’m totally under-qualified to do.”
Piven is auctioning off two tickets to a performance at the Piven Theater Workshop -- founded in Evanston, Ill., by his mother, Joyce, and late father, Byrne -- to benefit the theater’s scholarship and community outreach programs.
The tickets are up for bid on the Charity Folks Web site until Sept. 23, as are concert tickets by Fashion Rocks performers Alicia Keys and Avril Lavigne.
Piven, who won an Emmy for “Entourage” last year, is nominated again this year. His mother, who accompanied him to the Emmys the last two years, turned down an offer to join him this time around, he said.
“I think she said, `Five times is enough,’” Piven said.
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Fashion Rocks is a production of Conde Nast Media Group, a unit of Conde Nast Publications.
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