Suiting up for Fall

“I normally wear Levi’s and a T-shirt, but I think the suit is a very good invention. If you know you’ve got to be instantly presentable, you can’t go wrong.”

Tony-winning actor Sir Ian McKellen recently starred in the Royal National Theatre production of “An Enemy of the People” at the Ahmanson Theatre. In the film “Apt Pupil,” due out next month, McKellen will portray an aging Nazi war criminal and, in the upcoming “Gods and Monsters,” he will play James Whale, director of the 1935 cinema classic “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

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“I actually have a closet full of suits and blazers that I never wear. I’m mostly into comfort. But I do like a suit and sneakers.”

An actor and poet, Saul Stacey Williams co-wrote the script--and wrote the poetry he performs--for the film “Slam,” which opens next month. The movie won both the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. A collection of his poetry, “The Seventh Octave,” was recently published by Moore Black Press.

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“I’ve never been in a profession that I had to wear a suit. I’ve always felt awkward in one. But my wife recently got me addicted to Armani. Before I knew it, I was buying Prada, too.”-- David

“Not wearing suits to work makes it all the more fun and sexy when you do put one on. You don’t have to be conservative; you can change your persona.”--Yoni

As founders of Gigawatt Studios, brothers David and Yoni Koenig design and produce interactive entertainment and 3-D games. Their latest projects include the virtual-reality ride “Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam” for DisneyQuest, an indoor interactive theme park at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Fla., and the soon-to-be-released home video game “Pinky and the Brain World Conquest.”

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“I haven’t worn a tie in 10 years. I find a tie too formal. As an artist, I should dress the way I want to dress. A suit tells you that you’re going to be part of an occasion, playing a role.” Obie-winning playwright and screenwriter Jose Rivera is at work on “Aunt Rosana’s Rocker,” part of a Showtime movie trilogy called “Amor in America.” His play “The Street of the Sun” debuted last year at the Mark Taper Forum, and his latest play, “Sueno,” will be staged next fall by the Manhattan Class Company in New York City.

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“My wife puts me in a Donna Karan suit and everybody asks me, ‘Where did you get that?’ When I buy a suit, I look like I’m in Vermont in the dead of winter.”

An Oscar-nominated actor, William H. Macy will appear next as Joan Allen’s square husband in the fantasy film “Pleasantville,” to be released next month. In December, he will co-star in Gus Van Sant’s remake of “Psycho” and appear opposite John Travolta in the courtroom drama “A Civil Action.”

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“Suits are fantastic and make you feel great, but L.A. is not a very dressy place. I don’t have many opportunities to wear one. I’m an artist. I wear jeans.”--Hull

“I have a $10 gabardine suit. Most of my suits come from thrift stores. Gaudy or colorful suits are more my style. Normally I’m getting plaster on my clothes anyway.”--Shaw

Artist Steven Hull’s solo exhibition of paintings will open Oct. 10 at the Rosamund Felsen Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Recent paintings and drawings by Jim Shaw, an artist and instructor at UC Santa Barbara and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, are on view through Nov. 1 in the group exhibit “Night Vision” at the Junior Arts Center Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles.

* Produced by Jill Barrett; stylist: L’Wren Scott/Vernon Jolly, New York City; grooming: John Setaro for Yuki Sharoni/Beauty + Photo; fashion assistant: David Van De Veere; props: Pedro Zalba