THE JOURNAL
As a teenager growing up in Essex, just outside of London, Mr Russell Tovey would dream of wearing Stone Island one day. The actor, podcaster and art aficionado would see the brand in magazines (as worn by artists such as Oasis) and local nightclubs, while admiring the fine Italian craftsmanship and the badge that, to him, symbolised a unique kind of belonging – a club that he longed to join.
Back in the mid-1980s, during Stone Island’s infancy, young people everywhere, from Europe to Japan, were drawn to that same badge, fawning over the brand’s slick, functional staples, which had come to symbolise luxury for Milan’s youth. That status has stuck for decades – and throughout the period during which Tovey first wore Stone Island himself – and the brand has been swept up in hip-hop and youth-culture movements ever since.
“I’ve always found Stone Island very aspirational,” Tovey says now. “Its designs always made me feel good, which I guess is what you want when you’re wearing something.” Eventually, when he turned 14, his wish came true – when he joined the club and started his own collection. “I’ve got photos of me, going way back, with the compass badge [on my arm],” he adds. “It’s always been with me.” His own discovery of fashion at that age “literally changed my life overnight”.
Today, in an act of serendipitous wish fulfilment, Tovey, 42, is one of the faces of Stone Island’s AW24 campaign, donning the brand’s new Ghost collection. Leaning into Stone Island’s reputation as a purveyor of quiet luxury, the collection – composed of signature staples such as crew necks, cargos, field jackets and more – is individually monochromatic. The ingenious fabric technology is smart; logical but unassuming.
The field jackets and blousons, instead of being coated or laminated, are weather-resistant and durable thanks to Ventile, a British-made long staple cotton fibre. The monochromatic shades come courtesy of the brand’s Colour Laboratory, a library of more than 60,000 singular shades designed to match each fabric perfectly, using a number of different processes and machines – bespoke, and steering clear of a “one method fits all” approach.
Then, of course, there is the iconic badge that Tovey fawned over as a teenager, now hiding in plain sight, presented sleekly in the same colourway as the garment itself. It’s a bold move from the brand – to make the iconic insignia somewhat inconspicuous – but a testament to its solid reputation and the refined nature of the garments it creates.
Inconspicuousness, time spent under the radar, is an important marker of balance in Tovey’s life. Around London, the city where he lives, he’s established the things that make him both stand out and blend in, depending on how he’s feeling.
“It’s really strange,” Tovey says. “If I wear blue, especially light blue, I get recognised more.” He jokes: “Some days when I’m feeling like I’ve got low self-esteem, I’ll put blue on.”
To keep it discreet? Headphones in. Stay on the phone. Avoid eye contact. That being said, he likes talking to people in the street. “I think I’ve got the sort of recognition where people can’t quite place me straight away,” he says. “Or, if they do, they like what I’ve done and are quite respectful.”
For the past two decades, after all, Tovey has gravitated towards the kind of projects that people feel inclined to stop him in the street for, or want to tell him about – everything from Mr Andrew Haigh’s hit HBO series, Looking, and Mr Russell T Davies’ sci-fi hit, Years And Years, to his work on 2024’s catty and compelling Mr Ryan Murphy series, Feud.
Then there’s Talk Art, Tovey’s podcast with co-host and art dealer Mr Robert Diament, which aims to demystify and break down the exclusionary barriers that surround the art world. Six years in, it’s hugely popular, with Tovey and Diament recording at live events – including one episode that was recently hosted in a Stone Island store.
“What’s nice is if the actual projects that you do are ones that you’re passionate about – and they mean something to you; when people do connect with you, it’s such a compliment,” Tovey says. “It’s a pleasure to share their affection.”
It seems like Tovey’s 2025 projects will elicit similarly effusive reactions from his fans. Up next is Plainclothes, a queer police drama from the first-time director Mr Carmen Emmi, which the actor says he is “really proud of”. Following an undercover agent who falls in love with a gay man he’s sent to arrest, the film is due for release next year.
Right now, though, Tovey finds himself in Wales, prepping for a project that will see him reunite with Davies: a Doctor Who spin-off titled The War Between The Land And The Sea.
With October’s Frieze Art Fair just around the corner, Tovey will find himself bouncing back and forth between London and Wales for a while, owing to his commitments with the legendary art fair and, of course, Talk Art, which has just returned from a short summer break. There is a symbiosis between the projects Tovey dedicates a large part of his life to and everything Stone Island focuses on, too: art and new blood.
Talk Art shines a light on the names that are lesser-known in the world of contemporary art. Stone Island also shares that altruistic ethos, supporting the Focus section of Frieze, the fair’s dedicated space for up-and-coming artists and galleries, whose presence the brand supports financially. “This is all of my worlds clashing together,” Tovey says, “It’s wonderful.” Legends and greener talents rubbing shoulders; the established feeding the new.
Years on from his very first Stone Island purchase, Tovey’s wardrobe is now stacked with wearable pieces from the Italian brand. Items he can easily pick out for his day-to-day wear and, equally, as he points out, when he needs to feel sharp, sophisticated, but not overly “dressed-up” at an art event. As a wardrobe, Stone Island “always sort of made sense to me,” he says. “Everything is so elegant and beautifully made – and it all works together.”
In these images, Tovey exclusively wears pieces from the brand’s Ghost collection. During the shoot, he enthuses that he “put all of it on – and there wasn’t any moment where I went, ‘not sure about this’. I’d wear all of it.”
Tovey’s decades-long love of Stone Island has reached its natural apex: now, his own family have inherited it, too. When he asked his eldest nephew which brand he wanted to start his own elevated wardrobe with, the then-teenager suggested they head to Stone Island. Tovey bought him his first jacket. He is overjoyed that his love of the brand’s garments has trickled down in his family.
“It felt really great because, even as the generations change, wearing Stone Island still has the same sort of feeling,” he says.
He ponders for a moment how best to describe it. Then remembers what it was like to be 14, seeing the Stone Island badge and wishing he could one day be a small part of the brand’s legacy. “It’s like a tribe, isn't it?” he says. And now, Tovey is one of the men at its very helm.