‘Diversity in Characters, Diversity in Wardrobe’: How Colman Domingo Set Himself a Fashion Challenge for SNL

As soon as Domingo knew he would be hosting, he met with his stylists, Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald—a.k.a. Wayman and Micah—who are known for their striking red carpet looks and avant-garde eyes. “We talked about what the look for the host monologue would look like, and what direction we wanted to go,” he explains. The press tour wardrobe is a serious game, and Domingo is in the midst of promoting his forthcoming movie Michael as well as the third season of Euphoria. “I thought it was a great opportunity with Valentino—I am brand ambassador—to design something that felt sleek and sexy,” Domingo continues, “and this one, in particular, is an ode to Michael [Jackson]: I wore shimmer around the lapel [which] feels like a New York night. Alessandro [Michele] really did so much beautiful detailing—it’s elegant and cool.” The custom black Valentino suit, with its thick silver lapels and sharp shoulders, was complemented with Boucheron jewelry and an Omega watch.

Domingo brought the idea to Wayman and Micah to pull a vintage Michael Jackson t-shirt to style with his look introducing Anitta as the musical guest. He paired the t-shirt—sourced from Metropolis Vintage in New York—with a light denim “Thriller”-esque jacket with black embroidery and matching jeans, and snake-print Amiri shoes. Totally Michael-coded. “[He is] one musical artist that inspired so many, just as she has inspired so many,” reflects Domingo. “Cheers to Michael, as we are about to put this beautiful film out into the world.” Another look to introduce Anitta again put Domingo in a sumptuously embroidered Dries Van Noten gilet with a high funnel neck and impressionistic navy, pink, orange, and oxblood swirls. Each outfit reflected Domingo’s spirited, vibrant style, love of shape and structure, color and texture.

Next, they began to unpack the costume design for the actor’s characters in a suite of varied SNL sketches; they realized they could have a lot of fun. “[We] chose lots of sketches that played to my strengths and also challenged me a little bit, but also, there’s a diversity in characters,” he explains. “And so, for me, diversity in characters is also diversity in wardrobe.” A standout sketch—among the best of this 51st season and beyond—sees Domingo play a bitchy fashion school professor at the scene of an armed robbery in New York’s fashion district. “I don’t teach…I show,” he drawls while smoking a cig, “I am the lesson.” When asked to describe the suspect, he dresses down his criminal ’fit: “Be on the lookout for a mess.” More professor of Couture, D’artagnan Meringue please!

Domingo worked with legendary photographer Mary Ellen Matthews, who has lensed 25 years of the show and its starry hosts: her promo photo shoots are instantly iconic, always jovial and playful, drawing the most characterful performances out of everyone from Timothée Chalamet to Kim Kardashian.

“The beautiful thing about working with Mary Ellen is that she is extremely fast and captures iconic images,” says Domingo. “We wanted to make all these images about New York City moments.” They shot in a bodega, on the city streets, in Central Park, and on stage in the iconic Studio 8H.

One of the most important aspects for Domingo when taking on the Saturday Night Live slot was to challenge himself in as many ways as he could—that sensibility articulated itself in his choice of fashion, too. “With my stylists, they really outdid themselves when it came to creating a beautiful collage that I had not done before,” he says. “I feel like myself, yet fashion forward. We decided on some emerging designers such as Craig Green and Who Decides War, that I had not worn before.” Said Craig Green look was a daffodil-print, quilted jacket and arpeggiated paneled floral shirt and pants. He also wore a glamorous, structured, and shoulder-padded Weinsanto shirt with barrel-leg pants and heeled Zvelle shoes, a cornflower blue and leaf-printed Paul Smith shirt with Willy Chavarria shoes, and a Who Decides War patterned, pink military-style jacket.

Another look Domingo loved was by Egonlab, which included a black halter top with iridescent feathers encircling his neck. “It feels like an ode to spring in a unique way,” he says. “I would wear that again and again. The structure over the jacket shoulders is wide, and the waist is slim, and it’s just very sleek. It’s sexy, just like spring in NYC!”

Domingo in Egon Lab.

Domingo in Ann Demeulemeester.

Domingo wore that outfit for a promo shot in Central Park, where he is standing on a rock. It carries real personal significance, because it’s actually in the same spot where his idol Sidney Poitier—the Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat, who was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for best actor—was photographed. (Domingo produced the critically acclaimed 2023 play Retrograde which captured the trailblazing actor’s life.) “I am not sure if Mary Ellen knows what he means to me, and what a beautiful gift she has given me,” says Domingo. “The idea for me standing on the same rock as him, as an artist in the same pivotal moment in my career, was very emotional for me. It’s an iconic outfit for an iconic moment, with an iconic photographer.”

See more of Colman Domingo’s Saturday Night Live outfits, below.