Alexander Skarsgård Makes a Case for the Winter Flip-Flop at Sundance

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An unseasonably warm Sundance? Alexander Skarsgård isn’t phased. Instead of the typical snow boots, the actor donned a pair of leather thong sandals to the premiere of “The Moment” on Friday night — and it very well may be the first time open toes have hit a Park City carpet (at least without risking frost bite).

Skarskård topped off his full Valentino ensemble — consisting of a two-toned windbreaker jacket beneath a khaki-hued trench — with a pair of the Italian brand’s signature Rockstud flip-flops.

An instinct for sartorial mischief has long been part of Skarsgård’s public persona, and it’s backed up by a growing archive of very specific, very deliberate fashion moments. At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, while promoting “Infinity Pool,” he made headlines in Saint Laurent thigh-high leather boots. That same festival run saw him lean into fetish wear with harness detailing. Elsewhere in Europe, Skarsgård has repeatedly used footwear as a subversive tool, favoring towering boots, lug-sole platforms and exaggerated silhouettes that destabilize the traditional red carpet power suit.

In A24’s “The Moment,” Skarsgård plays creative director whose alluring unknowability convinces Charli xcx (playing a fictionalized version of herself) to toss aside everything that had made her successful. He also stars in a second Sundance film, playing a creature conjured from grasses and reeds to provide Olivia Colman’s little-loved fishmonger character companionship and solace.

In his review of the film, Variety critic Owen Gleiberman writes that “Skarsgård, who resembles a very tall version of Jim Carrey, plays him with a passive-aggressive fatuousness that is, in itself, a bit Carrey-like.”

Check out more of the best Sundance 2026 fashion moments here, and shop through a few flip-flop options inspired by Skarsgårds subversive footwear choice below: