Austin Butler Broke Out the One Jacket Every Dude Needs This Fall

If the apocalypse were to hit tomorrow, Austin Butler’s leather jacket seems like the first thing he’d grab on his way out the door. Yesterday in New York, while heading to The Tonight Show to talk all things Caught Stealing (and some things Bad Bunny), the American actor updated his usual clean-cut fits with something a little gnarlier—and we mean that in the best way possible.

With perfectly tousled curls and an immaculate helping of stubble, Butler kept the rest simple—a white cotton henley and slightly baggy trousers—letting a beater leather biker do the talking. Draped casually over his left shoulder, it was so thrashed it could probably tell war stories. The hide was cracked, dulled, and scarred in all the right places—less “fresh from the store” and more “pulled from the wreckage of an abandoned roadside bar somewhere off Neo Route 66.” It wasn’t just worn in. It was lived in, the kind of piece you can’t fake with an off-the-rack “distressed” label.

The Bikeriders star paired his god-tier outwear with brown Converse All Stars that had clearly clocked a few miles themselves. And then came the detail that really sealed the end-of-days aura: the Original Pilot aviators by American Optical—an eyewear brand based out in Vernon Hills, Illinois. First introduced in the 1950s, the silhouette has barely changed since. They were worn by the US military. They were worn by NASA astronauts. Robert De Niro’s a big fan. Tom Cruise, too. And now, it looks like Hollywood’s latest golden boy can’t get enough of them either.

But make no mistake: the jacket is the main plot here. The rest is just good supporting cast. It’s apocalypse-core in its purest form—a little dangerous, very intentional, and utterly dependable when the world starts to fall apart. If the end days really do come, Austin Butler’s walking into the wasteland ready to fight off raiders, and yes, he’ll look damn good while doing it.

This story originally appeared on British GQ.