Alan Cumming Breaks Down His Gonzo ‘Traitors’ Wardrobe

At 61, Alan Cumming—actor, filmmaker, presenter, activist, fashion icon—remains an enigma. Now, in a late-career twist few would have predicted, he’s settled into a gig hosting the Emmy-award-winning competition show The Traitors on Peacock. Based on the murder-mystery dinner-party trope and filmed at a 19th-century Scottish castle, it showcases Cumming at his campiest, pairing his perennially arched eyebrows with a parade of saucy looks featuring giant top hats, knee-high red boots, and enough tartan capes to clothe William Wallace’s army.Stylist Sam Spector works alongside Cumming to create the show’s looks, each of which reflects the contestants’ tasks in a given episode. (For one famous challenge that required contestants to search through coffins floating in a freezing lake, Cumming donned a cardboard coffin covered in the same fabric as his suit; for another, he dressed as the Statue of Liberty.) “He’s just truly open to anything,” Spector says of Cumming. For The Traitors: New Blood, which premiered on September 17, Cumming and Spector are upping the ante while adjusting their approach to reflect the show’s first-ever non-celebrity cast. “I think [Spector] was up for a challenge and to do something really new and different, and it really worked,” Cumming says. We caught up with Cumming to talk about the show, his hands-on approach to wardrobe, and the importance of wearing a dress on network TV.Courtesy of NBCGQ: How are you feeling about this new season?Alan Cumming: I’m very excited. I love this season. It’s got such a different feel to it, and what I’ve seen of it, it looks great. It felt great. It felt like it had so many twists and so many amazing things happen—it couldn’t have gone better, actually.When you’re not putting on these elaborate costumes, what’s a normal outfit for you?It’s funny because when you go to work filming things, you take your clothes off, you put other clothes on all day, then you take those off and you put your own clothes on, and you go to bed. You just lose your own look. So when you finish [filming] something, two things happen: One, you think, “What do I wear? What do I do? What’s my look?” And also you just can’t understand why you look so terrible because nobody’s combing your hair and putting makeup on you. But I think I have eccentric tastes. I was at a hotel last night with my husband, and he said to me, “Nobody looks like us. Do you know that?” I was like, “What?” And he goes, “Nobody.” And he was absolutely right. We looked insane. I had little boots on and my little glasses, so I looked a bit like Where’s Waldo?When you’re all glammed up for The Traitors, do you feel like you’re playing a character?Absolutely. When I’m on The Traitors, I’m not me—I am me, but I’m not. It’s sort of like I’m acting like the host of a TV show, and we pretend he’s the laird of the castle and all that stuff. So I do feel very different. But for years I’ve always said that when you go on a talk show or to a premiere, and you’ve got your hair done, and you’ve got makeup on, and the stylist brings you things to wear, you are playing this sort of heightened Hollywood version of yourself. I always wonder if, when people see you at a red carpet or something that all dressed up, they think you go to the supermarket like that, or you walk your dog like that.Courtesy of NBCCourtesy of NBCCan you talk to me a little bit about your collaboration with Sam Spector?It’s been so great with Sam. I hadn’t worked with him before this, but my manager said, "They want you to get your stylist to do this." For me, a stylist always meant someone who would just get you nice suits for talk shows—and Sam indeed does do that—but for The Traitors, obviously it’s a much bigger thing. I think he was up for a challenge, and to do something really new and different, and it just worked. It’s rare that he shows me something that I don’t like.You just said there are certain colors that you don’t like. What are they?I love yellow. Yellow’s my favorite color. If I had my way, I would have my entire house painted yellow, but as an item of clothing, it doesn’t look good on me. It’s not a good color for me, so I don’t like yellow things.I’m looking at an outfit in the latest season where you’re wearing a red cape, a blue blazer, pleated pants, and black loafers. How does something like that come together?I think what has become apparent to me is that all the rules about what you should and shouldn’t do are really for sissies. I think those rules are all about keeping you in a box and keeping you inauthentic and not unique. I hate rules about expression, because one of the things that really used to piss me off when I was on The Good Wife, I would wear some suit, like a Vivienne Westwood suit or something, and people would give me a hard time about it. And I thought, “I’m here at a celebration of creativity, and because I don’t look like everybody else, you’re giving me shit.” So I’ve always railed against that. And now, of course, I meet people and they say, “I’m rather upset because your clothes aren’t as crazy as I thought they would be.” I’m now constantly disappointing people if I don’t have a cape on.Courtesy of NBCWhy do you think the attitude has changed?I think the younger generation are less bound by gender-specific roles, and it’s really exciting to me that I see young people don’t seem to have a problem about being femmy or the other way around—all that is much more fluid now. But also, I just think if you live long enough, all the old boors kind of die off, and they’re not there anymore to give you a hard time. If I’m doing a show like this, and the whole country’s going nuts for what I’m wearing, they’re not going to give me a hard time for coming to an award show with a little bit of eyeliner on.What did fashion and self-expression look like when you were a kid?When I went to drama school, it was the time of the New Romantics and it was a lot of crossdressing and playing with gender rules, and that was when I came of age, but that all kind of went away. The ’90s weren’t a great decade for fashion, and I think we lost our way in terms of self-expression. It’s nice that it’s all back. Why would you want to look the same as everybody else?Can you talk to me about some of your favorite looks from the first few episodes?I used to get to keep all the clothes—the first season was actually practically all my clothes—but now it’s so insane, and they go into exhibitions and things, so I often just keep the shoes. I would never wear [much of this] in real life, but obviously Mr. Traitors would.Can you share anything about your dog in the new season? I know Lala’s kind of a character.They put things beside her that are sort of clues for later on, so she has these moments where they have certain props, and she just sits there quietly judging everything. Also, she’s getting to be an old lady now, and she’s quite deaf. I was shooting my stuff before the players came down, and it was about to rain, and I was like, “You should really get Lala’s close-up because once it starts to rain, she’ll be off.” And they’re like [sarcastically], “Oh, okay.” And I went, “Seriously!” And then a few drops of rain fell, and she just left. She just went straight up the stairs and into my room in the castle. So she’s getting more diva-like as the years go on. She will not sit in the rain like she used to.Courtesy of NBCWhat are you enjoying most about being on The Traitors?One of the great things about this to me, about this show being so popular, is the theatricality of it and the queerness of it. I basically wear a dress some days, and just having people enjoy the fashion and what that means… Our leaders are so scared by things to do with gender and transness and fluidity, but it seems to me that the bulk of the country who watch this show all love all that and see it for what it is and appreciate it. And I hope that it has a positive effect in the world, the fact that I’m being a femme old dandy.