From Mr Eddie Redmayne to Mr Mark Ronson – this year’s best dressed list .

So, then. That was 2016: a year of shocks and setbacks, of crisis and confusion. A year that saw obituary writers working overtime, and bookmakers scratching their heads wondering what on Earth just happened. An annus horribilis or an annus mirabilis, depending entirely on who you talk to, but an unforgettable year, regardless of who you ask. In the wake of everything that has happened in the past 12 months, you might think it a little trivial to focus our end-of-year review entirely on clothes. But that, dear readers, is exactly what we’re about to do: we are the men’s style destination, after all. Read on.

Mr Redmayne has brought a new vulnerability and, dare we say it, femininity to the role of Hollywood leading man. This year, as the magizoologist Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them, he lays down a blueprint for a very modern action hero: less brooding, more sensitive, and happy to reveal, even revel in, his emotions. Coming at a time when our concept of masculinity is becoming ever more inclusive – not to mention uncertain – you have to say that this makes him one of the most contemporary mainstream actors out there. And his personal style follows suit: always on point, whether casual or smart, Mr Redmayne has been at the vanguard of men’s style for years. MR PORTER first met him back in late 2014, at the height of awards season and just before he won his Oscar for The Theory Of Everything, and fashion dominated the conversation even then (specifically, the teal Burberry suit that he wore to the movie’s premiere). His 2016 yearbook proves that little has changed: he’s still a dedicated follower of fashion, his tastes leaning towards Gucci (sneakers, left and middle), Prada (cardigan, middle) and Polo Ralph Lauren (right). For niche label fans, the sweater he’s wearing (left) is Bella Freud.

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Mr Beckham has impressed us with his style so many times that we figured he deserves his own adjective. So, here goes...

Beckhamesque (adj). Of, or relating to, the characteristic personal style of former professional footballer Mr David Beckham; specifically: clean-cut, understated, and with a strong British heritage influence.

Every element of his trademark style can be seen in the three pictures, above: on the left, “just off to catch a flight” Mr Beckham; in the middle, suited-and-booted Mr Beckham; and on the right, what we like to refer to as Full Mr Beckham. The final look was debuted at MR PORTER’s launch party for Kent & Curwen, an English heritage brand, which “Becks” himself helped to relaunch this autumn. As you’d expect, the brand is extremely Beckhamesque. “It’s everything I would wear,” he explained to MR PORTER’s US Editor Mr Dan Rookwood earlier this year. “It’s everything that I would be seen in, it’s things that I have worn in the past, it’s things that we [he and creative director Mr Daniel Kearns] have discussed about me wearing in the future.”

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Has a man ever aged more gracefully than Mr Vincent Cassel? The Parisian-born, Rio-based actor has rather grown into himself of late, as shown by the trio of pictures seen here, which were shot over the course of four days at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Is it the grizzled, billy-goat beard? Is it the ease with which he pulls off a double-breasted jacket? Or is it something more intangible, the nonchalant, contented air of a man with nothing left to prove? Whatever it is, Mr Cassel has spent 2016 offering up a compelling case for life beginning at 50 (although he’s actually only 49 in these images, which were taken back in May).

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What a year 2016 has been for Mr Rami Malek, and now topped off by this, a mention on MR PORTER’s best-dressed list. We fully expect that he’ll be printing it off, framing it and placing it on his mantelpiece next to the Emmy he won for Mr Robot. In a year full of red-carpet highlights, the ivory tuxedo jacket that he wore to the Emmys stood out in particular. Immaculately tailored, set off with a perfectly proportioned dickie bow and just a sliver of polka-dot pocket square, it was an outfit worthy of the evening’s leading man. Indeed, there were echoes of Mr Matthew McConaughey in 2014, who received his Best Actor Oscar in a similar ensemble. Here’s hoping that we see a lot more of Mr Malek in 2017.

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You don’t get variety with Mr Bill Nighy, that’s for sure. The man is rarely seen wearing anything other than a navy blazer. But when he’s able to pull off a look with this kind of panache, who cares? Speaking to The Journal back in 2011, Mr Nighy confided that “I can only really operate in a decent lounge suit”, and that “I respond to dark blue more than any other colour”. He doesn’t appear to have deviated from this position in the past five years, if the above evidence is anything to go by. Whether at a private viewing, an awards ceremony or just out and about in Mayfair where he lives, Mr Nighy offers a daily case for the navy blazer as perhaps the most versatile garment in a man’s wardrobe.

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Watch your back, Mr Hugh Grant: your Hollywood USP of “dapper, floppy-haired Brit” looks to be under serious threat. Currently appearing as Prince Philip in The Crown, Netflix’s big-budget drama series revolving around the British royal family, Mr Matt Smith is fast establishing himself as one of the brightest stars in the British acting firmament – and his appearances on the red carpet this year have been nothing short of regal, too. He even managed to bring a little pomp and circumstance to the January 2016 premiere of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, a movie that is every bit as silly as its title suggests. But he’s not permanently stern-faced and suited-and-booted: MR PORTER met him last month and experienced a far more relaxed side to his personality. If you haven’t read our exclusive interview yet, do give it a look.

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Standing a statuesque 6ft 4in tall, and still ridiculously shredded from his time on the set of The Legend Of Tarzan, Mr Skarsgård seemed destined to spend most of 2016 as a glorified clotheshorse. And so it proved. Despite growing up in what he described to MR PORTER earlier this year as “a very Bohemian, hippy-dippy environment” – see our interview for more – the 40-year-old Swede takes a decidedly uptown approach to style. Black tie was his attire of choice this year, and by all measures he wore it rather well: at the Met Gala, with an electric flash of satin on the lapel; at the CFDA Fashion Awards, with an eye-catching silver brocade dinner jacket; and at the European premiere of Tarzan, cut slim to accentuate his enviable physique. The take-home lesson? You don’t have to be a Nordic demigod to pull off black tie, but it certainly helps.

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In Mr Miles Teller, we might have this generation’s most versatile young actor: a man who has appeared on screen as a jazz drummer, a boxer, an arms dealer and a stretchy scientist (Mister Fantastic of The Fantastic Four) all within the space of the past two years. And his personal style is just as multifaceted. See how he manages to nail a wide range of dress codes, from the anti-black tie of the MTV Movie Awards to the smarter, more buttoned-up style expected of a major movie premiere. Special mention must go to the double-breasted suit he wore to The Fantastic Four premiere in Brooklyn earlier this year, a suave little number given a jazzy, offbeat twist by the dark glasses and two-tone Oxfords he chose to pair it with.

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The sartorial shapeshifter strikes again. When Mr Ronson made an appearance on last year’s roundup, we praised his chameleon-like ability to adopt the style of various bygone eras and subcultures – from rakish 1950s rock’n’roll to louche 1970s glamour – without ever taking his finger off the contemporary pulse. We ended our summary with a hope that “his outfits continue to plough through the annals of style with equal vigour in 2016”. On the evidence presented above, we needn’t have worried. Few men have the ability to pull off a blue velvet tuxedo; even fewer look just as comfortable leaving the hotel in beaten-up denim the following day. All of it begs the question: what tricks does Mr Ronson have up his sleeve for next year?

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In Interview Magazine earlier this year, Mr Pharrell Williams asked the Smith siblings what the best piece of advice they’d ever received was. Ms Willow Smith recalled something that her mother, Ms Jada Pinkett Smith, had once told them: “Do you, boo-boo” (probable translation: “be yourself”). It’s advice that her brother, Mr Jaden Smith, has clearly taken to heart. Was there anyone in 2016 as experimental, as wilfully defiant and as transgressive when it came to style? Did anyone manage to express the confusion and excitement of being a teenager this clearly, and with this much panache? We should point out that the trio of looks we’ve chosen to represent his style over the last year are among his more conservative; as the face of Louis Vuitton womenswear, he’s been snapped in quite a few dresses, too. “Do you” indeed, Mr Smith.

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