How to pull off prints, pyjamas and prison attire by Mr Terrence Howard’s Lucious Lyon, the man behind Empire Entertainment.

The people who tune in to the hugely successful hip-hop soap opera Empire are looking for action. And boy, do they get it. Since the first episode aired in January 2015, control of the eponymous Empire Entertainment has switched hands more times than a free paper on the Subway, one of label matriarch Cookie Lyon’s sons came out of the closet only to discover a secret love child, another had a nervous breakdown and committed a murder, and the third is having torrid affairs with both a Rhianna lookalike and Ms Naomi Campbell.

So yes, Empire has drama. But it also has style, in the form of Cookie’s ex-husband and Empire Entertainment founder Lucious Lyon (played Mr Terrence Howard). After a diagnosis of ALS, Lucious has to decide which of his three sons gets to inherit the company. Who cares about that? What we really want to know is who is going to inherit Lucious’ enormous collection of luxury cravats and dinner jackets. Empire certainly won’t teach anyone how to run a business, but it can teach all the future moguls out there a thing or two about how to dress.

Many entertainment moguls show their power by taking meetings wearing dumpy jeans and ball caps. Lucious Lyon does the opposite, always arriving like he’s about to walk the red carpet at some gala honouring the best paisleys in the universe. Even when he’s lying in bed dying of ALS, he’s wearing the most gorgeous silk pyjamas money can buy.

How do you know a powerful man has entered the room if he’s not searing your eyes with both his presence and his choice in accessories? If Lucius is not sporting a jacquard jacket, he’s wearing something in a maroon-tinted glen plaid or a much more outrageous print that looks like something in an abstract painting you’d find in a family psychologists’ office. When he opts for a plain jacket (or sometimes shirt sleeves and a vest), the pattern is booming in his scarf. Or his pocket square. In short, the man is a walking kaleidoscope. And it works.

Season two of the show kicked off with Lucius Lyon in a penitentiary. Dress code: orange. But not one other of the inmates wears their identical jumpsuits as well as he does. When it gets hot in the yard, Lucious ties his around his waist, flashing a “wife-beater” and a lion tattoo (of course). His swagger fills up that loose sack of orange cotton making it look like the best thing Mr Hedi Slimane has designed in a decade. No wonder Mr Chris Rock (playing a cannibalistic inmate) wants to eat him up.

You may be of the view that a scarf is a long rectangular piece of fabric you wrap around yourself to keep warm. You’re wrong. In fact, in the hands of Lucius Lyon, it’s more of a spirit animal, a calling card, a plot point. In fact, he’s always got something hanging off his neck, whether it’s a cravat, opera scarf, Wall Street tie or, as is often the case, Cookie Lyon’s jewel-encrusted hands. Mr Lyon can be introducing a band at his nightclub Leviticus, leading a board meeting at Empire Entertainment, or murdering his oldest friend under a bridge in a sketchy part of town, but he’s always got just the right oesophageal accoutrement for the job.

Just like Superman has kryptonite, Lucious Lyon has a weakness too. It’s hats. We at MR PORTER are firmly in favour of headgear in general, but every man needs to know just where his personal boundary is. For Lucius, it’s a propensity toward plaid flat caps and too-small fedoras that make him look like he’s heading to the local disco in Chelmsford, rather than helming a titanic hip-hop conglomerate. A cautionary tale we can all learn from.