Blessed and Best-dressed: Pope Leo cracks Vanity Fair’s most stylish figures list

No-one could have possibly foreseen Pope Leo XIV’s name listed alongside the likes of Jacob Elordi, Spike Lee and Alyssa Liu in 2026 – but alas, here we are.

Vanity Fair has lauded the head of the Catholic Church for his singular ability to pair Nike sneakers with a papal cassock – with the sartorial combination clinching him a spot on the publication’s “best dressed” list.

According to Vanity Fair, Leo had been selected by staff during a gruelling, weeks-long process that narrowed down “hundreds” of candidates.

The magazine credited the first-ever American Pope for elevating his dress sense to unprecedented levels over the course of his tenure.

“Even prior to the papacy, Leo, formerly known as Father Bob, took his modest cream cassock to heavenly heights by pairing them with Nikes,” it said.

“His fashion claim to fame: Leo has kept his sense of wry casualness, sometimes sporting baseball caps.”

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In this sense, you can take the Pope out of America – but you cannot take America out of the Pope. A lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, Leo famously paired his traditional garb with a black baseball cap in June of last year – signalling his enduring support for the team all the way from the Vatican.

The leader’s liturgical vestments have also previously drawn the attention of fashion authority Vogue, who included him on their list of best-dressed figures just last year.

Departing from the typically minimalist attire of predecessor Pope Francis, Leo reintroduced french cuff shirts with formal cufflinks, white trousers under his cassock and lace elements throughout.

But despite this notable stylistic shift, he maintained the papal legacy by retaining the former Pope’s stylist, designer and master tailor Filippo Sorcinelli.

Speaking to Vogue in May, Sorcinelli revealed that of Each of the three pontificates he has dressed during his 25-year run in the sacred garment space, they all had their own “distinct” style identities.

“Benedict XVI embodied the doctrinal splendour of form; Francis brought beauty back to its pastoral essentiality; and Leo XIV seems to gather order, contemplation, and the Roman sense of the church into a figure of austere clarity,” he explained.

In 2025, Vogue cited his best-dressed moment as “his first appearance as pope, on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, in a red satin mozzetta cape and wine-red, gold-embroidered stole paired with a cross pendant on a gold silk cord.”

While classic vestments anchor Leo’s looks in centuries of tradition, a contemporary edge sneaks its way in with the unmistakable swoosh of the cassock.

The devil can keep Prada – because it seems the Pope prefers Nikes.