“The bar has been set,” defenseman Nate Schmidt once said to the Washington Post about the Capitals’ fashion. “And the bar is, what is Holts wearing today?”
Braden Holtby takes his suit game very seriously, and Friday night, the former Vezina Trophy-winning goalie arrived at Capital One Arena like he was dressed for an old-timey movie premiere.
The Holtbeast turned heads and electrified Twitter timelines with this lavender-colored outfit for Hockey Fights Cancer Night.
The contrast between Holtby’s fashion and his teammates’ is particularly striking.
Here’s Ovi.
Here’s Jonas Siegenthaler, who made his NHL debut on this fine evening.
And then here’s Braden.
Holtby is wearing a double-breasted suit with contrasting lapels. He looks like he’s the only flamboyant chimney sweep in 1890s London. He looks like someone picked him out of an olive jar with one of those fancy toothpicks. He looks like a nice bottle of merlot that has been cursed and must now walk the earth as a man. He looks like he’s about to introduce the 69th annual Hunger Games.
“My style reflects my personality so I kind of just throw on whatever I’m feeling that day,” Holtby said about his outfit choices. “I really don’t have one basic style or specific look; it changes all the time. But if I were to use one word, I’d say retro. Some people joke that I look more like an artist than a hockey player.”
Or Willy Wonka.
