NEED TO KNOW
- Kyle MacLachlan recently borrowed “baggy” pants from his teenage son, Callum, to dance to Lorde in a TikTok video
- The actor, 66, told PEOPLE that he has also worn other items from the teen’s wardrobe, including hoodies and glasses
- MacLachlan added that Callum, who used to find his dad’s TikTok fame “cringe,” has changed his tune a bit
Kyle MacLachlan’s son, Callum, used to “cringe” at his dad’s TikToks. Now, the teen has “been a little more accepting,” the actor recently told PEOPLE.
Five years ago, MacLachlan, now 66, took his love for storytelling from the big screen to the small (cellphone-sized) screen on TikTok, where he now has a devoted following. Sometimes, he nods to past roles, from Twin Peaks’ Dale Cooper to Sex and the City’s Trey MacDougal, but not always.
Nostalgia plays a role in his online fame, but the star also has his finger on the pulse — and he isn’t afraid to get silly or step out of his comfort zone.
In June, the actor had a vision for a TikTok set to Lorde’s “What Was That,” but he needed to capture her essence, starting with her wardrobe, which more closely resembles that of his teen son’s. Callum, 17, was very obliging.
“I said I needed a kind of a pant or something, and he sews stuff. He makes the pants that the kids wear — listen to me — that the kids wear today,” MacLachlan told PEOPLE earlier this year while chatting about his Lyft campaign. “So anyway, they’re quite baggy.”
“He said, ‘Yeah, here, Dad, you got this, this and this.’ So he did the wardrobe for me for the video,” said the Dune star, who shares Callum with wife Desiree Gruber.
And the wide-leg, distressed jeans — perfect for frolicking to Lorde — went over very well, earning comments on TikTok like “the baggy jeans go hard diva,” which the actor acknowledged with a like. Another declared that the actor dresses “like the cool kid in high school.”
Desiree Gruber/Instagram
MacLachlan was feeling himself in the jeans, too. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, these actually look pretty good, you know?’ It’s so funny,” he said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll start wearing baggy pants.’ ”
The custom jeans aren’t the only piece he’s borrowed from Callum for a TikTok video. “Actually, and there’s been a few others,” the Portlandia alum revealed. Among the “borrowed” goods are a pair of glasses and one of the teen’s hoodies, he recalled.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“He’s got an exceptional fashion sense,” added the proud dad. “It’s very specific. He’s right at the cutting edge of things.”
The wardrobe assist marks a slight change in Callum’s attitude toward his dad’s TikTok fame. Shortly after the actor first started growing his online audience, he told PEOPLE in 2021 that the then-12-year-old was “embarrassed by my TikToks.”
“He says ‘Dad, please don’t.’ Once in a while he’ll give me a thumbs-up but more often than not it’s the cringe Dad post,” the Blue Velvet star joked at the time.
Now, Callum has changed his tune a bit. “He’s been a little more accepting, I think,” MacLachlan told PEOPLE in June. “He’s pretty good actually.”
“He’ll get comments from kids at school, you know, ‘I saw your dad’s video,’ you know, usually it’s a positive,” the actor said. “He navigates that pretty well.”