Hollywood’s unchallenged international attain is probably not what it was – bar, in fact, that of the spandex-coated superhero universe – but it surely stays a touchstone for fashion.
From cult classics Withnail and I to movies like La Dolce Vita and Plein Soleil, British and continental European filmmaking has had its moments in menswear, however inevitably, this has been eclipsed by the celluloid streaming out of California.
Certainly, even dangerous movies – hiya, Inherent Vice – can retain a lingering spot in pop cultural consciousness because of the work of the usually unsung costume designer. So right here’s our tackle the ten most trendy menswear motion pictures ever made. Sure, lots of you can be screaming, “however what about [fill in blank]!” However, as Marlon Brando nearly put it in On the Waterfront, “they coulda been a contender”. Simply not this time.
North By Northwest (1959)
Everybody at all times contains this of their checklist. But it surely’s subsequent to unimaginable to not. Remarkably, Cary’s Grant’s character, Roger Thornhill – the promoting government mistaken for a spy – solely has one outfit throughout your entire film: a mid-grey single-breasted notch lapel go well with, which he combines with a white shirt and silver gray tie.
He’s roughed up and force-fed, chased via a prepare and buzzed by a aircraft. And but his go well with, made by Savile Row tailor Kilgour, stays immaculate all through.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Sure, however which model? The 1968 authentic, with Steve McQueen, or the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan? It’s uncommon for a remake to match the unique’s high quality, not to mention the fashion, however this one – maybe essentially – rises to the problem.
There’s McQueen in a three-piece go well with, cornflower blue shirt and gold Patek Philippe look ahead to work, and manly Aran knit for stress-free in his seaside buggy. However then comes ex-Bond Brosnan, with an even bigger funds and a bursting wardrobe of good tailoring – even if it’s worn with a bowler hat in a single scene.
Insurgent With out A Trigger (1955)
James Dean might have been 24 by the point he performed Jim Stark, however that didn’t cease his apparel from defining the search for all disaffected – to not say bloody moody – youngsters of the late Fifties.
A plain white T-shirt, light Lee 101Z denims with deep turn-ups, black engineer boots and that blood-red nylon McGregor Anti Freeze windbreaker – crucially worn collar up and zipped from the waist for simply the primary few inches – created the stand-out picture for the promotional poster, even because it promised ‘a difficult drama of right now’s juvenile violence’.
Costume designer Moss Mabry (Mutiny on the Bounty/King Kong) nailed it.
Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
Robert Redford’s Joe Turner is not any James Bond. He may match for the intelligence companies, however he’s a bookish underling and a little bit of an outsider. If his colleagues appear to be they belong in an workplace, Turner’s fashion embodies bohemian academia.
There’s the woollen tie worn with the chambray shirt, that blue sweater with its sloppy boat neck. Over it is a single-breasted, two-button jacket in a large herringbone stripe and with swelled lapels. Later within the movie, there’s a US Navy peacoat.
Then, in fact, there are the light Levi’s 517 boot-cut denims – this, bear in mind, was a time when denims had been solely simply beginning to be seen as something aside from clothes for teenagers or cowhands. Nerdishly, Turner wears his with climbing boots, an concept borrowed by style-shaper Gianni Agnelli.
The clue that he could also be extra the person of motion? That Doxa Shark Hunter diving watch. Very, very cool.
Jaws (1975)
Three guys preventing a shark at sea doesn’t sound like a recipe for issues sartorial. However every of the leads channels hipster cool lengthy earlier than hipster was a phrase.
Richard Dreyfuss’ oceanographer’s bucket hat and worn denim jacket – to not point out his Alsta Nautoscaph dive watch; Robert Shaw’s fisherman in his lengthy brimmed cap, untucked chambray shirt and M1951 discipline jacket (retained from his US Navy years); and Roy Scheider’s sun-faded sweatshirt with the sleeves reduce off, with wire-rimmed aviators… all of it ends as much as an enormous catch for style-watchers.
American Gigolo (1980)
Sure, Richard Gere is a male prostitute, however apparently meaning he has to decorate effectively. Certainly, a lot is clothes a part of his seduction that the movie’s most well-known scene sees him laying out a collection of attainable outfits on his mattress, one thing no self-respecting man’s man could be seen lifeless doing on the time.
However then the garments are all by Giorgio Armani – his massive break when it comes to costuming motion pictures, trumped solely by that for the extremely trendy The Untouchables. In truth, Gere’s fashion was one massive advert for the Armani aesthetic: belted camel overcoats, louche flap pocket shirts, pressed denims, good, unfastened separates in earthy tones.
No marvel the women thought he was so costly.
Wall Avenue (1987)
Greater than 35 years later, there’s something cartoonish in regards to the fashion of Wall Avenue – the massive double-breasted fits, the vast pleated trousers, the distinction collar shirts, the massive ties and tie clips, and, in fact, these braces.
The whole lot appears chosen – because it was by New York arbiter of fashion Alan Flusser – to hype up standing and energy. And but Wall Avenue formed the costume, particularly a desire for braces, of the finance world via the late Eighties and early Nineties.
Gordon Gekko turned a method icon and a task mannequin for American Psycho’s Patrick Batman. And Michael Douglas, who performed Gekko, knew it. That’s why, when filming was completed, he packed up the 12 fits and 30-odd bespoke shirts made for him and took them residence.
Humorous Face (1957)
The legendary costume designer Edith Head (inspiration for Edna Mode in The Incredibles) received an Oscar for this one. Given its affect on womenswear – long-term working relationships between actresses and trend designers, the black cigarette pants and polo neck sweater – that’s hardly stunning.
However by no means thoughts Audrey Hepburn. Take a look at Fred Astaire’s trend photographer character in his preppyish button-down Oxford shirts, his boater, and his penny loafers. And the quirky styling contact that Astaire made considered one of his signatures: sporting a necktie as a belt.
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Simply how trendy can a musical comedy in regards to the finish of the ‘talkies’ be? Reply: very. And that’s exactly as a result of it is a costume drama on acid.
Costume designer Walter Plunkett (Gone With the Wind) needed to make types memorable to an viewers who’d lived via the Nineteen Twenties however with the pop mandatory for a up to date technicolour age: eye-poppingly shiny plaids, a shiny mac in mustard, the sun-bright yellow waistcoat with pink tie, and the flecked Donegal tweed Norfolk tailor-made sportswear worn for the fairly moist, unforgettable title scene.
Reservoir Canines (1992)
It’s a testomony to the ability of only one picture that if you happen to get a bunch of males to stroll alongside one another sporting darkish fits, it’s nearly a reflex for onlookers to reference this movie.
The ‘energy stroll’ might have develop into a cinematic cliche, and there’s some irony that this bunch of crooks are all sporting matching black fits (although two of them are literally sporting black denims), white shirts and thin black ties in a bid to realize some anonymity, not catwalk cool.
The look turned the male equal of the ‘little black costume’ and rescued the go well with from its stiff, company picture.
