THE GQ Mag's 50 MOST STYLISH MEN OF THE PAST 50 YEARS (link)
I agree on these guys making the list:
Muhammad Ali
It’s no accident that in 1997, Christie’s sold a robe of Muhammad Ali’s for $156,500. The three-time world heavyweight champ displayed the same greatness stepping onto the canvas as he did rhyming his way through a press conference or high-fiving his way through the streets of Zaire—and he always looked far better doing so than anyone in his swarming entourage. Although flamboyantly charismatic in and out of the ring, Ali favored a more classic wardrobe. The dark suits, white shirts, narrow ties, and buffed shoes gave him a look that traced back to his roots as a churchgoing boy in Louisville. “I don’t follow fashion so much as I try to find clothes that make me look good,” Ali told GQ recently. “Because that never goes out of style.”
• Wear a slim dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, and you’ll look like a champ. That’s really all you need to know. It’s that simple.
Malcolm X
After six years in prison, Malcolm X emerged a completely changed man—not least in the way he dressed. Whereas he once ran the streets in a brightly colored zoot suits—the hustler’s uniform—he now wore sober, monochromatic suits with narrow lapels and skinny ties, often topped off by stingy-brimmed fedoras. “As a minister in the Nation of Islam, you had to present yourself in a certain way,” says Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer on Spike Lee’s 1992 bio-pic. For Carter, who tracked down the artisan who made his star-and-crescent ring (“He wanted to show people he was pure in his faith,” she says), Malcolm X’s style was consistent and transparent, a window into the substance of his character and message. “He believed that if you present yourself with respect, then people will respect you—and that’s what he did. He gained the respect of millions.”
• A short-brimmed fedora is heroic and hip. And you might have noticed, they’re also back in style—whether in wool (for the winter) or straw (for the summer).
I'm thinking about getting a Malcolm fedora now.
Miles Davis
For decades, trumpet player Miles Davis was the living definition of cool. “Miles was regal,” says legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. “The music, the clothes, the hair, the physique. He was the complete package.” Davis’s music and sartorial choices were outward expressions of the inner man. He believed that the notes you don’t play are as important as the ones you do. It was an ethos that carried over to the clothes he wore. Up until the late 1960s, when he started merging jazz with rock ’n’ roll, Miles favored three-piece suits by Brooks Brothers and worked with a New York City tailor to create a style all his own: jackets that were cut in one piece, with only two seams—under the sleeves and down the jacket sides—no chest pocket or padding in the shoulders, and notch lapels that rolled down to a single button. Davis best described his style in his autobiography, Miles, when he said, “I was clean as a motherfucker.”
• Every man should own at least one pair of great khakis. And by “great,” we mean slim-cut and flat-front.
Al Pacino
Think back to that scene in Saturday Night Fever when Travolta looks at the Serpico poster on his wall: “Pa-CHEE-no!” Even if you don’t share Tony Manero’s ethnic pride, you recognize the magic in that name. Pacino is that gritty New Yorker of the 1970s—the sideburns, the blow-dried hair, the leather blazers. Whether Pacino was playing a corruption-fighting cop or a junkie or a Mob boss, you knew he’d grown up with these characters in the South Bronx. In 1979 the interviewer Lawrence Grobel found Pacino living in the same shabby three-room apartment he’d occupied for years, surrounded by dog-eared copies of Shakespeare. “It’s my turf,” he told Grobel. “I really love New York…. From Battery Park right up to Harlem…. I still get out there in the streets. Watch a guy put forty packs of crackers in his soup.” Hear it again. “Pa-CHEE-no!” Thirty years later, the mere sound of it still radiates cool.
• A black leather jacket is versatile. Try one with suit pants, or even a white dress shirt and a dark slim tie.
Most Questionable Choice
:
The Ramones
It’s not just that the Ramones made their awkward geekiness look cool; it’s when they did it. In April 1976—as the Bee Gees climbed the Billboard charts—Sire Records released Ramones, fourteen fast tracks of three-chord noise carried by the incomparable voice of Joey Ramone. He stood on the cover in what would become punk’s immortal uniform: filthy Keds, torn jeans, and a black leather biker jacket. Fifty-two blocks down from Studio 54, a tiny club called CBGB was giving the unknown band gigs. The block has been renamed Joey Ramone Place. The Bee Gees have been given no such honor.
• A Leather biker jacket should be snug and trim. Buy one a size smaller than you normally would and you’ll look like a rock star. Trust us. [Don't do it.
Follow the Pacino look instead]
---
I can't believe they left this cat off the list
Jimi Hendrix This cat defined cool for a generation.
Who do yall agree with; find questionable being on the list; think they left off the list.
I agree on these guys making the list:
Muhammad Ali
It’s no accident that in 1997, Christie’s sold a robe of Muhammad Ali’s for $156,500. The three-time world heavyweight champ displayed the same greatness stepping onto the canvas as he did rhyming his way through a press conference or high-fiving his way through the streets of Zaire—and he always looked far better doing so than anyone in his swarming entourage. Although flamboyantly charismatic in and out of the ring, Ali favored a more classic wardrobe. The dark suits, white shirts, narrow ties, and buffed shoes gave him a look that traced back to his roots as a churchgoing boy in Louisville. “I don’t follow fashion so much as I try to find clothes that make me look good,” Ali told GQ recently. “Because that never goes out of style.”
• Wear a slim dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, and you’ll look like a champ. That’s really all you need to know. It’s that simple.
Malcolm X
After six years in prison, Malcolm X emerged a completely changed man—not least in the way he dressed. Whereas he once ran the streets in a brightly colored zoot suits—the hustler’s uniform—he now wore sober, monochromatic suits with narrow lapels and skinny ties, often topped off by stingy-brimmed fedoras. “As a minister in the Nation of Islam, you had to present yourself in a certain way,” says Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer on Spike Lee’s 1992 bio-pic. For Carter, who tracked down the artisan who made his star-and-crescent ring (“He wanted to show people he was pure in his faith,” she says), Malcolm X’s style was consistent and transparent, a window into the substance of his character and message. “He believed that if you present yourself with respect, then people will respect you—and that’s what he did. He gained the respect of millions.”
• A short-brimmed fedora is heroic and hip. And you might have noticed, they’re also back in style—whether in wool (for the winter) or straw (for the summer).
I'm thinking about getting a Malcolm fedora now.
Miles Davis
For decades, trumpet player Miles Davis was the living definition of cool. “Miles was regal,” says legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. “The music, the clothes, the hair, the physique. He was the complete package.” Davis’s music and sartorial choices were outward expressions of the inner man. He believed that the notes you don’t play are as important as the ones you do. It was an ethos that carried over to the clothes he wore. Up until the late 1960s, when he started merging jazz with rock ’n’ roll, Miles favored three-piece suits by Brooks Brothers and worked with a New York City tailor to create a style all his own: jackets that were cut in one piece, with only two seams—under the sleeves and down the jacket sides—no chest pocket or padding in the shoulders, and notch lapels that rolled down to a single button. Davis best described his style in his autobiography, Miles, when he said, “I was clean as a motherfucker.”
• Every man should own at least one pair of great khakis. And by “great,” we mean slim-cut and flat-front.
Al Pacino
Think back to that scene in Saturday Night Fever when Travolta looks at the Serpico poster on his wall: “Pa-CHEE-no!” Even if you don’t share Tony Manero’s ethnic pride, you recognize the magic in that name. Pacino is that gritty New Yorker of the 1970s—the sideburns, the blow-dried hair, the leather blazers. Whether Pacino was playing a corruption-fighting cop or a junkie or a Mob boss, you knew he’d grown up with these characters in the South Bronx. In 1979 the interviewer Lawrence Grobel found Pacino living in the same shabby three-room apartment he’d occupied for years, surrounded by dog-eared copies of Shakespeare. “It’s my turf,” he told Grobel. “I really love New York…. From Battery Park right up to Harlem…. I still get out there in the streets. Watch a guy put forty packs of crackers in his soup.” Hear it again. “Pa-CHEE-no!” Thirty years later, the mere sound of it still radiates cool.
• A black leather jacket is versatile. Try one with suit pants, or even a white dress shirt and a dark slim tie.
Most Questionable Choice
:
The Ramones
It’s not just that the Ramones made their awkward geekiness look cool; it’s when they did it. In April 1976—as the Bee Gees climbed the Billboard charts—Sire Records released Ramones, fourteen fast tracks of three-chord noise carried by the incomparable voice of Joey Ramone. He stood on the cover in what would become punk’s immortal uniform: filthy Keds, torn jeans, and a black leather biker jacket. Fifty-two blocks down from Studio 54, a tiny club called CBGB was giving the unknown band gigs. The block has been renamed Joey Ramone Place. The Bee Gees have been given no such honor.
• A Leather biker jacket should be snug and trim. Buy one a size smaller than you normally would and you’ll look like a rock star. Trust us. [Don't do it.
Follow the Pacino look instead]---
I can't believe they left this cat off the list
Jimi Hendrix This cat defined cool for a generation.
Who do yall agree with; find questionable being on the list; think they left off the list.
