Mister Crew

The WSJ just published an article on Steve McQueen’s continuing influence on menswear that’s worth a read: Fashion Channels the Steve McQueen Mojo

Steve McQueen died in 1980. Today, he is a rising star in menswear.

Dolce & Gabbana has created a line of $285 T-shirts decorated with pictures of the 1960s and ’70s star for spring, building on the success of a limited-edition line in spring 2008. Thom Browne, a designer known for his extremely fitted clothing, cites Mr. McQueen’s look in “The Thomas Crown Affair” as an inspiration. Pictures of Mr. McQueen adorn the “mood” bulletin boards used in-house to inform J. Crew’s collections, says Frank Muytjens, head of men’s design. The retailer carries off-white, slim-fitting corduroy pants and Baracuta jackets like the ones the actor wore; it even styles outfits in its catalogs based on photographs of him.

I think that taking inspiration or even making replicas of what he wore is okay (see Real McCoy’s The Great Escape clothing line), but branding his name on everything like this is pretty naff.

Writer Wei Koh had a very nice article about Steve McQueen’s suits in The Thomas Crown Affair for a recent issue of Rake, and it’s available to view on their site: http://www.therakeonline.com/article_stevemcqueen.html. I think I’m going to have to sign up for a subscription soon, it just sucks that the cost is a bit steep.

I had some more pictures of McQueen in one of his three piece suits in this previous post.

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Steve McQueen’s suit in The Thomas Crown Affair is probably one of the best ever shown in cinema.

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