Cool as McQueen

Steve McQueen’s undeniable style makes him a reoccurring menswear reference. Forever dubbed “The King of Cool,” his antihero persona developed at the height of the counterculture of the 1960s made him a top box-office draw in the ’60s and ’70s.

He was good-looking, well-dressed and exuded a laissez-faire attitude that, when combined, help explain why McQueen came to be revered as the epitome of masculine coolness. While The Great Escape was McQueen’s first style triumph, his clothing in two separate films in 1968 cemented his status as a veritable men’s fashion icon.

The Thomas Crown Affair cast a wider net in terms of his character’s wardrobe. Crown, McQueen’s character, wore three-piece suits by day but opted for casual menswear on weekends that was a close reflection of McQueen’s personal preference. In Bullitt, the first time we see McQueen’s namesake character, he appears in paisley silk pajamas—a strong sartorial statement for that decade. Elsewhere in Bullitt, McQueen avoided “traditional” police attire in favor of more casual clothing—when his peers were wearing shirts and ties, Bullitt was wearing a shawl-collared sweater or a navy turtleneck under a brown tweed jacket.

But one of the most famous photographs of McQueen, shot by Life magazine photographer John Dominis in 1963, perfectly sums up his style. We see him sitting in a polo, beige slacks and Jack Purcells with a pistol in hand. The iconic image perfectly encapsulated McQueen and the coolness of both himself and the characters that he played.

Equally at home on set and the racetrack, McQueen’s natural style has endured. But even if you don’t race cars or fight crime, you can easily draw inspiration from McQueen’s timeless look.

Bottom line: We should all aim to be as effortlessly cool as Steve McQueen.