Where Has All the Menswear Gone?

Thoughts for Guys

Can you name a modern male celebrity who appears on menswear mood boards the way Steve McQueen, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, or Paul Newman do?

Hard to say. The Wall Street Journal recently asked a few dozen of us in menswear, myself included. I came up with a list—but the names didn’t carry quite the same weight. Why is that?

McQueen wore simple clothes. He wasn't conventionally handsome, or charming. But his style—natural fabrics, worn-in layers, a sweatshirt bleached by sun and oil—looked lived-in. Not styled, but inhabited.

Those old icons dressed the way you live in a house. The fit was right. The fabric had character. Nothing looked temporary.

There was also a lightness in how they moved. Fred Astaire, airborne in suits and pleated chinos. Mick Jagger laughing in white bucks. McQueen tearing down the road like a schoolboy. Gary Cooper at ease in espadrilles. Their highs felt innocent.

Time has passed, yet their style is more admired than ever. Today’s celebrities often look slightly on edge—and who can blame them? Every outfit, every outing, is documented. Fame now feels like surveillance.

In a world overflowing with content, why are those images still unmatched?