As a celebrity fashion stylist I spend a lot of time watching (and dressing) celebrities. It’s all research; style.com, magazines, red carpets, TV shows & movies. I often tell my personal shopping clients who find they are style challenged to pick a ‘Star Style Icon.’ It’s simply a celebrity whose style, whether it be on film or in real life, you admire. Study them. Figure out what they wear and why. Now this is not an invitation to stalk, especially if said style star is me, but it’s a way to see how others put things stylishly together. Once you’ve picked your icon, you just incorporate a little of that star swagger into your own!
Here are the 5 stars that I think are the best dressed men of stage and screen;
Let’s start at #5 with super-hottie Matthew Morrison, Will Schuester from Glee. Who would have thought that an all singin’, all dancin’ celebration of the hell that is high school would become one of TVs hottest shows? A lot of Glee’s success has to do with the adorable Matthew. I didn’t have teachers who looked like Matthew. And thank goodness! I would have failed his class over and over and over just to be near him! Matthew’s Will Schuester makes preppy look easy & mixes it with a dash of hip! Look for cashmere sweaters & vests layered over collared shirts with loose ties, boot cut jeans & a leather jacket tossed over it all to edge it up.
#4 on my list of TV Star Style Icons is Sheldon from CBS’ Big Bang Theory played by Jim Parsons. You may think I’m crazy to add Sheldon. If you are a fan of the show you know Jim’s awkward, socially inept genius physicist could probably care less about fashion. Now look closely. Even closer. Sheldon has mastered ‘geek-chic’. He mixes flat front khakis, vintage shirts, flares & ironic, funny tees with old school trainers in a way that has personality and a definite point of view. He’s also mastered the art of layering. If you don’t believe he’s become a fashion star then check out SheldonShirts.com. Yep, there’s a web-site dedicated to tees that Jim has worn on the show.
Roaring in at #3 on my list of TV’s best dressed men is Michael Westen of Burn Notice played by super hot Jeffrey Donovan. Jeffrey has made a career out of playing complicated, sexy characters and his Michael Westen is no departure. As a fired or ‘burned’ spy turned do-gooder who is constantly on the run from bad guys, Michael is like MacGuyvr meets Bond meets Sonny Crockett. He makes running, shooting, hand-to-hand combat and blowing stuff up hot! His style is a mod mix of Miami pastels, hip, tailored suits, fitted polos that show every muscle & the best trousers on TV. He mixes ethnic influences like guayaberas with American standards like khakis, pulled together with a straw hat to look cool with a side of menacing. Simply put if you’re gonna tangle with the bad guys yet get the girl you better look the part.
Speaking of natty no one pulls it off better than our runner-up Jon Hamm playing the stunning ad exec Don Draper on AMC’s award winning hit, Mad Men. Set in the 50s the show could easily fall, stylistically anyway, into kitsch, like watching an old episode of Bewitched. But it’s Jon Hamm’s complete immersion into the role of Don Draper & his style that leaves viewers panting for more. Don Draper wields style like a sword letting everyone know he’s a master of the advertising universe. Wearing sharply tailored suits, skinny ties and very male accessories like pocket squares, tie clips, wayfarers and even fedoras Jon Hamm exudes power & sex appeal. He makes you want to dress up & look like a man.
And the #1 most stylish character on TV, my top Star Style Icon is Neal Caffrey, (Matt Bomer) from the hit show White Collar. As if from out of nowhere Matt Bomer is everywhere. With a face and body to die for Matt has made White Collar, a show about a globe-trotting, art thief and con artist, turned FBI agent, the number one show on USA and a cable TV must see. Matt wears clothes like a male model. His style is definitely dressed up natty with a shot of urban cool. Think a young, modern (gay) James Bond… with piercing blue eyes and a penchant for John Varvatos suits. Nobody does it better.
And that dear readers is my list of TV’s top Star Style Icons. Fashion can be hard and true style is not easy. It takes work. Research. And in this case a DVR and some spare hours spent watching TV’s hottest shows! Up next month when we talk Spring/Summer ’10 Fashion. Until then, keep it stylish. M*