Reference Point: Marvin Gaye
One issue I have with men’s style is how we focus on the same five style icons all the time. Sure, Miles Davis and Steve McQueen have created the template for how modern men dress, but many other men don't get their due when it comes to how their style made an imprint on American culture. Few modern style icons are as unsung as Marvin Gaye.
Marvin Gaye wore heritage workwear better than any of us ever will.
In terms of musical recognition, Gaye has received his fair due. He’s in the pantheon of the best R&B singers of all time, and few musicians have done as much to bring conversations about social justice and sex to the table. Though a troubled man, Marvin was a fair-minded, sensitive man. Each album he made was a response to the world around him - his 1971 masterpiece What’s Going On was his protest against the Vietnam War, penned after seeing how combat affected his brother. His 1976 album I Want You is the rawest, purest expression of sex and love in music to date. Gaye was so impassioned, that according to Leon Ware (the album’s producer), he was found on the floor when recording with one hand on the microphone and the other in an act of self-pleasure. 1978’s Here, My Dear finds Gaye reflecting on the end of his marriage and the mixed emotions this dissolution caused.
Where Gaye doesn’t get his due is in his style. Gaye was a sharp cat, starting strong in the 1960s with his trim suits and clean-cut Motown look. As the 1970s dawned, Gaye’s look became funkier and more casual. He was the Granddaddy of the American heritage look, and one of my favorite images of him is where he’s wearing a plain white t-shirt, cuffed denim and work boots with his signature red cap. He wore double denim in a way that would make workwear Instagrammers weak in the knees (see the cover for 1973s Let’s Get It On), in a way that had more soul than the guy who chases the rarest fabric. Marvin could rock a tux better than anyone, and often wore one when performing his legendary duets with Tammi Terrell.
"Talk to me, so you can see what's going on." - Marvin Gaye
Gaye’s style endures as inspiration - more subtly and unacknowledged than it should - because he stuck with classics. Most photos of Gaye show him in one of these looks, and there’s a reason he didn’t deviate far from his blueprints. He wore what worked for him because he knew his staples made him look natty and sharp. Gaye never pandered to fashion, which is why he looked as good in 1980 as he did in 1965. Keep that in mind when buying your next suit or picking out casualwear - timelessness is appealing, lets one focus on the details and leaves room for other thing in life, whether protests or trysts. Just ask Marvin.
Shirt and sweater: GANT Rugger, Jacket: Barbour