An icon of American style: Robert Redford’s fashion legacy

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN

(CNN) — When the legendary Hollywood actor-turned director Robert Redford passed away Tuesday, he left behind not only a body of impactful and culturally significant films, but also a style legacy that has largely become the blueprint for American menswear.

Instantly recognizable by his floppy windswept hair and penchant for relaxed, yet refined looks, Redford became a symbol of classic, understated elegance throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, when he became the go-to leading man in American cinema, starring in films such as “All the President’s Men” and “The Way We Were.”

Among Redford’s memorable outfits is the elegant pastel suit worn in the 1974 romance-drama “The Great Gatsby” and the herringbone tweed sports coat, layered atop a blue chambray shirt, striped wool tie and light blue jeans, that he sported in the 1975 thriller “Three Days of the Condor” — a preppy, layered style that wouldn’t feel out of place today amid the recent resurgence in Ivy League dressing.

Indeed, Redford, who became the embodiment of timelessness and sophistication, paved the way for many American menswear archetypes, from prep to western.

And his embrace of classic wardrobe styles, such as button-down shirts, aviator sunglasses and denim pants — at times worn with a matching shirt, making him an early adopter of the “double denim” look long before it became a trend — seeped beyond the big screen and into his sartorial choices.

Despite his seemingly effortless nature, Redford was particular about his clothes. For “Three Days of the Condor,” the actor made specific requests for his jeans, requesting a “Hollywood hem” for his flared Levi’s that involved cropping the 36in inseam and reattaching the original cuff, the film’s costume designer, Joseph Aulisi, told the Financial Times’ luxury supplement HTSI, which on Monday published a tribute to Redford’s style.

Yet despite widespread efforts to imitate the icon’s image, it was rarely successfully replicated, the French designer and founder of tailoring brand Husbands Paris, Nicolas Gabard, who produced the gray tweed blazer worn by Redford in the “Three Days of the Condor,” told HTSI. “All menswear guys, at one point, have tried to copy this jacket. Even Ralph Lauren,” he said. “And no one has succeeded.”

Influential fashion designers and enthusiasts alike have often drawn inspiration from the late actor. Michael Kors, for example, looked at Redford’s portrayal of a swaggering skier in the 1969 film “Downhill Racer” when designing his 2016 men’s collection, which referenced “apres-ski” style. Ralph Lauren (who designed the costumes for the male cast of “The Great Gatsby”) has also spoken of his admiration for Hollywood’s golden age and the style of its leading actors, such as Redford.

“Robert Redford was America’s movie star — from ‘Gatsby’ to the ‘Sundance Kid’, but it was his personal commitment to preserving his craft and the natural world he loved that will be his enduring legacy. We will miss his joy and optimistic view of living,” Ralph Lauren told CNN over email.

Still, a tanned, graying brown-haired Redford said, aged 82, that he was “surprised” to have been considered a sex symbol. “When I was a kid no one ever told me I was good looking; I never heard that,” he told British newspaper The Telegraph in 2018.

“My hair was red and unmanageable and I had cowlicks going all over the place. I had freckles and my teeth were too big. So I didn’t have people coming up to me saying, ‘Boy, you’re a really good-looking guy.’ That came much later and when it did come I wasn’t prepared for it,” he added.

While Redford’s looks and charisma were advantageous to his career in many ways, they didn’t always work in his favor: The actor famously lost out on a starring role in the 1967 comedy-romance film “The Graduate” because he had never been rejected by a woman. (Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2008, the film’s director Mike Nichols said Redford could “never play a loser” for that reason.)

And no doubt he was right. 58 years on, Redford’s appeal endures — and will likely continue long after his passing.

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With contributions from CNN’s Amarachi Orie and Leah Dolan.