What suits a Gentleman...Part 1

Our big day drawing closer, my fiancé and I are getting quite obsessed with the last finicky details in our outfits...Last night, as he was researching on the internet as if to resolve the sartorial conundrums of the perfect tuxedo suit, he got really animated and passionately reviewed the styles he would go through.

I thus started to draw a mental list of who I considered as an inspiring male stylish icon. Here is my top-ten list of the moment...

1- Cary Grant, both impeccably elegant and charmingly bold, as always. In this photo, I love the detail of his mother-of-pearl cuff links!
Memo: My current favourite film starring Cary Grant is George Cukor's Holiday (1938), with Katharine Hepburn. A treat!

2- Alain Delon in The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) by Luchino Visconti - one of the happy few who can wear a black band or patch on his eye, and still look hyper stylish! As a young girl, I found this aristocratic dandy-pirate look of his so irresistible that, for years, my ideal name for a baby boy was...Tancrède (Tancredi, Delon's character in the film).

3- Gary Cooper. Notice the thin ring! I love his ease and confidence in style, not to mention his childish elegance in Mr Deeds goes to Town by Frank Capra (1936)...

4- Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, composer, poet and great agitator -a perfect dandy with a twist.

5-Omar Sharif in a tuxedo shirt with a wing collar, stiff in the attitude but so graceful; a must in Funny Girl, directed by William Wyler (1968)

6- Jacques Dutronc, the French crooner with a cigar and an attitude. Wearing three-piece suits or tuxedos was his signature in the 1970s. See Jacques Dutronc sing Gentleman Cambrioleur (Gentleman burglar).

7- Yves Klein. Photograph of a performance by Yves Klein at Rue Gentil-Bernard, Fontenay-aux-Roses, October 1960, by Harry Shunk. Le Saut dans le Vide, Leap into the Void, leap but confidently and in a black suit...

8- Noel Coward, the English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit and flamboyance; unparalleled. Here in a white dinner jacket and a waistcoat with lapels.

9- Jean-Louis Trintignant, playing the ice-cold conformist in his tailored suit (notice the slender silhouette) - from The Conformist, directed By Bernardo Bertolucci.
10-Vincent Cassel, falsely casual. Notice the thin ring, again! - © John Rankin

And 'hors-catégorie', the man who has taught me how to look better at the details of a suit, the one and only gentleman that suits me...

Marco Jacob © Miguel Jacob