Aristocrat V Gangster. Who is the best dressed in Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen?
Guy Richie’s movie universe is a fast paced violent gangster world with sharp dialogue, stylish camera work and dark, dark humour. And now with his latest TV show he adds some of the finest men’s clothes to hit the screen.
In The Gentlemen he pits the English aristocracy against the criminal underworld all while introducing an expansive wardrobe. So lets take a comprehensive look at the fabulous clothing of some key characters. The young would be aristocrat Eddie, the lazy and entitled older bother Freddy and the exquisitely dressed highbrow criminal Mr. Stanley Johnston… with a T. Three different styles running the gamut from casual to dapper.
Eddie -The Duke
Eddie having returned home from the army inherits his father’s mansion, fortune and title of Duke which was expected to go to his older brother. So when we first see Eddie he is still wearing his army influence mixed with his nobility in the form of casual clothes wrapped in a dark green waxed jacket with a dark brown corduroy collar. This seems to be the typical landed gentry garb for the outdoors and you’ll find plenty of similar jackets on the Barbour website such as the Barber Beaufort. It has a relaxed countryside feel even though you’ll see plenty of them in the city. This is Eddie’s go to look as he does not lean into his new inheritance easily.
Eddie finally breaks out of his post army gear to attend a funeral and does it in style. He is dressed in all black from his wool overcoat to his shirt and necktie. Perhaps it straddles the border between being respectful and being a little too stylish. But he looks good and gets the attention of a princess.
Eddie’s wardrobe starts to show signs of his life becoming more intwined with his title and estate as he now dons wool overcoats though still sweaters and casual clothing beneath. The first wool overcoats is single breasted knee length brown check coat with a long notched lapel and black buttons. All his clothes have earth tones and blend together very well showing class and style while keeping it relaxed and simple.
His next overcoat is a plain chocolate brown knee length wool coat with a notched lapel with a blue shirt underneath. Blue and brown always make excellent bedfellows.
Yet another excellent knee length wool overcoat… this time a a Macintosh style coat with a gun club check which means it has collar but no lapel. But still thrown over some casual clothes. This shows the power of outer wear in cold weather and how you can bring the level of your whole wardrobe up without too much effort.
Dressing up a little Eddie displays the art of wearing a suit casually. A dark brown suit with a denim shirt and no tie. He’s in a classy restaurant to celebrate but he also wants to look relaxed. A denim shirt is totally acceptable with a suit and gives it a chilled appearance.
Another item from his grace’s overcoat collection. This time a light grey blue tweed overcoat with a brown and dark blue check tuning through it. This check allows it to work with any number of colours from blues to warm tones underneath.
Now we see Eddie become more accepting of both his title and his criminal involvement. This is the first time we see him in a suit and tie and he does it spectacularly well. This first suit is a three piece brown check tweed with a windowpane overcheck. A blue denim shirt and a a beautiful densely decorated purple and orange necktie. The blue shirt breaks it up from being too monotone but he keeps all of the other colours earth tones. Beautifully put together by the costume designer Loulou Bontemps. I want that tie.
His next suit is a dark brown houndstooth patterned two piece with peaked lapels. Again a spectacular dense necktie in red and navy. I want that tie too! These ties are works of art. And an electric blue shirt. Just because you’re a Duke doesn’t mean you have to be boring.
There is no getting around making a statement with this strong blue suit toned down slightly by a classic white shirt and mixed brown and blue patterned necktie. The stylist did not treat theses neckties as mere accessories but clearly put as much thought into their selection as the main pieces.
Although sitting in a cafe (that’s British for a low rent diner) his lordship is wearing a brown three piece wool windowpane suit with a subtle tone on tone check. A standard business light blue shirt and a calm blue necktie. It says class, style and dapper without yelling.
And his final suit is that strong blue suit this time with a deep blue shirt and one of those fabulous neckties we’ve already seen. His wardrobe ends on a magnificent note as his two lives as aristocrat and gangster come together harmoniously.
Freddy - The Brother
Freddy’s journey is less stride and more splutter both in life and costume. Bitter from losing everything to his younger brother he briefly pulls himself together with a business scheme, although a spurious one, and failing to convince anyone of its genius reverts to the semi dressed stylish bum about the manor. In fact the only suit he wears is a chicken suit. But I won’t get into that excruciating and hilarious scene here. I can only recommend you watch the show.
Unshaven Freddy wears a grid shirt beneath a Shetland/Fair Isle style sweater. The sweater is blue with orange and red designs running throughout allowing him to wear some rather daring burnt Sienna cords. Matching your pants to secondary colours in your sweater or jacket is always a good way to wear different colours without clashing.
In this scene where the self obsessed Freddy reaches an all time low he has on a sort of mock Sherlock Holmes Inverness look. The overcoat is an excellent heavy wool coat with an exploded houndstooth pattern - meaning the regular pattern has been enlarged. But the mismatched deerstalker hat is a bad clash. Either match well or don’t match at all. Near is as good as a miss when it comes to patterns.
Here Freddy is wearing classic old money clothes. Beige chinos with a light blue shirt. Nicely put together with subtle touch of class as he wears an almost hidden Ascott beneath the collar.
As Freddy is briefly in entrepreneur mode he makes an effort to impress and although his business idea is as mad as a hatter’s he dresses the part showing how clothing make the man. His check tweed sports coat, white casual button down shirt and light chinos could be comfortably worn anywhere from the boardroom to the coffee shop.
Freddy has his favourite corduroy pants on with a grid shirt and another sports coat. Again the sports coat has enough red and warm tones running through the check to make the pants work.
And for his swan song Freddy wears his favourite burnt Sienna cords with a blue and white pinstripe dress shirt and thick blue wool shawl collar sweater.
Mr. Johnston - with a T
Stanley Johnston is quite the opposite of Freddy, always suited and booted. There is a conventional wisdom that says you should always dress for the occasion but if you have the presence and composure of Mr. Johnston then you can dress your own way wherever you go.
We are introduced to Mr. Stanley Johnston at his pool table in his mansion stripped to his peaked lapel double breasted vest from his textured grid grey 3 piece suit. Once again proving that grey is not boring when it comes to suiting. A navy ancient madder tie and a polkadot pocket square.
Next a dark brown check suit with a red overcheck. Again we can see how the subtle colours of a check pattern can allow the wearer to use unexpected colours without being outstanding. He has a dark red patterned necktie and a red pocket square.
There’s a very nice opening scene from episode 8 where Johnston is being measured and fit for a bespoke suit. It’s worth observing if you wonder what bespoke really means or how it feels.
This is the only time Johnston wears less than full suit so I suppose for him this is casual dress. A red and brown gun club check sports coat with dark brown pants, a red pocket square and a green and red diamond pattern necktie.
Beneath that fabulous dark brown overcoat and matching fedora is a grey glen check. It is grey so it goes with everything but is far from plain. An excellent choice whether rookie or expert. A white shirt is matched with a green and red tie. And of course the walking stick adds a touch of class that only a few could carry off.
A blue and black check tweed suit with an off white shirt and blue patterned necktie. It speaks for itself.
Next a light grey tweed jacket with a brown and orange check. French cuffs, that is a shirt that doesn’t have buttons on the sleeves and requires cufflinks and a purple and orange bow tie. Again Uncle Stan showing he is the most dapper dresser in the series.
Even in prison Stanley Johnston keeps up the importance of being well dressed. A somewhat, for him, understated grey glen check two piece with a white shirt a blue and orange diamond pattern necktie and a solid pocket square.
There are several other characters whose wardrobe deserve cover here but this video would become a bit too epic so please check out the wonderful TV show as it’s a joy to watch whether cinematically or sartorially. I’ll leave the last word to Uncle Stan as it’s often said that your clothes do the talking for you before you even get a chance to open your mouth. And no one would ever be under any illusion about the man that Stanley Johnston is.