Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen, Hollywood’s highest paid actor, sexiest man – timeless style icon. His look s where very different to the skinny pale faced models that a model agency would snap up in 2010. This was back in the 60’s, the decade which by this point had also spawned fellow Hollywood bad boy legends Marlon Brando and James Dean. Like his contemporaries, Steve McQueen became, and 30 years later remains a classic symbol of new-age masculinity, spirit and style. The all-American symbol of rebellion, charm and boyish good-looks.

Born in 1930, Indiana, to parents who disowned him – his father walked out when McQueen was 6 months old. Though looked after by various relatives for a majority of his childhood, he basically raised himself and carved out his own ambitions and interests formed from the inconsistent life he led. As well as his life-long interest in speed racing and off-road biking he’d moved to New York to study acting to pursue his movie stardom dreams.

Working his way up from bit parts to breakthrough roles, then to a string of major Hollywood hits, McQueen soon became the biggest name nationally and internationally. His screen presence and rugged boy good looks as well as his own unique brand of method acting and personal input in his roles led him to superstardom and admiration from fellow actors, the industry and his massive fan-base. With his own brand of style, he soon became ‘The King of Cool’, a nickname he holds to this day.

Everything from cut-off sweatshirts, and chinos – both his idea, to the iconic vests, which he made masculine, to the very stylish, often custom-made suits including the three-piece Thomas Crown suits. His role as Captain Virgil Hilts in The Great Escape changed the face of what was expected. No leather or trendy biking garments, McQueen sported cream coloured chinos, worker boots, and an oversized but plain t-shirt. Simple everyday pieces overnight turned into iconic and must-have items. Women wanted – and had him, and males young and old admired him, idolised him and wanted to be him. Antihero, sex-symbol, style icon. As McQueen’s own idol Frank Sinatra once stated “it’s all your’s now kid”. Today’s young Hollywood elite and continued fan-base can only dream of being ‘The King of Cool’.

Written by Tom Farr