The rich and dreamy nostalgic imagery of Robert Redford that has been flooding the internet at the news of his death highlights how many, many things he wore better than anyone else. Clothing items that – although they were chosen for him by the movie magicians and costumers who created the wardrobes for his films – he personally made iconic. Redford embodied his wardrobe on-screen, adding  insouciance and off-hand glamour to literally everything he donned or doffed. His warmth shone through. 

For such an undeniably beautiful man, inside and out, he was appealing to everyone – male, female, gay, straight and otherwise. How could someone that incredibly good-looking (to paraphrase Zoolander), who wore clothing that well, not inspire jealousy? That was the Redford secret sauce: he was able to project an everyman quality – the guy you want to marry, the guy you would love to have a beer with, the guy who could so clearly be your best friend. He was inspirational without ever being intimidating with an impossible, indefinable “it” factor that fueled nearly 60 years in the public eye. 

Redford left us not only an impressive body of work, which I personally will be sitting down to rewatch over the next few weeks, but references to build a timeless closet, for men and women alike. Here are some standout moments.

 

The Navy Peacoat

 

The Sydney Pollack film Three Days of the Condor (1975) launched a thousand menswear fashion dreams. Redford played bookish, naïve CIA analyst Joe Turner. The peacoat Redford wore, with his tousled blond hair and flared, faded jeans, was double-breasted, with imprinted anchor designs on the buttons, and made from Melton wool (that stiff, somewhat scratchy wool with enough body to pop the collar). I sleuthed a fabulous peacoat currently up for grabs from Simons.

 

The Grey Tweed Jacket

 

In a throw to another legendary sartorial moment from Condor, How to Spend It magazine from the Financial Times just happened to launch a story about the eternal quest for Redford’s brilliant grey tweed jacket mere minutes before the actor’s death was announced. Two buttons, notch lapels, scarlet lining, herringbone tweed: the piece was classic and, for the mid-’70s, kind of spare in its style. That suited Turner’s youthful, scrabbling, academic identity in the film. The FT claims that many designers over the years, including the American sportswear expert Ralph Lauren, have tried to capture this jacket’s magic. But it remains elusive. Here are some current contenders to copy Redford’s grey jacket from Condor: a tweedy classic from Ralph Lauren, and a slightly sleeker, more citified piece by Canali.

Not to dwell on Condor as a fashion film, but dwell we must. Redford also covered up that stunning blond, feathered mane with a navy beanie he toyed with, pulling it low over his eyes and perching it high on his head; it was paired with his exceptionally cut, slightly flared jeans and some hiking boots, which all came in helpful after he found himself on the run. Rugged Swedish brand, Fjällräven makes one of fall’s best unisex beanies.

 

The White Three-Piece

 

Redford captured the quintessential American ideal of polished, manor-chic elegance as Jay Gatsby in the 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby. His lithe ease made all the ’20s suiting look fabulous, but it is the white three-piece suit he wore as party host that stands the test of time. To wear a white suit with aplomb takes confidence and panache. And a three-piece, even in a time when it was fashionable, has always been a challenge to pull off. Redford’s cool, calm demeanour – the same one that he used to seduce Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal (1993) – carried the day here. Speaking of white suits, the Hubbell full-dress naval uniform in The Way We Were (1973) remains one of the most potent, swoon-worthy outfits in cinematic history. No one really wears three-pieces anymore, but to get the look, try this fabulous Ralph Lauren cream suit.

 

The Big Rollneck Cable-Knit Sweater

 

Redford was also a big sweater guy and knew his way around a chunky knit. The ultimate sweater moment was on the beach in The Way We Were. He wore a bubble-knit cream sweater (matched to Barbra Streisand’s cap, a coup de foudre of yarn history). But over the years, the cable-knit became his sweater of repose and often the way he was captured off-duty. For a boy who grew up on the California coast (Santa Monica!) and who chose Utah as his home base, he knew how to work a leisure jumper. Maine-based, outdoorsy L.L. Bean has the perfect Fisherman’s Sweater ideal to cozy up in this season.

 

The Safari Look

 

The dreamiest of Redford’s characters (at least for me) is his role as Denys Finch Hatton, the iconoclastic, fatalist big-game hunter in 1985’s Out of Africa, where he famously washes the hair of lover, Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), with the most assured dexterity known to humanity. He wears perfectly worn-in hats and perfectly creased khaki trousers, gun vests and knee-high boots with britches. It is an entire fantasy wardrobe genre that can be achieved from the UK’s favourite purveyors of shooting gear, Holland & Holland and Purdeys. For a quick hit of outdoorsy chic, Tilley makes our favourite safari hat that can also translate to everyday wear.  

 

The Pinstripes With a Newsboy

 

The Depression-era rolled-up shirtsleeves, pinstriped suits, newsboy caps and off-kilter fedoras Redford wore in 1973’s The Sting were period, yes, but they felt right at home on him. These weren’t costumes: that is the secret of Redford inhabiting a character. Taking this out of the realm of costume and back into regular life, here is a select for Sting-inspired chic. 

 

The Navy Blazer

 

In the 1972 film The Candidate, Redford wore a navy blue blazer with a striped tie the way no one has ever before or since: with absolute conviction. The look has become a timeless staple of both the left and the right way of viewing the world, and how to dress to run it. But no one has ever looked more convincing in a navy blazer. The best, of course, is from Ralph Lauren. 

Bonus reference: in Redford’s breakthrough role, Barefoot in the Park (1967), where he starred alongside his eventual lifelong friend Jane Fonda – he wore the era’s straight-laced, slim, black suiting and skinny tie and made it feel right at home. 

 

The Blue Shirt

 

Redford’s signature (and I owe this observation entirely to style writer Nathalie Atkinson, Zoomer’s book critic, who wrote this tribute to the star on the occasion of his 85th birthday) was the blue shirt. It was, of course, about enhancing/magnifying his stunning baby blue eyes. As she says, once you noticed it, you couldn’t not notice it. Costume designers always put him in a blue shirt to match his blue eyes.

J.Crew make some classic, dreamy blue shirts for men (and for women who love to borrow from the boys, like me).

 

The Mirrored Aviators

 

Enough said. You can’t conjure Robert Redford in your mind without his trademark aviators. Perfect for his slightly floppy perfection of blond hair, angular cheekbones and masculine jawline. To faithfully recreate the Redford look, try the classic mirrored Raybans. 

 

The Way We Age

 

Here is where the rubber hits the road. Redford never flinched from aging. Of course, we think that is easy, as he was the ultimate silver fox, easing into maturity with a well-worn visage. But you know? We all feel vulnerable as the skin sags, as our familiar beauty fades. What if he didn’t love getting older? 

What he did was grow older without flinching. He let the wrinkles add up. He didn’t hide. He kept up the battles and causes and artistic endeavours that shaped his life after he no longer played the conventional heartthrob. I like best the pictures of him that show him as a fully realized, older man. The young ones, his fashion triumphs, yes, we can learn from them. But the older-in-life shots? Those have the soul and the heart and the depth that he promised all along.