Clients keep bringing up The Gentlemen. Usually, it starts with a jacket: “Could I pull off something like that?”
My answer is almost always yes. We just need to work out which part of the look feels like you.
There’s a reason the style in The Gentlemen has caught so much attention. Eddie can move from a country estate to a London meeting to Italy and look completely at ease in each setting. His clothes change with the occasion, but they always feel like they belong to the same man.
Costume designer Loulou Bontemps and her team built the wardrobe around the characters, working with the actors and Guy Ritchie to create a very particular look. British makers and established brands sit alongside vintage finds and pieces made specifically for the series.
Most of us don’t have a costume department following us around. But there are a few things The Gentlemen gets very right about men’s style that are worth stealing.
Dress for the life you actually lead
Eddie doesn’t wear the same outfit everywhere. What works on the estate isn’t necessarily what he wears to a meeting in London, but there’s a thread running through all of it.
That’s exactly where I start when designing a wardrobe for a client.
Where do you actually spend your week? Where do you want to feel sharper? What occasions do you regularly find yourself dressing for? And what do you wish you could get dressed for without having to think twice?
Once we understand that, we can create a wardrobe that works across your life rather than a collection of impressive individual pieces with nowhere to go.
The best wardrobes make getting dressed easier. You know what works, everything has a purpose and, importantly, the pieces work together.
Get the shape right
You can spot a beautifully cut jacket before you ever notice the label.
Look at the shoulders, where the waist sits, the length of the jacket and the way the trousers fall. Those proportions are what give an outfit its presence. I consider this one of tailoring’s superpowers, and it’s often underused.
It’s also why copying an entire look from a screen rarely works.
If a client showed me a jacket from The Gentlemen, I wouldn’t simply recreate it. I’d look at what makes it work – the silhouette, proportions, fabric or colour – and then adapt those elements to his build, colouring and lifestyle.
Good tailoring shouldn’t make you look like somebody else. It should make you look like the best version of yourself.
Without looking as though you’re auditioning to inherit a country estate.
Use texture to make simple outfits more interesting
One of the things The Gentlemen does particularly well is texture.
Tweed, soft knitwear, crisp shirts, suede and structured coats give relatively simple outfits much of their character. You can borrow that idea without suddenly dressing as though you’re heading for a country shoot.
A textured sports jacket with a simple pair of trousers is an easy place to start. So is a great coat worn over clothes you already own.
Texture gives an outfit depth even when the colour palette is restrained. And sometimes the combinations you wouldn’t immediately put together are the ones that make a wardrobe feel much more interesting.
Invest in pieces that work harder
The other lesson I’d take from The Gentlemen is versatility.
A great jacket shouldn’t only work with one pair of trousers. A coat shouldn’t require an entirely separate wardrobe underneath it. The pieces you invest in should earn their place.
This is something we think about constantly when designing wardrobes at Alexandra Wood.
Can we wear this jacket with three or four different trousers? Does it work with a shirt as well as knitwear? Can it take you from a meeting to dinner without feeling too formal for one or too relaxed for the other?
Fewer pieces that create more outfits will almost always serve you better than a wardrobe full of clothes you rarely reach for.
Have a little fun with it
The styling in The Gentlemen works because there’s personality in it.
Sometimes it’s colour. Sometimes it’s an unexpected fabric, an unusual combination or simply a jacket that feels a touch more daring than the one you’d normally choose.
You don’t need to adopt every detail.
Pick the thing that makes you think, “I’d love to wear that,” and find your version of it.
Quite often, that slightly unexpected piece becomes the one you enjoy wearing most.
What The Gentlemen can teach us about a great wardrobe
What my clients respond to in The Gentlemen isn’t simply the suits.
It’s seeing men whose clothes feel considered, comfortable and entirely their own.
That’s the part worth taking into real life: tailored clothes that fit properly, pieces that work together and enough character to make getting dressed enjoyable.
At Alexandra Wood, we help our clients understand what works for them, tailor each piece with precision and take care of the finer details of how everything comes together.
The aim isn’t to give you more clothes. It’s to give you a wardrobe that makes your life easier.
Look better. Think less.
Leave the tailoring to us – and the more questionable business decisions to Eddie.
Book your private consultation at our Savile Row Design Home.
