Back in 2019, 79-year-old Harrison Ford cemented his standing as one of the best-dressed men on the planet (as well as a galaxy far, far away). He stepped out wearing an on-trend Western-style belt, signature navy shirt, slim-fit vintage-look jeans and had a Longchamp overnight holdall in one hand. It was a big ’fit worth talking about and proved that the Star Wars veteran has still got it going on, even as he nears a milestone birthday (next year he hits the big 8-0).
And it was just the latest in a string of stand-out looks we’ve been blessed with since the 1980s. The Air Force One and Indiana Jones actor, who is now has had his fair share of on-screen style moments, namely as a trench-clad Rick Deckard in Blade Runner and all-tan-everything Indiana Jones, but off-screen he’s gone further.
Below are six style lessons you can learn from the Star Wars veteran.
Back in the 1980s, bold and eye-catching neckties were a symbol of power and a Wall Street boardroom must-have. To Harrison Ford, despite probably never having stepped foot in a Wall Street office, the boldly patterned power tie was catnip. Whether he was attending the premiere for Clear And Present Danger or The Fugitive, Ford turned up with the best necktie game going, rivalling even that of the flamboyantly accessorised George Clooney.
It’s something you should be doing right now. Sure, it might’ve seemed as though the Rami Malek-approved air tie had replaced the tie for a short while, but the Patrick Bateman go-to is back in a big way. Favoured by cool kid Harry Styles, the 2020 resurrection of the tie was preordained by the world’s leading designers back in June 2019, from Prada and Louis Vuitton to Ermenegildo Zegna and Salvatore Ferragamo. Now to perfect that Windsor knot…
Long before Normal People breakout star Paul Mescal wore them on his Hackney jaunts and Cristiano Ronaldo graced the training pitch in a pair, thigh-skimming shorts were worn by Ford. Barely there and totally thigh-baring, short shorts were an 1980s staple, favoured by not just Ford, who wore his with gauzy cotton knits, but also by John Travolta, George Michael and rather unfortunately by lauded American football coach Andy Reid (a simple Google search will suffice).
Fortunately for us, these things tend to come full circle and, today, if you don’t own a pair of short shorts, you really aren’t doing summer right. Seemingly the only shorts the aforementioned Mescal owns, cut-offs that skim your nether regions are trending, and not just down at Pineapple Dance Studios. Prada, Gucci and Loewe are the big brands pushing them this summer, while we’re convinced our own Fashion Director, Luke Day, doesn’t own a pair that go below his knees.
Clooney was an expert at it pre-2000, whereafter his wardrobe seemingly only comprised shirts and two-piece suits, and Ford was also pretty good at it. We are, of course, talking about wearing a suit jacket over anything but a well-fitted shirt.
Ford himself proposed not only to wear a suit jacket over an open-collared Wimbledon-ready polo shirt, but with a pair of jeans. The latter being a Ralph Lauren signature (who even wore a tuxedo with jeans), swapping out a shirt for something a little more casual is something we’ve learnt from the likes of Ford, Clooney and Tom Cruise.
Whether it’s a polo shirt, T-shirt or vest, here in the GQ office our suit jackets are getting to know the fibres of something other than a button-down Oxford shirt. Heck, we’re even in full support of Mr Marmite himself, Kanye West, going totally bare up top under a Louis Vuitton two-piece for the wedding of 2 Chainz and Kesha Ward back in 2018.
The navy blazer is to Harrison Ford what the leather waistcoat was to Han Solo. Easily the star’s go-to throw-on, throughout the 1980s and 1990s Ford demonstrated the versatility of the humble piece of apparel. Whether worn with dark-wash jeans and a navy polo shirt, or with a pair of black slim-cut suit trousers, Ford proved that it’s a wardrobe essential. He even wore one in his self-styled shoot for GQ back in January 2016. Afterwards, GQ Chief Content Officer Jonathan Heaf commented, “The navy blazer… is something of an emblem of his newly found top-dog status, a man on the rise who suddenly knows what his swagger is worth.”
Take note.
We’ve said this enough times already, but there’s nothing sexier than having an earring (one ear, fine; both, even better). Harrison Ford allowed someone to stick a pin in his lobe, which only added to that sex symbol status he received after his first outing as Han Solo, the guttural, chest-baring rebel who probably accounted for at least ten per cent of A New Hope’s ticket sales. Enough said.
Back in the mid-'90s Ford grew out his ‘tache - for character or not, we can’t be sure - repping a handlebar and in turn joining an exclusive facial hair gang comprising the likes of Daniel Plainview, Tom Selleck and Mark Spitz. For us the handlebar, which found popularity across the Seventies, Eighties and early-Nineties, is the ultimate facial hair serve and not just for Movember.
Five style lessons to learn from the late JFK
