Six Wardrobe Staples and the Men Who Wore Them Well

Words by Tony Wilkes

Trends fluctuate like the stock market. One day, you’re bang on the money. The next, well…you’re not. Charting a steady course through it all, though, are certain safe bets – timeless pillars of menswear, largely unchanged since the mid-20th Century. Invest in any number of these key pieces in 2025 to bolster your capsule wardrobe and emulate the well-dressed men who prove their longevity.

If we’re talking wardrobe foundations, the white T-shirt is surely the MVP. Originally underwear, today it’s a billboard – a blank canvas for graphics and logos that declare allegiance to our favourite brands. And a white logo T-shirt really does go with anything. Whether you keep things classic like Denzel Washington and team it with belted straight-leg jeans, leather loafers and a nylon bag, or throw it under a well-tailored suit to nail ‘smart casual’, it’s comfortably at home in every scenario.

“Undeniably one of the greatest men’s style icons consistently shown on this app is Paul Newman,” says TikTok’s Elliot Duprey as he recreates one of the actor’s looks. The video has over 100,000 views – and it’s not hard to see why. To this day, Newman inspires with casual clothes that are classic, easy and irrevocably cool, summed up in one simple item: the sweatshirt. First designed for professional athletes, it was later adopted by ’60s preps – gaining a refined, laid-back aesthetic it never really lost. Wear it like Newman by way of Oxford or rugby shirts, chinos and low-top sneakers.

Few items have been so intertwined with sartorial subcultures as the leather jacket. To many, it will forever be associated with musicians – a uniform made famous by the likes of The Ramones and ‘the Boss’ Bruce Springsteen, whose style is back on the radar in 2025 thanks to an upcoming biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White. The iconic biker blueprint is much the same as it was 50 years ago, and is still best paired with T-shirts, jeans, and matching leather boots. Triumph optional, but encouraged.

You could argue that the title for ‘most iconic garment’ should go to jeans – and we’ll get to those. But, when it comes to trousers, a man is missing out if he only opts for denim. A rotation of casual tailored styles in cotton or wool is essential, offering not just variety but comfort. Miles Davis wore his with simple collared knits, but you could just as easily style classic pairs with polos or overshirts. Look to a few of our new brand arrivals: Drake’s, Samsøe Samsøe and Le 17 Septembre for some compelling options for the new season.

The extent to which jeans are ingrained in our wardrobes can be heard in House of the Risin’ Sun, an American folksong versioned by Bob Dylan for his debut in 1962. Designed as hardy work pants, jeans have powerfully – and fittingly – endured through the ages. Famously versatile, blue denim iterations were a favourite of Dylan himself, and sported by Timothée Chalamet in the recent biopic A Complete Unknown. Dylan teamed them with a shirt and suede jacket, completing the look with Chelsea boots. No notes.

“Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper. Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper.” So sang Fred Astaire in 1930 – and we can relate in 2025. A star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Cooper was synonymous with impeccable style rooted in the bespoke tailoring of London’s Savile Row. Today, the suit remains menswear’s pinnacle of craftsmanship, and worth stretching to invest in quality – particularly when it’s cut for you. Made-to-measure appointments with tailors from the likes of Zegna, TOM FORD and Giorgio Armani are available in-store, alongside a roster of alterations and fitting services.