“I am a great believer in the importance of sartorial expression,” says Giancarlo Esposito’s menacing “Uncle” Stanley Johnston at the beginning of episode 8 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix hit, The Gentlemen. “There’s nothing wrong with conformity, so long as you know you’re conforming.”
And what delicious conformity. Overseen by costume designers Loulou Bontemps and Carly Griffiths, the wardrobe for The Gentlemen – which reportedly racked up 215.7 million viewing hours in its first two weeks – is a cockney-accented symphony of ultra-traditional three-piece suits and razor-cut separates worn by Esposito, Ray Winstone and lead actor Theo James; who plays (and dresses) for the lead role of Eddie Horniman with brooding 007-esque elan.
Perhaps it’s got something to do with the fact that we’ve not really returned to proper suit-wearing following the pandemic (the ONS removed suits from the basket of goods used to calculate the rate of inflation in early 2022). Or maybe it’s because nearly two decades have passed from the moment HBO’s Mad Men made wearing suits cool again. Either way, not since the late Noughties has such a tightly tailored silhouette seemed so appealing.
So, as The Gentleman ushers in a new epoch of traditional masculine dressing – and you begin to dust off your waistcoats, wax your Barbours and polish up your brogues, these are the seven best looks from the show to help you navigate your own caper into gentlemanliness this spring...
Uncle Stan’s Sweater-as-Scarf
The second time we meet Stanley Johnston, The Gentlemen’s debonair meth dealer-turned-businessman is in the process of inviting Eddie Horniman to a grand ball at his house. In the scene Johnston wears a close-cut grey blazer over a crisp white shirt (with a very Noughties-proportioned collar), a cravat and a soft ribbed sweater in an expensive looking shade of oatmeal draped across his shoulders.
Johnston’s outfit was inspired by an old shot of Clark Gable shopping for watches – but to me, his sweater-as-scarf flex looks like a contemporary spin on a favoured old money styling trick. Indeed. In fact, remove the cravat and the get up could be taken directly from The Row’s autumn winter ‘24 runway. Should you plan on rocking a similar look yourself this spring, ensure the sweater you pick is knitted with enough body to sit proud on your shoulders, as anything too fine-gauge will sag and seem very ungentlemanly indeed.
Get the look
Luxury
Cashmere ribbed sweater, £555, Thom Sweeney, left
Affordable
Ribbed knit jumper, £75, Cos, right
Eddie’s off-duty essentials
Eddie Horniman’s waxed jacket from the first episode of The Gentlemen and the chunky midnight blue shawl collar cardigan he wore in episode 2 are both the epitome of modern aristo off-duty style.
Sourced from classic outfitter Cordings, Bontemps and Griffiths teamed Horniman’s cardigan with a tonal shirt and a white T-shirt, creating a subtle sense of contrast between the softness of the outer-layer and the crisp cotton garments beneath.
Meanwhile, his wax jacket is from Barbour, the only label any self-respecting member of the upper classes would consider for a wax jacket, despite far more expensive versions being available.
These looks helped to demarcate Eddie as The Gentlemen’s preeminent good guy early on. It’s rare you’ll witness a baddie wearing a shawl collar cardigan. Just ask Daniel Craig’s James Bond, who’s rarely seen out of the things when he’s not saving the world.
Get the look
Luxury
Waxed jacket, £695, Drake’s, left
Affordable
Barbour Waxed jacket, £223.20, John Lewis, right
A New Class of Sunnies by Bobby Glass
Ray Winstone first appears in episode two of The Gentlemen as Bobby Glass, a walrus-like drug kingpin seeing out his days in a luxury open air prison. Glass’s influence is demonstrated before he even opens his mouth, as the weighty expense of his burgundy-lensed Jacques Marie Mage “Hemmings’ sunglasses speak volumes.
Coming in at a smidge under £1k, each pair of Glass’s sunnies is made in a 300-step process by up to 100 artisans. The lesson? Money may not buy you freedom, but it will buy you some truly sexy eyewear.
Get the look
Luxury
Acetate sunglasses, £395, Cutler & Gross, left
Affordable
Polarised sunglasses, £45.99, Mango, right
Freddy’s Viral-Worthy Cable Knit
There’s a lot to love about Freddy Horniman. Played with wayward energy by Daniel Ings, the older Horniman sibling is arguably just as handsome as the younger scion, and he’s almost certainly better dressed. Case in point, the cream roll neck cable knit sweater Ings wears in episode three.
Teamed with a roomy black sheepskin peacoat, the jumper gives Chris Evan’s cream Aran crew neck from 2019’s Knives Out a run for its money in the viral knitwear stakes. Ings also wears a forest green cable knit by Sunspel in the first episode of the show, which looks equally cosy and flattering, but the clotted cream one just about pips it.
Get the look
Luxury
Loro Piana Cashmere rollneck sweater, £2,030, Mr Porter, left
Affordable
Merino wool jumper, £125, Peregrine, right
The Ton-Sur-Ton flex
In the fourth episode of The Gentlemen, Eddie Horniman heads to the funeral of Lord Bassington in a black suit worn with black tie, black shirt and slim-cut single breasted black overcoat while in one of the key publicity shots, the new Duke sports a toffee shirt with chocolate brown trousers.
What Theo James’ character might not know is that he’s bang on-trend for the spring summer ‘24 season. Ton-sur-ton dressing is everywhere right now, from the brown on brown (on brown) looks shown at Officine Generale to the multiple shades of grey, greige and stone at Giorgio Armani.
The key to getting your own ton-sur-ton look right is to do as Horniman does and keep all the constituent elements extra simple. Also, be sure to check that the colours of your garments compliment each other in natural light before stepping out. Black, in particular, can be very tricky to wear tonally, as different fabrics will appear more green, blue or brown depending on the time of day.
Get the look
Luxury
Silk shirt, £350, Gant, left
Affordable
Cotton shirt, £85, John Lewis, right
Eddie’s Check Macintosh
In the closing scenes of Episode 5, Eddie Hornman navigates a sticky situation in a moody Belgian forest whilst wearing a slim-cut houndstooth check mackintosh by Nili Lotan. Teamed with a dark and easy crew neck sweater and white T-shirt, the simplicity of the look’s base allows the coat to steal the scene.
The lesson? Pick one key item, build your outfit around it and avoid sending mixed messages.
Luxury
Wool overcoat, £1,100, Paul Smith
Affordable
Raincoat, £279, Guards London
That Three-Piece Suit
You’ll no doubt have already seen the three-piece brown tweed suit which Eddie wears at the end of episode six, as it’s been plastered across Instagram since The Gentlemen first hit Netflix. Worn with a soft chambray shirt and a paisley tie in a tertiary tone, not only is the ensemble great against James’ colouring, but the pairing also feels quite American GQ circa 2014 – preppy, fun, and a very good thing.
This isn’t the only nice suit worn by James in the episode – there’s a classic blue two piece and a great brown tweed peak lapel number – but the three-piece is the undoubted winner, a sentence not written since at least 2012. The only note? Bontemps and Griffiths could have gone up a size or two for all of Eddie Horniman’s looks, as there was quite a lot of fabric pulling around his bicep and chest. But hey, a gentleman never tells.
Get the look
Luxury
Hand-tailored plaid 3-piece suit, £3,710, Ralph Lauren
Affordable
E. Thomas Taupe Houndstooth Three-Piece Havana Suit in Taupe, £719, Suit Supply
Read more of Teo van den Broeke’s writing at The Closet on Substack
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.