44 style ῀
Rock of ages
Opposite: Mick Jagger, right, with former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, on stage at the Wembley Empire Pool in 1973. This page, clockwise from left: Ronnie Wood at home in 1974; the band in 1964; an appearance on ITV’s Thank Your Lucky Stars the same year; Keith Richards during 1989’s Steel Wheels tour
I was in my teens when I discovered the Rolling Stones. I not only loved the music – I really loved the way they looked. I became obsessed with British rock, and, although I also liked American rock, such as Hendrix and The Doors, there was something about the British that spoke to me. It wasn’t only the sound, but also the irreverence and the mystique of it all. And of all the bands, it was the Stones I thought were amazing – the way they looked, dressed and misbehaved. I loved the fact that even their haircuts frightened parents in America. Adults detested that look. The Fifties had been very conservative; the Sixties were a challenge to that. And by the end of the decade, when the bands started travelling to India, it all became a bit mysterious and psychedelic. I played guitar, but I soon realised I wasn’t going to be a good musician. But I still wanted to look the part. I lived in upstate New York in a town called Elmira, some five hours from Manhattan by car. I used to travel into the city to buy bell-bottoms and waistcoats – the stuff the Stones were wearing. My outfits weren’t at all popular with the teachers at school or the parents, but all the young kids wanted to look like me and to know where I got my gear. So I started to bring clothes back from my shopping trips to resell to my friends.
Eventually I opened a store in Elmira called People’s Place with another friend of mine who shared my enthusiasm for that look. It became a hang-out for the sorts of people we liked – the hippies and musicians and artists. People who understood what it was we were doing. People who
understood the vibe of the Sixties fashion revolution. All these years later, as an established designer, I’ve fulfilled something of a childhood ambition by getting to work with the Stones. It’s been a great experience. In the Sixties, they quickly rejected the uniform look that bands
favoured at that time and, since then, each member of the group has established his own sartorial style. From the Stones’ earliest days, Mick Jagger realised that what he wore on stage would become cool and that other people would follow him. The minute they did, he would go on to the next look. That might be a conglomeration of ideas from Morocco or India, or a combination of something modern with something vintage. And notably, Mick explored androgyny before anyone – except maybe Little Richard – realised it could be an acceptable part of male rock’n’roll style. He was bold in the way he wore his accessories – his scarves, belts and hats. And he even had an impact on shoe styles in the early Seventies. When he wore Capezio jazz Oxfords on stage, everyone started wearing them, from highschool kids to housewives to Rod Stewart. He probably got the idea from Nureyev or Baryshnikov, because professional ballet dancers wore those shoes. While Mick’s style has always been very well thought-out, Keith ain’t dressin’ up for nobody. Making clothes for Keith is easy, because he knows exactly what he wants. He asked for elastic in all his sleeves, so when he was playing, his cuffs didn’t fall over his hands. He wanted animal prints, and all the
Getty images; wireimage; rex features
Tommy Hilfiger, who dressed like The Rolling Stones in the Sixties and more recently designed for the band, celebrates 50 years of breaking style rules
materials had to be soft and drape. Predictably, he hated trying on clothes. Mick, on the other hand, spends hours doing just that, making sure every detail meets his standard of perfection. Keith Richards epitomises the quintessential rock star; not only in his sound, but in his style. For him, clothes are simply about what he likes – nobody would ever try to tell him what’s cool or what to wear. His sexuality is a strong complement to Mick’s. Keith always opened up his shirts, and wore jewellery and chains. And when Keith started wearing leopard prints, everyone wore them. When he started wearing leather, they wore leather. When he combined them, they combined them. It was Keith – and Jimi Hendrix – who established the bandit or pirate look: big earrings, messy hair, a knife, a big belt and boots. On stage, he’d sometimes wrap a scarf round his waist or tie it either to his guitar or his belt loop.
While Mick’s style’s well thought-out, Keith ain’t dressin’ up for nobody
Charlie Watts, on the other hand, is no pirate. He’s a gentleman, courageously dressing up and wearing Savile Row suits amid the anarchy and ever-shifting trends of rock’n’roll. His look goes back to Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Muddy Waters – the gentlemen of jazz and blues. His clothing needs when the Stones are touring are sensible and pragmatic – as sturdy and reliable as his playing. He told me, ‘I just want something comfortable to play in, nothing fancy. And before a gig, I get cold backstage, so I need something warm.’ And then there’s Keith’s mate, the eternal lad, Ronnie Wood. Ron loves leather and bright colours. He adds spice to the Stones’ collective look
with his bold combinations and madcap haystack hair. His favourite accessory is a cigarette dangling out of his mouth or stuck on the end of his guitar – a look that defines his genial swagger. He’s as gracious and friendly as he looks, and, when I work with the Stones, he happily wears my leather jackets, shoes and T-shirts. If I say, ‘Ronnie, this looks good,’ he says, ‘You like it, Tommy? OK, I’ll wear it. Thanks, man.’ I spent more than 10 years doing the rock-star look as a designer before disco came in and things changed. I realised then that I needed to find a new angle – my own design language. And that’s when I decided to subvert my roots and apply a rock’n’roll attitude to the preppy style I’d grown up with. I remembered the way the Stones had taken looks from Savile Row and the military and restyled them and thought I could do the same with my culture, really mess with it. I decided to make preppy cool – younger, more fun, more colourful, oversized, relaxed, detailed. And that’s how the Tommy Hilfiger look was born. Q Tommy Hilfiger has had connections with the music industry for many years. As well as being a name synonymous with hip-hop, he has styled David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Britney Spears and Beyoncé, and, in 2012, the contestants of American Idol.