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Brazilian footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, more commonly known as Pelé, is never really celebrated as a style icon, but to us – in the 1950s – he was a sartorial legend in the making. The prodigy’s modelling of sportswear off the field was deemed pretty radical and – nodding to his position on the field – pretty fashion-forward (thank you).
In fact, Pelé-inspired sportswear has been dominating the runway recently. One only has to look at the collections of Casablanca and Wales-Bonner to see retro zip-up track tops, tracksuits and vintage-looking shoes. If you’re going to do it, do it properly and go full head-to-toe. It’ll earn you top style points in the fashion arena.
An Aloha shirt is always a winner
If any two people could maintain a level of pensive panache while modelling shirts emblazoned with tropical palms and bamboo print, it’s Clift Montgomery, who blazed a trail for the exotic patterns in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity, and Sidney Poitier, who popularised it in the movie Lilies of the Field, for which he won an Academy Award.
Inspired by native Hawaiian Aloha Shirts (which servicemen wore when they returned from the island after WWII) the vividly printed menswear item became a menswear staple by the early 60s, helped – of course – by Elvis Presley, who wore one in matinee-idol perfection on the cover of his album, Blue Hawaii. Even today, they’re a key reference for brands like Gucci, Valentino and Saint Laurent, who have sent iterations down the runway over the last decade.
When an item is as statement-making as this, it’s best to go simple down below. Take a note out of Poitier’s book and wear it with wide-legged white trousers so it really sings.
Shelve the skinnies, pleated trousers are in
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
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