An interesting take on the Stones over the years. I remember all the "wasted Keith" lookalikes/wannabes who attended his solo shows in DC and Philly in 1988. I wonder: Have any fans imitated Brian, Charlie or Bill's style/look?

[www.gq-magazine.co.uk]

I'd look utterly ridiculous if I tried dressing like any of them. I'm a boring engineer so Charlie is probably who I dress the closest to.

Keith gets wayyy too much credit for “inventing” his own style.his hair was originally a beatle cut that every rocker that came from England in the 60s wore,it then morphed into a Rod Stewart knockoff.the prayer scarves were originally worn by George Harrison for a legit religious reason.
Black leather pants we had seen on a rock stage from Elvis to Morrison years before.
The headbands-Hendrix,the skull ring and wallet chains have been worn by bikers for decades.if you asked him he probably wouldn’t know what a wallet chain was for except maybe to look cool.
The eye makeup began after Bowie and Mark Bolan,in short Keith has a knack for taking other peoples ideas and putting his spin on them.sort of like his guitar playing.
But some originator,please.hes like a magnet with 100 things all seen before stuck together on him.

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lem motlow
Keith gets wayyy too much credit for “inventing” his own style.his hair was originally a beatle cut that every rocker that came from England in the 60s wore,it then morphed into a Rod Stewart knockoff.the prayer scarves were originally worn by George Harrison for a legit religious reason.
Black leather pants we had seen on a rock stage from Elvis to Morrison years before.
The headbands-Hendrix,the skull ring and wallet chains have been worn by bikers for decades.if you asked him he probably wouldn’t know what a wallet chain was for except maybe to look cool.
The eye makeup began after Bowie and Mark Bolan,in short Keith has a knack for taking other peoples ideas and putting his spin on them.sort of like his guitar playing.
But some originator,please.hes like a magnet with 100 things all seen before stuck together on him.

Man, this is a bad take. To the detriment of my mental health, I spend a lot of my “professional” time reading about politics. And the above reads a lot like the shoddy, little-bit-of-this-little-bit-of-that dot-connecting one encounters in that world. Of course you’re going to find overlap in virtually any era of popular fashion. But I’d wager there’s literally a zero-percent chance that Keith made anything like the conscious choice to co-opt from his peers in this way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-06-29 19:05 by MelBelli.

I think Keith is a true original ; the fact we can trace the pieces he borrowed from does not nullify that the end result is Keith Richard.
Rockandroll,
Mops

Thanks dmay...I've always adored the Stones fashion sense. Still waiting for Keith to send me that blue jacket.

Quote
lem motlow
Keith gets wayyy too much credit for “inventing” his own style.his hair was originally a beatle cut that every rocker that came from England in the 60s wore,it then morphed into a Rod Stewart knockoff.the prayer scarves were originally worn by George Harrison for a legit religious reason.
Black leather pants we had seen on a rock stage from Elvis to Morrison years before.
The headbands-Hendrix,the skull ring and wallet chains have been worn by bikers for decades.if you asked him he probably wouldn’t know what a wallet chain was for except maybe to look cool.
The eye makeup began after Bowie and Mark Bolan,in short Keith has a knack for taking other peoples ideas and putting his spin on them.sort of like his guitar playing.
But some originator,please.hes like a magnet with 100 things all seen before stuck together on him.

I don't think Keith ever claims to have invented his style, does he? In fact, I have read of him giving credit to Anita, in particular, for his late 60's/70's look. Fact is, he doesn't have a signature style in the sense of one look - his 'look' has varied fairly dramatically over the years. He is, to me, utterly stylish because whatever he wears, he looks cool, even though the individual elements, never mind the whole, would look ridiculous on most people. He also looks completely comfortable in whatever outlandish combination of garments he happens to be wearing - he wears the clothes, not the other way round.

Compared with most other rock bands of their era (and later on) I think they have had a very stringent style. Close to, sometimes but never over the top. Like some hard rock bands for example.
The one closest to parody might be Keith. And maybe Ronnie. But as lady Jane says they have managed to look cool even in ripped t-shirts, painted jeans and the pirate look.
It's part of the game I guess. Charlie, off course, is the real sartorialist among them. And privately they all dresses fairly well. With the exception of Sir Michael's, high heel black sneakers maybe...

It wasn’t a knock-the ability to take different things and put them together and make it your own is what having style IS.
The funny part is when people get so hung up on Keith you’d think he invented smoking cigarettes while wearing a hat and sunglasses.
He puts his stuff together really well,you can tell it’s well thought out but at the end of the day he’not that different looking from Jeff Beck or many others 60s rockers.

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lem motlow
It wasn’t a knock-the ability to take different things and put them together and make it your own is what having style IS.
The funny part is when people get so hung up on Keith you’d think he invented smoking cigarettes while wearing a hat and sunglasses.
He puts his stuff together really well,you can tell it’s well thought out but at the end of the day he’not that different looking from Jeff Beck or many others 60s rockers.

The first ever photo(s) I saw of the Rolling Stones (after having judged for myself that "Not Fade Away" was a real knockout) was in March 1964. The photos must have been taken after a concert, because their hair was sticking flat on their faces, their clothes looked like nothing (my meaningless opinion then). Shocking (then). But ... they made great music and that's what it was and still is all about. Who decides what's fashion? Who decides what's pretty or ugly?
It's all up to the individual. Too many sheep in this world.

Sure georgie48, but style and fashion is an integral part of rock and pop music. Has always been. Since the days of Elvis. It does matter. Even for The Rolling Stones.
(Remember why Stu was set aside...). Whether we like it or not. Rock and pop music is part of the entertainment business after all. In serious music however
(classical and likewise) fashion is secondary.

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lem motlow
It wasn’t a knock-the ability to take different things and put them together and make it your own is what having style IS.
The funny part is when people get so hung up on Keith you’d think he invented smoking cigarettes while wearing a hat and sunglasses.
He puts his stuff together really well,you can tell it’s well thought out but at the end of the day he’not that different looking from Jeff Beck or many others 60s rockers.

I agree with all of this — which is why I think it’s silly to credit David Bowie with eye makeup, Rod Stewart with spiky hair, or George Harrison with “prayer scarves.” All of these figures amalgamated their looks, same as Keith. Why pinpoint originality in their cases?

2 persons could wear the same kind of hat; 1 would look cool and the other would just look like he wears a hat.
Keith holding a bottle of Jack: cool.
Slash holding a bottle JD: not as cool.
Rockandroll,
Mops

True Rollmops. That is because Keith is the original and slash is the copy. Like Coke and Pepsi... But I don't think Keith would get away with this now.
He is 74 now and has finally matured. A late bloomer as he says himself...

I discovered the Stones when I was about 13 years old, and Keith Richards was kind of role model stylewise for me.... In the 80s pooper area, i felt very good to tell myself apart and sporting a ragged style, scarf and dark mascara. keith got me into hats later on .... Don't care at at all, whether he invited that style, but always thought he wears it with style, do it fits, and yes I copied part of it, up to this day, and have people telling me, my style was rather unique Don't know sometimes whether it is a compliment

Are there any recent-ish group shots (not live on stage) where Charlie is wearing a smart suit? I always loved that about him, but in most cases I can recall, lately he is wearing clothes that my dad would go for...

Like this for example:


Please someone, post a recent years group shot with Charlie looking his elegant best. Thank you!

Maybe the luck that Keith had was that rock journalists such as Nick Kent fell for Keith's charm. There is obviously something about Keith and for him to become the muse of the sprayers of the rock and roll mythology was great and pivotal in his career as a musician and also as a rock music icon.
Rockandroll
Mops

Maybe it's already been posted, but this, also from GQ is an entertaining read.