California  –  When the legendary Hollywood actor-turned director Robert Redford passed away September 16, 2025, he left behind not only a body of impactful and culturally significant films, but also a style legacy that has largely become the blueprint for American menswear. Instantly recognisable by his floppy windswept hair and penchant for relaxed, yet refined looks, Redford became a symbol of classic, understated elegance throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, when he became the go-to leading man in American cinema, starring in films such as “All the President’s Men” and “The Way We Were.” Among Redford’s memorable outfits is the elegant pastel suit worn in the 1974 romance-drama “The Great Gatsby” and the herringbone tweed sports coat, layered atop a blue chambray shirt, striped wool tie and light blue jeans, that he sported in the 1975 thriller “Three Days of the Condor” — a preppy, layered style that wouldn’t feel out of place today amid the recent resurgence in Ivy League dressing. Indeed, Redford, who became the embodiment of timelessness and sophistication, paved the way for many American menswear archetypes, from prep to western.

And his embrace of classic wardrobe styles, such as button-down shirts, aviator sunglasses and denim pants — at times worn with a matching shirt, making him an early adopter of the “double denim” look long before it became a trend — seeped beyond the big screen and into his sartorial choices.