Gary Cooper, Enduring Style - The Looks
Gary Cooper, Enduring Style - The Looks. Explained by Steve Knorsch
Steve, you’ve known Bruce Boyer for some time now. Can you tell us a bit about your relationship and how your shared appreciation for style and storytelling first began?
Bruce is not only a personal friend but a true icon in the menswear industry. I had read several of his books, before meeting him in person, some 10 years ago and there always was a mutual respect and admiration. When I started working at Cad & The Dandy he also became a client and friend. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word. Bruce is so knowledgeable on the subject of style and menswear in general and has so many stories to share that I am always in awe of his depth of knowledge. The best part is that our conversations often happen over delicious pizza.
What does Gary Cooper represent to you personally, both as an actor and as a style reference?
Mr Cooper represents Hollywood's Golden Era and was in my eyes a true movie star grand cru. There simply is not one bad photograph of him. He always looked impeccable onscreen and off. It helped that he had great looks and was 6’2” and that every item of clothing fit him. He taught generations of men how to dress elegantly and appropriately.
How did this event come together? What was it like collaborating with Bruce and Maria Cooper Janis to bring the event to life?
Two years ago we had a book signing event for Chris Wallace’s biography on Peter Beard and his personal iconic style and I always thought it would make a really good series if we found authors writing on relevant men of style. When Bruce mentioned he was working on the re-edition of his book on Gary Cooper, I believed we had found a worthy follow up.
Because the book is a collaboration between Bruce and Maria Cooper Janis, Gary Cooper’s daughter, Bruce introduced Maria very early on. And to have her blessing, was key to the success of the event.
Together we selected 4 photos of what we felt to be key stylish outfits of Mr Cooper. Not movie costumes, but real looks he wore off screen as the book is a treasure trove of often never seen personal family photos. Based on these photos Bruce and I went through our cloth library and we found contemporary fabrics from Lovatt and Dugdale's to replicate the outfits chosen.
What was your starting point when curating the four looks? Did you begin with specific images from the book, or with a sense of the silhouettes and moods you wanted to capture?
We didn’t want to recreate costumes, but show the real Gary Cooper and how he dressed in everyday life and Maria’s input was key here.
Let’s talk through each of the four looks. Could you describe them one by one — the original photograph or moment that inspired each, and how you approached the cloth, cut, and styling for your reinterpretation?
The four looks we recreated are based on photos that we felt represented Cooper in his day to day life, rather than the actor. We opted for two suit looks and two more casual looks. There are plenty of famous photos of him in white tie or dinner suits, but we deliberately avoided any costumes and gala dressing, instead opting for the looks that reflect more intimate portraits of Cooper we see in the book.
Look One: Flannel Double Breasted Suit
In this photo we see Cooper casually hanging with his daughter Maria in London in 1960, wearing a well proportioned 6x4 classic double breasted suit. Trousers are cuffed and he combines it with a white shirt and solid grey tie.
Because we planned this for the Fall season we permitted ourselves to create a similar look in a dark grey flannel from Lovatt (Redpath Flannel fabric 100). Being 14oz or 400grams, it’s the perfect cloth for this time of year. The lapel has 4” or 10cm peak. The trousers have double outward facing pleats and a 2” or 5cm cuff. We paired these with an off white poplin shirt from our house range Firenlust cotton shirt bunch, and opted for double or French cuffs with a semi-spread collar. The look was topped off with a silver grenadine tie.
Look Two: Dark Grey Single Breasted Suit
This is a famous Edward Steichen studio portrait from 1928. In it Cooper wears a single breasted peak lapel suit, a white point collar shirt and a patterned tie.
In recreating this suit, we selected a beautiful shade of darker grey that is not quite charcoal, from Dugdale Bros & Co.’s Tropical Breeze collection (1634). It’s a 2-ply high twist fabric that can be worn year round (10oz/290gr) and has a beautiful drape and crisp handle. The design is a one button jacket with 3 3/4” or 9,5cm peaks, with slanted pockets and a ticket pocket. Trousers have side adjusters, a single inward facing pleat and 2” or 5cm cuffs. We paired the suit with a crisp white poplin point collar shirt from our Firenlust cotton shirt bunch and a black grenadine tie to add a more contemporary twist.
Look Three: Tweed Sports Coat and Twill Trousers
This photo was taken in 1956 in Aspen, Colorado, where the Coopers had owned a property since the late 1940s - a perfect spot to avoid the limelight and enjoy skiing, fishing and the outdoors. Cooper looks suitably relaxed in a tweed sports coat, casual trousers with a western belt, shirt, pullover, neckerchief and a Tyrollean hat.
For our 2025 recreation, we opted for a grayish brown glen check sports coat with fabric from Dugdale Bros & Co.’s Winter Jacketing bunch, (COL009), 11oz/320gr. It is a one button single breasted design, with straight pocket flaps and a 3 3/4” or 9.5cm wide lapel. We paired it with grey cotton twill flat front trousers, and a charcoal denim shirt made using Thomas Mason shirting cloth (FM304595-9900-B). The look came together with our Cad & The Dandy black Geelong wool college sweater. The hat is G.Bruce Boyer’s own Tyrollean.
Look Four: Gun Check Sports Coat and Flannel Trousers
Captured in 1933, this photo shows Cooper outfitted in a sophisticated country look alongside his wife Veronica ‘Rocky’ Balfe. A gun-check sports coat and flannels did the trick then as it still does today. We found the perfect chocolate and caramel gun-check from Lovatt’s Kirkton tweed bunch, (fabric 526), 16oz/500gr, to recreate the triple patch pocket set-up, and combined this with cream trousers cut from Fox Brothers flannel (CL2-5), 14oz/400gr. The trousers feature side adjusters, double inward facing pleats and a 2”/5cm cuff, and are paired with a one-piece hidden button-down collar in an off-white cotton cashmere twill shirt, cut from Thomas Mason shirting fabric (FM56926-2-A) for a relaxed luxurious look.
Thank you for sharing these incredible looks with us, Steve. One final question: what do you think today’s clients - especially those commissioning bespoke or ready to wear - can learn from Cooper’s approach to dressing?
Listening to Bruce the evening of the event it immediately became clear that Cooper’s background of growing up on the wild frontier and then being sent to boarding school in the UK, was very influential to how he dressed once he grew older, rolled into acting and became the movie star we all know. There was country life and city life, indoors and outdoors, rugged elegance and elevated elegance. His real life experiences allowed him to inhabit his wardrobe with authenticity. So very Cad & The Dandy truth be told, Cooper was someone very at home in the country as well as in the city!