It kind of goes without saying that films have provided plenty of inspiration over the years. And we all know about the legendary style of those that have appeared on the big screen like Newman and McQueen but what about the guys on the other side of the camera? Director’s aren’t normally known for their sartorial sensibilities or their personal style but Akira Kurosawa definitely had some of both. As a director he’d give his cast their costumes weeks before filming and demanded the actors wore them every day so they could bond with them. That, and to give the clothes some authentic wear as they had no life when they were brand new. I don’t know if he wore his own clothes as deliberately but if he did you can’t really fault him. On set he was famous for wearing his cloth hat and sunglasses that were given to him by one of his idols John Ford. Not an easy combination to pull off but he did it better than anyone with simple collared shirt and a middle layer. A bit of a dictator on set, he seemed to always look as stylish as each of his scenes and he was cool until the end.
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