JanSolo
Practically Family
- Messages
- 879
- Location
- Ever so sunny Westphalia, Germany
Hello everybody,
A couple of years ago I fell in love with a shawl collar cardigan that Aero had on their knitwear sales page. It was losely based on that type of cardigan Steve McQueen wore during a William Claxton photo shooting in Carmel/Big Sur. When I called them it was long sold out.
It looked pretty much like this.
However Aero’s version was considerably thicker and available in different colours. McQueen liked to wear shawl collar cardigans and I’ve seen several pictures of him (quite a number on various watch fora) wearing all sorts of these cardigans. Not only was he a good actor but he had an amazingly good sense for casual style.
There have been several replicas of the “Big Sur”-cardigan during the last couple of years but most of them were made of cashmere/cashmere blend and were just too lightweight for my taste. I wanted something more rugged, made from heavier and rougher wool.
The way he dressed inspires people even today. A friend of mine always says: “Whenever I don’t know what to wear on a night out I consult Steve.” I have to agree, William Claxton’s book ‘Steve McQueen, photographs’ really is some sort of treasure chest.
Most interesting to see that Brad Pitt’s 1960s costumes in “The curious case of Benjamin Button” are very much based on what McQueen used to wear. We find an almost exact image of the “Great Escape” outfit: A2, Chinos, Boondockers and a short sleeved blue sweatshirt.
Later in the film he is dressed with this:
When I watched the film I was really impressed by how well all costumes worked on several levels (forget the Belstaff jackets!!): They were stylish but also mirrored fashion trends of the 50s, 60s and early 70s very well. And damn, I wanted such a cardigan!
Pitt’s cardigan is supposed to be made by “Soviet Science” but I think it is more likely that it was a custom job for the film.
Anyway, I finally found what I was looking for: A slim fitting, super thick shawl collar cardigan that sticks to the original design. It’s made by Black Sheep /UK. They use very heavy undyed, oiled brown/grey wool for this piece of knitwear and the quality is outstanding.
Due to the patent knit pattern there is a lot (!) of wool in this cardigan. Repeated hand washing doesn’t affect the shape at all as long as it’s dried flat. I’ve handwashed mine twice to get a bit of the natural oil out and it’s still in great shape.
My cardigan is fitted with horn toggles (which was requested by their German retailer) If you order directly through their site it will be fitted with leather covered “football type” buttons.
http://www.blacksheep.ltd.uk/
The usual suspect:
What do you think?
A couple of years ago I fell in love with a shawl collar cardigan that Aero had on their knitwear sales page. It was losely based on that type of cardigan Steve McQueen wore during a William Claxton photo shooting in Carmel/Big Sur. When I called them it was long sold out.
It looked pretty much like this.
However Aero’s version was considerably thicker and available in different colours. McQueen liked to wear shawl collar cardigans and I’ve seen several pictures of him (quite a number on various watch fora) wearing all sorts of these cardigans. Not only was he a good actor but he had an amazingly good sense for casual style.
There have been several replicas of the “Big Sur”-cardigan during the last couple of years but most of them were made of cashmere/cashmere blend and were just too lightweight for my taste. I wanted something more rugged, made from heavier and rougher wool.
The way he dressed inspires people even today. A friend of mine always says: “Whenever I don’t know what to wear on a night out I consult Steve.” I have to agree, William Claxton’s book ‘Steve McQueen, photographs’ really is some sort of treasure chest.
Most interesting to see that Brad Pitt’s 1960s costumes in “The curious case of Benjamin Button” are very much based on what McQueen used to wear. We find an almost exact image of the “Great Escape” outfit: A2, Chinos, Boondockers and a short sleeved blue sweatshirt.
Later in the film he is dressed with this:
When I watched the film I was really impressed by how well all costumes worked on several levels (forget the Belstaff jackets!!): They were stylish but also mirrored fashion trends of the 50s, 60s and early 70s very well. And damn, I wanted such a cardigan!
Pitt’s cardigan is supposed to be made by “Soviet Science” but I think it is more likely that it was a custom job for the film.
Anyway, I finally found what I was looking for: A slim fitting, super thick shawl collar cardigan that sticks to the original design. It’s made by Black Sheep /UK. They use very heavy undyed, oiled brown/grey wool for this piece of knitwear and the quality is outstanding.
Due to the patent knit pattern there is a lot (!) of wool in this cardigan. Repeated hand washing doesn’t affect the shape at all as long as it’s dried flat. I’ve handwashed mine twice to get a bit of the natural oil out and it’s still in great shape.
My cardigan is fitted with horn toggles (which was requested by their German retailer) If you order directly through their site it will be fitted with leather covered “football type” buttons.
http://www.blacksheep.ltd.uk/
The usual suspect:
What do you think?
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