Best Dressed Male TV Characters

[Schwazer]



If you'll permit a couple of UK TV characters:

Sir Francis Urquhart from House of Cards:



(and his hatchet man Stamper does a more spivvy look, which is interesting in its own way, if not as well put together. The foppish Geoffrey Booza-Pitt is also rather fun, if much more flamboyant.)


Nigel Havers as the eponymous Charmer:

Old Etonian tie...

 

[Holdfast]

Old Etonian tie...

Yes, FU often wears his old school tie in the series, including at PMQs.

It would be rather amusing to see Cameron wear his to PMQs one day, if only to witness the synthetic outrage it would engender from Miliband and the opposition. The week after, by way of making amends, Cameron & Miliband can both agree to wear their respective Oxford college ties instead...

 

[Schwazer]



Yes, FU often wears his old school tie in the series, including at PMQs.

It would be rather amusing to see Cameron wear his to PMQs one day, if only to witness the synthetic outrage it would engender from Miliband and the opposition. The week after, by way of making amends, Cameron & Miliband can both agree to wear their respective Oxford college ties instead...

If Cameron wore his old Etonian tie, it would be in a sense political suicide. But something I would like to see happen.

Maybe Boris can wear his? lol.

 

[Fred49]

Barney Rubble from the Flintstones is a personal fav. And who can forget that wacky Fred both snappy dressers!

 

[Holdfast]

Quote:
re: bolded bit: well, yes.

But IMO, Cameron's biggest problems arise when he tries to be something he's not. Boris is totally relaxed about his background, doesn't try to hide it and in fact plays up to the image of being a bit of a posh duffer (despite actually being very sharp indeed). When Cameron tries to pretend he's Tesco Man, that's when he looks ridiculous (viz. the whole pasty debacle when both front benches ended up looking like idiots).

The general public are dismissive of all politicians, but what they hate the most is inauthenticity. I was joking about Cameron wearing his Eton tie obviously, but I do think he'd be better served by not trying to pretend he has a lower-middle class background and a man-of-the-people attitude. Everyone knows he hasn't and isn't; they'd respect him more if he behaved like who he is: an upper/upper-upper-middle class man who's gone into politics out of a sense that he can do something for the nation. Especially once you're Prime Minister rather than LOTO, the public stop caring about your background unless you make it an issue (and faking it IS making it an issue) but want to see a good attitude, emotional intelligence, and gravitas. All those are undermined by trying to be something you're not, especially when you're trying to do unpopular things that you believe are correct and are trying to convince an electorate of this.

Cameron's (and his advisers') lingering sense of insecurity about his background is his Achilles heel, not the background itself.

 

[Imhoff]

Not sure if he has been listed, but Jay Harrington from Beter Off Ted seemed pretty dapper for being on television.

 

[urfloormatt]

Jack Donaghy is an interesting mention. While I like the conservative business dress fabrics and tie patterns he chooses, he seems like the quintessential example of a man wearing a poorly tailored suit (and often in sloppy fashion). His jacket sleeves are way too long, and in wider shots, you can see a pound of fabric gathered around his ankles because the pants have not been hemmed to the right length. Also, his tie knots are frequently a mess, and his tie length is often a disaster (usually partly hidden by his buttoned jacket).

I assume it's largely a budgeting issue for the show, and to the show's credit, they do a good job concealing how poorly dressed he is probably 75% of the time. But, even saying that, he usually buttons the lower button on his jacket.

 

[Schwazer]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler! A bit of off-topic politics

re: bolded bit: well, yes.

But IMO, Cameron's biggest problems arise when he tries to be something he's not. Boris is totally relaxed about his background, doesn't try to hide it and in fact plays up to the image of being a bit of a posh duffer (despite actually being very sharp indeed). When Cameron tries to pretend he's Tesco Man, that's when he looks ridiculous (viz. the whole pasty debacle when both front benches ended up looking like idiots).

The general public are dismissive of all politicians, but what they hate the most is inauthenticity. I was joking about Cameron wearing his Eton tie obviously, but I do think he'd be better served by not trying to pretend he has a lower-middle class background and a man-of-the-people attitude. Everyone knows he hasn't and isn't; they'd respect him more if he behaved like who he is: an upper/upper-upper-middle class man who's gone into politics out of a sense that he can do something for the nation. Especially once you're Prime Minister rather than LOTO, the public stop caring about your background unless you make it an issue (and faking it IS making it an issue) but want to see a good attitude, emotional intelligence, and gravitas. All those are undermined by trying to be something you're not, especially when you're trying to do unpopular things that you believe are correct and are trying to convince an electorate of this.

Cameron's (and his advisers') lingering sense of insecurity about his background is his Achilles heel, not the background itself.

I completely understand.

Moving back to the thread topic and something you may be familiar with.

Sir Humphrey Appleby (right) from Yes, Minister always seemed to me to be quite a dresser.

 

[jeff13007]



TF-suits are notorious for their collar gaping. I think Harvey and Louis both dress good, very lawyer-esque in their different roles (arrogantly bombastic conservative business dress v. regular conservative business dress). Mike really needs to step it up though, looks like J. Crew or Banana Republic suits (though they probably are BB or something).
The show in itself isn't particularly good, but entertaining nonetheless.

They seemed to fix the gaping issue in the later episodes though. And TF suits i have seen in and own in real life do not have that issue. Id like to know where mike gets his suits though, i remember reading on ask andy when the show first came out that they were ralph lauren black label i mean supposedly he got them from his drug dealer friend who paid "2k" for each of them.

 

[TimelesStyle]



Jack Donaghy is an interesting mention.  While I like the conservative business dress fabrics and tie patterns he chooses, he seems like the quintessential example of a man wearing a poorly tailored suit (and often in sloppy fashion).  His jacket sleeves are way too long, and in wider shots, you can see a pound of fabric gathered around his ankles because the pants have not been hemmed to the right length.  Also, his tie knots are frequently a mess, and his tie length is often a disaster (usually partly hidden by his buttoned jacket). 

I assume it's largely a budgeting issue for the show, and to the show's credit, they do a good job concealing how poorly dressed he is probably 75% of the time.  But, even saying that, he usually buttons the lower button on his jacket.

I was on the fence about him until I remembered the "tuxedo cufflinks" episode. Liz walks into his office to find him there in a tuxedo. When asked why, Jack replies by explaining how he got mugged, the mugger stole his cufflinks, the only others he had at the office were tuxedo cufflinks, and that one shouldn't wear anything but a tuxedo (which he apparently had on hand) with tuxedo cufflinks.

My biggest gripe with his style, though, is his propensity to button the bottom button on his suit jackets.

 

[ballmouse]

Jack Donaghy is an interesting mention. While I like the conservative business dress fabrics and tie patterns he chooses, he seems like the quintessential example of a man wearing a poorly tailored suit (and often in sloppy fashion). His jacket sleeves are way too long, and in wider shots, you can see a pound of fabric gathered around his ankles because the pants have not been hemmed to the right length. Also, his tie knots are frequently a mess, and his tie length is often a disaster (usually partly hidden by his buttoned jacket).

I assume it's largely a budgeting issue for the show, and to the show's credit, they do a good job concealing how poorly dressed he is probably 75% of the time. But, even saying that, he usually buttons the lower button on his jacket.

I thought he was supposed to be poorly dressed. It would seem to fit in with his character.

 

[TimelesStyle]



I thought he was supposed to be poorly dressed. It would seem to fit in with his character.

I think he's supposed to have that generic "all-American corporate upper management" look which would typically include conservative suits from makers like Oxxford, Zegna, Hickey Freeman, etc. that would probably fit well but aren't fashionably slim, nor perfectly fitted since this guy often wouldn't have the patience to go true bespoke as well as blue and white dress shirts and conservative ties with no more than two colors (remember, according to JD "Men wearing ties with more than two colors are generally looking for a certain type of bar").

So while dressing well isn't supposed to be this type of man's leisure activity/hobby he's learned how to be well dressed and well appointed without really having "style" of his own.

 

[B Hamilton]

 

[suitedcboy]

Eric Close and to a lesser extent Enrique Murciano on CBS' Without A Trace.

 

[gio3969]

I think the list is more indicative of your pool of respondents, than of true style. Barney Stinson and the cast of Entourage.... hahaha. How many men over thirty responded to this poll? This was my first time back in a while to SF, and will be my last. The quality has dramatically declined. Ciao a tutti.