There’s a Reason Everyone Still Copies Mick Jagger’s Style
Half the time some young male star stirs up the internet by wearing something flashy or “subversive” on the red carpet, it turns out that Mick Jagger probably wore something similar 45 years ago. Marking his 80th birthday on July 26th, we think it’s safe to say that few men have had quite the impact on fashion as Jagger. Countless designers and stylists have been influenced by Jagger to the point that his particular quirks now seem simply part of modern style language . Yet Jagger himself never seemed overly styled or costumey. Whether he picked up clothes from designer racks, the women’s section of a department store or flea markets, it all felt perfectly natural and personal on him in a way very few can pull off. In other words, while so many think they have “moves like Jagger,” there remains only one man who actually is Jagger.
Here, to mark The Rolling Stones front man’s eight decades, some of his most iconic fashion moments.
In 1964, the Stones were years away from their peak fame and their first attempt at breaking through to American audiences was considered a “disaster,” but the man already had star airport style.
While dating the singer Marianne Faithfull, Jagger adopted a foppish dandy style. The two would widely be recognized for being the epitome of the swinging ’60s.
Michael Fish, a designer associated with fashion’s “Peacock Revolution,” designed a dress specifically meant to be worn by men that would become an iconic turning point in Jagger’s fashion evolution. The singer wore the puffy-sleeved tunic with a choker necklace during a performance in Hyde Park to pay tribute to the band’s founding member and guitarist Brian Jones who died July 3, 1969.
After their first performance on Ed Sullivan in 1964 resulted in ear-piercing screams and pandemonium from fans, the host banned The Rolling Stones from ever appearing again. However, by 1969 he’d relented. Jagger’s billowing-sleeved poet’s blouse signaled that he came in peace.
The British designer Ossie Clark famously created bedazzled jumpsuits for Jagger like this one which he wore for the Stones’ 1973 world tour. Not even Harry Styles would dare.
Off stage, Jagger was putting his own twist on more classic menswear.
On a tour of the United States in 1975, Jagger made the most of color.
You can easily imagine Lil Nas X in this.
It’s probably a good thing Jagger was performing in the days before rock stars were regularly going on tour in designer outfits. There was never a guarantee his entire outfit would actually stay on during a concert, let alone remain in one piece.
Captured at Studio 54, Jagger gave Disco-era suiting an unmistakable rock & roll edge.
You have to appreciate the vision of pairing a puffer jacket with what seems like football tights.
Boys in the Lower East Side and certain parts of Brooklyn can’t get enough of this particular style of mesh-knit tank this summer, but here’s Jagger wearing one at a performance at London’s The 100 Club in 1982.
Even at this most casual, there’s still something undeniably cool.
TikTok loves the “Crop tops for boys” trend, but Jagger was wearing one on tour long before most people who use TikTok were even born.
The more daring male fashionistas have spent the past few years wearing printed mesh tops, but here’s Jagger wearing one in 1995 to hang out with Siegfried and Roy, of course.
Here’s Jagger wearing a slimly-proportioned black suit one year before Hedi Slimane would take the reigns at Dior Homme, making black skinny suits his trademark.
