Welcome to Lewis Hamilton's Un-Suit Paradise
Lewis Hamilton knows how to dress. It's gotta be easy, as a professional Formula One racecar driver, to get caught up in cars, gear, stats and ignore the stylistic side of things but you wouldn't think so from glimpsing Hamilton's effortless steeze.
For an October 25 appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Hamilton and his stylist, Eric McNeal, demonstrated their trained eyes not once but twice, blessing us with a double dose of powerfully cool outfits.
Welcome to Lewis Hamilton's un-suit paradise.
What do I mean by "un-suit," you ask?
Well, what do you wear when the occasion calls for something more formal than sweatpants but isn't as rigid as anything that demands a suit proper? Meet the un-suit, a relaxed form of semi-tailoring practiced by a whole host of particularly cool young labels that aren't dressing the boardroom-sitters or Wall Street wannabes.
Hamilton's second outfit, seen above, epitomizes this aesthetic. Rather than button up in a blazer, shirt, and slacks, he opts for a sleek shirt that does the dressiness for him, with matching pants that make it an un-suit.
Beefy leather shoes take the effect further, toying with the conventions of classic menswear by blowing up the conventional derby to clownishly cool proportions.
Next, let's study the outfit that Hamilton wore before shifting into his navy ensemble: a matching pair of washed brown denim layers from extremely cool indie Namacheko, paired with Nanushka shades and steel-toed KENZO boots.
The key here, as with the outfit prior, is the matching pieces. No one would argue that the marled Namacheko items are as sophisticated as the cool-hued wool pieces he wore later but by keeping the 'fit unified, Hamilton keeps it from looking workwear.
Of course, the innately excellent detailing Namacheko applied to the Manni shirt Hamilton wore also kicks the visual intrigue up by a couple levels.
It's a good bit of inspiration for anyone keen to ape Hamilton's unbothered sense of style. Matching separates will get you an un-suit of your own and it can be applied across textiles and shapes, compliant with all manner of clothing genres.
Just look to how easily Hamilton made it work both with his matching denim and the mature set he wore at the end of the day. It can be done and it can be done without stress, approaching the inherent appeal of uniform dressing should you make the un-suit a staple.
Otherwise, it's just a cool way to elevate a semi-unformal occasion, like an appearance on Kimmel!.
