Cary Grant’s gray suit tops movie clothing list

NEW YORK — There are lists of great films, great actors, great actresses and great supporting actors and actresses.

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Now there there is a list of great men’s clothing in films and the winner for the best suit in film history is Cary Grant’s tailored gray, ventless, three-button suit as worn in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller “North by Northwest.”

The list, compiled by men’s magazine GQ, found that Grant’s suit was “arguably the most legendary in the history of American cinema,” claiming movies had a greater impact on men’s fashion than the catwalks or the street.

The three-button suit, with a roll-over lapel, is worn for a good part of the entire film in which Grant starred with Eva Marie Saint.

GQ’s Style Editor Adam Rapoport said Grant’s suit was widely copied — by Tom Cruise in “Collateral,” Ben Affleck in “Paycheck” and by thousands of men internationally.

Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni’s black suit, white shirt and black tie worn in Fellini’s moved “8 1/2” in 1963 was also cited as another classic — reappearing in “Reservoir Dogs” in 1992.

Rapoport said editors at the magazine compiled the list as it is not catwalks nor the street but the big screen that immortalizes male style.

Take the Beatles’ 1964 movie “A Hard Day’s Night” in which the Fab Four wear skinny black knit ties, zip-up boots, and short-cropped turtlenecks.

“It was interesting to see that men’s fashions haven’t really changed that much over the years especially when it comes to suits,” Rapoport told Reuters on Monday.

“A guy in a great suit looks just a great today as it did 50 years ago.”

The list of best male fashion movies spanned from 1959 to 2000 with the magazine’s editors selecting a mixture of styles and genres. The list appears in GQ’s November issue that hits the newstands later this week.

As well as suited stars, the list included some more casual dressers such as Richard Roundtree in head-to-toe leather in “Shaft” in 1971 or Robert Redford in 1975’s “Three Days of the Condor” in which he played a CIA researcher who never took off his jacket and jeans.

“This is still what guys wear now — a jacket and jeans. Nothing has changed,” said Rapoport.

Here is the top 25 list in chronological order:

1. North by Northwest (1959)
2. Breathless (1959)
3. Ocean’s 11 (1960)
4. Purple Noon (1960)
5. 8 1/2 (1963)
6. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
7. How to Steal A Million (1966)
8. Blowup (1966)
9. Bullitt (1968)
10. Get Carter (1970)
11. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
12. Shaft (1971)
13. Badlands (1973)
14. The Harder they Come (1973)
15. The Godfather Part II (1974)
16. Shampoo (1975)
17. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
18. Quadrophenia (1979)
19. American Gigolo (1980)
20. Diner (1982)
21. Stranger than Paradise (1984)
22. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
23. Trainspotting (1996)
24. Rushmore (1998)
25. In the Mood for Love (2000)