# Fred Astaire, a Fashion Icon



## Meanderer (May 16, 2021)

"Even today, Astaire is considered a style icon. He is often remembered in elegant formal dress, as he wore in the 1935 film _Top Hat_. In his 1959 autobiography, Astaire admitted his dislike of formal wear, writing, "At the risk of disillusionment, I must admit that I don't like top hats, white ties and tails." 

He was fastidious about his wardrobe and had strong ideas about how men should dress. In an extensive _GQ_ interview from August 1957, Astaire detailed his style preferences, including his taste in tie width, shirt cuffs, and tailoring. Most notable is Astaire's preference for using silk handkerchiefs instead of belts! To get the full story on Fred Astaire's personal style, read the interview here."


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## Devi (May 16, 2021)

Wow, surprising. And he was sooo stylish.


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## Meanderer (May 16, 2021)

Read 1957 Interview

"Of course," he says, "in my business you have to dress for the role. At home, I dress for myself."





"Handkerchiefs should be flipped out and folded into the pocket with an appearance of casualness, Astaire thinks. He does not like the square or folded style, nor the puff type that he describes "like a range of the Andes." Once, on a TV show, Ed Sullivan came to him and begged him to put his coat kerchief in properly. Astaire obliged. "I think it set a new standard for Ed," he said. "At least he was still wearing it that way when he appeared weeks later on the show.'

"His own preference for wear would be the ageless, conservative suiting, fabric, and color, complemented with shirt and tie each in its own distinctive small pattern or low-keyed color. The Astaire creed of dress is: "Be yourself—but don't be conspicuous."


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## Ronni (May 16, 2021)

I loved the article. He was meticulous in his dress!


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## Devi (May 16, 2021)

I read the interview. Pretty interesting!


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## Meanderer (May 16, 2021)

Fred Astaire talking with Ed Sullivan during rehearsals ...​


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## CinnamonSugar (May 16, 2021)

Always classy!


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## Jules (May 16, 2021)

CinnamonSugar said:


> Always classy!


Yes he was.  

Love his attitude of dressing for yourself at home.


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## Llynn (May 16, 2021)

In 1939, a reviewer wrote about Fred: 'Can't sing, can't act. Balding and can dance a little'. I wonder if that guy kept his job.
​


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## Pink Biz (May 16, 2021)

*Age 12 in 1911...dapper as a child.
*


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## Meanderer (May 19, 2021)

Fred Astaire Cuts Loose: 1970 Oscars​


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## Meanderer (May 19, 2021)

Ava Astaire on her father FRED ASTAIRE​


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## CinnamonSugar (May 19, 2021)

Meanderer said:


> Ava Astaire on her father FRED ASTAIRE​


Thank you for sharing that, @Meanderer


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## oldman (May 19, 2021)

The movie “Cheek To Cheek” was great. I watched it with my mother when she was alive and I was only seven years old. I enjoyed all the dancing and singing.


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## Meanderer (May 21, 2021)

Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell.  'Begin the Beguine'  Tap dance duet​


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## CinnamonSugar (May 21, 2021)

Meanderer said:


> Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell.  'Begin the Beguine'  Tap dance duet​


Tap perfection.   You know it’s good tap dancing when the orchestra stops and the taps “make their own music”


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## Meanderer (Dec 22, 2021)

_Merry Christmas!_


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## Meanderer (Dec 22, 2021)




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## horseless carriage (Dec 22, 2021)

“Fred Astaire was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, backwards … and in high heels.”


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## Gaer (Dec 22, 2021)

I used to teach at the Fed Astaire dance studio but he never did drop in.  Didn't get to meet him.  
I wanted so badly to learn tap dancing!  He did dress with class, i must admit.


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## Devi (Dec 22, 2021)

Wow @Gaer — you could dance that well that you could _teach _at the Fred Astaire dance studio. Nice!


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## glofran (Dec 23, 2021)

Meanderer said:


> "Even today, Astaire is considered a style icon. He is often remembered in elegant formal dress, as he wore in the 1935 film _Top Hat_. In his 1959 autobiography, Astaire admitted his dislike of formal wear, writing, "At the risk of disillusionment, I must admit that I don't like top hats, white ties and tails."
> 
> He was fastidious about his wardrobe and had strong ideas about how men should dress. In an extensive _GQ_ interview from August 1957, Astaire detailed his style preferences, including his taste in tie width, shirt cuffs, and tailoring. Most notable is Astaire's preference for using silk handkerchiefs instead of belts! To get the full story on Fred Astaire's personal style, read the interview here."


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## glofran (Dec 23, 2021)

I agree with all. As much as I liked Gene Kelly, I don't think any other male dancer had Fred Astaire's style, elegance, or grace.


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## Meanderer (Dec 23, 2021)

@glofran  thanks for posting, and welcome to Senior forums.


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## Geezer Garage (Dec 23, 2021)

Astaire was smooth, but I think Kelly is an athlete, in addition to being a great dancer and choreographer, but we all have our favorites. James Cagney was another great hoofer, among many others of that era.  Mike


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## Meanderer (Dec 23, 2021)

"I'm fairly careful about the tailoring," he says, 'I usually take my suits back to the shop at least half a dozen times—too much shoulder or too loose or too tight. What I dislike is wearing a lot of material.' He meditates for a moment. 'I don't see any reason to carry all that extra cloth about,' he adds."

"If has any preferences for a cloth, Astaire says that it is for a light silky cashmere of vicuna. 'There's nothing that makes me feel quite as well as a light overcoat of dark blue vicuna,' he says."

His standard of taste in dressing is simple. "I just don't like a suit to stand out. I don't want someone looking twice at me and saying in an incredulous tone: 'What was _that'_?'"

Astaire does not care for the new Ivy League look. "I simply don't understand it," he says. "It may look well on some people, young ones, but it's terrible on me." He believes that his measure of male dress is basically British. "You have to give them credit. They have been very stable in their designing and tailoring. They hardly ever change."


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## CinnamonSugar (Dec 23, 2021)

Astaire and Kelly’s dance styles were so different , it’s comparing apples and oranges.  Fred was upright, long and elegant; Kelly’s was closer to the ground, athletic.  Both superstars of dance


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## Meanderer (Dec 23, 2021)

I had to ask Google about Vicuna......




Vicuna - Princess of the Andes

"The vicuna wool was once considered the cloth of Gold by the Incas. It is one of the most favored fabrics among the people residing in the colder regions of the Andes because of its unique softness and its impressive ability to retain heat".

"This wool in the old times was much celebrated and was only worn by the royalty of Incas and was not permitted to be worn by the commoners. Today times might have changed, but this wool, which is used in making apparel such as shawls, suits, coats, and even home furnishings like warm and cozy blankets and throws still stands very valuable".


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## Geezer Garage (Dec 23, 2021)

And the great thing about owning something made of this, is you get to say the word Vicuna when anyone asks you about it. Mike


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## Meanderer (Dec 24, 2021)

"The Dancing Lady" Fred Astaire and Joan Crawford MGM, 1933


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## Meanderer (Dec 24, 2021)

_"After this Fred appeared in various roles (shop proprietor, policeman, chauffeur, cab driver etc) in a TV movie called The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, broadcast on December 23rd, 1979, and co-starring John Byner, Bert Convy and Gary Burghoff as three men who hire a Father Christmas suit and are changed by the experience of wearing it. And guess who plays the real Santa Claus at the end..."?_




Santa Claus, as played by Fred!


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## Meanderer (Dec 27, 2021)

Yeah, I’m 56 and She’s 24. What’s Your Point? Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, frequently though not continuously irresistible in _Daddy Long Legs__  (link)




_


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## Meanderer (Jan 10, 2022)

Dancing Through The Little Known Details Of Fred Astaire’s Life

An Enduring Legend​Now and again, an artist comes along that absolutely defines a genre, even decades after their death. While movie musicals have been in decline since the 1950s, Fred Astaire is still hailed as one of the greatest dancers of all time. His routines in popular films have influenced some of the most celebrated dancers and choreographers of the 20th century, but behind the genial grin lies a man that very few people got to know. (READ MORE)


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## Liberty (Jan 10, 2022)

A very elegant man and the world's best dancer.  Read that on the sets he had a table and white tablecloth, and was served his meals by a butler.  No fast food for Fred.


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## Meanderer (Jan 10, 2022)

MY GRANDFATHER WAS FRED ASTAIRE 






"If you ask Tyler McKenzie about his grandfather, he might dance around the topic. That's because his grandfather was Fred Astaire, and he is shy about discussing it. But he did, with the West Seattle Herald, and seemed to develop a bounce in his step  recalling hanging out with perhaps the greatest dancer in the world." (READ MORE)


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## Meanderer (Jan 10, 2022)

Fred Astaire Accepts the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1981


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## Meanderer (Jan 10, 2022)

Producer George Sunga on working with Fred Astaire


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## Meanderer (Jan 11, 2022)

Fred Astaire & Joan Leslie sing My Shining Hour


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## Meanderer (Jan 24, 2022)




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