Sometimes I wonder about stupid things, so one could imagine that thinking about stupid things makes you stupid! We can philosophize about the world around us by trying to understand it or improve it... I don't have that power! So why should I tell you about Steve McQueen...
the King of Cool!
In the world of motorcycles, Steve is an icon, not for everyone, of course, but for all those whose affinity for old machines and motorcycle history resonates in their souls! For others, Steve McQueen is a brand on a T-shirt, an advertising reference that Ford, Triumph, and Tag Heuer have used or still use. Steel-blue eyes, a worried brow, a wry smile, and little else. Steve McQueen is the ultimate male, no frills. Steve McQueen is also a keyword on Google or a Pinterest.com board title or a fashion collection theme when it returns to its 50s and 60s roots where the King of Cool, both in the city and on screen, perfectly embodies style and attitude! So we can say that Steve McQueen is certainly one of the first male fashion influencers and brand ambassadors,
here are a few:
- Beige or navy jackets: Baracuta Harrington
- Sunglasses: Persol
- Bell motorcycle helmet
- White, beige and camel Club Monaco Chino pants
- Barbour jacket
- Levis jeans and denim shirt
- Rolex Explorer & Tag Heuer
- Shoes: Clarks or white low-top Converse
- Thick white cotton t-shirt and red Marlboro
We also took inspiration from Steve McQueen's wardrobe; we reissued his suede jacket and his polo shirts, which you can see here.
A white t-shirt, beige Chino, Clarks shoes, and a Triumph
So why does Steve McQueen embody this cool attitude that men from yesterday and today love to claim as their own?
What man wouldn't want that title? The King of Cool
He embodies sportiness, elegance, and charisma; he had it all.
But before being the symbol of this elegance, Steve McQueen was above all a very good driver, both in cars and on motorcycles.
With over 20 participations in national and international championships, crowned with several victories, and a very good second place at the 12 Hours of Sebring, in a Porsche 908.
On a motorcycle, he was part of the American team for the ISDT enduro event held in Germany in 1964.
Basically, Steve isn't a marketing product from the cinema to "starify" his image to make him sexier in the eyes of a homebound public lacking thrills. He has all the attributes of virility that we love; McQueen is not a boor!
"He was starified between 1965 and 1975, a time when people were best dressed in the world," emphasizes Sophie Fontanel, a journalist for Elle... And he's someone whom, unlike Paul Newman, Robert Redford, or Clint Eastwood, we haven't seen age." Or so little, just enough not to become, like James Dean, who died almost too young, "the icon of teenagers and gays."
A word about his filmography: only about thirty films, but what films! The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Cincinnati Kid, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, Le Mans (of course!), Papillon, and many other great successes.
« The heaviest burden is to exist without living » Victor Hugo
I believe Steve understood something: that life is short, that it's better to feel alive than just to be alive, that one can be a hero on screen and off screen. Steve was an intense being... Intensity is like a burning of existence that allows one to escape the ambient evanescence. It is proof of one's existence... In short, Steve taught us that we could stop being bored! He could afford a Jet and decide to go eat pizza in Rome, but Steve preferred motorcycles, the desert... He wasn't snobbish, just look at John Dominis's photos of Steve McQueen's private life, his love for speed, motorcycles, and cars... And women. In short, Steve can be a credible and easy example to follow.
Okay, we're not rich, Steve could afford all the toys he wanted and had the time to enjoy them... So can we, when you think about it. Everyone reading these lines owns at least one motorcycle, maybe even an old car and a motorbike, a pair of sunglasses and a white t-shirt, some do as I do, sometimes act silly on a field or on a beach, others can afford a motorcycle trip or hang out at the bistro at lunchtime, taking out that collectible motorcycle as much as possible, which only asks to ride and too often remains under a tarp! Others take red lights for race start lines and are the gods of the wheelie. I know some who drive forest green Mustangs like in Bullitt. So put some Steve in your life and some life in your Steve!
For my part, I confess the influence of cinema on my passion for motorcycles, and Steve McQueen is part of it:
Because we all have a movie in our heads that changed our lives!
Those who have seen The Wild One (1953), The Wild Angels (1966), The Lovable Tramp (1964), Hell’s Angels’69 (1969), On Any Sunday (1972), Mad Max (1979), Quadrophenia (1979), Le Mans (1971), Bullitt (1968), Vanishing Point (1971), Rumble Fish (1983), The World's Fastest Indian (2006), The Place Beyond the Pines (2013), Drive (2011), American Graffiti (1973)...
Some more information about Steve McQueen
A great album to absolutely own: The Bullitt Soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin
Steve McQueen the collector:
At the end of his life, the actor owned 210 motorcycles, including a large number of American bikes from before 1920, motorcycles that nobody wanted and that could be bought by the weight of scrap metal: Indians and Harley-Davidsons, Cyclones, or Popes.
He also owned an Excalibur, Shelby Cobra, Jaguar XK-SS, Porsche Speedster 58, Ferrari, Lotus, Ford Mustang Fastback GT 390... Triumph or Husqvarna and Honda Elsinore
His first motorcycle:
Upon his arrival in California in the late 1950s, the actor bought his first motorcycle with his initial earnings from the series "Dead or Alive" ("Wanted: Dead or Alive" in French). It was a 1946 Indian Chief.
A stunt double for Steve in The Great Escape?
Bud Ekins (a Californian rider), nicknamed the "Desert Fox," became a friend of the actor. He introduced him to off-road riding. Bud Ekins became his "official" stunt double. He is credited with the most famous motorcycle jump in cinematic history in "The Great Escape." He is also the one behind the wheel of the forest green Ford Mustang in the chase scene filmed on the streets of San Francisco for the movie "Bullitt."
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Steve McQueen, born Terrence Stephen McQueen on March 24, 1930 in Beech Grove, Indiana, and died on November 7, 1980 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, was an American actor, producer, car racer, and motorcycle racer.
Dubbed "The King of Cool," his anti-hero roles developed at the height of the counterculture of the 1960s and made him one of the most popular box office actors of the 1960s and 1970s.
