Mens Style Icons: Gianni Agnelli - Mens Style Tips by Gianni Agnelli

Style Icons From the Past: Gianni Agnelli

When people look at men's fashion icons from the past, a lot of people forget to mention those who have made their careers out of being moguls. After all, many of these individuals did the majority of their work behind the scenes, yet had a huge and lasting impact on society. Gianni Agnelli is just such an individual, and was without a doubt one of the most successful Italian moguls of all time. The head of Fiat was not only rich beyond his wildest dreams, but knew how to dress in a manner that would serve to highlight his luxurious lifestyle. Indeed, many moguls throughout history simply didn’t care a great deal about how they looked, although Agnelli served to provide a stark contrast to this notion. The following are just a few elements of Gianni Agnelli’s style that you yourself may even be able to incorporate into your look.

The Iconic Wristwatch Method
At face value, the idea of accessorizing with a wristwatch shouldn’t shock anyone in the fashion community. This being said, Agnelli had a very unique way of wearing his watch, and wasn’t afraid to shock onlookers by embracing it in public. More often than not, Gianni Agnelli could be seen wearing his watch over the sleeve of his dress shirts; a look that many people considered to be overly eccentric. Nevertheless, Agnelli gets points for going for such a unique presentation, as virtually no one else out there has been able to pull this off. His excuse for this method of wearing a watch was that he didn’t have the extra time it would take to pull back the fabric of his shirt just to see what time it was; a bold statement on all counts.

A Mixture of Styles
The best way to describe the way Gianni Agnelli dressed would be to say that he took most conventional stylistic rules and threw them out the window. He would very often mix elements of the business attire that was popular in Milan at the time with country sporting attire; two looks that most people would never expect to go together. For example, he had a penchant for wearing boots with his suits on occasion, and was surprisingly able to pull off this look with little effort. Favoring pinstripes, the suits he chose would fit perfectly with any pair of Gucci boots, and he was able to show off his fashion sense simply by making small statements such as this.

V-Neck Sweater & Tie Combo


While many men during Agnelli's time opted for classy 3-piece suits, he himself decided to layer his ensembles with a solid v-neck cashmere sweater instead. It is a great way to add a unique look, new color, and warmth to any fall or winter ensemble.

Heavy Fabrics



Take a look at pictures of Agnelli dressing in suit and tie, and you will find plenty examples of him wearing heaver fabric suits and ties. The worsted wool tie paired with a heavy woolen suit featuring pronounced peak lapels is an all too common, yet always fashionable, look for this style icon.

Patterned Suits, Solid Shirts
Angelli was a huge fan of subtle patterns on his larger clothing pieces. Wool overcoats and suit jackets featuring large scale window-pane checks are the classic example here. Instead of adding even more patterns to the ensemble with his smaller clothing pieces, Agnelli kept the rest simple and sleek by adding a solid white dress shirt (featuring wide spread collars to complement his wider peak lapels), and finely patterned necktie. His three favorite tie styles are: solid colored ties, pin dot patterned ties, and worsted wool ties.

Takeaways for the Modern Man
Modern men can learn quite a bit from how Gianni Agnelli approached fashion and style. The most important thing to take away from his look is the fact that conventional guidelines need not apply to how one approaches fashion. Try wearing your tie or watch in an unconventional way; you’d be surprised just how effective this can be. Mixing styles such as how he mixed business attire with country attire can also be effective, but the potential for clashing is always rather high; use discretion when taking this approach.

Your Cheap-Neckties.com Team