BeSPOKE 07

Mick Jagger
“Forever young”
By SERgE SimonARt
138
The one and only Mick Jagger. Literally. Who else is
there? His A list contemporaries are either dead or
resting, or they were simply never quite as sexy
and charismatic as the Stones frontman. Jim Morrison
has gone, so has Jimi Hendrix. Paul McCartney
was never quite as beguiling as a performer.
Dylan can’t dance - if he can, it’s a well guarded
secret. Jagger’s predatory charm, his animal magnetism
and general stage presence are unique.
Even his buddy, kindred spirit and nemesis Keith
Richards, at the height of their animosity (what
Keith called “World War III”), allowed for the fact
that “Nobody else on this planet can work a room
like Mick can. When he pours it on, it still amazes
me”. His body language is feline, ever so slightly
camp at times, but always mesmerizing. Jagger is
obviously and purposely a style icon, a rock aristocrat,
an aesthete, although he finds such honorary
titles reductive: “A German journalist wanted to
talk only about style, as if I were some kind of Duke
of Windsor figure. I appreciate beauty, but I’m not
a clothes horse”. Nevertheless, Jagger’s sartorial
incarnations have entered fashion history: the
Shellyan frocks, the Byronesque suits, the louche
peacock look of “Performance”, the faux bohemian
attire in Saint-Tropez, the flamboyant Ossie Clark
jumpsuits, the redingote riding coats, the deca-
dent sport jock stadium look of the early eighties,
the Studio 54 disco look, the Savile Row suits (although
bespoke suits were always more Charlie
Watts’s bag), the cosmopolitan jet set look... Jagger’s
fashion sense has been markedly broader
than that of, say, Bryan - Tuxedo - Ferry. And these
days he has his stage clothes made by his girlfriend
L’Wren Scott. The best thing about clothes, he
says, is “I’m skinny, so I can wear anything that emphasizes
my silhouette, I don’t have to worry about
whether my clothes adequately cover up any fat
bits.’ L’Wren says the big thing is the stage gear has
to be ‘stretchy, heavily constructed yet lightweight,
and never tight or scratchy, as he has to
move around in it”. For almost five decades now,
Jagger has epithomised rock ’n roll cool. From his
diaries, we learn that Cecil Beaton, a style icon of
the previous generation of Bright young Things,
was fascinated by Mick’s charisma and his “marvelous
torso”. Soon, there was to be a changing of
the guard. There have been many sidelines in Jagger’s
life, from fashion and documentaries to filmproducing
and acting and elegant philandering,
but music has always come first. Contrary to the
popular myth of the ever stoned Stones or the
loungeing rockstar, the prolific Jagger has a strong
work ethic, echoes of which can be found in lyrics
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
yOUNG miCk jAggER.
thE Rolling StonES,
WITH MEMBERS
ChARliE wAttS (DRUMS),
BRiAn jonES (GUITAR),
Bill wymAn (BASS),
kEith RiChARdS
(LEAD-GUITAR)
AND MICK JAGGER (VOCALS),
ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT ©
PIERRE FOURNIER/SyGMA/
CORBIS.
miCk jAggER
AND jERRy hAll ©
NORMAN PARKINSON/SyGMA/
CORBIS.
139