Bill Nighy: En Tidlös Stilikon
4 juni 20243 min read
Style Icons: Bill Nighy
Our dear friend, and regular contributor Tord Krogtoft had an idea for a semi regular Cavour Journal column, where he would like to highlight some of his style icons. We immediately liked the idea, and passed him the ink and quill. First icon up is famed englishman Mr. Bill Nighy.
William Francis Nighy, better known to us as Bill, was born in Caterham, a small city in Surrey, southeast in England, in December 1949. The young Nighy was into literature from an early age, especially Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. This resulted in him running away from home twice as a teenager, first to Marseille at age 15 and then to Paris at 16, with the grand plan to “write the great English novel”. His writing didn’t work out as planned, in fact (by his own account) he has hardly written a word ever since. Nighy went back home and finished primary school. After some odd jobs in his hometown, he enrolled in acting school by chance. Later he continued to work with different regional theatre productions in the late seventies. Then came work with the National Theatre, TV, films, and Broadway plays. A long and steady career as an actor.
Most of us probably know him from the Christmas classic Love Actually, or as the character Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean. He won a BAFTA for Best Actor in the tv-series State of Play (recommended watching) and had his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in the 2022 movie Living.
Avid reader. Successful actor. Music lover. Crystal Palace F.C supporter. Anna Wintour’s boyfriend. Bill Nighy is many things. For me (and now also for you reading this), Bill Nighy is a notorious clothes horse. His interest in clothing, and all their lovely details is enormous and have been for a long time. Thus, in my opinion Bill Nighy is the person in the world that looks best in a navy suit. You don’t agree? Tell me one person who looks better in a navy suit than him, I’ll wait.
Avid reader. Successful actor. Music lover. Crystal Palace F.C supporter. Anna Wintour’s boyfriend. Bill Nighy is many things. For me (and now also for you reading this), Bill Nighy is a notorious clothes horse. His interest in clothing, and all their lovely details is enormous and have been for a long time. Thus, in my opinion Bill Nighy is the person in the world that looks best in a navy suit. You don’t agree? Tell me one person who looks better in a navy suit than him, I’ll wait.
If you are interested in classic menswear and want to look as good as possible in a suit either for work or celebration, you should find someone who knows their stuff. A store with quality products and men or women with knowledge is always a good start. Make sure it is a physical shop, the internet is good for many things, finding the perfect fitting suit is not one of them. That said, writing “Bill Nighy suit” in your internet browser and looking at pictures of him before you visit a good shop or tailor is a very good idea. You should save a few pictures and show them to the salesperson, then you’d be off to a good start to get this right.
“A suit is a suit. People like skinny suits because they see it as sportswear, and that’s just wrong”
One could argue that Mr. Nighy has the perfect frame for a suit, as he is a tall and slender man. But what makes him perfect is his understanding of proportions, fit and silhouette. He is a bespoke customer of London tailors Anderson & Sheppard and John Pearse and have been for a long time. But he also has suits made by the Australian brand P. Johnson. A chance meeting on the streets of New York City with the co-founder of the bespoke brand The Anthology made him a new customer of them, and some beautiful suits. He wears his suits in the most natural way and have been for decades. When it comes to fit, Nighy is a purist (and rightly so): “A suit is a suit. People like skinny suits because they see it as sportswear, and that’s just wrong”.
Wear your suit as a suit and look no further for inspiration than Bill Nighy. In a navy suit he is simply unbeatable. World Class.
Wear your suit as a suit and look no further for inspiration than Bill Nighy. In a navy suit he is simply unbeatable. World Class.