SPEAKER_02 0:11

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Menswear Style Podcast. I'm your host, Pete Brooker, and this is episode 24. Yes, we are a year in, that's right, it's a year since we started the podcast here, so a year since I started pestering people, asking if they'd like to be interrogated by a perfect stranger. Amazingly, people say yes, and I'd like to thank everyone that's jumped on the podcast and the listeners also, you guys, for downloading, sharing, and telling a friend it's how we get the word out. Um This episode I'm going to be focusing on the style of one of my screen heroes, Steve McQueen. Now, to give you the backstory on how this came about, I wrote an article some time ago on the style of Steve McQueen that you can find on the Menswear Style site, and why his look has survived the years along with his films. I went away on holiday and read Icons of Men's Style by Josh Sims and just knew reading this book I had to get Josh on the podcast to talk about Steve McQueen as Steve was heavily featured in this book.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Most of what he wears in that film, and and they've they've kind of become um icons to use that word again in themselves, it it is not period correct by any means. And I know he had the the kind of the the car keys that he wore in that re you know, retailered, so they were very much more of a sort of sixties style than they would have been um 40s in a much much thinner car.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

So luckily Josh did say yes, as you can probably imagine, and he came on the podcast and wait a sec, let me just change the music here. As I was saying, Josh goes into the details about the style of Steve McQueen and the iconic outfits uh he wore in those films, and as I was doing a bit more digging around after reading the book, I knocked on a few more doors. Uh, of the brands associated with the McQueen Estate, the likes of Barber, Purcil, Tag, etc. I came very close to getting a spokesman from Barber on the phone, but it just didn't pan out unfortunately. But we managed to do one better. I started talking to a lovely woman by the name of Liz Van Denberg, uh, who is the brand manager of the Steve McQueen Estate. You can go to stevemacqueen.com to find out more about that, and she suggested that she might be able to get Chad McQueen to jump on and talk about his father. So that happened. That actually happened. We're gonna be speaking to Chad McQueen, the actor, the racer, the super sweet guy, and legend in his own right. He was also in Karate Kid. I had a million questions about Karate Kid also, but this wasn't the time or place to interrogate the man about that. So you'll hear some tales from Chad. Liz also chimes in and tells us a bit about how the estate is run, so stay tuned for that.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

My neighbour up in Malvo is uh is Pierce Bros. I was with him uh a couple months ago and he said the same thing. He said, you know, your your old man was a style icon, which uh made me feel really good. Why I'm dressed in OP shorts and a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Before we get into all that though, a little bit of housekeeping. If you're not there already, head over to the Mensweft Style site at www.menswestyle.co.uk. There you'll find all the blogs and competitions, features, reviews, etc. Download the Menswear Style app, simply punch in the Menswear Style app into the app store, and we should come up. That way you'll stay on top of all the trends you can get to digest all the news and style advice in your own time. We're on the social at menswear style, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and lastly, don't forget to download this, the Menswear Style podcast from iTunes. iTunes Punch in Menswear Style into the search bar and leave us a review if you like what you hear. If you want to get in touch with the show, in touch with me, email me at peter at menswearstyle.co.uk. Okay. Are you ready for this one? Sorry, sorry, uh wrong button. Here is the interview with Sun to the King of Cool and a pretty cool cucumber himself, Mr. Chad McQueen. Chad McQueen, welcome to the podcast. I could literally talk to you about 101 different things regarding your dad, but um I know you've had your head in the Steve McQueen car show uh for the last week or so. I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind starting off with that and telling us a little bit about the car show, please.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, you know, uh it's at a my dad had a messed-up childhood. He never knew his dad, and uh his mom kind of abandoned him. He started doing petty crime to survive, and uh a judge took pity on him and threw him in a place called the Boys Republic, which is in Chino Hills, California, founded in 1907. And my dad always supported them, got razors, jeans, whatever he could for the students, and he always supported them monetarily, and he took me aside one day and said, Son, this place turned my life around. So it's been ten years ago. We we started a car show there, and uh i it's done stuff like uh the dorm that my dad was in had the same toilets, urinals, and floors and everything since you know nine the since the forties. So directly because of that car show, we've got new dorms, we've got a new kitchen going in next month for the first time in 70 years, and that's all because of this car show. So yeah, we're really proud of it.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Great. We've got listeners in America too. So if um people are out there in California, Steve McQueenCarshow.com um is the place to go. It looks great on the website as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

You know, it's amazing how many people come from across the pond and also from Australia, Japan. It's just it's amazing the impact this has had, and it directly affects the boys. So uh we're real proud of it, and uh my dad always used to say you take a little and you put a little back in.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Excellent, yeah. Great motto to live by. Um Chad, your dad was remembered for a lot of things other than the racing as well. Um and the films, of course, he was known as the king of cool, still is known as the king of cool. Uh do you think he ever knew he was cool?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Uh I you know, he just did his thing. I you know, he did not dwell on himself at all. Uh uh, so I think that's what made him cool is that you know he just did his thing. I I don't think he he thought he would be the king of cool or anything like that. It's just the way he was. He was listening, having gone 36 years now and he still resonates. Uh when you're asking questions about his style, his fashion, I mean, it's amazing how it still resonates today.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah, I mean it's I've I've literally just put down a book um by an author called Josh Sims called Icons of Men's Style. He's an author here in the UK. In fact, he'll be on the podcast after you. Um, but I we recorded an interview with him and I just said, It's amazing. Were you surprised at the amount of times that Steve McQueen turned up in this book? You literally just go through every other page and you've got a picture of him in a different film wearing a different outfit. And he just said, Well, no. Not really. I wasn't surprised at all.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah. Yeah, you know, um my neighbor up in Malvo is uh is Pierce Brosnan. I was with him uh a couple months ago and he said the same thing. He said, You know, your your old man was a style icon, which uh made me feel really good why I'm why I'm dressing OP shorts and a t-shirt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Uh coming from a former bond, that that must be quite a compliment as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah, I mean he's a stylish cat in his own right, you know, and uh it's quite a compliment.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Absolutely. Well, I I tell people all the time that I think it's the people that don't try hard that are the coolest. You know, the ones that make it look effortless than effortful. The people without the arm tattoos and the the accruitments, the neckties, the pocket squares, these guys that are trying doubly hard to look cool somehow lose that sense of being cool. It's it's quite ironic, really.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

It is, and you know, my dad never I never saw my dad like uh put an outfit on and say, Oh, that ain't right, I could I'll try something else. He just he would just naturally go and put something on and that was it. He always used to say, uh whatever you want, just as long as it's clean.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yeah. Um I can't imagine he would be the sort of guy that would spend hours in front of the mirror uh, you know, adjusting, adjusting an outfit and changing shirts, etc. Um but never have I'm even trying to get hold of you, Chad, for the interview is uh we were trying to sort it out via Skype and then um maybe FaceTime, and y you had something of your old man there where you thought, well, you don't do Skype, you don't you don't do FaceTime, let's just call me on the phone, which was our fault. Uh a wonder a wonderful place to be.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Well, I'm of the monkey age, I don't own a computer or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, you you like me had to get the um the girlfriend to download Skype on the computer so I could actually facilitate this. But um anyway, I was I was also wanting to know a little bit about how the uh the estate works, if you wouldn't mind talking about that. So you have the brands that are associated with the estate like Purcil and Barber and uh even like Triumph and Tag, etc. What is the process like? Do these brands approach you and say, look, you know, your dad wore this in our film, can we release a range? Or do you mind talking a little bit about the mechanics of that?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Uh Liz, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Uh yeah, sure. So this is Liz from Greenlight, or the agency that represents the estate. And it often works both ways. I mean, we get uh many requests every day, day in, day out, from brands that are not associated with him and those that are. Uh so sometimes we seek them out, sometimes they come to us. But we've been really um lucky with having these long-standing partnerships with the authentic brands, like as you mentioned, Purseul and Barber and Triumph and Tag.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

And Ford and Porsche. I mean, listen, be Peter, the the thing for me is that I want everything that's out there with my dad to be stuff that he wore, drove, or rode, you know? Uh it's gotta be like I you know, we get weird, you know requests from fucking uh pest control, excuse me my French, uh uh pest control in you know, in Japan is stuff that you know is not uh is not allowed to do. Yeah. So uh yeah, we try to keep it all we don't try, we do keep it all authentic.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yeah, which is kind of I remember you I saw an interview with you, Chad, and you were asked to describe your dad in free words, and you used authentic as one of them, so it does seem congruent that everything that he would have or put his face to would be something he would d endorse or wear, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yeah, I mean, you know, it was a different time back then. My dad was would never uh do merchandise for films or anything like that. I mean it. You know, listen, the Rolling Stones the same way, now they're selling uh, you know, shirts at concerts. So you know it's a different time now, and I think uh in this day and age, uh it's you know, you got to keep uh everything at the forefront every other minute, you know? I mean everything's so quick now.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah, it's uh it's a lot more immediate. And I I was wondering also um regarding some of the outfits in the film, like literally I I referred to this book. I'll probably have to send a copy over to you because you'd love it. It's um called Men Icons of Men's Style by Josh Sims. And I was just wondering, like, are some of the outfits that he wore in the films, are they as sought after as some of the cars? I mean, I know your dad um s tried to buy a lot of the cars and and did procure some of the cards. What about the outfits from the films? Did they um did they survive with him or did did they get bought as well?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Well, you know, the only thing, and I still have it, was the uh jacket my dad wore in bullet. I don't think, you know, I think after listen, my dad was very thorough when he'd um uh pick a route for character, what he wore, uh what he drove. Uh uh so I think once filming was done, he kind of uh wiped his hands of it and moved on character uh film. Um but for some reason he handed me, he kept the jacket from Bullet. Obviously that meant a lot to him, so I still have that.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

And what and just recently in the news they found the second car in that junkyard in Mexico, uh which was like finding the treasure of the Sierra Madre, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

I I'll tell you what, there I'm under a non-disclosure with Ford right now. We've got a lot of things going on. And uh by November, everything will be spelled out for the public.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

I can't wait to hear about that. Yeah, fantastic. Listen, um Chad, thanks thanks again for for jumping on the podcast. Um just a a quick note. I I was saying to Liz in an email, I've come I'm come from a Steve McQueen family. My dad has pictures of Steve McQueen by his bed. Uh he uh he called me Papilon when I was about five years old because I had my hair cut to a crew cut. I look super ill, and that name is stuck, and he'll probably call me for dinner right now and call me Papilon.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Why uh listen, you it you gotta get your dad and come to the car show. It's the first Saturday every June. Uh next year, every year we pick up Film of Dez to uh to uh be the uh the title. Next year it'll be 50 years of bullets. So we've got all kinds of uh great stuff coming next year. So please, if if you want to call them, call Liz and uh you'll be my guest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Oh, that's fantastic. I've even got chills down the back of my spine just listening to that. That's fantastic. Listen, Chad, I'll let you go. Thanks, uh, thanks so much for jumping on the podcast, Liz. Um, thank you too for for making this all happen.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Thank you. No worries, boo.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Okay, have have a good day. Thank you. Bye-bye. Chad McQueen there. Thank you, Chad. And now a word from our sponsor.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Ready? I must tell you something. You don't have to say anything. I mean, true. I'm sorry. I know. You'll be killed. Don't do it.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Wow! Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman there playing out the final scenes of Papillon. And that will be one of the best movies you'll ever see. If you haven't seen it already, I'm sorry for spoiling it, but then there's really no excuse for listening to this podcast if you haven't seen Papillon. Um we're gonna move on now. We're gonna speak to Josh Sims, who's the author of Icons of Men's Style, the book that we referenced in the earlier interview. So here's that interview now with Josh Sims. I'd like to welcome to the podcast, Josh Sims, a freelance writer and editor. How are you doing today, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Very well, thank you, Peter. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Yes, I'm brilliant. Thanks for joining us. Um Josh, the subject of the day is Steve McQueen. Uh I found out about you through the book of Icons of Men's Style. Um and Steve McQueen was heavily featured in this book. So uh before we crack into that, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to write the book?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Um well I've I've been writing about menswear for most of my um freelance life, which is uh a couple of decades now, um, and sort of got into writing books sort of sort of ten or so years ago, um and that kind of turns into a series of books all sort of roughly interconnected, um, looking at men's style and um either from a perspective of the clothing or specific garments or specific people. Um and so when I uh started looking at that and you start looking at specific um kind of as as the book calls it, iconic products, you you soon find that um Steve McQueen's name keeps cropping up here and there. And often these garments have a specific uh individual that's uh not not necessarily consciously but has has championed that that garment and come to be associated with it, and and that has uh I guess helped it survive through the through the films. They're often actors, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah, and and were you surprised when you started writing the book at how many times Steve McQueen was actually cropping up time and time again?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

I I guess so, yeah. I mean it he's got quite a high hit rate, I think, uh if you think of his films from a sort of sartorial point of view. He doesn't you know he didn't actually make that many films, and certainly didn't make many that good good films. Um it does seem to be that the ones that most people know him for um tend to uh have a very good um style content. Um you know, in in part, I guess, through the the work of the costume designer in each instance, but uh also in part because Steve McQueen was I think very conscious of his image and was was careful to work it, as it were.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Yeah. Um I'm just wondering how Steve McQueen has survived on through like this kind of iconic legacy uh where people are looking at him and his films and his clothing rather than say like Jack Nicholson, who was what who was probably more well tailored in his films, because it was of that time where he would be in films like Chinatown and he would wear a lot more suits. But yeah, it was Steve McQueen that would have w would be uh remembered and revered.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah, I think I think I mean to pick on Jack Nicholson specifically, I mean I think he's got a certain call for sure. Um but I I I also think he's probably more appreciated as a as a bona fide actor. And I'm I'm not really ever convinced uh that that Steve McQueen was. You know, he was he was sort of big on uh charisma, and I think that is is what made his legacy last. But I'm not sure he was a particularly brilliant actor. So I I I guess when you have a sort of very kind of accomplished um performer, you don't necessarily make the connection with what they're wearing, you know, that they they wear the clothes, the clothes don't wear them, which I'm not entirely sure he said of Steve McQueen.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

It's interesting. I mean, Steve McQueen, I think um so he had a like a history of going through the army, or was it that the naval he did like a he's got a naval background, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yes, he was in the navy for a short while, yeah, towards the war, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Thanks, and when he got discharged, he then went to college and some acting school, right? Um so he had a little bit of training, but you're right, I don't think he really had this fespian uh aura of him. He was more like the the the guy that could just rock up and be the anti-hero and pr uh what surprises me the most was how he found it quite so easily in terms of he he looks such a natural when he's doing the acting. It doesn't look like he's like a Vinnie Jones being dropped into lockstock, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Oh yes, yeah, no, yes, not that's not to pick on Paul Finney.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

I I mean he did a great job.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

I I wouldn't say that Stephen McQueen, you know, was was incapable of acting by by any means. But I mean most of the films he's in, he he you do get the impression he's going out of his way to steal the limelight. You know, he's a real kind of scenery tour, as they call them. And and um I you if you sort of read his um autobiography, one of the many autobiographies, there are so many instances of other actors getting utterly pissed off with him for the the way he would do just about anything to draw the viewer's attention to him rather than to whoever was speaking at the time. You know, it kind of could be a physical quirk or you know, playing with his collar or a certain expression, but you would it's slightly overact, and yeah, as a result, you you are kind of drawn to him each time.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Yeah, I I remember some really great stories of Jul Brenner and the making of the Magnificent Seven, where he's doing stuff in the background, like rattling his shotgun chamber, or he's kind of fiddling with, like you say, his collar or the the the the brim of his hat. And then Jul Brenner just turns around to him and goes, Look, if you want to play this game, all I have to do is do this and lifts off his hat. Of course, Jul Brenner is bald as a coot, right? So he can go, look, I can just outshine you if I want to. So let's not let's not horse around here.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah. There's a good there's a great story with well, that's a great story, an interesting story from the clothing point of view during um uh The Great Escape. And and apparently um Stephen Queen was was very fed up with the fact that James Garner, who was this massive star at the time, and if you remember, he played uh I think a Canadian air officer, so he was in kind of traditional um uh sort of flight dress uniform for most of the time, but had quite a striking white big roll neck collar on.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

And and um apparently Steve McQueen absolutely hated that because he thought the white was too sort of attention grabbing. And Steve McQueen being Steve McQueen, by all accounts a bit of a git, was quite prepared to walk away from the whole project unless something was done about the sweater and John Stone. Just the director apparently offered to shoot some scenes to shoot reshoot certain scenes with um with McQueen in the sweater and Connor put in the sweatshirt.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

My god, I didn't I've never heard that one. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, he was kind of talked down, you know, and then and the and the filming went on, but um anyway, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I mean, that's I think that trumps the one that I've heard of Paul Newman and Towering Inferno.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Where's that I wasn't what's that one?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Um so Paul Newman obviously wanted to play the lead, and Steve McQueen was saying, Well, no dice, I'm gonna be the lead. So they had to have their names. Um so Steve McQueen on the poster had his I think it was his name that was higher up, and Paul Newman's was lower down, uh, but they both had the same amount of dialogue, line for line, word for word. Is that right? Yeah, um so like Paul McKee sorry, I keep getting this the wrong way around. But I think it was Steve McQueen's name first, but lower down, and Paul Newman's name higher. Right. So like you had that kind of dual thing where you go, yes, I'm first, but I'm low down, and you're second, but you're higher up in larger font. Something like that. There's a um Mark Mark Commode, the film critic, will describe that a lot better, but that's uh there was there's a whole load of um yin-yang back and forth. I mean that must have been a racing thing as well, because these two were just nuts for racing, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

See, yeah, yeah. I kind of I I like to think that that Paul Newman was above all of that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I think he I don't think he was that bothered. Yeah. I I think it was it does sound like a Steve McQueen thing, right? Um yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

It does very much so.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

But anyway, um sorry I digress. Uh so getting back to the the style element, did you did you get the idea that Steve McQueen was he he was aware that he was a style icon style icon whilst he was alive and in the movies?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Um I think I think his his reputation as a style icon has increased since his death, or you know, in in more recent years even. So I mean he he was he was certainly known as a star, an unusual star during this time. And I think I think he was the very first male um cover on Harper's Bazaar, you know, obviously which was then was a very much a hardcore fashion title, and uh I suppose he he was certainly conscious of his image. I mean, I know for example during um the filming of uh uh The Great Escape, he he made sure that a lot of the clothes, I mean, for example, most of what he wears in that film, and and they've they've kind of become um icons to use that word again in themselves, it is not period correct by any means. And I know he had the the kind of the the car keys that he wore and that re you know retailed, so they were very much more of a sort of 60s style than they would have been um 40s in a much much thinner cut, you know. And if you if you kind of speak to sort of military nerds, they'll be very quick to say that you know there's no way any flyer of the time, any aviator of the time would have worn a sweatshirt, you know, it's just so against regulations, you know. But I I think I think his his there's there's a there's a story about how his his wife of the time, I'm not sure how many wives he had, but I isn't it um Neely Andam, something Neely Andrews, one of the two, was uh was was kind of very much persuading um or encouraging him to reveal his forearms. She thought his his forearms were his great um sort of the great seat of his his sexual allure, and uh it was her who encouraged him to cut the sleeves off of the sweatshirt for the great escape because she thought that was you know that's where his appeal was. So he was he was if if not himself, then certainly the people around him, the costume designers and the like were very conscious of his his sex appeal, if if not the style, and I guess the sort of the style came out of uh and it's the other story with the Thomas Crown affair about them, you know, he had something like 60 fittings, you know, to make sure that the trousers showed off his behind, just so, you know. Honestly, I don't never remember seeing his backside in the film, Jonas. But anyway, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Oh yeah, I I wasn't really on the lookout for it myself, but I'll uh I'll have to revisit it and uh give that a closer look. Yeah, so that must have been working. And by the way, how much of it is an insult when the woman says that your best feature is your forearms? I mean, that's not really saying anything unless you've got like sliced alone veiny forearms.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

I mean then not your best feature, but you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

I'm like, well, thanks. That's like a that it's really a complice, though. It's a compliment and an insult, you know, served in one dish, I think. So um that must have been Neil Adams, I I remember reading so that was a Yeah. Okay, great. Um so I mean the brands I feel like Barber and and Taghue, they've kind of made an a collection around Steve McQueen after his passing, or at least ex you know, for want of a better word, exploited that element. Do you is there any other brands that you know of that are gonna come out and think, oh yeah, Steve McQueen wore this back in the day, like the the supergar trainers that apparently he wore in one very famous picture where he's holding a gun? Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 27:09

I I don't know of any to come. I mean that that those brands you mentioned certainly aren't alone in having used his image um at some point or other. And the the the gap did at one point, I think when they were launching their big khakis campaign in the probably the 90s, and Triumph the motorcycle brand has done something, Renault trucks even. I mean, some quite strange connections have been drawn. Yeah. Um I think the real sort of fascination from a kind of commercial point of view with him now is is mostly um in Japan, you know, and the whole kind of repro clothing market there, companies like Toys McCoy's, I mean that they they do absolutely stitch-for-stitch replicas of certain um Steve McQueen cinematic garments, I mean, particularly the the great escape ones. I mean, right down to the last detail, which I I guess appeals to the the sort of um obviously the the the Japanese market or certainly niche Japanese market's fascination with with all things American and and you know there are there are sort of fewer fewer characters, screen characters than uh than Stephen Queen that are more American. Um Eastman, the the um leather goods, leather jacket maker, they they specialise in military jackets. I don't know if you know them, they're based up in um Scotland. That they've done again a stitch-for-stitch copy of um the the flight jacket he wore in The Great Escape. So a a lot of it revolves around The Great Escape, but it is fascinating to see how um his kind of legacy that way is has kind of lasted in so many different ways. As you mentioned, you know, the watch company in Barber and you know Bell Belstaff because he wore a trial master most of the time when he was riding bikes you know privately in his private time. Um picking up on it.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

I like this though. I like the fact that it's still something that could be in the pipeline, you know, almost to remind people of how cool he was and you know how much of a legend he was in his day as well. I I don't mind that. I give that a pass. I don't know about you.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

But you, yeah, I don't know. There aren't that many. I mean it all it does does tend to sort of it either sort of focuses around the great escape or it tends to focus around one particular image of him doing something particularly manly that he was so sort of into um offset, you know, it's him on a motorbike or him in a dune buggy or whatever, you know, and and they're kind of nailed down to one particular t-shirt. So it's quite uh it's quite it's quite obsessive, I think. You know, you I you mentioned Supergo, and I don't know if you'd have to kind of make a lot of effort to actually find to see that particular pair of um pumps, you know, in in a frame in a film at some point, you know, and I guess for some people that that would be enough, you know, if Steve wore it, then uh then I'm there.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Yeah, yeah. It's good enough for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

It's obvious thing. It's not like I mean like Barracuda, for example. I think I don't know if Barracuda have ever done a direct Steve McQueen link up, but he he you know was a big fan of their jackets privately, you know, off-screen, and and all and loads and loads of image shots of him wearing one. So you you would have think they would have made uh a bit more of a fuss, but I I guess there were all sorts of um sort of legal limitations and depends how much the McQueen estate needs the money at the time and and so on.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

I think they're okay, but yeah, I think there's on the I think on the it was it the the G9, the one that he did. Um it's on the uh the Barracuda site, I'm sure if you go on the history of I had had a little tunnel through it. Uh I'm pretty sure they allude to it there, so yeah. Um good stuff. I haven't even asked you what your favourite Steve McQueen film is yet, Josh.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

I I it would it probably would be the great escape, I think, if you can call it a Steve McQueen film. I mean he certainly would have thought of it as a Steve McQueen film, yeah. One of those um, you know, every star of the time was in it. I mean, just stylistically, you know, he is an amazing look he's got going on there, um, albeit it's you know, just uh e each garment in itself is nothing to shout about, but collectively it's quite quite resonant. Um Papillon is another of my favourites of his film.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Yeah, that's mine. Well I was about to say uh if if they show any Papillon pajamas, then I'm in for that. I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

It's coming, you know, who knows. Tom Horn, that's a great film. I don't know if you've seen that one.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

That was his last one, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Uh wasn't it? It was quite a late one, a Western, a kind of true life western. He's he's good in that. I think he um I think he got better the older he got in some way.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

And less bothered with the way he looked. And it's interesting, anyway. You want you do wonder give when he kind of basically gave up acting and and started growing his hair and his beard, and you you wonder if his his interest in his image sort of evaporated with his interest in Hollywood, you know, at the same time, and it just couldn't be bothered with that stuff anymore.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Yeah. Interesting. Um sorry I got it wrong, it was The Hunter, I think it was his last film. Oh yeah, no, yes, yes, I've seen it. But yeah, I'll have to I definitely need to invest. I've only seen um like eighty percent of Steve McQueen's films, so I need to get to get back in and uh bone up. Um listen, thanks Josh. Really appreciate you jumping on the podcast. So, what have we got? Um what can we see from you next? What are you working on?

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Um books, books-wise, I'm I'm uh off message somewhat. I'm working on a book about Aston Martin, so um nothing to do with clothes at all, unfortunately. But uh in theory that should be out later this year if if all goes well.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Is it is it all done and done?

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Although it it's it's more or less being done and done. Yeah, it's been um uh quite a torturous uh process in large part because Aston Martin has gone through so many changes uh and and complex business changes in in recent years that um the book was originally meant to come out for the centenary. So we we've missed that by I don't know what it is, a couple of years now. So uh they've they've they've finally kind of got a new CEO in place and all the right people, and uh they're signing or have signed contracts, and in theory the the whole thing can can go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Excellent, cool. Well look, um we'd love to have you back on and we'll do a special on Aston Martin again. I told you I'm a bond that I can talk all day about.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

No, no, I mean they they'll they've definitely got a car in it, though they've they've couldn't film that much, but um they uh they're not saying they're not saying what, um unsurprisingly.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

I imagine it will be the DB11, because I don't think it'll have a new sports car out by then, I don't think, because their next big thing's uh an SUV, so um I can't imagine Bond's gonna be in that, but you never know. They made him drive a forward once, so yeah, he got in that stage.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Oh god, I hated that. Um I mean he got into that yellow citron thing in For Your Eyes Only as a joke, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:51

But yeah, but it worked, didn't it? I mean that way, yeah, exactly. That was a visual gag, but when it comes when it film it was he turns up in that forward forward focus or something, it's very um very strange.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Well there's Casino Royale, I'm pretty sure he did something. Oh, is it that one is it? Yeah um I might I'll have to I'll have to brass up on that as well. The cards were a bit of a grey area, but I definitely know that um he he did that forward focus thing and everyone everyone just to the internet, yeah. Abandoned the Bond franchise.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Who do you have as the um hot contender for the next Bond?

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Well, um a lot of people are going for uh this Aiden fella that's in Pole Dark, but admittedly I've never seen Polark. Um I I kind of 90% believe that Craig's coming back. Um I'm I'm hoping that he'll come back and do a double bill. They've never done that before, like record two back to back, so it worked for him age wise, and they get to flash out the the Waltz um Blowfeld character. I really hope that happens, but I don't think that will.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Even though he said that he'd rather whatever it was, stick pins in his knee, shoot his head or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Exactly, yeah. But um, listen, he he's well entitled to say that. He's been um he's had his head in bond for the last two years, hasn't he? So he's he can't wait for a break. Um Idris, I think, would have been an amazing Bond um if they got him about two or three years ago. He's too old, isn't he?

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Now to do a proper you know, four or five films didn't.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Exactly. They'll want to run. Um I I think they'll just do one more with Craig and then they'll get someone in, and he's probably walking around. This is the coolest thing. There's a guy walking around out there that doesn't know he's James Bond right now.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

That that for me is just I like to think every time I wake up.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

That's what exact that's what I tell my missus every morning. I say, like, uh you don't know it, but still sleeping with a water pistol under your pillow? Yes. That's me. Yes, a plastic author PPK. Yeah, and I do a shoulder roll into the bathroom and brush my teeth. But listen, um, I better let you go. Thanks, Josh though. Once again, um can anyone find you on Twitter or the or the the Twitter universe or are you not interested?

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Sadly not, no. But I'm a um social media dunce or refusnik, depending on how you want to look at it.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Now that is James Bond. I don't think he would be on Facebook or Twitter, right? So uh like it. Like it. Great. Okay, thanks, Josh. Take care of yourself. You too. Cheers, Peter. Thanks, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Thank you, Josh Sims, thank you, Chad McQueen, thank you, Liz Van Denberg, thanks everyone for listening. Um, this was an this was a real treat. This was a very enjoyable podcast to put together. I hope you enjoyed it too. If you did, make sure you tell a friend or subscribe or share. Uh, get the word out there, we really appreciate it, and it will help me stay in a job.