Who Wore It Best? The Most Stylish Outfits of 'Get Back'

What better way to spend the epic comedown that is Boxing Day than to plot yourself in front of the TV with a leftover turkey sandwich, a bottle of Baileys and a box of Ferrero Roche and to rewatch (for the second time since it's release a month ago) Peter Jackson's epic eight hour docuseries 'Get Back'. The saga is an unprecedented nose into one of one of the greatest bands in history in their final days as they rehearse their last album and perform what would be their ultimate live performance on top of the roof at Apple Corps. The series is also an unwitting sartorial feast for the eyes, taking place at the end of fashion's favourite decade - the 1960s. Filmed over one month in the January of 1969 the outfits worn by the band are far from winter-dreary. Instead we are introduced to a riot of kaleidescopic colours and patterns and some of the grooviest 60s tailoring you are likely to see.

January 30 1969, the band performing their last gig on the rooftop of Apple Corps.

I have already discussed my favourite looks from the band in my previous post. As if watching one of the most innovative bands in history create their music on the spot as you act as a fly on the wall, wasn't exhilerating enough, they happen to do it whilst wearing some of the coolest clothes seen on screen in a documentary. Ringo Starr's plethora of paisley pattern shirts, Paul McCartney's suave velvet jacket, John Lennon's fur coats and monochrome skinny fit outfits and George Harrison's everything - from his Skittles coloured cashmere turtleneck jumpers, to his bumblegum pink striped suit worn with black plimpsols and a purple shirt - every band member is literally on point when it comes to dressing, even when they are turning up to the studio with no sleep and still buzzing from last night's escapades (John Lennon, I'm looking at you).

George Harrison and Glyn Johns

However, everyone expects the band to look good. What came as a surprise was how good everybody else looked. Glyn Johns, the Beatles sound engineer and co producer and perhaps the snazziest dressed of them all, has drawn particular admiration from a modern day audience, five decades later.

Glyn Johns wins best dressed male award

George Martin, the band's longtime producer, often dubbed the 'fifth Beatle' on account of his honing of the bands talent into liquid gold for the ears, pops into the studio here and there and presents the viewer with a fashion counterweight to all the pinks and paisleys and shaggy-haired hippy vibes going on. George Martin is all 60s James Bond elegance, James Stewart in Alfred Hitchock leading-man-mode cool. His style is pure old-school Saville Row: tailored suits, starchy shirts, dark skinny ties, and parted-and-pomade-slicked hair and a panda dial chronograph on his wrist. The man is debonnaire as hell - suave incarnate. It's a clean, timeless look that Jil Sander or Prada would be happy to endorse today.

Paul McCartney and George Martin

The Beatles are still stressed and under the gun with their deadline to finish their still-uncertain album/movie/concert project after George departs and is persuaded to rejoin. Then Billy Preston, the pianist/organist they'd met years before when he was performing for Little Richard, walks in like the sun breaking through a sky of dark clouds. Preston's entrance causes the Beatles to forget about their issues and enjoy each other's company and the process of making music once again (Preston's funky organ fills on "Get Back" are just one example of what he provides to the Beatles). Preston, who is himself no slouch when it comes to fashion, wears the coolest perfectly set mini-afro hairstyle, and the flyest black leather jacket from the 1960s. Later in the series he literally wears the sun on his chest in his stripy Tequilla Sunrise shirt.

Billy Preston brings light relief in his sunshine shirt

Mal Evans, the Beatles road manager sports a beautiful green suede fringe jacket - the sort you spend a lifetime looking for as you traipse around vintage shops on Saturday afternoons. The perfect colour, the fringing, the soft suede. What's not to like? This jacket may in fact deserve a show of its own.

Paul McCartney and Mal Evans in that green suede fringed jacket

And then there is Glyn Johns. Johns is a continuous presence in Jackson's film, whether fooling around with the band or behind the glass in the control room, as the mutton-chopped co-producer of the Let It Be sessions. And, while he may not be a household name, the man knows how to put an outfit together. His abominable snowman white lamb-fur coat is the opposite to Harrison's black version. Johns' black patent-leather crocodile skin-patterned leather jacket is straight-up badass and apparently pinched from Keith Richards himself; and this outfit makes you wonder who came first, Glyn or Fred from Scooby Doo?

Glyn Johns or Fred from Scooby Doo?

Due to his wealth of magnificent coats, co-producer Glyn Johns may have unwittingly stolen the fashion limelight in the film. Johns had a thing for fitted blazers, leather, and fur, however, when quizzed on his new found fame as a fashion icon, Glyn appears somewhat less than impressed. 'It's cringe-making' he tells the New York Times, 'I look like a bloody clown'.

Glyn Johns in Keith Richards gifted jacket

“Some people are saying, ‘Oh, the jacket you wore on X day was fantastic,’ or ‘Where did you get the goatskin coat?’ But in general, they’re laughing at how ridiculous I looked, which of course is true.”

“The coolest thing I think I wore in the film was the crocodile Levi jacket, which in fact had been given to me by Keith Richards,” he added. “We were in Paris, and Keith had this jacket made for him in France, and it had been delivered to the hotel. He took it out of the packaging, put it on and said, ‘Here you have it, I don’t want it.’ I have no idea what happened to it. Maybe I gave it away.”

Glyn Johns and George Martin in conversation

The restored film's increased saturation brings out the colourful, kaleidoscopic hues of the clothing, as if you're peering through a Kodachrome-tinted glass onto a forgotten world. While the restored film isn't nearly the pin-sharp HD we're used to, it's so clear that it makes the clothing pop even more. 

Nostalgia has a soothing aspect to it, which helps to explain why fashion moves in cycles. And, with a lot of modern menswear in a retro mood, we could all learn a thing or two from the Beatles and reclaim some '60s swing of our own.