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Few men deserve their place in the pantheon of style greats more than Paul Newman. His watches fetch record prices at auctions, his sunglasses are practically on every mood board, and even his collection of almost unusable visor hats was sold at Sotheby’s for nearly ten thousand dollars. Sorry to say, but Newman’s wardrobe is not the only contribution this great actor made to the history and action of men’s clothing. Paul’s approach to dressing was an absolute model for a long time.

In the early 2010s, when guys were still obsessed with waxed jackets and stiff jeans, you couldn’t scroll through Tumblr without seeing a picture of Paul Newman impeccably sporting a crumpled Oxford shirt, a striped sailor t-shirt, slim-fit khaki pants, and to top it off, a pair of refined canvas sneakers. The style of the famous actor is still beloved; in fact, these shoes were recently sold for over a thousand dollars at the same Sotheby’s auction previously mentioned – a staggering amount, especially for a pair of sneakers that can now be bought for just 80 dollars.

The story of Sperry

Since we are in the realm of men’s fashion history, here’s another fun fact: the sneaker models Newman wore throughout his life were mostly from Sperry. Specifically, it’s the New England brand famous for its genre-defining boat shoes. Sperry is also responsible for the CVO model, the Circular Vamp Oxford, introduced to the market a year before the launch of beach Top-Siders. It was the CVO model that won over the United States Navy, as well as style deities like JFK and the king of cardigans himself, Mr. Rogers.