Noel Gallagher once claimed you could tell how many drugs Oasis were on by the clothes they wore on stage. The more ridiculous the coats, the greater the cocaine intake.
Liam Gallagher took a different view.
“I’m me in the supermarket,” he said. “The same clothes, the same haircut, the same shades on, when I’m fucking gardening or picking the kids up from school or dropping ’em off. I’m the same, there’s no double-life. I am what I am.”
It wouldn’t be hard to take issue with Gallagher Jnr’s dress sense over the last 30 years—there have been quite a lot of bad clothes, bad haircuts, bad shades and bad gear you’d think twice about wearing to the supermarket, doing the gardening in, let along picking the kids up from school or dropping them off. But it would be a brave soul who’d argue against Liam’s influenced on fashion for the British male.
For a significant swathe of men, the Oasis singer’s mod-adjacent “parka monkey” look has become Route One to effortless cool. Seasons come and seasons go, but there is a corner of an England that will forever be Knebworth, 1996.
And with some judicious editing of three decades worth of Liam’s photographs, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that—yeah, on his good days, Liam looked pretty cool, actually.
He is what he is.
And you can’t really argue with that.
The denim jacket: On stage at LA's Greek Theatre in 2014, channelling appropriate West Coast Haight-Ashbury vibes. (GETTY IMAGES)
The pink parka: On stage in Leeds, wearing Stone Island's David Tela Light-TC Parka. In bright pink, it hardly needs pointing out. (GETTY IMAGES)
The military coat: Second only to his services to Stone Island comes Liam's love of military-influenced outwear. Exhibit A: this classic officer-style longline coat with excellent buttons, worn in 2009. (GETTY IMAGES)
The "rock n'roll star": "I'm on drugs!" (GETTY IMAGES)
The leather jacket: Half-Lennon/half-Ramones. Alan Flusser, America's menswear don and the author of "Dressing The Man", says that "style is 90 per cent fit and colour". He was talking about tailoring, but the same applies here. (GETTY IMAGES)
The short hair and t-shirt: Liam Gallagher is a striking-looking man. Shod of parka, shades and feathery mod cut, why try harder? Seen here on tour with Beady Eye. Perhaps they'll reunite next. (GETTY IMAGES)
The colourful knit: Jeans and jumper, but make it LG. In happier times(?) with Oasis, Hong Kong, 2006. (GETTY IMAGES)
The three-quarter-length parka: On home ground in Manchester. Good length, good colour, good attitude. (GETTY IMAGES)
The '60s hat: He made the bucket hat his own—with variable results. But teamed with pinstripe tailoring and a polo shirt, this floppy "Their Satanic Majesties Request"-era style headgear makes for a good argument that occasionally grown men can actually look pretty good in a hat. (GETTY IMAGES)
The duffel coat: Liam likes The Beatles, perhaps you've heard? Shopping in London in a handsomely proportioned duffel—and excellent day bag accessory—that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Fab Four's "Help!" era. (GETTY IMAGES)
