How to Dress like Cary Grant

We at OTAA are all about showing the virtues of being well dressed by showcasing famously sharp dressing actors and celebrities, but no showcase is complete without bringing up Cary Grant, an actor famous for his roles as a debonair everyday man in the 50s to 70s. This hollywood legend was born Archibald Alexander Leach in January 18, 1904 and was raised in Bristol, UK. He made his way to the US when he was 16 and joined vaudeville acts before making his debut in Hollywood, and the rest is history 

Here we can see a few of his styles throughout his legendary career

In this scene from the screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), Grant plays a hard boiled editor of a newspaper that is bent on sabotaging his ex-wife's plans to settle down from her illustrious career in reporting. For an editor not above dirty trickery, his character dresses well, wearing a checkered double breasted suit jacket with peak lapels , button down collared dress shirt and black tie while in the press room

In this promotional photo for the dark comedy film Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Cary Grant plays a writer who stumbled upon a long running murder plot by the family of his bride to be. He wears a grey worsted wide peak lapeled double breasted suit jacket along with a grey silk tie 

Grant during the filming of North by Northwest, one of his most acclaimed films, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He wears a lightweight single-breasted grey flannel suit throughout the film, the jacket is ventless with three button fastening and notched lapels, worn with a forward pleated trousers. The suit is complemented with oxblood leather derby shoes, a grey silk tie a medium spread collared dress shirt with a double cuff, and several different pairs of cufflinks. This suit is actually Grant's own suit which he volunteered to wear for the film.

For this film, Grant plays an every day man that had been thrust into a plot of mistaken identity, so him volunteering his own personal suit for the role was only natural. His slim figure helps with making his suits easier to tailor to him, which came from his early days as an acrobat and later a vaudeville actor.



Here Grant is playing a socialite making a transatlantic journey with Deborah Kerr in the film An Affair to Remember (1956). When the liner anchors in the French Riviera, Grant visits his Italian grandmother and takes Kerr to see her at her villa in the Villefranche-sur-Mer. Here he wears a notch lapeled single-breasted suit jacket ventless suit jacket has straight shoulders and three-button cuffs. The jacket’s three patch pockets makes it more informal, which is appropriate for a summer holiday.

On the last day of the cruise, he wears a dark navy worsted suit with a single-breasted ventless suit jacket that has notch lapels with an elegant roll over the top button. With it, he wears a navy blue satin silk tie, and a dress shirt with a semi-spread collar that accommodates Grant’s wide neck.


Notorious (1946) Grant plays an American government agent in an espionage film. In this scene he wears a Beige gun club check wool single-breasted sports jacket with notch lapels, woven leather buttons, flapped breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and is single vented. He wears this with a white cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs, a brown foulard pattern silk tie, and brown flannel pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs

Here Grant plays a retired cat burglar in the romantic thriller To Catch a Thief (1955) who needs to help the police find a cat burglar to clear his own name. Here, opposite the elegant Grace Kelly, he wears a grey flannel suit with black tie

Here he wears the same jacket but ops for a tan pair of double pleated pants, a white dress shirt, and a navy blue with while polka dot ascot tie, which Grant would usually wear in warmer climes in casual settings

During the masquerade, Grant would wear a tuxedo with shawl collared jacket, a black hand tied bow tie, white pocket square, and white dress shirt - the classic. 

Cary Grant in one scene of the romantic comedy film Indiscreet (1958) opposite Ingrid Bergman. He wears a very smart mohair suit jacket that is navy blue with grey pinstripes, baby blue dress shirt, and teal blue silk tie. With it he also wears black pants, a black overcoat, and a taupe trilby hat 

Cary Grant during a party his friends threw in October 1947

Cary Grant during a visit back to his hometown Bristol to visit his mother, April 1946

Cary Grant during an interview on radio, 1940s

Cary Grant in a tuxedo during a show during 1937

Despite his English upbringing and debonair continental style, when it comes to more casual wear, Cary Grant usually turns to American casual fashion cues, whether it be the button-down shirt collar or the penny loafer. He often would go for tried and true fashions which would make him reliably stylish all through out the year. All in all, to him, the most important part of having good style is to lay down what one's personal tastes are, then go from there. A profound wisdom we at OTAA are proud to show case with Grant's styling here.