Instant Attire
4 min readOct 20, 2015

Styling for Men : How to dress like Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp, for me, is one of the most influential style icons when it comes to men’s clothing. Such a style makes me think why I don’t see more of it when I’m out and about. The truth is, when I walk down the road, its either jeans and a t-shirt or a track-suite, both of which are perfectly fine; if you’re comfortable with the way you look and feel…that’s great!

But who’s to say men shouldn’t be able to make a statement with their clothing? It’s true, dressing as unique as Johnny Depp on a day-to-day basis (without being a world class actor) might look a tad out of place. Popping down to Sainsbury’s wearing ripped jeans, a dark brown waistcoat, bangles half the way up your arm and a hat, I can understand if that’s too much.

However, likewise to women’s fashion, we can take little snippets from a flamboyant way of dressing and make it our own. Here’s just a few ways of doing so…

Texture

A common aspect of this style is layering up the textures. This picture shows a suede fronted waistcoat and what looks to be a regular leather back. Leather also seem to be an easy option for creating difference in and outfit. A cotton shirt underneath a jacket or waistcoat like this is perfect! A long as it doesn’t look like your bog-standard work shirt with a big collar, you’re on you’re way. Johnny wears small collared shirts a lot and tends to roll the sleeves up. This looks extremely flattering. If you’re not a fan of short sleeves, a long sleeved shirt rolled up to three quarter length also gives the same ‘messy’ look. Experiment with different textures, it all depends on how Deppified you want to go; I’d say the look above is pretty neutral…not too out there.

Jewellery

There’s no doubt about it, most men have an ignorance to wearing jewellery. But look at it!!! You have to trust in that fact that Johnny looks so cool with bangles, bracelets and necklaces. You might even think you can’t pull it off, but give it a go, as long as it’s with the right clothes it’s all fine.

Beads, leather string, and silvers. Anything you see in those quaint little shops on holidays, hippie shops, basically make it look like you’re well travelled ;D. Wearing jewellery with fairly basic clothing such as this baggy gypsy top (roll up those sleeves to give the illusion of less fabric) means you don’t look to much. You don’t need six different necklaces if you don’t want to, just one or two will do.

Jeans

To sum up the jeans: ripped, acid washed, denim. Usually baggy and frayed at the ankles, not like the skinny fit we see these days. Again, try keeping the top minimalistic if you’re not wanting to go all out, but if you are… patterned tops can be really effective, shirts with a double denim effect like the one above with pockets and such.

Other accessories

Now this is where you can really experiment. Lets take a white t-shirt and blue ripped jeans. Simplistic.

Add a wide rimmed hat (stick some feathers in it if you’re feeling it) generally more worn in hats of black or brown, fabric or leather look best. A lightweight scarf just to wrap around can distract from any undone buttons and add to the effect of the necklaces. Lastly, who can forget the old faithful glasses? You’re look won’t be complete without them, any weather can require the need of glasses, so don’t feel stupid about wearing them. dark shades, coloured shades or if you actually need prescribed glasses, go for some brown rimmed roundish shaped ones.

When styling this look, all you need to remember is to buy things that don’t look brand spanking new, buy rips, worn in, almost grungy/ bohemian.

In the end, you just have to be confident in what you’re wearing. Imagine seeing someone wearing the picture above in a shop. If they were clearly unconfident and uncomfortable, they would bring more attention to themselves than someone who looked quietly confident.

If you enjoyed this or thought it was helpful, please let me know by leaving a message!

:)