Samuel L. Jackson Did 90s Style Better Than Anyone

Style Archive: a series in which we celebrate the stars of the past that made menswear what it is today. This week: the nostalgia-inducing streetwear stylings of Samuel L. Jackson.

While Nineties style nostalgia is taking over your Instagram feed, trawl through the archives of red carpet photos and you'll find plenty of ill-fitting suits and bleached locks from that era that haven't aged so well. But one figure whose style has stood the test of time? Mr Samuel L. Jackson, a man who has somehow made the colourful Kangol wool cap a signature look that works with every outfit.

Photos of him from film premieres, catwalk shows and award ceremonies over the years show him pushing the boundaries of what men were wearing at the time: a black leather hat here, a cream linen chore jacket there. Experimenting with silhouettes, pattern and colour, and wearing everything with a confidence that few could question.

One such image shows Jackson attending the Lexus Golf Challenge in a loose fitting shirt-jacket, white t-shirt and a backward purple hat. The year is 1998, but twenty one years later and Jackson's slim gold jewellery and tiny sunglasses show he was spearheading the trends the kids are sporting today.

From chunky trainers to Hawaiian cuban-collared shirts to baggy trousers, the great Nineties fashion revival has turned your dad's South-West Florida circa 1991 look into an aspirational aesthetic.

It's easy to get nostalgic for a time when Titanic was breaking Box Office records and Donald Trump was still a registered Democrat, but Jackson's style is more than just a nice trip down memory lane.

Even in the Nineties, most people weren't rocking up to the red carpet in purple tartan kilts, shirts with octopuses on, or any of the outlandish clobber that Jackson sported with confidence.

The Nineties sportswear trend might have encouraged film-stars to don a more casual look to events than the stricter tailoring of the past, but Jackson was pushing the boat out further still, incorporating sportswear like an adidas tracksuit in gold and black three-stripe.

He's also a man that embraced the merchandise of his films, snapped over the years in a Menace II Society cap, a white Kangol hat with Shaft printed on it and matching hat and t-shirt, both emblazoned with Die Hard: With a Vengeance. The sort of vintage memorabilia gold that is now replicated and sold on eBay.

His tailoring, too, deserves a special shout-out. Pairing a well-fitted tux with tiny glasses is the sort of style move we'd now see at the Met Ball from Frank Ocean, and Jackson too turned his own camera on the paps once upon a time.

Of course, it helps if you're someone who can boast filmography that includes Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction and Star Wars, to name but a few of the 125-odd that he's appeared in. Mere mortals could not deliver the line "it's my duty to please that booty", as he did in Shaft, and sort of get away with it.

Now where can we get one of those Snakes on a Plane t-shirts?

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