Bob Marley: One Love is a film about the singer's massive outfits
Bob Marley: One Love, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, is a biopic about the Jamaican singer-songwriter, who became the biggest ever name in reggae
Words: Zak Maoui
Off the back of playing one of the Kens in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir, who previously appeared as Barack Obama in Showtime’s The Comey Rule and Malcolm X in Regina King’s One Night in Miami, is in the title role of Bob Marley: One Love. It traces the rise to fame of the world's most famous reggae star, and details a three-year period, from 1976 to 1978, through Marley's career and battle with melanoma. The late singer's family are executive producers on Bob Marley: One Love, and you can bet that it's an accurate representation of the late singer (even if the reviews across the board are saying otherwise).
But as much as it's about Marley's musical journey, as you'd expect, and a film designed to cater to music buffs mad on Marley, and critics aside, it's also a film that goes big on clothes and will get the fashion pack tuning in.
Marley, who passed away over 40 years ago, was, undisputedly, one of the best-dressed musicians of our time. The musician's left-field and nonconventional approach to styling himself was in tune with the authenticity of his attitude towards politics and society, and he favoured comfort over big flash-in-the-pan outfits. But he always had groove. "Jamaican novelist Marlon James once said this about the effortlessly cool style of Bob Marley: “He was the rare man who could pull off anything. For his iconic 1976 Rolling Stone cover, he wore a sweater vest. Nobody had made a sweater vest cool since…well, nobody. Thirty years before Kanye, Marley was apparently cribbing prep style and rebranding all shades of black." Marley's style has enduring appeal. Contemporary brands can't get enough of it and are still producing collections dedicated to Marley. Daily Paper, the Dutch brand, dropped a capsule collection based around Marley's style on what would have been Marley's 76th birthday in 2021. Wales Bonner's British-Jamaican heritage as well as Marley's influence play into her seasonal collections. Adidas dropped a 70s-inspired Jamaica Originals football collection, designed by Wales Bonner, earlier this year. This was filled with tracksuits, T-shirts and a football kit in the colours of the Jamaican flag.
And it is his low-key and relaxed, yet impactful style during the 1970s, as pictured on a dreadlocked Ben-Adir, that makes Bob Marley: One Love. It wasn't really anything, but then again it was everything. He paired up striped woolly knits with slim-fitted navy tracksuits. Low slung crew neck vests were paired up with track jackets. Plenty of double denim while on stage with his Wailers bandmates.
Tight military shirts teamed with Seventies bell-bottom jeans. Natty dress shirts painted chocolate brown and featuring an all-over ribbed effect. Preppy Oxford shirts dressed down with boot-cut denim. Eye-catching Rastafarian jackets in red, gold and green. This might not be a film about clothes, but Ben-Adir's outfits certainly make it seem like one.
Bob Marley: One Love is out now. Watch it just to get a glimpse at those big fits.
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