“A Complete Unknown,” James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic (in theaters now), is many things: a star-making vehicle for Timothée Chalamet, a spin through a sliver of Mr. Dylan’s extended discography and, maybe most of all, a reminder that the singer born Robert Zimmerman is one of the music world’s unquestionable style icons.
In an edited conversation, members of the Styles staff — Vanessa Friedman, Stella Bugbee and Jacob Gallagher — used the release of “A Complete Unknown” as an excuse to debate their favorite Dylan looks, what was going on with all that hair and whether the Nobel Prize-winning songwriter was the original hipster.
VANESSA FRIEDMAN We tend to talk about Bowie and Jagger (and even Harry Styles) as the Great Rock Wardrobe Gods, but Dylan holds his own. He did workwear before Springsteen, Ray-Bans before Jack Nicholson and maybe even popularized boot-cut jeans?
STELLA BUGBEE I associate his style so much with his hair. There’s that wonderful Milton Glazer poster of him from 1967, which rendered his profile as a bunch of swirling, colorful shapes. If you can be turned into a kind of logo, you have achieved icon status.
JACOB GALLAGHER Looking at photos of Dylan after seeing the movie, I was taken by how many different styles he went through and how swiftly he cycled through them. When he arrived in Manhattan as a Woody Guthrie-loving teenager, he wore baggy, near-dad jeans, but within just a couple of years he swung toward skinnies. The guy was kind of trend forecasting his way through Lower Manhattan.
