He does not need much introduction. Sure you recognise his voice, his charisma, and know the girls he conquered (Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin), and his songs: But did you ever pay attention to his shoes? Gainsbourg was a style icon through and through.
A man is known by his shoes and Serge Gainsbourg, the French (anti)gallant is not going to be an exception. The casual looking Singer was oozing in this charm of which the majority of our French neighbours enjoy. He sweet-talked many women, and also wooed those who heard his voice on their record players at home. (They say many children born at the end of the sixties were conceived under the influence of Je t’aime… moi non plus). He was the husband of the stunning Jane Birkin, father of the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, also a singer. He achieved great success as a vocalist all over the world and his songs are still listened to today.
Seldom have such moody factions been so sensual. The case is that one’s character, charisma and style can give a person a lot. Over time the style of Serge Gainsbourg has converted him in to an icon to follow. At the beginning of his career as a singer he was not very successful, and therefore he wrote songs for others, such as France Gall. He dressed like a mod: made to measure jackets, preferably with pinstripes, Quite a dandy of rock. At the end of the sixties, his time with Jane, for which the majority of us will remember him, he dressed in a more casual way, in jeans, shirts open at the top, and if he had to wrap up against the cold, he wore a tight fitting double breasted jacket, sailor style.
Let’s take a look at his feet. How should Serge Gainsbourg be defined if we concentrate on his feet? Comfort. In some photos we see him with boots, (very sixties), loafers, but above all with laced up shoes. They say in an article in the New York Times that Serge Gainsbourg had quite sensitive feet and hated walking, so his unique salvation were his jazz style calfskin leather shoes with laces, given to him by Jane Birkin. He used them until he left us in 1991. He was after shoes that fitted him like a glove, and he found them. If you are not going to accept anything less, Monge shoes are for you because they are made by artisans, with love and care, and the best materials.
To have footwear with the style and class of Gainsbourg, the perfect shoes are Scott, elegant Derby with fine black calfskin lines, and Antonio, retro back to the early years of the French singer. We go back to the basics in his wardrobe, brilliant black leather sowed by hand on the shoetree. Then all you need is a shirt with the top three buttons open, some jeans and this will bring out the Gainsbourg you have in you.
