Welcome to Stylish Dad Week, GQ Recommends’ celebration of the people and products that make dad style feel cool. Whether you’re looking for non-corny dad shoes, parenting gear the experts swear by, or are just trying to land on an excellent gift idea ahead of Father's Day, we’ve got all the thoughts, takes, and, yes, recommendations you need to toast dear old pops—or jack his inimitable swagger.
It's hard to say when, exactly, “dad style” became more than a pejorative, but it was probably around the time menswear obsessives started valorizing the characters on Seinfeld and lusting after vintage J.Crew. Today, the term conjures its own set of aesthetic hallmarks: novelty baseball caps, faded jeans, practical sneakers. Zoom out for a second, though, and a more abstract throughline emerges. What all the fellas below share in common is an approach to getting dressed that’s entirely unique to them—and long before dad style conquered the zeitgeist, these guys helped prove it was always cool.
If you’re still not convinced, give your own dad a ring, invite yourself over for Father’s Day, and rescue that dusty box of pictures from the back of the garage. (Start with “Trip to Italy: 1986” and work your way up from there.) Chances are, dear old dad was a pretty slick operator, and there’s enough moodboard fodder in there to support a lifetime's worth of photo dumps in his honor.