The Best Part of 'Dunkirk' Is the Sweaters

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Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Pictures

The new Christopher Nolan blockbuster Dunkirk is a riveting one hour and 47 minutes so jam-packed with action and tense moments that it's impossible to look away from. (It's also the reason why Harry Styles cut off his hair last year.) And while much of the World War II movie documents the unspeakable terrors of battle, there is some balm for tired eyes mostly in the form of excellent sweaters.

The run-up to the film has been particularly stylish—with impressive showings from two of the movie's stars, Harry Styles and Tom Hardy—but who knew a movie about stranded soldiers would also be filled with stylish threads men everywhere should be putting on their fall shopping lists?

The movie divides its time between the sea, the air, and the the mole (the beach). Each of these are chilly climates that call for extra padding to combat the weather; throw in a cast of gentlemanly Englishmen who are part of a civilian fishing boat armada sent to rescue thousands of British soldiers, and you've set the stage for some perfect sweaters. See Exhibit A:

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

It doesn't get any more British than George's V-neck Fair Isle sweater vest. The only problem with George's sweater is that it's completely outshined by the others on his boat—but more on that later.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

You can rely on some of the more distinguished military characters to show the audience how wearing a white roll-neck fishermen sweater is done. Farrier, Tom Hardy's fighter pilot character, and Kenneth Branagh's Commander Bolton both—to be blunt—wear the fuck out of these classic knits. Hardy's goes under a shearling jacket that also deserves respect, but this is a sweater appreciation blog and only a sweater appreciation blog.

But it's on the sea where you'll find the best sweaters like George's. Mr. Dawson, as played by Mark Rylance, wears a pretty great heavy blue number, but I really appreciate that he taught his son Peter the art of the sweater. I haven't stopped reverse Google Image-searching looking for a match of Peter's burgundy fishermen sweater (top) since I saw the movie. This is a film about war, but the above still from the movie could be mistaken as the hottest street style photo in the history of London Fashion Week. Please just give my man Jeffrey Kurland, who was the costume designer on Dunkirk, the Oscar for Best Costume Design now, based on the strength of this sweater alone. (Spoiler alert!) I would probably throw myself down some stairs if I were flexed on this hard, too.


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