Tea and a Mag... Man of Style: Damian Lewis

You know that we like fashion and style on this blog... So, what could be better than an interview with Damian Lewis about HIS STYLE? Oh, and we love the fact that he does it Damian-style. 

Here is an InStyle interview from October 2013. ENJOY!

Man Of Style: Damian Lewis

Conspiracy, paranoia, national insecurity. It's all in a day's work for the Emmy-winning star of Showtime's obsessive watercooler hit Homeland. Off the clock he comes clean about his knack for accents, penchant for '70s cop shows, and dubious fashion decisions (winklepickers?).

by Kenya Hunt, In Style, October 2013

It's been decades since Damian Lewis graduated from England's Eton College, a school that boasts 19 British prime ministers -- in addition to Princes William and Harry -- as alumni. But as far as the star of Showtime's nail-biting series Homeland is concerned, school is still in session. "I like how acting allows you to be an autodidact, to continue learning through your life," he says. "It's been fascinating to work on Homeland because I'd never read the Koran. Now I've been to mosques, and I've picked up bits of Arabic. My character, Brody, is a POW, so I've done research on post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, I was stopped today by three Canadians who had been injured while serving their country. One had suffered from PTSD and recently watched Homeland. 'That was my life,' he said. It matters to me to be able to tell a story well."

You also studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and performed with the National Theatre. Did you ever see yourself in the role of Sergeant Nicholas Brody or any of the other soldiers and cops you've played on the small screen?

I didn't. American TV is so far removed from my experience and what I expected I would do, which was to be a great theatre actor. I had no notion of the worlds of television and film. I realize now that I'm part of a wonderful tradition of cop shows that I grew up watching with my friends and family: Kojak, Columbo, Hill Street Blues. Back then it felt like we were being introduced to a foreign, exotic place. England was very dreary in the 1970s and '80s, and we were broke. I mean, we were really broke. America seemed to have a little stardust sprinkled over it. So when I think about that, doing a show like Homeland is my destiny.

How have these roles influenced the way you dress when you're off duty?

Well, sometimes I just like to look like a guy. And my guy look is kind of an American one. It's a pair of nice, comfortable jeans -- probably Lucky Brand -- a T-shirt by Rag & Bone, and desert boots. I quite like caps too. But if I were going for a more urban vibe, I'd wear darker, tighter jeans and some boots with a few buckles and things on it -- maybe something by All Saints.

source: Damian-Lewis.com

It doesn't seem likely Brody will be sporting this ensemble anytime soon.

No, I don't think so. The most fashionable item I wear in Homeland is my dress-blues uniform and some boxy suits. When Brody became a congressman, the suits did get a little bit better. But American congressmen have very conservative taste. They're not going to work in a well-cut Tom Ford or Thom Browne suit. Before we started the show, the costume designer tore out a whole lot of pictures of me and asked, "What does Damian like to wear?" The first thing she said when I walked into her fitting room was, "You're a dandy!"

If you could reduce your wardrobe to a single uniform, what pieces would you include?

It would need to be versatile enough for meetings and just walking around the streets. I'd go for narrow pants from Kenneth Cole or Donna Karan, shoes by Prada or Paul Smith, and a John Smedley V-neck. I also like fitted shirts from Turnbull & Asser, Armani, and Prada.

Were you always so sure about your sense of style? What's the earliest outfit you can recall?

I remember my brother and I wearing identical brown flared corduroys and fur-collared lumberjack jackets. We were like 8 and 6 years old, and they were all the rage. They had a bomber-jacket shape. Oh, and we had those pudding-bowl haircuts.

Blogprof's note: I guess he is talking about these jackets and haircuts. Cute! 

source: Times and private copyright by Damian Lewis

Sounds smashing. Did your closet take a turn over the preppy at Eton?

I played sports, but I wasn't wearing tennis sweaters and pastel chinos. I went for drainpipe pants and winklepickers like everybody else.

Winklepickers?

Well, this is an interesting thing. Since we're talking about fashion, the winklepicker was a sleek gentleman's boot with a pointed toe -- not that dissimilar to what I've got on now -- that was popular in the '60s. They were big again in the '80s but longer and pointier than the original version -- very new-wave rocker. I was extremely fond of my winklepickers. I'd wear them with tight drainpipes and a paisley shirt.

Paisley! Now that's a bold look. Are there any fashion moments that make you cringe?

All of them [laughs]. I made some very, very bad choices in the '80s.

source: Damian-Lewis.com

I've heard that you refuse to wear a clip-on tie. Are there any other sartorial shortcuts you won't take?

I stubbornly refuse to let my wife fasten my cuff links because I think a gentleman should know how to do it himself. But when you get to the left hand it's hard. My tip is to buy a swivel-head type rather than the chain-style cuff links because they're easier to work with.

Speaking of your gorgeous wife, Helen McCrory, she is a successful actress in her own right -- not to mention the mother of your two young children [Manon, 7, and Gulliver, 5]. How do you balance your home life with five months of filming Homeland in Charlotte, NC?

There is a lot of guilt that comes with this job because you often go away for three or four weeks at a time. The only reason Homeland works for our family is because two of those months are the summer holidays. And because Helen's self-employed, she can choose to be off and bring the children to be with me for two months. If she had another job I probably wouldn't have done the show because I couldn't have been away from them for that long.

There's been some talk of Homeland, which is now in its third season, moving on without Brody one day. What's your take?

Let's face it -- he should have been dead already! He's kind of getting away with murder, right? So I don't know. Maybe Brody will never die. Maybe he'll just go away for periods of time and linger like a bad smell, like a toxin. Because that's kind of who he is. Brody is a victim of the savagery of war, and he comes back a broken and changed person. He's helpless, rudderless, a bit like a tumbleweed blowing around. He gets so confused that he thinks about changing sides. But like all victims, Brody is dangerous, affecting and influencing every situation he's in. Whatever fate has in store for the character, either he'll survive it or he won't. The only thing I can say for certain is that his journey will be complex and riveting.

source: Damian-Lewis.com