Michael Stipe Reviews His 35 Greatest Fits: “This Was the F***ing Coolest Jacket on Earth”

Jesus Christ, what a great look. That hair. I remember one day my band was in London. We shared a record company with the English Beat, and we were visiting the offices, and two of the guys from the English Beat had left the band and started a new band, and they came to the offices to present their new singer, Roland Gift. It was the Fine Young Cannibals. And they were like, Get a haircut, you look like a hippie. And I was like, Fuck you– you look like busboys. And they did. But then they said, This is our new singer, Roland Gift, and I met him as he was meeting his record company for the first time, before they were famous. So cool.

In terms of this look: I’ve got really good shoulders. So a classic Levi's jacket fits me really well. And I’m wearing a belt and suspenders. The belt was, like, an old seatbelt for a dog, and I wore it as a belt. But the Levi's jacket—the second I saw this picture, I was like, I'm going out and getting myself a new one.

It fits really well. That must have been vintage, even then—it doesn’t look like an ‘80s Levi’s jacket, to me.

It probably came from a thrift store. I couldn't afford anything. I found the only pair of black cotton pants from the 1950s left in a thrift store anywhere in the world, and I wore them until they literally fell off. And that's those pants. But I look fucking hot in that jacket, and I'm going to go get another one.