Jenson Button: Smooth Ride
2009’s Formula One world champion Jenson Button shares his golden rules of looking good, so you too can look like a man who has everything.
Every now and then, FHM gets a taxi with a Formula One world champion who’s got an MBE, owns numerous houses around the world and does triathlons for fun. Today, for example, we’re in London travelling from one hotel to another with Jenson Button. His ‘people’ are all around us: watching, listening, making sure we don’t hug him and tell him we like him more than we ever liked Eddie Irvine. The 31-year-old is telling us about a “quite famous European driver who isn’t so cool” and “has been around for a long time” which leads very nicely to him outlining his golden style and grooming rules…
Rule 1: Be brave
“My style hasn’t changed since I became successful, but I’ve become braver. I wear big woolly jumpers now; Christmas jumpers. If I come to the UK and go to the pub with friends, I’ll wear a big woolly jumper. Notting Hill: big woolly jumper. Also skinny ties with a shirt and no jacket, that kind of stuff.”
Rule 2: Put the effort in
“In the evening, if I go to an event or something, I love dressing up and looking smart. I do try hard and work with what I’ve got. It’s good fun trying to look smart with different types of suits – trying new styles.”
Rule 3: Adapt to your surroundings
“Winter is great. I love big jackets and scarves. But I spent New Year in Hawaii which is very surfer. Baggy T-shirts, baggy shorts, flip-flops. No worries. Then you’ll go somewhere like the south of France and wear short-ish shorts, but you can’t be running around Hawaii in your little shorts, so you’ve got to change your style.”
Rule 4: Different products for different hair lengths
“A year ago I never thought I’d have a side parting, but I’ve grown it out and I’m enjoying it – however it’s harder to style. Thankfully, these days there are products that really help. When it’s shorter I use a putty. When it’s longer I use something with more hold because the putty makes it go flat.”
Rule 5: Moisturise everything
“I have very dry skin and if I don’t moisturise my face and body I get very itchy. I do a lot of triathlon training so I’m outside a lot, gurning, and I’m in chlorine a lot. I think it’s important to look after your skin.”
Rule 6: Work out what works for you
“Drivers grow a big neck from the G-force we pull in the car, but we have to keep our weight low so I’ve got a rugby player’s neck and a marathon runner’s body. As such, wearing an off-the-peg shirt is tricky. My neck can be bulging out over the shirt, which is quite a unique look.”
Rule 7: Electric toothbrushes are amazing
“What’s manual brushing all about? An electric toothbrush is perfect. It feels like you’ve actually cleaned them.”
Rule 8: Always pack essentials when travelling
“I always chuck a pair of flip-flops in my suitcase, just in case, and a pair of shorts. And also running shoes. I train wherever I go because it’s very unusual when we’re travelling from hotel to circuit to do the tourist thing.
Going running is perfect.”
Rule 9: Know when to relax
“During the day I like a pair of white trainers, jeans, a T-shirt, something relaxed. At home I just wear tracksuit bottoms and Uggs. Uggs are the kind of thing I wouldn’t have worn five years ago. Then when I go on training camps you get all the northern rugby boys there wearing them.”
Rule 10: You can have too many pairs of shoes
“I had a delivery of shoes from my Monaco place to my Guernsey place the other day – there must have been 60 pairs and about three pairs I’m never going to wear. Orange shoes, furry shoes. Now I have my evening shoes all lined up and I’m very specific about what goes with what.”
Photography: Lee Powers; fashion: Abena Ofei
Spotted a mistake, or your photo used without permission? Report a correction
in your inbox