2004’s The Notebook established Gosling as a Hollywood heartthrob. It’s kind of funny that Gosling stands out in the film because his costumes were designed to fit in. Costume designer Karyn Wagner explained to Entertainment Weekly at the time that she set out to consciously not romanticize Noah, the rustic lumber yard worker. “The Sears catalog is something that his character would have to save up for,” she told Entertainment Weekly, “He probably gets his clothes from the general store in town.” Yes, the cabbie hat and ill-fitting jacket aren’t the sexiest attire Gosling has ever worn, but there is something humble and charming about his look in the film. There is a reason that rifling through bins at vintage stores never loses his appeal, and Gosling gets at this a bit here. Work pants (and, broadly speaking, “Americana”) from the ’40s and ’50s remain a vintage shop find, and flannel works shirts remain as American as apple pie. Even if the look isn’t the perfect vintage street style ensemble, it conveyed the class tension of the film perfectly.

Gosling’s look in Crazy, Stupid, Love might be the most explicitly stylish he’s attempted on screen. Of course, it wasn’t just a choice, it was a necessity: He plays the fashionable, confident Jacob Palmer who agrees to makeover a sad divorced schlub (played by Steve Carrell). In the film, costume designer Dayna Pink put Gosling’s rakish lothario in slick, modern looks, though she allowed Jacob’s tight style to soften as the film went on. Custom shirts from Parisian clothier Gossuin and Versace shoes accompany suits from Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Lanvin as the actor cycles through look after look. And there’s more names where these came from: Gosling had 36 different costumes in the film. Even his plain black V-neck sweater was a carefully chosen designer piece courtesy of Dior Homme. Despite the high-end price tags, Jacob always affects a clean look. In a sense, his designer labels were his armor. Pink says, “...it isn’t like everything has to have so much going on; for that character, it’s all about the fit.” Even when a less haughty Jacob arrives at the middle school graduation of the film’s final sequence, he still looks clean and crisp in his pinstripe suit, even if he is a lot more comfortable with himself. As Jacob remarks in the film, “You are better than The Gap!”

For most of Drive, Gosling only has one outfit. And that’s all he needs. Costume designer Erin Benach knew that the film’s white satin driving jacket would be vital from the very beginning. As she explained to Grantland, “Ryan [Gosling] had been really inspired by these 1950s Korean souvenir jackets. He had bought one on his own and was wearing it around. So we started to think, wow, that might be really cool. But the style and shape of them was definitely very fifties and slouchy. We felt like Driver was really buttoned-up, clean and streamlined and we didn’t want there to be much billowiness to him. So we built it piece by piece. ”Richard Lim of High Society Tailors in Los Angeles prepared 27 identical jackets for the film. The jacket is inspired by post-World War II Korean and Japanese “souvenir jackets” that spread to America as G.I.s returned home. The jacket isn’t an exact reproduction, but instead combines a number of influences from mid-century styles. While Gosling’s “Driver” represents a blend of “strong, silent types” from ’70s grindhouse thrillers and ’80s popcorn action movies, it’s a singular item—the scorpion sukajan—that unites both the retro references and the modern, abstract aesthetic that director Nicolas Winding Refn sought for both Gosling’s role and the film itself.

Some might call Gosling’s character in The Place Beyond the Pines “white trash,” but there is something charismatic and compelling about the interior life of Gosling’s Luke Glanton, and that translates to the way he dresses. In Luke, director Derek Cianfrance offered an update on the timeless story of a redemption story gone awry. In the film, Luke, attempting to reconnect with his ex and the child he fathered, falls into a life of crime. While the actions themselves are negative, Luke’s attempt to support his family adds a complicating dimension to his story. Gosling’s motorcycle stunt rider has lived a life, and is haunted by regret. This is reflected in his style that is at once timeless and incredibly specific. As costume designer Erin Benach told GQ, “Because he didn’t live the way everyone else lived and traveled everywhere with his circus crew, he wasn’t necessarily influenced by fashion or style from any one place.” While Gosling’s looks in the film might seem simple, “motorcycle pants and ripped T-shirts” aren’t so simple when you are looking for the right shirt. Most of Gosling’s shirts in the film were one-off vintage pieces. Even still, you might be able to find the perfect band tee, but pulling it off on-screen involves a lot more than digging it up and putting it on. In the case of The Place Beyond The Pines, Cianfrance had to get personal permission from Lars Ulrich to use Gosling’s Metallica shirt in the film. Gosling’s leather jackets and pants were equally hard to come by. What couldn’t be found online was sourced from high-end vintage rental shop, Cherry Vintage, which only caters to costume professionals. With such a restricted wardrobe, it might be easy to overlook Luke as a fashion icon because he owns so few clothes. Benach sees it differently. She says, “I guess if you have that few pieces of clothing in your life and you travel around a lot, you probably just care that they all have meaning to them.”

Perhaps not a critically beloved as some of Gosling’s other work, Gangster Squad still offered some iconic costume looks for its leading man. For designer Mary Zophres, finding the perfect period-appropriate suits was a labor of love. Gangster Squad tells the story of a group of LA cops brought together in 1949 expressly to take gangland kingpin Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). The film called for a very particular post-war west coast look for the cops. Zophres mentioned several places she looked to for the late-’40s wardrobe for the film, including LA vintage shop Play Clothes, and Hollywood mainstay Western Costume. Zophres’ extensive research meant digging into magazines of the era: She consulted several years of Photoplay, a magazine from the period that featured lots of candid shots, in addition to Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar issues from the era. And of course, she had the real-life Gangster Squad to look to for inspiration. Don’t think you’ll find the suits Gosling wore in the film in just any vintage shop though. These vintage pieces were just inspiration: everything was built from the ground up expressly for the film with the fashion hallmarks of the era, such as “the strong shoulder, a nipped waist and it’s not a shortened jacket.” It’s a testament to the fact that—while silhouettes go in and out of style—tailoring remains a chief priority to truly actualize a look. Zophres is careful to note that she mainly used British and Italian fabrics. Even the shoes can’t be had today. While some actors wore Allen Edmonds reproductions, Gosling wore originals from the post-war period.

We might look at the style of The Nice Guys and see something quintessentially-’70s, but costume designer Kym Barrett actually sees a “collision of cultures.” She told the costume designers guild, “[The era] was a whirlpool,” and references influences as diverse as hippies, punks, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. In the film, director and co-writer Shane Black plays this moment of cultural collision in an equally blended way—serving as one part cop drama and one part physical buddy comedy. You get the sense that Gosling and Russell Crowe are playing fish out of water as they navigate both the world of private detective work… as well as the simple act of getting by in Los Angeles. Barrett wanted to show Gosling’s Holland March was down on his luck by giving him slick suits, but hiding short-sleeved shirts underneath. March is at once garish and cheap—slick yet puffed up. Even so, there is still a bit of Gosling’s undeniable cool in the character. Mr Porter points out that though ’70s excess is a part of the plan, there are modern touches to help preserve Gosling’s style status: slimmer cut suits, floral patterns, aviators, and less garish colors keep the man cool by modern standards. The design of Gosling’s costumes in The Nice Guys strikes a fine balance. At points, his outfits add to the comedy, and at other moments, Gosling gets to revel in his trademark cool. His wild patterned tops and boldly colored ties add to the ridiculousness of the film, but his clothes never get as wild as Russell Crowe’s Jackson Healy’s sky blue leather jacket. Unlike Gosling, Crowe never gets a chance to be a fashion plate in this film.

The sense of nostalgia in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is meant to cover you like a warm blanket, and nowhere is that more evident than in the costume design. Costume designer and regular Gosling collaborator Mary Zophres started her research for the film by watching classic musicals like The Bandwagon (1953) and Singin’ In the Rain (1952). The objective here was timeless and charming. Zophres was quick to hone in on Gosling’s shoes as a key to Gosling’s character. The two-tone leather derbies are actually dance shoes: the Nuevo Epoca Buenos Aires model from Worldtone, though civilians can easily find a more casual shoe that looks similar (think “saddle shoes”). Gosling’s high-waisted, wide leg pants, and silk shirts were also inspired by a sense of nostalgia. Sebastian’s clothes were all custom made with a particular eye to French New Wave films from the 1950s like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. In particular, the designer cites Marc Michel’s wardrobe in the 1961 film Lola. It was important to Zophres to maintain a certain level of sophistication in costuming Sebastian. As she noted to Grazia, “He’s not the kind of guy who goes around in jeans and a T-shirt; his world is one where you present yourself a certain way.” The clothes, in fact, are so timeless, they don’t exist on any specific timeline. Everything was custom-built to evoke a combination of ’50s and ’60s “Old Hollywood” nostalgia and contemporary tastes.

In Blade Runner 2049, we find Gosling in another iconic jacket blending retro style, contemporary cool and era-less aesthetics. Not only is his K in dialogue with the previous Blade Runner film (with Harrison Ford as the robot hunting lead Rick Deckard) but also with the entire tradition of film noir detectives. The most obvious nod to the gumshoes of the past in the costume comes courtesy of Gosling’s jacket, a custom dark green trenchcoat with a shearling collar designed by costume designer Reneé April (the future, apparently, is colder). Though the coat looks like something a private eye might wear, April made it look intentionally inexpensive, meant to shield the wearer from pollution. K’s shirt and pants, a long-sleeve pullover and a straight cut brown jeans, are a bit more utilitarian than the suit of a 1920s detective, but serve a similar purpose: To blend in with the crowd. Upon the film’s release, Indiewire remarked that the film’s style was created for “survival, not fashion.” Perhaps this is true, but in reveling in inspiration from film noir’s past, we are meant to associate Gosling, a throwback leading man himself, with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and ultimately, the legacy left behind by Harrison Ford’s Deckard.