The pantheon of men’s style icons is surprisingly compact. There are scores of uniquely handsome and stylish actors, pop stars, sportsmen – but when it comes to their decades-long influence and a sense of permanence unaffected by trends in fashion, three square-jawed American boys next door stand out: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen – and Robert Redford, who died yesterday at 89.Redford’s death is, obviously, a loss to cinema. In the latter half of the 20th century, few actors so roundly embodied the soul of American film-making, or perhaps even the US itself. During a decade-long, career-defining run of hit movies, Redford established the archetype of the modern leading man. He was impossibly handsome and warmly charismatic, of course, but also scrappy, soulful, athletic, bookishly intelligent and politically aware. A matinee idol who could fix your car while reciting Walt Whitman.Robert Redford, left, with Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Photograph: Cinetext/Sportsphoto/ AllstarBut his influence spread beyond Hollywood. For the menswear fraternity, especially those remaining few tasked with publishing men’s style magazines, Redford’s death is especially poignant. He was a paragon of masculine cool and a sartorial chameleon, able to take any aesthetic trope – the cowboy, the drifter, the clean-cut executive, the coastal intellectual – and make it shine with easy authenticity.