Bob Weir may have become famous as a rhythm guitarist, but he was never your run-of-the-mill rhythm guitarist. The founding Grateful Dead member, who died last week at age 78, left a permanent mark on the instrument by finding unexpected magic in chord changes and developing a spry style of strumming that felt both intuitive, improvised, and quietly radical. You could say the same about his personal style.
“I just wanted to be kind of elegant,” Weir told GQ in 2019, speaking about his chosen wardrobe. “People were paying good money to see us, and at the time I figured that meant we ought to dress up a bit.”
Weir’s style lived in the space between elegant and eccentric: preppy polo shirts, flashes of Westernwear, and cut-off denim shorts that revealed as much bare thigh as a mid-century surfer catching the perfect break. He loved hoodies worn without undershirts and would cleverly layer performance fleece within his outfits. He wore crunchy sandals onstage and on red carpets alike. His signature look was as if an old Patagonia catalog came to life and took a massive bong rip—and that’s meant as the highest compliment. Throughout his career, Weir dressed with an unmistakable Northern California ease. You could tell he prized comfort but always managed to look intentional, relaxed yet dialed-in, the very definition of jam-band chic.
Here’s a look back at how his singular style evolved over the decades.
