Esquire best-dressed men

US men's lifestyle magazine Esquire will publish its second annual list of the Best Dressed Men in the World. Leading the style stakes this year is the fashion and music icon Pharrell Williams of the duo The Neptunes. The magazines credits Williams with "injecting dressed-up luxury into hip-hop style and thereby influencing a new generation of guys to consider more than just a pair of baggy jeans a reflection of their youthful vitality".

Playing down his way of selecting clothes, Williams, 32, is quoted in the magazine as saying: "It's never about whether I'm the best-dressed guy in the room. I never go, 'Oh, I'm killin' 'em tonight!' It's about comfort and the flow. I dress how I feel, so I always look comfortable. That's the only way to look good." David Granger, the magazine's editor-in-chief, said Williams topped the 2005 list because of the way he infused "high-end haberdashery into today's baggy hip-hop craze". He added: "Really, it's mostly confidence. He has a way of mixing fine tailoring with clothes that are relaxed, so he looks equally put-together and casual at the same time."

The list, which includes Bill Clinton, the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, and the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, was compiled by a panel of fashion experts and Esquire editors, will appear in the magazine's US September issue. British men appearing on the list include Jude Law, who was number four, Alex Kapranos from rockband Franz Ferdinand at number 9, Paul Bettany at number 17 and Chris Martin who was 19th.

Mr Sullivan praised Law, who recently starred in Alfie and Closer, as the "new celluloid style icon", but also indicated that ordinary men could aspire to his look. "Law always looks natty off-camera. He mixes British tailoring with casual clothes that everyone can wear," he said. Mr Granger said today's well-dressed man must have a "balance between dressing professionally and appearing to be totally relaxed ... That whole Armani jacket with blue jeans is getting clichéd".