James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo (1958)

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James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, former San Francisco detective

San Francisco, Fall 1957

Film: Vertigo
Release Date: May 9, 1958
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

San Francisco has always been a popular setting for detective movies. From 1940s film noir like The Maltese Falcon through the gritty ’60s and ’70s era with movies like Bullitt, Dirty Harry, and McQ, Hollywood has made the most of its picturesque neighbor to the distant north.

Though Alfred Hitchcock had filmed in the Bay area before, Vertigo was his first cinematic effort actually set in San Francisco and he makes the most of his setting.

One pivotal scene finds Jimmy Stewart’s ex-cop character Scottie Ferguson on the trail of “Madeleine” (Kim Novak), a mysterious beauty who he was asked to tail by an old college buddy who was concerned about his wife’s activities. Scottie’s surveillance leads him to the San Francisco Bay itself, where he arrives just in time to fish Madeleine out after an apparent suicide attempt.

Today’s post is the first of two this week to feature a San Francisco cop clad in a green V-neck sweater after a pivotal run-in with a blonde femme fatale…

What’d He Wear?

“Scottie, in a pair of grey trousers and an old sweater, is wandering about the room, trying to think things out,” describes Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor in their original screenplay for Vertigo.

Scottie spends most of the film in suits or sport jackets with ties, but he chooses a more dressed down approach after fishing Madeleine out of San Francisco Bay, sporting a V-neck sweater in a peaceful, muted shade of green with a white shirt and dark gray pleated slacks. The sweater has a ribbed hem and long ribbed cuffs.

Scotty exudes earthy comfort in his soft moss-toned sweater.

Scottie’s white poplin shirt appears to be one of his usual dress shirts with a front placket and two-button rounded cuffs. He wears it sans tie and open at the neck here, allowing the long point collar to flap over the neck opening of his sweater.

The v-shaped neckline of Scottie’s sweater revealing just enough of the shirt without showing the second button.

When not wearing a full suit, Scottie’s trousers of choice are a pair of dark gray pleated flannels. In addition to this scene, he also appears to wear them with his brown birdseye tweed sport jacket and the blue ribbed knit cardigan.

The dark gray pleated slacks have a full fit characteristic to the ’50s with double reverse pleats and cuffs (turn-ups) on the bottoms. The high rise keeps the waistband mostly concealed under his sweater, but he bends over to reveal a slim black leather belt around his waist. There is a straight pocket along each side seam and two jetted back pockets; only the left back pocket appears to have a button closure.

For as swanky as his living room is, Scottie’s kitchen could use some work.

Scottie still wears his well-traveled cordovan brown leather oxford brogues with medallion perforated wingtips. His socks appear to be black.

Scottie’s wristwatch is yellow gold with a round case and a black ring on the white dial, worn on a black leather strap.

Scottie’s watch pokes out from under the sleeve of his sweater as he hands Madeleine a much-needed cup of coffee.

Go Big or Go Home

…and Scottie’s home is a swell one!

Scottie’s apartment is located in Russian Hill, one of the original “Seven Hills” of San Francisco. The exterior shots were filmed at 900 Lombard Street, placing his bachelor pad about a block away from the famous steep and winding thoroughfare claimed to be “the crookedest street in the world.”

Inside, Scottie’s abode is decked out to define masculine mid-century modern. The long, low sofa is upholstered in a flecked taupe fabric, there’s a burgundy leather chair and ottoman for reading important books, and the entire back wall is a window shaded with Venetian blinds and peach curtains battling for supremacy at perpendicular angles.

To read more about Scottie’s apartment, check out this well-researched piece from Reel SF.

Scottie lights a thoughtful fire, aware of the fact that the shivering stranger that he fished out of the cold San Francisco Bay and placed naked in his bed might appreciate some warmth.

Interested in putting together your own mid-century aesthetic for your own residence? Check out Primer’s Mid Century Modern on a Dime for tips.

How to Get the Look

Scottie takes a classic and comfortable approach to his casual attire for a night in, pulling together several menswear staples for a timeless ensemble.

• White poplin dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, and 2-button rounded cuffs
• Green wool v-neck sweater with ribbed cuffs and hem
• Dark gray flannel double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Slim black leather belt
• Cordovan leather wingtip oxford brogues
• Black socks
• Gold wristwatch with round case, black-ringed white dial, and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Michael Douglas as Nick Curran in Basic Instinct (1992)

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Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, suspended homicide detective

San Francisco, April 1991

Film: Basic Instinct
Release Date: March 20, 1992
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

Background

The nylon bomber jacket has made a comeback in recent years with few knowing the story of its all-too appropriate name, developed as the “MA-1” in the 1950s for American bomber pilots to replace the older B-15 flight jacket. Two decades later, the bomber jacket hit the civilian market with manufacturers like Alpha Industries introducing it to new audiences in colors other than the standard military olive drab. It was further popularized in TV and movies, including the almost ubiquitous appearance of an Alpha Industries MA-1 worn by Steve McQueen in The Hunter (1980).

Though the MA-1 bomber jacket was being phased out of active military use by the early ’90s, it still remained a staple of men’s casual wear and was a fitting choice as the go-to off-duty jacket worn by Michael Douglas’ fashionably tailored homicide detective Nick Curran in Basic Instinct.

What’d He Wear?

Having spent much of the early portion of Basic Instinct in custom tailored suits and shirts from Cerruti and Anto, respectively, the recently suspended Nick Curran makes the most of his suspension by noticeably dressing down for a night of clubbing with the mysterious Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone).

Nick struts into the club wearing a large and loose sage green sweater with a ribbed waist hem and a deep v-neck. The sweater is rather nice, likely made from a luxurious soft wool like merino or cashmere, but Nick’s decision to wear it sans undershirt results in a somewhat sleazy effect that may fit in at a coked up den of iniquity like Johnny Boz’s club but doesn’t age the outfit well… plus a wool sweater against bare skin in a sweaty dance club won’t do any favors to the sweater or the skin.

Though a deep v-neck top with no undershirt is typically a bold choice best suited to only the most casual of situations, Nick Curran looks relatively conservative when compared to his fellow clubgoers (is that woman on the left just wearing a bra?)

Following his tryst with Catherine, Nick steps outside to find her with her sometime girlfriend Roxy (Leilani Sarelle). He’s zipped up to protect himself against the cold in a black nylon bomber jacket, complete with two snap-flapped hand pockets, a zippered patch pocket on his left sleeve with two pencil slots, and black ribbed knit collar, cuffs and blouson-style hem.

Michael Douglas is likely wearing an original Alpha Industries MA-1 jacket, still manufactured nearly five decades after they were introduced to the civilian market. You can pick one up in any of seven colors – including black – for $150 on Amazon or the Alpha Industries site, which suggests it as the perfect garment for “a spontaneous night in the city.” I’m sure Nick Curran would agree!

The morning after…

Not sure if a black nylon bomber jacket is right for you? (Spoiler: it probably is!) Try this affordable $30 Jackson™ bomber jacket from Target (link).

When meeting his partner, Gus “Cowboy” Moran (George Dzundza), to break the news about his amended nature of his association with the dangerous Miss Tramell, Nick wears the same outfit but with a dark burgundy knit polo shirt thankfully replacing the green sweater. The shirt has three large mother-of-pearl sew-through buttons on the top placket, and Nick curiously wears the shirt collar over the knit collar band of his jacket.

This was always a facial expression where Michael Douglas’ resemblance to his father Kirk looks uncanny.

Nick wears a pair of medium-light blue wash jeans with a straight leg and the familiar red tag on the back pocket indicating that these are likely Levi’s 505™ Regular Fit jeans in what would now be called “medium stonewash” denim. Marketed on the Levi’s site as “the original zip fly jeans,” the 505 Regular Fit was first created in 1967 and is currently celebrating its 50th year of production. Nick wears his Levi’s with a dark brown leather belt.

Nick wears chestnut brown suede desert boots with brown socks, best seen when approaching Catherine the morning after their first night together.

At least it’s a picturesque walk of shame!

He is certainly meant to be wearing the same boots that evening with Gus, but a shot of Michael Douglas’ stuntman leaping out of the way of Roxy’s speeding Lotus reveals a pair of black leather trainers with flat soles.

An IMDB search informed me that this is likely stunt performer Michael Runyard. Props to you, Michael!

Nick’s watch, a plain stainless wristwatch with a white dial and steel expanding bracelet, doesn’t get much screen time in this sequence, further evading any sort of positive identification.

How to Get the Look

Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas in a promotional image from Basic Instinct (1992)

Nick Curran’s bomber jacket, jeans, and desert boots are pure McQueen (and thus, highly BAMF-endorsed) but the deep v-neck without a shirt underneath? I bet you can find a way to do better!

• Black nylon MA-1 bomber jacket with flap hip pockets, zip-up left sleeve pocket, and knit collar and cuffs
  • Alpha Industries MA-1 Flight Jacket: Amazon
• Sage green soft wool v-neck long-sleeve sweater
• Medium blue stonewash Levi’s 505 Regular Fit straight-leg denim jeans
  • Levi’s 505 Regular Fit Jeans: Amazon
• Dark brown leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Chestnut brown suede desert boots
• Black socks
• Stainless steel wristwatch with round white dial on steel expanding bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Footnotes

Looking for a more traditional way to sport an otherwise fine green v-neck sweater? Nick Curran also revives the sweater a few scenes later, this time layered over one of his attractive brown cotton Anto dress shirts.

Same sweater, different day.

You can also take notes from fellow former San Francisco detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) in Vertigo (1958), who wears a similar sweater with a plain white shirt as seen in Tuesday’s post.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 1.04: “Meadowlands”)

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James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob boss

New Jersey, Fall 1999

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Meadowlands” (Episode 1.04)
Air Date: January 31, 1999
Director: John Patterson
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy birthday to James Gandolfini, born September 18, 1961. The celebrated late actor revolutionized television with his portrayal of troubled mob boss Tony Soprano on HBO’s The Sopranos from 1999 to 2007. (For those with an interest in the Zodiac, Gandolfini shared his astrological sign with Tony, who would be a fellow Virgo with his given birth date of August 24, 1960 in the final season premiere episode “Soprano Home Movies”.)

“My uncle, he’s got me in a box where I gotta do something I don’t want to do,” bemoans Tony at the outset of “Meadowlands”, the fourth episode of The Sopranos and the first without an on-screen murder. “Then there’s my mother. I pay four grand a month for this place, and she acts like I’m an eskimo pushing her out to sea.”

Tony’s problems with his family continue to grow through “Meadowlands” as his mother (Nancy Marchand) resents her placement in the Green Grove nursing home retirement community and his uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) resents his nephew’s behind-the-scenes power plays. “Next time you come, you come heavy or not at all,” orders Junior after an especially tense meeting, causing a split in his family that not even Tony can bear.

And if only Tony’s problems ended there! The popular boss of the family, Jackie Aprile (Michael Rispoli), is laying on his deathbed, stimulating a potentially fatal power vacuum between Tony and his prickly uncle. Toss in Tony’s own hotheaded nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli), who’s packing heat and looking to avenge a friend, and degenerate detective Vin Makazian (John Heard, in his first appearance on the show), who’s getting the wrong idea about Tony and his new therapist.

It’s almost forgivable when a raging Tony grabs a staple gun and punctures a few “overdue” holes into Junior’s lackey Mikey Palmice (Al Sapienza) and his suit. (Actually, any action taken against the obnoxious Mikey is automatically forgivable.)

What’d He Wear?

From the early days of suave sociopaths Bugsy Siegel and Frank Costello through the “Dapper Don” himself, John Gotti, mobsters have always had the reputation for their distinctive fashion sense. Silk suits, spearpoint-collared shirts, and sparkling pinky rings are all conjured with the image of the archetypal “made man”.

The Sopranos tore down several Mafia myths that glamorized gangsterdom, frequently outfitting its mobbed-up goombahs in track suits. Of course, head of the family Tony Soprano typically dressed a step beyond his underlings with tailored sport jackets and suits, French cuff shirts, and well-shined Allen Edmonds on his feet. “Meadowlands”, the show’s fourth episode, featured Tony in one of his first suits that really stood out to me as a sartorial combination befitting a man of his status.

Tony’s gray semi-solid wool suit may be very appropriate in the closet of a more – let’s say – traditional businessman, but his choice to wear it with a black-on-black shirt and tie with pocket hankie to match is far more Bada Bing! than boardroom.

Compared to the track-suited Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) and disco-couture Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) behind him, Tony looks downright professional.

The ventless single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to the top of the three-button front. In addition to being popular during the show’s late 1990s and early 2000s timeframe, three-button suit jackets are more flattering for a “big and tall”-sized man like the 6’1″ James Gandolfini. The three buttons on the jacket’s front and the four-button cuffs are all black buttons that coordinate well with Tony’s choice of shirt and tie as well as the black silk display kerchief that he wears in the welted breast pocket.

Tony’s crew conducts an impromptu hospital huddle at the dying Jackie Aprile’s bedside.

The suit is likely Italian in origin, though a more eagle-eyed viewer may have more luck identifying the label based on the logo sewn into the inner left of the tan satin-finished lining, best seen as Tony leans into Mikey Palmice’s car.

Peep the label on Tony’s suit. Any idea who made this one?

Tony’s suit trousers have single reverse pleats that begin an inch below the waistline where his belt loops remain unused in lieu of suspenders (braces) fastened to buttons sewn into the inner waistband. His trousers have straight pockets along each side seam, jetted back pockets, and are finished with cuffs (turn-ups) on the bottoms.

Scenes from Green Grove.

His suspenders coordinate nicely with his outfit, a wise move as he removes his suit jacket through his duration at the funeral home (good thing he didn’t “come heavy” for that visit!) The suspenders are black with a thick gray center stripe and a red hairline stripe on each side of that center stripe. Gunmetal clips on the front and back to hook the black leather strips into the trouser waist buttons. The adjusters are gold-toned.

When dealing with a corrupt lawman, Tony has to lay down the law himself.

Tony wears a black silk dress shirt with a point collar, plain front, breast pocket, back side pleats, and button cuffs that he unfastens when rolling up his sleeves. The black silk tie with its subtle tonal box pattern provides little contrast against Tony’s shirt for a slick, mobbed-up look.

Tony endures yet another afternoon of degradation from his mother.

Tony’s derby shoes are black leather with a perforated cap toe and five lace eyelets, worn with black socks.

Tony steps out of his Suburban.

Tony establishes his habit for yellow gold jewelry early on, wearing the same chain-link bracelet and ruby-and-diamond pinky ring on his right hand as he would for the rest of the show’s run. On the opposing hand, he sports his gold wedding band and his ultimate status symbol, an 18-karat all-gold Rolex Day-Date President, ref. no. 18038. The “President” name is derived from the distinctive link bracelet that Rolex introduced exclusively for this Day-Date model.

Tony none too subtly sports his Rolex President as a nod to his organizational aspirations.

We can assume he is also wearing his usual gold open-link chain necklace with a pendant of St. Jerome around his neck.

Go Big or Go Home

Born Pierino Como to immigrants from from the Abruzzese town of Palena, Perry Como is always a pleasant and dependable choice when looking for the soundtrack of your mobbed-up afternoon. Though not as legendary as fellow Italian-American crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett, the well-respected “Mr. C.” remains beloved in his hometown of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where a statue of Perry Como plays his music 24/7.

“Meadowlands” features Perry Como’s original 1945 recording of “Prisoner of Love”, which was also used in Raging Bull (1980), when Tony drops in on Uncle Junior.

Tony and his captains go a less traditional route when chowing down on lobsters in the back room at the Bada Bing as Tipsy’s “Ugly Stadium” provides the backdrop.

How to Get the Look

If the maxim is true that one should “dress for the job you want,” Tony Soprano’s future as a mob boss should be well secured by his sartorial approach in “Meadowlands”.

• Gray semi-solid wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black silk dress shirt with point collar, plain front, breast pocket, button cuffs, and side pleats
• Black tonal box-patterned silk tie
• Black gray-and-red striped suspenders with gold adjuster, gunmetal clips, and black leather double strips
• Black leather perforated cap-toe 5-eyelet derby shoes
• Black dress socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex President Day-Date 118238 yellow gold wristwatch
• Gold open-link chain bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with ruby and diamond stones
• Gold wedding band
• Gold open-link chain necklace with round St. Jerome pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire series.

The Quote

He tries to leave, you break his other neck.

Footnote

James Gandolfini shares his September 18th birthday with my dear sister. Happy birthday, Sis!

Colin Firth as Harry Hart, aka “Galahad”, in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

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Colin Firth as Harry Hart, aka “Galahad”, sophisticated secret agent

London, Spring 2014

Film: Kingsman: The Secret Service
Release Date: January 29, 2015
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Martin Nicholls

Background

Today marks the U.K. release of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the long awaited follow-up to the criminally entertaining 2014 spy film Kingsman: The Secret Service. Featuring a group of quintessentially British spies operating out of a London tailor shop (of all places!), the stylish Kingsman franchise was basically built for BAMF Style readers… and I apologize that it’s taken this long to get a post together about it!

Colin Firth plays Kingsman agent Harry Hart, a dapper and witty spy well equipped for his “Galahad” codename. The early scenes of the film follow Harry as he recruits and trains Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton), a fallen Kingsman agent’s son who – despite his brilliance – has followed a desultory path as a London chav. Luckily for Eggsy, Harry has a different plan.

What’d He Wear?

The suit is the modern gentleman’s armor.

…Harry explains, summing up the film’s ethos while also providing a very literal description of Kingsman agents’ ostensibly bulletproof suits.

With suits and luxury menswear so integral to the film’s plot, director Matthew Vaughn and costume designer Arianne Phillips worked with a number of British heritage brands to develop the film’s signature look.

“Men’s tailoring is at the center of the story,” explained Phillips in a 2015 interview with W magazine. “Proper tailoring makes up for so many flaws in a man’s body.” Bespoke firm Martin Nicholls London of Savile Row cut and made the suits that appeared on screen.

Formerly the creative force behind Alfred Dunhill’s international bespoke program, Martin Nicholls has dressed many celebrities including 007 himself when Daniel Craig sported dinner suits tailored by Nicholls to the premieres of both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Phillips had first collaborated with Nicholls on the 2011 film W.E. where he tailored suits for James D’Arcy to wear as the Duke of Windsor.

The Kingsman shop featured on screen was the real life shop of H. Huntsman & Sons on Savile Row, the legendary tailor whose clients have run the gamut from royalty to celebrities in its nearly 170-year existence. In fact, it was while he was having a suit fitted at the Huntsman shop that Vaughn’s idea came to him. “When I wrote the script, I was actually having a suit made,” Vaughn told the New York Times in 2015. “You feel a bit weird looking at yourself in the mirror when they’re working. My imagination kicked in.”

Though they didn’t provide any clothing for the films, Huntsman proudly lent its distinctive shop front and fitting room to the production of both Kingsman films as described on its site.

Colin Firth, as Kingsman agent Harry Hart, stands in front of the H. Huntsman & Sons tailor shop on Savile Row, “redecorated” to suit the needs for filming Kingsman: The Secret Service in October 2013.

As the popularity of sites like Clothes on Film, Iconic Alternatives, James Bond Lifestyle, Magnoli Clothiers, The Suits of James Bond, The Take, and – if you’ll forgive my immodesty – my own blog attest, people are often inspired to dress like their favorite characters in movies and TV shows. Thus, the filmmakers wisely decided to do a great service to Kingsman fans by anticipating the demand to learn about (and acquire) the on-screen clothing via a collaboration with MR PORTER, introducing a collection of 60+ pieces from suits and shirts to pocket squares and umbrellas to totally outfit an aspiring Kingsman.

The anticipation proved to be prescient, with Kingsman fans not only embracing the availability of screen-inspired menswear in the MR PORTER collection but also the return of classic double-breasted suits.

The Suit

Following the film’s shift in setting to the present day, we catch up with Harry Hart on his way to work in a very office-friendly charcoal chalkstripe double-breasted suit in made from a heavy worsted Dormeuil wool. A closer look at the suiting itself reveals a heavy rust red chalkstripe shadowed on its left by a thinner pale gray stripe.

Harry’s suit jacket is double-breasted like his others, with a six-on-two horn button closure that he always wears the bottom button undone. The peak lapels are proportionately wide with gently slanted gorges and a buttonhole through each lapel. The straight shoulders are lightly padded with roped sleeveheads.

Ever the gentleman, Harry wears a white linen pocket square folded in the welted breast pocket of all of his suit jackets. The MR PORTER collection includes a white silk pocket square from Drake’s with navy hand-rolled edges, available for $65, though Harry appears to sport a plain white linen pocket square like this $80 model from Drake’s.

Harry appears to have left the lowest of his four cuff buttons undone, a subtle but rakish nod to his suit’s bespoke nature.

Each sleeve is finished with four functional buttons. Cuffs with functioning buttons like Harry’s are often referred to as a “surgeon’s cuff” given the wearer’s ability to unbutton his or her cuffs, roll them up, and perform surgery without getting a patient’s blood on their jacket. (Were I the patient, I would likely just request that my doctor remove their jacket before the procedure.)

The jacket evokes classic menswear of the 1930s through the ’50s, though the long double vents in the back are a more modern concession that certainly aids Harry’s movement when the need to clobber a barroom full of hoodlums arises.

Harry showcases the wisdom of carrying an umbrella even when the forecast calls for clear weather.

Harry’s flat front suit trousers have a clean waistband with an extended squared front that closes with a hidden hook-and-eye tab. There are no belt loops; instead, the trouser fit can be adjusted around the waist with slide buckle tabs on the right and left sides toward the back. The trousers have straight side pockets and button-through back pockets. The trousers are cut straight through the leg down to plain-hemmed bottoms.

As a double-breasted suit jacket is meant to be worn buttoned at all times, the only way to get extra looks at the trouser details are when its wearer is engaged in an activity similar to wiping the floor with unmannered hoodlums.

MR PORTER currently offers an identical suit, though marketed as the slightly trimmer version worn by Eggsy. The jacket and trousers can be purchased separately; the jacket is currently selling for $1,595 and the trousers for $595.

The Rest

Like that most classic of British secret agents, Harry wears dress shirts from Turnbull & Asser. His white cotton shirts have a semi-spread collar, front placket, and shoulder pleats and darts to shape the fit around his back and waist. The shirt’s squared double (French) cuffs are worn with rose gold-plated cuff links ostensibly embossed with the Kingsman crest with both oval sides connected through each cuff with a short hook.

MR PORTER’s Kingsman collection includes a white cotton twill Turnbull & Asser shirt for $350. Unfortunately for aspiring Kingsmen, the Deakin & Francis cuff links are no longer available nor are there plans to reintroduce them as of September 2017.

Harry explains the headlines of The Sun littering the walls of his office: “Front page news and all these occasions are celebrity nonsense. Because it’s the nature of Kingsman that our achievements remain secret. A gentleman’s name should appear in the newspaper only three times: When he’s born, when he marries, and when he dies. And we are, first and foremost, gentlemen.”

The Kingsman club tie, made by Drake’s, consists of the bureau’s signature pattern of two thin pale pink stripes bisected by a thin burgundy red stripe over a twill ribbed navy blue ground. (Naturally, the stripes follow the classic British “uphill” direction of left hip-to-right shoulder.) In addition to Harry, who wears his in both traditional Windsor and half-Windsor knots, the Kingsman tie appears to be worn by most Kingsman agents in Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

A half-silk, half-cotton version of the tie is available from the MR PORTER collection for $140. Magnoli Clothiers also offers an accurate replica in 100% silk for only $51.

Harry appropriately wears the Kingsman club tie during a meeting with fellow agents in the agency’s headquarters.

Harry’s less frequently seen second tie is black silk, covered by a field of white dots. It is also made by Drake’s and is tied in the full- and half-Windsor knots that would have had Ian Fleming’s James Bond reeling in horror. To the best of my knowledge, this black silk dotted tie has never been part of the MR PORTER Kingsman collection though Drake’s currently offers a dark navy dot print tie in 50 oz. royal twill silk for $185.

Harry Hart wears more suits than ties, wearing only his striped Kingsman tie and this polka-dot tie throughout the film.

Harry carries his Kingsman-issued sidearm, a Cohort Film Services-customized variant of the Russian TT-30 service pistol, in a brown leather shoulder holster that straps around each shoulder like a pair of braces, suspending the pistol under Harry’s left arm near the waist for a right-handed draw.

“Oxfords, not brogues,” carries a significant meaning in the Kingsman universe, referring both to the agents’ clever passcode and their Cleverley shoes. Harry and his fellow agents all wear black leather five-eyelet cap-toe oxford shoes from George Cleverley, the exclusive London bespoke shoemaker whose wares have been touted as “the most beautiful shoes in the world” by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

“We went with the shoes, first of all, with our Cleverley toe shape and just a straight cap so that was really set in stone which probably wardrobe people that that was the classic shoe that you’d ever get,” explained George Glasgow, chairman and managing director of G.J. Cleverley in a video on the Cleverley site celebrating the brand’s association with Kingsman. The Cleverley Kingsman oxfords are still available in the MR PORTER collection for $950, and – as any Cleverley shoe wearer would tell you – you may be paying a high price but it’s for high quality.

Harry’s own shoes, with their custom extending poison blade, are best seen when he wears his Glen Urquhart check suit during Eggsy’s outfitting.

Harry appears to be wearing black socks with his Cleverley oxfords, making the surprising decision to match his hosiery to his shoes rather than his charcoal suit trousers.

While I think brogues are more than appropriate with businesswear, Harry Hart evidently disagrees and encourages Eggsy to follow his anti-brogue passcode as “words to live by”. However, Eggsy has evidently discarded Harry’s advice in the new film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, as MR PORTER includes a new pair of black Cleverley oxford brogues in its “Golden Circle”-marketed collection.

As autumn hits the Northern Hemisphere and we approach overcoat season, it’s also worth mentioning that Harry is briefly seen wearing a black wool double-breasted overcoat that echoes his suit jacket with peak lapels, roped sleeveheads, and a six-on-two button front. The coat also has side pockets and a long back vent.

Harry dons the archetypal “badass long coat” when needing to infused some intimidation into Eggsy’s training.

Kingsman Accessories

Every Kingsman agent is issued a pair of tortoiseshell acetate square-framed glasses, which naturally serve a greater purpose than meets the eye (if you’ll forgive the pun). Cutler and Gross, the luxury eyewear company founded in London in 1969 that prides itself on combining “the finest Italian craftsmanship with irrefutably cool style”, developed the specs for the on-screen agents as well as the model designed exclusively for sale in the MR PORTER collection for $450. (Like the Kingsman club tie, Magnoli also offers their own accurate replica for only $75.)

Who needs 20/20 vision when you’ve got Cutler and Gross making your specs?

The Kingsman glasses also have the ability to transition into sunglasses when worn outside on a sunny day, tinting the lenses a sun-resistant shade of brown.

Didn’t think transition lenses were badass before Kingsman: The Secret Service? Harry Hart would ask you to rethink that.

Another standard Kingsman accessory is a gold signet ring worn on the right pinky and embossed with the Kingsman crest. I don’t believe that this item was ever included in the MR PORTER collection but some gold-plated steel replicas have popped up on Amazon should one be so inclined.

Like any good secret agent, Kingsman operatives are all issued a luxury wristwatch. The Kingsman: The Secret Service team worked with Bremont, the British watch manufacturer established in 2002 by brothers Giles and Nick English, the latter of whom even briefly appeared in the film making a cameo as a Kingsman agent.

Bremont created the “Kingsman” range of three luxury watches that would be worn by characters in the film, including the Bremont Kingsman Special Edition Rose Gold, a modified version of “the wonderfully over-engineered” Bremont World Timer (ALT1-WT) chronograph worn on an embossed brown calfskin leather strap with a rose gold single-pin buckle.

The modified caliber 13 ¼” BE-54AE automatic chronometer has an 18-karat rose gold 43mm case with an internally rotating bi-directional bezel with global time zones to keep Kingsman agents on schedule for missions around the world. The white metal finished dial has three sub-dials at 6:00, 9:00, and 12:00 with the “Kingsman” emblem proudly emblazoned on the latter. The dial also has a date window at 3:00 and Bremont’s signature SuperLumiNova® coated hands.

…thus leaving no doubt as to the maker of Kingsman agents’ beautiful timepieces.

You can learn more about the Bremont Kingsman Special Edition Rose Gold from the Bremont site. I understand that Kingsman: The Golden Circle will feature agents wearing TAG Heuer timepieces, deviating from the first film’s all-British branded lineup.

Go Big or Go Home

Um, listen, boys. I’ve had a rather emotional day, so whatever your beef with Eggsy is – and I’m sure it’s well-founded – I’d appreciate it enormously if you could just leave us in peace until I can finish this lovely pint of Guinness.

When his conversation with Eggsy about his potential as a Kingsman agent is rudely interrupted by Eggsy’s “associates”, the unflappable Harry displays several gentlemanly traits with his response: emotional maturity, strategic conflict avoidance, and – of course – manners.

Never anything less than dignified, Harry prepares to make his point quite clear to Eggsy’s antagonists.

Of course, hooligans have no time for talk so – despite his best efforts – Harry is forced to show off his considerable hand-to-hand and umbrella-to-face combat skills, making the most of his Kingsman-issued Swaine Adeney Brigg umbrella. (Yes, 007 fans, that is indeed the same brand of attaché case carried by James Bond in the From Russia With Love film and book.)

What to Imbibe

“How to make a proper martini,” is understandably the second lesson on Harry’s “being a gentleman” rubric, though he also shows a respectable appreciation for Guinness when in the more relaxed setting of a London pub.

How to Get the Look

Colin Firth as Harry Hart, aka “Galahad”, sans glasses on the set of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Harry Hart exudes dignity, masculinity, and timeless elegance with his Kingsman-issued suit and accessories, all from British luxury brands.

• Charcoal rust/gray-chalkstriped heavy worsted bespoke suit:
  • Double-breasted 6-on-2-button suit jacket with peak lapels (with buttonhole through each), welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, functional 4-button “surgeon’s cuffs), and long double vents
  • Flat front suit trousers with extended hidden hook-and-eye closure squared waist tab, buckle-strap side adjuster tabs, straight/on-seam side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton twill Turnbull & Asser shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, back shoulder pleats and side darts, and double/French cuffs
• Navy blue silk twill Drake’s tie with thin pink/burgundy/pink left-down-to-right Kingsman “club stripe”
• White linen Drake’s pocket square
• Brown leather shoulder holster
• Black leather five-eyelet cap-toe oxford shoes from George Cleverley
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Cutler and Gross tortoise acetate square-framed eyeglasses with transition lenses
• Gold signet pinky ring
• Bremont Kingsman Special Edition Rose Gold automatic chronometer with 18-karat rose gold 43mm case, white dial (with 3 sub-dials and 3:00 date window), and brown embossed calfskin leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and catch Kingsman: The Golden Circle in theaters this week!

The Quote

“Manners maketh man.” Do you know what that means? Then let me teach you a lesson.

Footnote

I welcome any firsthand accounts of BAMF Style readers who have purchased and/or worn items from MR PORTER’s Kingsman collection! (As I, unfortunately, have none.) Sound off in the comments below.

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 9: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.”)

Vitals

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr, charming studio wunderkind

Hollywood, August 1936 through February 1937

Series: The Last Tycoon
Episodes:
– “Pilot” (Episode 1, dir. Billy Ray)
– “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (Episode 5, dir. Gwyneth Horder-Payton)
– “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6, dir. Stacie Passon)
– “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 9, dir. Billy Ray)
Streaming Date: July 28, 2017
Developed By: Billy Ray
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Amazon recently announced the disappointing news that they are discontinuing production of The Last Tycoon, the second of its F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired series to meet that fate following the cancellation of Z: The Beginning of Everything days earlier.

In its brief, nine-episode life, The Last Tycoon was true to its “golden age of Hollywood” roots with an emphasis on style rather than substance… but oh what style it was, and with strong performances to booth with Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer, Lily Collins, Rosemarie Dewitt, and others rounding out the talented cast of characters.

The series also made the most of its dazzling period costumes, the creation of master costume designer Janie Bryant of Mad Men fame; an entire blog alone could be dedicated to the snappy menswear worn by Bomer, Grammer, and Enzo Cilenti.

Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel about wunderkind studio executive Monroe Stahr’s affairs and ambitions in 1930s Hollywood formed the basis for the series, but developer Billy Ray was clearly building a more elaborate world for his complex characters when the series was axed.

In addition to revisiting the novel, series star Matt Bomer told Vanity Fair in a June 2016 interview that he spent time researching Irving Thalberg, the MGM producer whose youth, ability, and congenital heart disease inspired Fitzgerald’s character. “The character was largely based on Mr. Thalberg, because Mr. Fitzgerald used to work for him,” explained Bomer. “He wrote underneath him at the studio system for a brief period and was really inspired by this man who had a complete understanding of the system and how that operated, and the fact that he was this young wunderkind, this genius at what he did.”

What’d He Wear?

The Last Tycoon‘s dashing titular lead, Monroe Stahr, trots out a debonair black tie ensemble in four of the series’ nine episodes, worn to a number of Hollywood parties whether to celebrate a professional achievement, the holiday season, or his own marriage engagement.

The elegant executive at his own engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

Monroe Stahr’s classic evening kit leaves nary a detail ignored, reflecting the growing popularity of double-breasted dinner jackets during the 1930s especially among the young and stylish like Monroe and his Hollywood set.

“It’s so fun to make suits during this period, I love it,” explained Janie Bryant to Fashionista during a July 2017 interview. “It’s all about those wide shoulder, nipped waist, double-breasted jackets. Wide leg trousers. It’s about everything being wide and big. It’s very different from Mad Men minimalist and everything skinny.”

Bomer was more than enthusiastic to wear the period-perfect clothes designed by Bryant. “Oh, I think Janie Bryant is a genius. I mean, I think she changed menswear almost single-handedly with what she did on Mad Men. Everything she chose, I just trust her implicity,” he told Vanity Fair. “I liked getting to do the double-breasted… the very specific tailoring done at that time was different for me and unique and definitely informs the way you move as a character in a way that I found really helpful.”

It was the Duke of Windsor – then the Prince of Wales – who brought double-breasted dinner jackets into fashion during the 1930s. As Black Tie Guide reports, the jacket had been “previously considered too informal for evening wear due to its lack of an accompanying waistcoat,” but this soon-to-be-called “semi-formal” approach caught on with wearers who followed the Prince’s example of wearing it with “a soft-front pleated evening shirt featuring attached turndown collar and French cuffs rather than the traditional starched front shirt with detachable wing collar and single cuffs.” Monroe Stahr follows the Prince’s template to a T, though his addition of a waistcoat would have satiated the critics that remained concerned with the lack of such a garment.

Monroe Stahr’s black wool double-breasted dinner jacket has the classic six-on-two button front with the six front buttons and the three buttons on each cuff all covered in black silk. The jacket’s wide peak lapels have straight gorges and black grosgrain silk facings rather than the shinier satin lapels that “were increasingly associated with ready-to-wear apparel.” (Source: Black Tie Guide).

Left: A party in “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (episode 5) calls for a white boutonnière.
Right: Monroe cuts a dashing figure on the evening of his engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

For extra special occasions, Monroe wears the traditional white carnation pinned to his left lapel as a festive boutonnière, but he always wears a white pocket square – usually linen – in the jacket’s welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets have a flap, a holdout from earlier decades that would be phased out on the best quality dinner jackets by the end of the 1930s.

The ventless jacket is tailored for a close, flattering fit with padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.

An exhausted Monroe Stahr stands in his black tie kit, sans the actual tie, among hospital holiday decorations in “A Brady-American Christmas” (episode 6).

Even during the more formal pre-WWII era, waist coverings – especially waistcoats – were considered unnecessary with a double-breasted dinner jacket given that garment’s full wrap around the wearer’s torso. For Monroe Stahr, however, dressing to the nines means leaving no stone unturned and that means wearing a black wool single-breasted waistcoat to match his dinner jacket and formal trousers. The waistcoat (or vest, if you must) has three buttons on the front, covered in black silk, with a notched bottom and two welted pockets.

Monroe’s era-correct waistcoat gets some welcome exposure after rising from a nap in “A Brady American Christmas” (episode 6)… while his white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt gets some indecorous exposure.

The full back is also covered in black satin with a strap to adjust the fit. Traditional full-backed waistcoats were still the norm in 1936 America, though Esquire noted that the backless design sported by the Prince of Wales was now the preferred style in London and was gaining popularity in the U.S. (Source: Black Tie Guide)

Matt Bomer and co-star Dominique McElligott on set of The Last Tycoon. (Source: Janie Bryant’s Instagram)

Though Paul Muni wore a traditional white waistcoat under his black double-breasted dinner jacket in 1932’s Scarface, Esquire was reporting in its inaugural issue the following autumn that “the white waistcoat has at last been allowed to rejoin its lawful but long estranged mate, the tailcoat, and the new dinner jackets are matched with a waistcoat of the jacket material, with dull grosgrain lapel facing.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)

As Esquire‘s inaugural issue hit newsstands in the autumn of 1933, the concept of a formal waistcoat matching the color and cloth of a gentleman’s tuxedo would have been de rigeur three years later as the fictional Monroe Stahr makes the Hollywood rounds in an all-black three-piece dinner suit.

The distinctive “drooping” shawl collar of Monroe’s waistcoat would have also been quite fashionable. Introduced in 1921 according to Black Tie Guide, this unique wide-based lapel was a common sight during the ’30s. BTG also posted a portion of this Heller catalog from 1936 that includes several examples of dress waistcoats with lapels not unlike Monroe’s. Surviving vintage models also abound today such as this four-button waistcoat dated to 1938.

The black grosgrain silk facing of Monroe’s distinctive waistcoat lapel appropriately matches his dinner jacket lapel facings, his bow tie, court shoe bows, and the grosgrain side braid of his trousers for a cleanly coordinated and consistent look.

The black wool trousers rise high enough for the waistband to be correctly concealed under Monroe’s waistcoat. The full cut trousers have forward pleats, slightly slanted “quarter top” side pockets that follow the line of the grosgrain-braided side seam as it curves gently forward at the waist, and plain-hemmed bottoms (as cuffs are a no-no for formal trousers bottoms.)

Even workaholic film producers deserve some rest. No need to look so guilty, Monroe!

Monroe wears black suspenders (or braces), the most traditional option for holding up trousers when wearing black tie. The suspenders’ gold adjusters are seen poking out the sides of his waistcoat armholes at the shoulders.

When dressed in black tie, Monroe exclusively wears white cotton “semi-formal” shirts with soft-pleated fronts and double (French) cuffs, following the most fashionable trends of the mid 1930s. As the series is set over the fall of 1936 and into the spring of 1937, it’s appropriate to note that Esquire reported in November 1937 that the once traditional wing collar had been virtually replaced by the turndown collar as the “standard for informal wear.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)

For the most part, Monroe’s white dinner shirts echo the styling of his business dress shirts with a fashionably long point collar. The 1/2″-pleated front of the shirt is elegantly accented with round gold-rimmed diamond studs. His sleeves are shirred at the wrist with four closely-spaced pleats, and the squared double cuffs are fastened with plain gold cuff links.

Monroe’s white “semi-formal” shirt in various states of dress in “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6).

Monroe deviates from his usual semi-formal shirts in the fifth episode only. In “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”, he again wears a white cotton dinner shirt with a turndown collar and pleated front, but both the semi-spread collar (not a point collar) and the pleats on this shirt are considerably narrower.

Left: Monroe’s standard point collar and wide-pleated dress shirt, seen here in episode 6: “A Brady-American Christmas.”
Right: A formal shirt with a semi-spread collar and narrow pleats, worn only in episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik.”

Monroe’s standard semi-formal neckwear is a black silk butterfly-shaped (or thistle-shaped) bow tie made from the same duller grosgrain silk as his lapel facings, reflecting a level of coordination that was becoming increasingly accepted and expected by the mid-1930s.

Monroe’s piercing glare is as sharp as his collar point in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

Butterfly and semi-butterfly bow ties were most common for men during this era, but the diamond-pointed bow tie that Monroe wears in the first episode would have also been acceptable.

Monroe Stahr wears a less common, but still acceptable, pointed-end bow tie in the first episode of The Last Tycoon.

Despite the lessened formality of his double-breasted dinner jacket and soft-fronted, turndown collar shirt, Monroe Stahr appears to be wearing the most formal footwear option: black patent leather pumps.

The men’s dress pump traces its origins back to the Regency period when gentlemen would swap out their daytime boots for buckle-fastened pumps. It was naturally the influence of Beau Brummell that led to the silver steel buckle being replaced by the more genteel square grosgrain bow has distinguished the opera pump in essentially the same form for nearly 200 years.

Monroe’s pumps appear to have a slightly higher vamp, pushing them closer to the look of a wholecut oxford with flat silk ribbon laces, a mid-1930s fad that bridged the formality gap between the ceremonious dress pump and the more functional oxford. (You can read more about this short-lived shoe at Black Tie Guide.)

Monroe also sports his opera pumps when wearing his formal dress white tie and tails in the first and last episodes of the season, a context where opera pumps are more frequently seen than with the less formal black tie.

No matter what the context, Monroe always wears a gold signet ring on his right pinky. Though the etched “S.” most assuredly stands for his professional surname of Stahr, it could also designate his birth surname of Sternberg.

Monroe begins the series wearing a yellow gold wristwatch with a tonneau-shaped white dial and gold bracelet, a standard men’s dress watch of the era. By the end of the fourth episode, he’s received two brand new wristwatches as birthday gifts*; the first is a gold tank watch from Louis B. Mayer (Saul Rubinek) followed by a steel round-cased watch, a gift from Monroe’s own boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) in his attempt to “one-up” the legendary Mayer. It is this steel watch with its minimalist white dial and black leather strap that Monroe wears for the duration of the season.

* The episodes featuring Monroe’s birthday are set in early-to-mid September, making him the second consecutive Virgo character to be featured on BAMF Style after Monday’s post about Tony Soprano.

How to Get the Look

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”).
Note the shirt’s semi-spread collar and narrow pleats as opposed to the point-collared shirt with wider pleats that he wore in other episodes.

Monroe Stahr exemplifies the perfect balance of fashion-forward formalwear and honoring black tie tradition with his tailored three-piece double-breasted dinner suit.

• Black wool double-breasted dinner jacket with grosgrain-faced peak lapels, 6-on-2 silk-covered buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Black wool formal waistcoat with wide “drooped” grosgrain-faced shawl collar, three black silk-covered buttons, notched bottom, two welted pockets, and black satin-covered full back with adjustable strap
• Black wool formal pleated trousers with grosgrain side braid, “quarter top” on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with long point collar, wide pleated bib, front placket, and squared double/French cuffs
  • Gold-trimmed round diamond studs
  • Gold cuff links
• Black grosgrain silk thistle-shaped bow tie
• Black suspenders with gold adjusters
• Black patent leather opera pumps/court shoes with square black grosgrain bows
• Black dress socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt/A-shirt
• Gold monogrammed signet ring, right pinky
• Steel wristwatch with round case and white dial on black leather strap

Monroe always wears a white linen display kerchief in his jacket’s breast pocket and, for extra special events, a white boutonnière in his left lapel.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check it out on Amazon Video.

Footnotes

Series star Matt Bomer is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, located just two miles from my home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

If you’re interested in the history of formalwear, check out Black Tie Guide’s comprehensive history of vintage black tie. To learn more specifically about the pre-WWII Depression era depicted in The Last Tycoon, Black Tie Guide’s also got you covered.

Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the first episode of Boardwalk Empire.

Vitals

Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, corrupt Atlantic City politician and bootlegger

Atlantic City, January 1920

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
– “Boardwalk Empire” (Episode 1.01, dir. Martin Scorsese, aired September 19, 2010)
– “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired September 26, 2010)
– “Broadway Limited” (Episode 1.03, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired October 3, 2010)
– “Hold Me in Paradise” (Episode 1.08, dir. Brian Kirk, aired November 7, 2010)
– “A Return to Normalcy” (Episode 1.12, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired December 5, 2010)
– “What Does the Bee Do?” (Episode 2.04, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired October 16, 2011)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn
Tailor: Martin Greenfield

Background

This week, I’m taking a look at outfits worn by BAMFs in the first episodes of some of my favorite TV shows. #MafiaMonday is a great excuse to start with Boardwalk Empire, particularly the suit worn by Steve Buscemi as Atlantic County treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the opening credits of the series’ five-season run… as well as a few early episodes.

What’d He Wear?

As seen in the credits…

The Boardwalk Empire opening credits sequence shows a clear recognition of costume design as an essential storytelling device. A series of shots of Steve Buscemi standing on a beach while liquor bottles wash up on his feet would have had a much different effect had he been dressed in his ’70s-toned layered turtleneck and topcoat à la Fargo or the mismatched black suit jacket and jeans as “Mr. Pink” in Reservoir Dogs.

Instead, we immediately meet Nucky Thompson the living legend, resplendent in a period-perfect charcoal striped three-piece suit, colorful shirt and tie with a distinctive contrast collar, a dark homburg reminiscent of The Godfather, sharp spectator shoes that are evidently immune to the effects of standing in the surf… and a red carnation, the gregariously dapper embellishment borrowed from Nucky’s real-life counterpart Enoch Johnson.

Nucky’s suit blends elements of traditional business suiting – charcoal material, pinstripes, and chalkstripes – for a distinctive look that differentiates him from the world of establishment politics and business while also avoiding the overt gangster connotations of a bolder white chalkstripe. Indeed, Nucky plays the middle like a fiddle (for the first few seasons, at least), viewed by the Atlantic City public as a generous civil servant while those in his circle know him better as the corrupt “half a gangster” just as capable of coordinating the importation of bootleg whiskey as he is of offering vocal support for the Women’s Temperance League.

The dark charcoal worsted suit, tailored by Martin Greenfield of Brooklyn, is patterned with a series of stripes alternating between a single-thread pinstripe and a wider four-thread stripe.

Three months after the final Boardwalk Empire episode aired, ScreenBid hosted an auction of many of the show’s props and costumes including the “iconic three piece suit from the opening credits,” which was made custom for Steve Buscemi but described as sized approximately 38 regular. The auction listing included several exclusive photos of the suit, including a view of the little-seen gold satin-finished lining with its faint red striping and Deco-style cricles.

Source: ScreenBid.

The long double-breasted suit jacket has straight shoulders and squared front quarters that flare out below the high button stance to resemble the “shapeless” American sack suit characteristic of early 20th century American menswear, particularly when worn unbuttoned as Nucky tends to wear it. The wide lapels have straight gorges. There is a long single vent in the back.

Nucky’s suit jacket has four-button cuffs with a “turnback cuff”, a dandyish detail evoking the Edwardian era that Nucky wore on all of his early suits. The jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets on the sides as well as a flapped ticket pocket, placed high above the waist on the right side to align with the lower row of buttons.

Episode 1.03: “Broadway Limited”

The double-breasted front has four buttons in a square formation, highly placed above Nucky’s natural waist in two rows of two buttons. The suit jacket buttons are best seen on the sole occasion that Nucky wears his jacket fully buttoned during his press conference in “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12).

Perhaps to indicate the solemnity of his announcement, Nucky wears his jacket closed for the one and only time in “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12).

The suit’s matching waistcoat (vest) has six buttons that fasten high on Buscemi’s chest with the lowest button left open over the notched bottom. It has four welted pockets.

The roaring twenties was the twilight of the gentleman’s pocket watch, which would gradually be eclipsed by the wristwatch over the course of the decade. Nucky wears his gold Elgin open-face pocket watch in his lower left vest pocket throughout the first season, connected on a 18″ gold chain to an ornate fob described by ScreenBid as “a trio of gold cubes with tiny ruby chips.”

The plain white dial has Arabic numerals with the “ELGIN” brand name clearly visible in the eighth episode, “Hold Me in Paradise,” when Nucky is in Chicago. (The ScreenBid auction confirmed that the same Elgin watch was used for the opening credits.) Nucky’s watch has a winding stem at 12:00 and a white sub-dial counting down the seconds at 6:00, a typical layout for open-face watches.

A few minutes past 4:30 a.m. and Nucky’s still working.

Similar watches are available online such as this pristine Elgin Grade 303 railroad watch from 1924, available from Etsy for only $99.

Nucky’s flat front suit trousers have a long rise, properly concealing the waistband under his waistcoat. They are most likely fitted to be worn with suspenders (braces), consistent with Nucky’ other suits and three-piece suit decorum, particularly in the early 20th century. They are cut straight through the leg down to the bottoms, finished with wide cuffs (turn-ups).

In the opening credits, Nucky wears a pair of black and tan calf leather wingtip oxford brogues. These spectator shoes, handcrafted in Italy for Forzieri, have a black wingtip, black lace panels for the six-eyelet black laces, black back heel quarters, and brown perforated broguing across the tan vamp.

Typically, one wouldn’t wear shoes of this quality so close to the salty ocean water, but Nucky’s kicks seem strangely immune to effects of the surf.

As of September 2017, Forzieri is still offering these Italian handcrafted spectator shoes for $660 and proudly marketing them as the shoe from “the opening credits of Boardwalk Empire.” Though Forzieri has only existed for the last quarter of a century, these duo-toned brogues are certainly reflective of the spirit of men’s footwear during the Jazz Age.

Jumping up from his feet to the top of his head, Nucky wears a homburg – the preferred headgear of that era’s most powerful men – in a villainous shade of black felt with a wide black grosgrain ribbon and grosgrain edges along the curled brim. Thanks to the ScreenBid listing, we know the hat was crafted by Dobbs, a New York millinery founded in 1908.

Nucky is perplexed by his meeting with the obnoxious George Baxter in “The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02).

You can find a selection of Boardwalk Empire hats available from Fashionable Hats, which also includes a helpful style guide for gents looking to top off their look à la Nucky Thompson, Al Capone, or Jimmy Darmody. Fashionable Hats offers a Stetson homburg in black genuine fur felt for less than $200 that will leave you feeling like the king of the boardwalk.

Dress shirts with attached collars were still novel in 1920, having only been patented the previous year by the Phillips-Jones Corporation (now Phillips-Van Heusen) as the “self-folding collar”. Men of Nucky’s status wore shirts with starched white detachable collars that could be easily removed and vigorously cleaned more frequently than the shirts themselves.

Just before the show’s September 2010 premiere, costume designer John Dunn spoke to Esquire about the signature “keyhole-cut” collar he developed for Nucky:

We did have a particular collar specifically designed for Nucky, though: a period collar that has a little keyhole cutout in the center — when you close the collar with the collar bar, there was then a little hole that the necktie would come out of. No one else was allowed to wear that.

Dunn’s particular collar is established in the opening credits and would adorn Nucky’s neck for the show’s first three seasons. Eagle-eyed fans have noted its similarity to the “Tyfold” collar introduced to the American market in 1903 by Cluett Peabody and Co., the same company that developed the attached-collar Arrow shirt in the late 1920s.

Colorful dresser that he is, Nucky is seen in the credits wearing his white “keyhole-cut” collar with a lavender shirt subtly patterned with circles that echo the bolder purple silk tie with “maroon floral medallions,” as described by the ScreenBid auction (which also confirms the tie’s manufacturer as “John Kocis”.)

Left: Steve Buscemi, seen in the Boardwalk Empire opening credits.
Right: The suit jacket, shirt, collar, and tie worn in the credits sequence (Source: ScreenBid.)

Nucky Thompson’s cuff links worn during the opening credits, sourced from ScreenBid.

The self-shirted double (French) cuffs of Nucky’s shirts in the pilot episode were all fastened by a set of octagonal vintage silver-toned cuff links with an onyx ring around a clear stone on each link’s face.

Episode by episode…

When we first meet Nucky Thompson in the pilot episode “Boardwalk Empire”, he is about to address the Women’s Temperance League in the same suit as we saw in the credits but with a radically different shirt and tie.

His yellow dress shirt is patterned with wide white stripes that are bordered on each side and split down the center with three thin blue stripes, creating the effect of light blue stripes from a distance. His white “keyhole-cut” detachable collar also makes its debut, pinned with his usual gold collar bar.

Nucky wears a bright blue-on-blue pindot plaid silk tie with Deco-inspired sets of two white-bordered squares placed haphazardly over the surface of the tie. The left square is gradient-filled in yellow, but the right square is transparent, revealing the blue pattern of the tie’s ground.

“Boardwalk Empire” (episode 1.01): Nucky addresses the Women’s Temperance League in a yellow striped shirt and blue square-patterned silk tie.

The following episode, “The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02), finds Nucky making the rounds of Atlantic City, first running into the obnoxious George Baxter (Allen Lewis Rickman) on the boardwalk before checking in with the imperious Commodore (Dabney Coleman) at his palatial home.

Nucky again sports a light yellow shirt, this time solid yellow rather than striped. Instead, it’s his tie that’s striped in a series of varying navy blue, mustard yellow, and brick red stripes following the European “uphill” direction of left-down-to-right.

“The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02): Nucky grimaces during a meeting with the Commodore, wearing a solid yellow shirt with a multi-striped tie.

In both the pilot and “The Ivory Tower,” Nucky wears a knee-length camelhair overcoat with wide Ulster-style lapels and a high six-on-three-button double-breasted front. The coat has padded shoulders, swelled edges, a vertical welt pocket on each side, and a wide cuff at the end of each sleeve. In the back, an inverted box pleat on the upper back aligns with the long single vent that extends up to the half-belt.

“The Ivory Tower” also features Nucky’s new footwear, a pair of tan leather oxfords worn with burgundy dress socks. Evidently, the black-and-tan spectator shoes featured in the credits didn’t survive his trip to the beach…

Nucky spends some time in this Ritz Hotel office in “Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03), where he is visited by his erstwhile mentee, the troubled Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt). Jimmy’s humble tweed Norfolk suit is the yin to Nucky’s elegant yang.

Nucky appears to be wearing the lavender circle-printed shirt from the opening credits, now paired with a similar multi-striped tie from the previous episode but in an opposing stripe direction.

“Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03): Nucky wears a lavender shirt with a multi-striped tie for a day at the office.

That evening in the same episode, Nucky pays a visit to his ally Albert “Chalky” White (Michael K. Williams), dressing for the evening chill in a countrified brown heavy tweed wool top coat with a plaid pattern consisting of blue, beige, red, and black checks. The coat’s double-breasted front echoes the suit jacket beneath it with its peak lapels and “square” four-on-two button formation, also worn totally open. The coat has an inverted box pleat patch pocket with a flap on the left breast and large flapped patch pockets on the hips, below the lower row of buttons. The shoulders are padded and roped at the sleeveheads with a full cuff at the end of each sleeve. The back is accented with a Western-style pointed yoke and a half-belt.

Nucky’s brown plaid overcoat was also auctioned by ScreenBid, giving us a better look than the dark glimpses we get in “Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03).

Nucky’s opening credits suit reappears five episodes later in “Hold Me in Paradise” (episode 1.08) when Nucky is in Chicago for the Republican National Convention. He is dining with Republican Senator Walter Edge (Geoff Pierson) when he receives news of a robbery back in Atlantic City.

Nucky once again sports a solid yellow shirt for his dinner with Senator Edge, now worn with an “old gold” jacquard silk tie with an ornate floral pattern with cornflower blue center dots.

The outfit is evidently a hit as he also wears it for a press conference denouncing the D’Alessio brothers in the season finale, “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12). In both of these later season appearances, he also seems to be wearing black oxford shoes.

“A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12): Nucky comes out strong against the D’Alessio brothers during a presser in which he wears a yellow shirt and yellow patterned silk tie.

This suit makes its final appearance in “What Does the Bee Do?” (episode 2.04) as a naughty Nucky is entertaining politicians, prostitutes, and prize-fighters when Jack Dempsey drops in on Mayor Ed Bader’s birthday party. (The real Ed Bader was born on June 8, 1874, but this episode is supposedly set before Memorial Day, sometime in the spring of 1921.)

New season, new shirt. Nucky wears a pale blue striped shirt with self-shirted double (French) cuffs and his usual detachable white keyhole collar. His tie is dark purple paisley silk.

“What Does the Bee Do?” (episode 2.04): Evidently it’s been a long night, as Nucky’s hair is a bit tousled but his pale blue striped shirt, white keyhole collar, and purple paisley silk tie remain perfectly in place.

Nucky would continue to wear charcoal striped suits through the run of the series, including a very similarly patterned single-breasted suit with double-breasted waistcoat throughout the third season, but this episode – ‘what does the bee do?’ – was the final in-show appearance of the suit that greeted boardwalk empire viewers in the credits each week.

The Music

Boardwalk Empire made great use of the burgeoning popular music of the early 1920s from vintage recordings of Tin Pan Alley hits to modern interpretations featuring the studious arrangements of Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra often accompanied by stars of today like Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Liza Minnelli, Patti Smith, and Regina Spektor.

The opening credits were a different story, using “Straight Up and Down” by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, an energetic track inspired by 1960s rock roots.

This 2011 interview in The Hollywood Reporter explains creator Terence Winter’s decision:

“I wanted unexpected,” Boardwalk creator and executive producer Terence Winter tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t want to do some Charleston, which didn’t really kick in until 1924 anyway, and everything I heard from the period had people doing the Charleston.”

While experimenting with the opening, Winter says he paired the footage of Buscemi looking out to the horizon with several different pieces of music, including Brian Jonestown’s “Straight Up and Down.” “I had been a fan of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, so we tried it, and I said to the editor, that really works for me.”

Even with so much attention paid to period details such as wardrobe and props, the fact that the theme employs a contemporary song using instruments not yet invented during the prohibition era, when Boardwalk Empire takes place, doesn’t bother Winter one bit. “It’s a show set in 1920 seen through a different perspective, not a literal look at the 1920s,” he explains. “Some people find it jarring to see 1920s clothes and hear contemporary music. I look at it as, it’s a 90-second intro and then you have all the ’20s you want.”

Can’t argue with that.

How to Get the Look

Nucky Thompson’s look is established in the credits and early episodes of Boardwalk Empire as a man who made his success at the crossroads of crooked business and crooked politics.

• Charcoal brown-striped worsted wool three-piece custom “sack suit”:
  • Double-breasted 4×2 “square”-buttoned long jacket with straight-gorge peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, 4-button “turnback” cuffs, and long single vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat/vest with four welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, straight leg, and wide turn-ups/cuffs
• Yellow or lavender dress shirt with front placket and double/French cuffs
  • White detachable “keyhole”-cut collar
  • Silver-toned octagonal cuff links with black onyx face
• Patterned tie with color echoing the shirt
• Black and tan leather wingtip oxford brogues
• Burgundy dress socks
• Black felt homburg with wide black grosgrain ribbon
• Gold-filled Elgin open-face pocket watch with white dial (with Arabic numerals and 6:00 sub-dial) and 18″ gold chain with ruby-studded triple-cube fob

On a chilly day, Nucky adds the extra layer of a double-breasted coat, either in luxurious camel or a rugged countrified brown plaid tweed.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the whole series, but start with the first season.

The Quote

First rule of politics, kiddo: never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Mahershala Ali as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes on Luke Cage (Episode 1.01: “Moment of Truth”)
(Photo credited to ComingSoon.net)

Vitals

Mahershala Ali as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, mob boss and nightclub owner

Harlem, November 2015

Series: Luke Cage
Episode: “Moment of Truth” (Episode 1.01)
Streaming Date: September 30, 2016
Director: Paul McGuigan
Creator: Cheo Hodari Coker
Costume Designer: Stephanie Maslansky
Key Tailor: Cherie Cunningham

Background

BAMF Style’s focus on first episodes during this first week of fall continues with a look at the well-suited villain Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes on Netflix’s Luke Cage, played to charismatic perfection by Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali.

What’d He Wear?

“Cornell Stokes needs to present himself as a wealthy, successful businessman, and, of course, he wants to wear bespoke suits and tailored suits,” explained costume designer Stephanie Maslansky in an interview with Esquire on the day the show premiered on Netflix. “Most of his clothing came from Dolce & Gabbana and Zegna, and we did have one suit custom made for him.”

Cornell Stokes dresses for a day that takes him from the office out onto the street in a sharp gray plaid worsted two-piece suit with pick stitching. The suiting consists of a dark plaid with a pink overcheck on a mid-gray ground.

The plaid suiting includes a light pink overcheck that nicely picks up the pink of his shirt as well as the large purple dots on his tie.

Cornell’s single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels that roll to two black buttons that match the “kissing” four buttons on each cuff. The jacket has double vents, straight flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket where he wears a purple silk pocket square folded neatly and just barely visible over the top of the pocket.

Best seen when Cornell wears his jacket buttoned, the suit jacket is tailored with a classic drape cut to emphasize Mahershala Ali’s strong physique and the character’s imposing presence.

Cornell Stokes owns a few sharp three-piece suits, but he also utilizes an odd vest to add an extra layer to his two-piece suit. In this context, “odd” refers only to the fact that the vest is non-matching; a plain black waistcoat like Cornell’s is as far from the other definition of “odd” as it gets!

An odd vest is an easy and stylish way to diversify a wardrobe. (One rule of caution when wearing an odd vest with a two-piece suit: be sure that the waistcoat contrasts enough with the suit that people won’t think you’re trying to make it look like a three-piece suit!)

Cornell wears a black twill vest with five black buttons, correctly leaving the bottom button undone over the notched bottom. The vest has three welted pockets: one on the left breast and two lower pockets. The shiny black back lining slightly tapers toward the bottom and has an adjustable fabric strap across the lower back.

Once it’s covered in blood, Cornell’s black vest satisfies all definitions of “odd”.

Cornell’s flat front suit trousers have a low rise that contrasts against the better-fitting jacket, though this lower rise trouser is consistent with trendy men’s fashion of the mid-2010s.

The waistband is fitted with buckle-tab adjusters on the right and left sides. The trousers have slightly slanted side pockets and two button-through back pockets. The bottoms are plain-hemmed.

The low rise of the trousers make them appear dangerously close to slipping off while Cornell conducts some dirty business in his office.

Set photo of Mahershala Ali filming Luke Cage. (Credited to ComingSoon.net)

Unfortunately for Cornell (but more unfortunate for Shameek), his gray plaid suit and his black odd vest are ruined when they are covered with blood that evening in his office, making “Moment of Truth” the sole episode to feature this outfit.

Cornell wears a distinctive pair of burgundy cordovan derby shoes with black-stained plain toes, sported with a pair of black cotton lisle socks.

I had some trouble tracking down a pair of quality shoes similar to the ones worn by Cornell with this suit:

• A fine pair of burgundy three-eyelet plain-toe derbies by British luxury shoemaker George Cleverley popped up for $1,425 but without the blackened toe box.
• On the other end of the price spectrum, I found a similar-looking pair of burgundy derbies at ZLAY for $98, but I can’t speak to the quality… particularly when compared against Cleverley.

The burgundy shoes coordinate well with the pinkish tones of the outfit, particularly the light pink herringbone cotton dress shirt.

Cornell’s pink shirt has a large collar with considerable spread, a plain front with no placket, and mitred cuffs that he unbuttons when he rolls up his sleeves to play his Rhodes piano.

A contemplative evening in his office calls for the first of Cornell’s several virtuoso moments on his Fender Rhodes.

Cornell’s silk tie is a field of large purple dots on a field of black, tied with a Windsor knot and fastened into place with a gleaming stickpin. Based on Maslansky’s comments to Esquire, the tie is likely from Dolce & Gabbana or Ermenegildo Zegna.

Cornell wears a polished steel wristwatch on his left wrist with a stainless case and a black leather strap. The dark blue dial has a white outer ring that may help identification. On the opposing hand, he wears a silver ring with a set-in round blue stone on his right pinky.

He also wears small silver emerald-set earrings, adding the small touch of green that Maslansky likes to incorporate into Cottonmouth’s wardrobe per her interview with Forbes.

Possible Inspiration?

Interestingly, a flashback to Cornell’s youth in “Manifest” (episode 1.07) reveals his abusive uncle “Pistol Pete” Stokes (Curtiss Cook) in a similar outfit consisting of a loudly checked gray jacket with a black odd vest, light pink shirt, and tie.

The details differ, but the base similarities are too noticeable to deny that Cornell Stokes was sartorially – in addition to criminally – influenced by his late uncle.

How to Get the Look

Cornell Stokes provides a fine template for layered business wear by adding an odd vest to his gray plaid suit.

• Gray plaid worsted wool tailored suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, “kissing” 4-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Flat front straight-leg trousers with buckle side-tab adjusters, slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black twill single-breasted 5-button vest with three welted pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
• Light pink herringbone cotton dress shirt with spread collar, plain front, and 1-button mitred cuffs
• Purple dots-on-black silk tie
• (?) Silver crest-shaped tie pin
• Burgundy cordovan leather three-eyelet derby shoes with black-stained plain toes
• Black dress socks
• Polished stainless steel wristwatch with round blue-and-white dial on black leather strap
• Silver pinky ring with round blue set-in stone
• Emerald-set silver earrings

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Luke Cage on Netflix!

The Quote

You like my Biggie photo? Me, too. You know what draws your eye when you look at that? The crown. Wanna know why? ‘Cause everybody wants to be the king.

Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the pilot episode (“Fire in the Hole”) of Justified.
(Photo by: Prashant Gupta, FX)

Vitals

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, proudly old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Harlan County, Kentucky, March 2010

Series: Justified
Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 16, 2010
Director: Michael Dinner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree

Background

BAMF Style concludes this weeklong focus on first episodes with an outfit from the pilot of Justified, one of my favorite modern crime shows.

Justified‘s pilot has a special place in my heart for being filmed in southwestern Pennsylvania, just outside my hometown of Pittsburgh. According to a June 2009 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the region was chosen for both aesthetic and practical reasons as a viable double for the South but with a tax rebate for film and TV productions that Kentucky doesn’t offer (or at least didn’t offer at the time.)

The pilot mostly follows the plot of Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole”, named for the signature catchphrase of criminal Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is recalled to his home region of eastern Kentucky, an area proud of its coal-mining roots. In fact, Raylan had once dug coal with Boyd, who has used white supremacy as his ticket to attracting a gang of hoodlums that support his lifelong ambition of blowing shit up.

As tensions escalate throughout the episode, the trigger-happy Raylan finds himself sitting across the dinner table from the wild-eyed Boyd… each man armed with a .45 as Boyd’s fiery sister-in-law Ava (Joelle Carter) stands over the scene with a shotgun.

What’d He Wear?

After making his move to Kentucky, Raylan Givens re-purposes the jacket from the tan lightweight wool suit that he wore in the opening of the episode while serving as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Miami.

The single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, and straight flapped hip pockets with pick stitching throughout.

The tan suit jacket has two brown horn buttons that he wears open as well as four smaller brown horn buttons on each cuff. A brief shot of Raylan performing a one-handed brass check on his 1911-style pistol (see “The Gun” section below) gives a glimpse of the suit’s white-and-blue striped lining, a lining that I’ve seen on suits from Nautica and Tommy Hilfiger although Raylan has also been known to be dressed in Banana Republic suits.

The jacket’s straight padded shoulders and suppressed waist develop the silhouette of the strong Western lawman, though the slight bunching over his holster on his right hip may explain why Raylan switches to darker suits and sport jackets through the rest of the series’ run.

Raylan defines cool, calm, and collected as he stands before a .45-waving Boyd Crowder.

Raylan wears a black cotton long-sleeve shirt with a spread collar, front placket, and patch pocket on the left breast. The rounded cuffs are fastened with a single button.

Raylan opts for jeans even with his business suit jackets, so this dressed-down occasion is no exception. His jeans are a rich dark blue denim with a low rise and straight fit through the legs. They are likely Levi’s due to his known preference for the Levi’s 501™ Original Fit jeans through the rest of the series as well as the signature “Arcuate Design” stitching on the back pockets. (Levi Strauss includes “arcuate” among the many helpful terms in its online Denim Dictionary.)

Raylan prepares for a dangerous evening encounter.

Raylan would also wear Levi’s belts later in the series, but a reader commented on an earlier Raylan post that he was wearing belts from Chambers in the first few episodes. The belt isn’t seen closely enough to discern exact detail in this episode, but it’s dark brown tooled leather with a large steel single-prong buckle. Fastened to the right side of his belt is a tan-finished full-grain leather holster for his sidearm, in this case a compact 1911-variant Colt pistol. In subsequent episodes, he would carry his USMS-issued full-size Glock in a Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® thumb break paddle holster.

Raylan’s tooled brown leather belt coordinates nicely with the rugged textured of his custom Lucchese anteater cowboy boots, which would be replaced by ostrich leg boots from the second season onward.

The “Harlan County” courthouse on screen is actually the Washington County Court of Common Pleas, built in Washington, Pennsylvania, at the turn of the century at the then-extravagant cost of $1 million.

Reportedly, Timothy Olyphant had approached Hollywood hatmaker Baron Hats to create Raylan’s signature headgear, a sahara tan cattleman’s hat in 200XXX beaver that Baron Hats now markets as “The RG”, in an obvious nod to our protagonist. However, some readers have commented that Raylan’s hat is clearly a Stetson “Carson” hat (which would be re-branded and re-banded for sale as the “Marshall” due to its association with Justified.)

Either way, the hat is truly the stuff of classic Western heroes with its tall 4.25″ crown, 3.25″ brim, and the slim tooled brown leather hat band with a three-piece buckle set.

Though the interior of the courthouse was in Washington, Pennsylvania, Raylan and Ava find themselves on the balcony of the Armstrong County Courthouse in Kittanning, 70 miles northeast, with the city’s famous Citizens Bridge in the background between them. This bridge would also famously be featured in The Mothman Prophecies (2002).

The first episode establishes Raylan’s single piece of jewelry, a sterling silver horseshoe-shaped ring that he would wear on the third finger of his right hand for the duration of the series.

Dirty phone.

Before his sportier TAG Heuer would become Raylan’s watch of choice, Timothy Olyphant wore a stainless steel Rolex Submariner in several scenes of the pilot with the distinctive “Oyster”-style link bracelet prominently seen as he lights Ava’s cigarette for her.

Only the Oyster bracelet is visible here, but other scenes (featuring other outfits) plainly show Raylan wearing a Rolex Submariner.

“Fire in the Hole” marks the one and only appearance of Raylan’s tan suit jacket. The only other time he would wear a tan jacket is his more casual suede coat seen in a few following episodes in the first season.

How to Get the Look

Raylan Givens re-purposes an orphaned tan suit jacket with a black shirt and dark jeans as he finds his new look in his old hometown.

• Tan lightweight wool single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single back vent
• Black cotton long-sleeve shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Dark blue denim Levi’s 501™ Original Fit jeans
• Light tan 200XXX beaver cattleman’s hat with a thin tooled leather band
• Lucchese brown anteater cowboy boots
• Dark brown tooled leather belt with steel single-prong buckle
• Tan full grain leather Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® paddle holster for a SIG-Sauer P226
• Rolex Submariner stainless steel dive watch with black bezel and dial and “Oyster” link bracelet
• Sterling silver horseshoe ring with braided side detail

The Gun

A classic 1911 is a fitting choice for a tough, old school lawman like Raylan Givens, though it’s only seen as his sidearm of choice in the pilot episode before switching to his Marshal-issued Glock 17.

Having presumably had his SIG-Sauer P226 used in the Miami shooting suspended, Raylan arms himself with a compact 1911-series pistol for the final act of “Fire in the Hole”. The experts at IMFDB identified the firearm specifically as a custom Colt Officer’s Enhanced Mark IV.

Raylan performs a one-handed brass check on his subcompact Colt. Don’t try this at home.

The Colt Officer’s Enhanced Mark IV is a variant of the 3.5″-barreled subcompact Colt Officer’s ACP pistol introduced by Colt in 1985 as a response to the many downsized 1911 pistols being produced by competitors like Detonics and Rock Island Arsenal. The Colt Officer’s ACP would make its first prominent screen appearance in the hands and holster of Al Pacino’s character Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in Heat.

According to IMFDB, Raylan’s custom pistol is differentiated by its “added beveled mag well, 3 hole combat trigger, and Novak sights.”

Raylan keeps his pistol trained on Boyd after firing a shot over Ava’s dining room table. Based on the position of the slide, it appears to have jammed.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the first season but watch the whole show.

The source material, Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole”, is also excellent reading.

The Quote

You make me pull, I’ll put you down.

Gallery

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Public Enemies (2009)

Vitals

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, maverick Depression-era bank robber

Chicago, Spring 1934

Film: Public Enemies
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

It’s been quite some time since I’ve visited Public Enemies, the Michael Mann-directed action thriller depicting the life and crimes of Depression-era desperado John Dillinger. The film received mixed to positive reviews upon its release with much of the praise going to Michael Mann’s usual attention to detail as well as Johnny Depp’s performance as the Indiana-born outlaw.

Colleen Atwood’s period costumes are also worthy of attention and praise. High fashion was the signifier of success for Depression-era gangsters, and Dillinger rarely led his gun-toting cronies into a bank without being dressed to the nines.

Even when on the run, such as this scene set not long after Dillinger’s narrow escape from an FBI ambush at the Little Bohemia lodge in Wisconsin, John Dillinger made a consistent effort to dress well. (The film plays with historical accuracy to present its own narrative, pushing Billie Frechette’s arrest to after the Little Bohemia raid; in real life, Billie was arrested on April 9, 1934, two weeks before Melvin Purvis’ federal agents attempted to trap the Dillinger gang at Little Bohemia.)

Without the support of his criminal network – most of whom are now dead, arrested, or have alienated him – Dillinger turns to his sole remaining ally, his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). The two abscond to the Indiana dunes on the southern shore of Lake Michigan for a late night rendezvous where Dillinger makes grand promises of an idyllic island life after the proverbial “one last job”.

The next day, the two drive into Chicago to meet an underworld contact when Billie is immediately apprehended by federal agents. All that Dillinger can do is watch in desperation as his “blackbird” is brutishly manhandled and forced into custody. The scene may sound dramatic, but – in fact – little was punched up for this cinematic portrayal.

The real John Dillinger, posing at his family’s home in Mooresville, armed with a wooden gun and a more lethal Thompson submachine gun. The date is Sunday, April 8, 1934.

In reality, Dillinger and Billie had just spent a relatively blissful weekend with Dillinger’s family in Mooresville, Indiana. After a Sunday afternoon full of coconut cream pies (Dillinger’s favorite) and now-iconic photographs of the outlaw posing with Billie and with the wooden gun he used during his infamous escape from the Crown Point jail, the two were headed back toward Chicago for a meeting with Art O’Leary, a private investigator employed by Dillinger’s attorney Louis Piquett.

According to G. Russell Girardin’s definitive Dillinger: The Untold Story:

After leaving O’Leary, Dillinger telephoned Larry Strong, supposedly a friend, and spoke to him about arranging a hideout for a few days. An appointment was made to meet Strong at his tavern, the State-Austin Inn, 416 North State Street, at eight o’clock that evening. Unknown to Dillinger, “friend” Larry had recently turned informer, and he immediately did what informers do. John Dillinger was at heart a country boy and, despite his prison experience, still somewhat naive in the ways of the underworld. He was still learning that while this society may possess a few characters endowed with redeeming qualities, on the whole it consists of conniving outcasts who mock the very notion that there is honor among thieves.

At the appointed time, John Dillinger drove to the restaurant and parked around the corner while Billie Frechette went in. Before she could walk back out and mistakenly signal Dillinger that it was safe, five or six federal agents surrounded her with pistols and machine guns.

Dillinger, watching intently, saw the commotion and drove away unnoticed. Billie would irritate her captors greatly by insisting that Dillinger had been elsewhere in the room when the agents pounced and had simply strolled past them out the door.

Dillinger, considerably irritated himself, immediately phoned O’Leary at his apartment hotel on Pine Grove to let him know “the Gs just picked up Billie in a restaurant at State and Austin… I was sitting in my car around the corner. There were too many of them for me to take her away.”

What’d He Wear?

For his meeting with Billie and her subsequent arrest, Depp’s Dillinger wears a navy worsted three-piece suit with a rust-colored chalkstripe. The stripe’s gentle contrast against the navy suiting provides a touch of subtle complexity and sophistication.

A horrified Dillinger watches as his girlfriend Billie is roughly taken into federal custody.

Three-piece suits with double-breasted jackets enjoyed the height of their popularity in the 1930s. Dillinger’s suit in this sequence incorporates many details distinctive to ’30s tailoring that aimed for the “hourglass” silhouette with widely structured shoulders with roped sleeveheads, fully cut trousers, and a high, suppressed waist line.

The double-breasted jacket’s peak lapels sweep across the front with a six-on-two button formation that Dillinger wears open throughout the scene; combined with his loosened shirt collar and tie, unkempt hair, and manic expression, the unbuttoned suit jacket adds a sense of desperation to Dillinger’s look that echoes his panicked emotions during the scene.

The jacket’s sleeves are a bit too long, totally covering his shirt cuffs when his arms are at his side (best seen in the close-up of Dillinger gripping the 1911 pistol in his right hand; see “The Gun” section below.) The jacket also has a half-belted back, an era-evoking detail that also adds a desired degree of waist suppression.

Note the half-belted back, a unique aspect of ’30s suit that pulled in the waist to emphasize the wearer’s shoulders.

Johnny Depp stands on set next to an extra decked out like a 1930s Chicago policeman. “Why the mahoska?” this officer should be asking.

The unbuttoned jacket shows off Dillinger’s vest, which also received plenty of exposure in behind-the-scenes set photos of Depp sans jacket (such as the one at right.) The single-breasted waistcoat is consistent with era styling with both a high-fastening five-button front and a high notched bottom, placed to accommodate the long rise of his trousers. The vest has four welted pockets.

The flat front trousers have an appropriately high rise to Depp’s natural waist line. They have a full, roomy cut over the hips and through the legs down to the cuffed bottoms. There is a straight pocket on each side and likely two button-through pockets in the back.

The trousers have belt loops for Dillinger’s black leather belt with its closed silver-toned rectangular buckle, a belt style known to have been worn by the outlaw both at the time of his arrest in January 1934 and when he was killed seven months later.

Though decorum says to avoid wearing belts with three-piece suits (to avoid the “bunching” effect of the buckle under the waistcoat), Dillinger needs his belt to hook onto his mahogany leather double shoulder holster for his 1911 pistols, wearing one under each arm. This double shoulder rig was custom made for Johnny Depp to wear on screen by Don Brown, owner of Ted Blocker Holsters. You can read more about Ted Blocker Holsters’ connection to Public Enemies and other major productions on their site.

Dillinger wears one of his usual white cotton dress shirts with a plain front, double (French) cuffs, and possibly a breast pocket. The spread collar is sloppily unbuttoned at the neck, leaving the collar points to lay flat over his vest and his suit lapels.

Dillinger steps out of his car, a slightly anachronistic 1935 Buick Series 40 coupe, just in time to see Billie arrested by federal agents.

Dillinger’s tie is block-striped from left-down-to-right in dark blue and brick red with squiggly thin beige stripes running over each stripe in the same “uphill” direction. The loosely worn tie is knotted so that the four-in-hand knot is only the dark blue section.

The Ted Block Holsters link above explains that they dyed the holster leather “reddish to match Depp’s shoes,” an interesting case of someone matching his shoes to his gun holster rather than to his trouser belt… although I suppose that’s more of a priority for a natty outlaw. Dillinger’s “reddish” shoes are a pair of mahogany five-eyelet cap-toe oxfords.

When the real John Dillinger was killed on July 22, 1934, Special Agent Daniel Sullivan and Inspector Samuel P. Cowley of the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the FBI) recorded a “gold ring with ruby set” when tracking Dillinger’s inventory. The ring was inscribed “With all my love, Polly” on the inside. Though “Polly” would be Polly Hamilton, Dillinger’s final girlfriend that he met shortly before his demise, Public Enemies depicts Depp’s Dillinger wearing a similar ring throughout the film on the third finger of his right hand.

Dillinger cradles Billie on the Indiana dunes as Diana Krall’s “Bye, Bye Blackbird” in the background foreshadows their imminent separation.

Visible under Dillinger’s left shirt cuff is a yellow gold dress watch with a white dial on a dark leather strap.

An intense-looking Dillinger weighs his options behind the wheel of his Buick.

The real John Dillinger resorted to back-alley plastic surgery in the final months of his life, but Public Enemies‘ Dillinger does little to hide his appearance beside donning a pair of tortoise acetate-framed sunglasses with round green-tinted lenses. An iCollector listing for these glasses claims that there was only set used during the production as they were a true vintage item dating to the 1930s.

Even Public Enemy Number 1 sees no need to adopt a stronger disguise than a pair of sunglasses.

Though I have no firsthand experience with it, Magnoli Clothiers’ “Dillinger Suit” is worth mentioning for taking inspiration from Johnny Depp’s Public Enemies wardrobe and seemingly this suit in particular. The suit is available starting at $735 and several positive reviews for it are listed on the site.

How to Get the Look

Most photos I’ve seen of the real John Dillinger show a preference for single-breasted suits (rather than double-breasted), but Johnny Depp’s costumes in Public Enemies are an elegant representation of one of the most common styles during the outlaw’s heyday in the mid-1930s.

• Navy rust-chalkstripe worsted three-piece suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and belted back
  • Single-breasted 5-button vest with four welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat front full-cut trousers with long rise, belt loops, straight side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton dress shirt with spread collar, plain front, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark blue and brick red block-striped tie with thin beige squiggly overstripe
• Black leather belt with silver-toned rectangular closed buckle
• Mahogany brown leather double shoulder holster (for two full-size 1911 pistols)
• Mahogany brown leather five-eyelet cap-toe oxfords
• Navy dress socks
• White sleeveless undershirt
• Thick gold ring with dark ruby flat stone, worn on right ring finger
• Yellow gold dress watch with white dial on dark leather strap
• Tortoise acetate round-framed vintage sunglasses

The Gun

Public Enemies accurately depicts the classic John Browning-designed 1911 and 1911A1 series of pistols as the weapon of choice for the Dillinger gang, who obtained most of their heavy arsenals in real life by raiding military and police armories.

The model most frequently seen used by Johnny Depp as John Dillinger is a blued pre-war Colt 1911A1 Government Model, marketed for the civilian market and chambered in the venerable .45 ACP.

Note the “diamond” walnut grips on Dillinger’s 1911A1 (as well as the excessively long sleeves of his suit jacket.)

Depp’s Dillinger carries his two 1911s in a leather shoulder rig custom designed for the film by Ted Blocker Holsters as explored above. While the concept of wielding two pistols akimbo has been popularized thanks to John Woo’s films, the real Dillinger had been reported to carry two pistols on occasion, specifically in G. Russell Girardin’s Dillinger: The Untold Story when recounting a November 1933 bank robbery in Racine, Wisconsin. This robbery was depicted early in Public Enemies and indeed found Depp brandishing a .45 in each hand (which certainly made for a #CrowningMomentOfBadass in the film’s theatrical trailer.)

By the spring of 1934, the Dillinger gang’s deepening underworld connections meant an influx of heavy firepower unavailable even to most law enforcement agencies of the era. One particularly lethal weapon in the gang’s arsenal was a Colt Super 38 modified into a fully automatic “machine pistol” by gunsmith Hyman S. Lebman of San Antonio. (The Colt Super 38 was a 1911-style pistol introduced in 1929 to fire the new, powerful .38 Super ammunition. Dillinger also used standard semi-automatic models.) Public Enemies became the first “Dillinger movie” to depict this distinctive weapon with its Thompson-style foregrip and extended 25-round magazine, using a standard 1911A1 converted to 9mm and altered to fire in automatic bursts. The weapon is most prominently used by “Baby Face” Nelson (Stephen Graham) during the Little Bohemia scenes.

You can read more about the weaponry of Public Enemies at IMFDB. If you’re interested in learning more about Dillinger and Nelson’s dealings with the shady Lebman, check out the original FBI files at Faded Glory: Dusty Roads of an FBI Era, a fantastic resource for folks interested in this period in American criminal history.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and Bryan Burrough’s book used as source material, though the film excises much of Burrough’s well-researched material about fellow outlaws “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Alvis Karpis and the Barker gang, and Bonnie and Clyde.

I also highly recommend Dillinger: The Untold Story, an unpublished manuscript by G. Russell Girardin that was rediscovered by William J. Helmer, as a definitive source for all Dillinger-related material.

The Quote

Want to take that ride with me?

John Wayne as Lt. Jim Brannigan in Brannigan (1975)

Vitals

John Wayne as Jim Brannigan, tough Chicago PD lieutenant

London, Fall 1974

Film: Brannigan
Release Date: March 26, 1975
Director: Douglas Hickox
Wardrobe Credit: Emma Porteous

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

If McQ was John Wayne’s Dirty Harry, then its spiritual successor Brannigan was his Coogan’s Bluff, a “fish out of water” cop film that finds the Duke’s taciturn American lawman in London to secure the extradition of arch-criminal Ben Larkin (John Vernon) under the watchful – and often judgmental – eye of the quintessentially English Scotland Yard Commissioner Swann (Richard Attenborough).

Beer mugs and bullets fly as Brannigan pursues the supposedly kidnapped Larkin, all the while evading deadly traps from double-barreled shotguns to combustible commodes à la Lethal Weapon 2.

Thank you to Craig, a great BAMF Style reader and Patreon supporter, who has also lent support by sending his personal DVD copy of Brannigan (in addition to several other films) to allow me the opportunity to take screenshots and write about this much-requested film.

What’d He Wear?

For most of his adventures in London, Brannigan wears a plaid jacket, grenadine tie, and brown trousers that he occasionally punches up with a sweater vest. As John Wayne was influenced to star in McQ and Brannigan after the success of the Dirty Harry franchise that he had initially turned down, the outfit may be a nod to Clint Eastwood’s similar ensemble of a brown plaid jacket, sweater vest, and tie in the first Dirty Harry film.

The Staples

Brannigan’s flannel wool sport jacket consists of a brown, beige, and rust plaid on a muted tan ground. The jacket has notch lapels with a light brown felt undercollar revealed when Brannigan wears the collar flipped up.

The single-breasted sportcoat has a low two-button front with brown horn buttons that match the two spaced non-functional buttons on each cuff. The ventless jacket has natural shoulders with roped sleeveheads, a welted breast pocket, and straight welted – rather than jetted, flapped, or patch – hip pockets.

Brannigan investigates the second of two deadly traps set for him in his rented London pad, this one of a more lavatorial nature.

Brannigan wears a pair of brown wool plain front trousers that appear to be shaped with darts over the front, adhering to flat front-friendly ’70s fashions while  providing a roomier fit over John Wayne’s hips. Speaking of ’70s fashions, these slacks also have “frogmouth” front pockets and slightly (but only slightly) flared plain-hem bottoms, both of which were popular during the decade. Brannigan wears a wide brown leather belt with a squared brass single-prong buckle.

Promotional photo of John Wayne in Brannigan, set during the film’s climactic final gunfight.

Brannigan antagonizes the staid Commissioner Swann by insisting on continuing to wear his sidearm in London, carrying his 4″-barreled Colt Diamondback revolver in a brown mahogany leather holster with a snap-fastened retention strap on his right hip, similar to this saddle leather Galco “DAO” holster.

By the 1970s, the slip-on loafer had risen through the hierarchy of the sartorial world to such a level of acceptance that Roger Moore even wore them with James Bond’s signature dinner jackets in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Moonraker (1979).

Brannigan wears a pair of brown leather loafers with a split moc-toe and a half-strap across the vamp with a small brass buckle on the outside of each shoe. The purely decorative buckle is rectangular with a single bar across the opening, similar to these shoes I found on Pinterest.

The brass decoration on Brannigan’s loafers may help identify their manufacturer.

Brannigan breaks up the earth tones of his outfit the first day with a pair of burgundy cotton lisle socks. Following that, he reverts to a less interesting but perhaps more sartorially acceptable pair of brown socks that carry the line of his trousers into his loafers.

Left: Brannigan recovers “ransom money” after a kidnapping, flashing a pair of natty burgundy socks.
Right: The next day, Brannigan’s socks are decidedly less interesting in a trouser-matching shade of brown.

Outfit #1

Brannigan’s sense of style at home in Chicago is established to be more of an open-collar approach. When he calls upon Commissioner Swann at London’s exclusive Garrick Club, he is given a necktie to wear and is never seen without a tie for the duration of the film.

Brannigan most frequently wears a cream cotton shirt with a button-down collar that he sometimes wears unbuttoned to lay flat like a spread collar. The shirt has a front placket and single-button rounded cuffs. When he wears the cream shirt, Brannigan also wears a brown grenadine woven silk tie of moderate width to coordinate with the lapels of his jacket.

Brannigan sticks to earth tones when sporting a cream OCBD shirt and brown tie with his plaid jacket.

Outfit #2

Brannigan also wears the jacket with a light blue oxford cloth button-down shirt and a scarlet red grenadine tie. Like his other OCBD, this shirt has a front placket and single-button rounded cuffs.

Brannigan injects some color into his earth tones with a light blue shirt and red tie.

Though it’s difficult to tell when worn buttoned and with a sweater vest, the button-down collar is quite wide as best seen when he wears the shirt casually sans tie and with the unbuttoned collar flat over his sweater vest.

The black sweater vest is a fine wool, likely merino, with a long-ribbed waist hem and a high v-neck that covers most of the tie below the knot.

This behind-the-scenes shot of John Wayne on the Brannigan set shows his sweater vest tucked into his trousers.

Outerwear and Accessories

Brannigan wears a black balmacaan-style waterproof raincoat with set-in-sleeves, a tall collar, covered fly front, and single back vent.

It’s a bit sunny for needing a coat like that, Brannigan…

Brannigan is seen donning a gray felt short-brimmed fedora with a wide black grosgrain ribbon when preparing to run out to his car during some nighttime research. He isn’t typically a hat wearer, so the fedora is merely an excuse for a waiting assassin to mistake the hat-wearing Sergeant Jennifer Thatcher (Judy Geeson) for Brannigan, thus giving our protagonist an even more dramatic reason for wanting revenge against London’s criminal element.

All of a sudden, the non-hat-wearing Brannigan needs a hat to go outside… and on the very night that Jennifer wears a similar hat to volunteer to go out to his car for him. Interesting.

On his right wrist, John Wayne wears a simple brass Montagnard bracelet that gifted to him by the indiginous Montagnard people of Vietnam during the filming of The Green Berets in 1968. Modern Forces Living History Group reports that many American servicemen returned from Vietnam with these bracelets from the tribe, signifying friendship or respect. Manready Mercantile offers a striking replica of the “Montagnard Bracelet” in brass, copper, or steel (link), where they explain that “not only did Duke don the bracelet on his wrist until the day he passed, it’s said he lays with it to this day.”

Brannigan wears a wristwatch with the face on the inside of his wrist, a John Wayne-ism consistent with his watch-wearing habits both in real life and on screen. The brief glimpse we get reveals a steel octagonal case, plain white round dial, and drab strap.

Note the grenadine weave of Brannigan’s brown silk tie.

What to Imbibe

Last time I was here, people were gettin’ bombed a different way.

Brannigan orders himself a Guinness while drinking at the pub with Drexel.

Brannigan’s Guinness goes to waste when it’s splashed on his sweater vest, prompting an old-fashioned barroom brawl.

Later, at the home of Mel Fields (Mel Ferrar), he downs a dram of Cutty Sark.

Brannigan helps himself to Mel’s booze.

How to Get the Look

Too many earth tones for you? Swap in some color with a light blue shirt, red tie, or even burgundy socks. Want to layer up for a chilly day? Brannigan added a black merino wool sweater vest.

• Brown, rust, and beige-on-tan plaid flannel single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight welted hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Cream cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and single-button rounded cuffs
• Brown grenadine woven silk tie
• Brown wool darted front trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with squared brass single-prong buckle
• Brown leather slip-on loafers with half-strap and decorative brass side buckles
• Brown cotton lisle socks
• Brass “Montagnard” bracelet
• Stainless steel octagonal-cased wristwatch with round white dial and drab strap

The Gun

Lieutenant Jim Brannigan’s sidearm – and the cause of much consternation for Scotland Yard’s Commander Swann – is a blued Colt Diamondback with a 4″ barrel, chambered for .38 Special.

John Wayne with a six-shooter. You can take the Duke out of the wild west, but…

Colt introduced the Diamondback in 1966 as a scaled-down version of the popular Colt Python, particularly aimed at law enforcement agencies that forbade its officers the use of .357 Magnum ammunition as found in the Python. The Diamondback was offered in .38 Special for police use and .22 LR and .22 WMR for target shooters.

Two years after its introduction, a snub-nosed Colt Diamondback .38 with a 2.5″ barrel was carried by Steve McQueen in Bullitt, an iconic film considered an influence for John Wayne’s later police roles in McQ and Brannigan.

I’m surprised that Brannigan was armed with the Colt Diamondback rather than the full-sized Python as the latter weapon’s larger size seems more consistent with John Wayne’s image. Not only that, but the Diamondback was never authorized for Chicago Police Department officers (to my knowledge) while the Colt Python actually was authorized by the CPD during the period that Brannigan was set and filmed.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Too damn simple.

Footnote

Brannigan‘s costume designer, Emma Porteous, would later serve in the same capacity for three consecutive James Bond films: Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), and The Living Daylights (1987).

Clint Eastwood as Inspector “Dirty Harry” Callahan in Magnum Force (1973)

Vitals

Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan, tough San Francisco Police Department inspector

San Francisco, August 1972

Film: Magnum Force
Release Date: December 25, 1973
Director: Ted Post
Costume Supervisor: Glenn Wright

Background

Earth tones are a fall favorite for many, so take a few notes for your Friday date night style from Clint Eastwood’s earthy ensemble in Magnum Force, the first of four sequels featuring the incorruptible Inspector Harry Callahan.

Continuing what must be a subconscious focus on tough ’70s cop movies from Wednesday’s Brannigan post, this scene features Harry swilling Schlitz in front of the TV with Carol McCoy (Christine White), the wife of a suicidal traffic officer. When his superiors get word of a potential grocery store holdup, Harry – who had been demoted to stakeout duty – is called into action with his trusty .44.

Interestingly, Magnum Force was Christine White’s second time playing a wife whose husband suffers from nervous breakdowns; ten years earlier, she played the wife of William Shatner’s character in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, a famous episode of The Twilight Zone.

What’d He Wear?

Brown is a relatively uncommon color for blazers, assuming you follow the definition of a blazer as a structured odd jacket with metal buttons. In Magnum Force, Harry wears both this brown serge blazer and a more traditional navy blazer. Clint Eastwood would later wear a different dark brown blazer in the following Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer.

Harry’s brown serge wool single-breasted blazer has two gold crested shank buttons on the front as well as two smaller gold buttons spaced on each cuff. The blazer has some concessions to the decade with its fashionably wide notch lapels and long single back vent.

Harry strolls into the station with his partner Early Smith (Felton Perry). Will Early meet the same fate as Harry’s other partners on the force?

In addition to a welted breast pocket, Harry’s brown blazer has sporty inverted box pleat patch pockets with flaps.

Harry settles in for an evening with “the beer that made Milwaukee famous.”

Harry’s light taupe shirt has a large collar, plain front, rounded breast pockets, and breast pocket with a straight yoke. His maroon and gold repp tie follows the traditional American “downhill” stripe direction with a thin beige stripe bordering under each of the gold stripes.

Harry approaches his latest kill.

When Harry removes his blazer in the grocery store, he reveals his light brown leather shoulder holster, reportedly custom made by Jerry Ardolino for the films for Eastwood to carry his iconic large-framed Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver under his left arm. You can read more about the original holster at Lawman Leather Goods.

The holster fastens to the right and left sides of Harry’s belt, a strap of wide brown leather with a large brass single-prong buckle. Harry wears taupe brown gabardine flat front trousers with slanted side pockets, two jetted back pockets (with a button through the left back pocket), and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Harry appears to be wearing the same shirt, slacks, belt, shoes, and socks that he would wear with his brown herringbone tweed jacket during the finale. He wears dark brown leather plain-toe derby shoes with dark brown cotton lisle socks that match his footwear rather than his trousers.

Harry darts through the aisles of hte grocery store in search of his target. Those shelves of white porcelain vases and flatware surprisingly made it through this action scene mostly intact!

Clint Eastwood does not wear a watch in Magnum Force.

What to Imbibe

Harry kicks back with a can of Schlitz, the classic Milwaukee-brewed beer that had dominated American beer production through the beginning of the 20th century before settling into its comfortable connotation as a working class brew of choice, very fitting with Harry’s image.

Schlitz and stuffed animals. Hell of a Friday night, Harry.

Though it isn’t featured in this scene, Olympia beer was also a Clint Eastwood favorite that he promoted in this film as well as many of his major roles through the decade.

How to Get the Look

Harry Callahan’s shades of brown reflect the earthy, no-nonsense character as well as the palette of the era.

• Brown serge wool single-breasted 2-button blazer with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped inverted box-pleat patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, single back vent
• Taupe shirt with large collar, plain front, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Maroon and gold striped repp tie (right-down-to-left “downhill” direction) with thin beige stripes under each gold stripe
• Taupe gabardine flat front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt with large brass single-prong buckle
• Dark brown leather plain-toe derby shoes
• Dark brown cotton lisle socks
• Light brown leather shoulder holster (RHD) for a Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver

The Gun

Harry Callahan’s blue steel Smith & Wesson Model 29 attained iconic status the instant Clint Eastwood drew it from his shoulder holster in Dirty Harry. Two years later, Harry carried the same weapon with a 6.5″ barrel and rosewood grips in Magnum Force.

Harry steadies his aim as he eyes the Cost Plus robbers through the store’s two-way mirror.

Harry’s line that his .44 load is “a light Special” has led some to interpret that his Model 29 is actually loaded with .44 Special ammunition rather than the more notorious .44 Magnum.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Magnum Force or pick up the entire five-film Dirty Harry collection.

The Quote

Well, here’s three salty-lookin’ dudes!

Derrick De Marney as Robert Tisdall in Young and Innocent (1937)

Vitals

Derrick De Marney as Robert Tisdall, wrongly accused man

Keenthorne, England, Fall 1937

Film: Young and Innocent
(American title: The Girl Was Young)
Release Date: November 1937
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Wardrobe Credit: Marianne

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Alfred Hitchcock explored one of his favorite sub-genres, the innocent “man on the run” thriller, throughout his career. The trope was prominent in many of his early works, including The Lodger (1927), The 39 Steps (1935), and Young and Innocent (1937, released in the United States as The Girl Was Young.)

In this latter film, Derrick De Marney stars as Robert Tisdall, a young man falsely accused of the murder of a married actress with whom he was having an affair. The evidence against him is almost laughable – the woman was strangled with a raincoat belt and Robert is unable to produce his own coat – but reflects Hitchcock’s own mistrust of the police stemming from an incident when he was five years old and his father had asked the local constabulary to lock young Hitch away for a few minutes… a strange request to which they strangely complied.

With the help of a misplaced pair of glasses and the chief constable’s idealistic young daughter Erica (Nova Pilbeam), Robert escapes from custody and sets out to find the real murderer. (Robert’s Clark Kent-like disguise of a pair of glasses would later serve Cary Grant just as ably in Hitch’s quintessential “wrongly accused man” thriller, North by Northwest.) What follows is a surprisingly quirky romp as Robert and Erica explore the almost idyllic English countryside, encountering genteel oafs like “Old Will the China-Mender” on Robert’s quest to recover his coat from the charmingly named Tom’s Hat pub. Less charming is the murderer’s tactic of hiding himself in backface as the drummer of a minstrel band, adding a jarringly racist conclusion to Hitchcock’s otherwise impressive crane shot.

What’d He Wear?

Young and Innocent‘s sole costuming credit is Marianne, with whom Hitch had previously collaborated in The 39 Steps (1935) and Sabotage (1936). I never realized how much this film’s style had stuck with me, but I always appreciated the versatility of layering a sweater vest with a suit, particularly when the suit reflects the golden age of tailored menswear in the late 1930s.

Robert escapes by donning a pair of glasses, rendering him totally unrecognizable to the police officers who had him in custody only moments earlier!

Robert Tisdall’s suit through the majority of Young and Innocent is a dark twill, possibly gabardine wool, tailored consistently with the fashionably full-chested British drape cut of the 1930s that emphasized wide shoulders and a suppressed waist.

Contemporary promotional artwork colorized the suit in brown, appropriate for the film’s bucolic setting.

Brown suit, white shirt, tan sweater vest, and green striped tie. Whether these were the actual colors worn by Derrick De Marney or not, they certainly work for this colorized promotional art.

“The three button single breasted suit with a high roll, peaked lapel had been a permanent staple in the wardrobes of well dressed Englishmen,” writes the Gentleman’s Gazette in their fascinatingly well-researched article on London men’s fashion in 1936. Robert’s single-breasted suit jacket checks off each of these boxes with its wide peak lapels that end high above the three-button front and have long, slanted gorges.

The ventless jacket also has a narrowly welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and four-button cuffs. The shoulders are straight and padded.

The long rise of Robert’s trousers conceals the waistband under his sweater vest, but they have double forward pleats, straight pockets along the side seams, and a single back pocket on the back right. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Robert encounters a brave new world of freedom after absconding with the public defender’s strong prescription specs.

Robert’s shirt isn’t pure white, more likely a shade of beige or light gray. Though attached-collar shirts had been popular for nearly a decade, Robert’s shirt has a more old-fashioned detachable collar fastened at the neck with front and back collar studs. The collar, however, is a modern-looking soft turndown collar with long points that matches the shirt in color and material.

The shirt also has squared double (French) cuffs that Robert wears with plain flat disc links.

Despite being wrongly accused of murder and facing the gallows, Robert can’t help but to get a few smirks in over the course of the film.

Robert’s dark tie has a series of thick stripes consisting of a white mini-grid in the classic European “uphill” direction of left shoulder-down-to-right hip. When the tie is pulled out from his vest during a scuffle at Tom’s hat, it is revealed to be of short length with a much longer tail, coordinating with the likely high rise of his trousers.

Robert wears a light-to-medium v-neck sweater vest made from a soft wool, likely cashmere based on a close-up shot when Erica places some coins on his torso as he sleeps.

Robert chows down on a loaf of bread from Erica, unconcerned about getting crumbs on his cashmere.

Robert’s shoes are dark leather cap-toe oxfords, worn a pair of dark ribbed socks.

Luckily for Robert, “Old Will the china-mender” isn’t far away!

Robert spends most of the film hat-less, but he briefly dons a tweed wool flat cap when he goes into hiding toward the end.

Note Robert’s shirt collar stud, now visible after removing his collar and tie.

The only other suit that Robert wears is a much lighter double-breasted suit seen when he is questioned on the beach immediately after Christine’s murder.

How to Get the Look

Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney in Young and Innocent (1937)

Derrick De Marney’s suit in Young and Innocent is often colorized in earthy tones of brown and green for contemporary promotional art, but cooler tones in blue and gray would work just as ably for fans of his layered look.

• Dark gabardine twill English drape cut suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, back right pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Light cotton shirt with detachable soft turndown collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Plain flat disc cuff links
• Dark silk tie with white mini-grid “uphill” stripes
• Light cashmere wool v-neck sweater vest
• Dark leather cap-toe oxfords
• Dark ribbed socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. And if you’re ever in need of an alias, consider “Beachcroft Manningtree”.

Emile Hirsch and Holliday Grainger as Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (2013)

Vitals

Emile Hirsch as Clyde Barrow, amateur armed robber

Texas, Spring 1932

Series Title: Bonnie and Clyde
Air Date: December 8, 2013
Director: Bruce Beresford
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

Background

Earlier this week, I posted about the (possibly brown) single-breasted, peak-lapel suit worn by Derrick De Marney in Hitchcock’s 1930s thriller Young and Innocent. Today’s post expands on that theme, exploring a similar suit worn by another desperate young man on the run during the 1930s.

A trigger-happy killer who rarely displayed remorse or reason, the real Clyde Barrow was certainly no BAMF, but his exploits with partner-in-crime Bonnie Parker were almost immediately romanticized by a hungry public during the early years of the Great Depression. Their story thus became fodder for several stylized cinematic adaptations, most prominently the iconic 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde with the unrealistically attractive Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty assuming the title roles.

The Bruce Beresford-directed miniseries Bonnie and Clyde aired in two parts in December 2013, taking a different approach that recreated many of the lesser known facts and figures from Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker’s crime spree.

Of course, that’s not to say that the miniseries follows historical detail. Bonnie and Clyde historians may have been interested to see filmed depictions of the gang’s exploits like the tragic killing of John Bucher, the Grapevine double murder, and the car crash that badly burned Bonnie for the last months of her life, but much dramatic license is taken in presenting these incidents, often out of order and without adhering to the known facts.

What’d He Wear?

In the series, Clyde Barrow sports a brown nailhead worsted suit for the inauspicious start to his criminal career with Bonnie. Though a full cut was certainly fashionable during the 1930s, Clyde’s oversized suit dwarfs him to the point that he is reduced to the appearance of a little boy wearing his father’s clothes. The ill-fitting suit is a realistic touch given Clyde’s modest budget as a two-bit hood.

Bonnie may be unimpressed by Clyde’s ill-fitting suit and his inability to successfully commit a crime, but she’s still in it for the long run.

The single-breasted, ventless suit jacket with its wide peak lapels is consistent with fashions of the era. The already oversized jacket is emphasized with roped, padded shoulders and a full cut. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, and a two-button front that Clyde wears open.

The low-rise trouser are reverse-pleated with a full cut through the legs down to the cuffed bottoms. The baggy fit was more acceptable in the 1930s, but I would still give these trousers a longer rise and a lifted break over his shoes to reduce the aforementioned “little boy in his dad’s clothes” image. Clyde wears a wide black leather belt with a squared steel single-prong buckle, similar to belts that the real Clyde Barrow had been photographed wearing during his lifetime.

Clyde’s reduced posture from hobbling out of prison (after cutting off two of his toes) certainly doesn’t do him any favors in his oversized suit.

Clyde wears a light gray cotton shirt with a point collar, front placket, and button cuffs. Based on the space around his neck, it’s just as oversized as his suit and adds to the overall image of Clyde being overwhelmed by the ambitions of his criminality.

Abstract printed ties were en vogue during the early ’30s. “Hand painted art deco designs started in the ’20s but really found a place in the 1930s,” wrote Debbie Sessions of Vintage Dancer. “Earthy greens, yellows, peach, and blues were the predominant colors of the ’30s.” Clyde’s short, wide silk tie with its gray and gold leaves printed on a dark “midnight green” ground was typical of the era.

Clyde wears an olive felt fedora with a non-contrasting grosgrain band and a non-trimmed overwelt edge. He previously wore this same hat with his charcoal chalkstripe three-piece suit before graduating to a better looking and better proportioned gray fedora.

Clyde Barrow’s mother Cumie was a major presence in his life, despite being left out of the 1967 film. Seen here, she was portrayed in the 2013 miniseries by Tennessee-born actress Dale Dickey who has been a strong presence in movies and TV shows for the last two decades.

Following his release from prison, Bonnie takes Clyde to a Texas motel for their first night together. He sits wearing only his underwear, a pair of era-specific light blue cotton boxer shorts with a two-button fly, before Bonnie makes her move.

Clyde wears the same black leather cap-toe derby shoes seen in other early scenes with a pair of light gray socks.

How to Get the Look

Left: Emile Hirsch as Clyde in 2013.
Right: The real Clyde Barrow, circa spring 1933, wearing a similar suit that likely provided the inspiration for Hirsch’s baggy duds.

You’ll certainly want a better fitting suit, but Clyde’s early suit is consistent both with the era’s fashions and his real life counterpart’s eye for style.

• Brown nailhead worsted oversized suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Reverse-pleated low-rise trousers with tall belt loops, side pockets, back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Light gray cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Midnight green silk tie with gray and gold leaf print
• Wide black leather belt with squared steel single-prong buckle
• Black leather four-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes
• Light gray socks
• Pale blue cotton undershorts with a 2-button waistband closure
• Olive felt fedora with olive grosgrain ribbon

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series and visit Frank Ballinger’s Bonnie & Clyde’s Hideout site.

Roger Moore as James Bond with Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

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Roger Moore as James Bond, suave and sophisticated British MI6 agent

Cairo, Egypt, August 1977

Film: The Spy Who Loved Me
Release Date: July 7, 1977
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows
Tailor: Angelo Vitucci

Background

A man in a sharply tailored tuxedo meets a beautiful woman over martinis in an exotic cocktail lounge. Hours later, he finds himself – Walther PPK in hand – stalking a seemingly unstoppable metal-mouthed killer through the Egyptian pyramids. This quintessential James Bond moment is one of many iconic scenes in Roger Moore’s third 007 outing, The Spy Who Loved Me, and it’s how I remember him on his first birthday since his passing last May at the age of 89.

Born October 14, 1927 in south London, Roger Moore brought charismatic warmth, self-deprecating charm, and a killer eyebrow muscle to his seven-film stint as James Bond from 1973 to 1985.

In Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 years of James Bond Movies, Sir Roger himself recalls that his favorite of his own 007 films, The Spy Who Loved Me, was released on “Jim’s lucky number” – July 7, 1977. The film underwent a necessary plot reinvention on the instruction of the late Ian Fleming who, so uninspired by his own novel, forbade the Bond filmmakers to use any part of it but the title for their own adaptation. Given this blank slate, writers Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum outdid themselves with a spectacular Bond adventure now considered to be among the best – if not the best – of Moore’s tenure.

Moore’s more autobiographical volume, My Word is My Bond, recounts a spaghetti dinner cooked personally by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, the legendary producer at the helm of EON Productions and one of the men responsible for bringing Bond to the big screen in the first place. Reportedly, someone forgot to refrigerate the food that would be served to the crew one afternoon for lunch. Moore, never one to throw someone under the bus, recalled that “there was one day when something went wrong in Egypt and word reached us mid-morning that there wouldn’t be any lunch. Cubby knew he’d have a revolt on his hands, and so – somehow – gathered together huge great cooking pots, bundles of pasta and meat, and made a wonderful pasta with meatballs and sauce.”

“He served it up to the boys and girls himself too,” wrote Moore, modestly neglecting to mention that he also ladled out spaghetti for the hungry crew members even in full black tie costume as 007.

Roger Moore ditched Bond’s dinner jacket and grabbed a ladle when it came time to serve dinner for the crew.

À bientôt, Sir Roger.

What’d He Wear?

James Bond is known for his dinner jackets even by those who aren’t fans of the series, so I wanted to highlight my favorite of Roger Moore’s black tie ensembles in the series: the double-breasted dinner suit in The Spy Who Loved Me.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a double-breasted dinner jacket in Amazon’s The Last Tycoon, set in 1936 Hollywood. Men’s fashions of the 1930s underwent a revival during the ’70s so it makes sense that Moore’s fashionable take on Bond would find the agent in his signature tuxedo with a double-breasted dinner jacket in the classic pre-war style of a high-buttoning six-on-two front. Moore’s 007 would wear double-breasted dinner jacket in three consecutive Bond films throughout the ’70s – The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Moonraker (1979) – as well as a much more ’80s-styled jacket in A View to a Kill (1985).

Roger Moore’s exquisite double-breasted dinner jacket has been exquisitely written about by Matt Spaiser on The Suits of James Bond with an in-depth exploration into the fit, the tailoring, and the tailor himself – Angelo Vitucci of Angelo Roma – who added a distinctively Roman touch to Moore’s black tie kit.

Moore’s Bond was ably accompanied by rival KGB agent Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), a skilled and confident woman of action more removed from some of the franchise’s earlier “damsels in distress”.

Moore’s midnight blue dinner suit shines under the morning sun, implying a possible wool-mohair blend that would breathe well in the hot Egyptian desert. The ventless jacket’s peak lapels are faced in black satin silk, matching the bow tie and the trouser side striping. The six buttons (with two to fasten) on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are also covered in black satin.

Per traditional black tie conventions, the side pockets are appropriately jetted rather than flapped, and Moore wears no pocket square in his welted breast pocket.

Before Jaws and after Jaws… surprisingly not much worse for wear!

Moore wears a white dress shirt from his usual shirtmaker Frank Foster, with a very large point collar typical of the ’70s. Double cuffs are standard for black tie shirts, but Moore’s shirt has the distinctive pointed-tab single-button cuff invented by Ted Lapidus, the influential French fashion designer who also popularized the safari suit during the ’60s and ’70s.

The popularity of the tab cuff during the decade also extended to the fringes of organized crime as an element of the shirts created by Anto Beverly Hills for Robert De Niro to wear as Sam “Ace” Rothstein to wear in the 1970s-set scenes of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995).

Matt Spaiser explores the shirt further at The Suits of James Bond, suggesting cotton voile as a possible fabric based on the sheer shirting and investigating the distinctive dark shiny buttons sewn through with white thread for a distinctive pop on the shirt’s front placket and cuffs.

Bond watches Q’s presentation with interest.

Bond wears a standard black satin silk bow tie in a large butterfly (thistle) shape, coordinating with his larger shirt collar and wide peak lapels without approaching the excessively large bow ties seen in embarrassing prom photos from the ’70s.

Bond, dubious of the abilities of Egyptian builders.

In My Word is My Bond, Moore recalled a cheeky story when he and Barbara Bach were filming outside Cairo. “As wewalked across the frame in a David Leanesque shot, I’m afraid I let my trousers drop down. I had hoped they might leave it in, but it was vetoed.”

Moore’s trousers match his dinner jacket in the same shiny midnight blue wool/mohair suiting with a black satin stripe down the sides and a strip of black satin around his waistband in lieu of a cummerbund. The trousers emit minimalist elegance with their lack of pleats, pockets, waist adjusters, or cuffs.

In the last 24 hours, Bond’s been knocked around, drugged, and robbed, all under the blaring Egyptian sun. Yet, Roger Moore still exudes insouciant elegance and sophistication with his untied bow tie and dinner jacket removed and so rakishly flung over his left shoulder.

Promotional photo of Barbara Bach and Roger Moore (in double-breasted tux and loafers) leaning against that Lotus Esprit.

Moore further dresses down his black tie ensemble with squared moc-toe slip-on shoes rather than the more traditional oxfords, though his loafers are the most formal variant in glossy black patent leather that nicely coordinates with the shine of his mohair-blend dinner suit.

Each loafer has a strap across the vamp with a squared gold-toned buckle on the outside, sometimes referred to as “sidebit” detailing as opposed to the full-width “horsebit” on the more casual slip-ons that Moore wears with his suits and odd jackets.

The maker of Moore’s loafers is unconfirmed, though I speculate they’re Ferragamo. Reportedly, Moore’s neighbor – the spouse of Salvatore Ferragamo’s eldest son – was horrified to see her friend sporting the rival wares of Gucci in his first two appearances as James Bond, and Moore was subsequently converted to Ferragamo leather goods.

His black dress socks are probably silk.

Bond eulogizes the late Max Kalba.

The “quartz revolution” was in full swing by 1977, and even James Bond had turned in his trademark Swiss dive watch for a Japanese quartz-powered digital watch. Roger Moore had been the first Bond to wear a digital wristwatch on screen with his Hamilton Pulsar in Live and Let Die, but the novelty of digital timekeeping in 1973 was mainstream just a few years later when Moore strapped on the first of his many Seiko timepieces for The Spy Who Loved Me.

Throughout The Spy Who Loved Me, whether dressed in business suit, dinner suit, naval uniform, or casual attire, Moore’s 007 wears a Seiko LC Quartz DK001 digital display wristwatch, model 0674-5009, in a stainless steel case on a stainless expanding bracelet. More information about this comparatively rare watch can also be found at James Bond Lifestyle as well as Dell Deaton’s blog James Bond Watches.

Some may criticize the digital watch with a dinner jacket as a major faux pas, but I’m sure the filmmakers were more satisfied by a hefty product placement commission from Seiko rather than the approval of a blogger writing about the film four decades later. You do you, Mr. Bond.

This dinner suit was also worn by Roger Moore for the film’s opening gunbarrel sequence, the first formal wear to be featured as all previous gunbarrels – including Moore’s for Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun – featured the Bond actors (and stunt coordinator Bob Simmons* doubling for Connery) in a dark business suit.

Roger Moore’s tuxedo-clad gunbarrel sequence set a new standard for the series that would last a quarter of a century.

The Spy Who Loved Me began a tradition of a black tie gunbarrel sequence that would last through Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond film, Die Another Day (2002).

* Bob Simmons was the James Bond franchise’s legendary long-time stunt coordinator and, in fact, appeared in the Alpine-set pre-credits sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me as one of the gun-toting KGB assassins on skiis.

What to Imbibe

Buy you a drink, Major Amasaova… or may I call you XXX?

After their first encounter at the p-p-pyramids, Bond and Anya Amasaova catch up at the Mojave Club for a meeting with the club’s owner, the doomed Max Kalba (Vernon Dobtcheff), whose black market greed would eventually seal his hate.

Bond: The lady will have a Bacardi on the rocks.
Anya: For the gentleman, a vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred.
Bond: Touché.

Bond catches up with the disreputable Kalba to get his hands on the film’s MacGuffin microfilm, but Anya isn’t far behind.

Anya: Just a moment. I would like to bid for it too. You forgot your drink, Mr. Bond.
Bond: Thank you. Na zdorovje.
Kalba: It seems you have competition, Mr. Bond. And from where I sit, I fancy you will find the lady’s figure… hard to match.

Kalba himself displays some interesting eveningwear tendencies with a wide bowtie and large-collared shirt apropos to 1977 contrasting with his stark white dinner jacket with its slim shawl collar. Consistent with villainy in the Bond series, a lack of sartorial taste tends to align with a lack of moral authority. We can feel the judgment in Bond’s eye as he laconically sips his martini.

If you plan on toasting to Sir Roger’s birthday with a Saturday evening martini, keep in mind that the actor preferred gin to vodka. As he wrote in Bond on Bond:

I myself prefer a gin martini and, in all my years of traveling, believe the best is served in the bar of Maison Pic, in Valence, France. How do they prepare it?

First, the ingredients. My gin of choice is Tanqueray and vermouth has to be Noilly Prat.

Take the glass or cocktail shaker you are using and, for two sensible-sized martinis, fill 1/4 of each glass with Noilly Prat. Swill it around and then discard it. Next, top the glasses up with gin, drop in a zest of lemon, and place the glasses in a freezer or ice-cold fridge until you are – or should I say she is – ready.

Roger Moore on location in Egypt during the filming of The Spy Who Loved Me, October 1976.

How to Get the Look

Roger Moore blends a classic aesthetic with a casual approach for his elegant double-breasted black tie ensemble in The Spy Who Loved Me.

• Midnight blue wool/mohair double-breasted dinner jacket with black satin-faced peak lapels, satin-covered six-on-two button front, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, satin-covered three-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White cotton voile shirt with large point collar, front placket with smoke faux-stud buttons, and “Lapidus” pointed-tab single-button cuffs
• Black satin butterfly/thistle-shaped bow tie
• Midnight blue wool/mohair flat front formal trousers with black satin side stripe, black satin fitted waistband, no pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather sidebit moc-toe loafers
• Black silk dress socks
• Seiko LC 0674-5009 Quartz DK001 stainless steel digital wristwatch

The Gun

The Spy Who Loved Me features some firearm fluctuation as James Bond’s signature Walther PPK is swapped out in some scenes – such as the earlier Cairo rooftop fight – with a Beretta Model 70 pistol.

This sequence at the Egyptian pyramids finds 007 with his trusty Walther PPK back in his hands. Bond isn’t wearing his usual shoulder holster when he removes his dinner jacket for his long walk to Cairo, so he’s likely carrying the pistol loosely in his pocket.

Bond’s PPK vs. Major Amasova’s bracelet-laden wrist. Who would win?

A chuckling Roger Moore twirls Bond’s trademark PPK on set. Don’t try this at home!

A prop Walther PPK pistol carried by Roger Moore for non-firing scenes in The Spy Who Loved Me can be viewed at YourProps. A closer look at the markings of this PPK indicates that it’s actually a replica produced by the Spanish manufacturer Denix.

Denix still markets its replica PPK, described as “Semiautomatic pistol, Germany 1919” on its site, for 94.62€. Blued and nickel finishes are available, and the serial number – #382480 – is consistent with the one printed on the YourProps PPK listed to have been used by Moore.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

If you’re interested in hearing firsthand tales of the production from 007 himself, the two Roger Moore-penned books that I sourced in this post are:

• My Word is My Bond (2008)
• Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 Years of James Bond Movies (2012)

Sir Roger’s final book, À Bientôt, was released in the UK in September 2017 and will hit American bookshelves in a few weeks on November 1.

Paul Newman as Professor Michael Armstrong in Torn Curtain (1966)

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Paul Newman as Michael Armstrong, American physicist and amateur spy

East Berlin, September 1965

Film: Torn Curtain
Release Date: July 14, 1966
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Supervisor: Grady Hunt

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Alfred Hitchcock’s 50th film, Torn Curtain, marked his one and only collaboration with Paul Newman. Production on the Cold War spy thriller was plagued by the veteran director clashing with his leads, unused to method actor Paul Newman’s constant questioning of his character’s motivation. “Your motivation is your salary,” Hitch reportedly replied.

The famously easygoing Newman was a little more enthusiastic, later recalling, “I think Hitch and I could have really hit it off, but the script kept getting in the way.”

Indeed, the serious political thriller was a departure from Hitchcock’s usual scripts, developed in response to the growing popularity of the James Bond franchise through the ’60s. Hitch had already been a presence in the genre with the now iconic North by Northwest in 1959, an instant success for the suspense, style, and wit for which the director was known.

Hitchcock had hoped to replicate his success from North by Northwest by casting Cary Grant as the lead in Torn Curtain, but the actor was making good on his recent retirement, and so Universal Pictures executive Lew Wasserman cast Paul Newman and Julie Andrews – highly bankable as two of the most popular rising stars of the decade.

Newman and Andrews played American physicist Michael Armstrong and his assistant and fiancée Sarah Sherman, respectively, traveling through Europe on what turns out to be Armstrong’s defection to the East German government. Of course, Armstrong is actually an amateur double agent whose “defection” is only a ruse to steal secrets from the Soviets.

Armstrong’s plans to return to his American spymasters via the secret π escape network are uncovered by East German security officer Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), who follows Armstrong to the farm where Armstrong is meeting with the masters of his spy ring. What follows is a sloppy, brutal fight that Hitchcock told François Truffaut he deliberately included as a contrast to the era’s popular spy thrillers that made killing look easy.

What’d He Wear?

“It used to be said that no gentleman should wear brown in London. The increasing popularity of the color over the past years has been, presumably, proportionate to the increase in the disappearance of the gentleman,” wrote Hardy Amies in 1964, reflecting the traditional “no brown in town” attitudes that continue to influence menswear to this day.

Brown suits had long been restricted to “country wear” rather than proper business attire. By the late 1930s, men’s clothiers had developed a happy compromise for men seeking the flattering benefits of brown suiting without drawing the ire of those who stand on ceremony in the enforcement of traditional dress codes. Charcoal brown incorporates black or charcoal threads that mute the suiting into a shade of brown more acceptable to conservative dressers. (You can read more about charcoal brown at Gentleman’s Gazette.)

“A brown suit in the city? Surely you jest,” the man in gray seems to be saying to our protagonist.

A charcoal brown flannel suit à la Paul Newman’s Michael Armstrong in Torn Curtain is the perfect business suit as the October weather gets cooler here in the Northern Hemisphere, keeping you warm while offering just enough gray to satisfy the sartorial traditionalists in your office.

Professor Armstrong’s suit follows the classic American cut with its full “sack jacket” with natural shoulders and a single back vent. The notch lapels are fashionably slim for the mid-1960s, ending high to accommodate the jacket’s three-button front. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and two non-functioning cuff buttons spaced about a half-inch on the end of each sleeve.

Armstrong recovers after an unexpected bout of fisticuffs.

Armstrong’s flat front trousers with their medium rise are also consistent with American suits of the era, a contrast to the higher pleated trousers worn by his British contemporary, James Bond. Armstrong’s trousers are straight through the legs down to the bottoms finished with turn-ups (cuffs). They have straight pockets along each side seam but appear to have no back pockets.

Michael Armstrong turns on the charm for Dr. Koska (Gisele Fischer).

The trousers are worn with a black leather belt with a gold-toned single-prong buckle in a semi-rounded reverse “D” shape.

Paul Newman was a master of the all-American Ivy League staple, the oxford cloth button-down shirt. His white cotton OCBD shirt in Torn Curtain has a button-down collar with moderate spread, front placket, rounded button cuffs, and a single inverted box pleat in the center of the back.

Armstrong re-dresses after a visit to the helpful Dr. Koska.

Per this post on the company Instagram page, Newman’s shirt was likely made by Frank Foster, the London shirtmaker who has created countless bespoke shirts for royalty and stars including at least three James Bond actors.

Armstrong’s woven grenadine silk tie is a slightly bolder shade of brown. The mid ’60s were the era of the “skinny tie”, and Armstrong’s neckwear appears to be no wider than 2.5″ and tied in a half-Windsor knot to fill the tie space of his button-down collar.

Professor Armstrong appears to only wear this brown tie when wearing his charcoal brown suit (and vice versa), cycling through navy and red-toned ties when wearing his blue-gray suit or his herringbone jacket.

Not held in place by a bar, clip, or pin, Armstrong’s tie flops around freely and one shot through the bus window while he makes his way to the farm reveals the manufacturer’s tie tag on the back that may clue in a more eagle-eyed viewer into who made Newman’s tie.

The tie maker’s tag is visible just above the bottom of the frame.

Armstrong wears a pair of well-traveled brown leather plain-toe derby shoes with round laces through four eyelets. The footwear is an interesting choice as it doesn’t coordinate with his black belt – an incongruity often considered a no-no – and black shoes are considered to be acceptable with brown suits, particularly charcoal brown suits that have black thread.

His dark ribbed socks appear black but may be a very dark brown to coordinate with his trousers and shoes.

The earthy tones of his suit contrast with his city-friendly topcoat, a knee-length car coat in black and white houndstooth check.

The single-breasted car coat has a flat Ulster collar with four black buttons down the plain front from the neck to just below his waist. There is a flapped pocket on each hip, and a pointed half-tab on each cuff that closes with a single button. The back has a single vent.

Armstrong vs. Gromek.

Having lost his houndstooth car coat at the “farm” when it was stained with the deceased Gromek’s blood, Armstrong goes coat-less until the final act of the film when he is escaping East Berlin with Sarah.

Armstrong is given a heavy black wool topcoat on the π network decoy bus. This second coat has a tall Ulster collar, horizontal front yokes, and brown buttons down the single-breasted plain front. Each sleeve is finished with a distinctive flared half-tab that closes on two black buttons on the outside of each cuff.

Armstrong in disguise as he makes his escape.

Michael Armstrong wears a dress watch typical of the 1960s with a round stainless steel case, silver dial, and flat black leather strap.

Armstrong flips through a pamphlet welcoming him to Berlin.

Paul Newman wouldn’t receive the first of his famous Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watches until a few years later when he received one as a gift from his wife Joanne Woodward. Newman would continue to wear these watches – with the very specific “Paul Newman” dial that horologists can easily spot – every day from 1972 through his death in 2008. One of these Rolex watches, which he gifted to his daughter Nell’s then-boyfriend James Cox in the summer of 1984, will be auctioned next Thursday, October 26, at Phillips in New York and is expected to yield several million dollars.

How to Get the Look

Paul Newman taps into his own Ivy League-inspired sense of classic style to present an undeniably fashionable way of sporting a brown suit appropriate for both town and country.

• Charcoal brown flannel “sack suit”:
  • Single-breasted 3-button suit jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single back vent
  • Flat front medium-rise trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White oxford cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Brown woven grenadine silk tie
• Black leather belt with gold-toned rounded single-prong buckle
• Brown leather plain-toe 4-eyelet derby shoes
• Black ribbed socks
• Steel round-cased wristwatch with plain silver dial on black leather strap
• Black-and-white houndstooth wool single-breasted 4-button car coat with Ulster collar, hand pockets, 1-button half-tab cuffs, and single vent

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987)

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Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, honest and intrepid federal agent

Canadian border, September 1930

Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
Wardrobe: Giorgio Armani

Background

Eliot Ness joins the other “untouchables” on an action-packed mission to the Canadian border following a tip that Al Capone would be importing a shipment of booze. With the help of the Mounties who aren’t yet versed in “the Chicago way”, Ness and his band of three are able to successfully halt the shipment and get their hands on a nervous informant who’s willing to talk… once he stops “muckin’ with the G here,” of course.

The mission comes at the expense of Ness having to take a life in the line of duty. Following some counseling from his cop buddy Jim Malone (“He’s as dead as Julius Caesar… would you rather it was you?”), Ness is able to absolve himself of his guilt and returns home to discover that his wife has given birth to their son.

What’d He Wear?

The Untouchables‘ Armani-designed costumes have been praised for evoking the era if not reflecting it with total accuracy. For instance, it is difficult to imagine that a modestly paid – and honest! – federal employee like Eliot Ness would be able to afford a quality leather car coat, especially as fashionable leather outerwear was hardly as ubiquitous during the Prohibition era as it is today. Still, the jacket incorporates the style of the era and helps a modern audience get behind a “badass longcoat”-wearing hero like we’re used to.

Ness wears a dark brown leather hip-length car coat with three buttons well-spaced down the front and a thin self-belt tightened around the waist between the jacket’s two lower buttons, buckling in the front with a rounded brass single-prong buckle. The lapels have a narrow notch similar to a down-scaled Ulster collar. The cuffs are tightened with buckled belt straps. In addition to the slanted hand pocket on each side of the jacket below the belt, there is a set-in pocket with a slightly pointed flap on the left breast.

Replicas of Ness’ leather jacket abound on the internet, but – as always – the quality is questionable. Your best bet is to find a similar-looking vintage jacket that you can make your own.

A gunfight in the wilderness is no reason for a gentleman like Ness to forgo formality, so he still wears a tie albeit an appropriately rustic-inspired wool knit tie in maroon red. The Tie Bar currently offers several 100% knitted wool ties in similar colors such as wine red and burgundy, both for under $30.

His pale blue tonal-striped shirt has a point collar with such a narrow spread that his the occasional errant collar leaf bends over his tie. The shirt also has a front placket, breast pocket, and single-button rounded cuffs.

Ness in moments of confusion and stress.

Ness wears gray wool trousers with double forward pleats, straight fly, and side pockets. The trousers have belt loops that go unused as Ness instead wears a pair of dark suspenders that button to the inside of his trouser waistband and can be adjusted with silver-toned belt-style buckles.

Behind the scenes images of some of the cast on location shows Costner in costume sans jacket and waistcoat.

Ness layers up against the cold with a lozenge-patterned wool waistcoat. Although the gray-and-red mini-diamond pattern looks more like something you’d find on a sweater vest, this particular garment is styled and structured like a traditional suit vest with a high-fastening six-button front, notched bottom, and four welted pockets.

Ness meets his new son, J. Edgar John James Ness. In real life, Ness had no children until his adopted son Robert was born in 1946.

The bottoms of Ness’ trousers are tucked into his dark brown leather lace-up boots that he wears for riding. The boots’ brown laces are tied through wide silver hooks up the shaft where a slim brown leather strap tightens the top of each boot around the calf.

Ness continues to wear his usual gray felt fedora with its high, pinched crown and narrow black grosgrain band.

Wallace draws Ness’ attention to an interesting point in the ledger that may seal Capone’s conviction.

Shades of red, white, and blue in Ness’ maroon, gray, navy, and beige plaid wool scarf evokes his “All-American” sense of law and order.

Before the raid, Ness wears a pair of brown leather work gloves with a short leather strap across the front of each wrist. As soon as the action starts, he removes the gloves to better handle his shotgun.

Ness wears a yellow gold tank watch with a silver square dial on a black leather strap.

The end of Ness’ white long-sleeve undershirt sleeve pokes out next to his watch as he blasts away at the Canadian border.

A loyal family man (in the movie, at least…), Ness also wears his yellow gold wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

How to Get the Look

Ness pairs his stylish leather jacket with warm, rugged, and fashionable layers and accessories for wintry action.

• Dark brown leather hip-length car coat with short Ulster collar, three-button front, self-belt with rounded brass single-prong buckle, flapped set-in breast pocket, slanted hand pockets, and belted cuffs
• Pale blue tonal-striped cotton shirt with narrow point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Maroon knitted wool tie
• Gray-and-red mini-diamond patterned wool single-breasted 6-button vest/waistcoat with notched bottom and four welted pockets
• Gray wool forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, inner-waistband suspender buttons, and side pockets
• Dark suspenders with silver-toned belt-style buckle adjusters
• Dark brown leather lace-up work boots with silver-toned lace hooks and upper shaft strap
• Gray felt fedora with high, pinched crown and narrow black grosgrain band
• Maroon, gray, navy, and beige plaid wool scarf
• Brown leather work gloves with wrist strap
• Yellow gold tank watch with silver square dial on black leather strap
• Yellow gold wedding ring

The Gun

The four Untouchables ride off to meet the gangsters, each armed for battle. The two police officers have Thompson submachine guns while federal agents Eliot Ness and Oscar Wallace are armed with the Winchester Model 1912 pump-action shotgun.

Ness with a one-handed grip on his shotgun while horseback.

The Model 1912 was designed by Winchester engineer T.C. Johnson as a development of John Browning’s earlier Winchester Model 1897. The most significant difference is the Model 12’s internal hammer as opposed to the external hammer on the Model 1897, which is used to great effect in No Country for Old Men.

Per its name, the Model 1912 was introduced in 1912 for 20-gauge ammunition. By the following year, additional models were offered that could chamber larger 16-gauge and 12-gauge shells with the latter becoming the most common over the firearm’s five decades in production. The internal tubular magazine under the barrel could hold up to six shells.

Ness reloads his shotgun after a gangster infiltrates the Untouchables’ cabin.

For those instances when a 12-gauge shotgun just won’t do the trick, Ness also keeps a few Mk 2 hand grenades – also a John Browning design – in his jacket pockey, ready to toss at a moment’s notice.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Didn’t you hear what I said…? What is this, a game?

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 11: “The Last Journey”)

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Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd anti-Bolshevik and former British agent

London, Fall 1925

Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “The Last Journey” (Episode 11)
Air Date: November 9, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Sidney Reilly is just settling into life with his latest – and final – wife, the glamorous actress Nelly “Pepita” Bobadilla (Laura Davenport), when he is visited by Georgi and Maria Schulz, the Soviet double agents who have come to ensure him of his safe passage through Russia to meet with The Trust.

Of course, The Trust is secretly an counterintelligence operation to help Felix Dzerzhinsky’s OGPU identify and capture anti-Bolshevik resistance agents like Sidney Reilly, who had been sentenced to death in absentia in 1918.

The series suggests that Reilly may have been aware of The Trust’s true nature and that sacrificing himself, a high-profile spy, would terminate the operation. Whether he knew the group’s true means or not, Reilly had waited seven years for an opportunity to return to Soviet Russia, and he immediately begins packing for what would become – as the title suggests – his last journey.

What’d He Wear?

Sidney Reilly showcases plenty of nattily dressed-down ensembles for receiving visitors at home during his postwar life in London, including a Fair Isle knit vest in the ninth episode, a gray wool shawl-collar cardigan in the tenth episode, and this blue v-neck sweater with a classic argyle pattern in the eleventh and penultimate episode.

The traditional argyle pattern consists of a series of diamond shapes in two or three colors, typically overlain by diagonal lines that create a diamond-shaped grid. The pattern dates back to the Clan Campbell of Argyll (an alaternate spelling) in western Scotland as well as the “tartan hose” socks worn by Scottish Highlanders beginning in the 1600s. Centuries later, the argyle pattern became fashionable for knitwear first in England, followed by the U.S., in the years immediately following World War I. Pringle of Scotland developed is “iconic Pringle argyle design” in the 1920s, and the trendsetting Duke of Windsor’s propensity for wearing argyle golf jerseys and socks only increased the pattern’s popularity during that roaring decade. (You can follow my lead and learn more about the history of argyle from this Wikipedia article and its sources.)

Thus, we find Sidney Reilly spending a quiet afternoon at home in the fall of 1925, sporting a long-sleeved argyle wool sweater at the height of the pattern’s newfound popularity. Reilly’s argyle pattern covers his chest with sky blue, gray, and pale blue-gray diamonds with a light gray cross-check overlay. The rows of pale blue-gray and gray lozenges are five across; the sky blue lozenges are stacked four across. The rest of the sweater – the ribbed v-neck, the long-ribbed hem line, the back, and the set-in long sleeves with their ribbed cuffs – are all sky blue.

British spy meets Wall Street prepster as Sidney Reilly dons an argyle sweater, Winchester shirt, and bow tie.

Reilly wears a striped “Winchester shirt” with navy candy stripes on a white ground. The large white contrasting point collar may be detachable. The shirt also has a front placket with mother-of-pearl buttons and barrel cuffs that fit more comfortably under the long sleeves of a sweater and would be more consistent with Reilly’s dressed-down weekend aesthetic.

These later episodes portray a more matured Reilly who always wears proper neckwear even when not leaving the house. The real-life Really was known to fancy bow ties later in his life per this well-known 1924 portrait which I compared to a similar outfit in the miniseries.

Reilly maintains his cooler blue tones with this outfit by sporting a dark navy butterfly-shaped bow tie with neat rows of white dots.

The sign of a strong relationship: Reilly and Nelly are still smiling after putting up picture frames in their new home.

Reilly wears a pair of dark gray flannel trousers with double forward pleats, side pockets, and jetted back pockets – or at least definitely a pocket on the back right.

The trouser bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs), breaking clear of his brown calf leather cap-toe oxfords.

Reilly sees off his visitors. Does he trust them? Time will tell.

Having cast aside his pocket watch after returning from Russia in 1918, Reilly follows the post-WWI trend of wearing the sportier wristwatch, a particularly wise choice with this more casual outfit. It appears to be a gold tank watch with a white square dial and a black leather strap.

Reilly’s wristwatch slips up his wrist as he assures Nelly that he’ll be careful so that he may return to her.

How to Get the Look

Sidney Reilly sets a standard for guys looking to spruce up their fall weekend casual looks with a bold argyle sweater and a coordinating bow tie.

• Sky blue wool v-neck long-sleeve sweater with gray and pale blue-gray argyle chest pattern
• Navy candy-striped Winchester shirt with contrasting white point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Dark navy white-dotted silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Dark gray wool double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets, jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Gold tank watch with white square dial on black leather strap

If you’re seeking an exact replica of Reilly’s double gray-on-sky blue argyle jumper, the nearest approximation I’ve been able to find online is this Club Room sweater that channels the spirit – though certainly not the exact look – of Reilly’s garment. Instead, I urge using Reilly’s outfit as a guideline for finding what works best for you personally.

The Tie Bar offers two lovely bow ties in navy woven silk; you can check out the “Mini Dots” or their larger-scaled cousin, the “Pindot”, but be advised that neither field white dots is arranged quite as orderly as Captain Reilly’s neckwear. Both of these The Tie Bar options are available for less than $20 each as of October 2017.

The Gun

Even when I was working on this page as an administrator for IMFDb, I had some trouble identifying the pocket pistol carried by both Reilly and his friend Captain George Hill (Hugh Fraser) in the series’ later episodes.

My best guess is that it is a subcompact Beretta model, possibly the era-correct Beretta Model 1919 in .25 ACP (6.35mm).

Reilly will need a lot more heat than he plans on packing for his return to cold Soviet Russia.

The Beretta Model 1919 was the predecessor of the Beretta 418, the .25-caliber pistol that Ian Fleming initially chose when arming his fictional secret agent James Bond in the first five of 007’s novelistic adventures. It would be an appropriate homage given the real-life Reilly’s role in inspiring Fleming’s hero, as the author himself once reportedly said: “James Bond is just a piece of nonsense I dreamed up… he’s not a Sidney Reilly, you know!””

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

The Quote

I shall be very, very careful.

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Vitals

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, “professor of archeology, expert on the occult, and – how does one say it? – obtainer of rare antiquities”

New England, Fall 1936

Film: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Release Date: June 12, 1981
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Deborah Nadoolman

Background

Following the exciting opening scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film transitions from a South American jungle to the genteel setting of the fictional Marshall College in Connecticut where Dr. Jones is introduced as a highly popular instructor of the college’s Archaeology 101 course.

After uncomfortably waiving off the eyelidded advances of some of his female students, our protagonist is visited by dean of students Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) and introduced to two visitors from U.S. Army Intelligence seeking his interpretation of an intercepted German cable concerning Indiana’s former teacher, Professor Abner Ravenwood. Discovering that the Nazis are close to discovering the legendary Ark of the Covenant, Indy packs his revolver and bullwhip and sets off to Nepal.

What’d He Wear?

Tweed is something of a uniform for the Jones family of professors, as Indiana Jones wears a tweed jacket or suit in all four of the currently released films of the franchise and even his father, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), sports a tweed three-piece suit through much of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Indy’s first tweed suit is a brown barleycorn tweed three-piece suit worn for classroom instruction followed by an impromptu meeting with U.S. Army Intelligence. Magnoli Clothiers offers the “Marshall Suit” inspired by Dr. Jones’ suit in Raiders of the Lost Ark in a variety of colors offered in pure premium wool (for $935) or a twill wool blend (for a discounted $735) suitings. I have no firsthand experience with this suit, but it looks very stylish and screen-accurate with plenty of great feedback from wearers.

The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front. The jacket has natural shoulders with roped sleeveheads and three buttons at the end of each sleeve. The jacket’s sporty nature is conveyed with its three patch pockets – one on the left chest and one on each hip.

The ventless back is very uniquely detailed in the spirit of the 1930s with a straight horizontal yoke across the top from shoulder to shoulder and a darted half-belt pulling in the waist. An inverted box pleat splits the center from yoke down to half-belt with two additional pleats on each side of the center box pleat to give Indy a wider range of motion as he reaches to write on his chalkboard.

An inverted box pleat and half-belt were among the practices used by 1930s tailors to give wearers a greater range of motion in addition. “Bi-swing” shoulder pleats, though not found on Indiana Jones’ suit, are another element of ’30s tailoring used on some “action back” jackets.

The suit has a matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) with six brown urea buttons; Indy correctly leaves the lowest button undone on the vest’s notched bottom. There are four welted pockets.

Indy’s cream cotton shirt coordinates with the earthy suit and Ford’s warm complexion without delivering the stark contrast of a pure white shirt. The shirt has a point collar, front placket, and rounded barrel cuffs that close with a single button.

Professor Jones delivers some hot takes on the Neolithic era.

Indy’s tie injects some muted color into his staid outfit with a pattern of spots on an olive green ground. The dots alternate between maroon with a beige center dot and beige with a maroon center dot.

Magnoli Clothiers offers the “Marshall Tie” for $55 as a great accompaniment to the suit. The 100% silk tie is described as having a “woven pattern of cream and maroon circles on an olive background,” much like Harrison Ford’s screen-worn tie.

The suit’s pleated trousers rise high enough to appropriately conceal the waistband under the vest. They have slanted side pockets, at least one jetted back pocket on the right side, and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs). Indy’s shoes appear to be brown leather oxfords.

SunglassesID.com identified Indy’s glasses in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the Savile Row “Beaufort Panto” model with a 14-karat gold frame, “Chestnut” rims, and half-covered cable. His similarly described glasses in Raiders of the Lost Ark are likely the same model.

Indy’s meeting with the U.S. Army Intelligence team sets the stage for his following adventures in Nepal and Egypt where he wears his iconic leather flight jacket, brown fedora, and bullwhip. You can learn more about this outfit from the experts at IndyGear.com as well as my post from July 2016.

How to Get the Look

A stylish, well-cut tweed three-piece suit with unique sporty details is the perfect solution when dressing up for autumn, and Indiana Jones looks fashionably professorial when wearing his suit of choice to instruct his fall semester students.

• Brown barleycorn tweed three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, ventless “action back” with inverted center box pleat and darted half-belt
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with four welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Pleated trousers with slanted side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Cream cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Olive green silk tie with maroon and beige spots
• Brown leather oxfords
• Brown socks
• Gold-framed eyeglasses with tortoise rims and round lenses
• Brown felt fedora with dark brown 1.5″ grosgrain ribbon, tall pinched crown, and wide brim

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the trilogy.

The Quote

Didn’t any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?

Footnote

This introductory scene would later be echoed in the third film of the series, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, beginning with a close-up of Indy’s hand as he writes on the chalkboard for his students and panning out to reveal him again in a brownish tweed three-piece suit – this time a striped suit worn with a striped shirt and bow tie – before Marcus enters and ushers him away for an expository meeting that sets the central adventure in motion.

Lee Marvin as Henry “Rico” Fardan in The Professionals (1966)

Vitals

Lee Marvin as Henry “Rico” Fardan, tough mercenary

Texas, January 1917

Film: The Professionals
Release Date: November 2, 1966
Director: Richard Brooks
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Martell

Background

Written, produced, and directed by prolific auteur Richard Brooks, The Professionals depicts a band of mercenaries hired by rancher baron Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) to rescue his wife. Though it is often overlooked in the shadow of its “bigger” contemporaries like The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy of spaghetti westerns, The Professionals was Columbia Pictures’ biggest hit of 1966.

Lee Marvin starred as Henry “Rico” Fardan, a cynical weapons specialist whose experience fighting under Pancho Villa’s command makes him invaluable to the team pursuing one of Villa’s former revolutionaries who supposedly kidnapped Grant’s wife Maria (Claudia Cardinale). The cast also includes Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode as Marvin’s fellow “professionals” and Jack Palance as their target. The film received three Academy Award nominations; Brooks was nominated for his screenplay and direction with a third well-deserved nod going to Conrad Hall’s impressive cinematography, which captured the film’s beautiful locations across the desert valleys of the southwest United States.

Marvin’s rugged wardrobe in this film has been frequently requested by BAMF Style readers, and his timeless brown shawl-collar cardigan is just as stylish today as it was a hundred years ago when the film was set.

What’d He Wear?

Rico rides up in a red 1915 Ford Model T Runabout to meet some of his fellow “professionals” on Grant’s train. (“Yeah, me too, Lizzie,” he says to the sputtering car as he gets out to meet Mr. Grant.) He wears a brown heavy knit shawl-collar cardigan with a high-fastening front of five well-spaced brown plastic buttons.

The cardigan has set-in sleeves and no pockets. The cuffs and waist hem are set apart by triple rings perpendicular to the vertical ribbing present on the rest of the sweater.

Rico’s heavy sweater isn’t the first item you’d pack for a trip to the Texas desert, but Lee Marvin wears it well.

Rico’s pale blue poplin shirt is a bit anachronistic as attached-collar dress shirts wouldn’t be standardized and popularized until about a decade later, but the more modern shirt does give the outfit a greater degree of contemporary relevance. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and buttoned barrel cuffs that don’t bunch up under the sweater sleeves like double cuffs would.

Rico also wears a solid black cotton tie in a simple four-in-hand knot. The tie is worn so that the blade ends a few inches above the trouser waist line.

Strong mise en scène: The front page of the St. Louis Herald newspaper on the wall announces Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata entering Mexico City in December 1914.

Rico’s gray twill flat front trousers have a low rise for the era, cut straight through the legs for a classic and correct military look that was also contemporary with 1960s fashions at the time the film was made. They have frogmouth front pockets and likely plain-hemmed bottoms with a high break.

“Yeah, me too, Lizzie.”

Unlike his light brown corded trousers that he would later wear for the band’s expedition into Mexico, these trousers do not appear to be worn with a belt. Instead, Rico only wears a brown leather edge-stitched gun belt with a woven holster to carry  his long-barreled Colt revolver.

Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster) takes a drink as Rico’s holstered revolver juts out from the back of his sweater.

Rico’s headgear may be the only element of his wardrobe that wouldn’t fit in as well with a contemporary outfit, but his decision to wear a “campaign cover” informs his character’s military pedigree and establishes a leadership role. This type of headgear was common among U.S. Army infantrymen engaged in the 1916 expedition against Pancho Villa; given Rico’s history, this is no doubt where he acquired his hat.

Rico’s campaign hat, contemporary to U.S. military issue during the film’s World War I-era setting, is drab-colored soft wool felt with a flat brim and the tall “Montana Peak” four-pinched crown with a ventilating grommet on each of the four sides.

His campaign cover has a plain tan cord around the base of the crown against a brown grosgrain hat band. It does not appear to be the gold braided campaign cord reserved for U.S. Army general officers, nor does it resemble the golden-and-black cord of commissioned officers. A dark brown leather buckled strap fastens the hat around the back of his head.

Bill hears some wise words from Rico, his de facto “commanding officer” on this mercenary mission.

Rico’s footwear is barely seen, but he is likely wearing the same tan leather cap-toe work boots that he sports throughout. These open-laced boots have twelve eyelets up the shafts, fastening to well above each ankle, as seen in this watermarked set image featuring Lee Marvin sitting with Woody Strode and a can of Coors.

How to Get the Look

Lee Marvin in a lobby card from The Professionals (1966)

Lee Marvin adds dashes of military ruggedness to a classic shawl-collar cardigan with his campaign hat, tie, and boots, creating an image of strong, serious, and stylish leadership.

• Brown heavy ribbed knit shawl-collar cardigan with five-button front
• Pale blue cotton poplin shirt with semi-spread point collar, front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs
• Black cotton tie
• Gray cavalry twill flat front trousers with frogmouth front pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather edge-stitched gun belt with tall steel single-prong buckle and holster
• Tan leather 12-eyelet cap-toe work boots
• Olive drab “campaign cover” with four-pinched “Montana peaked” crown, gold campaign cord, and dark brown leather buckled back strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Bill Dolworth: Well, I’ll be damned.
Henry “Rico” Fardan: Most of us are.

John Alexander as “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1941)

Vitals

John Alexander as “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster

Brooklyn, Halloween 1941

Film: Arsenic and Old Lace
Release Date: September 23, 1944
Director: Frank Capra

Background

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was born this day 159 years ago on October 27, 1858. A son of New York City, the timid Theodore overcame his childhood asthma with his robust physical pursuits matched only by his professional ambition as a career soldier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of New York, and finally the youngest President of the United States when he assumed office at the age of 42 after the assassination of William McKinley.

The proximity of T.R.’s birthday to Halloween always makes me think of Arsenic and Old Lace, the Frank Capra-directed dark comedy set one Halloween in Brooklyn involving Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), his two dangerous but darling elderly aunts, and – like all of the best movies of the 1940s – Peter Lorre being Peter Lorre.

Originally a play (and doubtlessly one that your high school has performed), actor John Alexander reprised his role from the stage as “Teddy” Brewster, Mortimer’s delusional but harmless brother who believes that he is Teddy Roosevelt.

“So what?” says a friendly local cop who visits the Brewsters on his beat. “There’s a lot worse guys he could think he was.”

What’d He Wear?

Teddy: I’ll have to put on my signing clothes.
Mortimer: Oh, but you already have them on, Mister President.
Teddy: (looks at his suit) So I have. Wait here.

The Frock Suit

Teddy’s “signing clothes” are also his everyday attire, clearly based on clothing worn by the real Theodore Roosevelt when he sat for a famous portrait taken by the Pach brothers, circa 1904.

If not exact, the Brewster representation is at least reflective of the spirit of T.R.’s garb.

Teddy (Brewster, that is) wears a black wool frock coat with low peak lapels that are half-faced in black satin or grosgrain silk. All of the coat’s buttons are covered in the same black silk, including the six buttons on the double-breasted-style front, the two ceremonial back buttons, and the two small non-functioning buttons on each cuff.

USS Oregon in hand, Teddy bids adieu to his uniformed guests.

Most of Teddy’s shirt is covered by his frock coat and waistcoat, but it appears to be pale-colored (cream if not pure white) with a soft turndown point collar that appears to be attached unlike the more common detachable collars of the real T.R.’s day.

Teddy wears a striped cravat of dark and light stripes crossing diagonally left-down-to-right on a mid-colored ground, mostly concealed by the high-fastening waistcoat.

The waistcoat itself appears to be pure white with wide peak lapels sweeping across the double-breasted front. The eight buttons form a “keystone” shape as the four rows of two buttons each taper down toward the bottom, which comes to a slight point in the center.

“Bully!”

Teddy wears dark striped trousers in the tradition of classic morning dress, though the stripe pattern appears to be more like a white rope-stripe on charcoal rather than the traditional “cashmere stripe” found on most morning dress “sponge-bags”. His shoes are black leather cap-toe oxfords.

The dissolution of the Great White Fleet.

Teddy Brewster sports one of T.R.’s most notable accessories, a pair of small metal round-framed pince-nez spectacles connected to his clothing via a thin cord on the right side.

Off to Panama

When Teddy is called upon by his dear aunts to dig locks for the Panama Canal (and you know what I mean if you’ve seen the film or play), he dons a tan gabardine safari-inspired suit with breeches tucked into tall leather riding boots. The outfit is likely inspired by the real Theodore Roosevelt’s Brooks Brothers-made uniform when he led the Rough Riders, although T.R.’s uniform jacket was the more traditional military tunic with a standing Mandarin collar.

The single-breasted sack jacket takes its style cues from warm-weather military wear with its crested shank buttons and patch pockets. The short notch lapels end high on Teddy’s chest, and he wears all four buttons fastened down the front. The patch pockets on the chest have inverted box pleats, and the hip pockets are bellows pockets; all four close with a small button through a gently pointed flap.

Teddy wears a dark brown leather belt worn over the outside of his jacket between the lowest two buttons with an ornately eagle-engraved rectangular gold buckle in the spirit of the real Roosevelt’s uniform belt from his military service. He also wears a white point-collar shirt, plain black cotton necktie, and light goatskin work gloves.

Decked out in his “colonial costume” (as the script refers to it), Teddy checks in with “General Goethals”, aka Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre).

Teddy wears an “anachronistic” American fiber helmet (or “safari helmet”), a sun helmet modeled after the traditional pith helmet. Designed by former college football coach Jesse Hawley, this khaki fiber helmet was introduced into U.S. military service in 1934 and – as of 2017 – remains the longest used helmet in American military history, most associated with U.S. Marine Corps marksmen. The puggaree on Teddy’s hat has five folds, indicating that it was likely produced by the International Hat Company of St. Louis; Hawley Products Company sun helmets only have four folds in their faux puggarees.

John Alexander as “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1941). Peep Cary Grant over his shoulder as a manic Mortimer Brewster.

How to Get the Look

Teddy Brewster’s delusional disorder causes him to think he’s Teddy Roosevelt, but luckily he is given a few shortcuts for dressing the part to avoid the extra complications of turn-of-the-century dressing… particularly advantageous when Teddy’s day consists of several costume changes depending on the whims of his murderous aunts.

• Black wool frock coat with half-faced peak lapels, natural shoulders, 6×3-button double-breasted front, non-functioning 2-button cuffs, two back buttons, and long single vent
• White cotton shirt with point collar
• Striped cravat
• White double-breasted waistcoat with peak lapels and 8×4-button “keystone” formation
• Charcoal rope-striped flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Pince-nez spectacles

If considering T.R. for your Halloween costume this season, don’t forget the bristly mustache that would make Ron Swanson proud!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote