BAMF Style

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson with his white DeSoto 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

Let’s kick off the winter edition of BAMF Style’s semi-annual (or is that bi-annual) Car Week where I take an additional look at what these well-dressed characters are driving.

Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s noir-esque 1958 thriller and the last of his four collaborations with James Stewart, finds the actor behind the wheel of a white DeSoto coupe as he follows Kim Novak’s character around San Francisco from her Nob Hill apartment and the Podesta Baldocchi flower shop to Mission Dolores and their fateful meeting at Fort Point on the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

What’d He Wear?

Like Hitch and Jimmy’s earlier collaboration Rear Window (1954), we meet Stewart’s character as he’s recuperating from an on-the-job leg injury. However, unlike L.B. Jeffries, former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson isn’t bound to a wheelchair and proudly shows off his abilities with his cane to his friend Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), with whom he discusses many of the world’s most essential innovations…

Scottie: What’s this doohickey?
Midge: It’s a brassiere! You know about those things, you’re a big boy now.
Scottie: I’ve never run across one like that.
Midge: It’s brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: no shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do… works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it. He worked it out in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby… a do-it-yourself kind of thing!

Like many men in mid-century America, Scottie’s wardrobe consists of a limited but versatile selection of business suits in varying shades of blue, gray, and brown. The suits are all generally cut the same – single-breasted, three-button jackets with notch lapels and pleated trousers with turn-ups – with variations in the suiting and style: three are flannel while two are serge, three have ventless jackets while the other two have short vents, and two of the suits have sporty patch pocket jackets as well.

The suit that Scottie wears for his introductory scene with Midge, and much of his subsequent investigation following Madeleine around town, is a brown serge that closely matches his hat.

Scottie’s tie bar gleams in the San Francisco sun.

With his tall, lean frame, James Stewart benefits from the visual balance of a three-button tailored jacket as opposed to a two-button jacket. This brown serge suit jacket is no exception. The ventless jacket also has a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and three-button cuffs.

Scottie shows off his abilities with – and without – his cane.

Scottie’s suit has matching trousers with a proportionally long rise that harmonizes with the suit jacket and Stewart’s 6’2″ height. The single reverse-pleated trousers have side pockets, a back pocket on the left side for Scottie’s wallet, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

He wears a dark brown leather belt that coordinates with his cordovan leather footwear and fastens through a small, squared gold single-prong buckle.

While Scottie creatively rotates his suits, ties, belts, and accessories, one part of his wardrobe that never deviates are his clean white cotton poplin shirts with James Stewart’s signature two-button barrel cuff that visually balance the actor’s long arms.

Note the cuff button close to the edge of Stewart’s sleeve. There is a second button further up his arm, concealed by the suit jacket sleeve.

Other than a brief sequence when he pays less attention to his wardrobe, Scottie always augments his shirts and ties with a collar pin and a tie bar. The safety pin-style collar bar pins both of his collar leaves under the tie knot for a tidy look, while he wears the tie clip just above the buttoning point of his jacket, shining through even with the jacket fastened. Both the collar bar and his tie clip are gold when he wears this brown serge suit.

It’s interesting to consider Scottie’s practice of wearing both a collar and tie bar when taking a closer look at his actual neckwear. While most of his ties are patterned or striped in multiple colors, the patterns themselves are always orderly and never abstract; the stripes follow a certain repeating sequence and the grid-like patterns of his other ties could doubly serve as an early map of Philadelphia. This is clearly a man who is interested in dressing well but hesitates risking something looking out of order.

Scottie’s first tie is striped in multiple shades of blue, including a periwinkle, royal blue, and dark navy, all split with hairline stripes and following the “uphill” direction of British regimental ties. Interestingly, this is the same tie he wears with his brown birdseye tweed sport jacket when he and Madeleine share a fateful day at Mission San Juan Batista.

The many moods of Scottie Ferguson, part 1: delighted.

A few scenes later, Scottie is wearing the same tie as he follows Madeleine around the city. He wears a silk tie “downhill”-striped in red and gray, though the gray alternates between thick sets of duo-toned stripes and a single mid-gray stripe. He later wears this same tie with his royal blue serge suit.

Part 2: mystified.

For a day that finds Scottie finally face-to-face and interacting with Madeleine, he wears this suit and a bright red foulard tie patterned in a crimson geometric grid with a yellow dot at the center of each grid cell.

Part 3: unflappable.

Scottie takes a break from bothering with collar pins or tie bars after the incident at Mission San Juan Batista, still wearing ties with his suits but sometimes not even buttoning the top button. This sequence of Vertigo also features the simplest tie that Scottie wears with his brown suit, “uphill”-striped in two shades of brown. Each stripe is the same narrow width.

Part 4: firm.

Scottie’s fifth and final tie with this outfit is a mini-plaid pattern with white and red stripes cross-checked on a navy ground. With this tie, he is back to wearing his standard collar pins and tie bars.

Part 5: imploring.

Never one to be caught outside without his hat, Scottie wears a chocolate brown felt fedora with a wide brown grosgrain band and a 2.25″-wide self-bound brim reminiscent of “the Cavanagh edge” used by some of the best hatmakers after Cavanagh’s first patent expired in 1931.

It appears to be the same hat worn by Stewart in many of his films across the 1950s, including The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Bell, Book, and Candle (1958), and even possibly Harvey (1950). Stewart granted an interview to The Arizona Republic in 1972 that mentions he was still wearing the same hat decades later, albeit with some TLC to keep it together.

Discussion at the online forum The Fedora Lounge has suggested that Churchill Ltd. made Jimmy Stewart’s Vertigo hat and thus was the maker of his tried-and-true brown fedora throughout his 1950s career, though the forum also suggests Borsalino, Cavanagh, Dobbs Fifth Avenue, and Stetson among the possible brands that the actor preferred.

Jimmy Stewart’s well-traveled Churchill hat appears throughout Vertigo.

Scottie wears his cordovan wingtip oxford brogues with their five-eyelet closed lacing. The shoes are just a shade warmer than his brown suit.

Scottie’s suit trousers have a full break that covers much of his shoes.

Scottie ignores the common menswear practice of matching one’s hosiery to his trousers – or at least his shoes – and wears a pair of dark navy ribbed socks.

Taking it easy on Midge’s mid-century couch.

Despite the many devices keeping his tie straight and in place, Scottie is no-frills about jewelry or accessories, wearing only a plain gold dress watch on a black leather strap.

The Car

Scottie Ferguson may be a more old-fashioned type of detective, but his set of wheels are nothing short of the latest in fifties automotive fashion, driving around the city in a 1956 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman two-door hardtop coupe in plain white, through the paint takes an icy blue cast under the vivid California sky.

Scottie Ferguson pulls up in his white DeSoto.

It’s de-lovely, it’s dynamic, it’s DeSoto…

DeSoto heralded its new 1955 lineup by co-opting Cole Porter’s lyrics, with the composer’s permission, of course. As the race for American automotive supremacy continued through the decade, the new DeSoto models were unveiled with a redesign consistent with Chrysler designer Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look” for the fifties. The redesign – as well as the introduction of a four-door hardtop in ’56 – proved fortuitous for the marque, which saw increased sales through the middle of the 1950s.

The Firedome had previously been introduced as DeSoto’s premium line, but the Firedome name was rebranded as the entry level for the 1955 model year, taking a back seat to the new Fireflite and Adventurer models, the latter of which was essentially a beefed-up Fireflite Sportsman that topped the offerings at a factory price of $3,678. The three-speed column-mounted manual transmission was offered as standard equipment on the Firedome, though more models were actually produced with the $189 addition of Chrysler’s two-speed Powerflite automatic transmission with its “typewriter key” push-buttons on the dashboard. (Read more about the 1956 DeSoto here.)

Unlike the more exclusive Fireflite and the high-performance Adventurer, the base model Firedome was applied to a wide range of DeSoto body styles from four-door sedans and station wagons to two-door convertibles and coupes. The “Sportsman” trim was available for the four-door sedan and two-door hardtop coupe, the latter of which carried a $2,783 factory price and was driven by Jimmy Stewart through the hilly streets of San Francisco in Vertigo.

1956 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman 2-Door Coupe

Body Style: 2-door hardtop coupe

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 330.4 cid (5.4 L) Chrysler DeSoto Firedome V8 330 Hemi with Carter 2-barrel carburetor

Power: 230 hp (171.5 kW; 233 PS) @ 4400 rpm

Torque: 305 lb·ft (414 N·m) @ 2800 rpm

Transmission: 2-speed Powerflite automatic

Wheelbase: 126 inches (3200 mm)

Length: 220.9 inches (5611 mm)

Width: 78.3 inches (1989 mm)

Height: 60.3 inches (1532 mm)

After DeSoto’s rapid rebranding from top-of-the-line to least expensive, the Firedome found a happy medium as a mid-range offering for its final years of production before it was discontinued for the 1960 model year. DeSoto itself wouldn’t last much longer, barely surviving into the sixties as sales rapidly decreased.

Chrysler officially dropped the DeSoto division from its lineup on November 30, 1960, delivering it to the same ignominious fate as once venerated marques as Nash, Packard, and Studebaker that were unable to survive the fierce competition and economic downturn faced by car manufacturers during the “fabulous fifties”.

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

How to Get the Look

James Stewart brought much of his own simple but stylish aesthetic to his roles, including the character of John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo with his earthy, conservative suits and timeless hats.

Brown serge tailored suit:
- Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, back left pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
White poplin dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 2-button rounded cuffs
- Gold safety pin-style collar bar
Blue and/or red patterned tie
- Gold tie bar
Slim cordovan leather belt with small gold single-prong buckle
Cordovan leather 5-eyelet wingtip oxford brogues
Dark navy socks
Brown felt fedora with brown grosgrain band and 2.25″-wide brim with self-bound “Cavanagh edge”
Gold wristwatch with round case, black-ringed white dial, and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo with a 1963 Rolls-Royce in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)

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Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo, Italian writer

Milan, Italy, October 1963

Film: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Italian title: Ieri, oggi, domani)
Release Date: December 19, 1963
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Costume Designer: Piero Tosi

Background

Car Week continues with a focus on a classic Italian comedy released 55 years ago this month.

After four movies together in the 1950s, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren reteamed in 1963 for Vittorio De Sica’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – released in Italy as Ieri, oggi, domani – a stylish anthology about life and love. The film is split into three segments that each star Loren and Mastroianni as a different couple.

The second segment, “Anna”, is the shortest of the three and stars Loren as an industrialist’s glamorous wife – dressed to the nines in Christian Dior – as she is forced to choose between her husband’s Rolls-Royce and her unassuming lover Renzo (Mastroianni).

The film was scored by composer Armando Trovajoli, who makes a brief appearance as the driver of a red Ferrari who stops to help Anna and Renzo by the side of the road.

In his plaid sport jacket, Giorgio Ferrario (Armando Trovajoli) looks like he could be just as willing to sell Anna a car as much as he’s willing to give her a ride in his own. His sense of style adds a new level that clearly interrupts the dynamic of sophisticated Anna and the subdued Renzo.

Trovajoli composed three tracks for this sequence with the jazzy “Descansado” providing a bossa nova background for much of Anna and Renzo’s romantic and scenic drive through the Lombardy countryside.

Released in the United States in March 1964, the movie received Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards while Mastroianni took home a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow also has the somewhat less significant distinction of being the last movie that I watched on FilmStruck before the streaming service ended its operations at the end of last month.

What’d He Wear?

Renzo is the most traditionally dressed of Marcello Mastroianni’s three characters in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, bridging the gap between the working-class Carmine in his untucked henleys and polo shirts and ratty striped trousers, and the opulent bon vivant Augusto Rusconi with his bespoke summer suit, blazer, and boldly banded hat.

Renzo makes his first appearance in “Anna” when he emerges from his car – a Fiat 600, of course – and walks up to the passenger side of her Rolls. He is draped in a fawn-toned glen plaid wool raglan coat, a practical and understatedly stylish for a drive with his lover on a late October afternoon in Milan.

Renzo and Anna.

Renzo’s coat collar has a buttonhole through each leaf. The coat has five buttons from the neck down to below the waist, with an additional button under the right collar leaf. Each of the five buttons down the right side of the front is sewn adjacent to a buttonhole that corresponds to a button on the inside of the coat’s tan wool lining.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on set in Milan. Note the buttons down the inside of the lining on the left side… and the outside buttons sewn next to additional buttonholes on right side.

“The idea grew out of a makeshift coat which Lord Raglan made for himself while commanding the troops in the Crimea. To keep himself warm he cut a hole in the blanket and put his head through it,” explains the venerable Hardy Amies in his ABCs of Men’s Fashion, published in 1964 shortly after Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was released. “Raglan now has come to mean the one-piece shoulder and sleeve that sprang from this piece of inventiveness, rather than a coat as such, although in a coat the Raglan shoulder by its nature carries with it a loose, wide, easy-fitting, and therefore an informal coat.”

Renzo’s coat has raglan sleeves that end with a short, single-button half-tab on each cuff.

Compared to the materialistic Anna in her Christian Dior ensemble of mink coat and jet black dress, Renzo comes across as earthy, grounded, and genuine in his simple but well-cut brown tweed suit, a warm and practical choice for the fall afternoon.

Renzo is on the fence – or guardrail, in this case – when it comes to Anna.

The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front. Renzo initially wears the welted breast pocket unadorned, though he stuffs in the used white handkerchief after fussing with the crashed car. The jacket also has straight jetted hip pockets, a ventless back, and three-button cuffs that appear to be functioning “surgeon’s cuffs”, though – unlike his more rakish character in “Mara” – Marcello wears them fastened.

Their assignation interrupted, Renzo and Anna get back into the car.

Renzo’s matching suit trousers have single pleats in the outward-facing or “reverse” style often associated with Italian tailoring. Worn beltless, they have straight pockets along the side seams and jetted back pockets. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) with a full break.

After incurring Anna’s wrath for almost smothering a fire with her mink coat, Renzo offers up his own suit jacket and shows off his pleated trousers in the process.

Renzo’s white cotton shirt is subtly patterned with a gray mini-grid check.

Note the details of Renzo’s glen plaid coat, mini-checked white shirt, and brown tweed trousers. Note also Anna’s roving hand, which considerably shortens the life of her dear Rolls-Royce.

The shirt is detailed with a point collar and single-button cuffs with a steep cutaway curve. Renzo wears a solid black woven silk tie, echoing the simple yet elegant aesthetic of his iconic suits in La Dolce Vita (1960) three years earlier.

Exhausted from attempted car repairs and failed relationship repairs, Renzo sits by the side of the road with his shirt and tie loosened at the neck.

Renzo wears black calf cap-toe derby shoes with V-shaped lacing that tapers inward. His dark socks appear to be brown, possibly a thin silk.

Renzo’s limited automotive repair knowledge doesn’t do the Rolls – or his budding relationship with Anna – much good.

Though he would be a Rolex wearer later in life, Mastroianni’s watch in the “Anna” sequence of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is too briefly glimpsed for a definitive ID on the maker. It has a gold case that emerges from his shirt cuff at times, flashing a round white dial and a dark leather strap.

In good times… and in bad.

The Car

“I don’t know these cars. My limit is a Fiat 600,” Renzo sheepishly admits as Anna forces him to take the wheel of her husband’s gray 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III convertible. Anna doesn’t seem to listen or care, at least until she blames the inevitable accident on the fact that she “was a fool to let a Fiat 600 driver take the wheel!”

Poor Renzo is forced to put his suit jacket into service to hope to salvage Anna’s wrecked Rolls.

By the early 1960s, the Rolls-Royce had enjoyed six decades of an association with opulent elegance and innovative production – interrupted only by World War II – that led to stars like John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra acquiring them as status symbols. Anna’s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III is the ultimate status symbol in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Rolls-Royce began production of the first generation Silver Cloud in April 1955, a time that the marque was beginning to equip all of its cars with automatic rather than manual transmissions as standard equipment. More than 2,200 cars had been produced by 1959, when the Silver Cloud II was introduced with a V8 engine that was arguably more powerful but far less smooth than the previous iteration’s straight-six cylinder engine.

The Silver Cloud III made its world debut in October 1962, and production soon began on a run of 2,044 cars that would be introduced for the 1963 model year. In addition to slight cosmetic changes from the previous model, the V8 engine was also increased with 2-inch carburetors, an increased compression ratio of 9:1, and a nitrate-hardened crankshaft to accommodate the increased in power, which Rolls-Royce left characteristically undisclosed but has been estimated at around 200 horsepower. You can read more about Silver Cloud III performance and specs here.

Hyde Park bespoke coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward, formed by Rolls-Royce Limited in 1961 after the merger of H.J. Mulliner & Co. and Park Ward, continued to style coaches with the Silver Cloud III, and the Drop Head Coupe featured in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is of a Mulliner Park Ward design.

1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III

Body Style: 2-door convertible

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 380 cid (6.2 L) Rolls-Royce 90-degree V8

Power: 200 bhp (147 kW; 203 PS) @ unknown RPM

Torque: unknown

Transmission: 4-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 127 inches (3226 mm)

Length: 211.8 inches (5378 mm)

Width: 74 inches (1880 mm)

Height: 64 inches (1626 mm)

A total of 7,372 Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds would be produced across all three series of the car’s production from 1955 to 1966, when it was replaced by the Silver Shadow, Rolls-Royce’s first car to use unitary body and chassis production.

After Renzo “mishandles” Anna’s Rolls-Royce, she fetches a ride from the plaid-jacketed Giorgio Ferrario, who is speeding though the countryside in a red 1960 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, a rare sports car with less than 60 examples made, including ones owned by actors James Coburn and Alain Delon. It was a fiberglass replica of a ’61 California Spyder SWB that was famously featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Cameron’s dad had a right to be upset, as auctioned cars have picked up more than $10 million at auctions over the last few years.

How to Get the Look

Marcello Mastroianni with Sophia Loren and a 1963 Rolls-Royce in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)

With his Ivy-inspired plaid raglan coat and tweed suit, Marcello Mastroianni’s simple and timeless outfit as Renzo would look just as appropriate in Massachusetts or Merseyside as it does in Milan.

Brown tweed suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Single reverse-pleated trousers with fitted waistband, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White gray mini-grid checked cotton shirt with point collar and single-button cuffs
Black tie
Black calf leather derby shoes
Dark brown dress socks
Fawn glen plaid wool five-button raglan coat with side pockets and half-tab single-button cuffs
Gold wristwatch with white square dial on dark brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Versions of varying quality have been released for home video and streaming since the film fell into public domain, but consensus among reviewers seems to agree that the best version has been released by Kino Lorber Films, both on its own as well as in the Sophia Loren “Award Collection” box set that also includes Marriage Italian Style and Sunflower, two more of her 13 collaborations with co-star Marcello Mastroianni.

Daniel Craig as James Bond, exiting an Aston Martin DB10 prototype in Spectre (2015)

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Daniel Craig as James Bond, British government agent

Rome, November 2015

Film: Spectre
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Spectre, Daniel Craig’s latest outing as James Bond, featured the globe-trotting agent once again battling the international terrorist organization SPECTRE and confronting the evil megalomaniac at its head, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).

One of the most requested outfits from BAMF Style readers is the black three-piece Tom Ford suit that 007 wears when he arrives in style to a gangster’s funeral in Rome with his prototype Aston Martin. The tactiturn agent – once again gone rogue – swiftly seduces the gangster’s widow, the ravishing Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), before using her deceased husband’s ring to trick his way into a SPECTRE meeting. Bond finds himself face-to-face with Blofeld… and is surprised to recognize him as his half-brother of sorts, Franz Oberhauser. His cover blown, Bond is chased out of the meeting and back behind the wheel of his DB10 as he escapes the “Palazzo Cardenza” and Blofeld’s angry henchmen.

The Craig era has increasingly focused on retro elements of the 007 series, and it’s rarely been executed better than this entire Rome sequence that blends sophisticated luxury, stylish tailoring, seductive romance, larger-than-life action, and comic relief.

Many aspects of this outfit have been ably covered by experts, from The Suits of James Bond’s treatment of the tailoring to James Bond Lifestyle‘s rundown of the specific clothes and accessories featured in the scene, but I’d like to address the requests I’ve gotten from readers Adam, Birdman, Nico, Spencer, and many others by offering my own unique approach – and admiration – during Car Week on the 00-7th of December.

What’d He Wear?

Daniel Craig as James Bond on the set of Spectre (2015)

Aside from his iconic dinner suits, which are entirely different, black suits are decidedly not a staple of James Bond’s wardrobe. In fact, the only other time 007 wore a solid black suit on screen was for a gangland funeral in Diamonds are Forever (1971) when Sean Connery wore a heavy black three-piece suit to bid farewell to a deceased diamond smuggler, though his dark, heavy suiting could have hardly been a comfortable choice in the hot Mojave Desert.

James Bond’s black three-piece suit at Sciarra’s funeral is probably the best-fitting suit of Daniel Craig’s wardrobe in Spectre, with dramatic yet classic-inspired details that make it a fine choice for fitting in among flashy gangsters. Perhaps the choice to dress Craig in this suit was an intended homage to Diamonds are Forever; if so, it was a rare sartorial improvement upon an earlier example.

Craig’s suiting, identified as “black Super 110’s medium herringbone” wool by James Bond Lifestyle, is both more interesting and more versatile than the flat black of Connery’s suit. The suit was developed from the Tom Ford “Windsor” model, which also makes an appearance as the model of Bond’s ivory dinner jacket on the train through Morocco, though all of his other suits in Spectre are the Tom Ford “O”Connor” model.

What to Imbibe

Lucia: If you don’t leave now, we’ll die together.
Bond: I can think of worse ways to go.
Lucia: Then you’re obviously crazy, Mister-
Bond: Bond. James Bond.

Spectre promised a return to the old-fashioned elegance associated with early Bond films, thus calling for an obligatory scene of a sharply suited 007 enjoying champagne with a beautiful woman. In this case, the woman is Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the glamorous widow of the gangster that Bond killed in Mexico City. The champagne is Bollinger R.D. 2002.

Bond’s unorthodox seduction method in Spectre consists of breaking into a woman’s home, murdering two assassins, and helping himself to her champagne.

Bollinger’s association with the James Bond film franchise dates back to 1973 when Roger Moore ordered a bottle (“slightly chilled”) to his hotel room in San Monique. Readers of the novels, however, may recall that the brand shows up as early as Diamonds are Forever, Ian Fleming’s fourth novel of the series, published in March 1956.

R.D. stands for récemment dégorgé, or “recently disgorged”, and this particular type of Bollinger was exclaimed to be “the best” by Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) in The Living Daylights (1987).

The Car

Bond: If you’ve come for the car, I parked it at the bottom of the Tiber.
Q: Well, not to worry, 007. It was only a £3,000,000 prototype.

The sleek silver 2015 Aston Martin DB10 that 007 speeds through the streets of Rome was designed specifically for Daniel Craig’s James Bond to drive in Spectre.

Bond’s bespoke DB10 glides through the streets of Rome en route Sciarra’s funeral.

Aston Martin’s design team led by chief creative officer Marek Reichman worked closely with director Sam Mendes, who unveiled the DB10 as “the first cast member” at the film’s official press launch in December 2014. Only ten actual DB10 cars were eventually produced, all hand-built at the company’s state-of-the-art headquarters in Gaydon, England.

The DB10 design took many aesthetic and operational cues from the Reichman-designed Aston Martin V8 Vantage, borrowing the Vantage’s six-speed manual transmission and building its chassis on a modified version of the same VH Generation II platform that underpinned the last decade of Vantage models. The DB10 is powered by the same 4.7-liter V8 engine found in the V8 Vantage S, accelerating the DB10 from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds and reaching an estimated high speed of 193 mph.

2015 Aston Martin DB10

Body Style: 2-door coupe

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 4.7 L Aston Martin “AJ37” V8

Power: 430 hp (321 kW; 436 PS) @ 7300 rpm

Torque: 361 lb·ft (490 N·m) @ 5000 rpm

Transmission: 6-speed manual

Wheelbase: 106 inches (2705 mm)

Length: 174 inches (4410 mm)

Width: 87 inches (2204 mm)

Height: 49 inches (1250 mm)

Read more at Aston Martin‘s official website.

Of the ten Aston Martin DB10 models that were made, eight were used in the finished film. Two “show cars” remained, with one sold at auction in February 2016 for £2.4 million (or $3.5 million), far exceeding Christie’s expectations and making it the only DB10 ever offered for sale to the public… though one was also loaned out for Princess Eugenie of York’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October 2018.

Officially released production photo of Bond’s DB10 in Rome.

After the popularity of Spectre and Bond’s bespoke DB10, Aston Martin began incorporating design details into the latest version of the Vantage, unveiled in November 2017, though the new car is powered by a 4.0-liter Mercedes twin-turbo V8 engine paired to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, developing a whopping 503 bhp.

How to Get the Look

An enduring menswear misconception is that black suits are essential to a man’s wardrobe when, in fact, they are among the least useful suits and hardly worth the investment for a quality item.

The most appropriate time to wear a solid black suit – and the only time we see James Bond wearing one other than his dinner suits – is to a funeral. Daniel Craig’s black three-piece Tom Ford suit in Spectre has the additional distinction of a unique herringbone cloth that elevates it above the standard black suit into something that could be more practically worn for business… or for speeding through the streets of Rome in a bespoke sports car.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre (2015)

Black herringbone wool Tom Ford “Windsor” tailored suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, wide-flapped straight hip pockets with ticket pocket, functional 5-button “surgeon’s cuffs”, and long double vents
- Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with four welted pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
- Flat front trousers with extended hook-closure waistband tab, buckle-tab side adjusters, on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton poplin Tom Ford dress shirt with pinned point collar, front placket, back side darts, and 2-button turnback/”cocktail” cuffs
- Gold barbell-style collar bar
Black tonal-check woven silk Tom Ford tie
Black calf leather double monk-strap Crockett & Jones “Camberley” cap-toe ankle boots
Black socks
Dark brown oiled leather shoulder rig with RHD holster for Walther PPK
Black wool Tom Ford bridge coat with Ulster collar, 8×4-button double-breasted front, slanted side pockets, belted back, and plain cuffs
Dents black hairsheep leather three-point driving gloves
Tom Ford “Snowdon” FT0237 sunglasses in “dark Havana” (52N) tortoise frame with gray lenses
Omega Seamaster 300 SPECTRE Limited Edition (233.32.41.21.01.001) stainless steel wristwatch with black dial (and “lollipop” seconds hand) on black-and-gray striped NATO strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Tony Montana, impulsive and hotheaded cocaine dealer

Miami, Summer 1981

Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Brian de Palma’s 1983 drug epic Scarface celebrated its 35th anniversary yesterday. A remake of a 1932 gangster film that itself took inspiration from the life of Al Capone, Scarface met with negative critical reception at the time of its release though it was a box office hit and racked up Golden Globe nods for lead actors Al Pacino and Steven Bauer.

As in the 1932 version, one scene finds the rising gangster returning home to flaunt his wealth in front of his concerned mother (Míriam Colón) and his devoted sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Waiting out by the car is the gangster’s flashy young pal, who catches sight of the gangster’s younger sister and is immediately smitten.

What’d He Wear?

“You think you can come in here with your hot-shot clothes and make fun of us?” shouts Mama Montana at her son during his first visit home in five years. Tony’s white three-piece suit and black open-neck shirt for a visit to the Montana family homestead clearly recalls the iconic disco suit worn by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977).

Interestingly, Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever idolized Pacino, having a Serpico poster on his wall, quoting Dog Day Afternoon, and invoking Pacino’s name when half-dressed to shock his elderly grandmother. More than a decade later, Travolta would again co-opt a Pacino look with his cinephile character’s supposedly Serpico-influenced black leather jacket in Get Shorty (1995).

…but back to Scarface, where Pacino himself wore a white three-piece suit that was likely made for the production by Paramount tailor Tommy Velasco.

Tony and Gina share a sibling moment.

Even if the overall aesthetic was inspired by Saturday Night Fever, the details of Tony’s suit were updated for ’80s trends with the jacket’s dramatic peak lapels reduced to standard notch lapels that roll to a single-button closure. The jacket also has wide, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads, “kissing” two-button cuffs, long double vents, and straight flapped hip pockets. Tony wears a black pocket square loosely puffed in the jacket’s welted breast pocket for a gauche match with his shirt.

Tony’s swagger isn’t welcome in the family home.

The suit’s matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) has five buttons, which Tony correctly wears with just the top four fastened, and jetted lower pockets in line with the fourth button down.

Tony’s plain-fronted trousers have flared bottoms finished with turn-ups (cuffs). His belt is black with a squared gold single-prong buckle.

Production photo of Tony raising a toast with his sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and their mother (Míriam Colón).

Tony wears a soft black silk shirt with a spread collar that he wears flattened over the jacket lapels with the top half of the shirt’s buttons undone. The shirt has a plain front and button cuffs, which he rolls up when he wears the shirt on its own with a pair of cream slacks and a brown leather belt later in the film.

Production photo of Al Pacino as Tony Montana.

For the nighttime visit to his family, Tony wears black shoes, most likely his black Cuban-style boots with raised heels.

A brief vignette of Tony taking his sister Gina shopping later in the movie also appears to feature this suit, sans waistcoat. For this daytime shopping expedition, Tony wears the same tan patent leather cap-toe oxford shoes that he wears in other scenes, such as with his sky blue suit, gray silk suit, and the white tuxedo at his wedding.

Tony wears different shoes for his visit home as he does for a shopping trip with Gina.

If Mama Montana knew to be suspicious of Tony when he first arrived, her suspicions would have only been further confirmed if she caught up with him a few months later when greater success meant a plethora of gold jewelry festooning his torso, fingers, and wrists.

Tony wears two yellow gold necklaces, a larger Cuban-style chain and a slimmer rope necklace on a longer chain, that both get plenty of screen time due to his low-buttoned shirts. Tony also loads up his right hand with gold rings, wearing a diamond ring on his third finger and a ruby stone on his pinky.

Tony’s Omega La Magique yellow gold wristwatch is iconic in its own right. Less than 650 pieces were produced of the rare La Magique, which was introduced in 1981 and marketed as one of the thinnest watches in the world with its flat, 2.6mm rectangular case.

Don’t mess with Montana!

This isn’t his only white suit as he also wears a low-slung white pinstripe double-breasted suit when visiting Sosa in Bolivia and visiting Elvira poolside.

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

How to Get the Look

Despite the disco connotations of a white three-piece suit and black open-neck shirt, Tony Montana is never seen actually wearing this combination to the film’s famous Babylon Club… instead, he dons it for the more idiosyncratic occasion of a visit home to his mother and sister.

White three-piece suit, consisting of:
- Single-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and double vents
- Single-breasted 5-button vest with lower jetted pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
- Flat front medium-rise trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black silk dress shirt with point collar, plain front, and button cuffs
Black leather belt with gold single-prong buckle
Black leather shoes
Black socks
Omega La Magique wristwatch on left wrist with gold bracelet, gold rectangular case, and round black dial
Gold chain-link ID bracelet
Gold ring with diamond, worn on right ring finger
Gold ring with square ruby stone, worn on right pinky
Two yellow gold necklaces

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Your son made it, Mama. He’s a success. That’s why I didn’t come around before. I want you to see what a good boy I’ve been.

Footnote

Though Tony’s mother’s house is meant to be on the outskirts of Miami, the actual filming location for the Montana abode was 1443 W. E Street in Wilmington, a neighborhood in the harbor region of southern Los Angeles, California, adjacent to Long Beach.

Frank Sinatra trims the tree during the opening of “Happy Holidays with Bing & Frank,” the 1957 Christmas special episode of The Frank Sinatra Show.

Vitals

Frank Sinatra, multi-talented entertainer

Hollywood, December 1957

Series: The Frank Sinatra Show
Episode: “Happy Holidays with Bing & Frank” (Episode 1.10)
Air Date: December 20, 1957
Director: Frank Sinatra
Wardrobe Credit: Morris Brown
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

Happy birthday, Frank Sinatra! To celebrate the 103rd anniversary of Ol’ Blue Eyes entering the world in a Hoboken tenement, let’s look back at a time when Frankie was sittin’ on top of the world: the late 1950s.

After the low point of his life and the prospect of his career in ruins, Sinatra bounced back with an Academy Award-winning performance in From Here to Eternity (1953) and a seven-year recording contract with Capitol Records that yielded an impressive string of concept albums that remain among the best popular music ever recorded.

Sinatra was one of the biggest stars of the world in 1957 when ABC signed him to a $3 million contract for The Frank Sinatra Show, a variety and drama series for which Sinatra would have almost total artistic freedom.

As the Chairman of the Board was a lifelong Christmas fanatic, it was unquestioned that the series would feature a special holiday episode, which Sinatra himself stepped up to direct, though he knew the show would need a guest worthy of the season he loved.

“He was a guerilla, if he wanted to direct, [he would direct],” said the show’s producer William Self during a 2003 Q&A at the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) after the show was unearthed. “It was Frank’s idea to do a Christmas show with Bing. He respected Bing a great deal… they got along great, and Frank just said, ‘I’m gonna direct it,’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir!'”

A year after their success together in High Society, the 1956 musical remake of The Philadelphia Story, Bing Crosby joined Frank for the half-hour special episode. Both stars were big enough to work their own preferred way, so the musical “duets” were recorded ten hours apart to accommodate Bing’s preference for pre-recording in the morning and Frank’s preference for live recording in the evening.

Frank joins Bing for a duet of “The Christmas Song”.

“Nobody embraced Christmas as he did,” Nancy Sinatra told Variety of her father’s love for the holiday season. It was Nancy who unearthed the original 35mm film print of the holiday special while she was looking through disintegrating items in the family vault.

“I think this show exemplifies that he loved this time of year,” said Tina Sinatra, Frank’s youngest daughter, during the same MT&R Q&A, though both daughters dispute that Frank would ever live in what Tina described as a “bachelor’s lair” as Nancy pointed out that he would have hated all of the green on the set – from the mint-colored Royal typewriter to the bright green horse that would later be used on the set of The Brady Bunch.

“You see how neat Dad was with the trimming of the tree? Forget it,” Nancy explained to the audience of the 2003 Q&A, demonstrating Frank’s real-life method of haphazardly throwing tinsel on a tree.

“That was only once… it was late he got tired,” argued Tina.

“…and drunk,” added Nancy, to a knowing audience’s laughter.

“Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank” aired Friday, December 20, 1957 on ABC. The warm half-hour program includes many genuine moments, such as Sinatra accidentally dropping an ornament while trimming the tree during the opening number, “Mistletoe and Holly”. Despite producer William Self wanting to reshoot the scene, Frank merely shrugs off his clumsiness, casually bending down to pick it up before re-hanging it on the tree, adding a touch of authenticity that makes viewers feel like me may be watching the real Frank Sinatra decorating his home for the holidays… albeit while dressed impeccably in a blazer, cuff links, and silk tie in the well-lit Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood.

What’d He Wear?

Sinatra dresses sharply for an evening of holiday entertainment, though his three-button navy blazer and gray flannel trousers recalls a similar look he wore in Pal Joey (1957), released just two months earlier.

Frank kicks back between numbers in the swingin’ bachelor pad set.

Frank’s dark navy wool blazer was almost definitely tailored by Sy Devore of Beverly Hills, the go-to tailor for the Rat Pack as well as gents in their orbit including Bing, Nat King Cole, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, and John Wayne. It’s a darker shade of blue than the blazer he wore earlier that year in Pal Joey, and this particular jacket has silver crested shank buttons rather than the gold buttons on the Pal Joey blazer. Frank fastidiously wears the blazer with the top two buttons fastened, leaving the third correctly undone. There are also three smaller matching buttons on each cuff.

The ventless blazer has notch lapels, straight flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket for his neatly folded white linen pocket square.

“Me, have a date, did you think? Heavens to Betsy, no,” Frank sheepishly responds when Bing assumes that the “intimate” dinner he arranged is for a young female caller. For context, Frank and Ava Gardner had only divorced months earlier, though they’d been separated since October 1953.

“He was crazy about his ties – only silk would do, in muted patterns or dignified stripes,” writes Bill Zehme in The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’, the definitive guide to the Chairman’s sense of style. “He favored the feel and designs of Sulka, which he learned from George Raft, who wore Sulka everything. Turnbull & Asser impressed him as well.”

Nancy Sinatra apparently inherited her father’s eye for neckwear, vigorously noting during the 2003 Q&A that the restoration made his tie look grayer than the bold blue it was in real life.

“Fancy ties and grandma’s pies, and folks stealin’ a kiss or two,” croons Frank as he rubs the shiny satin of his blue cravat during “Mistletoe and Holly”. When he later repeats the verse, he actually pulls the tie out of his blazer to reveal that the right side of the bottom down to the blade is a lighter shade of blue, creating an asymmetrical “dipped” effect.

“Fancy ties”, indeed.

When not wearing a tuxedo for the evening, Frank seemed to prefer keeping his evening ensembles as close to black tie with dark (but never brown) suits and sport jackets worn over plain white shirts. His white cotton shirt in the Christmas special has a large point collar with a shapely, semi-spherical curve over the tie space. Behind-the-scenes shots illustrate that the shirt buttons up a plain front and has a monogram on the left breast.

Naturally, the shirt also has double (French) cuffs for Frank’s required cuff links. “Cuff links were, of course, required always,” writes Zehme, who recalls family anecdotes about the Chairman’s two drawers for cuff links alone. “He got them everywhere, but especially loved to buy them from a Florida hustler named Swifty Morgan.”

The flat gold square links that Sinatra wears on his cuffs for this special Christmas episode are consistent with the elegant minimalism of the rest of his outfit. Whether or not they were purchased from the questionable Mr. Morgan is lost to history.

♪ Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town ♪

While Frank Sinatra paid attention to how he dressed, he was hardly a flashy dresser. In fact, the most affected piece of his wardrobe in this particular episode was his subtly monogrammed belt buckle, a silver pinhead-textured box-style buckle with “FS” embossed in the upper left and lower right corners, respectively.

Bing and Frank behind the scenes of “Happy Holidays with Bing & Frank”, late 1957.

Navy blazers and khaki slacks have become something of an easy go-to ensemble for gents looking for a shortcut to dressing well. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that combination, I prefer the more classic balance of dark gray wool trousers with a navy blazer. Frank sports a pair of dark gray flannel trousers that, combined with the double reverse pleats and the fashionably full fit of the late ’50s, look voluminous on the slim singer’s frame. They have side pockets and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

“There was no excuse for brown shoes past sundown, ever,” writes Zehme. “To emphasize his convictions, [Sinatra] was not above inserting lit firecrackers into the brown shoes of any comrade.” Keeping this in mind, it’s no surprise that Frank wears a pair of black calf cap-toe oxfords and black socks with his ensemble.

While his guest had the presence of mind to wear black shoes for his appearance on the show, one wonders how Frank must have seethed at Bing’s decision to appear on his evening-set Christmas special wearing a brown suit.

Frank wasn’t as much of a jewelry enthusiast as his fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr., but he would occasionally wear a ring on his right pinkie, whether it was the signet ring with his family crest or one of the matching diamond rings he had made for him and Dean Martin. The ring worn in this special appears to be a different one altogether with a large black surface.

Well, Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our Christmas show for Bulova – the gift of a lifetime – and Chesterfield – my cigarette.

The Frank Sinatra Show was proudly sponsored by Bulova and Chesterfield and, though Ol’ Blue Eyes was almost definitely reading from cue cards for the above opening to the episode, he was certainly a confirmed Chesterfield smoker during this era before he switched to Camels for his Reprise years and beyond.

Could his watch possibly be a Bulova then? The show certainly makes a case for it as the first part of Frank’s clothing we see is his gold wristwatch, strategically positioned with the round silver dial gleaming from the inside of Frank’s wrist as he trims his tree.

♪ Oh by gosh, by golly… it’s time for shameless product placement ♪

Founded in New York City by Bohemian immigrant Joseph Bulova in 1875, Bulova has been a steady presence in the American watchmaking scene for nearly 150 years, breaking ground not only for its technical innovations but also its marketing savvy. Bulova produced the first-ever advertisement broadcast on radio (1926), followed by the first-ever TV advertisement fifteen years later (1941).

Now owned by the Japanese conglomerate Citizen Watch Co., Bulova continues to make men’s watches that pay homage to its mid-century reputation, particularly the Classic Collection. If you’re looking for the simple elegance of Frank’s gold case, silver dial, and dark leather strap, check out the Aerojet (also on Amazon) or the Surveyor, both available for under $250.

A brief “fantasy” sequence finds the two crooners joining the carolers for a brief – and unquestioned – transportation back to Merry Olde Victorian England, where they merely supplant their 1957 outfits with ulsters, scarves, and felt toppers to fit in with the Ralph Brewster Singers.

Bing and Frank step back into history.

Frank may have been known for the way he wore – and cocked – his hats, and you have to admit that he brings more swagger to a felt top hat than one might expect.

What to Imbibe

Frank: Bingo, can I offer you a little toddy?
Bing: Ah, a little toddy for the body might just take the chill off. What are you featuring here tonight, Frank?

Frank pours “a little jazz” for himself and Bing as they launch into a fun “Jingle Bells” duet, though it isn’t until the song is over that we hear Frank explain “what’s going on in the tub here.”

Our host is quick to clarify that the “tub” full of apples that Bing refers to is actually “an old English wassail bowl,” and that the two are thus imbibing in wassail. Frank claims the recipe is hundreds of years old (he’s not wrong) before bemusing about the “wonderful time in merry old England,” which of course inspires our crooning heroes to saunter outside and join a group of Victorian-era carolers.

Frank makes Bing sing for his booze.

Wassail? What’s that?

In short, it’s a hot, mulled cider punch that originated in England during the Middle Ages as part of a yuletide ritual for luck in the coming year’s harvest. The ritual itself is known as “wassailing”, which was typically observed on Twelfth Night (January 5 of 6). The traditional Christmas carol “Here We Come A-wassailing” (Americanized to “Here We Come A-caroling”) celebrates this practice and the spirit of generosity as the rich would offer up the contents of their wassail bowl to carolers that arrived at their door with cheerful songs promising good fortune.

The earliest known wassail was actually a drink called “lambswool” that consisted of warmed mead with roasted crab apples dropped in and bursting. By the 1600s, the drink evolved to a mulled cider spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and sugar, and topped with slices of toast for sopping. Modern recipes have extra spirits – often with a base of wine, brandy, or sherry – and are topped with apples and oranges, perhaps in tribute to the original crab apples of the lambswool recipe.

According to “We Two Kings”, the tenth season holiday-themed episode of Frasier, the bowl itself is integral to the definition of its contents.

Martin: Why don’t you just use the punch bowl?
Frasier: Because then it wouldn’t be wassail, it would be punch.

Fed up with his pretentious son, Martin consults the dictionary for a clearer definition of wassail and learns that it is merely defined there as “a Christmas punch.”

The Music

Our old friend, Mr. Bing Crosby, will be our guest, and the accent is on music, both traditional and modern… and here’s one of the newer songs…

Frank doesn’t mince words when beginning his holiday show. After the first sentence mentioning his sponsors, he spends the next sentence introducing his guest, the show’s focus, and the first song, “Mistletoe and Holly,” for which he shares a writing co-credit.

Bing himself shows up after the song, joining Frank in a short a capella round of “Happy Holiday,” an Irving Berlin tune that Bing himself had introduced in the 1942 film Holiday Inn:

Bing: Say, that must be your key.
Frank: This is my ballpark!

The good Mr. Crosby comes bearing gifts, including his own recent Christmas album, A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World. In turn, Frank hands him “a jolly group of Christmas songs… by me.”

While Bing had recorded plenty of holiday-themed albums by the time of the special, A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra was Frank’s second holiday record but his first full-length holiday album as his 1948 album, Christmas Songs by Sinatra, had been originally released by Columbia as a 78 rpm album set and a 10″ LP record.

Recorded in the decidedly non-wintry setting of Los Angeles in the early summer of 1957, A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra consists of twelve holiday tracks featuring Frank backed by an orchestra conducted by Gordon Jenkins, who also arranged the music for the album. Choral backing is provided by the Ralph Brewster Singers, who also appeared as the Victorian-era carolers in this special. The album was first released on September 21, 1957, though the CD reissue 30 years later included two bonus tracks: the 1954 single versions of “White Christmas” and “The Christmas Waltz”, the latter being one of my personal favorites.

Bing and Frank gifted their own records to the other.

The entire playlist for the “Happy Holidays with Bing & Frank” special:

“Jingle Bells” (Instrumental)
“Mistletoe and Holly” (Frank Sinatra)
“Jingle Bells” (Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby)
“Deck the Halls” (The Ralph Brewster Singers)
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (Frank, Bing, and The Ralph Brewster Singers)
“Hark the Herald Angels Sing” (Frank, Bing, and The Ralph Brewster Singers)
“O Come All Ye Faithful” (Frank, Bing, and The Ralph Brewster Singers)
“The First Noel” (The Ralph Brewster Singers)
“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” (Frank Sinatra)
“Away in a Manger” (Bing Crosby)
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” (Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby)
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Bing Crosby)
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (Frank Sinatra)
“The Christmas Song” (Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby)
“White Christmas” (Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby)

How to Get the Look

Frank Sinatra in “Happy Holidays with Bing & Frank,” the 1957 Christmas special episode of The Frank Sinatra Show.

The Chairman of the Board illustrates the classic navy blazer’s versatility for holiday get-togethers, whether you’re dressing for a party or a one-on-one musical dinner with a respected pal.

Dark navy wool single-breasted blazer with 3 silver shank buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
White cotton shirt with large point collar, plain front, breast monogram, and button cuffs
Blue satin silk tie with light blue “dipped” blade
Dark gray flannel double reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Black leather belt with textured silver monogrammed box buckle
Black calf leather derby shoes
Black socks
Bulova yellow gold wristwatch with silver dial on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the TV special. You can pick up the features-laden DVD, which restores the black-and-white original broadcast to full color, or stream the special itself on Vimeo.

You can also read more about Frank’s daughters Tina and Nancy celebrating their father’s legacy and love of the holidays in this article written by Chris Willman last December for Variety.

James Stewart as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Vitals

James Stewart as George Bailey, newlywed banker

Bedford Falls, NY, fall 1932 through spring 1934

Film: It’s a Wonderful Life
Release Date: December 20, 1946
Director: Frank Capra
Costume Designer: Edward Stevenson

Background

Although the film takes place over the course of one man’s whole life, It’s a Wonderful Life has earned a comfortable home among nostalgic holiday cinema. The man in question, George Bailey (James Stewart), spends a depressing Christmas Eve questioning his existence… prompting a visit from his guardian angel to remind him of the titular wonderful life that he has led.

We follow George through a Capra-esque montage of childhood and Charleston-dancing up through his courtship and eventual marriage to Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), which happens to coincide on a catastrophic day during the Great Depression that finds the bank in George’s small-town selling out to the avaricious Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore). Rather than letting the entire town fall into Potter’s hands, George and Mary invest their entire honeymoon savings into keeping the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan afloat and ensuring the livelihood of his lendees, neighbors, and town acquaintances.

Mr. Potter: I may lose a fortune, but I’m willing to guarantee your people, too. Just tell them to bring their shares over here and I will pay 50 cents on the dollar.
George: Aw, you never miss a trick, do you, Potter? Well, you’re going to miss this one!

A few years later, we see the positive effects of George’s community leadership as he and Mary are able to welcome a working-class family into their new home in Bailey Park, a housing development financed by George’s building and loan that allows the people of Bedford Falls to own their own homes rather than renting from Potter.

Ruthless businessman that he is, Potter recognizes the business opportunity in bringing George onto his team… especially as the flivver-driving George’s cynicism continues to grow.

Potter: George, I am an old man and most people hate me. But I don’t like them either, so that makes it all even. You know just as well as I do that I run practically everything in this town but the Bailey Building and Loan. You know, also, that for a number of years I’ve been trying to get control of it. Or kill it. But I haven’t been able to do it. You have been stopping me. In fact, you have beaten me, George, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. Now take during the Depression, for instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Building and Loan, I saved all the rest.
George: Yes, well, most people say you stole all the rest.

Potter offers George a job… with a nearly 800% salary increase. George is flabbergasted and, like most anyone being offered a 800% salary increase, extends his hand… until Potter’s job offer becomes yet another offer for George to keep his morality intact as he tosses away his celebratory stogie and read Potter the riot act:

You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

What’d He Wear?

A common practice of “golden age” cinema was for actors – particularly clothes horse actors like Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Cary Grant – to wear their own clothing on screen. James Stewart was no exception, often wearing his own conservative, well-tailored suits and trusty hats in multiple movies.

Almost every scene of George Bailey’s adult life features him wearing a tweed suit, a nontraditional choice for business executives like George but certainly fitting with his humble, homespun demeanor and the small town setting. The suit that he wears when saving the Building and Loan – and then saving his own professional integrity a few years later – is almost certainly one from Stewart’s own real-life closet. In fact, Jimmy appears to be wearing the suit in a series of photographs taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt during the production of Made for Each Other in 1938, nearly a full ten years before It’s a Wonderful Life was filmed.

James Stewart in Santa Monica, 1938. Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

As much of It’s a Wonderful Life was set during the Depression, it makes sense that the unassuming Stewart would reach into his own closet for a suit of 1930s vintage rather than putting the costume department of Capra’s fledgling Liberty Films through the rigamarole of creating a suit for him. Luckily, the suit still fit the lanky actor perfectly after a six-year stretch that included an Academy Award and a courageous war career.

The suit first appears on screen after George and Mary’s wedding, approximately the fall of 1932, when they plan on embarking on their honeymoon before they make a detour at the Bailey Building and Loan and invest their personal savings into securing the futures of everyone in town. It’s a rainy day in Bedford Falls, so George is dressed in his coat and hat, colorized to be a dark olive fedora with a matching grosgrain band.

George interrupts his honeymoon to save the desperate situation at the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan.

George’s long, heavy twill overcoat is double-breasted with broad peak lapels that roll to a 6×2-button double-breasted front that fastens below Jimmy Stewart’s waist. Especially when wet, the oversized coat creates an effect of George being overwhelmed and overtaken, though he takes more ownership of the situation with each layer he pulls off.

The knee-length coat has a welted breast pocket, straight hip pockets, a long single vent, and plain, vented cuffs unadorned with buttons at the sleeve ends. It is colorized to match the aesthetic of the suit with the brown and tan twill creating an overall fawn effect.

George takes stock of the situation, still dressed in his wet overcoat.

The suit itself, worn after his wedding and again during his job “interview” with Potter a few years later, is barleycorn tweed, colorized to a cool fawn-like brown. The single-breasted jacket has wide lapels that pull apart from the collar more than the usual peak lapel, closer to the distinctive cran Necker or Parisian lapel.

Rejecting Mr. Potter’s offer.

The jacket’s wide lapels roll to the top of a two-button front, and there are three buttons on each cuff. In addition to the half-belted back, a popular element of 1930s tailoring, the ventless jacket includes sporty details like four patch pockets – two on the chest, two larger ones on the hips – all rounded on the bottoms.

After a long day at the Building & Loan, George has discarded his waistcoat.

The matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) only appears during the suit’s first appearance. It has six buttons with the lowest button located on the notched bottom, clearly not meant to be buttoned. The waistcoat has four welted pockets on the front and an adjustable strap across the lower back.

When George wears his waistcoat, he holds up his trousers with a set of suspenders (colorized to dark brown).

George’s double forward-pleated trousers have a fashionably high rise for the era. They have slightly slanted side pockets, two jetted back pockets, and are finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs).

George and Uncle Billy work together to keep their building and loan afloat on a desperate day during the Depression.

George wears a white cotton shirt when leaving his wedding. The shirt has a point collar and Jimmy Stewart’s usual two-button cuffs that balance the 6’2″ actor’s long arms. His “uphill”-striped tie is colorized to a low-contrast variance of cool blues and greens.

George realizes that there’s a new “Mrs. Bailey”.

A few years later, George is hard at work at the building and loan… loaning people money to build houses. His workday shirt is colorized to a pale blue with thin, subtle, well-spaced white stripes. The shirt has a semi-spread collar and Stewart’s usual two-button cuffs. The tie consists of an organized field of two-toned circles linked over a dark ground, all colorized to ochre tones.

Since he has discarded the waistcoat, George wears a suede-like belt to hold up his trousers, colorized to a muted brown with a thin, dull brass single-prong buckle.

The Bailey home could be described as the ultimate “fixer-upper”.

George’s cap-toe oxfords are colorized to a taupe brown leather, worn with dark brown socks.

Kicking the door of his jalopy.

On George’s left wrist, he wears a watch colorized to gold metal and worn on a plain brown leather strap.

The Eisenstaedt Shoot (1938)

German photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt was an iconic photographer whose subjects ranged from politics to pop culture. In 1929, he was hired as a full-time photographer in the German office of the Associated Press and spent the next few years building a robust portfolio that documented the rise of fascism while also capturing the glamour of interwar Europe. Some of Eisenstaedt’s most notable photos from the period include an ice-skating waiter at St. Moritz in 1932, the first meeting of Hitler and Mussolini the same year, and Joseph Goebbels glaring at Eisie’s camera during a 1933 League of Nations conference in Geneva.

“Suddenly he spotted me and I snapped him,” recalled Eisenstaedt in his 1985 memoir, Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait. “His expression changed. Here are the eyes of hate. Was I an enemy?”

The photo summed up the increasingly aggressive political climate that led to Eisenstaedt and his family emigrating in 1935 to the United States, where he took a position as a staff photographer for Life magazine the following year. In 1938, Eisie traveled from New York to Santa Monica and captured James Stewart with his co-star Carole Lombard on the set of the romantic comedy Made for Each Other (1939).

Eisenstaedt also captured one of the most enduring photos in history when he attended the V-J Day celebrations in Times Square on August 14, 1945, and photographed an anonymous U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white dress, who has since been identified as a dental hygienist named Greta Zimmer Friedman.

More than 90 of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photographs had been featured on the cover of Life by the time he left the magazine in 1972. Eisie died in August 1995 at the age of 96, just nine days after the 50th anniversary of his iconic V-J Day photo.

How to Get the Look

James Stewart as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

This distinctive tweed suit with its unique, sporty details is an interesting representation of the sartorial style shared by James Stewart as well as his character George Bailey.

Brown-and-tan birdseye tweed wool sport suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, two patch breast pockets, two patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with four welt pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
- Double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with belt loops, slightly slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White or pale blue striped cotton dress shirt with semi-spread collar, plain front, and 2-button rounded cuffs
Striped or patterned tie
Dark brown cap-toe oxfords
Dark brown dress socks
Brown-and-tan twill tweed wool double-breasted 6×2-button overcoat with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight hip pockets, plain vented cuffs, single back vent
Olive felt wide-brimmed fedora
Gold round-cased wristwatch on dark brown leather strap

Since the colorization was made decades after the film was made, all colors featured in this post are estimated assumptions.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider! And… and that goes for you, too!

Dressing for the holiday office party can be a mixed bag. Do you embrace the festive aspects of the holiday with a snowman-themed tie, Santa Claus socks, and a nutcracker pin… do you treat it like any other day of work and not worry about your grays and blues discouraging Christmas revelry… or do you meet somewhere in the middle, maybe wearing a tie with some holiday color but not looking much different than you would any other Monday?

As a satirical look at American work life, NBC’s The Office fully leaned into some of the most absurd aspects of corporate culture from ridiculous jargon and petty office politics to the time-honored tradition of the office holiday party. Over its nine seasons, The Office dedicated seven episodes to corporate Christmas celebrations (seasons one and four were the exception), all showcasing the unadvisable drinking, flirtations, and holiday outfits that cogs of the real-life corporate machine can identify with all too well.

This week is probably kicking off a bulk of your workplace holiday parties, so – in the spirit of Christmas – enjoy this ranking of the male characters’ outfits during the third season’s “A Benihana Christmas”, one of my favorite Christmas episodes and something that gets just as much airplay for me during the holiday season as classic films like Christmas Vacation, Elf, and White Christmas do.

The cast of The Office poses for a promotional shot of season 3’s “A Benihana Christmas”, though only the characters from Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch are featured.

Series: The Office
Episode: “A Benihana Christmas” (Episode 3.10-3.11)
Air Date: December 14, 2006
Director: Harold Ramis
Creator: Greg Daniels
Costume Designer: Carey Bennett

Keeping in mind both the quality of each outfit and their appropriateness for a workplace holiday party, I ranked the 11 male characters from the Dunder-Mifflin office who show up for one or both of the office’s respective Christmas parties, whether it be Angela’s Nutcracker Christmas or Pam and Karen’s Margarita Karaoke Christmas. (However, I did not include Roy, as I deemed his simple shirt and pants as too pedestrian to be of any sartorial interest, even for the sake of comparison.)

11. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)

So she looks at me, right, and she goes, “I’m sorry, don’t I even know you?” After a year – a year – of buying lattes from her, do you believe that?

As the male character who arguably cares most about his wardrobe and appearance, the office sycophant Andy Bernard is the biggest sartorial disappointment for his first Christmas party at the Scranton branch.

Andy’s navy houndstooth suit and checked shirt are actually quite nice, but the cheap-looking satin-finished tie with its wide stripes alternating in bright red and retina-burning green ruins an otherwise decent outfit.

It’s the wasted potential – as well as his boorish behavior in this episode – that truly shoves poor Andy to the bottom of this list, below the snowman-printed ties and the short-sleeved shirts (though anyone sporting a combination of both would surely be on the bottom spot.) No wonder Dwight shoved a door closed in his face.

Better luck next year, Bernard.

I’m too angry about the shiny, uncoordinated tie to appreciate an otherwise fine suit and shirt.

10. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner)

I hear Angela’s party will have double-fudge brownies. It will also have Angela.

You have to respect Kevin for ditching his suit jacket early to wear a robe around the office. It’s far from stylish but comfortable enough that Kevin wouldn’t mind his place toward the bottom of this list. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with a snowman tie, a corpulent fella like Kevin should probably avoid any sort of neckwear that draws attention to his not-unsubstantial belly area… especially when it’s a rotund snowman painted on the blade of his tie.

You think a robe-wearing hedonist going for his second double-fudge brownie cares about where he ranks on a list of best-to-worst dressed? Let him eat cake.

9. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)

I accidentally ran over it. It’s a Christmas miracle!

Ah, Dwight, of all people… you almost pulled it off! Dunder-Mifflin Scranton’s assistant to the regional manager actually looks rather inspired in his variations of green, an under-utilized holiday color, with an olive suit and a low-contrast outfit that avoids excess flash. The tie’s a bit frantic, but even Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond wore some excessively patterned neckwear, an appropriate comparison as the CIA has been courting Dwight for a secret holiday mission.

The muted green metallic shirt takes the outfit into something appropriate for evening revelry that can be worn with a suit and tie without looking like you came straight from a staff meeting… if only that shirt had long sleeves. The short-sleeved shirt with a suit and tie downgrades Dwight’s look from a dark horse candidate for the top spot to something you’d expect from your high school principal.

Foiled again.

8. Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak)

I miss the days when there was only one party I didn’t want to go to.

As you’d expect from his talking head moment as well as his general demeanor, erstwhile temp Ryan Howard doesn’t even try to dress for his office’s holiday fun, ignoring the traditional Christmas colors in favor of a blue-centered outfit that would look fine any day of the year. (True, it could be argued that he’s wearing blue and white to reflect Hanukkah, or even winter snow, but it can be reasonably assumed that Ryan was not considering this when he dressed for work.)

Despite the lack of festivity, the items themselves are fine enough, from the micro-striped navy suit and white point-collar shirt to the striped tie in its shades of navy, periwinkle, and white.

Ryan’s cool blues provide a non-festive counter to Kelly Kapoor’s holiday red. Yet as much as he tries to resist both Kelly and the office festivities, he soon finds himself with his arms around her singing along to Kevin’s karaoke.

7. Michael Scott (Steve Carell)

I’d like everybody’s attention. Christmas is canceled.

Michael Scott does a fair job coordinating his outfit, consisting of an off-the-rack gray suit with a subtle blue pinstripe that nicely works with his light slate blue-colored shirt. It’s the sort of outfit that would go perfectly with a navy silk tie which, to be fair, at least describes Michael’s tie knot.

Michael’s silk snowmen-and-Santa tie made its first appearance in the second season masterpiece “Christmas Party”. Working up from the tie blade, the scene painted on the tie consists of jolly old St. Nicholas singing from a book of Christmas carols as the musical notes waft up to four snowmen – dressed in red and green, of course – who accompany him. The snowmen are singing next to a fully decorated Christmas tree, and further up the snowbank (and closer to the tie knot) is a brown chalet with smoke blowing from the chimney into the snowy dark blue sky. You can see more of the tie in this Amazon listing, though it appears to be out of stock as of December 2018.

Such an ostentatious tie might have earned Michael a lower spot on the list, but he gets some sympathy points after the devastating and humiliating breakup with Carol – there aren’t enough nog-a-sakes or James Blunt song previews on iTunes in the world to make up for that sort of pain.

The costume department deserves some credit for finding – and frequently using – a tie that a boss like Michael would take a special pride in wearing at his office’s annual Christmas bash.

6. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson)

Hey, look, when you get done with your… meeting, you should come to the break room. We’re having a party.

In his blue striped shirt and dark jeans, Darryl bridges the gap between the better and lesser dressed gents of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton. Of them all, he looks the most ready to party, though the untucked shirt tails, jeans, and exposed T-shirt underneath may be a bit too casual for most offices.

Darryl interrupts the Nutcracker Christmas “meeting” to invite Phyllis to the break room party.

5. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski)

It’s a bold move to Photoshop yourself into a picture with your girlfriend and her kids on a ski trip with their real father. But then again, Michael’s a bold guy… is bold the right word?

As Jim pontificates on “bold moves”, he remains characteristically un-bold in his manner of dressing. His pedestrian taupe suit, off-white shirt, and dark tie could have been featured in any other episode, but where Jim should get some credit is adapting his everyday “uniform” to nod to the holiday. For better or worse, the down-to-earth Jim isn’t the type of guy who’s going to wear a Santa tie or a tie obnoxiously striped in the colors of the season just to reflect the holiday.

However, his silk tie, woven in burgundy, tan, and black stripes, appears to be the same one he wore for the previous year’s Christmas party. Evidently, the deep burgundy in the tie is Jim’s way of being festive, and we have to respect that. After all, it’s probably the most exciting tie he owns.

It wouldn’t be until the sixth season’s “Secret Santa” that Jim would wear a brighter red tie for the office Christmas party. By that episode, though, everyone’s sense of festive dress went up a few too many notches… even Stanley would be wearing a Christmas sweater.

4. Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker)

I’m going to the party in the break room, because they have more chairs in there. If I have to stand around a long time, I get real unpleasant to be around.
[from a deleted scene]

And speaking of Stanley… Dunder-Mifflin Scranton’s grumpy senior sales rep dresses rather well for the party in “A Benihana Christmas”, though it’s likely that he was also just dressing for a day at the office. His floral patterned tie adds an air of festivity without relying too hard on holiday or winter imagery, and the bold shade of his suit makes it stand out more than the typical navy suit, while the thin burgundy and blue stripes of his shirt bring it all together.

Bravo, Stanley.

Stanley’s tie seems ahead of its game, as that sort of small floral print has been revived in recent years with retailers like Express keeping them popular among the younger set.

3. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein)

…Why?

Say what you will about Toby Flenderson – and people have said plenty – the guy doesn’t too a half-bad job when dressing for his company Christmas party. Especially in the context of his less-than-ideal home life, Toby pulls it together for a day at the office that often brings out the worst in people with a decent brown houndstooth jacket, brown slacks, and a subtly striped shirt.

Of all the guys wearing obvious holiday ties, Toby does it best. From a distance, you can hardly tell that the orderly, repeating red-and-yellow pattern on the oft-beleaguered Toby’s neckwear is a series of nutcrackers.

Sorry, Toby.

2. Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez)

Too soon.

Shortly after returning from his Dunder-Mifflin-paid three-month vacation in Europe, Oscar makes his first reappearance on The Office for a single shot at the Christmas party. The site of Dwight holding Angela’s microphone as she sings “The Little Drummer Boy” is too much for the accountant, however, and he leaves with his boyfriend Gil after deeming his return to be too soon.

Oscar’s departure is a sartorial loss for the episode, as the short glimpse we get shows one of the stronger holiday party outfits of the episode. He wears a burgundy crew-neck sweater with a large-scaled indigo cross-check, an indigo striped scarf, a lilac button-down collar shirt, and light brown slacks. The subtle, comfortable outfit is festive without being too loud, and it’s certainly an improvement over the reindeer-scattered red tie he had worn for the previous year’s party… however, Oscar wasn’t coming from a day in the office so – like Darryl – he had the advantage of not being restricted to a jacket and tie.

In Oscar’s defense, I’d leave too.

1. Creed Bratton

I don’t care which party I go to. Once you’ve danced naked at a hash bonfire with the spirits of the dead, all parties seem pretty much the same.
[from a deleted scene]

Okay, Creed, way to bring it. While some fit issues leave a bit to be desired, Creed’s aesthetic of a dark suit, non-white (but not too dark) shirt, and reddish tie is a timeless example of how a man can dress for an office Christmas party without attracting too much attention for going overboard…or for ignoring the holiday altogether.

A simple charcoal wool suit is essential for every man’s closet, as this versatile suit works just as well for a day behind the desk as well as a night on the town. Creed also wears a light gray shirt with a spread collar and a distinctive two-button barrel cuff.

I’m a sucker for incorporating some seasonal color during the holidays, and Creed’s ritzy tie of burgundy and gray gradient stripes nicely nods to Christmas while adhering to the suit and shirt’s gray palette. In fact, the neutral gray of the suit and shirt make the reddish tones of the tie pop even more.

Creed Bratton, unironically one of the best-dressed men at Dunder-Mifflin this holiday season.

Happy holidays, BAMF Style readers!

I hope all of you, particularly fans of The Office, enjoyed this exploration into one of my favorite holiday episodes.

If you haven’t seen The Office, do yourself a favor and check it out on Netflix or find the complete series on DVD.

Rock Hudson as Ron Kirby in All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Vitals

Rock Hudson as Ron Kirby, ambitious and independent-minded landscaper

New England, Fall to Winter 1955

Film: All That Heaven Allows
Release Date: August 25, 1955
Director: Douglas Sirk

Background

Among the many classic movies commonly associated with Christmas – It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and White Christmas to name a few – there are countless additional fine films from that same nostalgic postwar era that relied on the warmth of the holidays to set the scene.

Though it was released in London four months earlier, the Douglas Sirk-directed melodrama All That Heaven Allows made its United States debut on Christmas Day 1955.

Our story begins in the fictional New England town of Stoningham, the quintessential American small town that provides a scenic backdrop as the seasons transition from fall to winter. After starring together in Sirk’s Magnificent Obsession (1954) the previous year, Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson were reteamed to play the leads whose “May to December romance” – despite Wyman only being eight years Hudson’s senior – scandalize the tight-knit Stoningham community.

Rock Hudson, who would turn 30 a month before the film was released in the U.S., starred as the young, hardworking landscaper Ron Kirby whose ambitions of growing a tree farm are sidetracked after he falls for the classy widow Cary Scott (Wyman). The film follows their romance from fall into winter, a passage of time visually noted as the lush scenery transitions from autumnal leaves to freshly falling snow and even a gratuitous vignette of über-outdoorsman Rock Hudson feeding a reindeer.

Happy holidays.

What’d He Wear?

From its title to its description, All That Heaven Allows may not sound like a sanctum of badass men’s style, but Rock Hudson’s laconic landscaper proves otherwise with his rugged wardrobe of plaid flannel shirts and coats, wool jackets, chinos, and corduroys.

“Shirts came in plaid, plaid, plaid, and more plaid,” writes Debbie Sessions in VintageDancer.com’s overview of 1950s men’s fashion. “What sets 1950s men’s casual clothing apart is the sheer variety of options, the bold splash of colors, and the overwhelming use of new textures and materials. The cost of clothing plummeted after the war. New synthetic materials made clothes easy to wash and wear and the movies helped spread new fashions faster than ever before.”

During the postwar era of American consumer optimism, these durable plaid shirts came to symbolize the jack-of-all-trades everyman who could cut down a Christmas tree, repair a leaky pipe, and fix your roof…all in the same day. While Ron Kirby could ostensibly be a walking catalog for Pendleton Woolen Mills, whose specialty remains classic 1950s-style flannel “board shirts”, the popularity of this ubiquitous style during the fabulous fifties rose to the point where even companies like Amana – known for their refrigerators and furnaces – were selling plaid flannel shirts with their brand on the label. In fact, it’s likely that many a repairman called to service an Amana stove 60 years ago was wearing an Amana plaid flannel shirt as he did it.

#1 – Burgundy Shadow Plaid Shirt

If you’re impatient, you have no business growing trees.

It’s autumn 1955. Ron is nearly finished with his job pruning Cary’s trees and announces to the lovestruck widow – who’s been crushing on him hard – that she won’t be seeing him again until the following spring. On an impulse, she agrees to a date with the younger man at his home, just a woodie wagon’s ride away into the woods.

“I can see that a woman might not like it, but it does very well for me,” Ron explains of his rustic home. Perhaps it’s because I’ve just been rereading about Ed Gein’s crimes, but I was a bit uneasy to see Cary so enthusiastically accompanying a man she didn’t know very well into his secluded home in the woods. However, the world of Douglas Sirk-directed Technicolor melodrama is far from that of the Butcher of Plainfield… at least until you compare Gein’s plaid-capped outfit from his 1957 arrest to Ron Kirby’s ear-flapped outfit during the finale. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

Ron dresses for his last day of work as Cary’s landscaper in a low-contrast two-toned burgundy-and-red shadow plaid flannel shirt with a point collar lined with burgundy satin-finished nylon. This type of lining remains a fixture of woolen flannel shirts and shirt-jackets like these vintage examples: here and here.

Note the burgundy nylon strip lining the inner placket, a fixture of all of Ron Kirby’s flannel shirts.

The shirt has dark red plastic sew-through buttons on the front placket, the cuffs, and to close the pointed flap over each of the two chest pockets. Ron wears it over a white cotton crew-neck undershirt.

As the seasons are still changing, Ron is still wearing his lighter weight khaki chinos. These flat front trousers have on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms that he wears self-cuffed to reveal his tall white socks with a wide red band around the top. He wears a wide russet leather belt that coordinates with his brown leather moc-toe work boots.

All in a day’s work.

Ron’s jacket is a dark navy fleeced wool zip-up blouson with an elastic waistband, button-closed cuffs, and two chest pockets that each close with a single-button flap.

An extra layer after wrapping up a job well done.

#2 – Red and Green Tartan Plaid Shirt

Later that fall, Ron returns from his tree-buying journey upstate and invites Cary to join him for a lobster-and-wine “clambake” at the house of his friends, Mick and Alita Anderson:

Alida: Make Cary comfortable, will you, Ron?
Ron: Alright… sit down, Cary.

I guess telling Cary to sit down is one way of making her comfortable… either way, Ron dresses for comfort himself in his second flannel shirt of the movie, this time in the traditional Royal Stewart Tartan plaid of a red ground with a green-and-navy plaid and thin white-and-yellow overcheck. The shirt plays up its Christmas aesthetic with a hunter green satin-finished nylon neck and placket lining.

Like the previous red duo-toned shirt, this shirt has a front placket, button cuffs, and two flapped pockets with pointed button-down flaps.

Ron adds his own singing abilities to the party’s entertainment.

The weather has been getting colder, so Ron swaps out his usual work khaki chinos for a pair of heavier corduroy trousers in rust brown. These flat front pants have straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears the same russet leather belt with the slim-framed, gold-toned rectangular single-prong buckle.

Cary’s not gonna like this.

As he’s attending a party and not working in someone’s yard, Ron seems to have swapped out his usual work boots for a pair of brown leather derby shoes.

Ron again wears the dark navy fleece wool blouson, though he also wears a dark blue wool scarf and black leather gloves for added protection against the chilly weather of a late autumn day in New England.

#3 – Red Plaid Hunting Coat

I’m learning right now how easy it would be to let myself be changed.

It’s now deep in December and there’s no doubt that a white Christmas is in the cards as the whole region is covered with snow.

Ron’s staple outerwear during the holidays is a black-on-red buffalo check plaid hunting coat, similar to those produced by Woolrich. Known as “the original outdoor clothing company”, Woolrich takes credit for the development of buffalo check plaid in 1850, twenty years after John Rich started the company with his first woolen mill in Plum Run, Pennsylvania. Countless vintage Woolrich hunting coats in red-and-black plaid can be found on sites like eBay, including this wool/nylon-blended 1970s jacket (here) that – save for the snap-up front – resembles the details and plaid pattern of Rock Hudson’s on-screen hunting coat.

Ron’s thigh-length coat fastens with five black snaps up the front to a wide, sharp shirt-style collar. The coat has set-in sleeves with single-button cuffs, and four patch pockets with mitred corners. All four pockets have a flap that closes with a single black snap, and the lower pockets have additional hand pockets behind them accessed through long vertical welts.

A high-caliber Christmas greeting from Ron Kirby.

Ron wears a taupe canvas hunting cap with brown fleece-lined ear flaps that he wears fastened to the top of his head. Hunting caps like this were developed through the early-to-mid 20th century as a modern alternative to the antiquated deerstalker.

Tension at the tree lot.

Ron is engaged in the very wintry activity of feeding a reindeer when Cary arrives for an impromptu Saturday evening date to see his progress on converting his barn into a livable home for them… and to ask her to marry him. He removes his plaid hunting coat and dark blue wool scarf to reveal… a red plaid flannel shirt – his third of the movie.

Unlike the others, however, this shirt has a primarily navy blue ground with a complex plaid pattern in red, black, and hunter green. The shirt is styled like his others with its substantial point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and flapped chest pockets. The strip lining the inner neck and placket is dark green nylon.

Ron and Cary’s romance runs hot…

Ron and Cary’s love story continues along a rocky path; she is issued an ultimatum, choosing between Ron and her kids. When she visits Ron’s home to make the decision, he is wearing a solid navy flannel long-sleeve shirt, styled the same as his others with point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and button-flapped chest pockets.

Ron sports the same brown corduroy trousers that he wore with the red-and-green Royal Stewart tartan plaid shirt, worn with his usual wide russet brown leather belt, brown leather moc-toe work boots, and those tall white socks with the red band around the top.

…and cold.

From that point on, Ron subconsciously rejects his festive red plaid and sticks with his navy shirt to match “the blues” of his mood. He is wearing the same shirt under his red plaid hunting coat for a scene of Christmas pheasant-hunting with his pal Mick, who offers terrible advice like: “She doesn’t want to make up her own mind, no girl does.”

Luckily, Cary proves Mick wrong by driving to Ron’s idyllic winter homestead on her own… but the couple’s luck soon runs out when Ron falls off an embankment after failing to get her attention.

Go Big or Go Home

Ron Kirby almost slid in as a Car Week contender for his “woodie wagon”, a maroon 1946 Ford. Though wood had been infrequently tapped as a resource for car bodies during the automotive industry’s formative years, it wasn’t mass-produced until Henry Ford – who had more than 400,000 acres of Michigan’s Iron Mountain forest at his disposal – introduced it as a body option for the 1929 Model A wagon. Thus, the woodie style emerged during the 1930s as automakers – particularly American manufacturers – augmented their steel-bodied vehicles with wood construction for a unique touch passenger compartments and panels.

After enjoying nearly a quarter century of popularity on American roads, the distinctive but labor-intensive woodie wagon had all but vanished for the 1953 model year, with only Buick holding out. Automakers who appreciated the woodie aesthetic – but not the cost – developed faux wood shortcuts with vinyl, plastic, and steel alternatives. (Read more about the history, making, and maintenance of woodie wagons here.)

Produced during the golden age of woodie wagons, Ron Kirby’s ’46 Ford Super De Luxe eight-passenger station wagon is the real deal.

And what to listen to?

1955 was a significant year for music as the tide started turning toward rock and roll: Chuck Berry recorded his first single (“Maybelline”), Elvis Presley was shooting to stardom with riots at his concerts and Colonel Tom Parker as his manager, and Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” was shaking the world through its use as the first rock song in a major film (Blackboard Jungle) and becoming the first rock single to hit #1 on the U.S. charts.

Rock had yet to reach the sleepy hamlet of Stoningham, though. Our story plays out against the dulcet tones of “Consolation No. 3 in D flat major,” one of Franz Liszt’s six solo compositions for the piano from 1849-1850 known as Consolations, S. 172.

What to Imbibe

Mick Anderson (Charles Drake), Ron’s friend and war buddy, serves up “The Anderson Special” for the guests, though this particular concoction goes undefined.

Alida, Cary, Ron, and Mick. Now that’s what I call a clambake.

Unlike many party guests, Ron shows off not by how much he can drink but by using his teeth to uncork one of the 16 bottles of wine purchased for the party.

How to Get the Look

Rock Hudson as Ron Kirby in All That Heaven Allows (1955), photo by Everett.

Put the “Rock” in “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by channeling Rock Hudson’s impressive red holiday plaid and flannel game this year!

Red plaid woolen flannel shirt with nylon-lined wide point collar, patch chest pockets (with button-down pointed flaps), front placket, and button cuffs
Red and black “buffalo check” plaid wool hunting coat with five-snap front, point collar, set-in sleeves, and four patch pockets (with snap-closure flaps)
Brown corduroy flat front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Russet brown wide leather belt with thin-framed gold rectangular single-prong buckle
Brown leather lace-up moc-toe work boots
White socks with red top band
Taupe canvas hunting cap with brown fleece-lined ear flaps

While a solid collection of red plaid work shirts and jackets perfectly bridge your fall to winter wardrobe, one would be advised not to go overboard. As the great Twitter user @NitrateDiva points out, it’s rather difficult for anyone but Rock Hudson to “look this good while dressed as Elmer Fudd.”

In fact, Northern Hats even markets similar-looking headgear in various shades of brown sheepskin leather as “Elmer Fudd” hats.

The perfect outfit for picking out your Christmas tree or hunting scwewy wabbits.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and keep an eye out for fifties flannel shirts available from sites from Ballyhoo Vintage Clothing.

The Quote

I’ve met plenty of girls, nice and otherwise.

Dennis Morgan and Barbara Stanwyck in Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Vitals

Dennis Morgan as Jefferson Jones, U.S. Navy Chief Quartermaster and war hero

Connecticut, Christmas 1944

Film: Christmas in Connecticut
Release Date: August 11, 1945
Director: Peter Godfrey

Background

Something about a naval uniform always reminds me of the holidays. Maybe it’s the happy homecoming of the heroic Commander Harry Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, or maybe it’s the charming naval hero in Christmas in Connecticut who finds himself instantly falling for Barbara Stanwyck (relatable enough) after he arrives on her doorstep to spend a memorable holiday in New England.

Christmas in Connecticut is breezy, funny, and classic holiday entertainment in the spirit of the optimistic post-World War II zeitgeist. Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet take a break from their recent run of sinister roles – hers in Double Indemnity and his in, well, anything he’s done – as food writer Elizabeth Lane and her domineering editor Alexander Yardley, respectively. Like his magazine’s readers, Mr. Yardley believes Elizabeth to be the perfect homemaker and invites himself to her fictitious Connecticut farm to spend the holidays with her equally fictitious husband and baby.

Of course, Elizabeth – the single New Yorker who just likes her cushy writing gig for the chance to wear a mink coat – can’t even properly flip a flapjack.

…or so she thinks.

Elizabeth’s situation is complicated when Yardley invites a war hero who turns out to be the charismatic Jefferson Jones, played by Dennis Morgan, who was born 110 years ago yesterday. The potential “catastroph!” twists at every turn as neither the faux-homemaker nor the dashing Navy hero can resist falling for the other.

As feel-good fun released shortly after the United States was out of World War II, Christmas in Connecticut quickly recouped its budget to gross more than $3 million at the box office, making it one of the top movies of 1945 and certainly a more uplifting one than The Bells of St. Mary’s, the year’s top-grossing film, which was released just before Christmas.

I prefer my uplifting Christmas movies to have a jolly Sydney Greenstreet than a terminally ill nun.

What’d He Wear?

Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet may have been playing against type, but Dennis Morgan had just enjoyed the biggest role of his career as a U.S. Army Air Force colonel in God is My Co-Pilot (1945) and Warner Brothers was likely eager to get the popular actor back into a military uniform for his next performance. Thus, Morgan’s naval officer Jefferson Jones spends the majority of his screen time, after his discharge from the military hospital, wearing the timeless blue service dress uniform, designated “Service Dress, Blue, A”.

In March 1919, shortly after World War I, Uniform Change 27 authorized the double-breasted reefer jacket that U.S. Navy officers wear to this day, replacing the single-breasted fly-front coat that had been first authorized in 1877. The update was inspired by the tunics worn by British Royal Navy officers as well as a reflection of the evolution of civilian menswear and business dress. (Read more about the history and evolution of the U.S. Navy uniforms here.)

Quartermaster Jones thus arrives at Elizabeth Lane’s “home” in the winter-friendly service dress uniform constructed in dark navy wool serge, 16-ounce weight. The double-breasted reefer jacket has eight gilt buttons with four to button in a straight, rectangular layout. As Jones’ Chief Petty Officer (CPO) rank places him among the enlisted rather than commissioned officers, the 28-line buttons are slightly smaller than those on commissioned officers’ jackets, though a regulation immediately after the war would increase CPO reefer jacket and overcoat button sizes to 35-line and 40-line, respectively, to match those of commissioned and warrant officers.

The ventless jacket has straight peak lapels, welted hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket, which his ribbon row is placed directly above.

Jeffy Boy’s forgotten fiancee gets a mixed reception at the Sloan household the day after Christmas.

Jeffy Boy introduces himself to Elizabeth as “Quartermaster Jones,” consistent with the pre-1949 practice of U.S. Navy enlisted service members identifying themselves by occupational type, which was also denoted by the placement of one’s rank insignia with Seaman branch ratings worn only on the right sleeve – as we see with Jones – and non-seamen wearing theirs on the left sleeve only.

A full-color version of the insignia that Jefferson Jones would wear as a Chief Petty Officer rank with a Quartermaster rating.

The practice of members of the Seaman branch wearing their rank insignia on only their right sleeves was established in 1841 while other ratings were worn only on the left sleeve. This was still in practice a century later during World War II for petty officers with the occupations Boatswain’s Mate, Fire Controlman, Gunners Mate, Mineman, Signalman, Torpedoman’s Mate, Turret Captain, or Quartermaster like our pal Jones. The practice was disestablished on April 2, 1949, and – as of December 2018 – all Chiefs across all occupations wear their rank insignia only on their left sleeves.

Jones’ insignia consists of three red chevrons topped by a single red rocker with a white embroidered eagle perched on the rocker and a white embroidered ship’s wheel between the chevrons and the rocker. The three chevrons and single rocker indicate his Chief Petty Officer rank while the ship’s wheel indicates his occupation in the Seaman branch, leading us to the conclusion that Jones’ correct ratingis that of Chief Quartermaster (CQM). (Read more about World War II-era U.S. Navy ranks and insignia here.)

Jones’ rank is easily enough to discern, though his medals require some deeper investigation. I’m no military historian, but I looked at all three of his service ribbons from varying angles and – even without the benefit of color to help identify them – I think I have an idea of the three he is wearing, though the third poses more of a mystery. (See more U.S. Navy awards/ribbons here.)

From left to right:

China Service Medal: Established on August 23, 1940, by Navy Department General Order No. 135, this medal was awarded for qualifying U.S. Navy service between the inclusive dates of July 7, 1937, and September 7, 1939, subsequently extended to include service rendered between September 2, 1945, to April 1, 1957. If this is the case, it would imply that Jones’ service dates back to the late 1930s, before U.S. entry into World War II.
- Description: Golden yellow ribbon with a single red stripe toward each end
American Defense Service Medal: Established on June 28, 1941, by FDR’s Executive Order 8808, this medal was awarded for qualifying active service in the American armed forces between September 8, 1939, and December 7, 1941… aka up to two years leading up to World War II. Unlike the China Service Medal, it was available to service members across all branches, though U.S. Army members had to serve 12 months to be eligible while Navy and Marine Corps members were eligible based on any length of service. This solidifies the theory that Jones has been an active member of the U.S. Navy since before World War II. Per the standard order of display, this would follow the China Service Medal as it does on Jones’ jacket.
- Description: Golden yellow ribbon with a two sets of thin 1/8″-wide tri-parted stripes toward each end – blue/white/red on the left and red/white/blue on the right – each separated from the ends by a 3/16″-wide golden yellow edge stripe and a 3/4″-wide center stripe. The colors are technically the dark “Old Glory blue” and scarlet red.
- Jones wears two bronze service stars on this ribbon, here correctly worn in lieu of fleet clasps for service on the high seas.
American Theater Campaign Medal: Established on November 6, 1942, by FDR’s Executive Order 9265, this medal was awarded for service within the American Theater beginning December 7, 1941, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. The medal was last awarded on March 2, 1946.
- Description: “Oriental blue” ribbon with a 1/8″-wide center stripe in Old Glory blue, white, and scarlet, plus sets of 1/16″-wide stripes in white, black, scarlet, and white to represent the German and Japanese enemies engaged in conflict, respectively.

Jefferson Jones’ service ribbons tell the story of his Navy career, dating back at least six years.

Consistent with the Navy’s desire for its service uniform to reflect the trends in men’s everyday business attire, the prescribed shirt for blue service dress is a plain white cotton shirt – with a soft, turndown collar and non-flapped breast pocket – to be worn with a “plain black” woven silk tie, knotted four-in-hand. Jones’ shirt and tie follows all regulations, while the shirt’s point collar and the tie’s wide blade reflect the predominant fashion of the mid-1940s.

He lasted 16 days on a raft in the middle of the ocean, but a splash of soapy water in his eyes and Jefferson Jones is done for!

Jones’ dark navy flat front trousers match the reefer jacket. They have side pockets, jetted back pockets, and belt loops for his black leather belt with – we can assume – a gold-plated brass single-prong buckle. Navy uniform regulations issued in 1922 dictated black grain leather belts “of best quality”, but the service has since adopted cotton web belts for service dress uniforms.

Jones eagerly rolls up his sleeves to help ~~Robert~~– er, Roberta with her bath.

“Black shoes, high or low Oxford, shall be laced, of black leather, and shall be worn when blue trousers are prescribed,” reads the same 1922 regulations on U.S. Navy uniforms. Jones’ dark lace-ups indeed appear to be black calf cap-toe oxfords, worn with dark socks. Black and white were the only colors of socks authorized for Navy service members, so we can assume that Jones’ socks are also black.

The snowy New England winter calls for a heavy coat and gloves. The Navy authorized gloves to be “iron gray… made of suede, lisle, or silk thread”, though Jones appears to be wearing a pair of black or charcoal gloves made from a heavier knit fabric.

Jones also wears a warm bridge coat, essentially an overcoat-length pea coat that extends to his knees. After its popularity as naval outerwear, the bridge coat style was appropriated for civilian fashions. In fact, James Bond (Daniel Craig) wore a bridge coat in Spectre that was nearly identical to the one worn by Dennis Morgan’s naval hero in Christmas in Connecticut, right down to the eight non-gilt buttons and lack of epaulettes, though the back belt of 007’s coat had a decorative button on each end.

Jones’ double-breasted coat is likely made from a heavy, 30-ounce dark navy Kersey wool that was used for much U.S. Navy outerwear throughout the 20th century.

Love at first salute.

The double-breasted coat has eight horn buttons in two parallel columns of four buttons each, meant to be worn with all four buttons on the right fastened. There are two additional buttons on the underside of each collar that connect to buttonholes on the lapels. It has slanted hand pockets, a half-belted back with a single vent, and raglan sleeves with plain cuffs devoid of buttons, tabs, or any other adjustment mechanism.

Both blue and white caps were authorized for commissioned, warrant, and chief petty officers, though winter often meant the blue cap was most frequently seen. The blue peaked “combination cap” is made with a stiff dark navy 16-ounce broadcloth cover, a black patent leather strap across the front attached to a 22-line gilt button at each end, and a black patent leather visor. Pinned directly to the front of the cap is a gold-plated brass fouled anchor device with the letters “U.S.N.” in sterling silver, fastened midway on the anchor shank.

The fouled anchor device is specific to the Chief Petty Officer rank. Although USN officially stands for “United States Navy”, it also carries a symbolic abbreviation for Unity, Service, Navigation.

Jones wears a leather-strapped wristwatch with a light round dial on his left wrist.

Sources

If you’d like to know the U.S. Navy uniform regulations at the time of World War II, check out this comprehensive 1922 volume issued by the Department of the Navy. If you’re curious about the variety of uniforms worn by U.S. Navy enlisted members and officers during World War II, read more here.

To read the modern specifications for a male Chief Petty Officer’s Service Dress Blue uniform, check out the official U.S. Navy regulations here or the history of CPO uniforms here.

The Music

Although Christmas in Connecticut makes no secret of its holiday setting, the central song has nary a jingling bell or roasting chestnut. With music by M.K. Jerome and lyrics by Mack Scholl, “The Wish That I Wish Tonight” became a considerable hit for 1945 with versions recorded by Ray Noble and his Orchestra (with vocalist Trudy Irwin), Jo Stafford, and the Duke Ellington orchestra.

However, Dennis Morgan’s booming tenor does offer a heck of a job with the Christmas standard “O Little Town of Bethlehem” while Elizabeth trims the tree.

“Nice voice, that boy,” notes Yardley. It’s so entrancing, in fact, that a distracted Elizabeth drops the massive ornament she was holding. It isn’t until she insists that he keeps playing that he shifts gears from Christmas carols to the wistful “The Wish That I Wish Tonight”.

CQM Jones’ Uniform

Dennis Morgan as CQM Jefferson Jones in Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

The U.S. Navy’s “Service Dress, Blue A” was introduced at the end of World War I and has remained relatively unchanged for a century of American conflict. The fitted, military cut of both the uniform and the bridge coat would have made Jefferson Jones seem very dashing to magazine writers and military hospital nurses alike.

Dark navy wool serge double-breasted U.S. Navy service dress reefer jacket with eight gilt buttons (four to button), welted breast pocket, welted hip pockets, and ventless back
- Chief Quartermaster (CQM) insignia on right upper-arm sleeve
- Three service ribbons in single row above breast pocket
Dark navy wool serge U.S. Navy service dress trousers with flat front, belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
Black woven silk tie
Black grain leather belt with brass-plated gold single-prong buckle
Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black socks
Dark navy peaked combination cap with black patent leather visor and fouled anchor “U.S.N.” device
Dark navy Kersey wool double-breasted 8×4-button bridge coat with side pockets, raglan sleeves, half-belted back, and single vent
Wristwatch on leather strap

So you like the look but you’re not in the Navy? Easy enough! Swap out the uniform for a navy double-breasted blazer and charcoal trousers, and add a colorful flourish with a festive red pocket square.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie… and make sure it’s this 1945 version. A remake was made in the early 1990s with Dyan Cannon, Kris Kristofferson, and Tony Curtis, directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people. While Arnie may have hit holiday gold with Jingle All the Way, this particular story was best left to the originals.

The Quote

I’m as free as a bird!

Jake Johnson as Nick Miller on New Girl (Episode 1.09: “The 23rd”)

Vitals

Jake Johnson as Nick Miller, grumpy bartender

Los Angeles, December 23, 2010 (“Christmas Eve Eve“)

Series: New Girl
Episode: “The 23rd” (Episode 1.09)
Air Date: December 13, 2011
Director: Jason Winer
Creator: Elizabeth Meriwether
Costume Designer: Debra McGuire

Background

Nick: All dressed up. What, are you in The Temptations tonight?
Winston: That’s so cute, Nick, you’re intimidated by my style. But one of us is walking out of here with a job.

Nick Miller is easily the least fashion-conscious of the dwellers of the 4D loft. Between Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) with his colorful printed “bird shirts” to the materialistic Schmidt (Max Greenfield), who is obsessive about his tailoring and whose heart could be won over by a pair of gray Calvin Klein slacks, Nick is the most content to roll out of bed in a stained henley shirt and unwashed sweatpants before heading straight to work at his bar.

However, in New Girl‘s first holiday-themed episode, set on the 23rd of December (hence the timing of today’s post), Nick shows that his laidback look can be effective when he easily outdresses Schmidt at the latter’s own office Christmas party… then again, pretty much any outfit trumps the skimpy Santa costume that Schmidt is forced to wear by the domineering women at his company.

“Looking forward to years of therapy over Dirty Santa,” admits Schmidt’s boss Gina (Michaela Watkins), who regrets bringing her “cowardly son” to the party.

Established “bad gift giver” Nick Miller reluctantly attends the Christmas party at Associated Strategies, the generically corporate-named workplace that Schmidt abbreviates to “Ass Strat”, though he spends a fair amount of his evening panicking that he won’t make it to the airport in time for his flight home for the holidays.

The party itself is ripe with tension as Jess (Zooey Deschanel), the roommate whose move into the loft gave the show its title, also attends with her new boyfriend Paul (Justin Long), a kind but perhaps overly emotional fellow teacher at Jess’ school whose first declaration of love earlier in the day had met with a “thank…you?” response from her. Nick, trying to be helpful, steps in to mediate and ends up overly complicating things when he reveals to Paul that Jess doesn’t love him, then reveals the fact that he said that to Jess, and finally finds himself locked outside with the couple (“this is my nightmare!” he declares for the first of many times) as they are now forced to work out their issues.

The sequence is pretty entertaining, and – in true New Girl fashion – the comedy is balanced with a positive emotional punch when Nick makes up for his blunder by driving the whole crew to Candy Cane Lane (“the crème de la crème of decorated streets”) so that Jess could see the holiday lights that make her happy… though the sweet moment is hilariously halted when all the houses have their lights off for the evening. Like the grumpy old man at heart that he is, Nick bickers until he gets his way:

We got a girl out here who’d really like to see the lights! Sorry to wake you up! This is rude! Make it the Candy Cane Lane or whatever! You spend all this time to show off and do it, so show off, you got an audience! You all show off so turn on the lights! Just go in the shed or whatever and turn your damn lights on, you show-offs!

The detour all but guarantees that Nick will miss his flight home for the fifth year in a row, but he doesn’t seem to mind as it puts a smile on his friend’s face.

What’d He Wear?

I’m a sucker for including some seasonal color in my holiday party attire, so Nick’s comfortable, textured layered outfit of a red plaid shirt balanced by dark jeans and a neutral tweed jacket and desert boots strongly appeals to me.

Promotional photo of Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel in New Girl.
Photo credit: Greg Gayne/FOX.

Though he’s not one for dressing up, Nick pulls out a surprisingly sophisticated taupe tweed sport jacket for this party. The single-breasted, two-button jacket has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, slightly padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads, four-button cuffs, and a single vent.

Nick takes a poorly timed phone call from his mom.

When the time comes for Nick to leave the walls of the loft, he can invariably seen wearing one of many plaid flannel shirts.The sport jacket may be uncharacteristic, but he wears it in a way that’s authentic to his own sense of style by pairing it with one of these shirts.

Despite his “slovenly” reputation (and Schmidt’s insults), his shirts across the show’s seven seasons have often been sourced from reputable retailers like J. Crew, John Varvatos, Lucky Brand, Pendleton, Scotch & Soda, and Urban Outfitters as well as everyday classic brands like Billabong, Levi’s, Patagonia, Vans, and Target’s in-house Mossimo line.

This particular red flannel shirt is patterned in a black-on-red plaid with a white wide-scaled grid overcheck. The inside – and underside – of the collar is lined with the same plaid pattern but with yellow (instead of red) and a red overcheck (instead of white) for an interesting contrast. Although not an exact match, the primary shirting is a variation of the Clan Munro tartan in red, black, and white plaid while the inside lining is a variation of the Clan MacLeod tartan in yellow, black, and red.

The shirt has a slim spread collar, black buttons down the front placket, two chest pockets with button-down flaps, and long sleeves with button cuffs on the ends.

Nick reacts to one of many awkward moments with Jess.

Nick’s dark pants are black denim jeans, a casual alternative to chinos for the gent who desires the comfort that jeans offer while still going a step dressier. He wears them with his usual wide dark brown leather belt with its large steel single-prong buckle.

Nick refuses to allow the gang’s trip to Candy Cane Lane to be a bust for Jess.

As a man who embraces self-comfort, Nick often resorts to crepe-soled desert boots to complete his look. Online speculation and visual hints suggest that he’s wearing Clarks Original Desert Boots.

The two-eyelet boots he wears in “The 23rd” are a light taupe suede that looks like the “Cola Suede” offering in the current Clarks lineup.

Promotional photo of New Girl’s regular cast: Hannah Simone, Lamorne Morris, Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, and Max Greenfield.

And if you’re curious about the unseen aspects of Nick’s wardrobe…?

“We all wear each other’s underwear!” Nick exclaims in the closing moments of “Jess and Julia” (Episode 1.11) after Schmidt discovers that the two men have been accidentally sharing a towel and wonders to what depth he and Nick are sharing items in the loft.

The Music

Heard at the party is Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run”, a 12-bar blues released as the B-side of “Merry Christmas, Baby” in December 1958. Covered by dozens of artists over the sixty years since its debut, “Run Rudolph Run” has been particularly embraced by rock-oriented artists like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Joe Perry, and Keith Richards who may have wanted to perform a known Christmas song without straying too far from their comfort zone.

Thematically similar to Berry’s hit “Johnny B. Goode”, “Run Rudolph Run” provided a bluesier alternative to the pop-friendly “Jingle Bell Rock”, introduced by Bobby Helms the previous year as one of the first major holiday hits in the rock-and-roll genre.

Series star Zooey Deschanel had recorded her first holiday album with M. Ward, A Very She & Him Christmas, released less than two months before the episode aired. The album consists of She & Him’s delightful takes on mid-century Christmas classics, beginning with my personal favorite “The Christmas Waltz”, which had been originally written for Frank Sinatra in 1954.

The episode features She & Him’s recording of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, the fourth track of the album. The melancholy song, ostensibly from a soldier’s perspective, was written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent during the height of World War II and became an instant hit when Bing Crosby’s recording of it was released in December 1943.

Closing the episode with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” offers the poignant commentary that – while Nick may be missing his flight to Chicago to be with his family – he truly is home for Christmas as he’s already with his roommates in the loft… and isn’t your real family the people that you’re group-hugging and high-fiving after vocally harassing a streetful of people to turn on their Christmas lights at 2 a.m.?

She & Him followed up with a second holiday album in October 2016. Christmas Party follows the formula of A Very She & Him Christmas, including exclusively popular holiday songs written during the mid-century era of the mid-1930s through the early ’60s, with the exception of a cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” that leads the album. Worth noting is that the seventh track of the album is the duo’s take of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run”.

Jake Johnson as Nick Miller on New Girl (Episode 1.09: “The 23rd”)

How to Get the Look

Nick Miller rarely dresses to impress, but his holiday party outfit in “The 23rd” combines casual comfort and seasonal style without sacrificing Nick’s own subdued aesthetic.

Taupe brown tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
Red-and-black plaid (with white overcheck) flannel shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, flapped chest pockets, and button cuffs
Black denim jeans
Dark brown wide leather belt with steel single-prong buckle
Light taupe suede desert boots with two-eyelet open lacing and crepe soles

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, which just completed its final season in May. New Girl is available to stream on Netflix and Hulu and also on DVD from Amazon.

The Quote

Hey, Ma, how ya doin’? I can’t talk right now, I’m in a real weird situation… No, Ma, I’m not high, I’m done with that phase.

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

Vitals

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace, Broadway crooner and World War II veteran

Pine Tree, Vermont, December 1954

Film: White Christmas
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

Happy holidays, BAMF Style readers! I hope all who celebrate are having a very merry Christmas whether you’re spending it with loved ones or beloved movies.

One of the most esteemed entries in the ever-expanding world of holiday cinema is White Christmas (1954), the story of two World War II veterans who go into show business together. Business is booming for the song-and-dance men Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) with nary a complication in sight… until the two make the acquaintance of the lovely and talented Haynes sisters and change their plans to join them for a gig in Vermont. Bob is smitten with the vocalist Betty (Rosemary Clooney), while Phil finds himself drawn to the dancer Judy (Vera Ellen).

The fun really begins when the foursome arrives in Vermont on an uncharacteristically sunny December afternoon and head to the inn where the women are performing, only to discover that it’s run by their popular ex-commanding officer, Major General Tom Waverly (Dean Jagger). Will the showbiz pros be able to deliver a show good enough to bring business to Waverly’s failing inn? Will Bob and Betty find love despite their stubbornness? And, most importantly, will it snow on Christmas? You’ll just have to watch!

Bing and Rosie send their regards as well.

Though Bob Wallace sticks mostly to suits, sport jackets, and the occasional service uniform, the real Bing Crosby dressed to the nines for special occasions like the holidays.

Bing Crosby carved himself quite a place in Christmas lore, having recorded nearly a dozen Christmas albums over the course of his half-century career, the bulk of which were recorded in the 1950s after the success of White Christmas established him on the holiday map.

Even Frank Sinatra’s kids were forced to admit that “Bing Crosby was there first,” as Nancy told Variety during a 2017 interview. Bing was thus a natural choice when holidayphile Ol’ Blue Eyes was tapping a partner for his 1957 Christmas special.

Bing’s first major role in a Christmas-themed movie was in the season-spanning Holiday Inn (1942), co-starring Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds, where he first introduced Irving Berlin’s song “White Christmas”. Although the plot elements of showbiz pros at a New England inn during the holidays remained intact, the story was mostly reimagined when it was loosely remade as White Christmas in 1954.

What’d He Wear?

Bing Crosby was in fine sartorial hands for his role in White Christmas, whether he was dressed by his usual tailor H. Huntsman of Savile Row or by the film’s costume designer, the esteemed Edith Head.

“Having done costuming for a number of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s Road pictures prior to White Christmas, [Head] knew exactly how to make Crosby’s character shine,” notes Jeff Saporito for ScreenPrism.”

Bob Wallace dresses fashionably for his arrival in Pine Tree, Vermont in a glen plaid suit, striped tie, and long-sleeved cardigan sweater meant to combat the expected snowww in “New England’s winter playground”.

The suit is a gray finely checked glen plaid wool. The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to a low, two-button stance. It’s detailed with a welted breast pocket – where Bing wears a white pocket square – as well as flapped hip pockets and a narrowly flapped ticket pocket just above the right-side hip pocket. The jacket has a short single back vent and three-button cuffs that match the mixed brown-and-tan plastic sew-through buttons on the front.

Imagine if it was customary for all hotel guests to salute the hotel owner upon meeting them.

Bob adds some holiday festivity – and a warm additional layer – with a burgundy knit long-sleeve cardigan sweater under his suit jacket. A lifelong golfer, Bing Crosby’s cardigans became an increasing part of his image as he aged, and Slazenger even reintroduced the blue lambswool cardigan he wore during his iconic “Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy” duet with David Bowie during Crosby’s TV Christmas special, “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas”, which aired posthumously a few weeks after the singer’s death in October 1977.

The burgundy cardigan in White Christmas has smoke gray plastic sew-through buttons and is made from a lightweight material, possibly even a linen-wool blend, that reveals the silhouette of his tie under the sweater. Bob would later wear the same cardigan, shirt, and tie with his dark gray flannel blazer when seeing Betty off on her train to New York toward the end of the movie.

Like his neckwear in the preceding scene with his powder blue mini-checked jacket, Bob wears another fancy-striped tie. The brown tie is patterned with tan “downhill” stripes that are split by very narrow stripes in brown, periwinkle, tan, and orange. His white cotton shirt has a large semi-spread collar and plain front, though it’s hard to tell if the shirt has his usual double (French) cuffs under the sleeves of his cardigan sweater.

The suit’s pleated trousers have a full fit and are finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs) that cover most of his black patent leather lace-up shoes that appear to be the same cap-toe oxfords he wore during the “Sisters” number in Florida. The full break of the trouser bottoms prevents us from seeing if Bob is wearing some of his more colorful hosiery like the yellow or red socks that make appearances during his time at the Columbia Inn.

From remarks about grass-covered igloos to suggesting that they’re actually in southern Vermont, the gang has more jokes about the weather than Linda from finance when you run into each other on Monday morning at the office coffeemaker.

Now that they’re heading for the cozy, casual confines of a winter getaway in Vermont, Bob swaps out his business-friendly gray fedora for an all-brown felt fedora with a wide brown grosgrain band. As it was evidently 68°F the day before, Bob has no need to don the camel overcoat he carries over his arm, though he does wear his butter yellow cashmere scarf with its frilly edges, albeit untied.

It’s never too late to start harmonizing about snow.

Bing Crosby wears his own wristwatch in White Christmas, a plain gold-toned watch on a tooled brown leather curved strap with a gold single-prong buckle. The watch appears in several other Crosby flicks of the ’50s such as High Society, where he also wears it with the face on the inside of his wrist; though this could be explained as a holdout from Captain Wallace’s service in the U.S. Army, it’s one of the many real-life Bing Crosby traits that the actor brought to his performance.

Just the Jacket…

When dressed more casually for his rounds of rehearsals at the Columbia Inn, Bob later wears the jacket orphaned with a bold blue knit polo shirt, gray wool trousers, bright yellow socks, and a red-and-blue striped silk handkerchief around his neck.

What’s a retired general supposed to do when the Army doesn’t want him back? If only there was a song about it…

It’s a natty outfit, to be sure, and one worthy of its own discussion… perhaps next Christmas!

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

How to Get the Look

It’s no surprise that a sharp dresser like Bing Crosby would bring his colorful, well-tailored style to the role of Bob Wallace in White Christmas.

Gray glen plaid wool suit
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- Pleated trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
Burgundy lightweight knit long-sleeve 5-button cardigan sweater
White shirt with large semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
Brown tie with tan “downhill” stripes and complex narrow stripes
Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Gold wristwatch on tooled brown leather curved strap
Brown felt short-brimmed fedora with brown grosgrain band
Butter yellow cashmere scarf with frilly edges

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and have a very happy holiday season!

The Quote

Well! Must be wonderful in Vermont this time of year… all that underwear.

Sammy Davis Jr. and his Ocean’s Eleven (1960) cast mates Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. (Photo by Sid Avery)

Vitals

Sammy Davis Jr. as Josh Howard, sanitation worker and World War II veteran

Beverly Hills, December 1959

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: August 10, 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

The days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve are an ideal week for reunions. In the Rat Pack’s arguably most famous film, Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) organizes a reunion of eleven men from his 82nd Airborne unit for a heist to ring in the new year.

After deciding not to attempt the life of “a one-eyed third baseman in Mobile,” former paratrooper Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.) took a job in sanitation. “Trash is where you find it,” Josh explains. “You gotta follow the fleet!”

With few other promising prospects, Josh finds himself easily recruited back into the fold of his old army pals for the simultaneous robbery of five Las Vegas casinos at midnight on New Year’s Eve. “He’s the main cog,” Danny tells the team regarding Josh’s role in the heist. “If he goofs, it’s over.”

What’d He Wear?

As a professional sanitation worker, Sammy Davis Jr.’s character Josh Howard spends much of the heist’s planning and execution in the decidedly less-than-glamorous but functional uniform of a gray jumpsuit and turtleneck. However, the kickoff meeting calls for something a little more stylish and Josh is more than up to the task.

Josh dresses for the group meeting in a light gray sport jacket, like the group’s leader Danny Ocean, though Davis wears a jacket more conventional in its suiting and styling than Sinatra’s distinctive tweed jacket.

Josh’s light gray semi-solid jacket appears to be worsted wool with slim notch lapels that roll to a high-buttoning three-button front that, again like Danny, is worn with the top two buttons fastened.

The four ex-paratroopers discuss how they'll use their ill-gotten gains before they've even planned the heist.

The four ex-paratroopers – Josh, Sam Harmon (Dean Martin), Danny, and Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) – discuss how they’ll use their ill-gotten gains before they’ve even planned the heist.

The ventless jacket has two “kissing” cuff buttons at the end of each sleeve and straight, jetted pockets on the hips. In the jacket’s welted breast pocket, Josh wears a gray patterned silk pocket square.

Josh, Danny, and Jimmy can’t hide their amusement at their outlandish benefactor Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff).

As a contrast to his white-shirted comrades, Josh wears a light gray shirt just a shade cooler than his jacket for a natty monochromatic look, balanced by a slim, straight black satin silk tie that coordinates with the trousers.

Josh’s shirt has a slim semi-spread collar, a front placket, and squared barrel cuffs that each close with an oversized mother-of-pearl button.

Josh wears a pair of charcoal gray trousers with a medium rise and a thin fitted waistband, shaped over Davis’ hips with reverse pleats. These trousers have frogmouth front pockets, no back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. The sheen of the trousers suggests a fabric of mohair or a mohair blend, a popular suiting during the era and certainly a favorite of Sammy Davis Jr., who would wear a brown mohair double-breasted suit for the film’s iconic finale.

The sleek, monochromatic outfit gets a subtle pop of color with Josh’s bright red socks, worn with black leather derby shoes.

Erstwhile lieutenant Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) calls the “alumni meeting” to order.

Josh wears a gold wristwatch with a link bracelet on his left wrist.

Sammy Davis Jr. and his fellow Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop prepare for Sid Avery to take promotional photos for Ocean’s Eleven (1960).

How to Get the Look

Sammy Davis Jr. embraced the opportunity to dress his character in the original Ocean’s Eleven in more than just a sanitation worker’s jumpsuit, opting for a cool, casual ensemble ideal for a low-key evening gathering.

Light gray semi-solid worsted wool single-breasted 3-button jacket with welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, “kissing” 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
Light gray shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, and large mother-of-pearl button cuffs
Black silk slim tie
Charcoal gray mohair reverse-pleated trousers with fitted waistband, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black leather two-eyelet V-front derby shoes
Red socks
Gold wristwatch on link bracelet
Gray-on-gray patterned silk pocket square

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

It’s simple enough… in my book, “brave” rhymes with “stupid” and it still does.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, cold and calculating Mafia boss

Havana, New Year’s Eve 1958

Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle

Background

Happy New Year’s Eve!

On this transitional #MafiaMonday, we transport back 60 years to New Year’s Eve 1958, a tumultuous night in world history as armed rebels connected to the vanguard 26th of July Movement overthrew Cuba’s incumbent president Fulgencio Batista, ending the five-year Cuban Revolution and establishing a communist government under the movement’s leader Fidel Castro.

“Gentlemen, to a night in Havana! Happy New Year… Feliz Año Nuevo!” toasts a gregarious Fredo Corleone (John Cazale) as he holds court in the Cuban capital with a bevy of politicians and his brother, taciturn and thoughtful mob boss Michael (Al Pacino).

Michael Corleone finds himself an unwitting spectator to this momentous occasion in history, but the most impactful happening in his life is the discovery of his brother Fredo’s betrayal. An innocent slip of the tongue while in the audience of a far-from-innocent live sex show reveals that Fredo lied about his previous contact with Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), right-hand man to Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), letting slip to Michael that his own brother was behind his attempted assassination earlier that year.

While not one to show emotion, even Michael can’t put on a poker face and buries his head in his hands as he processes the news… though he did quickly have the presence of mind to use the seconds after he found out to order his own assassin to eliminate both Roth and Ola.

The following sequence builds to one of the most powerful scenes in cinema. The revelry continues as the gangsters, the politicians, and their Cuban government hosts remain blissfully unaware of the rebels preparing for action. A party at the presidential palace finds a distressed Michael confronting his insecure little brother, grasping his face in both hands for a kiss of death, then declaring: “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!”

In a daze, Fredo backs away and just has enough time to disappear into the crowd before the president announces his resignation “to avoid further bloodshed” as slot machines and parking meters start hitting the pavement. Unhurried but with determination to get out, Michael is the first American to leave and get a jumpstart on the immediate exodus from Cuba in the wake of the revolution.

What’d He Wear?

Black suits are among the more controversial aspects of menswear. While few doubt the propriety of black suits at a funeral, many sartorial purists insist that black suits have no purpose that can’t be better served by a charcoal or dark navy suit, while many retailers – specifically American retailers – continue to market black suits as essentials for any gent’s wardrobe. (For proof, I would offer photos from my high school homecoming dances where at least three out of every four male students were outfitted in an ill-fitting black suit from Macy’s.)

The reality rests somewhere in the middle. While black suits are inordinately worn for occasions where they’re not appropriate, they can make a natty alternative to dinner jackets for an evening out on the town with no dress code requirements, particularly when the black suiting is of an interesting pattern, texture, or fabric.

It is perhaps worth noting that Michael Corleone never dons formal black tie in the first two entries of The Godfather canon, even when the men around him are appropriately attired in dinner jackets and tuxedoes. At his sister’s wedding in The Godfather (1972), the recently returned war hero Michael is still wearing his USMC service uniform. In The Godfather Part II (1974), many of his criminal and congressional cronies don dinner jackets and bow ties to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Havana but Michael opts for a solid, but shiny, black suit with a plain white shirt and black tie.

Al Pacino takes direction from Francis Ford Coppola on the set of The Godfather Part II (1974).

Michael’s black suit, white shirt, and black tie is a reversal of his brother Fredo’s white suit, black shirt, and white-dominant tie, indicating the polarity of the two brothers while also communicating the details of their personalities. Fredo is all flash, dressing the part of the extravagant gangster that he hasn’t the skills or moxie to be without the support of his family name. Michael, on the other hand, remains conservative and businesslike yet understatedly elegant. If someone – be they a policeman or hitman – entered the club looking for a gangster, their eyes would pass right over Michael and land on Fredo.

The black and white in Michael and Fredo’s respective New Year’s Eve wardrobes perfectly contrast the other.

Al Pacino’s screen-worn black mohair suit jacket. (Source: GoLive.au.)

Though limited, Michael Corleone’s elegant wardrobe in The Godfather Part II is versatile enough to be as effective as a wardrobe twice its size. The black mohair three-piece suit that Michael wears for business – and a funeral – in the United States is perfect, sans waistcoat, for a New Year’s Eve celebration in the warmer tropical environment of Havana.

The black suit was custom-made for the production by the venerable Western Costume Co., which has been dressing Hollywood’s finest for more than a century. Based on the suiting’s distinctive sheen and its varying degrees of reflecting different light, the material is likely a mohair and wool blend. Mohair was a common element of 1950s and 1960s suits, popular for its lustrous properties and practical comfort in warm weather, and it adds more depth to Michael’s suit than a standard black wool suit.

Michael’s black mohair suit jacket is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll to the top of a three-button front. The scenes are either too dark or the shots are too close on Michael to show much of the details on screen, but the jacket’s strongly roped sleeveheads and padded shoulders are silhouetted throughout Michael’s time in Havana.

The jacket is shaped by darts and gently suppressed through the waist. It has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets in line with the lowest button, and three-button cuffs. It has been auctioned several times throughout the decades, and this online listing from Nate D. Sanders’s 2012 auction offers additional description.

The suit trousers have double forward pleats on each side of the fly with side pockets and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottom. Michael likely wears the same black leather belt that he wears when he wears the full three-piece suit with waistcoat.

A distracted Michael watches the Cuban Army marching through the presidential palace, minutes before midnight.

Even with a white shirt and black tie, Michael’s unique suit fabric says reserved party guest rather than reservoir dog. He wears a solid black tie, knotted in a four-in-hand, ostensibly the same black tie that he would later wear to his mother’s funeral. The white cotton poplin shirt has a long point collar, front placket, and single-button cuffs.

The yellow gold watch Michael wears in The Godfather Part II has been speculatively identified as a vintage Omega Constellation from the 1950s with a white dial and shining gold bracelet. His only other piece of jewelry is the plain gold wedding ring on his left hand.”

Black footwear is the only way to go with a solid black suit. Michael wears black calf derby shoes and black socks.

What to Imbibe

Though he never vocally confirms it, the tall, dark highball with a lime slice that Michael raises to Fredo’s toast is most likely a Cuba Libre, one of the two “local drinks” made with rum that Fredo mentioned in his pitch to the gangsters and the senators:

Okay, gentlemen, it’s refill time here. You might try some of those local drinks, you know, Cuba Libre, piña colada…

The agreed origin story of the simple and refreshing Cuba Libre dates back to the turn of the 20th century when bottled Coca-Cola was first imported into Cuba from the U.S. after the Spanish-American War.

In the 1960s, Bacardi advertising executive Fausto Rodriguez recalled witnessing the creation of the first Cuba Libre when he was a 14-year-old U.S. Army Signal Corps messenger in the summer of 1900. The apocryphal story goes that the teenage Rodriguez joined his employer in a bar, where the man requested Bacardi rum mixed with Coca-Cola, impressing a nearby group of American soldiers with the order. The new drink was christened with the slogan of the Cuban independence movement: Cuba Libre, which translates to “Free Cuba”.

So, uh, just a rum and Coke, right?

Technically, yes, but there’s a difference between your buddy splashing a couple shots of Captain Morgan into a tall glass of RC Cola. Some say that the lime makes all the difference for a Cuba Libre. Others go further, advising that it be light rum topped off with cola in addition to the lime, an essential ingredient that takes a simple rum-and-Coke order to the Cuba Libre level. In fact, Coca-Cola ceased importation into Cuba after the U.S. embargo of 1960, so a true Cuban-made Cuba Libre is now often prepared with the domestic product tuKola.

If you’re following International Bartenders’ Association (IBA) guidelines, fill a highball glass with ice then pour in 5 centiliters of light rum, 12 centiliters of cola, and a centiliter of fresh lime juice. Garnish with a lime wedge and serve with a song that will set you in the right mood…

How to Get the Look

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

An evening out on the town provides a gentleman the rare appropriate opportunity to wear an all-black suit, particularly one made from an interesting suiting like Michael Corleone’s shiny mohair or silk.

Black mohair-blend suit:
- Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White cotton poplin shirt with point collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
Black tie
Black leather belt with rounded gold-toned single-prong buckle
Black calf leather derby shoes
Black silk socks
Omega Constellation yellow gold wristwatch with round white dial on gold bracelet
Gold wedding band, left ring finger

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series… and have a very healthy, safe, and happy new year!

The Quote

I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!

Robert Redford as David Chappellet in Downhill Racer (1969)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Dave Chappellet, U.S. Olympic ski team star

Wengen, Switzerland, Winter 1967

Film: Downhill Racer
Release Date: November 6, 1969
Director: Michael Ritchie
Costume Designer: Edith Head (uncredited!)
Wardrobe Credit: Cynthia May

Background

I hope the new year has been off to a fine start for all BAMF Style readers! The first post of 2019 looks back to Robert Redford’s timeless winter style as the titular ski champion in Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer.

Ritchie made his directorial debut with Downhill Racer, bringing an innovative, minimalist directing style to the screenplay scripted by novelist James Salter. The movie centers around Dave Chappellet, a prodigious but cocky skier recruited to replace a wounded star on the U.S. Olympic team. It’s interesting to watch the likable Redford in one of his most arrogant roles, though the actor was still in his early 30s and young enough in his career to still be finding his on-screen persona.

We first see Chappellet as he arrives in Switzerland, traveling by plane and by train to meet up with the team. When he finally meets up with the team that evening, even the normally apathetic star skier takes a few minutes to absorb the stunning surroundings of the Bernese Alps and the tempting challenges they present to him.

What’d He Wear?

First – what is shearling? Orvis defines it well: “A shearling sheepskin is the skin of a shearling lamb that’s tanned, processed, and dyed with the wool still intact. This creates a suede or leather material with a soft wool on the opposite side. Because the wool is still attached to the skin, shearling is a fur product.” Unlike the more modern, polyester-based “sherpa” alternatives, genuine shearling is a heavy and dense yet smooth and breathable fabric.

Like much timeless menswear, shearling coats can trace their popularity to military fashions. Men and women had been using sheepskin for clothing since the Stone Age, but it wasn’t until the B-3 bomber jacket was developed for American flight crews during World War II that most people fully embraced the warmth and comfort of shearling sheepskin outerwear. (Read more about the history and benefits of shearling bomber jackets here.)

Fast-forward a quarter century later when these shearling sheepskin coats with their soft fur pile linings – shorthanded merely to shearling coats – are all the rage for jet-setting civilian gents bundling up for the winter months. The balance of sheepskin’s water-resistant and moisture-wicking qualities makes it a particularly worthy asset for sportsmen embracing the increasing popularity of Alpine skiing.

Thus, pro skier Dave Chappellet’s signature outerwear when he’s not dressed for the slopes is a camel brown shearling jacket.

Chappellet arrives in Switzerland, comfortably attired for the cold.

Chappellet’s copper-tinted coat extends to just below the waistline, enhancing his mobility and reducing bulk when traveling on cramped planes and trains. The yokes are triple-stitched in tan with pointed front yokes and a horizontal yoke across the back. The slanted, shearling-lined hand pockets have thick, curved welts at the openings. The jacket has five dark brown shank buttons with the corresponding buttonholes on the left side reinforced with single-stitched tan rectangle pieces that fold over each buttonhole onto the pile-side lining.

Meeting the team.

The soft beige lining of the coat is the fleece-like soft wool of the shearling lamb that was kept intact; the coat’s lining is actually the outer-facing skin of the shearling lamb. This piled side of the skin lines the entire inside of the jacket as well as the collar when it is folded down.

Note the soft pile wool side and the suede-like opposite side on the jacket’s shell as well as the rectangular pieces reinforcing the buttonholes.

The warmth of the jacket means Chappellet doesn’t need very heavy layers beneath it. His light gray raglan-sleeve sweater is a lightweight but durable “waffle knit” with thin ribbing on the crew neck, sleeve cuffs, and waistband hem.

With his casual layers like his open-neck shirt and raglan-sleeve jumper, Chappellet looks decidedly more casual than his buttoned-up teammate D.K. in his glen plaid sport jacket and tie.

Underneath, Chappellet wears a classic work shirt in sky blue chambray cotton with narrow epaulettes that button at the neck side of the shoulder. The shirt has five large dark blue plastic buttons down the front placket with a single matching button on each cuff. The two chest pockets each close with a single-buttoned flap with mitred corners.

A closer look at Chappellet’s blue work shirt, worn later when playing ping-pong with his teammates. In this scene, however, he wears the shirt with his dark blue Wrangler jeans rather than the cords he wears with his shearling coat.

Chappellet wears tan pinwale corduroy (or “needlecord”) flat-front, straight-leg trousers that are styled like jeans with their slanted front pockets, right-side coin pocket, patch back pockets, and seams. They have plain-hemmed bottoms and belt loops where he wears a wide light brown leather belt with a large gold-plated single-prong buckle.

Chappellet checks out his new bathroom.

Chappellet’s usual footwear when off the slopes is a pair of tan suede slip-on boots with raised heels.

The shearling coat shows up sporadically over the course of Downhill Racer, including a shot set around Christmas as a lonely Chappellet walks through Wengen, wearing the jacket and boots with his Wrangler jeans and ski-friendly combination of his black turtleneck under a navy sweater with a red-and-white horizontal stripe.

Christmas blues.

“It’s a very small silver ring that was given to me by Hopi Indians in 1966. Every film I have done since 1968, I’ve had that ring on my right-hand ring finger,” described Redford to The Hollywood Reporter of his ever-present silver ring.

Indeed, Redford’s signature silver etched ring makes its first appearance in the trio of films he released in 1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (released in October), Downhill Racer (released in November), and Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (released in December). The ring has appeared in almost all of Redford’s film in the half-century since, with the exception of Havana, where it would have conflicted with the bulky pinkie ring his gambler character wore.

Chappellet wears a steel wristwatch with a round silver dial on a steel bracelet.

Production photo of Robert Redford in Downhill Racer (1969).

Chappellet wears all-white underwear, including a cotton V-neck short-sleeved undershirt and a pair of cotton long john bottoms for sleeping and extra insulation against the cold Swiss winter evening.

This outfit is one of several functional and fashionably simple costumes that Redford wears on-screen, but it’s interesting to note that the film’s sole costume-related credit attributes the wardrobe to Cynthia May, for whom Downhill Racer remains her sole IMDB entry.

As it turns out, the legendary costume designer Edith Head had started work on Downhill Racer in spring 1967 before her Paramount Pictures contract ended and she joined Universal Studios. Downhill Racer remained a Paramount property, so the film was left without a costume designer.

In yet another interesting twist behind the scenes of Downhill Racer, Natalie Wood stepped up as an assistant, not only typing script revisions and appearing as a well-disguised extra but also providing hairstyles and shopping for wardrobe items and props. Wood was married to the film’s producer, Richard Gregson, and had several other connections to the production. Redford and Wood had been friends since high school and co-starred together in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) and This Property is Condemned (1966), two of the seven movies where her costumes were designed by Edith Head.

Go Big or Go Home

There’s a small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it character moment as Dave Chappellet rides the train to Wengen for the first time. It’s a cool move that only a guy with Chappellet’s skill-backed arrogance – or Redford’s bold Leo confidence – could muster.

Chappellet is pushing his way through the crowded train car when he comes up right against a waiter handing out beers and sandwiches. Though Dave can hardly be bothered by much else, he swiftly puts down his bag, swiping a sandwich from the bucket.

We fear that perhaps he’s going to steal the sandwich, but even the waiter is unconcerned as Dave bites the bagged sandwich, freeing his hand to draw up some coins from his pocket to pay. The waiter glances up at Chappellet, who half-shrugs that he has no idea how much the sandwich costs nor the inclination to worry about it.

Two pros making the most of their limited time.

The waiter grabs his due payment from Dave’s hand then nods to him that they’re square before they both continue on their way.

In a movie full of fantastic skiing, this is hardly its biggest or most stand-out moment, but it showcases Redford’s mastery of quiet, subtle character moments even at this relatively early point in his career.

How to Get the Look

Robert Redford as David Chappellet in Downhill Racer (1969)

Robert Redford looks cool, comfortable, casual, and classic in his shearling coat and Ivy-approved layers for his arrival in Switzerland at the beginning of Downhill Racer.

Camel brown sheepskin shearling five-button coat with beige pile lining, Western pointed yokes, set-in sleeves with plain cuffs, and pile-lined curved welt hand pockets
Sky blue cotton chambray naval work shirt with point collar, button-down epaulettes, front placket, flapped chest pockets, and 1-button cuffs
Light gray lightweight waffle-knit crew-neck raglan-sleeve sweater
Tan needlecord flat front, straight-leg trousers with belt loops, slanted front pockets, patch back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Brown wide leather belt with large gold-plated single-prong buckle
Tan suede slip-on boots with raised heels
White cotton V-neck undershirt
White cotton long john bottoms
Silver tribal ring
Steel wristwatch with round silver dial on steel expanding bracelet

Redford’s shearling jacket was celebrated in an article by Jonathan Heaf for British GQ, published in December 2018.

Although the B-3 bomber jacket has been out of military service for decades, shearling-lined sheepskin coats remain a popular winter staple for civilians with designers like Billy Reid, Isabel Marant, and even Levi’s offering their own variations of these classic coats for shoppers with around $1,000 to spend.

Should one desire the look rather than the actual fabric, “sherpa coats” are a very affordable alternative made frequently from synthetic polyester fabric – or occasionally cotton – designed to resemble the dense sheep’s wool of authentic shearling.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. Thank you to my pal and BAMF Style reader Wendi, who provided a DVD copy for the screenshots in this post!

If you like this one, Redford would collaborate again with Michael Ritchie three years later in The Candidate (1972).

The Quote

I don’t expect to be given anything.

Elvis Presley as Danny Fisher in King Creole (1958)

Vitals

Elvis Presley as Danny Fisher, swaggering nightclub singer and high school dropout

New Orleans, Summer 1958

Film: King Creole
Release Date: July 2, 1958
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

Happy birthday to Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

The King of Rock & Roll considered Danny Fisher in 1958’s King Creole to be his favorite role in the dozens of movies he made over the course of his 13-year film career.

Danny is a 19-year-old who has failed to graduate from high school for the second year in a row. Living in New Orleans’ French Quarter with his wise older sister and idealistic widowed father, Danny makes ends meet working odd jobs, including as a busboy for gangster Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau) before his singing talents—and habit for flirting with Maxie’s moll Ronnie (Carolyn Jones)—led to his drifting down the street to take a position as the on-stage talent at the King Creole nightclub… as long as he can convince his father that it’s the right move.

Between songs, Danny finds himself spending the hot Creole summer juggling girlfriends, job prospects, and his future. One of the final films directed by the legendary Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), King Creole was co-written by Herbert Baker, who contributed to the screenplay of Presley’s 1957 film Loving You, and Michael V. Gazzo, best known to modern audiences as Frankie Pentangeli from The Godfather Part II (1974). The noir-ish story gave Presley an opportunity to stretch his acting chops before he joined the military, resulting in not only one of the singer’s finest films but also a sense of surprising mutual respect that emerged among Presley, Matthau, and Curtiz.

“You just didn’t have a lot of fooling around with Curtiz—I mean, he would embarrass the hell out of you,” said Jan Shephard, who played Elvis’ sister in the movie. “But no matter what Curtiz would ask of Elvis, he would say, ‘Okay, you’re the boss.’ Curtiz said he thought Elvis was going to be a very conceited boy, but when he started working with him, he said, ‘No, this is a lovely boy, and he’s going to be a wonderful actor.'”

— Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

After he was famously drafted into the U.S. Army, Presley was originally scheduled to be inducted on January 20, 1958. However, Paramount didn’t want to eat the almost $350,000 that had already been invested into pre-production of King Creole and Elvis himself sent the Memphis Draft Board a letter on Christmas Eve 1957 requesting a sixty-day deferment to work on the movie. Two weeks after finishing King Creole in March 1961, Elvis reported for his induction and was sworn into the Army as Private Presley, serial number 53 310 761.

What’d He Wear?

Elvis Presley and Dolores Hart in King Creole (1958)

The famous Baracuta G9 jacket was introduced in England in 1937, but it wasn’t until Elvis Presley wore his Baracuta in King Creole that the jacket became a must-have menswear item.

The Miller brothers, John and Isaac, developed the Baracuta G9 as a functional, waterproof jacket to give golfers greater mobility; the “G” in G9 is for golf, as explained on a Mason & Sons blog post from March 2016. After they started exporting Baracutas to the United States in 1950, the jacket gained popularity among Hollywood’s golfer elite like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Ronald Reagan.

The King took the company’s exposure to the next level in 1958 when he wore a sand-colored Baracuta G9 in several scenes of King Creole. Soon, it became the outerwear of choice for style icons from Steve McQueen to Frank Sinatra. When Ryan O’Neal wore a Baracuta as the preppy Rodney Harrington on the ’60s ABC soap Peyton Place, the brand capitalized on the connection and the venerable shorthand “Harrington jacket” term was born.

In addition to its lasting impact on the world of casual menswear, the King’s Baracuta G9 is significant as one of the few clothing items that Elvis wears more than once throughout King Creole. Though the movie was black-and-white, contemporary artwork, promotional photos, and the available Baracuta color lineup in the 1950s indicate that he was wearing a sand-colored jacket.

The classic Baracuta is made from a water-resistant cotton and is detailed with a two-button collar, zip front, and slanted side pockets that each close with a single-button flap. The waist hem, cuffs, and inner collar are all finely ribbed, and the “umbrella-inspired” storm flap on the back was designed to let the rain run off the jacket.

Elvis typically wears the jacket unzipped and open, showing off the red Fraser tartan plaid lining characteristic of the quintessential Baracuta jacket.

Danny first wears the Baracuta G9 jacket when visiting his father at the pharmacy where he works.

While the zip-up windbreaker may be a sartorial nod to James Dean’s iconic red nylon McGregor jacket in Rebel Without a Cause, Elvis’ Danny Fisher always wears a shirt between his jacket and his white undershirt.

The first shirt that he wears with this jacket is a dark plaid long-sleeved sport shirt with a one-piece camp collar, plain front, and two chest pockets.

Danny spends many of his mornings out on the balcony of his family’s second floor apartment, located at 1018 Royal Street in the heart of the French Quarter.

That evening, Danny and his reluctant father host nightclub owner Charlie LeGrand (Paul Stewart) for dinner. Danny wears the same light-colored cotton polo shirt that he had worn with his gray gabardine blouson and dark jeans during the previous day’s five-and-dime theft. The polo shirt has a slim collar and a two-button placket, though Danny wears both buttons undone to reveal the undershirt beneath it.

The third shirt that Danny wears with his Baracuta jacket is a slate blue cotton long-sleeved sport shirt with a slim one-piece camp collar and button cuffs. Classic mid-century detailing includes a plain front with horizontal buttonholes and a set-in flapped breast pocket on the left chest.

Production stills like the inset photo of Elvis with co-star Dolores Hart inform the light grayish blue color of the shirt. In the mid-1960s, 24-year-old Hart left her acting career to become a Roman Catholic Benedictine nun; she was recently the focus of an Academy Award-nominated documentary, God Is the Bigger Elvis (2011).

Danny Fisher’s windbreaker and shirts would be relatively common to find in any man’s closet, be it sixty years ago or today. His pants, however, are far more unique.

The fabric appears to be a thin-waled corduroy, also known as “pinwale” or “needlecord”, in a medium shade of tan. The trousers have a flat front and are tightly fitted around Elvis’ famous hips. The trousers have slim belt loops around the waist, through which Danny wears a leather belt—likely brown—with a long, horizontal single-prong buckle.

Danny receives a summons to see Maxie from Shark (Vic Morrow), one of his newly hired street hoods who adopts the somewhat less-than-intimidating livery of a suit and a bow tie.

The pinwale pants are uniquely detailed with dark leather trim along the openings of all four pockets, including the shallowly slanted front pockets and the straight back pockets.

Interestingly, the trousers have a cinched back—a short self-fabric strap with an adjustable center buckle. The back cinch was a necessity in the early days of menswear before the widespread popularity of belts and, according to Austin Bryant for Heddels, the back cinch was a fixture on all Levi’s jeans from their inception in 1872 until the early 1940s.

The pants have plain-hemmed bottoms, though Elvis wears the bottoms self-cuffed to be sure to clear his shoes, a pair of dark calf leather apron-toe loafers.

Producer Hal B. Wallis sits with director Michael Curtiz and star Elvis Presley on the set of King Creole (1958).

The jacket makes its final appearance when Danny is preparing to go on stage at King Creole when Nellie (Dolores Hart) arrives with the bad news of his father’s street assault. Although he’s dressed to go on stage in one of his shiny-striped performance shirts and dark pleated trousers, Danny hurriedly grabs his Baracuta jacket and puts it on to accompany Nellie to the hospital.

The Baracuta jacket makes its last appearance a notable—if rather flashy—one.

How to Get the Look

Elvis Presley on the set of King Creole (1958)

Elvis Presley is often credited with transforming the Baracuta G9 from a golf jacket to a men’s style staple, continuing the aesthetic of angsty, devil-may-care teens in windbreakers that James Dean started with his red nylon McGregor jacket in Rebel Without a Cause.

While Jimmy’s red windbreaker remains iconic in its own right, it was Elvis that started a long-lasting trend followed by stylish gents from Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra to Jason Statham and Daniel Craig.

Sand-colored waterproof cotton Baracuta G9 “Harrington jacket” with two-button collar, zip front, slanted hand pockets with single-button flaps, and knit collar, cuffs, and waist hem
’50s-style long-sleeve sport shirt in dark plaid or medium blue cotton
Tan pinwale corduroy cotton flat-front, high-rise trousers with narrow belt loops, slanted front pockets and jetted back pockets (all with dark brown leather jetting detail), and self-cuffed bottoms
Slim brown leather belt with long single-prong buckle
Dark calf leather loafers
Dark ribbed crew socks

One of the most famous jackets in modern menswear, the Baracuta G9 is still produced by the company more than 80 years after it was introduced. The current version, the G9 Modern Classic, is made from a breathable, water-resistant cotton/polyester blend; the “natural” color option is probably closest to the King’s cloth.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m through failing.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in the first episode of The Sopranos

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob chief

New Jersey, Summer 1998

Series: The Sopranos
Episodes:
– “The Sopranos” (Episode 1.01, dir. David Chase, aired 1/10/1999)
– “46 Long” (Episode 1.02, dir. Dan Attias, aired 1/17/1999)
– “Pax Soprana” (Episode 1.06, dir. Alan Taylor, aired 2/14/1999)
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the first episode of The Sopranos, the first time that the HBO logo fizzed away to the thumping sound of A3’s “Woke Up This Morning” as we follow Tony Soprano from the Holland Tunnel along the New Jersey Turnpike to his north Jersey home.

We are introduced to Tony himself in the first shot of the show as he sits, bemused by a nude statue in his new doctor’s waiting room. We soon learn that the doctor is Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), a psychiatrist, and that this ain’t the kind of mob entertainment you’re used to watching.

Meet Tony Soprano. The show’s first shot, considered an homage to The Graduate, would take on renewed significance in the context of the much-discussed final episode.

He’s not clad in a tuxedo while slowly petting a white cat, nor is he sporting a sharp silk suit while overseeing a glamorous casino or a car trunk murder... in short, none of the traditional Hollywood gangster shit. Instead, just a guy sitting in a waiting room while wearing a polo and slacks just like your dad.

Tony walks Dr. Melfi through the events of Wednesday, June 17, 1998 (according to his copy of The Star-Ledger), the day that he collapsed of an apparent panic attack at his young son’s birthday party. He presents himself to the doctor as a “waste management consultant”, but recounting a typical day in his life – with its outstanding loan collection and the threats of RICO statutes – quickly provides Dr. Melfi with the necessary context to understand that Tony may actually belong to a certain criminal element.

Yet, Dr. Melfi persists trying to reach Tony, a patient who dismissively resists the very notion of his sessions with her:

Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type… that was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings, he just did what he had to do.

Tony storms out of the room just as the two find themselves surprisingly on the verge of a breakthrough regarding the ducks that flew out of his pool, but he’ll be back.

What’d He Wear?

From the first shot of the series, Tony Soprano establishes a subdued aesthetic for his therapy sessions that would continue through much of the first season. The ensemble of a black short-sleeve polo, taupe pleated trousers, and black derby shoes is hardly groundbreaking, but it further serves to illustrate Tony’s less flashy qualities, particularly when compared to his associates like Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) in his colorful silk suit and tie combinations, Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) in their “Bensonhurst tuxedoes”), and even Tony himself with his louder printed shirts later in the series.

Polo shirts were most common for Tony early in the show’s run, when James Gandolfini was at his most fit. “Less polo shirts became more of a necessity as Jim Gandolfini gained more weight,” explained the show’s costume designer Juliet Polsca in a September 2014 interview with The Independent. He wasn’t comfortable in knits that clung to him.”

While black is often regarded for its “slimming” qualities, the selection of a black polo for our introduction to the character was likely to subtly communicate the character’s power to the audience.

A tale of two therapies: Tony often returned to the same basic look – a black short-sleeve polo, taupe pleated pants, and black derby shoes – for his sessions with Dr. Melfi, as in the pilot (left), the second episode “46 Long”, and the sixth episode “Pax Soprana” (right).

Tony’s first black polo shirt, the one that he is wearing in the opening scene of the pilot episode, is a soft knit—possibly cashmere—with a baggy fit. The shirt has a soft collar, two sew-through black plastic buttons, and wide elbow-length short sleeves.

Tony approaches therapy with the same suspicion as he does most other aspects of his life.

When Tony returns to therapy in “46 Long” (Episode 1.02) and “Pax Soprana” (Episode 1.06), he wears a different black polo shirt with a slightly trimmer fit. He also wears the shirt during a therapy session—and Meadow’s choral concert—in the final scenes of “Denial, Anger, Acceptance” (Episode 1.03), but with a gray sport jacket and charcoal slacks.

The fabric looks like pima cotton, and there are three—rather than two—black plastic buttons. While both shirts have short sleeves, this second polo’s sleeves have fine-ribbed knit hems that shape the sleeves to the arms rather than hanging free.

“Pax Soprana” (Episode 1.06): Tony wears the same three-button polo with the ribbed cuffs that he first wore in “46 Long” (Episode 1.02) when he tries to gracefully introduce the idea that Prozac has been impacting his romantic abilities.

Whether with a casual polo shirt, printed sport shirt, or sport jacket and tie, Tony often resorts to the trusty, comfortable neutrality of taupe pleated slacks. The specific trousers worn with his black polos in the first season of The Sopranos have double reverse pleats, straight pockets along the side seams, two button-closed back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Tony sizes up Dr. Melfi’s office as he arrives at his first appointment.

Tony wears a black leather belt that coordinates with his black shirt as well as his shoes, a pair of black calf cap-toe derbies that he wears with black ribbed socks.

The gold wristwatch that Tony wears in the pilot episode appears not to be his signature Rolex, as it was likely beyond the show’s budget to purchase one when the pilot was filmed in 1997. This currently unidentified watch with its beaded rice-grain bracelet has a gold bezel and gold dial.

Are any watch experts able to narrow down Tony’s timepiece in the pilot episode?

After a full first season—and 12 additional episodes—were ordered in December 1997, the series benefited from an expanded budget that would allow for better defining characters through their props like the 18-karat yellow gold Rolex “President” Day-Date that Tony would wear for the majority of the series’ run from the second episode on. The watch’s executive moniker derives from the distinctive link bracelet with its hidden clasp. The all-gold chronometer has Roman numerals around the “champagne” gold dial with a long display for the day of the week at the top and a date window at 3:00.

“46 Long” (Episode 1.02): A familiar sight – Tony Soprano exasperated by his mother. In this case, he felt guilty after deriding her in his latest therapy session and headed straight to her house with flowers… but likely wishes that he hadn’t bothered at all. Note that he is now wearing his signature yellow gold Rolex Day-Date on the President bracelet, but he’s still missing the diamond-and-ruby pinkie ring that would appear over the next few episodes.

Tony’s penchant for gold jewelry is also established in the first episode, though it would take a few episodes before there was any consistency with the pinkie ring on his right hand, which begins as a diamond ring in the first episode, disappears in the second episode, and then reappears for the rest of the series with ruby and diamond stones.

He also wears a gold chain-link bracelet on his right wrist and a gold wedding ring on the third finger of his left hand.

How to Get the Look

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in the first episode of The Sopranos

Tony Soprano establishes a simple but timeless casual outfit that he often wears to his first season therapy appointments, sporting a fail-proof combination of a black short-sleeve polo, taupe pleated slacks, black lace-up shoes, and his usual complement of gold jewelry and accessories.

Black soft knit short-sleeve polo shirt with black plastic buttons
White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
Taupe double reverse-pleated slacks with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Black leather belt with squared steel single-prong buckle
Black calf leather cap-toe derby shoes
Black ribbed crew socks
Rolex President Day-Date 18238 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…

Check out the entire series, but start with the epic first season – one of the strongest starts in TV history.

The Quote

It’s good to be in something from the ground floor, and I came too late for that, I know. But lately, I’m gettin’ the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro on the second season of True Detective (Episode 2.04: “Down Will Come”)

Vitals

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro, troubled and crooked Vinci PD detective

Ventura County, California, fall 2014 to spring 2015

Series: True Detective
Season: 2
Air Dates: June 21, 2015 – August 9, 2015
Creator: Nic Pizzolatto
Costume Designer: Alix Friedberg

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

True Detective returns to HBO tonight with the premiere of its third season, which has been suggested to be a return to form after the poorly received second season, which aired three and a half years ago.

The second season was a well-intended—if not perfectly executed—departure from the first season, transporting us from the evocative Louisiana swamplands to the noir-esque metropolis of southern California, experienced through the shifting perspectives and murky morals of three cops and an ambitious gangster. While all four shared the spotlight throughout the series, Colin Farrell’s Ray Velcoro emerged as the show’s likeliest contender for central character.

We meet Velcoro during his tenure as a troubled and incorrigibly crooked detective with the fictional Vinci, California police department and tapped to serve on a task force with Ventura County detective Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and CHP officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) to solve the murder of a shady city manager, Ben Caspere. Velcoro begins collecting clues through his own shady sources, including the aforementioned gangster Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn), and Velcoro’s independent investigation leads him to a secret home owned by Caspere… where Velcoro is blasted with two non-lethal rounds from a shotgun.

What’d He Wear?

Ray Velcoro established an image—and reputation—as a “cowboy cop” in the first two episodes, cycling through a wardrobe of Western-styled tweed jackets, snap-front shirts, bolo ties, jeans, and cowboy boots. The series’ third episode, “Maybe Tomorrow” (Episode 2.03), finds him in recovery from the shotgun incident, checking in with his doctor, his superiors, and his grumpy ex-cop father Eddie (Fred Ward).

For this off-duty day, and intermittently through three episodes to follow—”Down Will Come” (Episode 2.04), “Church in Ruins” (Episode 2.06), and the arguably strongest episode “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” (Episode 2.07)—Velcoro adopts the more casual attire of a denim trucker jacket with a light, copper brown corded collar.

Velcoro introduces his denim Wrangler jacket to viewers in the third episode, “Maybe Tomorrow” (Episode 2.03).

Velcoro’s Wrangler trucker jacket was one of the more popular wardrobe items from True Detective‘s second season. The manufacturer was quickly confirmed by the small black logo patch with “Wrangler” in yellow, stitched in just above the left chest pocket, but fans have also suggested that the jacket is of 1990s vintage, tailored to fit Colin Farrell.

The dark blue denim jacket has six metal buttons down the front and a seventh bottom button on a short extended tab along the waistline. All seven buttons correspond to a horizontal buttonhole reinforced with copper-colored thread to match the color of the thin-waled corduroy collar.

Velcoro enjoys his usual vices of a cigarette and a beer.

Velcoro adopts the subtle disguise of a lighter wash denim jacket with a regular collar when trying to entrap his boss in the season finale, “Omega Station” (Episode 2.08). Evidently, wearing his own Wrangler trucker jacket would have made it too obvious that it was him so he had to find a different jean jacket for his disguise, complete with large-framed aviators and cowboy hat. Just the sort of outfit to blend in at a train station in Anaheim… sure.

Maybe the trick to an effective disguise isn’t to blend in but actually to stick out even more?

Velcoro’s favorite shirts are the slightly oversized washed cotton utility shirts often associated with outdoors wear retailers like Eddie Bauer or L.L. Bean. The one he wears most frequently with his corded-collar Wrangler denim jacket is a drab olive green color with mixed brown urea plastic buttons, worn in “Maybe Tomorrow” (Episode 2.03), “Church in Ruins” (Episode 2.06), and “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” (Episode 2.07). The shirt has two box-pleated patch pockets on the chest that each close with a single button through a mitred-corner flap. Each cuff closes on one of two buttons for an adjustable fit as well as a smaller button on the gauntlet that Velcoro typically leaves undone.

“Black Maps and Motel Rooms” (Episode 2.07)

“Down Will Come” (Episode 2.04) is the sole time that Velcoro wears a different shirt with his Wrangler jacket and jeans, opting for the light blue chambray cotton shirt that is also seen with his taupe tweed jacket. Based on the U.S. Navy’s classic work shirt, this chambray shirt has large off-white plastic buttons on the front placket. Each chest pocket has mitred bottom corners and as single button through the top to fasten it to the shirt. // These buttons don’t fare so well during Velcoro’s drug-fueled binge in the same episode when he tears the front of the shirt open, leaving only the top three buttons intact. His dramatic gesture

“Down Will Come” (Episode 2.04)

Under all of his shirts, Velcoro typically wears a white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt (or “A-shirt”), though it gets the most exposure in these scenes when he wears his olive utility shirt unbuttoned in the motel room.

Production photo of Colin Farrell in “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” (Episode 2.07)

During the first half of the season, when Velcoro is still a Vinci PD detective, he prefers to wear black or dark brown cotton stretch jeans with his denim Wrangler jacket, presumably to avoid the “denim sandwich” or “Canadian tuxedo” look.

After he gives up his badge mid-season and goes into private security, Velcoro is more comfortable wearing regular blue denim jeans, specifically a pair of Levi’s 501® Original Fit in a dark indigo wash. Throughout the series, he wears the same wide dark brown leather belt with a large steel single-prong buckle.

You’ve heard of manspreading… now check out jeanspreading.

Velcoro’s police-issued holster for his Browning Hi-Power is a black right-side belt holster. Once he’s left the force, he carries the same Hi-Power in a tan leather inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster fastened to the back of his jeans with a black clip. He also carries his knife clipped in the right front pocket of his jeans.

Production photo of Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams in “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” (Episode 2.07)

Valli Herman reported in a 2015 Costume Designers Guild article that costume designer Alix Friedberg took inspiration from “a blend of law abiders and law breakers… some of Richard Avedon’s weary loaners from In the American West” when developing Ray Velcoro’s Southwestern sartorial aesthetic. Thus, our anti-hero stays true to a pair of brown leather custom-made cowboy boots with a short, square toe from the Stallion Boot Company of El Paso.

What to Imbibe

Doctor: May I ask how much you drink in a given week?
Ray Velcoro: All I can.

It’s no wonder that Ray Velcoro lives his life on the edge, unafraid of the potentially fatal consequences of his investigation while his liver wails for help against an endless barrage of beer, whiskey, vodka, and tequila… and those are just the legal substances he abuses.

Sitting at his usual table at the Black Rose, Velcoro can often be found chain-smoking his Natural American Spirit cigarettes—the yellow pack, equivalent to what used to be called “Lights”—and taking long pulls from his bottles of Modelo Especial. This Mexican beer was first bottled in 1925 and, as of July 2014 when the series was in production, it was the second most imported beer to the United States, selling nearly 23 million cases annually. Modelo Especial is a product of Grupo Modelo, the Mexico City brewery that also brews the Corona and Pacífico export brands.

The most neo-noir moments of True Detective find Ray Velcoro and Ani Bezzerides holding up in their secluded motel room with knives, guns, and a bottle of J.P. Wiser’s Deluxe. J.P. Wiser’s holds the distinction of being Canada’s oldest continually produced Canadian whisky. John Philip Wiser began production of his product at the Charles Payne Distillery in Prescott, Ontario, in 1857.

Ray and Ani console each other, though it’s the whiskey that deserves the most credit for easing their moods (and inhibitions).

Perhaps the choice of J.P. Wiser’s whiskey was meant to imply that our protagonists are growing wiser through their collaborative investigation? It’s not a very commonly seen spirit in TV shows and movies, though it did appear in the hands of the violent McManus brothers in The Boondock Saints (1999).

The Gun

Ray Velcoro carries a Browning Hi-Power as his sidearm both on duty and while working private security for Frank Semyon after his resignation from the Vinci Police Department. While this early “Wonder Nine” semi-automatic pistol remains a reliable, venerable choice eighty years after its development, it’s surprising to see it as a policeman’s authorized sidearm in an age that finds most law enforcement agencies issuing more modern and lighter Glock, SIG-Sauer, and Smith & Wesson handguns with double-action systems.

Velcoro’s doctor glances at the holstered Hi-Power. He may be concerned that Ray’s excessive drinking is a problem, but there are far more dangers in the detective’s life than just his habitual imbibing.

John Browning began his development of what would become the Browning Hi-Power around the start of World War I in 1914, though it would take more than two decades for the weapon to actually enter production. Working within the French military’s stipulated guidelines of a caliber of 9 mm or larger, weight no more than 1 kilogram,

Working within the French military’s stipulated guidelines, Browning took nearly ten years to create a prototype of a pistol with an external hammer, magazine disconnect, a weight not exceeding one kilogram, and a capacity of at least ten rounds in a caliber of 9 mm or larger. Browning filed his patent in June 1923, but he died four months before the patent was granted in February 1927. It would take another eight years before the Browning Hi-Power was officially introduced to the world, but what an impression it made. Dieudonné Saive expanded on Browning’s design, developing a staggered, double-stacked magazine that expanded the capacity to a full 13 rounds of 9×19 mm Parabellum ammunition, earning it the moniker “Wonder Nine” that would be applied to other high-capacity 9 mm pistols to follow.

How to Get the Look

Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro on the second season of True Detective (Episode 2.04: “Down Will Come”)

Ray Velcoro dresses down when off-duty with a denim jacket that he takes caution not to wear with matching jeans, a pro tip for trucker jacket wearers who don’t want to look like they’re sporting a mismatched leisure suit.

Dark blue denim Wrangler trucker jacket with camel brown corded collar, chest pockets with button-down flaps, hand pockets, and single-snap cuffs
Olive drabi washed cotton utility shirt with spread collar, front placket, button-down flapped inverted box-pleat chest pockets, and button cuffs
White ribbed cotton sleeveless A-style undershirt
Dark blue denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit jeans
Brown leather belt with dulled steel squared single-prong buckle
Brown leather square-toed cowboy boots

As of January 2019, the only new denim jacket that Wrangler offers with a corded collar is the Wrangler® Blanket Lined Denim Jacket, lined with a red buffalo check flannel acrylic material that adds a warm, rustic aesthetic. However, ASOS and other manufacturers currently offer corded-collar trucker jackets without visible blanket lining.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

The first season of True Detective earned the show a reputation that some say was blemished by the second season, though I think the latter sits better when watched independently rather than as an extension of the first.

Either way, early reviews for the third season starring Mahershala Ali sound as though it’s worth tuning in tonight!

The Quote

Frankly, I’m apoplectic.

Paul Muni and Karen Morley in Scarface (1932)

Vitals

Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, ruthless Italian-born bootlegger and mob enforcer

Chicago, Summer 1927

Film: Scarface
Release Date: April 9, 1932
Director: Howard Hawks

Background

Tomorrow would have been the 120th birthday of Al Capone, had the infamous gangster not rotted to his syphilic demise in 1947.

Capone’s story remains one of the most frequently adapted for movies and TV, beginning with Rod Steiger in the cleverly titled 1959 film Al Capone through Neville Brand (twice), Ben Gazzara, Jason Robards, Ray Sharkey, and F. Murray Abraham, up through Robert de Niro’s iconic performance in The Untouchables (1987). The gangster was most recently—and most prolifically—portrayed by Stephen Graham in all five seasons of Boardwalk Empire, though Tom Hardy is set to play Capone in the upcoming feature film Fonzo.

Of course, a larger-than-life character like Al Capone didn’t have to wait until after he was dead to see his story unfold on the screen. While his name was never used in movies released during his lifetime, Capone provided the obvious inspiration for a number of gangsters in pre-Code crime cinema, most famously the ambitious, smooth, and lethal Tony Camonte, played by Paul Muni in Scarface. The film—or, rather, its 1929 source novel penned by Armitage Trail—even snagged its title from a press-assigned moniker that Capone reportedly hated.

Chicago’s underworld in 1924 was a powder keg just waiting for a lit fuse. Capone had risen as a lieutenant to the pragmatic Johnny Torrio in the mostly Italian mob on the city’s South Side, which faced its fiercest competition with the North Side gang, led by Dion O’Banion. By November, Capone grew tired of Deanie the Irishman and sent three hitmen to execute O’Banion in his flower shop, igniting a vicious gang war that all but ended in February 1929 when Capone masterminded the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a gangland slaying of seven men that significantly damaged the North Siders but also brought significant heat from police and the press onto the city’s bloody beer wars.

Scarface depicts a similar incident to the Dion O’Banion killing; Tony Camonte is fed up that his boss, the cautious Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins), is giving too much leeway to their unseen rival O’Hara, who controls his Irish gang from his North Side flower shop. Sound familiar? Camonte sends his right-hand man, Guino Rinaldo (George Raft), to eliminate O’Hara, receiving confirmation of the hit after some telephone hijinks with his dimwitted “seck-a-tary” Angelo (Vince Barnett). Not only will Lovo be furious that Tony is going over his head, but Tony is also going behind his back and stepping out with Lovo’s platinum blonde moll, Poppy (Karen Morley), inviting her up to see his swanky new bachelor pad.

Tony: How do you like this place?
Poppy: Kinda gaudy, isn’t it?
Tony: Ain’t it, though? Glad you like it.

What’d He Wear?

Tony Camonte’s silk dressing gown is typical of luxurious loungewear of the era with many still-existing pieces featuring the same details. Unlike the bathrobes designed to function in a more practical capacity as one dried off after a bath or shower, the silk dressing gown was traditionally a status symbol for gents to wear around the house over parts of their day clothing like trousers and shirt, as Tony wears here.

The dressing gown is patterned with a field of two-toned four-leaf clovers in a helix-like shadow grid. The whole garment is vertically tiger striped in a dark overlaying color with a low opacity as the pattern can still be seen through them. The dressing gown has a solid satin shawl collar with a wide belly, likely in the same color as the stripes (my guess is burgundy, a regal, luxurious color that was often found on these dressing gowns.) The accents on the top of the welted breast pocket and hip pockets as well as the sash and the “turnback” cuffs are all the same dark silk as the shawl lapels.

Tony Camonte and Guino Rinaldo: each dressed for the day’s business in their respective manners.

Tony undoubtedly wears dressing gowns like this to attract the attention of women like Poppy, and he can’t hide his delight when she notices the costly silk and feels the material.

Poppy: (mocking him) That’s-a purty hot. Expensive, eh?
Tony: (laughs) Yeah, come here, I show you some of what’s purty hot.

An amused Poppy follows Tony into his bedroom, where his offer to show her “some of what’s purty hot” is surprisingly non-carnal: a stack of his new shirts. Fine shirts were evidently quite a status symbol for gents during the roaring twenties, as Jay Gatsby famously brought his lost love Daisy Buchanan to tears by showering her with his collection of bespoke shirts. Poppy is decidedly less impressed.

Tony: Here’s some stuff I buy.
Poppy: Mm, aren’t they sweet?
Tony: You like? I’m gonna get some ties made to match. See, what I’m gonna do is wear a shirt only once… then I give it right away to the laundry. A new shirt every day.
Poppy: Tsk. You’re just gonna drive the women mad, aren’t you?
Tony: Yeah… one of them.

Tony walks Poppy through his excessively indulgent plan on only wearing shirts once.

Tony’s own shirt is uniquely striped with sets of two closely spaced stripes with faint dots striping the white space between them. The stripe is colorized to a light blue-gray in some contemporary lobby cards and promotional artwork. As the same artwork often colors the suit in its correct shade of brown, it’s reasonable to assume that the color of the shirt is also correctly depicted on these materials.

The shirt is consistently styled in the fashions of the day with its attached point collar—as attached collars were increasingly common alternatives to the old-fashioned detachable collars—as well as a front placket and button cuffs.

When Tony receives word that the police are there to question him in O’Hara’s murder, he promptly ushers Poppy out through a side entrance then dresses to spend his morning at the police station, revealing that his trousers are actually part of a three-piece suit. As described by a Profiles in History auction description in September 2015, the chocolate brown wool suit with its “crème-colored pinstripe” was commissioned for Paul Muni by United Artists in the summer of 1931 and made by a tailor shop called Brown & Herman’s.

The flat front trousers have straight pockets along the side seams, jetted back pockets, and are finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs). Tony wears them with a dark leather belt, probably black.

Tony removes his dressing gown to don his suit jacket, waistcoat, and tie for a morning of interrogation.

Though he wears only the trousers with his robe, Tony grabs the suit’s double-breasted jacket and matching waistcoat as he heads out for the subsequent scene that finds him and Guino meeting up with Poppy in a nearby cafe that gets raked with submachine gun fire. Tony gets his hands on one of his would-be assassins’ Tommy guns and decides to live up to the Cook’s tour motto across the street from his apartment window: “The World Is Yours”.

It was while looking out the same window with Poppy that Camonte flashes his pinky ring, a shiner that she had previously dismissed as “kind of effeminate, isn’t it?” though this only prompted Tony to proudly tell her that he purchased it as “a bargain” at an auction.

Tony appears to be wearing black calf cap-toe oxfords with spats.

Gangsters in Robes

From Capone to Soprano, boldly striped robes have long been associated with the image of the gangster at leisure.

Al Capone was famously photographed in Miami in 1930, a year after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Based on his laidback demeanor as he smokes a cigar and fishes, you may have never guessed that a strong federal case was being built against him that would find him convicted for tax evasion the following October.

Big Al himself, clad in a striped robe while fishing off the Florida coast, circa 1930.

The fictional Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), on the other hand, reverses the image, wearing his misery as he slumps into his family’s dining room in an open maroon-and-navy striped bathrobe, hair unkempt and teeth not brushed.

Wearing a robe more for casual leisure than luxury, a depressed Tony Soprano joins his family for dinner in “Isabella” (Episode 1.12), the penultimate episode of the first season of The Sopranos.

Of course, Tony Camonte’s look itself was likely a reflection of the elegant printed silk robe and open-neck shirt that Johnny Lovo wore when the two met on screen for the first time.

Lovo’s Art Deco-printed dressing gown with its dark satin lapels, sash, and cuffs is much closer to the type of garment Tony would adopt for mornings around his apartment than the less luxurious bathrobes worn by Snorky Capone and Tony Soprano in the above images. At that point in the narrative, Lovo was still someone that Camonte professionally admired and looked up to.

For Tony Camonte, Johnny Lovo represented the ultimate figure of aspiration with his luxurious apartment, expensive silk robe, and glamorous girlfriend. Once Tony himself adopts the first two, he assumes the third will fall right into his hands.

Now that he’s taken over his aesthetic, his decision-making power, and his girlfriend, Camonte clearly sees himself as the new Lovo, in practice if not name.

How to Get the Look

Paul Muni as Tony Camonte in Scarface (1932)

While reflective of his sybaritic taste, Tony Camonte’s printed silk dressing gown also allows him to play the part of the successful gangster even more than the fine suits he wears beyond the walls of his apartment. He carries himself differently when wearing his robe, affecting a strong degree of pride and his own concept of dignity.

Clover-printed striped silk dressing gown with dark satin shawl collar, sash, welted breast pocket, hip pockets, and turnback cuffs
White (with sets of blue double stripes) cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
Brown pinstripe wool flat front suit trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Black leather belt
Black calf leather cap-toe oxfords
Light gray spats
Diamond pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie or the Deluxe Scarface Gift Set which offers both the 1932 and 1983 versions as well as collectible lobby cards and featurettes on both discs.

The Quote

I like Johnny…but I like you more.

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Indiscreet (1958)

Vitals

Cary Grant as Philip Adams, sophisticated playboy economist

London, Fall 1957 to Spring 1958

Film: Indiscreet
Release Date: June 26, 1958
Director: Stanley Donen
Tailor: Quintino

Background

Happy birthday to the great Cary Grant, born 115 years ago today on January 18, 1904, in Bristol, England. Born Archibald Leach before he assumed his catchier stage name, Grant’s signature screen presence blended his self-deprecating sense of humor with peerless suavity in both attitude and style. Grant’s popularity during the mid-20th century and the height of the dinner suit’s ubiquity meant the debonair actor would don a tuxedo almost as frequently as James Bond… and it’s not surprising to hear that Grant was an early contender for the role of 007, at least in the mind of the character’s creator Ian Fleming.

Between 1955 and 1962, Grant starred in seven contemporary-set films that didn’t require him to be in military uniform; of these, he sported a tuxedo in all but one (the lone exception, North by Northwest, featured the actor wearing arguably the most famous suit in movie history so there was little need for black tie.) In the middle of this impressive and stylish run of movies is Indiscreet, a Stanley Donen-directed romantic comedy that earned Grant his first of five Golden Globe nominations.

Indiscreet reunites Grant with Ingrid Bergman, with whom he had shared remarkable chemistry—and a rather famous kiss—in Hitchcock’s 1946 thriller Notorious. Bergman plays Anna Kalman, a successful London-based actress whose life has been lucky in all but love. After a string of boring men, she meets the charming, interesting, and seemingly eligible economist Philip Adams (Grant) who would be her perfect match except for one small detail… he tells her that he’s married.

Despite his confession of marriage, Anna pursues a date with Philip with the unspoken understanding that it will be the beginning of an affair. Philip arrives at her flat the following Saturday evening to pick her up before the ballet. The conversation is stilted—particularly when considering each’s intentions for the other—with topics ranging from dinner reservations to climate change before Anna is swarmed by autograph-seekers on the way to dinner at The Players Club.

Of course, their legitimately engaging conversation over dinner results in the couple so immersed in each other that they’re late for the ballet. Surrendering their tickets to a young couple, Philip and Anna find themselves aimlessly wandering the streets of London, sharing their first kiss by the Thames. By now, the affair is inevitable and it’s only a matter of time before Anna’s heart is broken by a married man who refuses to leave his wife… or is it?

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman amuse themselves with newspaper clippings on the set of Indiscreet (1958)

Months later, Philip breaks the news to Anna that his NATO job is summoning him to New York for 3-5 months. She is devastated, but luckily the two have plans for a party that evening with friends at the Royal Naval College’s annual Spring Dance at The Painted Hall, where they spent their first evening together. By the time they’re sitting down to dinner, a spiteful Anna knows the truth that Philip isn’t married and that he merely pretends to be so that he can end his various romantic entanglements before women begin talking to him about marriage.

A famous scene finds Philip obliviously mugging his way through dancing a Scottish reel, unaware that Anna is fuming mad and awfully fed up with him and his antics, though it gives the erstwhile Archie Leach an opportunity to show off the dancing expertise he learned early in his career.

Anna keeps the ruse going after dinner when Philip returns for a nightcap, torturing him—and his pride—with dreamy talks about an ex-suitor named David who has returned his attention to her. It’s nice to see Ingrid Bergman get to emotionally manipulate someone else for a change!

Philip: For an evening that started out well, this has turned into one of the most exasperating evenings of my whole life.
Anna: Your life isn’t over yet…

What’d He Wear?

Both Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman were immaculately dressed in Indiscreet, Bergman outfitted by Christian Dior while Grant was tailored by Quintino, the Beverly Hills tailor also credited with making his iconic suit in the following year’s North by Northwest.

Indiscreet showcases a parade of elegant tailoring from Grant’s business suits to a full white tie kit. The pièce de résistance of Grant’s wardrobe as Philip Adams is arguably the sharp three-piece dinner suit in dark midnight blue wool that makes several appearances during Philip’s various romantic outings with Anna.

Elegance indeed.

This tuxedo echoes his formal wear in the previous year’s An Affair to Remember, though this single-breasted dinner jacket has a traditional single-button closure rather than the link-button closure on his jacket in An Affair to Remember. The single front button and the four cuff buttons on his Indiscreet dinner jacket are all black plastic sew-through buttons rather than the silk-covered kind often found on formal wear.

Philip and Anna’s first date begins with an awkward—but stylish—elevator ride.

Grant had worn a similar dinner jacket during his last collaboration with Ingrid Bergman, Hitchcock’s 1946 spy thriller Notorious, so it’s possible that he may have just nostalgically repurposed the jacket for his reunion with her a dozen years later in Indiscreet. In addition to the details of the black plastic sew-through buttons, both dinner jackets share their cut with a full chest and straight shoulders.

Perhaps the most compelling argument that it’s the same jacket is the width of the broad, satin-faced peak lapels with their slanted gorges. These lapels would have been more fashionable at the time Notorious was filmed and set in the mid-1940s and they look somewhat—but only somewhat—out of place on a dinner suit in the late ’50s.

Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant on the set of Indiscreet (1958). The dinner suit appears to be the same, though Grant wears cap-toe oxfords rather than the opera pumps he wears in-character.

Particularly interesting when considering the jacket’s lineage, BAMF Style reader “Wolf” commented on the post about his tuxedo in An Affair to Remember that Cary Grant may have worn the Notorious dinner jacket as early as 1940 when attending the premiere of The Philadelphia Story. It seems hardly likely that Cary Grant—of all people—would wear a dinner jacket that was pushing 20 years old in one of his films, but that could be a testament to the quality of tailoring.

Would Grant have been wearing Quintino-tailored garments as early as the 1940s? Given that Indiscreet’s opening credits so proudly tout “Cary Grant’s clothes by Quintino”, the dinner suit that he wears for significant portions of the film and the majority of its promotional artwork would undoubtedly have been made by Quintino.

Cary Grant was known to favor wearing a waistcoat with his dinner suits rather than a cummerbund. Here, he sports a single-breasted waistcoat with a wide-bellied “dog ear” shawl collar, welted pockets, and three very closely spaced buttons.

White shirts are the most classic and formal option for black tie, and Grant would be the last to break a tradition like that. His white formal shirt in Indiscreet has his usual point collar that he preferred as he was self-conscious about the size of his head, consistent with Alan Flusser’s direction in Dressing the Man that “medium to long straight-point collars will narrow a wide countenance.”

The shirt has a plain marcella bib front that takes two visible diamond shirt studs, and he wears a set of round mother-of-pearl cuff links in the shirt’s double (French) cuffs.

Philip enthusiastically claps along during the Spring Dance. Anna… not quite as enthusiastic.

A large black silk butterfly-shaped bow tie harmonizes with the wide silk-faced lapels. A smaller bow tie tends to make one’s head look bigger—an issue where Grant was famously self-conscious—so it makes sense that he would opt for larger bow ties.

Philip wears double forward-pleated formal trousers that match the midnight blue wool of the dinner jacket with a thin double silk braid down each side. The waistband of the trousers is never seen as Grant never removes his dinner jacket on screen, but they like have buckle-tab side adjusters to fit around the waist. The bottoms are plain-hemmed per formalwear tradition.

Philip is none too pleased with Anna receiving late evening calls, purportedly from a rival for her affections.

Grant’s chosen footwear with his black tie ensemble is a pair of patent leather opera pumps. This shoe, considered the most formal, was increasingly rare across the 20th century as men opted for the more accessible and versatile black patent leather oxford shoe to accompany their dinner suits. “They are correct wear with evening dress, especially if you are dancing,” writes Hardy Amies in The ABC of Men’s Fashion, adding that they “have been largely, and I think, unfortunately, replaced by a light tie-shoe in patent leather.”

Decades later, Alan Flusser remarked in Dressing the Man that, “as a vestige of male court dress, the opera pump remains the sole item of men’s fashion to enter the twenty-first century pretty much as it left the nineteenth.” The pumps that Grant wears in Indiscreet are black patent leather—the most formal and correct material—with black ribbed grosgrain silk bows and red silk lining. He wears them with dress socks made of thin black silk.

Philip makes a point of his elegant sartorialism by keeping his patent leather pumps in hand while gesticulating around Anna’s room.

Philip Adams wears a gold watch with a white rectangular dial on a black leather strap, possibly the Cartier Tank that Grant wore in real life. Louis Cartier took inspiration from the Renault tanks that rolled through the Western front when designing this innovative timepiece that helped popularize wristwatches when they entered mass production after World War I. Over a century of production, these watches have been appropriately associated with some of the most elegant style icons including Clark Gable, Jacqueline Kennedy, Yves St. Laurent, Rudolph Valentino, Princess Diana, and—of course—Cary Grant.

During the awkward conversation that precedes their first date to the ballet, both Philip and Anna comment on the unseasonably muggy weather. However, the passing hours herald a chill in the November air, and Philip finds himself wearing the black wool knee-length Chesterfield that he was carrying. He buttons all three of the single-breasted coat’s buttons and even fastening a fourth button at the neck, closing the coat over his chest for additional warmth.

The weather may have decreased in temperature, but the passion between Philip and Anna increased over the course of their date.

The coat also has hand pockets, cuffed sleeves with no buttons, and a long single vent.

What to Imbibe

On their first real date, Philip and Anna both order Scotch and soda at The Players Club. One of the simplest drinks, with its ingredients limited to Scotch whisky and carbonated soda water, the Scotch highball emerged as a particular favorite of the Mauve Decade and remained in vogue through the first half of the 20th century before it was supplanted by more “interesting” drinks during the resurgence of cocktail culture in the ’50s and ’60s.

Scotch and soda carries particular significance throughout Indiscreet, as Anna had previously complained that they were only two of a dozen words spoken by her previous paramour, a banal “Greek statue” of a colonel. However, she was more than happy to mix some Johnnie Walker Red Label with soda water during her and Philip’s first evening together earlier that week, and she herself orders a Scotch and soda with him at The Players Club.

The Players Club evidently chooses not to serve highballs in traditional highball glasses.

Dinner at The Players Club is accompanied by a few bottles of Pouilly-Fuissé, a dry Mâconnais white wine. The Pouilly-Fuissé village appellation was instituted in 1936, taking in the four villages of Solutré-Pouilly, Fuissé, Vergisson, and Chaintré.

The passage of time is marked during Philip and Anna’s date as the waiter removes one bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé to replace it with another. Any oenophiles able to ID the bottle?

The night after the Spring Dance, a jaunty Philip pours out “champagne for the occasion… some for you, some for me. I’ll swizzle it with my nose.”

How to Get the Look

Cary Grant in Indiscreet (1958)

Once one has accepted the fact that it’s not very possible to match Cary Grant’s level of elegance when wearing a tuxedo, feel free to take inspiration from his sartorial wisdom. Grant’s venerated place as a style icon is no accident: he had access to fine tailoring (in this case, Quintino), he was aware of what was most specifically flattering to his physique and looks, and he respected the traditions of men’s formalwear without being afraid to make his own mark.

Midnight blue wool single-button dinner jacket with wide silk-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and 4-button cuffs
White cotton formal shirt with point collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
- Diamond shirt studs
- Round mother-of-pearl cuff links
Black silk large butterfly-shaped bow tie
Midnight blue wool three-button formal waistcoat with “dog ear” shawl collar, V-shaped opening, and welted pockets
Midnight blue wool double forward-pleated formal trousers with double-striped silk side braiding, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black patent leather opera pumps with black grosgrain bows and red silk lining
Black silk dress socks
Black wool single-breasted Chesterfield coat with notch lapels, three-button front, straight hip pockets, cuffed sleeves, and single vent
Cartier Tank gold watch with white rectangular face on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I don’t consider myself a snob, but I’m sure there are no one among my acquaintances who follow women to powder rooms!

Footnotes

A brief vignette of Philip returning to London to see Anna’s performance in her new play finds him enthusiastically clapping while dressed in his classic dinner suit. The short clip has been immortalized in GIF format and is likely more recognizable to many modern Internet users than the movie Indiscreet itself. (Though I would love to be proven wrong!)

Gregory Peck as Harry Street in Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

Vitals

Gregory Peck as Harry Street, adventurous American expatriate writer and former newspaper reporter

Paris, Spring 1925

Film: The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Release Date: September 17, 1952
Director: Henry King
Wardrobe Supervisor: Charles Le Maire

Background

The snowy month of January—and my shared half-birthday with Ernest Hemingway on the 21st—makes today a perfect time to look at Gregory Peck’s style in The Snows of Kilimanjaro, the first of Henry King’s two adaptations of Papa’s work that would star Ava Gardner and Peck’s second go at playing a Hemingway protagonist.

The film begins with a disillusioned Harry Street (Peck) at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, “said to be the highest mountain in Africa”, slowly dying from a leg infection spreading through his body. Despite receiving compassionate first aid from his resourceful, supportive wife Helen (Susan Hayward), Harry’s prognosis seems poor. He offers some personal musings on the nature of death, which makes him think even deeper into his own history…

Did I ever tell you about my beginning, when I was young… and my first love?

The lucid Harry recalls a quarter of a century earlier when he was in Paris as part of the “Lost Generation”, a real-life exodus that found American authors and artists like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein conducting their art and affairs against the romantic backdrop of 1920s Paris. It’s a place for painters, sculptors, and writers, and the few who are “just trying to be happy” as Gardner’s Cynthia Green would offer for her own motives.

We can’t quite pin down the year, though we know Harry would receive a telegram that summer while in Spain for the bullfights, summoning him to Damascus to cover the “fracas” between the French and the Syrians, which could be the Franco-Syrian War which ended in July 1920 or, more likely, the Syrian revolt of 1925-1927. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! Back to Harry’s story…

This little ditty had everything: drama, tragedy, love, and poetry… simply everything!

What’d He Wear?

The strains of accordion music transport us to springtime in Paris, where a tweed-coated Harry Street struts in and gregariously greets the proprietor of Café Emile and orders a drink before he catches sight of the dazzling Cynthia Green (Ava Gardner) and cuts in to dance with her.

Harry wears a tweed sport jacket in a birdseye weave of alternating gray yarns, woven in a manner that creates an imperfect stripe effect.

Harry can’t take his eyes off of Cynthia. Love at first sight.

Gregory Peck didn’t become a customer of the famous Huntsman tailor shop on Savile Row until 1953, the year after The Snows of Kilimanjaro was released, so it’s unlikely that we may ever find out who tailored his sharp costumes, designed by the celebrated Charles Le Maire. Peck and Le Maire had worked together before on Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) and The Gunfighter (1950), and Le Maire’s contemporary approach to 1920s period costuming can also be seen in The Razor’s Edge (1946).

This particular sport jacket has substantial notch lapels that roll to a low stance with two sky blue plastic sew-through buttons that match the four buttons on each cuff. The ventless jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets, though the left pocket flap is occasionally tucked in to the pocket himself when Harry arrives at Emile’s.

Harry can’t help but to try to steal a dance with Cynthia, cutting out Compton (John Dodsworth), her presumed date for the evening.

Harry wears a light blue cotton shirt with a soft spread collar with long points, a front placket, and rounded barrel cuffs that close on one of two buttons like many modern inexpensive, ready-to-wear dress shirts. He wears it with a dark royal blue silk tie.

Harry’s light gray flannel double reverse-pleated trousers have do not contrast much with his jacket, creating a suit-like effect when seen from afar. The trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms and have side pockets where he frequently keeps his hands, though they’re likely styled with two back pockets like all of his other trousers.

Through the trouser belt loops, he wears a brown leather belt with a squared brass single-prong buckle.

Harry may have benefited from a stronger contrast between jacket and trousers, perhaps by wearing charcoal rather than light gray trousers, but at least the pattern of his tweed jacket provides some visual differentiation.

The scene shifts from the boisterous Café Emile to a slowed-down jazz bar where Benny Carter serenades the crowd with his smooth saxophone improvisation. Reclined against a wall, Harry kicks out his feet, clad in a pair of brown suede cap-toe oxfords and light gray socks.

Harry sits on the floor of a crowded but quiet Paris nightclub, drinking Pernod and listening to jazz. Just a few feet to his left sits an artist, studiously working on a painting of a Paris street, while to his right is the alluring woman he’ll fall instantly in love with. Welcome to the Lost Generation.

Harry’s dark gray felt fedora has a black ribbed grosgrain band and a self-bound brim reminiscent of “the Cavanagh edge” used by some of the best hatmakers after Cavanagh’s first patent expired in 1931. This style remained popular well into the time of the film’s production in the 1950s, when they were worn by stars like James Stewart and Frank Sinatra (who wore Cavanagh hats exclusively).

Peck’s Harry Street would wear this same gray fedora with his other lounge suits and sport jackets throughout the film.

Another shared match for Harry and Cynthia’s Gauloises.

Months later, Harry and Cynthia are living together in Paris when he finishes his first book, The Lost Generation. She catches up with him on the street with the news of its publication while he wears the same jacket, trousers, and belt but with a white shirt, a short teal tie, and the hint of a white linen handkerchief popping up from his jacket’s breast pocket.

Cynthia excitedly shares the news of Harry’s imminent publishing, and it’s off to Africa!

Following that scene, it’s plenty of safari clothing for both Peck and Gardner, something she would be getting rather used to when starring in Mogambo the following year with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly. He wears plenty of tweed when he returns to Europe—sporting brown herringbone when in Spain for the bullfights and a gray mixed tweed suit on the French Riviera—but this distinctive jacket from his salad days in Paris never reappears.

What to Imbibe

Café Emile barmaid: Et, quelle est votre désir?
Harry: In English, that’s quite a question.

For non-Francophiles, Harry was asked “and, what is your desire?” He ordered “un fine,” or a high-quality brandy, perhaps a shortcut for fine à l’eau, the popular brandy-and-water concoction that featured in several of Ernest Hemingway’s Paris-set books and even made its way into Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel when 007’s ally René Mathis orders one in Casino Royale.

“We got the daughter of the house over and each had a fine à l’eau,” Hemingway surrogate Jake Barnes narrates in the third chapter of The Sun Also Rises. In Hemingway’s posthumously published recollection of this era, he includes a fine-focused exchange with Ford Madox Ford:

“What are you drinking brandy for?” Ford asked me. “Don’t you know it’s fatal for a young writer to start drinking brandy?”

Decades after he was a “young writer”, Harry returns to Café Emile and is surprised and delighted to find that Emile stocks the same brandy behind his bar, and he splits a glass with the two young women accompanying him.

Twenty years after he first saw Cynthia in this very location, a drunk and disillusioned Harry returns to Café Emile—and Emile’s cognac—with two dates in tow.

But getting back to the roaring twenties… after Harry leaves Café Emile and settles in to hear Benny Carter playing “Blue Mountain” (also known as “Love Is Cynthia”) on his saxophone, he sips a cloudy drink that could only be the classic Lost Generation libation of Pernod and water that features in so many of Hemingway’s works.

Between drinks, Harry lights a cigarette and hears “Please?” before he can extinguish his match. Turning to his right, he sees Cynthia—the mysterious woman from Café Emile—with a cigarette suggestively dangling from her lips.

Two on a match.

“Do you mind?” Cynthia asks after their introductions, picking up Harry’s glass and taking a considerable swallow of the concoction before handing it back.

Cynthia: You’d better take this from me, I sometimes drink too much.
Harry: Everything’s fair in the pursuit of happiness.

How to Get the Look

Gregory Peck and Marcel Dalio in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

Peck // though the scene is set in the 1920s, peck’s wardrobe would also be fashionable and contemporary for the ’50s (some may argue moreso), but it’s a timeless touch that keeps his character from looking dated. while not perhaps the most historically accurate depiction of what would have been seen on the streets of Jazz Age Paris, it’s nice.

Gray birdseye tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
Light blue cotton shirt with long-pointed soft spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
Dark royal blue silk tie
Light gray flannel double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Brown leather belt with squared brass single-prong buckle
Brown suede cap-toe oxford shoes
Light gray socks
Dark gray felt fedora with black ribbed grosgrain band and “Cavanagh edge”

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and Papa’s original short story.

Since the film spent years in the public domain, make sure you’re finding a worthwhile print of it to see the stunning, Oscar-nominated cinematography and art decoration (as well as Ava Gardner) in full Technicolor; the DVD box set included in The Ernest Hemingway Classics Collection offered by 20th Century Fox seems to be a good bet, and it was that set that provided the screenshots in this post.

A screenshot from the high-resolution DVD offered in The Ernest Hemingway Classics Collection...

...and a screenshot of the same scene from one of the many low-quality public domain prints floating around the Internet.

The Quote

It’s a case of avoiding a broken nose, Emile—mine or old Compton’s—because a laugh like hers would just have to lead it to a lousy fight.