Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

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Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, ambitious FBI agent

Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, Spring 1991

Film: Point Break
Release Date: July 12, 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Costume Supervisors: Colby P. Bart & Louis Infante

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy birthday to Keanu Reeves, born September 2, 1964. Born in Beirut, Reeves spent his childhood moving between several countries around the world, including Australia, which would later be the setting for the finale of Point Break, one of the Reeves’ first major movies and a cult favorite 30 years after its release.

After spending much of the movie pursuing, befriending, and ultimately losing the enigmatic surfer-turned-bank robber Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), FBI agent Johnny Utah leads a task force to Bells Beach in Victoria, where he knows Bodhi will be pursuing his lifelong dream of surfing the “50-year storm”, even if it means his own death. (Despite the Australian setting, the “Bells Beach” scene was actually filmed at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach, Oregon.)

What’d He Wear?

Though Johnny Utah isn’t the one planning a fateful last ride into the storm, his Lee Storm Rider is appropriate for the climactic sequence that finds him tracking Bodhi to the edge of the surf.

Utah’s Lee Storm Rider jacket doesn’t get a dry second of screen-time thanks to the relentless rain.

The Storm Rider had been developed during the mid-20th century as Lee was vying against Levi’s and Wrangler for American denim supremacy. Based in Kansas, H.D. Lee Corporation had pioneered its denim 101J “Cowboy Jacket” in the 1930s, which evolved into the blanket-lined 101LJ that also boasted a tan pinwale corduroy collar. To capitalize on its intended purpose to provide a warm layer for cowboys riding through storms, Lee re-branded their popular work jacket as the Storm Rider in the fall of 1953. (As of August 2021, Lee still offers the Storm Rider, albeit an updated iteration.)

Lee has kept the Storm Rider’s styling points relatively consistent over the decades, as seen on Utah’s light blue denim jacket that has six copper rivet buttons up the front detailed with Lee’s signature zigzag contrast stitch around the buttonholes on the left side. Two chest pockets are positioned just below the horizontal chest yoke on each side, with flaps that close through a single rivet button. A pleat strip extends down each side of the front from under the pocket flap down to the waistband. Each cuff also closes through a single button, and there’s a short adjuster-tab on each side of the waistband that closes through a rivet button.

Utah wears his generously sized Storm Rider over a tight charcoal gray cotton crew-neck T-shirt, tucked into light blue denim jeans that appear to be Levi’s.

Utah holds up his jeans with a brown woven leather belt that closes through a large silver-toned single-prong buckle.

Bodhi gets the upper hand as he and Utah grapple in the waves.

Utah completes his look with a pair of brown oiled leather work boots, which have a plain toe, lugged soles, and open derby lacing through gold eyelets.

How to Get the Look

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

Johnny Utah arguably pulls off the controversial “double denim” effect by layering his classic Lee Storm Rider jacket with jeans and the simple accompanying pieces of a dark T-shirt, woven leather belt, and work boots. If you’re determined to wear it in the rain, I’d just recommend adding another layer with more water-resistant properties than flannel-lined denim.

• Blue denim Lee Storm Rider blanket-lined “cowboy jacket” with tan pinwale corduroy collar, rivet buttons, two button-down flap chest pockets, button cuffs, and button-tab side adjusters
• Charcoal-gray cotton crew-neck T-shirt
• Light blue denim Levi’s jeans
• Brown woven leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Brown oiled leather plain-toe derby-laced work boots

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Vaya con dios.

The post Point Break: Keanu Reeves’ Wet Lee Storm Rider Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989)

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Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, enigmatic millionaire and defender of Gotham

Gotham City, Fall 1989

Film: Batman
Release Date: June 23, 1989
Director: Tim Burton
Costume Designer: Bob Ringwood
Clothes By: Giorgio Armani

Background

Happy 70th birthday, Michael Keaton! Born September 5, 1951 just outside of Pittsburgh, Keaton rose to fame throughout the ’80s in comedies like Night Shift, Mr. Mom, and Beetlejuice before he was tapped for the titular role in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Bob Kane’s famous comics. The casting decision initially soured fans, who mailed thousands of letters to Warner Bros. in protest, but his unassuming performance quickly won over audiences and Batman became one of the top-grossing movies of 1989.

Despite Keaton playing the title character, a role he would reprise three years later in Batman Returns, it was Jack Nicholson—and his $60 million salary—who was top-billed for his chaotic portrayal of the Joker, née Jack Napier, a psychotic killer with a grudge against the caped crusader after a confrontation in a chemical plant resulted in Napier’s deranging disfigurement.

In addition to his resentment of Batman, Joker also posits himself as Bruce Wayne’s romantic rival when he begins to covet Bruce’s new girlfriend, photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger). Bruce and Vicki are navigating the regular obstacles in any new relationship (i.e., should he tell her he’s Batman?) when Joker literally bursts into their lives as he and his boombox-toting hoods storm into her apartment—which has lots of space.

Armed with a fireplace poker and protected by a silver tray tucked under his tailored layers, Bruce provokes Joker into shooting him and absconding with Vicki, but not until after Joker inadvertently reveals he had killed Bruce’s parents decades earlier when he utters the same curious phrase:

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

What’d He Wear?

Discussing suits in relation to Batman typically begins with the Batsuit itself (much to George Clooney’s dismay), but when Bruce Wayne isn’t out fighting Gotham’s goons, he’s dressed to fit his reputation as a successful—if aloof—industrialist, clad in conservative but fashionable double-breasted suits from Giorgio Armani, typically in businesslike shades of gray.

Once he’s aware that his burgeoning relationship with Vicki Vale is in need of salvaging, Bruce softens his daily look by layering an avuncular cardigan sweater under his suit. The suit is a taupe brown blend of 50% silk and 50% rayon, the warmest shade of his tailored clothing in Batman. (You can see photos of the screen-worn suit, shoes, and a similar tie in this listing at The Prop Gallery.)

Fashioned consistently with menswear trends in the late 1980s into the ’90s, the double-breasted suit jacket has considerably padded shoulders and a low 6×2-button front, though the left peak lapel rolls over the second row. This effectively lengthens the the line of the lapels, a flattering detail that makes the 5’9″ Michael Keaton appear taller. The ventless jacket has a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and three-button cuffs.

The generously sized dark gray wool long-sleeved cardigan could threaten to look bulky under some suits, but Keaton’s lean frame and the looser fits of the late ’80s harmonize to create the effect of the cardigan merely serving the welcome role of an odd waistcoat. Bruce wears the top of the four buttons undone, and the cardigan blousons over the ribbed waist hem that echoes the ribbed cuffs.

Bruce struggles with how to tell Vicki that he’s Batman, but he abandons all passivity once Jack Napier arrives.

Bruce’s suit trousers are pleated, though the full wrap of the double-breasted jacket, the cardigan, and his reclined angle when both are removed make it difficult to discern how many or in which direction, nor do we see enough of his other suits to conclude whether or not they would all be consistently detailed. All we know is that they’re almost certainly held up with a belt, styled with side pockets, and the bottoms are plain-hemmed.

With gray argyle socks continuing the leg-line of the grayish-brown taupe trousers, Bruce wears sueded leather five-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes with brown—or nut brown, if you will—nubuck uppers.

Mornings in the Batcave with Alfred (Michael Gough).

Bruce wears a light-blue cotton shirt with a repeating fancy stripe, consisting of a pale blue bar stripe bordered by taupe stripes and bisected by a hairline-width blue stripe. The shirt has a point collar, breast pocket, and button cuffs. He wears it with a crimson red silk tie by Italian fashion label Gian Marco Venturi, patterned with scattered taupe squares and “boomerang” shapes, each detailed with a busy black medallion-like motif.

“Let me tell you about this guy I know, Jack. Mean kid. Bad seed. Hurt people.”

To insulate himself against the chill of autumn in Gotham City, Bruce pulls on a trench coat for his visit to Vicki’s apartment. Made from a gabardine cloth in a similar shade of taupe as his suit, Bruce’s coat is a civilian-oriented evolution of the original military trench, lacking the shoulder straps (epaulettes), belt D-rings, and gun flap that had been trademarks when worn in the proverbial trenches.

The long coat has the requisite full belt to support the double-breasted button configuration, though Bruce uses neither as he wears the coat open with his hands often stuffed in the side pockets. The raglan sleeves allow the coat to more easily slip over heavy layers like his padded-shoulder suit jacket and woolen cardigan, and the ends of each sleeve are belted around the cuff. In service of the coat’s purpose of protecting its wearer against rain, there’s a long storm flap across the back and a long throat latch extends from the left collar to close the broad lapels around the neck, if necessary.

For additional protection against the elements, Bruce wears a dark olive-gold scarf with a navy and magenta paisley print.

While the trench coat would serve a practical purpose in Gotham City, its noir-era gumshoe connotations also suggest Batman’s reputation as “the World’s Greatest Detective.”

Keaton’s Bruce Wayne distinguished himself among past and future Batmen by regularly wearing eyeglasses, perhaps a nod to his more subdued personality (“let’s get nuts” aside) or to add a touch of Clark Kent’s famous “disguise” to the characterization. In Batman, he are round rimless glasses with thin gold arms.

Bruce’s glasses would return with the character three years later in Batman Returns, albeit with mitred-corner lenses.

How to Get the Look

Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989)

Quietly dignified in his muted double-breasted suit, neatly knotted tie, and avuncular wool cardigan, Bruce Wayne looks like the last guy who would smash a mantle with a fireplace poker and invite you to get nuts… and that kind of deceptive dressing could be exactly what you’re going for.

• Taupe-brown silk/rayon-blend tailored suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Pleated trousers with side pockets, belt loops, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark gray wool 4-button cardigan sweater with ribbed cuffs and hem
• Light-blue multi-striped cotton shirt with point collar, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Crimson-red silk tie with taupe medallion-printed square motif
• Brown nubuck plain-toe 5-eyelet derby shoes
• Gray argyle socks
• Taupe-brown gabardine double-breasted trench coat with broad lapels (with throat latch strap), raglan sleeves (with belted cuffs), back storm flap, full belt, and side pockets
• Olive-gold silk scarf with navy-and-magenta paisley print
• Round rimless eyeglasses with thin gold arms

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, which portended the darkness of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy starring Christian Bale, though the Burton/Keaton collaborations still infused a tongue-in-cheek lightness, in part due to the out-of-time setting that borrowed from the aesthetics of the “golden age” of Bob Kane’s early Batman comics in the 1940s when characters like Joker, Vicki Vale, and Harvey Dent originated.

The Quote

You wanna get nuts? Come on! Let’s get nuts!

The post Batman: Michael Keaton Gets Nuts in Layered Taupe appeared first on BAMF Style.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lorenza Izzo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, re-energized movie and TV star

Rome to Los Angeles, Summer 1969

Film: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Release Date: July 26, 2019
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips

Background

I recently had the good fortune to rejoin my friend Peter Brooker on his excellent podcast, From Tailors With Love, joined by John Williams of James Bond Radio to talk about the style in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Tarantino’s ode to the movie industry at the close of the 1960s.

Though Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cycles through the orbit of real-life stars like Sharon Tate, Steve McQueen, the Mamas and the Papas, and James Stacy—to name just a few—the central story focuses on the dynamic between the fictional actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his best friend, the laconic stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).

The movie begins with Rick coming to terms with his “washed-up” career, his desperation leading to a meeting with talent broker Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino), who suggests spaghetti westerns as the gateway to the next phase of Rick’s career. Following Rick’s impressive performances on episodes of The F.B.I. and Lancer, Schwarz books him four back-to-back gigs in Italy, where he also meets and marries the beautiful starlet Francesca Capucci (Lorenza Izzo) as his stardom climbs to new heights.

Following six months in Europe, Rick returns to Hollywood on the fateful night of Friday, August 8, 1969, via a Pan Am jet… though not pretending to be a pilot, as Leo’s characters have been known to do. Having packed on 15 pounds due to Italian carb-loading, Rick considers having to take the next step of his life without Cliff, who he can’t afford to continue paying as the expenses of his new life’s lifestyle seem to outweigh the financial windfall of his newfound success.

As Kurt Russell narrates before the jet alights at LAX:

The only thing the two men know of for sure? Tonight, Rick and Cliff will have a good, old-fashioned drunk. Both men know once the plane touches down in El Segundo, it’ll be the end of an era for both of them. And when you come to the end of the line with a buddy who is more than a brother and a little less than a wife, getting blind drunk together is really the only way to say farewell.

What’d He Wear?

During our From Tailors With Love conversation, John had mentioned that Rick Dalton’s traveling outfit was a highlight for him, which encouraged me to take another look. As opposed to Cliff, who spends the entire day in his black T-shirt with white jeans and jacket, Rick cycles through three different outfits on Friday, August 8, beginning with this primarily black garb consisting of a black jacket, shirt, trousers, and boots, with an added touch of color only from the natty scarf knotted around his neck.

The new outfit signals Rick’s transition from his years as a washed-up Western star, when he dressed in warm shades of brown, mustard, and orange. His leather jackets and turtlenecks had been certainly contemporary to the late ’60s but not as fashion-forward as the double disco collars and paisley scarf he wears when returning stateside with renewed swagger, ready to take on the ’70s.

Despite the Bloody Marys, Rick finds himself unable to relax on the plane, bothered by considering the prospects of a future sans Cliff… and by his new wife’s snoring.

The decreasing formality of the ’70s revived the popularity of neckerchiefs and scarves, now worn as sporty alternatives to traditional ties. Rick’s scarf delivers the outfit’s only significant dash of color, patterned with an electric purple, magenta, and yellow paisley print against a black silk ground.

Rick wears the top of his black shirt open to comfortably keep the scarf knotted over his neck, allowing the ends of the scarf to rakishly fall over the front of his shirt. The long-sleeved shirt is subtly contrast-stitched with white threading around the long-pointed collar, buttonholes, and via sets of two thin stripes down each side of the front.

While I don’t believe the jacket and trousers are made from matching fabrics, the look portends the infamous leisure suits that lined the closets of many a disco-era gent or—perhaps to an even greater extreme—a black jumpsuit like those made famous by Elvis Presley.

Rick’s hip-length jacket has a long-pointed collar echoing the shirt layered under it, and a brass zipper with a circular pull tab would close the front if he wasn’t wearing it open. The four pockets are each covered with a flap with a drooping “dog ear” in the center that fastens closed through a gold-toned bone-shaped clasp.

The black flat front trousers have a self-suspended waistband that closes through an extended two-button tab. The plain-hemmed bottoms have a decided flare, creating a dramatic sweep over his black leather plain-toe boots s he strides through LAX.

Francesca’s red jumpsuit resembles an identical item worn by Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) in the Mad Men episode “The Better Half”, set in the late ’60s. Throughout the later seasons of Mad Men, the character of Hollywood-dwelling actress Megan invited comparisons to the real Sharon Tate, particularly after she appeared on the show wearing a white T-shirt with a red star that Tate had famously worn in real life.

On the verge of new stardom at the dawn of a decade celebrating excess, Rick has also upgraded his eyewear to a proto-Elvis style of oversized Carrera 549 sunglasses, with thick brown plastic frames that flare out around the bottoms of each lens and have wide, perforated gold arms, a style that even the more practical-minded Cliff has adopted. (The King himself was reported to pick up his first famous pair of “TCB” frames from Optique Boutique in 1970, per Barnebys.)

Rick continues wearing the jewelry that was custom-made for his character, including the double-sided pendant monogrammed “R” on one side and with a Tudor rose design on the other, per costume designer Arianne Phillips’ interviews with Collider and Fashionista. In the latter, Phillips also provided background for the chunky ring Rick wears on his right pinky, explaining that “the lion pinky ring was a collaboration with Chris Call, our property master, Leo and Quentin.”

Rick’s lion-relief pinky ring flashes as he sets up the vintage Hopalong Cassidy mugs behind his bar. Interestingly, Hopalong Cassidy had been the childhood book of choice for Jay Gatsby, who DiCaprio had played several years earlier.

Rick also returns stateside with an additional ring… in the form of a plain gold wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

Under the left sleeve of Rick’s jacket and shirt, we glimpse a dark brown alligator watch strap that suggests he’s likely still wearing the subdued 18-carat yellow gold Chopard Classic manual-winding watch.

What to Imbibe

“Looks delicious, thank you,” Rick comments to the Pan Am flight attendant that serves his Bloody Mary. He’s clearly getting the first-class treatment as the stewardess even dropped in his two olives herself, while Cliff had to mix his up farther aft with a can of tomato juice and some Stoli.

Rick takes a refreshing slurp of his Bloody Mary.

Having emerged sometime during the interwar era—occasionally attributed to comedian George Jessel—the Bloody Mary’s basest ingredients are vodka and tomato juice, in varying proportions and with even more varying accoutrements that range from the traditional (celery stalks and Worcestershire sauce) to the avant-garde (lobster tails and burger sliders). The glassware tends to be of the longer variety, typically highball glasses with some opting for draft or even hurricane glasses, all with considerably more volume than the rocks glass that Rick’s Bloody Mary is served in.

How to Get the Look

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lorenza Izzo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Recently gain about 15 pounds (and a wife) during a six-month sojourn in Europe? They say black is slimming, so drape yourself in fashion-forward black from head to toe, with a touch of color knotted around your neck to assuage any sinister associations.

• Black hip-length zip-up jacket with long point collar and four flapped pockets (with gold-clasp closure)
• Black long-sleeved shirt with white contrast-stitched long collar, buttonholes, and double stripe sets
• Black flat-front self-suspended trousers with 2-button extended waist tab, slanted front pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather plain-toe boots
• Brown plastic oversized sunglasses with gold perforated arms
• Gold “R”-monogrammed/Tudor rose pendant on thin gold necklace
• Gold chunky lion-motif pinky ring
• Gold wedding ring
• Chopard Classic 18-carat yellow gold wristwatch with round white dial on brown alligator leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and subscribe to From Tailors With Love!

The post Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Leo’s Black Airport Attire appeared first on BAMF Style.

Chaim Topol as Milos Colombo in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

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Chaim Topol as Milos Colombo, gregarious smuggler and pistachio addict

St. Cyril’s, Greece, Spring 1981

Film: For Your Eyes Only
Release Date: June 24, 1981
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Wardrobe Master: Tiny Nicholls

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Continuing my commemoration of my favorite of Roger Moore’s James Bond adventures, For Your Eyes Only, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, today also marks the 86th birthday of Chaim Topol. Born September 9, 1935, the Israeli actor may be best known for his memorable performance as Tevye the Dairyman in the stage and screen versions of Fiddler on the Roof, though he also has a significance for Bond fans as 007’s charismatic ally Milos Colombo in For Your Eyes Only.

Penned by Bond regulars Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, For Your Eyes Only brought Bond back to Earth after his outer space adventures in Moonraker and his deep-sea Lotus-diving in The Spy Who Loved Me. Maibaum and Wilson turned to Ian Fleming’s source material, specifically the short stories “For Your Eyes Only” and “Risico”, the latter originating the characters of Colombo and his smuggling rival, Aristotle Kristatos.

As usual, For Your Eyes Only finds Bond and his allies preparing to infiltrate the villain’s lair, only 007’s team is a small crew of six—including Colombo and the vengeance-seeking Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet)—and Kristatos (Julian Glover) is holed up not with an identically dressed army in a hollowed-out volcano but instead biding his time in a mountaintop monastery with a few select henchmen and a bratty figure-skater.

What’d He Wear?

Bond, Melina, and Colombo’s team are certainly dressed for the action-packed task ahead, but Colombo himself looks a little more prepared for a nightclub than daytime combat. Indeed, if someone were watching the scene without the context of who Roger Moore or James Bond are, they may mistake Colombo as the central protagonist as he’s dressed like the quintessential cinematic action hero in a less-than-practical all black, anchored by his cool leather jacket.

The attire is consistent with Colombo’s image of himself, an individualistic renegade whose entire, decades-long criminal career has been building up to this climax with his erstwhile partner-turned-rival Kristatos. For Bond, this is just another job; for Colombo, it’s personal.

Colombo’s black leather jacket takes some styling cues from the classic “café racer” that emerged in England, following the development of the Schott Perfecto motorcycle jacket in the late 1920s. His hip-length jacket shares the short standing mandarin-style collar of the sleek racer-style jacket, fastening up the front with a black plastic-toothed zipper that Colombo leaves open throughout the scene.

Horizontal seams split the center of the body and the raglan sleeves, which each end in a short pointed tab that closes through a single button—though Colombo leaves those open as well. A short buckle-tab adjusts the fit around the waist on each side of the hem, and the back has an inverted box-pleat through the center to allow for greater range of motion. The pocket on the right side has a slanted welt opening, and the set-in pocket on the left is covered by a pointed pocket flap extending down from the seam.

The protagonist of his own personal vengeance story, Colombo dresses more like the quintessential cinematic action hero than the more practically attired Bond and Melina.

As stated, Colombo layers the jacket over black underpinnings. The black long-sleeved shirt has a silky finish, though it may be made from rayon or a rayon blend, consistent with trending fabrics at the dawn of the ’80s. The shirt has black buttons up the narrow front placket and on the cuffs. There are two chest pockets, each detailed with a horizontal yoke and mitred lower corners.

Colombo wears his shirt tucked into black flat front trousers which have prominently swelled side seams and plain-hemmed bottoms. The trousers are held up by a black leather belt that has an intricate gold-plated buckle that suggests a top designer, similar to the leatherwear from Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci that Roger Moore had worn as Bond over the previous decade. Colombo evidently carries his pistol in his waistband or pocket, though he keeps his combat knife holstered in a brown leather sheath attached to the back-right of his belt.

Perhaps the most practical part of Colombo’s wardrobe are his black leather sneakers. All black aside from the gum rubber soles, these apron-toe, derby-laced trainer shoes are subdued enough to not provide a jarring contrast against the all-black nature of his smart casual outfit while also serving the practical purpose of providing him with more traction while running and fighting on the rougher terrain of St. Cyril’s.

Colombo and Kristatos brawl as the latter tries to deliver the MacGuffin—er, ATAC—to the Soviets.

By the early 1980s, SEIKO had been well-established as the official watch brand of the James Bond franchise, with 007 himself and even minor characters like Sir Timothy Havelock wearing these trusty Japanese timepieces on their wrists. Colombo’s stainless steel dive watch is best seen during these climactic scenes, detailed with a black dial that has luminous hour markers. The tapered steel bracelet with its squared, three-piece links resembles neither the coffin-link nor H-link styles of watch bracelets that SEIKO used during this era… though that doesn’t mean Colombo isn’t wearing a SEIKO.

Colombo wears two gold rings on the third finger of his left hand. The chunkier ring, worn toward the front of his finger, has a squared surface engraved with what appears to be a snake. He stacks this in front of a slimmer ring that has the smaller, rounded surface of a signet ring.

The Gun

Colombo arms himself for the assault with a FÉG Tokagypt 58, a Hungarian-made copy of the Tokarev service pistol that had been developed by Soviet Russia during the years leading up to World War II. Even 40 years after For Your Eyes Only, the Tokagypt’s screen appearances have been limited, according to IMFDB, which explains that Colombo’s pistol can be cosmetically differentiated from the Tokarev by the added manual safety on the left side in addition to bulkier but more ergonomic brown Bakelite plastic grips.

Colombo draws his Tokagypt 58, though perhaps his excitement at finally confronting his nemesis has overcome his concern for trigger discipline.

The Russians introduced the Tokarev during the 1930s, when it was designated the TT-30 and TT-33 service pistol. It had been initially chambered in the proprietary 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge, though eventual export to other Soviet bloc countries led to its adaptation for a more universal cartridge, specifically the 9x19mm Parabellum that had been originally developed for the German Luger pistol in 1908.

The Hungarian firearms firm Fegyver és Gépgyár (FÉG) began producing its own TT-33 copy, re-barreled to fire 9mm and known as the Pisztoly 48.M. A decade later, the Egyptian Army contracted FÉG to deliver 30,000 pistols. FÉG had already started fulfilling the order when the Egyptian Army canceled the contract, and the remaining TT-9P pistols were sold commercially, marketed as the Tokagypt 58 (a portmanteau of “Tokarev” and “Egypt” with 1958 denoting the year of production.)

How to Get the Look

Chaim Topol as Milos Colombo in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Wearing all black may look like you’re trying too hard to be an action hero, but that’s precisely what Milos Colombo has in mind when he and his commando team bring his decades-long association-turned-feud with Kristatos to a crescendo on a quiet Greek mountaintop. Whether he survives or dies during the mission, Colombo knows this will be the defining moment of his personal and professional lives and dresses the part of the archetypal movie badass.

• Black leather racer-style jacket with short standing collar, raglan sleeves with button cuffs, slanted right-side pocket, flapped set-in left-side pocket, and waist hem adjuster tabs
• Black silky rayon long-sleeved shirt with front placket, two chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Black flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather designer belt with unique gold-plated buckle
• Black leather apron-toe derby-laced sneakers with gum rubber soles
• Black socks
• Gold chunky ring with square, snake-engraved face
• Gold signet ring
• Stainless steel dive watch with round black dial and tapered steel three-piece link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post For Your Eyes Only: Topol’s Black Leather Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby in Night Moves (1975)

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Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby, private detective and former professional football player

Los Angeles to New Mexico, Fall 1973

Film: Night Moves
Release Date: June 11, 1975
Director: Arthur Penn
Costumer: Arnie Lipin
Costume Supervisor: Rita Riggs

Background

He may wear rollnecks and drive a green ’68 Mustang, but Harry Moseby ain’t no Frank Bullitt. Five years earlier, this type of character may have been styled in the manner of the cooler-than-cool Steve McQueen archetype, but the tumultuous half-decade that passed between the production of Bullitt and Night Moves saw waves of political assassinations, civil unrest, disillusionment in Vietnam, and post-Watergate paranoia that shifted the zeitgeist to a pessimistic cynicism that permeated much of ’70s cinema.

A decade after his career with the Oakland Raiders, Harry Moseby’s best days are well behind him as he continues eking out a living as a shabby Hollywood private eye, entertaining himself by playing chess on the passenger seat of his Mustang. Unlike the fast-quipping gumshoes of classic noir in their trench coats and fedoras, there’s little that’s aspiration about Harry’s life, which consists primarily of working cases for aged starlets or disappointing his wife Ellen (Susan Clark), whom he recently learned has been having an affair with the hobbling artist Marty Heller (Harris Yulin).

Averting a connection that might have tempted lesser movies, neither his latest missing-persons case nor his wife’s affair are related; instead, both merely co-exist to compose the moldy fabric of Harry Moseby’s sad life. In between following leads in search of the teen runaway Delly Gratsner (Melanie Griffith), Harry confronts Marty, but he isn’t looking to fight… he just wants to get a sense of the man his wife has chosen over him.

Meanwhile, the search for Delly leads him from a pestilent local mechanic, Quentin (James Woods), to a movie set in New Mexico, where he’s briefly the guest of stunt coordinator Joey Ziegler (Edward Binns). The search grows cold, so Harry returns to L.A. and Delly’s washed-up mother Arlene (Janet Ward), who sets Harry on track to visit the Florida Keys where her ex-husband—Delly’s stepfather—captains a charter boat.

What’d He Wear?

Aside from his tweed jacket and tie worn for Night Moves‘ earliest scenes, Harry Moseby dresses casually for his day-to-day casework, including this frequently seen suede jacket that anchors most of his wardrobe before he travels to Florida.

Made of a rich tobacco brown suede, the hip-length jacket has a large collar—consistent with trending fashions from the “disco decade”—and six large convex copper poppers (or snaps) up the front placket. The lightweight jacket appears to be self-lined with the smooth side of the leather. The edges are stitched with half-inch seams in a subtly contrasting tan thread.

The hip-length jacket follows a simplified approach to the military-inspired sensibilities of then-fashionable safari jackets, albeit without the extraneous shoulder straps, pleats, or belts that characterized the oft-criticized safari style of the ’70s. Most consistent with this quasi-military styling are the four inverted box-pleat patch pockets—two on the chest aligned with the horizontal yoke, two larger pockets over the hips—that each close with a gently pointed flap. The back is detailed with a single pointed yoke and double vents, and each set-in sleeve closes at the squared cuff with a single snap.

Harry projects affability while confronting the man who’s been sleeping with his wife.

Harry’s forest green turtleneck coordinates the earth tones of his outfit while avoiding all-brown. Likely made from merino wool or an acrylic blend, the jumper has a ribbed roll-neck and raglan sleeves.

Harry’s next turtleneck is a similarly styled jumper in slate-gray, which we see tucked into his trousers when he leaves Joey Ziegler’s Winnebago, parked at the New Mexico film set. The flat-front slacks are khaki gabardine, styled with front pockets (but no back pockets) and straight plain-hemmed bottoms. He holds them up with a wide brown leather belt that closes through a rounded gold single-prong buckle.

With nearly every outfit he wears, Harry sports a pair of well-traveled light brown sneakers with soft leather uppers and thick rubber siped-bottom soles. He ties them on with flat brown laces, closed-laced through six sets of eyelets that taper toward the toes. He wears them here with tan socks that effectively continue the leg-line of his trousers into his shoes.

Harry considers the best tactic for getting information out of the obstinate Quentin.

Harry doesn’t just wear turtlenecks with the jacket, arriving in New Mexico wearing a blue-and-white end-on-end oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, flapped breast pocket, and button cuffs.

Harry finds a more loquacious lead in Joey Ziegler.

Back in L.A. for another visit to Arlene’s, Harry wears a different light blue shirt with his brown suede jacket, this one a melange cotton fabric with a wider point collar and a standard, non-flapped breast pocket. The shirt also has a front placket and button cuffs, and he tucks it into a pair of solid gray self-suspended flat front trousers of which we see little aside from the wide extended waistband tab (with a hidden hook-and-eye closure) and the slanted frogmouth-style front pockets.

Sweaty day, I guess.

Harry wears no watch or jewelry aside from the gold wedding ring on his left hand, symbolizing his unfulfilling marriage to Ellen.

The following year, another cinematic tough guy named Harry would wear a brown suede shirt-jacket Clint Eastwood pulled one on for the climactic finale in The Enforcer, the third film in the Dirty Harry franchise.

What to Imbibe

Harry tends to drink whiskey highballs, favoring Scotch when choosing for himself but his easygoing manner means he won’t protest when his latest acquaintance orders for him. He and Joey Ziegler are at a desert sawdust joint when a boorish kid knocks over their drinks.

“Rye?” the kid guesses, when informed him that the two men are owed refills. “And water!” Ziegler barks back, and “one for my friend!”

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Joey Ziegler’s rye.

“Rye” has been used to refer to both American and Canadian varieties of whiskey, though the latter is more of a colloquial shorthand as there are no requirements for Canadian whisky to include rye grain as part of its process.

The flavor of true American rye whiskey shares some similarities with the corn-derived bourbon, though the law requires that it be made from a mash of at least 51% rye grain. Rye enjoyed its greatest popularity from the colonial era through Prohibition, with Pennsylvania and Maryland—specifically my home region of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and the greater Pittsburgh area—driving most of the nation’s rye production well into the 1800s.

Rye had all but fallen out of fashion in the years following Prohibition as the U.S. had cultivated its taste for imported whisky, specifically from Canada and Scotland. By the ’70s, the cultural depiction of rye drinkers would have been old-school or harder-living types, both of which Joey Ziegler exemplifies.

Joan Holloway: Mr. Draper drinks rye…
Peggy Olson: Rye is Canadian, right?
Joan Holloway: You better find out.

Just as Mad Men inspired a renaissance in cocktail culture, so too did it drive a revival in whisk(e)y. In the pilot episode, smooth ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) has his drinking preferences explained to his new secretary Peggy, whose question may have muddled (so to speak) the existing confusion about what spirits actually constitute rye.

While many American bourbon distilleries have followed the zeitgeist to produce their own ryes—think Bulleit, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey Woodford Reserve, or Pittsburgh’s own innovative craft distillery Wigle—to get a taste of the legit rye that guys like Joey Ziegler would have swilled in the ’70s, pick up a bottle of the venerated Old Overholt for little more than the cost of lunch.

Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby in Night Moves (1975)

How to Get the Look

As summer transitions into fall, light yet rustic layers like Harry Moseby’s suede jacket and turtleneck would make a stylish impression for smart-casual weekend dressing. Don’t forget the mustache.

• Tobacco brown suede hip-length jacket with large point collar, six-snap front, four inverted box-pleat pockets (with snap-down flaps), single-snap squared cuffs, and double vents
• Forest green merino wool raglan-sleeve turtleneck
• Khaki gabardine flat-front trousers with belt loops, frogmouth-style front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown soft leather closed-lace 6-eyelet sneakers with siped rubber soles
• Tan socks
• Gold wedding ring

As of September 2021, Banana Republic currently sells a tobacco suede trucker jacket that, per its marketed name, is a shorter alternative to the hip-length jacket Hackman wears in Night Moves but also features a shirt-style point collar, six front snaps, and four external pockets.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, which Criterion Channel subscribers can watch before it leaves the service at the end of September.

The post Night Moves: Gene Hackman’s Brown Suede Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Vitals

Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr, disillusioned British spy

Istanbul, Fall 1973

Film: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Release Date: September 16, 2011
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Costume Designer: Jacqueline Durran

Background

Happy birthday to Tom Hardy, born September 15, 1977. Following his debut in Black Hawk Down (2001), Hardy’s steady work through the decade established his stardom by the time he joined the ensemble cast of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on John le Carré’s famous 1974 spy novel of the same name.

The novel had been previously adapted as a seven-episode BBC miniseries starring Alec Guinness as British intelligence officer George Smiley, the same role that would be played by Gary Oldman in the 2011 film, which was released ten years ago tomorrow.

Ricki Tarr enters the story via his report to British undersecretary Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney) that he’s now aware of a mole among the highest levels of MI6 leadership, known as the “Circus” for its [fictional] headquarters on Cambridge Circus in London. As the tip is consistent with a theory held by the agency leader “Control” (John Hurt), Lacon asks Smiley to investigate.

Tarr recalls to Smiley the circumstances of his mission to Istanbul, including his relationship with his Russian target’s common-law wife, Irina (Svetlana Khodchenkova), and her offer to trade information—including the mole’s identity—for a chance to live a new life in the West.

What’d He Wear?

Throughout his assignment in Istanbul (and briefly following his return to London the following spring), Ricki Tarr warmly layers in a tan shearling sheepskin coat made by Belstaff, the British clothing brand founded in 1924 and known for innovating waxed cotton for motorcycle jackets; Pete Brooker of the excellent From Tailors With Love podcast received confirmation from Belstaff that they custom-made the coat for Hardy.

The coat can be easily identified by the “rising phoenix” logo that Belstaff had introduced in 1969, though the logo patch’s placement—sewn onto the upper left sleeve—would be somewhat anachronistic as Belstaff didn’t standardize this placement until 1981, according to their official history.

Note the Belstaff “rising phoenix” logo patched onto Ricki Tarr’s left sleeve, though this placement wouldn’t become a fixture until nearly a decade after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy‘s setting.

Between this coat and the stone-colored Baracuta G9 that Hardy wears later in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, costume designer Jacqueline Durran explained to GQ that she found some inspiration screen legend and style icon Steve McQueen, who was frequently photographed wearing a light-colored shearling coat—albeit double-breasted—throughout the ’60s. Indeed, Tom Hardy would establish himself as something of a shearling icon of the 2010s, based on the basis of this film, his long coat as the villainous Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and his Irvin flying jacket as the arguably more heroic RAF pilot in Dunkirk, evidently also getting some off-screen life out of the latter during a famously photographed visit to Five Guys.

Tarr’s single-breasted sheepskin shearling coat shows the fur pile lining around the broad shawl collar, which ends at mid-chest to make way for the three large mixed brown plastic buttons on the front. The sleeves are set-in, with a straight horizontal yoke across the back and curved front yokes that follow the contour of the shoulders. The four external pockets are jetted in tan leather, each reinforced on the end with a triangular tan leather patch, consisting of two vertical hand pockets positioned over the chest and two rear-slanting hip pockets below them.

For much of his mission in Istanbul, we see Tarr wearing an indigo-blue long-sleeved work shirt made from lightweight chambray cotton, with white plastic sew-through buttons and white contrast stitching along all edges and seams. Despite the chambray shirt’s military origins—specifically as work-wear authorized for the U.S. Navy in the early 20th century—Tarr’s shirt clearly reflects a more commercial evolution. The shirt is detailed with a point collar, a narrow front placket with close contrast stitching along the edges, and two patch pockets over the chest that each close with a single button through the narrow, rounded flap. The sleeves close with two buttons closely stacked on each cuff, plus an additional gauntlet button for good measure.

Tarr’s corduroy straight-leg trousers provide a fine textural harmony with the sheepskin jacket as another soft but rugged cloth. The olive-brown flat-front corduroys he wears with the chambray shirt rise higher on Hardy’s waist than modern trousers, held up by a brown woven leather belt with a dulled brass square single-prong buckle. Though they have jeans-style front pockets, the back pockets appear to be jetted. The fit through the hips occasionally strains the cloth, pulling at the fly to show the brass zipper.

Tarr coordinates the tone and texture of his shoes with the rest of his outfit, wearing dark brown low lace-ups in what appears to be sueded leather, echoing the softness of his shearling coat and the corduroy trousers. In at least one scene, he wears them with slate-blue cotton lisle socks that call out the shade of his chambay shirt.

Tarr primarily wears the coat in Istanbul with his chambray shirt and olive cords, though we also briefly see it worn over a sky-blue cotton shirt that’s styled more like a conventional dress shirt. Like the chambray shirt, though, the shirt has a narrower—and thus more timeless—point collar. The wider placket is stitched from the edges in a manner that divides it into three “strips” of equal width. The long barrel cuffs each close with a button. Tarr always wears the top few buttons of his shirts undone, revealing the white cotton triangle at the top of his crew-neck short-sleeve undershirts.

The aqua-blue corduroy trousers he wears with this lighter shirt would also reappear with his tan and blue sweaters when Tarr debriefs with Smiley in London. They’re cut and styled similarly to the olive-hued pants, and Tarr wears them with the same brown woven leather belt that divides the monochromatic nature of his low-contrast light blue shirt and trousers.

Tarr’s stainless steel watch is a Omega Speedmaster Professional, the triple-register chronograph immortalized several years before the film’s setting as the “Moonwatch” due to NASA authorizing these trusty Omegas to astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who famously wore theirs during the July 1969 moon landing. Tarr wears his Speedmaster on a black leather bracelet.

Briefly seen during an open-air ride with Irina in her black ’67 Mercedes-Benz 250 SL, Tarr sports a pair of gold-framed aviator sunglasses, a style indeed en vogue again in the 1970s.

Life’s briefly good for Irina and Ricki Tarr, the latter coolly accessorized in aviators and an Omega.

How to Get the Look

Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Rather than the sophisticated suits some British agents prefer for their assignments in Istanbul, Ricki Tarr balances form and function with smart and timeless casual style staples of a sheepskin coat, chambray work shirt, and corduroy trousers, turning enough heads to ensure he won’t be spending his nights alone while also blending in just enough to avoid scrutiny from more dangerous contacts.

• Tan shearling sheepskin 3-button coat with shawl collar, vertical jetted hand pockets, and slanted jetted hip pockets
• Indigo-blue chambray cotton work shirt with point collar, front placket, two flapped chest pockets, and 2-button cuffs
• Olive-brown corduroy flat front straight-leg trousers with belt loops, slanted jeans-style front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown woven leather belt with brass squared single-prong buckle
• Dark brown suede lace-up shoes
• Slate-blue cotton lisle socks
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Gold-framed aviator sunglasses
• Omega Speedmaster Professional stainless steel chronograph watch with black triple-register dial on black leather strap

Belstaff’s current suede and shearling offerings (as of September 2021) don’t offer much in the way of car coats like Tom Hardy wore as Ricki Tarr, though you may have more luck scrounging up jackets from past collections (like this one) or go vintage. You could also try your hand at snagging a new shawl-collar sheepskin coat from other outfitters, such as:

• Kelvin Men’s Shearling Sheepskin Coat ($799.99 and up, Sickafus Sheepskins)
• Overland Men’s Ketchum Shearling Sheepskin Coat ($1,495, Overland)
• Village Shop Men’s Shawl Collar Coat ($849.99, Village Shop)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read John le Carré’s source novel.

The post Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Tom Hardy in Belstaff Sheepskin appeared first on BAMF Style.

In recognition of POW/MIA Day, observed on the third Friday of September, let’s delve into one of the first major movies to shine a light on the POW experience.

William Holden as Staff Sergeant J.J. Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953)

Vitals

William Holden as J.J. Sefton, USAAF Staff Sergeant and prisoner of war

“Somewhere on the Danube”, December 1944

Film: Stalag 17
Release Date: May 29, 1953
Director: Billy Wilder
Wardrobe Credit: J. Allen Slone

Background

I don’t know about you, but it always makes me sore when I see those war pictures… all about flying leathernecks and submarine patrols and frogmen and guerrillas in the Philippines. What gets me is there never was a movie about POWs… about prisoners of war.

… and so Clarence Harvey Cook (Gil Stratton) begins his narration, setting the scene for the week leading up to Christmas 1944 when he and his fellow downed colleagues discovered a potential informant—er, a “dirty stinkin’ stoolie”—in their barracks.

After two airmen are shot trying to escape, suspicion eventually falls on J.J. Sefton, the cigarette-dealing but cigar-chomping staff sergeant whose cynicism has already rendered him unpopular with most of the Americans aside from Cookie, who serves as Sefton’s unofficial batman and describes him as “one of the most unforgettable ch-characters you’ve ever met.”

“He was a big-time operator… always hustling, always scrounging,” Cookie describes the enterprising Sefton, whose ventures range from rat races to distilling potato schnapps sold for two cigarettes a shot.

William Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Sefton, though Holden himself felt the award was mere compensation as the Academy had failed to recognize his performance in Sunset Blvd. three years earlier, commenting that the 1953 Oscar should have instead gone to either Burt Lancaster or Montgomery Clift from the year’s other major World War II drama, From Here to Eternity.

A decade before the experience was most outrageously lampooned weekly on Hogan’s Heroes, Billy Wilder brought his signature balance of dark comedy, high-stakes drama, and increasingly gripping tension to Stalag 17. Wilder and Edwin Blum adapted their screenplay from a stage play by Edmund Trzcinski, who had indeed been a WWII POW and cameos on screen as a cuckolded prisoner.

“Now you put 630 sergeants together… oh, mother, you’ve got yourself a situation,” Cookie narrates, explaining the dynamic at the eponymous Stalag 17D, a prison camp for enlisted Allied airmen—and, in the case of the Soviets, airwomen—ruled by the pompous commandant Colonel von Scherbach (Otto Preminger), who has implanted a spy among the men of barrack #4. Due to his independent nature and gift for wheeling-and-dealing, Sefton becomes forced to defend himself as the accusations pile up like the cartons of cigarettes under his bed:

There are two guys in this barracks that know I didn’t do it: me and the guy that did do it.

What’d He Wear?

Particularly insulating during the winter chill overtaking the stalag, Sgt. Sefton often wears sheepskin B-3 flight jacket, as do some of his fellow prisoners such as “head of security” Frank Price (Peter Graves), doomed escapee Manfredi (Michael Moore), and the late-arriving Lt. Dunbar (Don Taylor), who wears it over his matching sheepskin zip-sided breeches.

Sefton’s warm sheepskin B-3 keeps him considerably warmer than Cookie (Gil Stratton) in his lighter-weight field jacket.

Inspired by the Irvin flying jacket authorized by the British Royal Air Force, the heavy Type B-3 was standardized by the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1930s for high-altitude fliers requiring extra warmth in poorly insulated bomber aircraft, thus it arguably became the first American flight jacket one could call the “bomber jacket”.

Over its decade of production until it was discontinued in 1943, the B-3 varied slightly based on the contractor, but all followed a generally consistent design of a waist-length coat made of sheepskin shearling, the supple leather on the outside (occasionally reinforced with horsehide) with the piled fleece providing the warm lining throughout, extending beyond the edges of the sleeves and waist hem. These full-fitting coats were meant to be worn over layers of warm uniform gear, thus they lacked the trimmer fit and knitted cuffs and hem of lighter-wearing flight jackets like the A-2; instead a horsehide leather belted buckle-tab over a short vent on each side of the waist can be used to adjust the fit, as needed.

Sefton won’t lay off Lieutenant Dunbar, who had been clad in his own sheepskin B-3 coat just moments earlier.

Though the colors of their vegetable-tanned shells varied by manufacturer and era, the general trend among B-3 jackets evolved from russet in the early years to a darker seal brown by its wartime production. The jacket’s large collar presents the natural fleece pile, with two belted straps extending from the right side to latch the collar up around the throat if necessary; alternately, a set of snaps on the body of the coat can also secure the collar to the chest when worn open.

The jacket zips up the front with a round pull-tab, the fleece extending a few inches out from the right side of the zipper to ensure that the torso would be fully insulated should the wearer zip his coat up fully.

In lieu of traditional shoulder straps (epaulettes), a small square tab of napped horsehide is sewn over each shoulder, ostensibly for officers to pin their rank insignia. Pockets were another point of variation among B-3 jackets, and Sefton’s coat has a slanted-entry tool pocket above the right hip.

Both Price (Peter Graves) and Sefton wear B-3 coats, as opposed to Duke (Neville Brand) in his slapdash greatcoat and Hoffy (Richard Erdman) layered under his field jacket.

Unlike some of his barrack-mates, who wear little more than their undershirts or long johns under tattered field jackets—looking at you, Duke (Neville Brand), Harry (Harvey Lembeck), and Animal (Robert Strauss)—Sefton keeps his day-to-day appearance relatively neat in his wool shirt and trousers, perhaps a carryover from his one-time ambition to be a commissioned officer.

Winter uniforms issued to NCOs during World War II included brown woolen flannel shirts in olive drab no. 32 (OD-32) or olive drab no. 33 (OD-33), designated “Shirt, Flannel, O.D. Coat Style.” Sefton’s flannel shirting shows increasing pilling throughout, particularly after he’s beaten by his bunkmates. As he recuperates the next morning on Christmas Eve, we get a glimpse of a white tag reading “SERV…” affixed to the inside of the neckband.

With a structured fit echoing traditional work shirts, these evolved from the cosmetically similar M37 shirts but, beginning in 1941, boasted a convertible point collar that could be flattened when worn open-neck, sans necktie. These shirts have seven tonally coordinated plastic buttons up the front placket, barrel cuffs, and two chest pockets that each close with a single-button, mitred-corner flap, though Sefton frequently has one or both of these flaps unbuttoned and tucked into the pockets themselves. (In what I believe to be a series of subtle continuity errors, Sefton’s shirts alternate between the M37 and the convertible-collar evolution as well as between having single- and double-button cuffs.)

Even when injured from his beating, Sefton commands relative authority in his buttoned-up, tucked-in shirt when compared to some of his more unkempt bunkmates.

Promotional photo of Don Taylor and William Holden in Stalag 17, depicting Sefton’s B-3 jacket, A-10 gloves, and A-6 boots.

Sefton wears the standard flat front trousers that comprised the USAAF’s winter uniform, made of OD-33 wool serge. These button-fly trousers have jetted back pockets, on-seam side pockets, and a set-in coin pocket accessed by a slit straight under the belt line between the first two belt loops on the right side. The trousers are held up by a military-style khaki webbed cotton belt with a gold-finished box-framed buckle and matching metal tip.

Sefton tucks his trousers’ plain-hemmed bottoms bottoms into his hefty Type A-6 winter flying boots. Like his coat, the boots are constructed from supple shearling leather uppers veg-dyed to a dark seal-brown with the piled wool fleece lining the insides, originally intended to insulate the wearer’s feet at high bomber altitudes, though they were also likely appreciated for winter nights in a drafty POW barracks along the Danube… as were the olive worsted wool crew socks he is seen wearing under them.

The lowers are a weather-resistant black or brown rubber, extending over the toes. A brass zipper extends from the center of each shaft down the top of each boot to the top of the rubber toes. (A later improved version, the Type A-6A, were reinforced with two buckled straps over the instep and around the shaft, though Sefton’s earlier Type A-6 boots clearly lack these straps.)

The silent erstwhile law student Joey (Robinson Stone) oversees the action. Note the difference between Sefton’s convertible-collar shirt here and the more structured point collar of the M37 shirt seen in other shots.

Sefton frequently pulls on his dark seal-brown leather three-point gloves, which appear to be the wool-lined A-10 flying gloves that were standardized by the U.S. military in July 1938.

Sefton’s cap reinforces the USAAF’s faith in sheepskin as he wears the Type B-2 flying hat, made from a seal-brown sheepskin shearling that echoes his coat and boots. This style had been introduced for American air crews in 1939, two years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into World War II.

With its long and stiff leather peak, folding ear flaps, and piled fur lining, the flying hat resembles some civilian hunting caps. The four-piece crown consists of two wide strips of sheepskin, supported by an additional strip around each side that are sewn together in the back.

Sefton makes his introduction clad in a crew-neck short-sleeve undershirt, likely made in a light drab-hued cotton. Outside his undershirt—and even occasionally outside his flannel button-up shirt—Sefton wears what Cookie refers to as “our dog tags and our pans”, a ball-chain necklace from which each man wears both his round Army-issued identification disc as well as a rectangular zinc plate provided by the Germans that includes the camp name and prisoner number; Lt. Dunbar is asked to recall his when the SS arrives to collect him from Barrack #4.

Sefton’s fellow airmen aren’t so wild about his pessimistic attitude on the evening of Manfredi and Johnson’s attempted breakout.

Sefton’s foot locker “department store” is seen to contain dozens of wristwatches of all varieties, but the sergeant’s day-to-day watch appears to be a steel field watch he had likely been issued by USAAF. He straps the tan leather bracelet to wear the watch on the inside of his wrist, a military-informed practice that many state prevents an enemy from catching the glare of a metal watch case.

When we do catch sight of the watch itself, the round dial appears to be light-colored, ruling out the classic mil-spec A-11 field watch though it may still be one of the pre-1942 pieces that had a white dial. (You can read more about the A-11 in Oren Hartov’s 2018 article for Worn & Wound.)

Sefton checks to see how much time he and Dunbar have before attempting their own great escape.

In a flashback to the summer of 1943, when Sefton is selling schnapps and the Animal is crying about Betty Grable’s recent marriage to Harry James, we briefly see Sefton wearing a jacket inspired by the A-2, a less-insulated leather flight jacket that would be arguably better suited for the summer than his sheepskin B-3.

Both Sefton and Sgt. Bagradian (Jay Lawrence) wear these jackets, styled with the A-2’s usual snap-down collar, shoulder straps (epaulettes), knit cuffs, and knit hems, though the handwarmer pockets of their jackets diverge from the flapped lower pockets more commonly found on officially issued A-2 jackets.

“What’d you expect for two cigarettes, eight-year-old bottled in bond? All the house guarantees is you don’t go blind.”

For William Holden’s brief cameo in the World War II-themed adventure comedy Escape to Athena (1979), the actor’s cigar and presence in German custody suggested that he was once again slipping into Sgt. Sefton’s woolen shirt, this time presented in full color that still can’t match the vibrancy of Elliott Gould’s mustard sweater.

If taken seriously (which it should not be), Escape to Athena suggests that Sefton ended up recaptured as Charlie Dane (Elliott Gould) groans: “You’re still here?”

How to Get the Look

William Holden as Staff Sergeant J.J. Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953)

With fall around the corner and winter just behind it, a sheepskin coat like J.J. Sefton’s B-3 flight jacket could be your salvation in cooler weather, particularly when paired with warm layers like a woolen utility shirt, fleece-lined boots, and a leather cap with fleece-lined flaps.

• Seal-brown sheepskin shearling B-3 flight jacket with fleece lining, wide collar with two belted throat latch straps and chest snaps, right-side tool pocket, and belted buckle-tab waist adjusters
• Olive-brown (OD-32) wool flannel service shirt with convertible point collar, two chest pockets (with mitred-corner single-button flaps), front placket, and 1-button cuffs
• Olive-brown (OD-33) wool serge flat front service trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted right-side coin pocket, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Seal-brown sheepskin shearling Type A-6 winter flying boots with fleece lining, zip-front fastening, and rubber outsoles/toes
• Olive worsted wool socks
• Light olive drab cotton crew-neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Dog tags
• Steel military-style field watch with round white dial on tan leather strap
• Seal-brown leather three-point A-10 flying gloves with ribbed-knit wrists and wool lining
• Seal-brown sheepskin B-2 flying cap with fleece-lined ear flaps

You obviously know how to Google sheepskin flight jackets or B-3 replicas, but I thought it would be helpful to provide a brief guide of currently available B-3 jackets that best reflect the spirit and style of the one William Holden wore in Stalag 17, which means: buckle-tab side adjusters, tool pocket, and—if possible—the rank-ready shoulder squares:

• Aero Leathers USAAF Type B-3 Contract No. 42-22899-P ($£800.00, Aero Leathers)
• Aviation Leathercraft USAAF B3 Flying Jacket (£695.00, Aviation Leathercraft)
• Cockpit USA 1941 Pearl Harbor B-3 Bomber Jacket Z213374 ($1,430.00, Cockpit USA)
• Eastman .50 CAL B-3 (£1,299.99, Eastman Leather Clothing)

All prices and availability as of September 2021.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

If I ever run into any of you bums on a street corner, just let’s pretend we never met before.

The post William Holden in Stalag 17 appeared first on BAMF Style.

Philip Michael Thomas and Sonny Crockett filming “Brother’s Keeper”, the pilot episode of Miami Vice

Vitals

Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, vengeful undercover detective

Miami, Spring 1984

Series: Miami Vice
Episode: “Brother’s Keeper” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 16, 1984
Director: Thomas Carter
Creator: Anthony Yerkovich
Costume Designer: Jodie Lynn Tillen

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This week in 1984, Miami Vice debuted on NBC, introducing us to the cooler-than-ice cops Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). Per the detectives’ duties for the Metro-Dade Police Department’s vice division, the episodes frequently included thrilling gunfights and car chases against drug-peddling foes amidst a stylish backdrop of sleek cars, sleeker clothes, pop music, and a parade of guest stars ranging from Liam Neeson, Willie Nelson, and a young Julia Roberts to… G. Gordon Liddy.

The title of the Emmy-winning pilot episode, “Brother’s Keeper”, refers most specifically to Tubbs, a New York transplant who arrived in Miami seeking vengeance on the wily drug kingpin Calderone, who killed his brother Rafael. Despite their head-butting personalities, Tubbs joins forces with Crockett, hoping to soften the tension between them by bringing coffee and donuts onto his boat as well as the results of his own surveillance on Calderone, but Crockett informs him that “down here, you’re just another amateur.”

Sipping cocktails at a beachside bar to the tune of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, Tubbs spots a “girl” having a little too much fun when she pulls a silenced pistol and kills Leon (Mykelti Williamson), one of his and Crockett’s most promising leads in their case against Calderone.

“You know, buddy, you got a leak in your department the size of the East River,” Tubbs tells his new partner, now convinced that he needs Tubbs’ help to bring down Calderone.

What’d He Wear?

Philip Michael Thomas and Sonny Crockett promoting Miami Vice, each wearing a suit that would be featured in the pilot episode, albeit not at the same time; Crockett wore this white linen suit and light blue T-shirt for his introduction at the start of the episode.

Don Johnson’s layered pastel linens as the slick Sonny Crockett would become the breakout fashions from the series, though Tubbs would have been the standout on almost any other show. As a New York cop fresh in Miami, Tubbs isn’t as rooted in the colorful schematics as Crockett but he quickly gets a hang for how to dress down in the subtropical “Magic City”, adapting his more conventional style to keep up with his partner.

Midway through “Brother’s Keeper”, Tubbs shows up for his first official day partnered with Crockett in a double-breasted dove-gray suit jacket made from a softly napped cloth with a silky finish, possibly a blend of silk and wool serge. Philip Michael Thomas wore the jacket as part of a matching two-piece suit for a series of promotional portraits taken with Johnson, though the jacket was orphaned with non-matching trousers for its appearance in the pilot episode.

Whether worn with a tie or T-shirt, double-breasted jackets would quickly become a style trademark for Rico Tubbs, redefining what had once been a more old-fashioned style to illustrate that you don’t have to be Chance the gardener to wear double-breasted jackets.

The pick-stitched peak lapels roll to a full 6×2-button front, which Tubbs wears both open and fully fastened. Shaped with darts, the jacket has a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, three-button cuffs.

Double-breasted jackets are traditionally tailored sans vents, and Tubbs’ jacket is no exception though the lack of vents creates a rather obvious bulge over where he carries his revolver in the back.

Tubbs would be considerably more predisposed to wearing neckties than Crockett, though he goes open-neck this morning, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his ice-blue silky long-sleeved camp shirt. The shirt has a loop collar, covered fly, and single-button rounded barrel cuffs. The two chest pockets are covered by rounded-corner flaps, neither of which close through a button.

Like his double-breasted jacket, Tubbs’ two-pocket, long-sleeved camp shirt could be considered a relic of mid-century sportswear but worn with a renewed energy that reestablishes both pieces are contemporary fashions for the ’80s.

Tubbs doesn’t wear the jacket’s matching suit trousers in “Brother’s Keeper”, instead sporting pleated taupe trousers that are a shade warmer than the jacket, though the lack of obvious contrast may create the effect that Tubbs was trying to “match” two non-matching pieces. The proneness to wrinkling suggests linen—a smart choice of fabric when expecting action in the hot Miami climate—or a linen and silk blend.

The trousers are held up by a narrow russet-brown leather belt that has a gold-toned single-prong buckle and gold keeper (not a “brother’s keeper”.) Dropped below the mid-rise belt line are a set of two closely spaced reverse-facing pleats on each side of the trousers.

“Call him off, man, I don’t even like alligator shoes!” Tubbs exclaims upon meeting Crockett’s gator pal Elvis on his boat. Indeed, his apron-toe lace-up shoes—while unconventional with their light gray uppers—are made from a more traditional leather than gator-skin. He wears them with a pair of black socks that show under the shorter break of his trouser bottoms, which are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Tubbs and Crockett’s dressed-down ensembles are beach-ready at all times.

Tubbs finishes his look with a substantial amount of gold jewelry, from a subtle small hoop earring to a chain-link bracelet and watch that collide on his left wrist. Tubbs’ wristwatches never received the same attention and scrutiny as Crockett’s parade of timepieces, but we see in the pilot episode that he wears a gold watch with a blue square dial flush against the gold bracelet.

Often swinging out from the unbuttoned top of his shirt, Tubbs wears a large gold pendant that has been identified on the Miami Vice Online forums as a religious medallion with a relief of St. Christopher (“Christ Bearer”) carrying Jesus. A St. Christopher pendant had also been famously worn by Steve McQueen.

Good morning, Tubbs!

As part of his undercover image, Tubbs would also weigh down his fingers with a chunky gold ring on each hand, but we don’t see either of those with this particular outfit.

The Gun

As with the rest of his style, Rico Tubbs rarely carried flashy new firearms like his partner, instead veering toward tried-and-true practicality. His Smith & Wesson Model 38 “Bodyguard” reflects the snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 revolvers authorized for plainclothes policemen across the country for decades while providing the added benefit of a shrouded hammer for an easy draw from within the folds of his designer clothes.

Tubbs and Crockett draw their sidearms upon entering Leon’s apartment.

Smith & Wesson introduced the “Bodyguard” model in 1955, a half-decade after launching the five-shot .38 Special “Chiefs Special”—later to be re-designated Model 36—on the same J-frame. This original alloy-framed Bodyguard would be renamed the Model 38 Airweight Bodyguard, differentiated with the all carbon steel-framed Model 49 Bodyguard introduced by decade’s end. Both “Bodyguard” models featured a “Camel Hump” shroud to conceal the hammer and prevent it from snagging on clothing, making it a particularly practical weapon for concealed carry.

In fact, firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd had even insisted to Ian Fleming that the Smith & Wesson Airweight Bodyguard would make an ideal sidearm to replace James Bond’s relatively anemic .25-caliber Beretta, though Fleming relegated it to a backup weapon in the novel Doctor No, preferring to keep 007 armed with a semi-automatic pistol like the Walther PPK.

Tubbs carried his Smith & Wesson Model 38 Bodyguard, with black Pachmayr grips, throughout the entire duration of Miami Vice, while his partner rotated between the SIG-Sauer P220, Bren Ten, and .45-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatics over the course of the series.

For heavier-duty battles, Tubbs again tends to arm himself with time-tested weapons like the sawed-off double-breasted shotgun that makes several appearances throughout Miami Vice‘s first season, including “Brother’s Keeper”. While not necessarily a weapon still widely in police usage by the 1980s—especially for more urban departments like NYPD or MDPD—the infallible design that dates back more than a century is consistent with Tubbs’ preference for older-inspired technology and fashions.

What to Imbibe

While keeping an eye on Leon from a beachside bar, Tubbs sips from a coral-tinted goblet with the unique garnish of what appears to be a suspended fishing bob.

Any thoughts on what drinks may traditionally be served with garnishment like that?

We unfortunately aren’t privy to exactly what Tubbs is meant to be drinking, unless series creator Anthony Yerkovich detailed it in his script, but the color and context could inspire you to mix the aptly named cocktail Miami Vice.

Liquor.com informs us that “the tropical drink—part Strawberry Daiquiri, part Piña Colada, separated in the glass—precedes the popular ’80s television drama by some years,” so it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility for either of our heroes to order one… though it would perhaps be irresponsible for Crockett or Tubbs to be drinking on the job.

A picture-perfect Miami Vice cocktail, via Liquor.com.

Despite decades of existence, this particular cocktail has eluded inclusion in my latest version of the Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide, so I’ve relied on online sources to get a sense of what goes into mixing a Miami Vice:

• Two 1-ounce portions of white rum
• 1-2 cups of strawberries
• 1/2 ounce of simple syrup
• 1.5-2 ounces of cream of coconut
• 1.5-2 ounces of pineapple juice

Both the strawberry daiquiri and the piña colada portions should be mixed separately, with Liquor.com advising that the daiquiri be prepared first, blending an ounce of the rum with the strawberries, simple syrup, and—if you prefer—an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice, all with a cup of fresh ice. Once the strawberry daiquiri is smoothly blended, it should be poured into the hurricane glass and stored in the freezer.

With the blender cleaned out and ready for the next step, blend the remaining ounce of rum with the cream of coconut and pineapple juice (Tipsy Bartender suggests slightly less of the juices than Liquor.com does) with ice until you’ve got a smooth piña colada as well.

Pour the piña colada into the hurricane glass over the strawberry daiquiri, ostensibly providing a layered red-and-white effect that you can garnish with a strawberry, a pineapple slice, or—if you have it at your disposal—a paper fishing bob.

(Feeling patriotic? Baking Beauty suggests dying half the piña colada portion blue for a red, white, and blue cocktail ideal for your fourth of July celebrations.)

How to Get the Look

Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs in the Miami Vice pilot episode “Brother’s Keeper”

A more conventional dresser than his partner, Ricardo Tubbs still embraces the warm, fashionable setting of 1980s Miami as he updates mid-century styles like double-breasted jackets, two-pocket camp shirts, and pleated trousers.

• Dove-gray wool-and-silk serge double-breasted 6×2-button suit jacket with pick-stitched peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Ice-blue silk long-sleeved sports shirt with camp collar (with loop), covered-fly front, two flapped chest pockets, and single-button rounded cuffs
• Taupe linen double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Russet-brown leather belt with small gold-toned single-prong buckle and keeper
• Light gray leather lace-up shoes
• Black socks
• Small gold hoop earring
• Gold St. Christopher medallion on gold necklace
• Thin gold chain-link bracelet
• Gold wristwatch with flush blue squared dial

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

The Quote

Couldn’t let you handle all that bad karma by yourself.

The post Miami Vice: Tubbs in Double-Breasted Dove Gray for the Pilot Episode appeared first on BAMF Style.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La Piscine (1969)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, moody ad agency writer on vacation

French Riviera, Summer 1968

Film: The Swimming Pool
(French title: La Piscine)
Release Date: January 3, 1969
Director: Jacques Deray
Costume Designer: André Courrèges

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“Actually, I don’t care much for summer,” the glamorous sun-kissed socialite Marianne (Romy Schneider) explains, clarifying “just the in-between seasons.” As tomorrow marks the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, start finding your style for this transitional “in-between” season!

Hailed as one of the most stylish movies of all time, Jacques Deray’s celebrated sizzler La Piscine reunited real-life lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as Jean-Paul and Marianne, a couple spending the summer idling at their friends’ Côte d’Azur villa. Jean-Paul, a failed writer who sold out to make a career in advertising, is dismayed by the arrival of Harry (Maurice Ronet), one of Marianne’s past paramours… only to find himself drawn to Harry’s bonny daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin).

As Harry inserts himself deeper into the couple’s romantic getaway, Jean-Paul focuses his attention on “Pen”, and the two introverts find themselves pulling away from an impromptu party that Harry organized at the villa. The duo bond over Penelope’s frustration with her father’s flirtation with Marianne right in front of Jean-Paul, but Pen is surprised by Jean-Paul’s ambivalence when he explains that “some nights, anything goes—or almost anything.”

What’d He Wear?

When not luxuriating—or murdering anyone—by the eponymous pool, Jean-Paul dresses casually for days at the villa, typically rotating between two windowpane-checked short-sleeved shirts. Both shirts are grounded with a white puckered linen base that take on the respective cast of each check, so the tan-checked shirt looks slightly creamier while the blue-checked shirt has an icier tone. (Some modern retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch have revived these lightweight shirtings, though you can also scour places like eBay for older pieces that also fit the bill.)

Jean-Paul more frequently wears the white shirt with the golden tan windowpane check. The shirts have casual button-down collars with an additional button on the back of each collar, a front placket, breast pocket, and box-pleated back. The elbow-length sleeves are relatively loose, providing a more comfortably airy fit.

Though their relationship has all but dissolved by this point, Jean-Paul and Marianne are still coordinated by his shirt’s tan check echoing her golden shirt.

Jean-Paul frequently wears black casual trousers, likely cotton, styled with belt loops, curved front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. He holds them up with a wide black leather belt with a tall gold-toned double-prong buckle that coordinates to ten double sets of metal grommets, with Delon usually wearing the belt fastened through the second tightest set; two brass studs shine from the other side of the belt buckle as well.

Another day, Jean-Paul wears an almost identical linen short-sleeved shirt but with the sky-blue windowpane that gives the shirt’s white body an icy cast. Similarly styled with its button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and back box-pleat, the shirt was almost certainly made by the same manufacturer of the tan-checked shirt.

During the day, Jean-Paul tucks the blue-checked shirt into his blue denim jeans, which appear to be the same Lee 101 Rider jeans that he also wears with a solid light-blue long-sleeved two-pocket shirt.

Jean-Paul eyes Penelope and Marianne in the villa’s kitchen.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider during production of La Piscine.

“You cold?” Marianne asks Jean-Paul as he pulls on his blue denim Lee Storm Rider jacket, to which he responds: “A bit.”

Similar to other superstars of his era like Steve McQueen and Robert Redford, Delon favored the Lee Storm Rider in real life; based on the placement and degrees of distress to the denim, this appears to be Delon’s own personal jacket.

Lee had developed the Storm Rider while vying for denim supremacy against fellow American outfitters Levi’s and Wrangler through the mid-20th century, introducing the rebranded Storm Rider in the fall of 1953 as a warm and hard-wearing evolution of its decades-old 101LJ “Cowboy Jacket”, characterized by a tan pinwale-corduroy collar and insulated by striped gray woolen flannel “blanket” lining. (As of September 2021, Lee Jeans still sells the 101 Storm Rider, though the only availably shell is a dark ’70s selvedge denim branded “dry”.)

The style would be copied by other manufacturers, but Delon’s screen-worn jacket appears to be a true Lee, based on the brand’s signature zigzag stitching around the six copper rivet buttons up the front as well as the type of pleats extending down from the slanted chest yokes to the hem, beginning under the rounded flap of each chest pocket. These pocket flaps each close with a single rivet button, as do the cuffs and waist adjuster tabs, but Delon rakishly wears both buttons undone and the ends of each sleeve partially cuffed over his wrists.

Jean-Paul pulls on his Lee Storm Rider for a quiet moment outside with Marianne.

That night, Harry arrives at the villa with carloads of revelers that he met at Saint-Tropez. Jean-Paul has changed out of his blue jeans back into the black trousers, again worn with the belt with double rows of grommets.

Jean-Paul’s shoes are the same black leather jute-soled espadrilles that he had worn with his swimwear, again worn sans socks. Black espadrilles are relatively common, particularly in the canvas-upper variant (as affordably offered by ASOS, H&M, and Viscata), but leather uppers tend to come at more of a premium as observed by the respective offerings from Gucci, Hugo Boss, Paul Stuart, and Yves St. Laurent. You could also hedge the costs with the suede-upper “Manebi Hamptons” espadrilles offered by J. Crew in a black-like shade of “patriot blue”. (Availability as of Sept. 2021.)

Jean-Paul and Penelope break away from the party to stroll by the pool.

Jean-Paul wears a stainless steel wristwatch with a round silver dial, secured on a steel bracelet. A watch enthusiast in real life, Delon had amassed at least one hundred luxury watches from Breitling, Cartier, Rolex, and more prestigious brands over the course of his career, eventually even releasing a collection branded with his own name. On screen, he wore two different Baume & Mercier watches (in Le Samouraï and Big Guns) and an Audemars-Piguet (in Comme un boomerang), though I’m not certain what brand we’re seeing in La Piscine, which was released during this same timeframe.

Jean-Paul wears the Storm Rider only briefly on screen, though it memorably reappears later when Penelope has borrowed it to warm up following their controversial swim.

Penelope sits down to dinner, still wearing Jean-Paul’s Lee Storm Rider.

How to Get the Look

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La Piscine (1969)

Jean-Paul’s wardrobe in these scenes reflects a surprising degree of American influence, from the double denim (made by an American brand, no less) to the button-down collars of his shirts. Only the sockless espadrilles realign with the outfit with his European setting and heritage.

Perhaps excluding the espadrilles, the outfit also exemplifies how to layer for seasonal transitions, with the linen shirts being comfortably light in hot weather while the blanket-lined cowboy jacket adds warming insulation when the weather cools.

• White windowpane-checked linen short-sleeved shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and box-pleated back
• Blue denim Lee Storm Rider blanket-lined “cowboy jacket” with tan pinwale corduroy collar, rivet buttons, two button-down flap chest pockets, button cuffs, and button-tab side adjusters
• Blue denim jeans (or black flat front trousers with belt loops, curved front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms)
• Wide black leather belt with gold-toned double-prong buckle and metal grommets
• Black leather jute-soled espadrilles
• Steel wristwatch with round silver dial on steel bracelet

The post La Piscine: Alain Delon’s Windowpane Shirts and Autumn-Ready Storm Rider appeared first on BAMF Style.

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Vitals

Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy, affable leader of the Hole-in-the-Wall bandit gang

Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, Fall 1898

Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Release Date: September 23, 1969
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

“He speaks well and quickly, and has been all his life a leader of men; but if you asked him, he would be damned if he could tell you why,” William Goldman introduced Robert Leroy Parker in his Academy Award-winning screenplay, inspired by the true story of Parker and his partner-in-crime Harry Longabaugh… aka Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, respectively.

Goldman based his tale on the essence of truth: the two were indeed turn-of-the-century bandits who robbed trains and banks, their gang headquartered at the Hole-in-the-Wall hideout in Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains. Known as the Wild Bunch in real life (not to steal valor from Sam Peckinpah), the gang starts getting killed or arrested as “modern” technology begins catching up with the old-fashioned outlaws, so Butch and Sundance high-tail it to South America with Sundance’s wife Etta Place, eventually ending up in Bolivia where the two men were believed to have been cornered and killed by police in November 1908.

Did the two ever consider evading capture by enlisting to fight in the Spanish-American War? Good idea, but doubtful. Did Butch ever show off on a bicycle in the hopes of swaying Etta’s favors? Who’s to say! All we know is that George Roy Hill’s masterful direction, Conrad Hall’s glorious cinematography, Burt Bacharach’s memorable score, Goldman’s witty screenplay, and the winning chemistry between Paul Newman and Robert Redford established Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as a new kind of Western when it premiered on this day in 1969, transcending the genre as it ranges from bitingly funny to bleakly tragic, all in the blink of a fast-fired .45.

Butch: What’s the matter with you?
Sundance: I can’t swim!
Butch: (following a hearty laugh) Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill ya.

One can only imagine how surprised these two rough robbers would have been to discover how, nearly 70 years later, they would be immortalized by two of the most charismatic and handsome actors of their generation, trading barbs more than bullets as they debate the futility of diving off a cliff to evade Mr. E.H. Harriman’s relentless posse, all the time wondering: “Who are those guys?”

What’d He Wear?

Butch consistently wears a lighter-colored wardrobe than his pal Sundance, the proverbial “man in black” who wears a black shirt and pants in the States and a black suit in Bolivia. Even if their personalities weren’t so clearly defined in dialogue and mannerisms, this costume contrast differentiates Butch as the easygoing yin to Sundance’s more bitter, violent yang.

Thom Hatch’s book The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid provides some sense of how the real Butch dressed, outside of his natty suits when famously posing with the rest of the Wild Bunch. For example, Butch was reported wearing a brown coat and denim overalls for a railroad station robbery in Castle Gate, Utah. A decade later during his and Sundance’s ostensible last stand in Bolivia, there are reports of Butch wearing a narrow soft-brimmed hat and dark red thin-waled corduroy suit, attire echoed by the corduroy jacket and straw hat Paul Newman wore throughout the trio’s South American adventures.

Prolific costume designer Edith Head developed consistent styles for Butch and Sundance that pay homage to Western tradition but with a contemporary twist, reflecting the more evolved fashions by the turn of the 20th century as well as allowing its protagonists to look relevant to “modern” audiences. There’s nary a bib shirt to be seen; instead, our heroes ride onto the screen dressed as though they could have been riding the range in 1969, without looking too anachronistic. (Indeed, ditching the hats—and gun-belts—would create a universal fall wardrobe even for non-equestrians.)

Sundance and Butch return to their gang’s hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall. Note a significant stain on the lower left pocket, which helps screen-match it to the authentic jacket that would be auctioned decades later.

My friend John, who writes and researches the excellent Iconic Alternatives page, was recently inspired by Newman’s wardrobe as Butch Cassidy to find alternatives to the rugged work jacket that Butch wears for most of the film’s first half, set in the western United States.

Paul Newman’s screen-worn work jacket as Butch Cassidy (Source: Heritage Auctions)

Newman’s screen-worn jacket—which can be screen-matched with a stain on the lower left pocket—was sold in November 2020 by Heritage Auctions, describing it in the listing as:

Vintage original tan cotton jacket with leather trim on collar and pockets, 2-chest flap pockets and 2-hip pockets, rolled leather barrel toggles and leather loop front closure. No labeling present. Handwritten and faded, “Brooks” on the interior back. Expertly studio distressed. In vintage fine condition.

Whether you’re considering the style more than 50 years after the movie was made or more than a century since Butch and Sundance even lived, this style of work jacket—whether you call it a barn jacket, chore coat, or even a variation of the “stockade jacket” that John Wayne famously wore in his later Westerns—remains a undeniably utilitarian piece whether you’re riding the range or just looking to infuse your style with practical workwear.

Constructed of tan cotton flannel that appears prone to pilling through the hardships of life on the lam, the jacket’s short length enables Butch to easily hop from horseback to train car with easy access to his smoke-wagon, rigged on his right hip well-clear of the hem.

The jacket’s three leather “barrel” toggles close the front through coordinated leather loops on the left. There are straight horizontal yokes across the chest and back, and the four patch pockets on the front. The two chest pockets have flaps with brown leather trim that matches the facings of the revere-style collar, while the two hip pockets are open with matching leather trim across the top openings.

Butch wears a beige long-sleeved shirt made from a rugged cotton flannel that could withstand the hard-wearing rigors of his dangerous and rustic profession. While it’s true that work shirts of the era had started incorporating attached collars several decades before mass-produced dress shirts would, the tan buttons on the plain “French placket” front extend all the way down to the hem rather than being a “popover shirt” as would have been considerably more common through the 1890s.

The shirt has horizontal yokes across the chest and back, with an open pocket on the left side of the chest positioned just a few inches below it. Each squared barrel cuff closes with a single button.

Under Sundance’s watchful eye, Butch confers with “News” Carver (Timothy Scott) and George “Flat-Nose” Curry (Charles Dierkop, who would reteam with Newman, Redford, and director George Roy Hill playing one of Robert Shaw’s laconic henchmen in The Sting.)

Butch maintains his coordinated earth tones with brown flat front trousers made from a lightweight fabric with a propensity toward wrinkling, likely cotton rather than the warmer-wearing wool. The straight-leg trousers have western-style front pockets, no back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms that he wears outside of his boots. Through the somewhat anachronistic belt loops, he holds up the trousers with a brown leather belt that has a brass or gold-finished single-prong square buckle.

No rules in a knife-fight.

Though there are reports of the real Butch occasionally wearing his six-shooter in a shoulder rig, Newman’s Butch wears a classic Western gun-belt in brown leather, encircled around the back and left sides with cartridge loops that remain full of jacketed .45 Long Colt rounds for the Single Action Army holstered lower on his right hip.

The configuration appears to be a “Buscadero” rig, particularly common in early Westerns but gently anachronistic as it wouldn’t be developed or standardized to the ubiquity seen in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid until the 1920s when, according to Cochise Leather Company, the style would be widely adopted by both Hollywood cowboys and Texas lawmen. Butch’s Buscadero gun-belt flares out on the right side, where his holster is looped into an elongated slot, a short “belted” strap with a single-prong buckle holding the revolver in place. The gun-belt fastens with a thick Ranger-style single-prong buckle in silver or stainless steel.

“Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?”

Despite Sundance admitting to Etta that he believes his partner to be a “rotten gambler”, that doesn’t keep Butch from wearing a gambler-style cowboy hat, characterized by its round, telescopic crown. Made from a light tan felt, the wide-brimmed hat has a darker band so weathered by dirt and sweat that it had faded to a permanently dusty shade of taupe.

His leadership in question, Butch considers how he’ll retain control of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.

Both Butch and Sundance lose their hats when tumbling down to the rocky cliff from where they eventually jump to make their escape. Butch also leaves his jacket behind but slips off his gun-belt, which he and Sundance each grip when making their ill-advised but ultimately successful dive.

While Sundance wears black stitched cowboy boots to echo his gun-belt as well as his black collar, shirt, and trousers, Butch wears sandy brown sueded boots with no decoration or stitching up the shafts. The toes of Butch’s boots are also more squared than the pointed toes of his colleague’s boots.

A behind-the-scenes shot of Redford and Newman preparing to film the famous “cliff-dive” scene. Note the wiring on the ground in the front of their well-traveled boots.

As the hunt for Butch and Sundance heats up, they seek refuge at their favorite brothel… and for Butch, in the arms of his favorite soiled dove, Agnes (Cloris Leachman). He begins stripping down for the assignation, pulling off his boots to reveal off-white cotton socks. The posse’s arrival prevents him from stripping down further and giving Agnes “the concentration she deserves,” and he’s still clad in his stockinged feet when he and Sundance take to the bordello’s roof to make their escape.

Butch prepares for a night with Gladys, only for it to be crashed by Joe LeFors (and literally crashed by Sundance, who is seconds away from bounding back into the room and storming across the bed.)

Butch’s costume in the United States generally reflected what Head had sketched as her initial vision (as auctioned by Christie’s), albeit with a warmer-toned shirt and sans waistcoat.

Butch finds a shortcut to getting laundry done while on the trail.

The Gun

Despite its nickname as the “Peacemaker”, the Colt Single Action Army lined the holsters of the old west’s bandits and badmen with as much ubiquity as it was issued to soldiers and sheriffs. The powerful and reliable Single Action Army revolutionized revolvers when it was introduced to the market in 1873, eventually available in a variety of barrel lengths and nearly three dozen calibers over its production timeline.

Though more technologically advanced revolvers had emerged over the previous quarter-century, the reliable Single Action Army was still the sidearm of choice for many westerners by the close of the 19th century. Butch and Sundance led their gang decades after the wildest days of the west, but they still opted for the single-action Colt revolvers that had been the choice revolvers for legends on all sides of the law like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Dalton brothers.

This real-life preference was reflected on screen with Newman’s Butch and Redford’s Sundance wreaking havoc across two continents with their own Single Action Army revolvers, specifically the 4¾”-barreled variant known alternately as the “Civilian”, “Gunfighter”, or “Quickdraw” model. Sundance particularly excels with his sidearm, while the easygoing Butch seems to carry his only because that’s what bandits do; after all, we typically Butch wrangling out of sticky situations using his wits rather than any powder-loaded ammunition.

Harvey: Guns or knives?
Butch: Neither?
Harvey: Pick!
Butch: I don’t wanna shoot with you, Harvey!
Harvey: (drawing a Bowie knife) Anything you say, Butch…

In fact, I don’t think we even see Butch with his gun drawn until he and Sundance arrive in South America. When the time actually comes for Butch to need to fire, you almost expect him to pull a bullet from his pocket like Barney Fife to actually load it for, as he admits his inexperience when the two find themselves cornered by rival bandits in Bolivia:

Kid, there’s something I think I ought to tell you. I never shot anybody before.

Butch keeps his gun holstered as Sundance tries to line up a shot when they’re famous cornered on the side of a cliff. As Butch takes off his gun belt to make the jump, we briefly see his Single Action Army left behind as the two eventually leap.

Thom Hatch’s earlier referenced volume The Last Outlaws makes frequent mention of the real Butch Cassidy’s “wicked-looking” .45-caliber Colt single-action “six-shooter” over more than a decade of crimes across two continents.

A nickel-plated Colt Single Action Army .45-caliber revolver, serial number 158402, owned by the real Butch Cassidy, photographed against Cassidy’s 1894 mugshot from the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie. He had just been released from said prison when he likely purchased the revolver in Vernal, Utah, en route his fledgling gang’s hideout in Robbers Roost Canyon. (Source: Morphy Auctions)

A Colt Single Action Army that had actually been carried by Butch—and turned over to Utah authorities in 1899—was put up for auction in 2012, as reported by The Huffington Post and NBC News. The listing at Morphy Auctions extensively proves the provenance of Butch’s “Amnesty Colt”, which is nickel-plated with black hard rubber grips but otherwise has the same 4¾”-long “Quickdraw” barrel configuration as the screen-used Single Action Army revolvers.

The serial number of the auctioned weapon, #158402, traces the date of manufacture to late 1894, while Butch was serving time for cattle rustling in the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Colt shipped the new revolver to J.F. Schmelzer & Sons in Leavenworth, Kansas, on January 30, 1895.

At some point over the next year, the Ashley Hardware Store in Vernal, Utah, acquired the weapon, and it was likely here that Butch picked up the nickel-plated Colt following his pardon in January 1896. Indeed, Vernal would have been directly on the southwest-by-south path between the Laramie prison and Robbers Roost Canyon, where Cassidy formed the Wild Bunch that year with fellow thieves Elzy Lay, Will “News” Carver, George “Flat-Nose” Curry, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, and—of course—the Sundance Kid.

How to Get the Look

Paul Newman with Robert Redford behind the scenes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The grounded, light-hearted Butch Cassidy—or at least Paul Newman’s interpretation of the real outlaw—dresses apropos his screen persona, clad in light earth tones that visually differentiate him from the darkly dressed gunslinger who accompanies him across the West… and far south.

The timeless look may be the only part of Butch’s lifestyle and occupation that isn’t out of date by the dawn of the 20th century, as a chore coat, plain flannel shirt, and napped boots still comprise a rugged, practical, and comfortable work outfit in the 21st century, particularly for those planning to be out and about this first weekend of fall.

• Tan cotton work jacket with tan leather-faced camp collar, three leather toggles, two chest pockets (with leather-piped flaps), two patch hip pockets (with leather-piped openings), and plain cuffs
• Beige flannel shirt with horizontal yokes, left chest pocket, plain “French placket” front, and squared single-button cuffs
• Brown cotton flat front trousers with belt loops, Western-style front pockets, and straight plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with squared gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Brown leather Buscadero-style gun-belt with cartridge loops and right-side belted-strap holster, for 4¾”-barreled Single Action Army revolver
• Tan sueded leather plain-toe cowboy boots
• Off-white cotton boot socks
• Off-white cotton full-length union suit
• Tan felt round-crowned “gambler’s hat” with faded taupe band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and read the latest Iconic Alternatives post about how to channel Butch’s rugged, trail-ready work-wear.

The Quote

Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.

The post Paul Newman’s Tan Work Jacket as Butch Cassidy appeared first on BAMF Style.

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987)

Vitals

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, smug and successful corporate raider

New York City, Spring 1985

Film: Wall Street
Release Date: December 11, 1987
Director: Oliver Stone
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Tailor: Alan Flusser

Background

Happy birthday to Michael Douglas, the actor, producer, and activist born September 25, 1944, who may be most famous for his iconic Academy Award-winning performance as ruthless financier Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

Named by AFI as one of the top 50 movie villains of all time, Gekko was based in part on real-life contemporaries like Asher Edelman, Michael Milken, and Ivan Boesky, the latter significantly influencing the “Greed… is good” speech. We meet the famed financier on his in-universe birthday, May 6… and astrologists may note Gekko’s Taurean tendencies from his appreciation for finer things to a strong self-will (which some may call stubbornness!)

Unlike me, who enjoys a leisurely lunch and who takes my birthday—nay, birthweek—off from work, Gekko never stops hustling. It must be an exhausting life… and Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) entering it is not going to make it any easier:

So what’s on your mind, kimosabe? Why am I listening to you?

What’d He Wear?

Hard at work when Bud Fox comes calling, Gordon Gekko’s suit jacket is nowhere to be seen as he works the phone in his shirt sleeves and tie, the deconstructed nature of his outfit making the abundant accessories all the more noticeable.

Gekko—via Ellen Mirjonick’s iconic costume design—established the contrast-collar shirt as the “uniform” of the ’80s power player. Michael Douglas’ shirts for Wall Street had been made by Alex Kabbaz, who had also made shirts for author Tom Wolf, including the horizontal-striped shirt that formed the basis of one of his shirts for Gordon Gekko. Such frivolities are yet unseen for our introduction to Gekko, as the horizontal striping may have been just too much for the viewer to take in during the first few minutes we spend with the fast-paced financier.

The body of Gekko’s shirt is a sky-blue cotton, sharply contrasted by the white collar with its wide, cutaway-style spread. His sleeves are roughly cuffed up his forearms throughout the scene, so the nature of his cuffs can’t be easily discerned; Gekko does have a propensity for double (French) cuffs, so it’s likely he’s just wearing them undone and rolled up here.

Gekko wears a rich burgundy-grounded tie with a balanced field of patterns alternating between blue floral medallions and cream dots. He holds the tie in place with a straight gold tie clip, smooth in the center where it may be monogrammed, and worn askew in an intentionally rakish manner suggesting he’s far too busy to fix it.

Gekko wears dark gray worsted wool trousers with a sky-blue windowpane that coordinates with his blue shirt. We can assume the trousers match to a suit jacket, likely hung up in a closet somewhere to avoid getting in the way of rapid-fire phone calls. These trousers have silver-finished buckle-tab adjusters positioned on each side of the waistband, but—as the kind of guy who writes off lunch as “for wimps”—he likely doesn’t want to take the chance that his trousers will fall off in mid-meeting, so he doubles down with a set of suspenders (braces).

The absence of his jacket showcases Gekko’s suspenders, consisting of navy blue fabric with a single sky-blue bar stripe through the center. Gold adjusters shine over the chest, and they fasten to buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband through white leather “rabbit ear” ends. The Y-back configuration means both striped straps converge over a white patch in the center of the back, connected by a short solid navy strap to the single white leather rabbit-ear end on the back.

Bud Fox: conventional in his dark suit, white shirt, and red power tie. Gordon Gekko: anything but conventional.

Styled with double forward-facing pleats, Gekko’s trousers have straight pockets along the side seams, jetted back pockets (with a button through the left), and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Gekko wears black leather oxfords, considered to be the most traditionally acceptable footwear for dressing in the business world. His dark gray socks continue the leg line of his trousers into the shoes.

The guy who would proclaim “greed—for lack of a better word—is good” would settle for nothing less than an 18-karat yellow gold Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée tank watch. Not only is his watch a Cartier, already a prestigious marque, but 1987 was also the first year of the relaunched Santos Galbée, a more elegantly ergonomic evolution of the prior Santos model. Gekko’s Cartier retains the Santos’ quartz crystal movement, the eight bezel screws, and the double screws on each link of the bracelet secured around his left wrist. The white square dial has black Roman-numeral hour markers.

Gekko adorns his opposing hand with a thin gold chain-link bracelet and a gold pinky ring with an elongated surface.

In lieu of lunch, light up a Winston.

How to Get the Look

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987)

The ultimate power player on ’80s Wall Street, Gordon Gekko dresses to catch the eye and show off his abundance of riches, from his fashionable tailoring to the gold jewelry, including his luxurious Cartier watch.

Details like the contrast collar and trouser side-adjusters show off that he has enough in his clothing budget to dive headfirst into sartorial territory where other men may be anxious to explore, and the fact that he pulls off such a dizzying combination of colors and patterns show that he dresses with earned confidence.

• Sky-blue cotton shirt with white spread contrast collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Burgundy medallion-printed silk tie
• Dark gray (with sky-blue windowpane) worsted wool double forward-pleated trousers with buckle-tab side adjusters, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Navy single-striped cloth suspenders with gold adjusters and white leather “rabbit-ear” connector ends
• Black leather oxford shoes
• Dark gray dress socks
• Gold wide-faced pinky ring
• Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée gold wristwatch
• Gold chain-link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Lunch? Ah, you gotta be kidding. Lunch is for wimps.

The post Wall Street: Meeting Gordon Gekko in Shirt Sleeves and Suspenders appeared first on BAMF Style.

Robert De Niro as David “Noodles” Aaronson in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Vitals

Robert De Niro as David “Noodles” Aaronson, mob bootlegger and ex-convict

Detroit, Fall 1932

Film: Once Upon a Time in America
Release Date: May 23, 1984
Director: Sergio Leone
Costume Designer: Gabriella Pescucci

Background

After premiering at Cannes in May and undergoing a truncated release stateside that summer, Sergio Leone’s controversial mob saga Once Upon a Time in America was finally released in the Italian-born director’s home country on this day in 1984. Leone’s final film, and the first he had directed in 13 years, Once Upon a Time in America marked the conclusion to his unofficial “Once Upon a Time…” trilogy.

Loosely adapted from Harry Grey’s 1952 novel The Hoods, Once Upon a Time in America centers around a New York street gang that grows from troubled adolescence into violent adulthood during the Prohibition era in the United States. The gang’s leadership shifts from the hotheaded but relatively simple “Noodles” Aaronson to the more cunning Max Bercovicz, who takes command after a teenage Noodles is arrested following the murder of a rival gangster.

After nearly a dozen years in the can, the adult Noodles (Robert De Niro) is released and instantly greeted by Max (James Woods), now a debonair bootlegger with ambitions beyond Noodles’ greatest ambitions. Together with old pals Patsy Goldberg (James Hayden) and “Cockeye” Stein (William Forsythe), Max recruits Noodles into a scheme concocted by Detroit mobsters Joe (Burt Young) and Frankie (Joe Pesci) to rob a diamond shipment from an insurance dealer.

Our quartet escapes with the diamonds, a successful heist from a financial perspective but not without incident. While the rest of the men busy themselves with the actual robbery, Noodles disgustingly rapes Carol (Tuesday Weld), the office secretary who had helped organize the robbery, portending a horrific assault scene that would follow later. When the gang meets with Joe, Max turns the tables and oversees the massacre of Joe’s gangsters, which Noodles brings to a conclusion when he pulls his own .38 snub to hunt down the last of Joe’s men. Returning to the car, Noodles is dismayed, not only that he wasn’t apprised of the plan to double-cross Joe but also to learn that Max carried out the hit ostensibly on Frankie’s orders, despite their childhood goal of working only for themselves.

Leone presents us with a curious central character in “Noodles” Aaronson, seemingly a born criminal who’s neither smart nor virtuous. Instead, he’s a simple hood guided only by his impulses, with his maturity undoubtedly stagnated by more than a decade in prison. A more traditional movie may have selected the craftier Max as our protagonist or at least imbued Noodles with more sympathetic qualities, but Once Upon a Time in America is hardly traditional in any sense of the word.

What’d He Wear?

I had always been intrigued by the curiously contemporary outfit that Noodles wears for the diamond heist, blending his ’30s-style heavy double-breasted suit and fedora with the ’80s-era sensibilities of dressing down a suit with a polo shirt. Of course, that’s not to say no one dressed like this during the Prohibition era, and it’s certainly suitable for the task at hand.

Compared to his colleagues in their pinned collars and ties, Noodles is the obvious renegade in his ultra-casual (for the time) knitted long-sleeved polo-style shirt, the top of the three-button placket worn undone. The shirt’s dark navy color coordinates with his darker hat to evoke the classic Western “good guys wear white, bad guys wear black” trope to signify Noodles’ eventual role in the rest of the group’s downfall.

The suit is a black-and-white herringbone-woven wool, with a unique burgundy double stripe against each right-down-to-left (or “right-handed”) twill section, creating a unique complexity that also matches it as the screen-worn suit that had been displayed—albeit with a dressier striped shirt and tie—at a Sergio Leone prop and costume exhibition in 2006, as photographed by a contributor on The RPF.

Noodles’ double-breasted jacket has the usual peak lapels and a full 6×2-button configuration, though he wears the jacket open throughout the sequence. The wide shoulders are roped at the heads of each sleeve, which are finished with three buttons on the cuff. The ventless jacket also has a welted breast pocket and jetted hip pockets.

The combination of the double-breasted jacket, fedora, and suspenders root Noodles’ surprisingly casual style more consistently with the ’30s setting than the ’80s production, by which time single-breasted jackets and belts were considerably more common.

Noodles tucks the shirt into his double forward-pleated trousers, which have an era-correct long rise to De Niro’s natural waist. Despite the presence of belt loops, he holds them up with black suspenders (braces) that have silver adjusters shining from the chest and black leather “rabbit-ear” ends which presumably connect to buttons along the inside of his trouser waistband.

The trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs), which break over his black leather cap-toe oxfords, worn with black socks.

Noodles joins his fellow thieves by donning a period-correct fedora for the raid, molded from a dark charcoal-gray felt that visually codes him as the prototypical “black hat villain” as he commits one of his most villainous acts of the saga. The hat has a wide black grosgrain band and a self-edged snap brim.

Also consistent with the rest of the gang (and CDC guidelines), Noodles covers his nose and mouth with his handkerchief, in this case a large square of silky white cotton with a tonal triple-striped border.

Noodles may be wearing a mask, but I would hardly call this social distancing.

For the actual robbery, Noodles wears a pair of black leather gloves that he has removed by the time they’re back in the car. Once he takes off in pursuits of the sole gangster who survived the tommy-gunning massacre, we see the gold rectangular case of his watch shining from his wrist, fastened to a black leather strap.

Noodles’ look reminded me of how Paul Muni dressed in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) when his character, an unemployed World War I veteran, was riding the rails—and eventually reduced to walking them—in early 1920s America, seeking work and growing increasingly despondent. Admittedly, Muni wore his dusty striped suit over a dark flannel button-up work shirt rather than a pullover, but the approach felt similar.

James Allen (Paul Muni), down on his luck and just one hamburger away from a painful sentence on a Southern chain gang.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was released in 1932—around the same time the Detroit heist in Once Upon a Time in America was set—with this scene supposedly depicting the early 1920s, suggesting that it wouldn’t have been unheard of for a man, especially one on the edges of society, to dress so beyond the shirt-and-tie norms of the day.

The Gun

The Colt Detective Special is shown to be the weapon of choice for the gangsters across the 1930s sequences, with Noodles most notably using his during the aftermath of the diamond robbery.

This near-ubiquity reflects the fact that, though Colt had intended that the Detective Special would primarily find use as a law enforcement “belly gun” upon its introduction in 1927, this short-barreled revolver quickly found favor on both sides of the law for its balance of reliability, concealment, and power, carrying six cartridges of the standard police .38 Special ammunition.

The Car

Let’s go for a swim.

Consistent with his pattern of following unwise impulses, Noodles takes command of the gang’s dark red 1931 Plymouth Model PA sedan and, perhaps in a show of defiance to reflect his unwillingness to be bossed around, shifts it into top gear and drives off a pier into the water.

1931 was the year that Plymouth introduced “floating power” with the Model PA’s 3.2-liter four-cylinder engine, referring to its engine boasting “the smoothness of an eight—the economy of a four”… not the car’s actual buoyancy, as tested by Noodles. Of the more than 75,000 Plymouths produced in 1931, the majority were these four-door Model PA sedans with nearly 50,000 sold with an MSRP of $635.

Noodles enjoys one last Thelma & Louise moment with Max before the divide between the two grows even deeper.

Noodles, Max, Patsy, and Cockeye—and, presumably, their proceeds from the diamond heist—emerge from the water and return to New York, though I can imagine their getaway was considerably less convenient as they were now all wet and without means of transportation.

How to Get the Look

Robert De Niro as David “Noodles” Aaronson in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Less able to assimilate into society than the rest of his gangster pals, Noodles dresses as the clear outsider by layering his business suit over a dressed-down polo-style shirt, an ’80s-informed approach that remains consistent with the 1930s setting via details like the double-breasted jacket, suspenders, and fedora.

• Black-and-white herringbone (with burgundy double-stripe) wool suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Navy knitted long-sleeved polo shirt with 3-button placket
• Black suspenders with silver adjusters and black leather “rabbit-ear” ends
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Black leather gloves
• Gold rectangular watch with gold dial and black leather strap

As of September 2021, there are several outfitters offering soft navy knitted “polo sweaters” or similar shirts that you can grab to comfortably—but stylishly—dress down a suit:

• Gutteridge Merino Wool Knitted Polo Shirt ($69, Gutteridge)
• Marks & Spencer Pure Cashmere Knitted Polo Shirt ($175, M&S)
• Paul James Knitwear 100% Cotton Long-Sleeve Knitted Polo Shirt ($63, Paul James Knitwear)
• Uniqlo Extra Fine Merino Knitted Long-Sleeve Polo Shirt ($39.90, Uniqlo)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, which also started streaming on Netflix in the U.S. this month.

The Quote

I thought you were the guy that said you didn’t like bosses. It sounded like a good idea then… it still is!

The post Once Upon a Time in America: De Niro’s Herringbone for a Heist appeared first on BAMF Style.

Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

Vitals

Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti, slick gangster

Newark, New Jersey, Summer 1967 through Summer 1971

Film: The Many Saints of Newark
Release Date: October 1, 2021
Director: Alan Taylor
Costume Designer: Amy Westcott

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“Pain comes from wanting things,” Sal Moltisanti (Ray Liotta) explains to his nephew Dickie, though it could have also been meta-messaging from David Chase, creator of The Sopranos and a frequent critic of the fans and pundits always demanding more from his magnum opus, be it answers (What happened to the Russian? Did Tony die at Holsten’s?) or more stories to be told.

Regarding the latter, Chase had expressed interest in prequel stories—if anything—to continue building the Soprano-verse. He returned to a setting that had intrigued him as far back as his days in film school: the race riots that swept through Newark in July 1967.

While much excitement was garnered when it was announced that the late James Gandolfini’s son Michael would be playing a younger version of the role his father had immortalized on the series, the central character of Chase’s prequel would be Dickie Moltisanti, the smooth mafiosi whose death prior to the events of the series left the hotheaded young gangster Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) desperately in search of a father figure.

After years of The Sopranos building up Dickie’s mythos, Alessandro Nivola delivers a charismatic and engaging performance that makes Dickie Moltisanti a particularly compelling character to finally meet, illustrating the magnetism that would have so entranced a young Tony as well as the internal demons that he would have transferred to Christopher.

“Moltisanti is a religious name… and still I’m fucked,” Christopher narrates from the afterlife at the start of the film, contextualizing the title as his last name translates to “many saints” in Italian.

The setting may invite comparisons to Goodfellas, though I found The Many Saints of Newark to more closely resemble A Bronx Tale: focusing on a dapper but doomed gangster who serves as a de facto mentor to a kid from the neighborhood—even skillfully driving his convertible in reverse with said kid by his side—over the course of parallel timelines in the ’60s, with more significant racial themes than typically appear in mob fare. By the end of each story, the younger man finds himself at a crossroads as to whether or not he should follow his gangster mentor’s criminal lifestyle… though Tony Soprano’s ultimate path would obviously differ from Calogero’s decision in A Bronx Tale.

In my opinion, it would be hard for anything to match the mastery of The Sopranos, but I found The Many Saints of Newark to be a gaba-good addition to the world David Chase had created, bolstered by the shining performances of Nivola, Gandolfini, Leslie Odom Jr., and Vera Farmiga as the indomitable Livia Soprano.

What’d He Wear?

Aside from his impressive wardrobe of sleek silk suits, Dickie Moltisanti’s closet must be bursting with black striped knit shirts, a style that echoes the look that Ray Liotta sported for the adult Henry Hill’s dazzling “Idlewild Airport, 1963”-set introduction in Goodfellas. It may indeed be homage, as Liotta appears in dual roles in The Many Saints of Newark, first as Dickie’s gregarious father “Hollywood Dick” and as his imprisoned uncle Sal.

The original black patterned knit shirt boss, Ray Liotta, shows where Hollywood Dick’s son may have inherited his style in this brick-patterned black knitwear in The Many Saints of Newark. (Inset: A younger Liotta sports a gray-striped black knit shirt under a gray silk suit during a ’60s-set sequence in Goodfellas.)

Costume designer Amy Westcott spoke to Caroline Reilly for InsideHook specifically about what Reilly referred to as “the gangster knit”, with Westcott explaining that she worked with a New Jersey knitter to authentically create shirts in the fashions of those originally made during the ’50s and ’60s, which would have still been lining these gents’ closets more than a decade later as they continued striving to emulate their Rat Pack heroes.

Shirt #1

Washing the remnants of the riots off of his white Impala one morning in July 1967, Dickie encounters his father’s beautiful new Italian wife Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi) with bruises on her face and immediately knows his father is to blame. Though he sympathizes with his stepmother, he initially doesn’t react well (and why should he?!) to her kissing him: “Whassa matter with you? My wife’s right inside… you’re my fawtha’s wife.”

For this casual setting, Dickie wears the first of five black knitted shirts, this one short-sleeved but—unlike most of the others—with a full placket that extends from the waist hem up to the neck. The shirt has six black cloth-covered buttons up the front, which Dickie wears completely unbuttoned to reveal his usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt with its duo of dangling gold necklaces. The body of the shirt is ribbed with a wide gray vertical panel down the front chest on each side, shadowed on the outside only by a narrower and lighter gray strip of non-ribbed cloth.

Dickie always wears gray trousers with his black knitted shirts. In this case, he wears a pair of medium gray flat front self-suspended slacks that have slightly slanted side pockets and button-through back pockets. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) with no break over his black leather cap-toe oxford shoes and black socks.

Dickie pulls off Giuseppina’s oversized tortoise sunglasses to playfully complete his look… but he isn’t feeling as playful when he spots the bruising from his father’s abuse that morning.

Shirt #2

That evening, Dickie has changed into a different black striped knit short-sleeved shirt, though this one is a polo-style shirt with a short placket for three black buttons at the top. This shirt is also the only one of the five to include a color other than the monochromatic black, gray, and white palette with the inclusion of brown striping.

Each side of the front of the shirt mirrors the other, separated by a black center that extends down the center from the placket to the all-black waist hem. From the inside to the outside of the shirt, the sequence is a white bar stripe, a wide chocolate-brown stripe, a black bar stripe, a wide taupe stripe, and finally a tan bar stripe before getting to the the sides, shoulders, and sleeves, which are all black to match the back and collar of the shirt.

Dickie confronts his father in the front seat of his Cadillac.

Armed with the knowledge of his father’s brutality against Giuseppina and recalling the same abuse against his birth mother, Dickie confronts Hollywood Dick upon his return home. Their argument escalates into Dickie beating his father against the steering wheel of his ’62 Cadillac until he expires. Briefly interrupted by the surprise appearance of his nephew Tony, Dickie drives his father’s corpse across town during the riots, eventually staging his death in an inferno at Attaboy Draining Supply.

Dickie’s gray flat front self-suspended trousers and black leather shoes may be the same as he had worn earlier in the day while washing his car and, er, “consoling” Giuseppina.

Dickie tries to hide his deed from an adolescent Tony Soprano, still too young to be suspicious.

Shirt #3

The consolation also escalated by that fall when Dickie’s relationship with the stepmother he widowed blossomed into romance as he took Giuseppina as his comare. He buys her a spacious apartment with a full kitchen for her to cook his salsiccia and to ironically embrace his muttering “motherfucker” when their first moment of passion in the new pad is interrupted.

When he and Giuseppina first visit her new apartment, Dickie wears yet another black striped knit shirt, this time dressed up with what appears to be the same somber black suit he had worn at his father’s funeral.

Dickie never removes the single-breasted suit jacket—though it’s clear he intends to!—so it’s difficult to ascertain if the shirt has long or short sleeves, though I’d assume the latter as we don’t see any shirt cuffs when the jacket sleeves ride up as he and Giuseppina roll around on the floor tile. The shirt has a mostly black body, presented on the collar and the placket, with increasingly lighter gray vertical block stripes visible toward the outside, a black bar stripe bisecting the lightest gray stripe we see.

Though wearing a full two-piece suit and even a gray felt trilby, the outfit is already dressed down by the untucked knit shirt, and Dickie coordinates to this degree of informality with his black leather apron-toe slip-on loafers.

Dickie introduces Giuseppina to her new home.

Shirt #4

Set to The Rolling Stones’ “Sway”, we progress through the end of the ’60s, RICO statutes threatening Mafia livelihood, and when “Neil Young gave that speech from the moon,” as Christopher—who was born around the same time—narrates. The timeline jumps to the summer of 1971 when Johnny Soprano is set to be released after four years in prison, and it’s clear that his son Tony (Michael Gandolfini) has relied even more on the tutelage of his uncle Dickie.

For Johnny Boy’s welcome-home bash at the Soprano family home, Dickie wears another black striped knit polo, albeit the only one confirmed to have long sleeves. He wears all three buttons on the top placket totally open, showing the top of his undershirt and his usual pair of gold necklaces. Starting from the black center of the shirt, the chest has white and gray stripes, followed by a black bar stripe and then a series of three narrow gray stripes, each separated by an even thinner black stripe.

As with the other shirts, the collar, sleeves, back, and waist hem are all black, and Dickie wears it with gray flat front self-suspended trousers.

Even after his own father returns home from prison, Tony feels closer to his uncle Dickie.

“2021 better not mess. Buon anno.” Nivola tweeted on New Year’s Eve with this behind-the-scenes photo in costume as Dickie.

Shirt #5

The last time we see Dickie in one of his black striped knit shirts, he and Giuseppina are driving Tony and a teenage Jackie Aprile to a Yankees game later that summer of ’71 in his swanky new green Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado convertible when he pulls over to chat with a recently returned Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.)

The mostly black shirt has a short three-button placket and a wider black center that separates each striped chest panel. Both sides of the chest are patterned with a wide marled gray stripe, bordered on both sides by four narrow lighter gray stripes that are separated by three black stripes of the same narrow width.

However, this isn’t a case where each side mirrors the other as the left side of the chest has a lighter gray figure knitted against the wide gray stripe. The figure consists of two mirrored parallelograms above what appears to be two outstretched arms, a short body, and two feet. (While likely meant to be representative of a flower or something similarly botanical, I can’t help but to see the silhouette of Sonic the Hedgehog in this curious figure.)

Looking cool behind the wheel, Dickie not only wears his usual gray trilby but also a pair of black acetate-framed Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. The Wayfarer model had been introduced in the 1950s, though Dickie wears a more anachronistic pair as it has the white Ray-Ban logo etched into the upper-right corner of the right lens, indicative of the modern RB2140 Wayfarer that was reintroduced in 2007. (One of Ray-Ban’s most enduring and recognizable frames, you can buy Wayfarers from Ray-Ban or Amazon.)

Giuseppina has updated her sunglasses to suit the ’70s as Dickie now sports his own pair of Wayfarers.

In a tweet last month, Nivola showed a closer version of the jewelry on his right hand, including the trio of diamonds mounted on the shining pinky ring and the “R.A.M.” etched in cursive on the identification plate of his chunky gold chain-link bracelet, standing for Richard Aldo Moltisanti.

On his other hand, Dickie’s stainless-cased watch appears to have a gold fixed bezel that encircles a gold-toned case, all worn on a tapered steel three-piece link bracelet. He also wears a plain gold wedding ring.

Dickie always wears two gold necklaces. A traditional Catholic cross suspends from the shorter of the two, while the longer necklace has what appears to be a round religious pendant as well as a cornicello. Italian for “little horn”, the cornicello is a traditional talisman or amulet in Italian culture that’s thought to encourage virility and ward off bad luck. (In Dickie’s case, it does not appear to provide the latter benefit.)

What to Imbibe

Suggesting the substance abuse issues that he would pass along to his son Christopher, Dickie is frequently seen sneaking pulls from a pint bottle of Smirnoff vodka.

Unlike the stereotypical tropes depicting alcoholism, Dickie doesn’t necessarily drink to brace himself for taxing occasions, instead drinking during relatively mundane occurrences like washing his car or visiting with family. (Okay, the latter could be stressful for many… but that doesn’t appear to be the case for Dickie in this instance.) In the future words of his son, “it’s like the fuckin’ regularness of everyday life is too hard” for him.

When The Many Saints of Newark‘s timeline jumps ahead from 1967 to 1971, we see Dickie Moltisanti is still taking covert swigs of Smirnoff.

Currently the best-selling vodka in the world, Smirnoff’s story begins in 1864 when Pyotr Arsenyevitch Smirnov established his vodka distillery in Moscow. Smirnov’s family pioneered the distillery process over the next half-century until they were forced to sell the company when Tsar Nicholas II nationalized the vodka industry in 1904. The Smirnov family fled the country during the October Revolution, opening distilleries under the Smirnoff name in Turkey, Poland, France, and eventually the United States.

Smirnoff was one of the few companies to continue struggling with North American sales even after Prohibition ended, until John Martin of Heublein Spirits bought the company over the protestations of his board. Capitalizing on the American familiarity with whiskey, Heublein advertised Smirnoff vodka as “no taste, no smell” white whiskey, sealed with whiskey corks. This marketing tactic—combined with the introduction of mid-century cocktails like the Bloody Mary, Moscow Mule, and Vodka Martini—encouraged a boost in American vodka drinking… and indeed alcoholics like Dickie Moltisanti may have appreciated the “no taste, no smell” factor that allowed them to hide their unhealthy proclivities from loved ones.

Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

How to Get the Look

Outside of his attractively tailored suits, Dickie Moltisanti’s daily dressed-down uniform consists of black striped knit shirts that were a mid-century staple often associated with Italian-American gangsters thanks to movies like Goodfellas, particularly when worn with a plethora of gold jewelry.

• Black knit shirt with vertical gray gradient stripes (either button-up or polo, short- or long-sleeved)
• Gray flat front trousers with self-suspended waistband, slightly slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather apron-toe loafers
• Black socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Gray felt short-brimmed trilby with black grosgrain band
• Gold necklace with Catholic cross
• Gold necklace with cornicello and religious pendant
• Gold chain-link monogrammed ID bracelet
• Gold three-diamond pinky ring
• Gold wedding ring
• Stainless steel watch with fixed gold bezel, gold dial, and tapered steel three-piece link bracelet
• Black acetate-framed Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses

Fortunately for those hoping to crib Dickie’s style, retro-inspired knitwear has been going through a revival. Many outfitters from Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic to MR PORTER and Zara offer knitted polos and button-up shirts in their year-round collections, though I had to parse through many of the current lineups to find the gray-on-black striped shirts that Dickie wears so abundantly in The Many Striped Shirts of Dickie Moltisanti.

Of course, finding vintage shirts via eBay, Etsy, or Poshmark or actual used shops will typically yield the most rewarding finds, but you can also check out the below:

• Merc Fry Polo in black and ivory cotton (Merc, £55 & Mazeys Mod Clothing, $62.40)
• Ska & Soul Retro Spearpoint Knitted Polo Shirt in black cotton (Mazeys Mod Clothing, $83.21)
• Slate & Stone Colorblock Stripe Cotton Polo Shirt in navy w/ white stripe cotton (Nordstrom Rack, $49.97)
• Stacy Adams Short Sleeve Knit Sport Shirt: Multi Stripes in black acrylic (Amazon, $49)
• Stacy Adams Short Sleeve Knit Sport Shirt: Solid Geometric Jacquard with Color Tipping in black acrylic (Amazon, $49)
• Todd Snyder Short Sleeve Tonal Stripe Full Placket Polo in black silk/cotton (Todd Snyder, $248)

All prices and availability as of October 7, 2021.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, currently in theaters and also streaming on HBO Max through the end of October.

The post The Many Saints of Newark: Dickie Moltisanti’s Black Striped Knit Shirts appeared first on BAMF Style.

Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery in Zodiac (2007)

Vitals

Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery, San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter

San Francisco, Fall 1969 to Fall 1970

Film: Zodiac
Release Date: March 2, 2007
Director: David Fincher
Costume Designer: Casey Storm

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Last week, the volunteer investigative group The Case Breakers released their research suggesting the identity of the infamous Zodiac Killer was Gary Francis Poste, adding a new suspect to a list that includes Arthur Leigh Allen, Rick Marshall, and Ted Cruz. While many experts have been quick to disprove the Poste theory, the current zeitgeist of fascination with true crime and every other podcast inspiring waves of amateur detectives encouraged me to revisit Zodiac, David Fincher’s extensively researched thriller that has been considered one of the best movies of the 21st century… despite being outgrossed by Wild Hogs during its opening weekend.

In addition to its eponymous killer, Zodiac centers around three real-life figures—San Francisco police inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Chronicle crime writer Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.)—each driven to obsession by their relentless parallel pursuits to uncover the serial murderer’s identity. In each case, the obsession became mutual as Zodiac responded in kind by finding ways to communicate with and torment his pursuers, mentioning Toschi in one of his famous missives, barraging Graysmith’s home phone with creepy calls, and wishing Avery a happy Halloween via a threatening greeting card “from your secret pal” that includes a bloody scrap of Zodiac victim Paul Stine’s striped shirt.

“I feel it in my bones, you ache to know my name. And so, I’ll clue you in… but then, why spoil the game? Happy Halloween.”

The Chronicle team calls Inspector Toschi to collect evidence from the card, while a pill-popping Avery tries to steady his nerves before responding to the card by directly addressing the detective:

Dave… I want a gun.

CUT TO: Avery, demonstrating an Imperial stormtrooper’s skill with a Colt Official Police revolver at the shooting range with a button pinned to his chest declaring: “I Am Not Avery”.

What’d He Wear?

Before informality in the American workplace became more commonplace with phenomena like “casual Fridays”, Zodiac depicts Paul Avery as eschewing sartorial norms with offbeat office-wear that grows increasingly chaotic as the investigation into the Zodiac Killer begins to take even more of a personal toll.

One item from Avery’s wardrobe that reappears through the events of Zodiac is a well-worn gray corduroy jacket, its dirt and distress indicating that it has likely joined Avery for many misadventures chasing down leads or closing down the bar.  Constructed from a medium-wale corduroy cotton, the ventless jacket is styled like a single-breasted sports coat with wide shoulders and a looser, boxy fit that’s ideal for the way Avery layers it. The two-button jacket has notch lapels, a slim-welted breast pocket, and patch pockets on the hips. Unlike a traditional suit or sport jacket, the sleeves are left plain at the cuff with no buttons or even a vent where the buttons on a conventional jacket would be placed.

Avery’s composure will be short-lived once he absorbs the contents of this Halloween card.

For the memorable scene when Avery receives his threatening Halloween card from the Zodiac Killer in October 1970, he layers the jacket over a short-sleeved denim-effect shirt and an Army fatigue shirt with cutoff sleeves.

In the late 1960s, the real-life Avery had briefly left the Chronicle to move his family to Vietnam and launch a freelance photojournalism service, returning stateside in early 1969 in time to be assigned to cover the Zodiac killings. This well-worn Army shirt may have been chosen to reflect a memento from his days covering the war, the sleeves having been removed either by Avery or by its previous wearer. The five olive buttons up the front match those that close through each pocket flap.

Above the left pocket, Avery’s shirt retains the branch-identifying olive drab tape, though it looks like “U.S. Army” has been reinforced in black marker rather than the usual embroidered lettering. The mitred corners of the two chest pocket flaps indicate that the fatigue shirt is specifically from the short-lived “Type II” pattern of the OG-107 cotton sateen work utility uniform issued to the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1964. (The “Type I” predecessor carried over the World War II-era “HBT” uniform’s rectangular pockets while the “Type III”—as seen on M*A*S*H—has single-pointed pockets.)

Avery wears the modified fatigue shirt like a waistcoat, unbuttoned and untucked over a short-sleeved shirt made from a pale-blue denim-like cotton, a lighter wash than the classic chambray work shirt. Detailed with two patch pockets on the chest, the shirt has bone-colored four-hole buttons up the front placket to the long point collar, worn open to show his navy silk neckerchief printed with large crimson squares.

Avery drapes his corduroy jacket over his shoulders when consulting with his editors and Inspector Toschi about the Halloween card… and the prospect of arming himself.

Avery’s jeans are a very light denim wash, echoing the pale-blue shade of his short-sleeved shirt. Like his jacket and cutoff fatigue shirt, the jeans appear to have withstood considerable wear with sandy shades of distress particularly along the seams. The untucked jacket and shirts cover much of his waistband, preventing any more visible detail than the fashionable touch of flare on the bottoms.

The dark brown leather ankle boots have squared plain toes and a decorative strap over each vamp, with a long black zipper fastening up the inside. These are likely another well-traveled item from the Paul Avery wardrobe, as the uppers are showing signs of separating from the black rubber raised-heel soles. The tops of his black cotton lisle crew socks can be seen just over the top of each boot.

Avery’s slapdash style looks even more unorthodox when compared to the buttoned-up Boy Scout Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal).

The jacket had first appeared on screen about a year earlier when Avery, amidst sarcastic ridicule from the Chronicle‘s coffee vendor Shorty (James Carraway), watches celebrity lawyer Melvin Belli (Brian Cox) reaching out to Zodiac on a special edition of the morning news.

Avery again wears the corduroy jacket layered over a few hard-worn pieces from his collection, specifically a stone-colored cotton button-up shirt with hints of blue dye washed along the placket seams. He wears the shirt totally unbuttoned over his T-shirt, which is printed in an interlocking blue-on-white geometric pattern and finished with a narrow blue banded crew neck. Both shirts are untucked over the top of his darker blue denim jeans.

Two of the Chronicle’s least conventional dressers, Avery and Shorty watch Jim Dunbar’s morning news bulletin featuring Melvin Belli.

Avery wears thick gold rectangular-framed glasses with ridged arms. The bracelet on his right wrist is a series of brown nut beads through a dark brown cord.

Another rough morning summons Shorty’s “drunken reprobate” comment.

How to Get the Look

Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery in Zodiac (2007)

As a world-traveled veteran reporter, Paul Avery affects a slapdash and totally singular look that deviated from accepted attire at the office both at the time Zodiac was set and—in some cases—even now, more than a half-century later.

• Gray corduroy cotton single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with narrow-welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, plain cuffs, and ventless back
• Olive drab cotton sateen OG-107 “Type II” fatigue uniform shirt with cutoff sleeves and two mitred-corner flapped chest pockets
• Pale-blue chambray-style cotton short-sleeved shirt with long point collar, front placket, and two chest pockets
• Navy with crimson square-pattern silk neckerchief
• Light-blue denim jeans
• Dark brown leather inside-zip ankle boots with decorative vamp-strap and black rubber raised-heel soles
• Black cotton lisle crew socks
• Thick gold rectangular-framed glasses
• Brown nut-beaded bracelet on dark brown cord

As of October 11, 2021, Madewell offers a similar short-sleeved blue shirt.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read the book by Robert Graysmith, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal on screen and providing the basis for the film.

The Quote

Fuck a duck.

The post Zodiac: Paul Avery’s Layered Corduroy and Denim appeared first on BAMF Style.

Fall, the season for flannel and field-wear as presented by (clockwise, from top left) Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows, Dennis Haysbert in Far From Heaven, and Alan Alda, Larry Linville, and Wayne Rogers on M*A*S*H.

Fall is my favorite season for many reasons: the picturesque changing leaves, football every weekend, comfort foods and autumnal cocktails, and the parade of holidays from Halloween through Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season.

The increasing chill in the air also makes autumn my favorite sartorial season, as we layer coats over sweaters with our boots crunching over fallen leaves, the weather still just right to consider form over function… or find the perfect balance of both.

This year, I wanted to look at a few fall fashion essentials inspired by movies and TV to get you in the autumnal mood. I forced myself to limit my finds to ten top garments that I wear and appreciate most from October through December:

• MA-1 bomber jacket
• Fleece-lined denim trucker jacket
• Army-style field jacket
• Plaid flannel work jacket
• Pre-WWII leather flight jacket
• Light brown corduroy suit
• Blue denim Western-style snap shirts
• Colorful plaid flannel shirts
• Navy shawl-collar cardigan
• Army-inspired OG-107 utility pants

My goal for each piece was to capture a range of at least five or six options for every budget, aiming for the ideal balance of affordability and quality. 

Check out these finds below!

Though different from the usual BAMF Style format, I want to reinforce that this is an organic post, not sponsored or promoted by any of the brands mentioned. However, as an affiliate of the Amazon Associate and ShopStyle Collective programs, I may receive commissions for certain purchases made through qualifying links.

Outerwear

The MA-1 Bomber Jacket

As worn by Steve McQueen in The Hunter (read more!) and Kevin Costner in Bull Durham

Steve McQueen as Ralph “Papa” Thorson in The Hunter (1980)

Developed for military pilots flying at higher altitudes than its leather-shell predecessors, the nylon MA-1 can be just as effective for civilians on land. In fact, I’d recommend this versatile bomber jacket as the one piece of outerwear every man should have: rainproof without looking like a parka and climate-adaptable simply by zipping or unzipping, there are few situations where having an MA-1 wouldn’t benefit its wearer, and there’s a reason the original manufacturer Alpha Industries has continued producing them more than 70 years after they first took to the skies.

As the bomber jacket became a favorite of civilians, fashion houses began making their own knitted-collar bomber jackets and successfully experimenting with alternative fabrics like brown suede, a look rocked on screen by protagonists as wide-ranging as Bruce Willis’ badass Butch in Pulp Fiction… and Jerry Seinfeld.

The essential details: Mil-spec olive green nylon shell, zip-up front, ribbed-knit collar and cuffs, hand pockets, and left-sleeve pocket (plus, that bright orange emergency lining for a touch of authenticity!)

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The original Alpha Industries MA-1 Bomber Jacket in sage-green nylon, available from Alpha Industries, Amazon, and FarFetch

• Alpha Industries MA-1 Bomber Jacket in sage-green nylon ($160, Alpha Industries, Amazon, & FarFetch) →→→
• Abercrombie & Fitch Relaxed Bomber Jacket in olive-green nylon ($120, A&F)
• ASOS Design Midweight Padded Bomber Jacket in khaki polyester ($50, ASOS)
• Calvin Klein Bomber Flight Jacket in olive nylon ($195, Macy’s)
• Jack & Jones Rush Bomber Jacket in olive polyester ($53.70, Macy’s)
• Jack & Jones Zip-through Bomber Jacket in khaki polyester ($54, ASOS)
• Levi’s MA-1 Flight Jacket in olive nylon ($79.99, Zappos)
• NOIZE Full-zip Bomber Jacket in moss polyester ($54.99, Saks Off Fifth)
• Old Navy Water-Resistant Bomber Jacket in heritage-green polyester ($59.99, Old Navy)
• Polo Ralph Lauren Twill Bomber Jacket in olive nylon ($224.99, Ralph Lauren)
• Pull&Bear Bomber Jacket in green polyester ($36, ASOS)
• Rag & Bone Manston Recycled Nylon Bomber Jacket in dark olive nylon ($595, Rag & Bone)

What to wear it with: In the spirit of the jacket itself… the sky’s the limit.

The Fleece-Lined Denim Trucker

As recently worn by Michael Gandolfini as a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark

Michael Gandolfini as a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

Often marketed as a “sherpa” trucker jacket in reference to the synthetic pile used to line less expensive jackets, these fleece-lined denim jackets evolved as an even more insulated variant of the blanket-lined Storm Rider that Lee had introduced in mid-20th century.

The essential details: Blue denim shell, white fleece lining and collar, button-flapped chest pockets, and a snap-up front for additional Western panache

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The mustard sherpa-washed Levi’s Sherpa Trucker Jacket, widely available from Levi’s, Macy’s, and Target)

• Gap Denim Sherpa Icon Jacket in medium indigo ($70, Gap)
• Levi’s Go Set Sherpa Jacket in medium cotton/polyester ($39.99, Marshall’s)
• Levi’s Sherpa Trucker Jacket in mustard sherpa light wash ($79.99, Levi’s; Macy’s; Target) →→→
• Levi’s Type 3 Sherpa-Lined Denim Jacket in fable mid-wash ($138, General Pants; $190, ASOS)
• Levi’s Premium Vintage Fit Sherpa Trucker Jacket in light wash ($89.60, Nordstrom; $128, Levi’s)
• Lucky Brand Faux Shearling Lined Denim Trucker Jacket in “cypress indigo” ($99.97, Nordstrom Rack)
• Madewell Sherpa Classic Jean Jacket in Eaves wash ($175, Madewell)
• Polo Ralph Lauren Faux Shearling Lined Denim Jacket in “Keighton” ($248, Saks Fifth Avenue)

What to wear it with: This can either dress down a pair of chinos or provide the top half of a “Canadian tuxedo” when worn with your favorite broken-in jeans.

The Field Jacket

As worn by… many, including Woody Allen in Annie Hall, Robert Shaw in Jaws (read more!), Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah, Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer, Al Pacino in Serpico, Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally

The history of the most prominent American military field jackets, including Quint’s M-51 as worn by Robert Shaw in Jaws, an M-43 worn by Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, and Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) pressing his M-65 back into service during his tortured return to civilian life in Taxi Driver (1976).

Like so many menswear staples, the modern field jacket originated as a military garment. Though similar hunting jackets have existed since at least the late 19th century, the field jacket in its current form dates back to World War II. The U.S. Army had outfitted its GIs in the khaki M-1941 field jacket, adapted from a civilian windbreaker as a lighter-weight alternative to the aging wool four-pocket coat that had been issued since World War I. The introduction of the cotton sateen M-1943 field jacket yielded the four-pocket olive drab coat currently associated with Army jackets, which evolved into the equally iconic M-1951 and M-1965 variations that remain popular civilian dress.

’70s cinema depicted a remarkable dichotomy as the mil-spec field jacket was favored equally by tough guys—De Niro, Pacino, and Shaw—as well as neurotic divorcees—like those played by Woody, Hoffman, and eventually Crystal.

The essential details: Mil-spec olive green water-resistant cotton construction, four flapped outside pockets, inner-drawstring waist, and dual-fastening front

Civilian options:

The BAMF Style choice: There’s something to be said about the authenticity of genuine mil-spec options like Alpha Industries offers, but most would be just as suited by Madewell‘s affordable alternative that includes signature M-65 styling without the added heft.

• Aspesi Hooded Cargo Jacket in military green cotton/linen blend ($577, FarFetch)
• Banana Republic Water-Resistant Field Jacket in “so shady green” cotton/nylon blend ($169, Banana Republic)
• Barbour Logo-Embroidered Military Jacket ($282.10, Cettire)
• Gap Canvas Utility Jacket in “green moss” cotton ($44.99, Gap Factory)
• Gap Military Jacket with Hidden Hood in “deep brown woods” cotton canvas ($47.99, Gap Factory)
• J. Crew Garment-Dyed M65 Jacket in “hillside green” cotton canvas ($218, J. Crew)
• Mackintosh Skite Field Jacket in green cotton ($500, FarFetch)
• Madewell Field Jacket in “cargo green” cotton ($148, Madewell) →→→
• Polo Ralph Lauren The Iconic Field Jacket in “soldier olive” cotton, with patches ($298, Ralph Lauren)
• Propper M65 Field Coat Jacket in olive cotton/nylon ($75.43, Amazon)
• Roark Revival Bogor Jacket in “dark army” cotton ($59.21, Backcountry)
• WenVen Cotton Military Casual Stand Collar Windbreaker Field Jacket in “army green” cotton ($51.99, Amazon)
• Woolrich Field Patch Pocket Jacket in green cotton ($318.90, Cettire)

Mil-spec options:

• Alpha Industries M-65 field jacket in olive cotton ($225, Alpha Industries)
• Cockpit USA M-43 field jacket in olive cotton poplin ($240, Cockpit USA)
• Cockpit USA M-51 field jacket in olive nylon/cotton sateen ($420, Cockpit USA)
• Cockpit USA M-65 field jacket in olive cotton/nylon sateen ($490, Cockpit USA)
• Rothco M-65 field jacket in olive cotton ($87.99, eBay)

What to wear it with: Lay over a flannel shirt and henley or use it to give an edge to an otherwise non-threatening sweater.

The Plaid Flannel Work Jacket

As worn by Dennis Haysbert in Far From Heaven

Dennis Haysbert with Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven (2002)

Plaid flannel outerwear had been a mainstay in American hunting gear for nearly a century by the time it went mainstream during the mid-20th century, around the time that suburban expansion lessened the cultural distance between cities and the country. Sartorial formality continued its descent with the boom of sportswear like camp-collared shirts and loafer jackets, and workwear went vogue as more men—including many returning servicemen from World War II—embraced the comfort of soft flannels and corduroys, often well-paired with their broken-in service khakis.

The essential details: Earthy brown plaid all-over pattern, napped finish, shirt-style but zip-up front, and external pockets either for cargo or hands

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The Dockers Wool Blend Jacket that blends durability, affordability, and ’50s-inspired styling, even if it doesn’t reflect the exact colorway seen in Far From Heaven.

• Aspesi Plaid Pattern Knitted Jacket in wool blend ($1,055, FarFetch)
• Dark Seas Riviera Plaid Jacket in gold cotton ($110, Urban Outfitters)
• Dockers Wool Blend Jacket in brown plaid wool blend ($127.99, Dockers) →→→
• Frame Museum of Peace and Quiet Plaid Jacket in off-white multi acrylic blend ($478, Frame)
• Frank & Oak The Wool Overshirt in mahogany poly/wool blend ($149, Frank & Oak)
• H&M Wool-Blend Shirt Jacket in beige/dark blue poly/wool blend ($55.99, H&M)
• L.L. Bean x Todd Snyder Hi-Pile Sherpa Zip-front Jacket in olive spruce buffalo plaid polyester ($169, Todd Snyder)
• Woodland Supply Co. Men’s Heavy Warm Fleece Lined Zip Up Buffalo Plaid Jacket ($36.67-$49.06, Amazon)

What to wear it with: With an eye-catching plaid jacket, you can—and should!—tone down your underpinnings, such as a solid-colored flannel shirt and tonally coordinated trousers.

The Pre-WWII Flight Jacket

As worn by Cary Grant in Only Angels Have Wings (read more!)

Cary Grant in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Before the advent of iconic successors like the A-2, the U.S. military had issued a sleeker, more rakish flying jacket for its aviators, still a burgeoning branch of the Army and Navy in the early decades of the 20th century. The A-1 was formally authorized for Army Air Corps service in 1927, soon followed by the naval 37J1 variant as worn by Grant in Howard Hawks’ 1939 aviation adventure.

The essential details: Brown smooth or suede leather shell, button-fastened funnel neck, patch pockets, and knit cuffs and hem

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: Bronson USAAF Type A-1 Leather Flight Jacket, available for a relatively affordable $299.99 from Bronson Mfg. Co.

• Aero Leathers Army Air Corps U.S. Army Type A-1 (£650, Aero Leathers)
• Avi Leather A-1 Flight Jacket in russet capeskin (€259, Avi Leathers)
• Bronson USAAF Type A-1 Leather Flight Jacket ($299.99, Bronson Mfg. Co.) →→→
• Chapal A1 Short Version (€3900, Chapal)
• Headwind Mfg. Co. USN 371J1 Flying Jacket in chestnut capeskin leather ($650, Headwind Mfg. Co.)
• Officine Générale French Suede Jacket in mustard olive ($1,560, Bloomingdale’s)
• Ralph Lauren RRL Leather Jacket in black-over-brown ($2,200, Ralph Lauren)
• The Real McCoy’s Type A-1 Flight Jacket in seal brown horsehide ($2,589, END.)
• Reiss Angel Suede Button-Through Jacket in mocha goat suede ($795, Reiss)
• Valstar Valstarino Slim-Fit Suede Bomber Jacket in brown goat suede ($1,200, MR PORTER)

What to wear it with: Suggest high-flying adventure with a quasi-military shirt made from blue chambray or khaki poplin.

The Corduroy Suit

As worn by Robert Redford in All the President’s Men (read more!) and Daniel Craig’s James Bond in No Time to Die

Daniel Craig in his final film as James Bond, No Time to Die (2021)

Many pushed their traditional business suits to the back of the closet over the last year and a half as working from home became the prevailing trend. Comfort became key, a philosophy continued even by many as they pull on two-piece suits while returning to the office, resisting the structured fit of conservative worsted in favor of the crumpled comfort offered by corduroy, validated by precedents in the form of Redford’s crusading reporter or Craig’s action-oriented super-spy.

The BAMF Style choice: Alex Mill jacket and trousers in matching khaki rugged corduroy, an affordable $310 total.

The essential details: Tan medium-wale corduroy suiting with a single-breasted jacket and comfortably cut trousers

The options:

• Alex Mill Rugged Corduroy Blazer and Standard Pleated Pant in matching khaki corduroy ($175 jacket and $135 trousers, both Alex Mill) →→→
• Brunello Cucinelli Classic Corduroy Suit in taupe corduroy ($2,647.50, Saks Fifth Avenue)
• Massimo Alba Sloop Suit in beige cotton-corduroy ($1,425, MR PORTER; Neiman Marcus)
  • Currently sold out, but worth watching as this was the exact model worn by Craig on screen
• Todd Snyder Italian Corduroy Mason Suit in brass corduroy ($676, Todd Snyder)

What to wear it with: In the spirit of the non-traditional fabric, nix the white shirt and repp tie in favor of a knitted tie and a broken-in blue shirt that coordinates with the dressed-down formality.

Everything Else

The Denim Western Shirt

As worn by Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor

Robert Redford as Joe Turner in Three Days of the Condor (1975)

The ultimate shirt of the working class hero, where the rugged reliability of the blue chambray work shirt meets the free-riding sensibilities of the snap-front Western shirt. Movies and TV frequently dress their heroes in blue denim snap shirts to indicate we’re meeting a true man of the earth, with Redford’s hero in Condor going the step further to dress his up for a day at the office with a tweed jacket, knitted tie, and—of course—jeans.

The essential details: Blue all-natural denim or chambray construction, Western-style yoking, and snap-style buttons on the front placket, pocket flaps, and cuffs

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The rich blue denim Lee Modern Rider Western Flannel Snap-Up Shirt with its dual-pointed “sawtooth” pockets, available from Nordstrom

• 7 for All Mankind Sawtooth Pocket Shirt in medium indigo cotton ($188, 7 for All Mankind)
• American Eagle Super Soft Denim Shirt in blue cotton ($49.95, American Eagle)
• Diesel Western Denim Shirt in light blue cotton ($150, FarFetch)
• Express Slim Light Wash Stretch Denim Shirt ($56, Express)
• J. Crew Western Denim Shirt in “Western wash denim” cotton ($89.50, J. Crew)
• Lee Modern Rider Western Flannel Snap-Up Shirt in “dipped blue” cotton flannel ($60, Nordstrom) →→→
• Levi’s Barstow Western Standard Fit Denim Shirt in light blue cotton ($98, FarFetch & $110, ASOS)
• M&S Collection Western Denim Shirt in medium blue cotton ($50, Marks & Spencer)
• Polo Ralph Lauren Classic Fit Denim Western Shirt ($148, Ralph Lauren)
• Tom Ford Light Wash Denim Shirt in blue cotton ($495, FarFetch)
• Velvet by Graham & Spencer Wayne Denim Button-Up Shirt ($128, Velvet by Graham & Spencer)
• Wrangler Denim Western Snap Front Shirt in mid-tint denim cotton ($39, Wrangler)

What to wear it with: Our movie heroes dare to wear it with jeans, but I’d reserve that for only those willing to prove their Western mettle on horseback, while the rest of us could pair the denim top with the coarseness of a tweed sports coat or (not and) corduroy trousers. (If you do insist on jeans, may I suggest following Condor’s example and diversifying the denim effect by donning the additional layer of a sweater?)

The Brown-and-Blue Plaid Flannel Shirt

As worn by Jon Hamm in the finale episode of Mad Men, “Person to Person” (read more!)

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in “Person to Person”, the Mad Men finale episode.

The plaid flannel shirt needs little introduction, though it’s significant to see our once-quintessential “man in the gray flannel suit” shed his Madison Avenue tailoring as he spends the fall of 1970 at an Esalen-like institute on the California coast. Mad Men‘s acclaimed costume designer Janie Bryant told me earlier this year, “the flannel shirt and denim were really important for him to go back to his roots” as the erstwhile Dick Whitman continues his introspective journey.

The essential details: Brown, blue, and white tartan-style plaid, rugged flannel construction, long sleeves, button-up placket, and chest pockets (preferably two non-matching patch ones!)

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The vivid plaid two-pocket Brixton Bowery Plaid Flannel Button-Up Shirt, available from Amazon and Nordstrom

• American Eagle Cozy Cabin Flannel in blue cotton flannel ($49.95, American Eagle)
• Brixton Bowery Plaid Flannel Button-Up Shirt in blue/brown cotton blend ($44.95-$64.20, Amazon & $65, Nordstrom) →→→
• Frank & Oak Archive Plaid Kapok Flannel Button-Up Shirt in brown cotton blend ($89.50, Nordstrom)
• Marmot Men’s Fairfax Midweight Flannel Long-Sleeve Shirt in brown cotton blend ($60, Marmot)
• Officine Générale Lipp in brown, navy, and ecru plaid cotton ($310, Saks Fifth Avenue)
• Old Navy Regular-Fit Patterned Flannel Shirt in olive plaid flannel ($36.99, Old Navy)
• Vans Men’s Box Buffalo Check Flannel Button-Up Shirt in demitasse/blue coral cotton ($49.50, Nordstrom)
• Volcom Caden Plaid Long Sleeve in wren cotton ($61.95, Zappos)
• Wrangler Authentics Men’s Long Sleeve Flannel Shirt in rosin cotton ($21.50-$60, Amazon)

What to wear it with: You’re as far from Madison Avenue as it gets, so all you should need are hard-wearing jeans, a sturdy belt, and work boots you aren’t afraid to get dirty.

The Burgundy Shadow Plaid Flannel Shirt

As worn by Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows

Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Unlike Draper, the affable and ambitious landscaper Ron Kirby (Hudson) looks more out of place in flannel suits than he does in flannel shirts, spending most of his days in rugged, two-pocket plaid flannel shirts. In addition to the film’s Christmas-set climax, the holiday red that Kirby wears for his introduction to Cary (Jane Wyman) appropriately conveys the undeniable passion between the two despite the differences in their age and social strata.

The essential details: Burgundy-on-black shadow plaid pattern, flannel construction, long sleeves, and retro-inspired detailing like camp collars or dual pocket flaps

The options:

The BAMF Style choice: The ’50s board shirt-inspired All Saints Bernstadt Shirt in sienna red wool blend.

• All Saints Bernstadt Shirt in sienna red wool blend ($185, All Saints) →→→
• Apt. 9 Seriously Soft Untucked Stretch Flannel Shirt in “wine tasting” stretch cotton ($29.99, Kohl’s)
• Express Slim Plaid Stretch Flannel Shirt in red print stretch cotton ($47.60, Express)
• Isabel Marant Checked Long Sleeve Shirt in red/black wool blend ($445, FarFetch)
• Ksubi Consciousness Plaid Shirt in red/black polyester blend ($225, FarFetch)
• L.L. Bean x Todd Snyder Heavyweight Plaid Shirt in colonial red cotton twill ($149, Todd Snyder)
• Tintoria Mattei Buttoned-Up Check Shirt in black/red cotton/viscose ($212, FarFetch)
• Wrangler Men’s Long Sleeve Epic Soft Flannel Shirt ($45, Macy’s)

What to wear it with: Dress it up for days stirring red-hot passions in suburban gardens with a pair of dirt-ready khakis and russet leather belt and boots.

The Navy Shawl-Collar Cardigan

As worn by Steve McQueen in real life

Steve McQueen and Neile Adams picnicking on the Carmel coast, 1964 (Photo by William Claxton)

In addition to his reputation as King of Cool, McQueen could also be deemed the King of Cardigans for his role in immortalizing the shawl-collar cardigan as an unlikely contender for one of the coolest pieces a man can own. Despite the cardigan’s squarer connotations (with all due apologies to Mister Rogers), it emerged as a must-have item leading the modern menswear renaissance, having been revived in Quantum of Solace by Daniel Craig, whose complexion, stature, and sense of style have invited sartorial comparison to McQueen throughout the actor’s tenure as 007.

The essential details: Rich navy color, durable—but not chunky—ribbed knitting, shawl collar, and hand pockets

The BAMF Style choice: Though the most expensive listed here, this Ralph Lauren shawl-collar cardigan offers a King of Cool-style cut and stitch pattern as well as contrasting buttons, patch pockets, and a comfortable wool/cashmere construction. Plus, good knitwear is worth the investment.

The options:

• Autograph Cashmere Shawl Collar Cardigan in dark navy cashmere ($208, Marks & Spencer)
• Express Solid Mixed Stitch Cardigan in navy cotton/polyester ($61.60, Express)
• Liverpool Knit Cardigan in navy cotton/acrylic ($98, Liverpool Jeans)
• M&S Collection Super Soft Shawl Collar Cardigan in navy mix polyester blend ($60, Marks & Spencer)
• Peregrine Waffle Shawl Cardigan in navy British wool ($220, Wolf & Badger)
• Polo Ralph Lauren Ribbed Button Cardigan in navy 90% wool/10% cashmere ($250, MR PORTER; $298, Ralph Lauren; $307.32, Cettire)

What to wear it with: Cardigan icons Steve McQueen and Daniel Craig wore both collared button-up shirts and plain crew-neck T-shirts in white or gray cotton, frequently paired with beige jeans-style trousers like Bedford cords.

The OG-107 Utility Pants

As worn by the cast of M*A*S*H, including Alan Alda as the maverick Army surgeon Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce (read more!)

Timothy Brown, Alan Alda, and Wayne Rogers as the OG-107 OGs in the first season of M*A*S*H

The U.S. Army introduced its new cotton sateen work utility uniform in 1952 during the Korean War, replacing the herringbone twill (HBT) M1943 pattern that had been in place since the middle of World War II. Made from an 8.5-ounce cotton sateen known as OG-107 for its drab shade of “olive green 107”, these fatigues consisted of a long-sleeved button-up shirt and trousers that would become one of the longest-authorized uniforms in Army history.

OG-107 fatigues were particularly popularized on M*A*S*H, set during the Korean War but produced from 1972 to 1983. With little concern for accurately portraying period uniforms, most of the Army personnel featured on the show were dressed in varying patterns of the OG-107 uniform, with only a select few outfitted in the chronologically correct HBT.

Aside from sizing specifications and the removal of waist adjuster tabs, the trousers changed little during the uniform’s nearly 40 years in service. Like many preceding military uniform pieces, the OG-107 pants became popular among civilians, with commercial manufacturers often marketing them as “utility pants” with the characteristic side-entry patch pockets on the front and flapped patch pockets on the back. These front pockets differ from cargo pockets, which had been introduced in British battle dress and American paratrooper uniforms during World War II and seem to be undergoing their own revival at the moment. (It’s too soon for me; cargo pants remind me too much of my awkward 8th grade years.)

The BAMF Style choice: The almost mil-spec Alex Mill Field Chinos.

The essential details: Mil-spec olive drab cotton construction, belt loops (possibly also with side-adjuster tabs!), and patch-style side-entry front pockets and flapped back patch pockets

The options:

• Abercrombie & Fitch ’90s Loose Pant in olive green twill ($69, A&F)
• Alex Mill Field Chino in deep olive cotton blend ($125, Alex Mill) →→→
• Club Monaco Utility Pants in green poly/cotton ($69, Club Monaco)
• J. Crew Camp Pant in “Catskill green” cotton ($98, J. Crew)
• Joe’s Elastic Waist Slim Fit Utility Trousers in “thyme” cotton blend ($198, Nordstrom)
• Mountain Hardwear Cederberg Utility Pants in stone-green cotton blend ($89.95, Zappos)
• Rails Gobi Slim Tapered Leg Linen Blend Pants in olive linen/cotton blend ($128, Nordstrom; Saks Fifth Avenue)
• Urban Outfitters Vintage OG107 Pant in olive cotton ($89, Urban Outfitters)

What to wear them with: Go full M*A*S*H in a Hawaiian shirt, or treat them as a unique alternative to denim.

If you have any other fall favorites, please share in the comments!

All prices and availability updated as of October 11, 2021.

The post Budget Fall Fashions for 2021 appeared first on BAMF Style.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III (1990)

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Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, repentant mob boss and World War II veteran

New York City, Fall 1979

Film: The Godfather Part III
Release Date: December 25, 1990
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in.

Sixteen years after its masterpiece sequel told the parallel stories of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his father Vito (Robert De Niro) building their crime families, Francis Ford Coppola returned to the Corleone clan with the polarizing coda, The Godfather, Part III.

Set twenty years after we saw him brutally consolidating his power, a maturing Michael has been gradually attempting to make good on his initial promise to Kay (Diane Keaton) by distancing the family business from its criminal roots, donating many of his ill-gotten millions to charity and even receiving papal honors for his contributions to the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, his business and his family are too deeply woven into the world of La Cosa Nostra for Michael’s hands to ever be clean. His family’s relationship with the smooth but volatile gangster Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna) results in a machine-gun massacre in Atlantic City that kills nearly every Mafia boss on the infamous Commission, with Michael, his long-time bodyguard Al Neri (Richard Bright), and his hotheaded nephew Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) only narrowly escaping with their lives.

Debriefing back in New York, Michael deduces that “our true enemy has not yet shown his face,” as he ponders his next move against Zasa and Michael’s ally-turned-enemy Don Altobello (Eli Wallach). His anger toward these men and the stress of being pulled back into the violence of organized crime spirals him into a diabetic stroke.

Better received at the time than its contemporary reputation may suggest, The Godfather, Part III was nominated for seven Academy Awards—though winning none. Part III was the first of the Godfather saga not to win Best Picture and the first time Pacino wasn’t nominated as Michael Corleone, though Garcia received impressive notices and an Oscar nod for his performance as Vincent Mancini.

What’d He Wear?

Essentially an elder statesman of the Mafia by the events of The Godfather, Part III, Michael Corleone no longer dresses in his proto-preppy Ivy sport jackets, OCBDs, and striped ties, nor is he exuding the flash of the silky suits he favored as a 1950s mob boss.

True, he maintains a wardrobe of sharp—but subdued—double-breasted and three-piece suits, but Michael often dresses down in comfortable cardigans, particularly in moments when there’s no one to impress. Though Pacino was only 49 years old during Part III‘s production, the combination of his hair and makeup as well as the baggy and somewhat unfashionable “old man” cardigan help to age the increasingly ill Michael Corleone at least a decade.

Following the bloodshed in Atlantic City, Michael knows he’s being pulled back in to the life his father never wanted for him. Strategizing in his kitchen with his sister, his nephew, and the ever-loyal Al Neri, it’s only Michael’s attitude that differentiates him from any typical older man spending a quiet night at home in front of the TV. His top layer is a brick-red ribbed wool cardigan with set-in sleeves, welted lower pockets, and four brown woven leather buttons up the front.

Michael gets all worked up!

Under his cardigan, Michael is dressed for business in a white cotton shirt with a point collar and front placket, though unbuttoned at the neck and worn with his low-contrast burgundy, navy, and black paisley silk tie loosened.

At least one of Pacino’s screen-worn shirts, a brown cotton shirt featured in the Sicilian-set sequences, was made by the Roman shirtmaker Santine (as featured at The Golden Closet), though I’m not sure if they made any or all of his other shirts.

Michael wears plain dark gray worsted wool flat front trousers, finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs) that fully break over the tops of his black leather cap-toe oxfords.

Completing the image of an older retiree shouting at his TV, Michael keeps a pair of tortoise-framed rectangular reading glasses on a cord around his neck. The only vestige of sartorial flash from his gangland days is the gold signet ring flashing from his right pinky.

Silvio’s Tribute on The Sopranos

On The Sopranos, Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) was often praised by his fellow gangsters in the DeMeo crew for what they consider to be his peerless imitation of Al Pacino, particularly in this final entry to the Godfather saga. Sil’s, er, “talent” for the impersonation becomes so significant over the course of the series that he even appears to Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) “in character” as Michael Corleone during the fever dream driving the plot of the sublime second-season finale, “Funhouse”.

Even for what could be considered a throwaway gag, The Sopranos‘ costume designer Juliet Polcsa was thoughtful in dressing Van Zandt for Sil’s tribute to Pacino, dressed in a burgundy woolen cardigan with a similar shoulder structure, brown buttons, and two lower pockets. It’s not an exact mimicry, nor is it supposed to be; our dreams rarely reflect the “reality” of a situation.

“Our true enemy has yet to reveal himself,” Dream Silvio warns Tony, mangling Pacino’s actual line “our true enemy has not yet shown his face.” Either way, Tony already knows what he has to do about his “true enemy”.

How to Get the Look

When I first saw this shot of Al Pacino on set of The Godfather Part III, I thought it was someone’s Halloween costume, but it turns out screen makeup—especially with a pair of sunglasses showing the ghostly contrast—does not photograph well on its own! But, if you’re looking for an esoteric mob movie-related costume…

“Pulled back in” by the increasing cold of autumn? Michael Corleone shows us how to layer with subdued professionalism in an earthy cardigan, white shirt, and tie, whether your Monday meeting is with mid-level managers via Zoom or consulting with gangsters in your kitchen. If you want to look less like an aging mobster on the brink of a stroke, you could—and should—consider a more flattering fit.

• Brick-red ribbed-knit wool four-button cardigan sweater with welted pockets
• White cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Burgundy, navy, and black paisley silk tie
• Dark gray worsted wool flat front trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Tortoise rectangular-framed reading glasses on tan neck-cord
• Gold signet pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series and find Coppola’s recut The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

The Quote

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

The post The Godfather, Part III: Pacino’s Brick-Red Cardigan appeared first on BAMF Style.

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game

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Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun, desperate gambling-addicted chauffeur and game player #456

Off the South Korean coast, Summer 2020

Series: Squid Game (Korean: 오징어 게임)
Air Date: September 17, 2021
Creator: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Production Designer: Chae Kyung-sun

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Pop culture moves at such a rapid pace these days, it’s surprising to even consider that a TV show released more than a month ago would still be topical in time for Halloween. Yet, Squid Game has already proved its relative staying power by launching past Bridgerton to become Netflix’s most-watched series worldwide after being released only a month. (And yes, I was one of those 111 million watchers, having binged all nine episodes in two days!)

Green tracksuits have been selling out across the Internet as Halloween revelers are choosing to dress as the desperate players recruited into the deadly games as well as the boiler-suited guards who oversee them… and gun them down.

For those unfamiliar with this South Korean series, Squid Game revolves around a group of 456 everyday people, with little in common aside from being desperately in debt, recruited to compete in a progression of childhood games with deadly stakes, all for the chance to win a life-changing fortune. Contestants include the gambling-addicted chauffeur Seong Gi-hun/#456 (Lee Jung-jae); his childhood friend, crooked securities investor Cho Sang-woo/#218 (Park Hae-soo); the terminally ill Oh Il-nam/#001 (O Yeong-su); the resourceful North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok/#067 (Jung Ho-yeon); the good-natured Pakistani immigrant Abdul Ali/#199 (Anupam Tripath); and the brutal gangster Jang Deok-su/#101 (Heo Sung-tae), who terrorizes the group.

Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), and Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) brace for a violent night in this production photo from “Stick to the Team” (Episode 4).

What’d He Wear?

Matching athletic wear has existed in some degree for ages, though the tracksuit as we know it emerged with the development of Adidas’ warm-up suit in the 1960s. Decreasing formalities in dress and widespread popularity of athletic pursuits like jogging led to mainstream acceptance as tracksuits as non-athletic casual-wear, an association that reached its zenith as the clothing of choice for many of The Sopranos‘ heftier gangsters.

Squid Game returns the tracksuit to its athletic roots as the de facto uniform of the 456 players recruited for the 2020 competition. Given the nature of the players’ participation, the numbered tracksuits are essentially a sportier approach to prison uniforms. As Vanessa Friedman summarized for The New York Times, “it’s the normcore-ization of dystopia.”

Following the violence of “Red Light, Green Light”, the remaining players take in the reality of their situation in “Hell” (Episode 2).

The series has no credited costume designer and, according to articles like this, the costumes resulted from a collaboration between director Hwang Dong-hyuk and production designer Chae Kyung-sun. (And, according to the headlining photo on this Variety article, Hwang wore a track jacket matching those of his primary cast members while directing them.)

The 456 players are clad in matching teal-green tracksuits, constructed from a soft, unstructured cotton with a twill shell and terry inside. The suits have pale mint accents in the form of strips over the jacket’s shoulders and stripes down the side of each leg. Each player’s respective three-digit number is represented via patches over the left breast and the center top of the back.

Abdul Ali offers Gi-hun a life-saving hand during the first game in “Red Light, Green Light” (Episode 1).

The raglan-sleeved track jackets have a dark green plastic zipper fully extending from the plain waist hem up to the end of the standing collar. Mint-colored strips stretch over the shoulders down to a seam around the bicep on each raglan sleeve, with the ends of each sleeve finished with ribbed-knit cuffs. Though the players aren’t permitted to have any personal items, the jackets have vertical hand pockets.

Redesignated player #456, Gi-hun wakes up dressed in a green tracksuit and meets his fellow newly arrived participants, including Oh Il-nam.

The matching track pants presumably have an inside drawstring to tighten the elasticized waistbands. There are welted back pockets and gently slanted side pockets, which Kang Sae-byeok uses to store her smuggled knife. The sides are striped in wide bands of mint-green, echoing the shoulders of the jacket except that these extend from the waistband all the way to the bottoms, which are ribbed like jogging pants.

Ali and Gi-hun run for the finish line, just in the nick of time in “Red Light, Green Light” (Episode 1).

Each player is also issued a short-sleeved cotton T-shirt, styled like classic baseball tees with raglan sleeves matching the “ringer”-style crew-neck. The shirt bodies are an icy shade of white, printed on the front and back with each three-digit number. The short raglan sleeves and the neckband are all a forest green, just a shade darker and more viridescent than the tracksuits.

Having worked up a sweat licking through the honeycomb to complete the previous game, Gi-hun reunites with his fellow surviving friends at the beginning of “Stick to the Team” (Episode 4).

Rather than more athletic sneakers, each player is issued a pair of white slip-on shoes with plain cotton canvas two-piece uppers, elastic side gussets, padded collars, and rubber soles with diamond-textured tread around the front of each outsole. The similarity to shoes issued to actual prisoners reinforces that our gamers’ circumstances more align with inmates than Olympians… though pairing these all-white plimsolls with tracksuits also invites comparison to Tony Sirico’s eccentric Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos.

As the show continues its massive influence on Halloween costumes and casual-wear, Vans has seen a 7,800% sales spike in its plain white loafers, as reported by Variety. (For what it’s worth, Vans has proven worthy of keeping up with this exceptional demand for its classic white slip-ons, keeping a decent supply in every size available from the Vans website.) As seen in the seventh episode, “VIPS”, the players wear no socks with their shoes.

Gi-hun is the last to slip out of his white shoes before attempting to cross the glass bridge in “VIPS” (Episode 7).

Aside from prescription eyeglasses, none of the players are permitted to keep their personal effects, which the Squid Game overseers store with the rest of their clothing, so we don’t see any sense of individualization aside from their respective numbers. This includes the players’ watches, which we got one last prominent look at while each player waited for their midnight van to pick them up on the night of June 23. To learn more about the watches of Squid Game, check out this well-researched rundown from Wrist Enthusiast.

The only time any participants are dressed in anything other than their tracksuits are when the final three are issued black tuxedoes with shawl-collar dinner jackets, white twill wing-collar shirts, black pre-tied bow ties, and black wingtip oxfords for their fancy dinner on the eve of the sixth and last game. Of course, even these dinner suits are marked with each finalist’s three-digit number on the left breast and back of their jacket and shirt.

How to Get the Look

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game

With just about ten days until Halloween (and Gi-hun’s birthday, as we learn in the final episode), there’s still time to put together a topical—and, perhaps more importantly, comfortable!—costume based on one of the most currently popular shows… plus you’d then also have the tracksuit and white shoes ready for any Soprano-inspired costumes in the future!

• Teal-green cotton twill tracksuit:
  • Zip-up track jacket with mint-striped raglan sleeves, ribbed-knit cuffs, and vertical hand pockets
  • Elastic-waisted track pants with mint side stripes, slanted side pockets, welted back pockets, and ribbed bottoms
• Ice-white cotton baseball-style short-sleeved T-shirt with dark green raglan sleeves, neckband, and printed numbers
• White cotton canvas slip-on shoes with padded collars, elastic side gussets, and white rubber outsoles

The show’s popularity as well as its potentially profitable release only a month and a half before Halloween has seen an abundance of Squid Game-related costumes and clothing available:

• Squid Game tracksuit jacket set (Walmart, $14.99)
• Squid Game Official player’s costume (Squid Game Official, $59.99)
• Squid Game Planet costume set (Squid Game Planet, $24.95)
• UTPO polyester tracksuit pre-printed with numbers (Amazon, up to $30.99)

Zipping up the track jacket would render almost any T-shirt or similarly colored ringer tee to be serviceable, but costume devotees can find replicas available of the shirts available from Amazon, eBay, and Manyol.

There are also plentiful options for the all-white canvas slip-ons, which are often marketed as sneakers or plimsolls:

• Adidas Originals Court Rallye (ASOS, $38.50 & Adidas, $55)
• BP. Rolly (Nordstrom, $19.97)
• Goodfellow & Co. Phillip (Target, $19.99) — I purchased these slip-ons last spring, and I can personally testify that they are very comfortable! The navy stripe around the outsole differs from the Squid Game-worn shoes, though that part of the shoe can be easily whited out by the more obsessive Halloween celebrant.
• J. Crew Road Trip (J. Crew Factory, $39.50)
• Levi’s Lance (Macy’s, $40)
• Nike Court Legacy (Macy’s, $55)
• Solejoy Canvas Slip-Ons (YesStyle, $32.40)
• Sperry Striper II (Nordstrom, $60)
• TOMS Baja (TOMS, $49.95)
• Vans Classic Slip-Ons (Vans, ASOS, Amazon, Nordstrom, Zappos, $50)

All prices and availability up to date as of October 19, 2021.

Abdul Ali, Cho Sang-woo, Seong Gi-hun, and Oh Il-nam observe a fellow clique’s bullying tactics over lunch in “Stick to the Team” (Episode 4).

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out all nine episodes, streaming on Netflix. (My favorite episode was the heartbreaking sixth episode, “Gganbu”.)

The Quote

You don’t trust people here because you can. You do it because you don’t have anybody else.

The post The Squid Game Tracksuit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Ryan O’Neal as Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story (1970)

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Ryan O’Neal as Oliver Barrett IV, newlywed Harvard graduate

Boston, Fall to Winter 1968

Film: Love Story
Release Date: December 16, 1970
Director: Arthur Hiller
Costume Design: Alice Manougian Martin & Pearl Somner

Background

If all goes to plan, I’ll be getting married exactly one year from today so it felt appropriate to revisit some of the fall-friendly fashions from one of the most famous—or infamous, if you’re so inclined—romance movies of all time, Love Story.

Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw star as the Ivy League lovers Oliver and Jenny who, once she overcomes her distaste for his upper-class roots (drink every time she calls him “preppy”), defy his blue-blood father’s wishes and get married, beginning their humble lives together in a Boston apartment following his graduation.

Oliver remains defiantly bitter following his father’s rejection of Jenny, cutting off all contact. After receiving an invitation to his estranged father’s 60th birthday party, Oliver refuses to even respond with their regrets, resulting in his and Jenny’s first major argument. She runs from the apartment, sending Oliver on an increasingly desperate search from local shops to music classes, until he returns home that night to find her waiting on their stoop.

Regretting his behavior, Oliver offers his apologies, to which Jenny responds by hitting him with one of the most criticized lines in movie history:

Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

The laughable line was almost universally dismissed by critics and audiences, even as the latter sobbed at the film’s famous ending, with MacGraw later clarifying that she doesn’t subscribe to the ridiculous credo and O’Neal mocking it two years later in Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy tribute What’s Up Doc?, when Barbra Streisand repeats it to him and he responds with “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

What’d He Wear?

On Valentine’s Day this year, I focused on the shearling car coat that Oliver had worn around campus. As we now enter the transitional season, I wanted to focus on his other sheepskin outerwear, styled like a flight jacket.

Taking cues from the Brits’ Irvin flying jacket and the B-3 worn by American pilots, Oliver’s sheepskin jacket has a dark seal brown leather shell, broken in to a degree of considerable softness that shows in the patina. The inside “lining” is the piled fleece side of the sheepskin, colored a natural shade of beige that presents on the collar and cuffs, though it appears he had to roll back the end of each set-in sleeve to show the latter.

The jacket has a gilt-toned brass zipper up the front with a brown leather pull tab “tail”, with an extended semi-tab behind the zipper that tapers away at mid-chest. There are silver buckle-tab adjusters on each side of the waist hem. Oliver’s jacket lacks the double throat latch straps on mil-spec jackets, and the B-3’s slanted hand pockets are replaced by button-through flapped patch pockets on each hips, similar to those on the A-2.

Update! Thanks to a comment from BAMF Style reader Jim Welty, we know that these details are consistent with the M-445A and ANJ-4 flight jackets that were authorized by the U.S. Navy and USAAF, respectively, to replace the B-3 for American aviators during World War II.

Oliver begins the search for Jenny at all of her favorite dry cleaners.

After his graduation, Oliver continues wearing Ivy staples like oxford-cloth button-down (OCBD) shirts under raglan-sleeve sweaters.

For this sequence, he doubles down on the shades of yellow, layering a mustard Shetland wool sweater over a light yellow OCBD that he initially leaves with the collar leaves unbuttoned and flat over the top of the sweater, though he appears to have them properly fastened and tucked under the sweater’s widely ribbed crew-neck by the time he runs out looking for Jenny. The shirt also has barrel cuffs that he keeps buttoned, extended out from under the long and widely ribbed cuffs of his prone-to-pilling Shetland.

Oliver, hard at work before disaster strikes in the form of an invitation to his father’s 60th birthday party.

Oliver’s dark indigo-washed denim jeans are a fashionable alternative to the classic cuts offered by The Big Three (Lee, Levi’s, Wrangler), inspired by classic Navy dungarees with their patch-style front and back pockets and flared bottoms that fall with a quarter break over the backs of his burgundy leather loafers, which appear to be worn with darker burgundy socks.

These two better not even consider apologizing to each other.

Months after their first major fight resolves with both agreeing to the futility of apologies, Oliver has taken side work to earn some extra winter bucks by selling Christmas trees while Jenny works with a local church youth choir, admonishing one of the kids “Paul, don’t bullshit me, you were showing off.”

Oliver presses his sheepskin flight jacket into service for his chilly outdoor work as well as dark brown knitted wool gloves and a knit beanie cap, horizontally block-striped in Harvard’s signature crimson-and-white palette and finished with a white pom atop the crown.

Happy holidays, Oliver.

Oliver appears to be wearing the same dark blue dunagree-style jeans as earlier, but he’s appropriately swapped out his loafers for a pair of suede boots. With their snuff brown suede derby-laced uppers and dark crepe soles, the boots resemble the Hutton’s Original Playboy boots that Steve McQueen famously wore on- and off-screen throughout the ’60s.

Though likely chosen for its warmth for hours spent doling out pines during a New England winter, Oliver’s heavy red plaid flannel shirt reflects the spirit of the holiday season. The long-sleeved shirt is patterned in a black, white, and yellow tartan plaid with large white plastic four-hole buttons up the front and through the rounded flaps on the two chest pockets. He wears the point collar unbuttoned at the neck, showing the top of his white cotton crew-neck undershirt.

How to Get the Look

Ryan O’Neal as Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story (1970)

Oliver Barrett IV dresses down in hard-wearing Ivy staples, including his tried-and-true Shetland-over-OCBD combo and loafers, anchored here by military-influenced fashions like his sheepskin flight jacket and naval dungarees.

• Seal brown sheepskin M-445A/ANJ-4 flight jacket with shearling fleece collar and lining, brass zip-front, flapped patch hip pockets, and silver buckle-tab side adjusters
• Yellow oxford cotton button-down shirt
• Mustard yellow Shetland wool crew-neck raglan-sleeve sweater
• Dark indigo blue denim patch-pocket jeans
• Burgundy leather loafers
• Dark burgundy socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Someday, we’re going to look back on these days…

The post Love Story: Ryan O’Neal’s Sheepskin Flight Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Pablo Picasso, photographed by Arnold Newman, 1956.

Vitals

Pablo Picasso, influential Spanish painter

Cannes, French Riviera, September 1956

Photographs by Arnold Newman

Part of BAMF Style’s Iconic Photo Series, focusing on style featured in famous photography of classic stars rather than from specific productions.

Background

Born 140 years ago today on October 25, 1881, Pablo Picasso may be one of the few painters so associated with his craft that even those with little knowledge of art know his name. Thus, October 25 is also observed annually as International Artist’s Day, celebrating the contributions of creators around the globe.

A month shy of his 75th birthday, Picasso posed in his La Californie studio in Cannes for a series of portraits captured by Arnold Newman, the prolific photographer whose subjects ranged from Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mantle to JFK and Alfried Krupp.

What’d He Wear?

In contrast to his busy paintings, Picasso himself often dressed in simpler clothing. An early proponent of casual-wear, Picasso had been frequently photographed over his career in Breton-striped pullovers, insouciantly buttoned shirts, and almost always shorts to beat the heat in his Mediterranean environs.

For this September 11, 1956, photo session in his Cannes studio, the artist dressed solely for comfort in a scarlet terry cloth pullover with coordinated shorts and slip-on shoes.

Many may associate terry cloth with towels—indeed, this piled cotton fabric can also be called “toweling”—but its soft and moisture-absorbing properties led to the popularity of terry cloth leisurewear by mid-century. Terry cloth had long been a traditional fabric for bathrobes, but beaches across the Riviera and beyond were now hosting scores of gents decked out in terry shirts, shorts, and jackets.

The terry boom mostly overlapped with the prime years of jet-setters from the 1950s through the ’60s, terry toweling gear featured on screen by the likes of Alain Delon and Sean Connery, whose baby-blue terry jumper in Goldfinger remains one of the most controversial costumes of the James Bond series.

Made from a soft-piled scarlet red terry toweling cloth, Picasso’s short-sleeved shirt has a “Johnny collar” with a substantial V-neck, a buttonless alternative to the traditional polo shirt placket. With its set-in breast pocket and slanted-entry hand pocket on the right side of the waist, the comfortably loose-fitting shirt appropriately reminded me of a painter’s smock.

Picasso wears the shirt untucked over a pair of plain pastel coral shorts that end a few inches above the knees. His plain slip-on shoes are styled like clogs, with well-worn tan leather uppers covering most of his feet, leaving the back open.

Thanks to the recent terrycloth revolution led by global brands like Busbee McQuade, Dandy Del Mar, OAS Company, and Orlebar Brown, more mainstream brands like Eton and Express have been expanding into new terry-tory (I’m sorry) in reviving this retro-minded leisurewear.

Luckily, there’s no shortage of options for you to find your Picasso-style terry polo (not Teri Polo… wow I need to stop with the puns), including from the below outfitters:

• Eton — Red Popover Terry Shirt ($195, Eton & Saks Fifth Avenue)
  • With its button-free placket, this is likely the best match for your Picasso-approved polo.
• Express — Wine Solid Terry Short Sleeve Shirt ($44.99, Express)
  • Not a polo, but still a worthy—and affordable!—addition to your leisurewear collection… and I own one myself!
• Grayers — Chrysanthemum Riviera Terry Polo ($78, Grayers)
• OAS Company — Dusty Plum Terry Shirt ($110, OAS Company)
• Orlebar Brown — Jarrett Toweling Polo Shirt ($195, Orlebar Brown)
• Phineas Cole — Red Terry Cloth Polo Shirt ($146.75, Paul Stuart)

All prices and availability updated as of October 15, 2021.

How to Get the Look

Pablo Picasso, photographed by Arnold Newman, 1956.

While the end of October may not have many scrambling to pull together their warm-weather fits, Picasso established a comfortable and easy-to-follow template for summer leisurewear.

• Scarlet-red terry cloth toweling pullover shirt with “Johnny collar”, set-in breast pocket, and slanted right-hand pocket
• Coral shorts
• Tan leather-upper clogs
• Plain gold ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Carsten Peter Warncke’s TASCHEN-published volume Picasso, chronicling the artist’s prolific works across his career.

The Quote

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.

The post Picasso’s Terrycloth Leisurewear appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980)

Vitals

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, former teacher, aspiring writer, and potential hotel caretaker

Silver Creek, Colorado, Fall 1979

Film: The Shining
Release Date: May 23, 1980
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Want to inject some Halloween spirit into your office attire this week without sending your co-workers into a panic? Take seasonal inspiration from Jack Torrance’s tweed jacket and tie as he successfully interviewed for the job of caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining.

Jack’s on his best behavior as he sits down for his interview with the hotel’s affable manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson), who—given the hotel’s murderous past—takes care to forewarn Jack of the potential for cabin fever. Through Jack Nicholson’s trademark grin, the interviewee reassures Ullman that “five months of peace is just what I want,” as he outlines a new writing project.

What’d He Wear?

From his plastered smile to almost-obsequious amiability, Jack’s clearly trying to make a good impression for the interview… despite it literally resulting to be the job from hell. He may not own a full two-piece suit, so he cobbles together the pieces from his days in academia—note the professorial tweed jacket and knitted tie—and tried to create the effect of a suit with gray trousers which may also be the only non-denim pants he owns.

Made from a gray-and-black broken twill tweed, Jack’s two-button sports coat has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, and straight hip pockets with flaps that he occasionally wears tucked into the pockets themselves. Cut with a long single vent that dates it more than the moderately timeless width of the notch lapels, the jacket also has the unique detail of a single button on each cuff rather than the more traditional three, four, or even two.

Jack wears a muted teal cotton shirt patterned with a white graph-check that’s offset by a thinner overlay check bisecting each cell. The two chest pockets with their squared flaps and the unique spread of the soft collar suggests that this is a sportier shirt not typically worn with a tie, contributing to Jack’s scrappy quasi-academic appearance. The texture of his bottle-green knitted tie coordinates with the jacket’s coarse tweed, though the tie’s viridescence clashes against the predominantly teal shirt.

Jack’s double reverse-pleated trousers are a medium-to-dark shade of gray that doesn’t quite contrast enough against the jacket, creating too much of a mismatched suit effect. The trousers have side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms that are just flared enough to be fashionable in the late ’70s. He holds the trousers up with a brown leather belt that has a gold-finished squared single-prong buckle.

Jack strides through the Overlook lobby.

Jack’s burgundy leather moc-toe penny loafers coordinate with the informality of his jacket and tie, the shoe leather also echoing his belt leather. Gray socks appropriately continue the trouser line into his shoes.

Joined by Bill Watson, Stuart Ullman feels confidence that he’s making the right choice with Jack Torrance.

The next time we see Jack, he’s bringing his family to the Overlook in their cramped yellow Volkswagen. He wears another tweed sport jacket, though he’s swapped out his tie for a sweater and wears jeans.

How to Get the Look

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980)

In an increasingly informal culture, Jack’s interview garb makes the argument for dressing up more casual shirts with textured Ivy staples like tweed sports coats and knit ties.

• Gray-and-black broken twill tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and long single vent
• Teal graph-checked cotton sports shirt with spread collar, two squared-flap chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Bottle-green knitted tie with flat bottom
• Dark gray wool double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with squared brass-finished single-prong buckle
• Burgundy leather moc-toe penny loafers
• Gray socks

I find a green knitted tie is a great statement piece that belongs in every man’s wardrobe. I prefer the look of knitted silk, though wool knit ties also offer a rugged coarseness; polyester knits are less ideal but may be preferred for budget-minded gents looking to see if the look is right for them.

Based on construction and quality, you can find green knitted ties for any budget such as:

• Gianni Feraud Knitted Tie in “khaki” (but it’s actually green) polyester ($73 $16, ASOS)
• Marks & Spencer Skinny Square End Knitted Tie in dark green polyester ($22, M&S)
• Polo Ralph Lauren Knit Silk Tie in green silk ($95, Ralph Lauren)
• Ted Baker Sold Knit Linen & Silk Skinny Tie in green linen/silk blend ($95, Nordstrom)
• The Tie Bar Knitted Tie in hunter green silk ($25, The Tie Bar)
• WANDM Men’s Knit Tie in green polyester ($13.99, Amazon)

All prices and availability above updated as of October 17, 2021.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Stephen King’s novel.

The Quote

I’m lookin’ for a change…

The post The Shining — Jack’s Gray Tweed Interview Sport Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.