Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta in The Brotherhood (1968)

Vitals

Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta, Sicilian-American mob boss

Sicily, Spring 1968

Film: The Brotherhood
Release Date: December 25, 1968
Director: Martin Ritt
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley

Background

On what would have been Kirk Douglas’ 105th birthday, today’s post recognizes a unique passion project among the prolific actor’s varied filmography. Though he’d been an uncredited producer on more than a dozen movies, Douglas had only been listed as a producer on Spartacus before he selected The Brotherhood as the next production to carry his name. Despite some valid feedback that he may not be the right visual type for the leading role of Sicilian-born gangster Frank Ginetta, Douglas welcomed the acting challenge… and the help of some dye to darken a newly grown mustache in addition to his famous coiff.

The Brotherhood has understandably invited retrospective comparisons to The Godfather, and why shouldn’t it? Both are serious Mafia sagas that focus on brothers with differing temperaments, complete with an opening wedding sequence, a flight to Sicily following a mob hit, and even a brief scene where the aging mustached don plays with a piece of fruit to the amusement of a family youngster.

Despite popular legend, the inspired-looking young actor gazing up at the banana did not grow up to be Raffi.

Released by Paramount Pictures on Christmas 1968, the movie’s unenthusiastic critical reception and dismal box office soured the studio on organized crime output until Robert Evans took a chance on The Godfather four years later, having identified the lack of actual Italian-Americans involved in The Brotherhood‘s cast and crew among one of the many reasons for its failure.

The two men at the core of The Brotherhood‘s… well, brotherhood are Frank and his younger sibling Vince (Alex Cord), who surprises Frank at the outset of the drama when he arrives in the small Sicilian village where Frank has been living in not-so-secret hiding after his assassination of a fellow high-ranking member of the Mafia Commission back in the States. Though his wife Ida (Irene Papas) remains suspicious of newcomers as he knows her husband’s days are numbered, Frank welcomes his brother with open arms… and the “kiss of death.”

What’d He Wear?

Apropos the olive trees where he leads Vince for their climactic confrontation, Frank dresses for Sicilian small-town life in an olive brown corduroy jacket that he first wears orphaned before pairing it with matching suit trousers and an odd waistcoat on Vince’s second day in town.

Frank completes his suit with matching trousers and an odd waistcoat as he greets his brother the morning after his arrival in Sicily.

Frank and Vince’s famous “kiss of death” was used as the cover for an LP release of Lalo Schifrin’s score.

Frank’s dark olive corduroy is a medium-wale, compared to the slimmer-ridged “needlecord” or “pinwale” and the wider “elephant cord”. A standard medium-wale count is 11-wale, referring to the number of distinctive corduroy ridges that can fit within an inch. (You can read more about corduroy in my latest article for Primer.)

The earthy, rugged fabric contrasts with the sharp three-piece business suits that Frank had worn for his life as a powerful New York don, when he primarily cycled through similarly cut pieces in classic glen plaid, dark slate-blue, and taupe-brown. Having originated as a favored cloth of outdoorsmen and hunters, the resilient corduroy is an appropriate choice for Frank once he’s returned to his roots in the more bucolic setting of his Sicilian homeland. Like him, corduroy balances toughness with softness.

The single-breasted, two-button suit jacket has narrow notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, patch pockets on the hips, and a single vent. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with two buttons spaced on each cuff.

Over cigars with friends in the town square, Frank receives word of the arrival of a mysterious stranger looking for him.

Frank dresses up his attire for mornings in Sicily with a plain narrow tie in black cotton, knotted in a tight four-in-hand.

His cream-colored shirt is faintly patterned with pale ochre dots, which are only faintly visible until seeing the shirt more closely. The shirt has a narrow point collar with a gentle roll, the barrel cuffs each close through a single button, and it buttons up a plain, placket-less front.

Through this first sequence, Frank contrasts his jacket with brown lightweight wool trousers that rise to Kirk Douglas’ natural waist, where they’re held up by a wide dark brown leather belt closed through a curved dark gunmetal single-prong buckle. The trousers are rigged with two reverse pleats on each side, both positioned just behind the most forward belt loops. Finished at the bottom with turn-ups (cuffs), these trousers have side pockets and button-through back pockets.

Frank sheds his coat and tie to garrulously greet his brother Vince, though his wife Ida remains suspicious of the younger Ginetta’s motives.

Befitting the more rustic setting of the Sicilian countryside, Frank wears plain-toe pull-on boots with russet-brown leather uppers, the shafts extending up to mid-calf as seen when his cuffed trouser bottoms occasionally ride up and get caught on the tops of his boots. Like his corduroy suit, this footwear marks another significant variation from the more urban-friendly black penny loafers he had worn with his business suits back in New York.

Production photo of Kirk Douglas as an exuberant Frank Ginetta in The Brotherhood. Note that his right trouser cuff has gotten caught on the top of his mid-calf boots.

Even when he was a New York don, Frank’s accessories had been relatively sparse with no pinky rings or showy watches gleaming from his hands aside from a plain gold wedding band symbolizing his marriage to Ida (Irene Papas). Representative of his serious, businesslike leadership, the only accessory he avails himself of is a pair of gold-framed eyeglasses with squared lenses and thick arms.

The suit’s matching corduroy trousers are held up by the same belt, though they differ in their details such as the flat front and plain-hemmed bottoms. These suit trousers also have on-seam side pockets and set-in back pockets.

Upon reaching the hillside celebration among the olive trees, he soon strips off his jacket and tie, reveling just in his waistcoat and open-neck shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled up, presenting similarly with how Al Pacino would be dressed as Michael Corleone on the lam in Sicily four years later in The Godfather.

Frank’s odd waistcoat (vest) is made from a dark taupe-brown self-striped cloth that looks like it may also have once belonged to a suit. The waistcoat has two welted pockets and five buttons up the front, which he wears fully fastened. The back is finished in an even darker brown satin-finished fabric with an adjustable strap that cinches the waist.

Though his costume resembles what Michael Corleone would wear in Sicily, Frank’s family celebration does not result in marriage… though it does conclude with a kiss!

Frank’s sartorial journey from gray power suits to country-ready corduroy is an interesting inversion on how Pacino would be attired as Michael Corleone.

At the outset of The Godfather, decorated USMC hero Michael dresses in the unassuming staples of an erstwhile college man, such as his corduroy sports coat for a Christmas-time date with his girlfriend Kay. As his involvement with the Mafia grows, he graduates to full suits on-screen, including the “nice Ivy League suit” in charcoal flannel for a double mob hit. After his humbly dressed days in hiding in Sicily, Michael returns to take control of the Corleone crime family, dressing in expensive gray three-piece suits.

The Guns

When he is first summoned from the town square, Frank isn’t aware of who has come to Sicily asking about him and takes all precautions. For self-protection, his driver hands him a Beretta Model 70, which Frank looks over by checking and re-inserting the magazine before pocketing the pistol.

Frank’s driver hands him a Beretta pistol.

Beretta introduced the single-action Model 70 in 1958 as an improvement on its earlier Model 1935, keeping the same .32 ACP ammunition but in a sleeker package that more resembled competing compact pistols like the Walther PPK and incorporated components from the full-size Beretta Model 1951 service pistol. Also marketed as the “Puma” in keeping with Beretta’s feline nomenclature, the Model 70 would be spun off into many different variations, mostly chambered for the smaller .22 LR cartridge, such as the Model 71 “Jaguar” that would be famously used with silencers by Mossad hit teams.

A contemporary promotional image for The Brotherhood (1968) featured a closeup of Kirk Douglas armed with Frank’s Beretta.

The next day, Frank has one of his men bring him his father’s shortened double-barreled shotgun when he privately meets with Vince among the olive trees. “Best grade, made in Belgium,” Frank describes. “These we call a’lupara, to kill u lupu… the wolf,” he adds before loading it with two brass shells.

As Frank explains, the lupara has an illustrious and infamous lineage among Italian criminals, including Sicilians who found the shortened barrels to be an asset while conducting their countryside vendettas or those who emigrated to the United States and benefited from their easily concealed power for executions, such as the notorious assassination of New Orleans police chief David C. Hennessy in October 1890.

The Ginetta family lupara has a full stock, though the barrels appear to be shortened to about 20 inches. Though hammerless shotguns of this type have been mass produced since the late 1870s, this particular piece is a more old-fashioned model with exposed hammers that Frank dramatically cocks before handing the weapon to his brother and imploring: “Vinnie, you gotta make the hit, they got you by the throat.”

Frank presents his father’s lupara.

How to Get the Look

Kirk Douglas as Frank Ginetta in The Brotherhood (1968)

On the run from his days as a sleek-suited gangster in New York, Frank Ginetta has taken refuge in rugged but comfortable corduroy that better suits his new life in the Sicilian hills.

• Olive-brown corduroy single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Cream ochre-dotted cotton shirt with narrow point collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Black cotton tie
• Brown lightweight wool double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark brown leather belt with gunmetal single-prong buckle
• Russet-brown leather mid-calf plain-toe boots
• Gold square-framed eyeglasses
• Gold wedding ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, streaming on the Criterion Channel through the end of this month.

The Quote

When one of us is gonna get it, it’s gotta happen after wine and eating with all the relations. First food, love, then… a’lupara.

The post Kirk Douglas in The Brotherhood: Corduroy in Sicily appeared first on BAMF Style.

Frank Sinatra sings his ’40s-era hit “All or Nothing at All” during his June 1971 retirement concert in L.A.

Vitals

Frank Sinatra, multi-talented entertainer facing retirement

Los Angeles, Summer 1971

Series: Sinatra: All or Nothing At All
Air Date: April 5-6, 2015
Director: Alex Gibney

Background

Born December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra had recently turned 55 when he started talking seriously with close friends about retirement. For more than 30 years, the entertainer had enjoyed a landmark career, beginning with his days as a pop idol, then a career downturn in the early ’50s that was reinvigorated by an Oscar win for From Here to Eternity and a series of concept albums for Capitol Records that launched him to massive success.

Throughout the ’60s, Sinatra evolved from one of the most popular entertainers in the nation to one of the most influential entertainers across the world. He had founded his own record label with Reprise Records, been a confidante of a sitting U.S. President (before their famous falling-out), and continued to prove his success on the charts with songs like “My Way” (despite his resentment for this particular tune.)

Like so many successful 55-year-old Americans, Ol’ Blue Eyes decided to hang up his tilted hat and retire, with his final performance to be June 13, 1971, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Alex Gibney’s 2015 HBO documentary Sinatra: All or Nothing at All was framed around the singer’s hand-chosen setlist for the concert, and how the eleven musical milestones Sinatra selected essentially told the story of his life to that point.

(Of course, Sinatra’s “retirement” was short-lived and he would be back in the recording studio within two years, never ceasing to work until his death in May 1998 at the age of 82.)

What’d He Wear?

“For me, a tuxedo is a way of life,” Sinatra once stated, according to Bill Zehme’s The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’. “The costume empowered them, enlarged them,” Zehme writes of FS and his Rat Pack pallies, who regularly took the stage in black or midnight blue dinner suits, eschewing less formal lounge suits and particularly daytime colors like gray or brown.

Perhaps representative of Sinatra’s struggle between maintaining his classic repertoire and appealing to new audiences, his black tie kit for the 1971 farewell concert blends the emerging fashion trends of the ’70s with his time-tested philosophy toward evening dress.

Sinatra shares a laugh with fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr. on the night of his retirement concert in L.A. While FS has incorporated the era trends into his usual dinner suit, Davis has totally embraced the new fashions by eschewing classic evening wear in favor of a formal Nehru jacket.

Through the ’60s, Sinatra was a customer of Beverly Hills tailor Sy Devore, who also catered to his stylish singing pals like Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Elvis Presley, though Devore’s death and Sinatra’s ascension to his “Chairman of the Board” reputation led to his taking his business to more conservative clothiers like Brooks Brothers, Carroll & Co., and Dunhill, before ultimately heading across the pond and into shops of reputable British cutters like Cyril Castle.

Made from a high-quality midnight-blue wool, the single-breasted dinner jacket has an elegant black silk-faced shawl collar that rolls to a single black plastic 2-hole sew-through button at a position that coordinates with the then-fashionably lower rise of trouser waistbands. The single vent and the flaps over the hip pockets belong more on a business suit or lounge suit than a dinner jacket. Sinatra dresses his welted breast pocket with a subdued white folded linen pocket square, rather than one of his more colorful kerchiefs in red or his favorite color, orange. The straight, wide shoulders build up the singer’s famously lean physique, roped at the sleeveheads and finished with two plastic buttons on each cuff.

“He never wore a cummerbund, always a cinched-up vest,” observed Zehme. His black formal waistcoat can be glimpsed following the low-fastening lines of his dinner jacket during the 1971 concert, only seen in greater detail in behind-the-scenes photography of Sinatra in his dressing room before the concert. Stripped of his jacket, we see the black backless waistcoat, essentially two silk panels that flare down each side of the torso, fastened behind the back of the neck and around the back of his waist with an ornamental button-closure in the front that would be covered by the buttoned dinner jacket.

Sinatra, photographed for LIFE magazine just minutes before taking the stage during his 1971 retirement concert. He preferred waistcoats to cummerbunds, always sporting low enough vests that the lines could barely be glimpsed under his jacket.

“My basic rules are to have shirt cuffs extended half an inch from the jacket sleeves,” Sinatra explained. Unlike Dino, who favored casual button-down shirts even with his tuxedoes, FS invariably sported traditional white cotton evening shirts meant to be worn with black tie. Sinatra’s shirts were detailed with pleated bibs, which ranged from frilly pleats as found on his shirts through the ’50s as seen in Pal Joey and when accepting his Oscar to more irregular diagonal pleats made for him by Nat Wise of London (now Anto Beverly Hills) in the ’80s.

This 1971 evening shirt has more traditional narrow pleats and a long point collar that appears to be the shirt’s only concession to the era’s trends. The double (French) cuffs emerge neatly from the ends of his sleeves, showing just a flash of the mother-of-pearl cuff links that echo the pearl-esque shine of three clear plastic buttons up the front placket of the shirt.

The massive wings of Sinatra’s black satin silk bow tie date it the most to the early ’70s, proportionally compatible with the shirt’s large collar but dwarfing the more moderate width of the jacket’s lapels.

“Trousers should break just above the shoe,” Sinatra prescribed, adding the guidance that the wearer should “try not to sit down because it wrinkles the pants. If you have to sit, don’t cross your legs.” The entertainer follows his own advice, gently perching himself on a stool but never outwardly sitting, thus maintaining the integrity of his matching midnight-blue dinner suit trousers, detailed with the signature black silk stripe down the side of each leg.

The plain-hemmed trouser bottoms cover the tops of his black patent leather kicks, which appear to be inside-zip boots rather than his signature slip-on pumps with straight grosgrain bows. The boots are a surprising concession to early ’70s fashion for a sartorial traditionalist like Sinatra, but they retain his preferred gleam.

“Shine your mary janes on the underside of a couch cushion,” Sinatra also advised, which his road manager Tony Oppedisano explained was the singer’s actual practice before heading on stage. “You know why he did that? When he was a kid, he’d do it at home and his mother would smack him. He knew nobody else was ever gonna smack him for it.”

FS “sits” for his appropriately somber rendition of the ballad “I’ll Never Smile Again”.

Sinatra keeps his jewelry and accessories to a minimum, with only his usual gold signet ring shining from his left pinky. Zehme writes that this ring “bore the ancient Sinatra family crest, forged in the old country, a crowned griffin with shield.”

Using his right hand to steady the mic, Sinatra snaps the fingers on his left hand—which he also dresses with his usual pinky ring—as he keeps the beat to Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.

What to Imbibe

Frank Sinatra’s preference for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey has been so mythologized that the brand has even marketed a special “Sinatra Select” bottling. However, on the night of his prospective swan song in L.A., Thomas Thompson reported for LIFE:

He was making small talk and a frog crept into his voice. Someone noticed it. “You want something to drink, Frank?” There is always someone there to fetch for him. “Yeah… thanks… I’d like a vodka.” The man started out. Frank stopped him. “Either that or a cup of hot tea.” The man hurried away. Frank stopped him once more. “Better get booze. Forget the tea.”

Thompson later reports that, after the vodka arrived, “Frank squeezed half a lemon into it and took a long drink.” Zehme recounted the story in The Way You Wear Your Hat, contextualizing that Stolichnaya was Sinatra’s vodka of choice, always enjoyed on the rocks unless it was the driving spirit of a very dry martini. Given that the Chairman didn’t throw the drink back in his face, the nameless gofer from Thompson’s article likely poured the correct Stoli.

How to Get the Look

Frank Sinatra during his 1971 retirement concert in L.A., as seen in the 2015 documentary Sinatra: All or Nothing at All

Frank Sinatra cycled through tuxedoes of varying style, color, cloth, and detailing throughout more than a half-century of superstardom, though the most enduring look remains the dark shawl-collar dinner jacket, which could be appointed to suit the contemporary trends as seen when Ol’ Blue Eyes wore it with a wide-winged bow tie and patent leather boots for his farewell concert in 1971.

• Midnight-blue wool single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton evening shirt with large point collar, narrow-pleated bib (with mother-of-pearl studs), and double/French cuffs (with mother-of-pearl cuff links)
• Black satin silk oversized butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Black silk low-fastening backless formal waistcoat
• Midnight-blue wool flat front formal trousers with black silk side stripes and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather inside-zip ankle boots
• Black silk dress socks
• White linen pocket square
• Gold signet pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the two-part HBO documentary, available on DVD and currently streaming on Netflix.

The Quote

Having been a saloon singer all my life, I’ve become an expert on saloon songs: the kind of things that cause men to cry in their beers.

The post Frank Sinatra’s 1971 Retirement Concert Tuxedo appeared first on BAMF Style.

Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen in The Silent Partner (1978)

Vitals

Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen, mild-mannered bank teller

Toronto, Christmas 1977

Film: The Silent Partner
Release Date: September 7, 1978
Director: Daryl Duke
Wardrobe Credit: Debi Weldon

Background

One of the most fun yet under-celebrated of Christmas-adjacent thrillers, The Silent Partner should sell most new viewers on the simple elevator pitch of Christopher Plummer as a gun-toting robber in a Santa Claus suit who increasingly torments Elliott Gould as a scheming teller.

The action begins on Tuesday, December 14—set exactly 44 years ago today—as the meek Miles Cullen (Gould) wraps up his daily duties at a First Bank of Toronto branch when his flirtatious sketches on a deposit slip wise him to a potential robbery plot. He’s about to reveal the note to his manager Charles Packard (Michael Kirby), who surprises him by asking Miles to him a favor by escorting his mistress—operations officer Julie Carver (Susannah York), the object of Miles’ clumsy affections—out for a few hours to distract her. The excitement of an evening with Julie—and the purchase of an angelfish—push the lingering larceny to the back of Miles’ mind as the two discuss her indiscretions over drinks as they await Packard’s arrival.

Two days later, back at work, Miles schemes to take advantage of the robbery plot, tucking away plenty of cash in his Superman lunchbox and triggering the silent alarm when Santa comes to collect.

Having had days to prepare, Miles has more than just milk and cookies ready when this sadistic Santa pays a visit.

What’d He Wear?

The Silent Partner is famous for its first act set around Christmas, though the action spans well into the next year so we see the full range of Elliott Gould’s on-screen wardrobe which includes seasonal tailoring like light linen suits for summer, heavier wool three-piece and double-breasted suits in winter, and sportier staples including a classic navy blazer and the tweed sports coat he frequently wears for wintry days at work, including the first scene set on Tuesday the 14th.

Miles Cullen’s brown tweed sport jacket is woven in a broken twill variation of the barleycorn weave, which you can read more about in Bond Suits‘ exploration of 11 classic checks and patterns. The wool consists of yarns alternating between a rich chocolate brown and a lighter fawn, woven into a series of irregular chevrons that present as the “barley kernels” that give the pattern its evocative appellation.

Note the “barley kernels” on Gould’s jacket that, upon closer inspection, are the result of a broken twill weave that presents like a series of jagged lines, rather than the more organized “crow’s feet” of traditional barleycorn or the balanced “fish skeleton” that gives classic herringbone its appellation.

Tweed as we know it had been developed for rugged outdoors pursuits in 19th century Scotland. Miles’ single-breasted jacket pays homage to these sporting origins, modeling traditionally equestrian elements like rear-slanted “hacking” pockets and a long single vent, a detail that also happened to be consistent with prevailing fashions at the time The Silent Partner was produced in the late 1970s.

The jacket otherwise reflects relatively timeless detailing and cut, with the welted-edge notch lapels—restrained to an eye-pleasingly moderate width for the ’70s—rolling cleanly to the top of two mixed brown horn buttons, where the buttoning point is positioned over Gould’s natural waist. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with two smaller horn buttons on each cuff. In addition to the aforementioned flapped hip pockets, the jacket boasts a welted breast pocket and a flapped ticket pocket rigged above the right-side hip pocket.

The long single vent and slanted hip pockets on Miles’ tweed sports coat are traditional equestrian elements found on hacking jackets.

Miles chooses his shirts to look professional at the office and also offer tonal coordination with the warmer cast of his coarse tweed jacket. The first shirt, seen on the afternoon and evening of the December 14th, is made from a pale ecru cotton and detailed with a front placket, single-button barrel cuffs, and a long point collar consistent with the decade’s trends.

His dark rust-colored tie has thin ochre bar stripes spaced apart in a “downhill” diagonal direction, each flanked on top and bottom by a narrower gold stripe.

Miles doesn’t get the opportunity to present the suggestive deposit slip he found… though this presents a unique opportunity for him in the days to follow.

For several subsequent days at work, Miles wears a plain white cotton shirt that presents a starker contrast than the softer ecru of his previous shirt. Like that one, it’s detailed with a long point collar and single-button cuffs, but it buttons up a plain front rather than a placket. When Miles removes his jacket, we see the shirt also has a breast pocket.

When he’s first confronted by a gun-toting Santa on Thursday, December 16, Miles wears a dark brown tie patterned with a spotted medallion print in beige and taupe.

Miles is anxiously back at his station on the day he anticipates “Santa” to return, packing heat and unafraid to land himself on the naughty list.

Miles’ perceived coolness under pressure makes him a minor celebrity at the bank, earning some additional attention from Julie. During one of these days at the office, he wears a plain brown twill tie, possibly polyester.

Following weeks of “Santa” threatening and terrorizing Miles after having been hoodwinked during his attempted robbery, Miles frames the thief for a robbery that leads to his arrest on other charges. Miles is called in to identify Santa as Harry Reikle, again dressing in his favorite tweed jacket but appointing it with his busiest shirt and tie combination of the movie.

The cream shirt is patterned with a field of tonal satin dots that each shine gold under the harsh lights of the police station. Other than this unique detail, the shirt resembles his others with its long point collar, front placket, and single-button cuffs. Miles’ tie consists of an interlocking cream grid connecting unique arrangements of four squares—cream-on-black, black-on-gray, and black-on-bronze—against a field of gold and bronze silk.

Miles wears chocolate brown flat front trousers that provide a tonally coordinated contrast to the lighter brown jacket. As he tends to keep the jacket buttoned in professional settings, we don’t see much of the top of these trousers but we can assume they’re fashioned like his others, held up with a belt and detailed with western-style “frogmouth” front pockets.

The trousers’ plain-hemmed bottoms are fashionably flared with a considerable break over his shoes, which appear to be dark brown plain-toe ankle boots. No laces appear over the front of these boots, so they’re likely pull on boots that may be aided by side zips or elastic gussets—à la Chelsea boots—but the full break of the trouser bottoms prevents seeing much more of his footwear.

Miles’ gold-cased wristwatch was likely Gould’s personal watch, with a round, off-white dial detailed with plain gold hour markers and secured to his left wrist on a dark brown textured leather strap.

Layered to combat the December chill, Miles wears a fawn-colored wool coat with quasi-martial detailing like the shoulder straps (epaulettes) sewn against the roped sleeveheads with the pointed end buttoned toward each side of his neck. The six dark brown woven leather shank buttons comprising the double-breasted front are arranged in two neat columns of three buttons each. The wide peak lapels have slanted gorges that direct each peak toward the shoulders, with “swelled” welted edges that echo the detailing on the welted breast pocket and the dramatically rear-slanting flaps over each hip pocket. Each cuff has a single button, and the back is split with a long vent.

Miles’ additional outerwear pieces are consistent with his brown tones, including the dark brown woolen scarf and his dark brown leather three-point gloves.

Even Miles’ new angelfish appears to be swimming in brown water, matching much of his clothing.

Miles’ shades of brown at the outset of The Silent Partner are appropriate for the earthy tones associated with the ’70s, though they also reinforce the lonely clerk’s boredom by juxtaposing his tastefully subdued colors against the decor of this most festive time of year.

That said, Miles’ co-workers showcase how the same palette can be employed in a more festive fashion, such as Simonson (a young John Candy), sprucing up his brown clothing with a sprig of holly pinned to the left lapel of his chocolate windowpane suit.

The Silent Partner was an early role for John Candy, portraying Miles’ co-workers at the First Bank of Toronto branch that also employs Louise with her suggestive shirts.

Less related to the points I’m making but still of sartorial note: one of my favorite aspects of The Silent Partner is the rotation of T-shirts worn by Miles’ comely colleague Louise (Gail Dahms), each printed with a banking-relevant double entendre like “Penalty for early withdrawal,” certainly a violation of the bank’s employee dress code but delightfully unaddressed throughout her on-screen appearances.

How to Get the Look

Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen in The Silent Partner (1978)

Many associate the ’70s with brown clothing, but Elliott Gould’s garb in The Silent Partner illustrates why this needn’t be a negative association as—with a shorter collar here and a more restrained trouser cuff there—his tasteful tweed jacket and tonally coordinated ties set a template for smart office-wear during cooler seasons.

• Brown broken twill “barleycorn” tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with welted-edge notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped hacking pockets and ticket pocket, 2-button cuffs, and long single vent
• White or pale ecru cotton shirt with long point collar and button cuffs
• Brown plain or patterned tie
• Dark brown flat front trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt
• Dark brown leather plain-toe ankle boots
• Fawn-colored wool double-breasted overcoat with welted-edge peak lapels, 6×3-button front, shoulder straps (epaulettes), welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, long single vent
• Dark brown leather three-point gloves
• Dark brown woolen scarf
• Gold dress watch with round white dial on dark brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post The Silent Partner: Elliott Gould’s Holiday Tweed appeared first on BAMF Style.

Christmas is awesome. First of all, you get to spend time with people you love. Secondly, you can get drunk and no one can say anything. Third, you give presents. What’s better than giving presents? And fourth, getting presents. So, four things. Not bad for one day. It’s really the greatest day of all time.

With some offices reinstating the traditional holiday parties this year, I also want to return to my own December tradition of reviewing how the off-the-peg office drones of Dunder Mifflin Scranton dress for their annual Christmas extravaganza.

The Office first approached the festive season with the simply titled “Christmas Party”, midway through the series’ masterful second season. This has always been one of my favorite episodes of The Office, and “Christmas Party” was actually the first-ever iTunes Store purchase I had made after Christmas 2005 found a video iPod in my stocking… appropriately enough, as fans of the episode would realize.

At this point, The Office was still a more restrained satire of American workplaces—rather than the zanier character-driven comedy it would become—and the first Christmas party reflects that mundanity, with cheap decorations, cheap vodka, and cheap grab bag gifts, and seemingly none of the staff happy to be part of this forced corporate fun, save for the oblivious manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell).

The main cast of The Office—Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Steve Carell, B.J. Novak, and John Krasinski—in a promotional photo for the second season’s “Christmas Party”.

Series: The Office
Episode: “Christmas Party” (Episode 2.10)
Air Date: December 6, 2005
Director: Charles McDougall
Creator: Greg Daniels
Costume Designer: Carey Bennett

While many classic episodes would follow—including the two-part “A Benihana Christmas” the following season—this was the OG Christmas episode of The Office, filled with all the great cringe-worthy moments like Michael’s impulsive decision to switch Secret Santa to Yankee Swap, milestones in the Jim and Pam romance (that teapot note!), drunken hijinks like Xeroxed butts and lampshade hats, and moments for side characters to shine, from Kevin’s foot-bath to Meredith’s flashing incident.

“Christmas Party” also offered our first look at how the employees would switch up their work-wear for a corporate holiday party, with all the tacky ties, ugly sweaters, and half-hearted Santa hats that add some festive color against the office’s Jims and Ryans who choose not to sartorially partake. (Later seasons would increasingly show the men of Dunder Mifflin embracing the holiday spirit through their clothing, clad in reds and greens, with nary a man—even Jim!—failing to knot on neckwear painted with snowy scenes.)

Last month, I was thrilled when the great blogcast The Art of Costume welcomed The Office costume designer Carey Bennett for a festive installment to discuss both “Christmas Party” and “A Benihana Christmas”. Among the many insights shared, Bennett explained that she was intentional with each male character’s “tie story”, which makes it all the more interesting [to me, anyway] that Michael, Jim, and Creed would each repeat their ties the following year in “A Benihana Christmas”.

As usual, let’s start at the bottom and work our way toward the top of the tree as I offer my no-one-asked-for-these ratings on how the men of Dunder Mifflin Scranton adapted their office attire for the staff Christmas party…

10. Todd Packer (David Koechner)

Merry Christmas, asswipe!

Points for, uh, Christmas spirit… but the obnoxious Pacman’s evidently had a few too many spirits already by the time he arrives at the Dunder Mifflin holiday party, dressed conventionally but sloppily in a navy suit, unbuttoned white shirt, and exactly the type of “festive” tie you’d expect of a man whose license plate advertises the size of his penis. A field of snowflakes and colorful ornaments are scattered down the black tie, which would actually make it one of the more tasteful holiday ties of The Office… until we approach the blade, painted with a topless blonde pinup in a red Santa hat with matching skirt, boots, and nothing else. Costume designer Carey Bennett explained on The Art of Costume that this was one of the “wealth of bad ties” she had purchased for the characters to wear from the now-defunct California-based department store Mervyn’s.

On anyone else, the tie might have some ironic value, but you know Todd Packer’s the kind of guy who probably finds it both simultaneously classy and sexy… made all the worse by the woman’s likeness appearing just inches above his WLHUNG package.

“Don’t be this guy” may be an overused aphorism, but… don’t be this guy.

9. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)

“A real man makes his own luck.” Billy Zane. Titanic.

Saved from last place by Todd Packer’s late arrival, the arguably worst dresser among the men of Dunder Mifflin Scranton doesn’t do himself any favors the first time we see him at a Christmas party. As usual, he’s dressed in the palette of his olive-to-ochre spectrum, which was “100% J.C. Penney,” according to Carey Bennett.

Perhaps unwilling to suffer the wrath of Belsnickel, Dwight makes what he may consider a more admirable than impish attempt to infuse holiday color into his wardrobe, wearing one of his usual green gradient-shaded ties with an olive suit, though any sense of fashionability is thrown against the wall with Angela’s ornaments once he removes the suit jacket, revealing the avalanche of poor style decisions: his baggy creamy yellow shirt has his usual short sleeves, and the belt around the top of his pleated trousers is loaded with his usual beeper and cell phone. The black digital calculator watch strapped to his left wrist is one gadget too many, though it’s all part of Dwight’s regular kit.

Where Dwight diverges from his usual wardrobe is the addition of a cheap green felt elf hat with the ears to match. Though we see you trying, Dwight… the attempt is still impish at best.

I’d offer Dwight points for trying, but I don’t think this sort of trying should be encouraged.

8. Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak)

Angela drafted me into the party planning committee. Her memo said that we need to prepare for every possible disaster. Which, to me, seems… excessive.

Ryan doesn’t care… and it shows. You could argue that his all-blue look of a navy suit, French blue shirt, and tonal tie is meant to be a reflection of a wintry palette, but it’s more likely that he’s just actively avoiding holiday colors. He’s saved from a lower ranking by the fact that there’s nothing visually offensive about his look, and—for an unpaid temp at a northeastern Pennsylvania paper company in the mid-2000s—his clothes are tasteful and fit relatively well.

It may be a blue Christmas for Ryan now, but just give it a few years… by the time of the seventh season’s “Secret Santa”, he takes the BAMF Style top prize in his red shirt and green sweater vest!

Trapped in the land of ugly Christmas sweaters (and pins), Ryan may have just been better advised to wear one himself.

7. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski)

He obviously forgot to get me something, and then he went in his closet and dug out this little number… and then threw it in a bag.

Jim doesn’t seem too bothered by Creed’s lack of effort in his Secret Santa gift, and why should he? Though one of Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s top salesmen, Jim doesn’t give much effort to… anything at all. Even for the season’s Halloween party, his “three-hole punch Jim” costume was likely constructed in less than two minutes.

We see just about as much effort for the Christmas party as he wears his daily rig of a well-washed oxford shirt with a button-down collar, pleated slacks, and a loosened tie… though at least he thinks to cycle in the one that’s predominantly burgundy for some arguable shades of holiday red, subtly striped against low-contrasting flecked stripes in black and tan. (He would wear the same tie again in “A Benihana Christmas” but with somewhat more success, given the full suit and dressier shirt.)

Does it help or hurt Jim’s case when he puts on the old shirt that Creed had grabbed that morning before work?

For anyone looking to track down the wardrobe, Creed’s “gift” to Jim is a shirt by the budget brand Covington… a few years ahead (but a few sizes short) of the current flannel shacket trend. I also always liked Jim’s simple but strong Victorinox Swiss Army watch.

6. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner)

I got myself as secret Santa. I was supposed to tell somebody, but I didn’t.

I wrestled with where in the bottom half of the list to rank poor Kevin, but ultimately I felt like his attempt paid off. Perhaps only a mid-sized paper company sales office in Scranton, Pennsylvania, could see such sartorial recognition for a guy like Kevin Malone, who—especially at this point in the series—doesn’t quite seem to grasp how to dress to flatter his more corpulent figure… not to mention the clashing patterns.

Kevin’s base outfit of an olive tic-checked sports coat, multi-striped shirt, and blue trousers might work on some level, but the impression I got was that the somewhat absent-minded accountant was leaving the house in a different tie before he was spotted by Stacy, who reminded him of his holiday party and swapped in a tie painted in a repeated scene of rows of snowmen standing around a Christmas tree… likely something she’d gifted to Kevin under the tree the previous year. (He would wear another snowman-motif tie the following year in “A Benihana Christmas”, establishing a pattern where Kevin evidently has a small accrued collection of seasonal neckwear!)

At least there’s some fortuitous coordination at work, from the wintry blues of the shirt striping, trouser color, and “sky” on the tie to the earthy shades of the jacket, alternating tie stripes, and the snowmen’s hats and tree on the tie.

Kevin shows off the “perfectly good mini-tree” that the ever-charitable Michael Scott wants to sell to charity. You read that right.

5. Creed Bratton

(following Jim’s theory about the lack of effort behind his Secret Santa gift) Yep. That’s exactly what happened.

Creed had only begun to emerge from the background by the middle of The Office‘s second season, showing increasingly bizarre traits such as his unapologetic regifting of an old shirt for the branch’s Secret Santa exchange. For all his eccentricities, it wasn’t until later that Creed would incorporate his unorthodoxy into his appearance, such as the ninth-season episode where he randomly wears sweatpants and Crocs with his sport jacket and tie.

He takes a characteristically subdued approach to dressing for the party, wearing a uniquely striped shirt consisting of varying gray gradient stripes against a white ground that provides a neutral background for the “holiday red” in his burgundy tie with a textured gray micro-grid that contributes to a gradient effect there as well. Creed would wear this tie again in “A Benihana Christmas”, in which I deemed him to be Dunder Mifflin’s best-dressed, though he spends the majority of this episode sans jacket, highlighting the shirt’s less-than-flattering off-the-peg fit that keeps him restrained to the middle of the rankings.

Creed Bratton, gift-giver extraordinaire.

4. Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez)

I got Creed. And to tell you the truth, I don’t know anything about Creed. I know his name’s Creed, I know he works right over there, I think he’s Irish, and I… I got him this shamrock keychain.

Oscar typically stands out as one of Dunder Mifflin’s better dressers. While I wouldn’t normally consider the wearer of such an animated tie to be considerably stylish, I appreciate the addition of his tweed sports coat as the group prepares to venture out to a post-party happy hour, with the brown wool of his jacket almost coordinating with the hide of that cheerful reindeer grinning from his tie blade. (Even if it is a tacky tie, it’s at least more office-appropriate than Packer’s horny neckwear.)

Maybe I’ve relaxed my attitude toward tacky holiday ties in my old age, but there’s still no reason for the tail to be longer than the blade. Plus, the fact that Oscar wouldn’t even be able to hide the tie’s flamboyance when buttoning his tasteful tweed jacket restrains his look to fourth position. A more restrained tie that’s been more proportionally tied would have likely secured him the top spot, but alas…

The tweed jacket takes Oscar’s holiday ensemble to the next level, but is it enough to counter the excessive exuberance of his tie?

3. Michael Scott (Steve Carell)

Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for these people and they freak out. Well… happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party’s so lame.

As I mentioned, I’m finding more forgiveness for the yuletide tradition of tacky ties, and no one seems to appreciate them more than Michael Scott. The silk tie depicts a snowy scene at the North Pole, with a red-suited St. Nick greeting us with a Christmas carol from the blade. Behind him, four snowmen in red and green scarves are perched on a bridge ahead of a tall, decorated Christmas tree and a brown chalet—likely Santa’s famous workshop—silhouetted against a blue night sky. (I found a reversed version of the tie on Amazon, though it appears to be frequently out of stock.)

For its inaugural episode, Michael sports the tie with a decently cut business suit and a pale shirt that doesn’t threaten to clash with the busy scene painted on his tie. He completes the look with a red Santa hat, signaling his leadership of the office… and which he offers up to Daryl after stubbornly refusing to do earlier in the day. For its first run, Michael wears the tie well, but his insistence on wearing it for the two subsequent Dunder Mifflin Christmas parties suggests a lack of originality that he overwhelmingly corrects by the time he hosts a “Classy Christmas” during the seventh season.

Michael debuts his favorite Christmas tie in this episode, smartly wearing with a solid suit and shirt… though there’s no talking him out of that Santa hat.

2. Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker)

I know how to plug something in.

Stanley presents a tasteful alternative to the ostentatious holiday-themed ties of his colleagues, just livening up his usual business look with a bright red polka-dotted tie that adds a festive flair. The more subdued tie allows Stanley to wear a more patterned shirt, as seen by the subtly dobby-striped shirt with its spread collar.

The overall philosophy of Stanley’s suit in “Christmas Party” suggests a smart approach for corporate holiday celebrations, though the fit—particularly of that three-button jacket—may not be Stanley’s most flattering look.

Between Kevin’s over-the-top holiday tie and Ryan’s lack of any real spirit, Stanley looks just festive enough a red tie that shines from over the perhaps-too-high buttoning point of his gray suit jacket.

1. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein)

We’re really not supposed to serve alcohol…

Toby scores an early win with his smart dark brown suit that, in the world of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, earns the top spot for avoid the extremes of corporate banality or obnoxious festivity. His clothes fit relatively well, considering that he probably buys exclusively off the peg, like the rest of his office-mates.

It may not be the most spirited outfit, but the subtle holiday shades in his pale-green shirt and burgundy patterned tie neatly correspond to maintaining a sense of professionalism when dressing for an office Christmas party. Future years would find Toby incorporating more Christmas-themed neckwear into his yuletide wardrobe, evolving through nutcracker ties and penguin ties before swapping it all out for the warmth of a snowflake sweater in the seventh season’s “Classy Christmas”.

If Michael had his way, Toby would never leave his desk during Dunder Mifflin’s holiday celebrations.

Happy holidays, BAMF Style readers!

I hope all of you, particularly fans of The Office, enjoyed this exploration into one of my favorite holiday episodes… and I hope you all know I care about you at least a homemade oven mitt’s worth.

Check out The Office, streaming on Peacock and available in its entirety on Blu-ray and DVD.

The post The Office: Season 2’s Christmas Party – Ranking Holiday Looks appeared first on BAMF Style.

On Brad Pitt’s 58th birthday, I’m pleased to present another guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who had also covered George Clooney’s fashionable suit in Out of Sight.

Brad Pitt as “Rusty” Ryan in Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Vitals

Brad Pitt as Robert “Rusty” Ryan, poker pro and casino heister

Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Spring 2001

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: December 7, 2001
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Tailor: Dominic Gherardi

Background

Happy Birthday, Brad Pitt! The Academy Award-winning actor and producer turns 58 today, and to celebrate, we’re taking a look back at one of his most fashionable roles, Rusty Ryan, in Ocean’s Eleven. Believe it or not, Steven Soderbergh’s reimagining of the Rat Pack caper, which resuscitated the heist film genre in 2001, celebrated its 20th anniversary this month. I think we can all agree that both actor and film have aged well.

Though the movie opens following Danny Ocean (George Clooney) on his first day being released from prison in New Jersey, we’re introduced to Rusty at the five-minute mark via a split-screen wipe that zips us from Atlantic City to Hollywood. Pitt’s character is first glimpsed munching on some cheesy nachos in a red and white checked paper basket, the first of many meals he’ll scarf down over the course of the film’s runtime. Leaning on his 1963 Ford Falcon Futura convertible in a parking lot facing the Capital Records building, Rusty tosses the remainder of his snack away as he’s greeted by up-and-coming teen idol, Topher Grace (playing himself). The two then casually make their way through the backdoor and service hallways of the then-hot Hollywood club, Deep.

Walking straight through the club’s dance floor to a private room, it’s quickly revealed that Rusty ekes out a living as a poker pro, coaching the likes of WB show headliners Barry Watson, Joshua Jackson, Shane West, and Holly Marie Combs (all also playing themselves). In a scripted line cut from the film, Rusty laments to Danny, “I’m so bored. That kind of thing is just… unprofessional. Kid actors. They pay someone to exercise with ’em. They pay someone to tell ’em what to eat. They pay me to play cards with ’em.”

After one particularly eyeroll-inducing play by Topher, Rusty takes a break to watch some dancers and gulp down a couple neat bourbons. It’s a rough middle act for one of the brightest con artists in the world, but thankfully an old friend—recently paroled—will soon make a surprise appearance at his card table.

What’d He Wear?

The First Suit

Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland’s sketched concept for Rusty Ryan’s introductory suit.

Despite his plan to spend the night suffering fools, Rusty Ryan is dressed beautifully in a very unique suit. It’s essentially double-breasted, but with an asymmetrical front where the wrap overlaps most at the chest and then slants down to a wide opening below the waist.

The jacket has a single diagonal row of four exposed buttons, set close together, descending from the top right to bottom left, along with a hidden jigger button sewn onto the edge of the interior flap. This button acts like an anchor to keep the interior layer of fabric from bunching up, in this case attaching to a loop sewn into the jacket’s lining.

The suit was made by L.A.-based custom tailor, Dominic Gherardi, in a plain chocolate brown wool. It features medium peak lapels with a straight boutonniere hole on the left. Each cuff has four working buttonholes, all of which Rusty leaves unbuttoned. The ventless jacket is fitted with curved darts on the front to contour it to Pitt’s frame, establishing a “racer”-like look that Kurland envisioned for the quick-thinking, fast-acting character.

The straight, padded shoulders slightly extend off each shoulder, and the jacket length comes down to Pitt’s fingertips, traits seldom seen today. There’s a slanted flap pocket on each hip of the jacket, but no chest pocket; on any other suit, this would arguably the most unique detail!

Ocean’s Eleven takes place in the bizarro world where Topher Grace is hounded for autographs and pictures while Brad Pitt slips through the crowd anonymously.

The matching brown flat-front trousers have a medium rise, cut straight and full from thigh to ankle, with a large break at the plain hem. There is a button-through pointed tab to close the waist, along with sliding metal side adjusters. The pants have angled frogmouth pockets in front but no rear pockets.

Danny and Rusty begin assembling their crew.

Rusty pairs the suit with a shiny silver shirt made from light and dark gray threads woven into a textured box-pattern dobby weave. As were nearly all of Pitt’s shirts in the film, it was made by long-standing film industry staple, Anto of Beverly Hills. It has a wide 3.5″ point collar sitting atop a tall 1.5″-wide collar band, a placket-less “French” front, and side pleats in the rear. The interior of the collar band is made from a similarly colored dark-on-light gray paisley pattern, while the six buttons are a medium gray mother-of-pearl.

Note the unique dobby weave of Rusty’s bespoke silver shirt, and the subtle striping on his tonally coordinated tie, both by Anto of Beverly Hills.

The shirt has traditional, square-cut double (French) cuffs, but these are pressed with no fold like single cuffs and worn completely undone, without links. The sleeve plackets atop them are short, with no button to close them, contributing to a large opening over the actor’s forearm.

The coordinating silver tie, also made by Anto, is made in satin silk with repeating thin, tone-on-tone, diagonal stripes broken up by large plain sections. It is 58 inches long with a blade that measures 3.5” at its widest point. Rusty seemingly removes it and leaves it with his jacket in the Falcon after he and Danny leave the club to begin plotting… well, the rest of the film.

Bartender: How’s the game going?
Rusty: Longest hour of my life.
Bartender: What?
Rusty: I’m running away with your wife!
Bartender: Great!

Throughout the film, Pitt wears a very thin, white faced silver-toned watch on a link bracelet, but it remains mostly hidden due to his prominent cuffs. His other jewelry consists of a pair of silver rings, one thicker with a blue set-in stone on his right ring finger, and a smaller, simpler one on his left pinky. The former was given to him by his then-wife, Jennifer Aniston, shortly before filming since he couldn’t wear his wedding ring on film. (Man, I guess this movie really did come out 20 years ago!)

The Second Suit

Having created such a one-of-a-kind suit for Hollywood’s biggest star, there was no reason to let the pattern go to waste. Jeffrey Kurland tapped Gherardi to make a second suit in the exact same diagonal, double-breasted cut, but in a wide navy herringbone wool. The suit appears as Linus (Matt Damon) delivers a verbal scouting report to Rusty on casino boss Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia).

Linus: He doesn’t just take out your knees. The guy goes after your livelihood and the livelihood of anybody you ever met.
Rusty: You scared?
Linus: You suicidal?
Rusty: Only in the mornings.

Thanks to Linus’ amateur surveillance, Rusty realizes his pal Danny may have more motivations behind the heist than just a multi-million dollar payout. Especially compared to the sleek-suited Rusty, Linus looks like he’s taking his surveillance role a little too seriously, looking every bit the undercover cop in his white button-down shirt and windbreaker.

Once again, both the shirt and tie were made by Anto of Beverly Hills. The shirt is a minty blue-green cotton (some might say ocean blue) with matching mother-of-pearl buttons, cut much like the first, but with 4⅛” single cuffs. Though rarely seen outside of Pitt’s costumes in this film, this cuff is common amongst all of his other custom shirts here. They have slots for cufflinks that run parallel to the length of the sleeve, starting 1.5” back from the outer edge of the cuff, but—of course—Rusty always wears them wide open. His tie presents as a matte teal, made from interwoven green and blue silk fibers, again 3.5” wide and 58” long.

Danny and Rusty show their dramatically different approaches to dark suits and blue shirts, with Danny more conservatively attired in his single-breasted suit while Rusty opts for yet another asymmetrically buttoned jacket.

As Rusty goes to confront Danny at the gang’s warehouse HQ over what he’s seen with Linus, we get our only glimpse of his shoes with this outfit. They appear to be the same black square-toe derby shoes that he wears a little later in the film, and—though we can’t see them—we can safely assume he’s wearing dark socks as well.

How to Get the Look

Brad Pitt as “Rusty” Ryan in Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Rusty Ryan does not compromise when it comes to his wardrobe! Even when he’s seemingly down-and-out, hustling the pocket money off gullible young actors, he still dresses in immaculate outfits that could only have been custom made by skilled tailors. He’s a quick-thinking, fast-acting facilitator who needs his clothes to move with him… and his hands free to quickly palm a card, cash, or shrimp cocktail!

• Chocolate-brown or navy herringbone wool two-piece suit:
  • Diagonally cut 4-button jacket with medium peak lapels, flapped slanted pockets, functional 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Flat front mid-rise trousers with extended button-through waistband, slanted frogmouth pockets, no back pockets, metal side adjusters, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Silver textured or mint-colored dress shirt with 3.5″ point collar, plain front, and open squared cuffs
• Silver satin self-striped or dark matte teal silk 3.5″-wide tie
• Black leather square-toed derby shoes
• Dark dress socks
• Thick silver ring with blue stone on right ring finger
• Silver pinky ring on left hand
• Silver-toned wristwatch with white dial on link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Grab some nachos and check out the movie.

The Quote

If I’m reading this right—and I like to think I am—this is probably the least accessible vault ever designed. You’d need at least a dozen guys doing a combination of cons… off the top of my head, I’d say you’re looking at a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros, and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever!

The post Brad Pitt’s Diagonally Cut Suits in Ocean’s Eleven appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Stewart and Donna Reed in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Vitals

James Stewart as George Bailey, reluctant banker

Bedford Falls, New York, Spring 1932

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

Background

Released 75 years ago today, It’s a Wonderful Life has become an enduring Christmas classic… almost by accident! Based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s self-published novella The Greatest Gift, the movie had been relatively well-received at the time of its release, even earning five Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture, but it would be overshadowed by the epic blockbuster The Best Years of Our Lives that told the story of servicemen returning from World War II.

Despite being a personal favorite of director Frank Capra and star Jimmy Stewart, It’s a Wonderful Life seemed destined for obscurity as just another “old movie” when a clerical error prevented proper renewal of the copyright. Though small royalties were still owed as it was derived from Stern’s story, TV stations leapt at the chance to air high-quality, low-cost seasonal programming, launching It’s a Wonderful Life to its status as a perennial favorite for holiday viewers by the 1980s.

For the few who may be unfamiliar with the story, It’s a Wonderful Life centers around Stewart’s performance as George Bailey, an ambitious adventurer who grows increasingly frustrated with the toll his constant sacrifices for others take on his personal dreams. Having alienated his wife and children and facing an inadvertent business scandal, George finds himself serious contemplating ending his life one Christmas Eve… until the intervention of his guardian angel.

From there, the story of George’s “wonderful life” is told in flashback, from his character-building childhood where he saved the life of his brother Harry through the years of young adulthood as he exchanges his long-awaited travel opportunities to take a position at the community savings and loan institution that his father had started in their small hometown of Bedford Falls, presumably in upstate New York.

One pivotal spring day in Bedford Falls, George and his absent-minded uncle Billy meet Harry at the train station, returning to town with a college diploma… and a wife! George warmly greets the new Mrs. Bailey, though he’s less enthused to learn that the marriage came with an offer for Harry to work for Ruth’s father at a glass factory in Buffalo. Harry reassures George that nothing is set in stone yet as he hopes to repay his older brother for “holding the bag here for four years,” but we know as well as George that he’ll continue to be the one at the helm of the Bailey Bros. Savings and Loan, leaving the rest of the world with its anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles to be explored by others.

After building up some liquid courage at Harry’s homecoming celebration—though not as much as poor uncle Billy—George gets directed by his mother in search of rekindling his connection with his childhood crush, Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), who has also returned from college and doesn’t seem too keen on the advances of their fellow classmate, Sam Wainwright. George brushes off the suggestion, instead sauntering into the town square where the voluptuous Violet Bick (Gloria Grahame) welcomes George’s attention, until it’s determined that the two have very differing ideas of how to “make a night of it.”

George: Let’s go out in the fields and take off our shoes, and walk through the grass.
Violet: Huh?
George: Then we can to up to the falls. It’s beautiful up there in the moonlight, and there’s a green pool up there, and we can, uh, swim in it. Then we can climb Mount Bedford, and smell the pines and watch the sunrise against the peaks, and we’ll stay up there the whole night, and everybody’ll be talking and there’ll be a terrific scandal…
Violet: Georgie, have you gone crazy?

Out of options, George tries to play it cool as he works his way over to the Hatch household, feigning disinterest in Mary, but love wins and finds the two embracing.

What’d He Wear?

James Stewart, photographed by Everett in the 1950s. His barleycorn tweed jacket appears to be the same as he had worn approximately a decade earlier in It’s a Wonderful Life, albeit worn here with a sweater vest rather than a matching waistcoat.

George spends the entire sequence wearing a three-piece suit in “barleycorn” tweed, so named for its broken twill weave that resembles barley kernels. (Brown is one of the most frequently seen colors on tweed suits and jackets, so the earthy taupe used in this 2007 colorization is likely not far off from what Stewart had actually worn.)

Like some of his other attire throughout It’s a Wonderful Life, this was likely one of James Stewart’s own suits, as he would be photographed on- and off-screen wearing identically woven and detailed parts of this suit throughout the decades to follow. This was a common practice during the era when actors like Stewart, Cary Grant, and Humphrey Bogart were well-tailored enough that their own duds would do when their screen characters needed to reach into their respective closets.

Tweed would be George Bailey’s suiting of choice from this point forward, suggesting a grounded humility that serves as a direct contrast to the avaricious Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), who would be exclusively suited in formal black lounge with white-slipped waistcoat and wing collar.

As it follows the completion of Harry’s four years in college, the scene presumably takes place around the spring of 1932. George’s barleycorn tweed suit reflects the flatteringly athletic silhouette that had been popular during this period retrospectively celebrated as a “golden age” of men’s tailoring.

Unlike the sporty patch-pocket jackets of his later suits, this jacket has been detailed more like that of a business suit… and Bedford Falls is indeed the sort of place where men could have appropriately worn tweed when conducting business in the early ’30s. The single-breasted jacket has a 3/2-roll front, the moderate-width notch lapels gently rolling over the top button and rigged with a buttonhole through the left lapel. Ventless like most suit jackets of the period, the jacket has soft and narrow shoulders, four-button cuffs at the end of each sleeves, a welted breast pocket, and straight jetted hip pockets.

The comfortable, warm, and welcoming suit corresponds with the spirit of George’s various reunions of the day, beginning with Harry’s homecoming through his rekindling romance with Mary.

The matching waistcoat (vest) has six buttons that Stewart wears fully fastened, including the lowest button over the long-tailed notch bottom. Per its nomenclature, the waistcoat is meant to cover the waistline, thus the then-fashionably long rise of Stewart’s suit trousers means that the waistcoat need not be an excessively long garment, the six closely spaced buttons extending down from mid-chest to the waistline.

Presumably held up by suspenders that remain unseen under the waistcoat, the trousers have double sets of forward-facing pleats and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. We know the trousers have side pockets, as George often keeps one or both hands slipped into them as he lumbers through Bedford Falls, trying to look nonchalant en route the Hatch household.

A study in perfect proportion as the buttoned jacket, waistcoat, and trousers all harmonize perfectly, a fine example of why interwar tailoring has been described as “the golden age” of menswear.

George wears a light-colored shirt with a prominent point collar and the barrel cuffs with the spaced two-button closure that would be a Jimmy Stewart signature, likely bringing balance to the lanky 6’3″ actor’s long sleeves. (Though the shirt appears white in the original black-and-white version and some promotional photography, the colorized version depicts the shirt as an icy pale blue cotton.)

George’s tie is separated into balanced “uphill” block stripes by sets of three narrow stripes. (The colorization takes a teal-centric approach to the tie, though there’s some inconsistency as to whether or not all the bar stripes are the same tone of teal or if they alternate between teal and forest green. This colorization would be reinforced by some contemporary lobby art, which also paints the tie in shades of green.)

George makes his curious proposition to Violet Bick in the Bedford Falls town square.

George wears a dark felt fedora with a tall, pinched crown and a bound self-edge. The hat had been colorized to a dark taupe-brown, with the grosgrain band coordinated in the same color.

George appears to be wearing black leather cap-toe oxfords, with dark socks colorized to brown that effectively continue the leg line of his trousers into the shoes.

On George’s left wrist, he wears a watch colorized to gold metal and worn on a plain brown leather strap. This wristwatch was almost certainly Stewart’s personal timepiece, and thus it may have been an Elgin as the actor lent his likeness to a series of endorsements for the Illinois-based watch company circa 1949, just three years after It’s a Wonderful Life was released.

George feigns disinterest in Mary via that time-honored signal of boredom: checking your watch.

How to Get the Look

James Stewart and Donna Reed in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Perhaps representative of his grounded nature—and this sequence symbolically “grounding” him to Bedford Falls, indefinitely—George Bailey cycles through several tweed suits, including this smartly cut three-piece with its business-minded jacket, high-fastening waistcoat, and appropriately long-rising trousers.

• Brown barleycorn tweed wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat/vest
  • Double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale-blue cotton shirt with point collar and 2-button rounded cuffs
• Dark teal-green gradient-striped tie
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark brown dress socks
• Dark taupe-brown felt wide-brimmed fedora
• Gold round-cased wristwatch on brown leather strap

This particular colorization was made decades after It’s a Wonderful Life was produced, but at least the general colors of the suit and tie are consistent with contemporary lobby art so there may be some basis in fact.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

I also recommend visiting the picturesque upstate New York hamlet of Seneca Falls, which claims it was the inspiration for Frank Capra’s fictional Bedford Falls. My fiancée and I spent a Labor Day weekend exploring the town, including a visit to the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum dedicated to the movie.

Yours truly, getting to “meet” Jimmy Stewart—while he’s wearing the same suit featuring in this post!—at the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum in Seneca Falls, New York, September 2020. (I was dressed more for summer sight-seeing than style, but some may be curious to know that my watch here is a Doxa 300T Sharkhunter, worn a shark-mesh bracelet.)
Note the replica suitcase at the bottom of the frame, stenciled “George Bailey” like the one featured in an earlier scene.

The post It’s a Wonderful Life: Jimmy Stewart’s Barleycorn Tweed Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way (1996)

Vitals

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Howard Langston, massive Austrian bodybuilder midwestern mattress sales executive and family man

Minneapolis, Christmas Eve 1996

Film: Jingle All the Way
Release Date: November 22, 1996
Director: Brian Levant
Costume Designer: Jay Hurley

Background

With only a few more shopping days left until Christmas, some may still be scrambling for that perfect gift to put under the tree. This family-friendly ’90s comedy satirized the lengths to which people had to go in the blessed pre-Amazon days, represented by Minneapolis mattress king Howard Langston’s increasingly desperate attempts to track down a prized Turbo-Man action figure for his son… on Christmas Eve!

Sure, Jingle All the Way has plenty of goofy moments and a few too many Golden Raspberry and Stinkers Bad Movie Award nominations for me to whole-heartedly recommend it to any serious cinephiles, but it’s fun to watch Howard’s war amplified against excitable postman Myron Larabee (Sinbad), a snippy cop (Robert Conrad), a criminally enterprising mall Santa (Jim Belushi), and the smarmy wannabe-lothario neighbor Ted (Phil Hartman) with his designs on Howard’s wife Liz (Rita Wilson).

“You can’t bench-press your way out of this one,” Ted warns Howard, marking one of the few occasions where anyone in the movie acknowledges that the Austrian Oak may not be your average suburban dad; for his part, Howard almost immediately proves Ted’s theories of the value of physical strength incorrect when he has to literally punch a reindeer in the face seconds later to escape a dangerous situation.

If you really wanted to find a deeper meaning, you could sort through the silliness of retail riots and reindeer rumbles to glean a message about pernicious consumerism… though the fact that the movie premiered at the Mall of America a week before its general release suggests that it wasn’t exactly trying to be They Live.

“You know it’s all a ploy, don’t you?” Myron informs Howard when they meet in line outside the first of many toy stores. “We are being set up by rich and powerful toy cartels!” Myron proposes a partnership, citing examples like Starsky and Hutch, Bonnie and Clyde, and Ike and Tina (well, maybe not, he reconsiders) to “divide and conquer” in their shared quest for Turbo-Man, but Howard’s dismissal of the outrageous postman results in a fierce but festive rivalry that reaches an equally outrageous climax in the streets and over the skies of downtown Minneapolis.

What’d He Wear?

“Mr. Wear Your Fancy Cashmere Coat and Your Nice Little Suede Shoes,” disparages Myron of his new nemesis, providing a concise yet accurate description of Howard Langston’s clothing. Indeed, Howard tastefully layers on Christmas Eve, a day of increasing desperation during his desperate search for the prized Turbo Man action figure for his son.

Howard learns the hard way that Myron has a hard time saying it, not spraying it.

The “fancy cashmere coat” in question consists of a softly napped tan cashmere wool shell, styled at the crossroads of a thigh-length car coat and a more elegant variation of a chore jacket. (In fact, many promotional posters for the movie feature Arnie dressed in a more work-oriented Carhartt-style coat in the similar colorway of a brown collar against a lighter brown canvas body.)

When the screen-worn coat was auctioned by Julien’s Live in November 2012, the listing identified the maker as Giacomo Trabalza, an Italian-born tailor whose shop was a Hollywood fixture for decades before Trabalza’s death in 2009. According to a 2005 Robb Report article, Trabalza had started making suits for Schwarzenegger in 1984, using the skills he developed in suiting the actor’s muscular physique to cultivate more clientele of similar size. (Interestingly, similarly styled jackets would be made for the crew to wear, but in a reversed colorway of black wool bodies with tan leather collars, as seen at iCollector and Prop Store.)

Howard’s coat closes with four large mixed brown 4-hole sew-through buttons from the waist up to the neck, where a chocolate brown suede shirt-style collar lays flat. Before he wears the jacket totally open, Arnie just keeps the top button undone, showing the charcoal woolen lining that covers the few inches on each side—inside the fly—before the rest of the brown quilted nylon lining.

Nearly a decade after they co-starred in Red Heat, Arnie is reunited on screen with Jim Belushi, now in the form of a lecherous, larcenous mall Santa.

The only external pockets are patch pockets over the hips, which each close with a single-button pointed flap. A swelled horizontal yoke extends across the chest and the back, and the set-in sleeves are finished with two ornamental cuff buttons. Swollen seams extend down each side from the back of the armhole, cut into short vents on the sides that Howard keeps fastened with a single button through a short pointed tab.

Howard hits the deck during a radio station scuffle.

Howard’s base layer is a long-sleeved mock-neck jumper in marled stone-colored knit fabric, possibly cotton or a more luxurious blend of cashmere or silk. The short mock turtleneck is narrowly ribbed.

One last twist comes during the post-credits epilogue as Howard—stripped down to his mock-neck and corduroys—realizes one additional (but important) gift he may have also forgotten!

Howard typically wears the mock-neck under a checked button-up shirt, a tasteful alternative to the traditional crew-neck undershirt or T-shirt. The roomy over-shirt is woven in a balanced red-and-white mini-gingham check cotton flannel, the brushed fabric marling the white.

This shirt appears to take its styling queues from classic mid-century sports shirts, with a sporty convertible collar that can be worn flat—as Howard does—or buttoned up to the neck, presenting as a spread collar. The swollen burgundy plastic sew-through buttons are fastened up a plain front (no placket), echoing the buttons closing each barrel cuff and those that fasten the flaps over the two patch pockets on each side of the chest.

This is turning out to be a pretty rough Christmas Eve for Howard.

While his absenteeism and workaholism may have marred his holiday reputation with his family, Howard at least incorporates Christmas colors into his wardrobe, tucking the red-checked shirt into a pair of rich olive green corduroy trousers.

The corduroy is a medium-wale tufted cotton, rising to Schwarzenegger’s natural waist where he holds them up with a dark brown woven leather belt that closes through a polished gilt single-prong buckle. Rigged with double reverse-facing pleats, the trousers have slanted side pockets, back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the full-break bottoms.

The Santas revolt.

Myron had also called out Howard’s “nice little suede shoes,” and—while he may have been accurate about the material—he was a bit off-base in dismissing Schwarzenegger’s size 12 shoes as “little!” The uppers are made from a chocolate brown sueded leather, detailed with a split moc-toe and contrast-stitched around all edges with beige thread. These derby shoes are open-laced with round brown laces and are secured to the hefty black leather soles via traditional Goodyear welt construction. Howard’s dark socks also appear to be brown, though the full break of his trouser bottoms often cover most of his shoes, let alone his hosiery.

Arnie kicks the gas of his GMC Suburban, but his advantage over Myron would be short-lived as the massive SUV would be an overwhelming force against the “little mirror” on Officer Hummell’s motorcycle.

As reported by outlets like GQ and Watch & Bullion, Arnold Schwarzengger approaches watch collection with the same energetic enthusiasm as his larger-than-life action roles, often taking a role in choosing the timepieces that dress the wrists of his characters.

In Jingle All the Way, he wears a stainless dive watch that has been identified as an Armitron Analog-Digital Diver, uniquely detailed with large luminous hour markers—clockwise against the black dial from 8 o’clock to 4 o’clock—and a single-line LCD display across the bottom. This quartz-powered watch has a narrow black-finished rotating bezel and is secured on a black ridged rubber dive strap.

Aside from the watch, Howard accessorizes only with a gold wedding ring… which he won’t have for much longer if he doesn’t get his act together!

Howard ends Christmas Eve with his regular tradition of completing the Langston family tree with a gold star on top.

Before the proverbial—and literal—gloves come off as his hunt for Turbo Man intensifies, Howard wears a pair of taupe-brown suede three-point gloves.

After the calamities that befell him and found him splitting a beer with a reindeer named Ted (yes, after his neighbor), Howard keeps on the marled mock-neck but now wears it under the flecked tweed overcoat he had worn the previous night. He ditches the whole outfit as he’s being changed into the Turbo Man costume, a process that also briefly shows that he’s wearing a white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt and light blue boxer shorts.

What to Imbibe

Howard warms up with a cup of diner coffee, which he allows his retail nemesis Myron to lace with a generous pour of “Old Homestead Kentucky Whiskey”, a fictional bourbon label affixed to the pint carried in Myron’s pocket. The prop bottle would portend Jamie’s possible future—as a kid doomed without an expensive in-demand toy under his Christmas tree—as he lifts the pint to his mouth and drolly toasts “here’s to you, Dad,” in Howard’s imagination.

The two yuletide rivals briefly set aside their differences over some bourbon-laced coffee.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way (1996)

From his chore-like car coat to his two-pocket shirt and corduroy trousers, Howard Langston’s Christmas Eve garb presents as more elegant evolutions of classic work-wear, reimagined for the holidays in festive colors like his red-checked shirt and olive-green corduroy. Additional layers reinforce his warmth in the winter weather, like the mockneck base layer and the luxurious cashmere coat worn over all.

In addition to being a smart holiday-themed outfit, I also find Howard’s attire to be a relatively timeless and tasteful approach to casual dress!

The post Jingle All the Way: Schwarzenegger in Cashmere and Corduroy appeared first on BAMF Style.

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

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

Pine Tree, Vermont, December 1954

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

Background

Merry Christmas Eve! One of my family’s favorite perennial movies to watch during the holiday season is White Christmas, the VistaVision that opened and closed with the iconic eponymous tune that Bing Crosby had introduced over a decade earlier in Holiday Inn.

Bing and Danny Kaye star as a pair of song-and-dance men—Crosby as crooner Bob Wallace and Kaye as comic Phil Davis—who find themselves unexpectedly spending the holidays in a quiet New England inn which coincidentally happens to be run by the popular general (Dean Jagger) who led their division during World War II. The holiday hijinks had commenced after the two were enticed to review a sister act at a Florida nightclub. Noticing the newfound sparkle in Bob’s eye when watching the older sister Betty (Rosemary Clooney), Phil engineered a gambit that found the two ladies indebted to them… as they all ended up on the same train heading to the wintry hamlet of Pine Tree, Vermont.

As Bob and Phil conspire to reverse the general’s misfortunes by bringing their boffo act to the inn, the reserved and responsible Betty finds herself growing closer to the similarly tempered Bob—also thanks to the conspiratorial urgings of Phil and her sister Judy (Vera-Ellen)—and a late-night stroll in search of a snack finds her sharing a cozy crooning session with Bob over sandwiches and buttermilk.

What’d He Wear?

Even in the most laidback moments, Bob Wallace embraces decorum while dressing throughout White Christmas, never seen dressed down in anything less formal than an odd jacket with an open-neck shirt or knitted polo. Venturing into the main building of the Pine Tree Inn, Bob pulls on a warm gray flannel jacket, likely tailored by his usual tailor H. Huntsman of Savile Row. (He later wears a similar gray flannel blazer, though that jacket visibly differs with its gilt buttons and sporty patch pockets.)

Bob introduces Betty to his theories linking ham, turkey, and liverwurst—well, maybe not liverwurst—to romantic dreams.

The single-breasted jacket blends American and English elements, respectively befitting Bing Crosby’s nationality and his Savile Row tailor. The Italian-influenced 3/2-roll button configuration had been popularized by outfitters like Brooks Brothers during the early 20th century in the United States, where it was elevated to an Ivy style staple by mid-century. The well-padded shoulders are another English tradition and, like the substantial breadth of his notch lapels, were also a predominant element of men’s tailoring by the 1950s.

The jacket’s single vent is characteristic of American styles, though the flapped ticket pocket—in addition to the straight flapped hip pockets—signals more English influence, though this detail would be co-opted globally over the decades to follow. The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, where Bing keeps his trusty pipe, and three cuff buttons at the end of each sleeve.

After reminding Betty to count her blessings instead of sheep, Bob rewards himself with a smoke while she extols his generosity toward General Waverly.

Bob wears a white cotton shirt with a spread collar, plain button-up front, and double (French) cuffs. There’s some incongruity in Bob wearing a French-cuffed shirt—complete with links, a pair of gold discs with blue stone faces—without a tie, but it’s possible he removed a tie he’d been wearing earlier in the day. Some sartorial gatekeepers might even say that French cuffs have no business being worn with anything but a full suit, so I can only imagine their horror at Bob’s choices.

Under the left cuff of his shirt, we spy Crosby’s personal wristwatch, the rounded gold case positioned on the inside of his wrist and secured to a tooled brown leather strap that closes through a gilt single-prong buckle.

Bob’s brown woolen trousers are likely the same slacks he’d sported with his powder-blue mini-checked sports coat in Florida, rigged with triple reverse pleats on each side, on-seam side pockets, and a self-belt that closes through a gilt-toned buckle.

The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs), which ride high enough when seated to flash his bright scarlet socks. White Christmas establishes Bing as a champion of colorful hosiery, mixing up his more conventional browns and grays with yellows and reds. His derby shoes have a pointed moc-toe and appear to be constructed with dark cordovan leather uppers.

Bing flashes us some holiday spirit via his bright red socks, which nicely coordinate with Rosemary Clooney’s night-dress.

What to Imbibe

As Bob Wallace would advise, your midnight snack should depend entirely on what you intend to dream about:

Bob: We got New England blue plate or the Vermont smorgasbord. Not as flashy as Toots Shor’s probably, but I think you’ll find the price is right… tell me what you want to dream about, I’ll know what to give you. I got a whole big theory about it. Different kinds of food make for different kinds of dreams. Now, if I have ham and cheese on rye like that, I dream about a tall cool blonde. Sort of a first sacker type, you know. Turkey, I dream about a brunette. A little on the scatback side, but sexy, sexy.
Betty: What about liverwurst?
Bob: I dream about liverwurst.

Whether you’re eating turkey, ham, or liverwurst sandwiches, Bob recommends pairing each one with a glass of milk. “Here, grab the cow,” he asks Betty, referring to the pitcher of milk and introducing us to yet another unconventional Bing-ism that’s right up there with “weirdsmobile” and “Vermont volleyball.”

How to Get the Look

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

Bob Wallace’s serious demeanor and determination are consistent with his tasteful approach to dress, though he isn’t afraid to inject some subtly festive frivolity with the occasionally colorful accoutrement like the red socks that add holiday color to his otherwise subdued gray flannel jacket, white shirt, and brown slacks.

• Gray flannel single-breasted 3/2-roll tailored jacket with notch lapels, padded shoulders, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton shirt with spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold-mounted blue stone cuff links
• Dark chocolate brown wool triple reverse-pleated trousers with self-belt, straight/on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark cordovan leather pointed moc-toe derby shoes
• Scarlet-red socks
• Gold wristwatch on tooled brown leather curved strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

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

The Quote

Makes a fellow feel a little shaky to hole up there all alone on one of those bleached chargers.

The post White Christmas: Bing’s Fireside Flannel and Festive Socks appeared first on BAMF Style.

Marlene Dietrich as Amy Jolly in Morocco (1930)

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Marlene Dietrich as Amy Jolly, sultry French nightclub singer

Essaouira, Morocco, Summer 1930

Film: Morocco
Release Date: November 14, 1930
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Costume Designer: Travis Banton (uncredited)

Background

The white tie dress code dates to before the turn of the 20th century, designed to make any man look his best when appropriately tailored, so there’s considerable irony in the fact that one of the most iconic film appearances of a white tie, top hat, and tails was worn by a woman: Marlene Dietrich, the German screen legend born 120 years ago today on December 27, 1901.

As previously featured on this site, today’s post continues the blog’s regular focus on menswear but here memorably worn by a woman, specifically the impeccable evening ensemble that Dietrich wore for her Academy Award-nominated performance as the brassy club singer at the center of the intrigue in the pre-Code drama Morocco, her second of seven eventual collaborations with director Josef von Sternberg.

The Berlin-born actress was no stranger to menswear, though her particular talent for wearing it so well was most famously celebrated in Morocco, during the groundbreaking performance scene that culminated in Dietrich’s Amy Jolly “scandalizing” a woman in her audience with a kiss.

“The house is packed, this is a great night for you! If you make a hit, you can stay here as long as you like,” excitable club owner Lo Tinto (Paul Porcasi) had hyped up Amy, though his enthusiastic words could also be retroactively interpreted as a meta-commentary on Morocco providing Dietrich with a Hollywood debut that could make or break her career in American cinema. (Spoiler: she makes it!)

What’d She Wear?

Costume designer Travis Banton remains one of the most reputable costume designers from the early years of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”, having extensively collaborated with the era’s celebrated style icons from roaring ’20s “It Girl” Clara Bow to Carole Lombard, Mae West, and Marlene Dietrich. Unfortunately—and somewhat ironically—costume designers were rarely credited during these years, so Banton received no screen credit for what would be one of his most enduring costumes: the white tie and tailcoat worn by Dietrich for Amy Jolly’s debut cabaret performance that subverts gender expectations in more ways than just her attire.

Dietrich’s penchant for menswear wasn’t limited to the character of Amy Jolly, as the actress lined her real-life wardrobe with an extensive range from glamorous gowns to tailored suits traditionally associated with menswear. According to Elyssa Goodman for CR Fashion Book, “she also had all of her clothes—the men’s suits she became known for as well as her womenswear—custom-made to balance out what she called her ‘unusual shape: broad shoulders, narrow hips.'”

Enter Banton, tasked with tailoring Dietrich in an elegant evening ensemble for her first U.S. screen appearance.

The sequence begins backstage, with Amy adding the finishing touches to her white tie kit, worn with note-perfect execution. Aside from the modified cut to be effectively worn by a woman, the ensemble is nearly identical to how it would be traditionally worn by a man, right down to the left-over-right buttoning.

Amy’s white cotton formal shirt has a stiff bib that curves with Dietrich’s ample chest, with two small metal studs shining from the front. An additional stud fastens the wing collar to the neckband, though this goes appropriately unseen behind the substantial wings of her white cotton marcella “pointed butterfly”-shaped self-tied bow tie. The long, starched single cuffs are also fastened with links.

The white marcella formal waistcoat has a full-bellied shawl collar that flares out over her chest, leaving a deep “U”-shaped opening over the shirt bib over the narrow swath of waistcoat fabric where the four mother-of-pearl sew-through buttons are arranged in a double-breasted configuration of two columns, widely spaced between the columns but closely positioned within them. The waistcoat is cut straight around the hem, covering the top of the high-rising trousers at Dietrich’s natural waist.

Amy confidently primps before her first performance.

One of the most crucial “make-or-break” elements of white tie is the harmony between the tailcoat’s cutaway front, the waistcoat’s bottom, and the trouser rise. The ideal relationship between these pieces are that the white waistcoat does not show below the bottom of the cutaway portion of the coat, as neatly illustrated by Dietrich’s rig once she slips on the tailcoat.

A deliberate effect of raising the waist line in the white tie dress code is to lengthen the appearance of the wearer’s legs, intentionally creating an elegantly lean and dramatic silhouette. The appropriate trousers for white tie are made from the same black or midnight-blue barathea wool as the tailcoat, detailed with silk braid (galon) down the side seams. These are generally two narrow braids to distinguish from the single braid of black-tie trousers.

Amy’s formal trousers are rigged with double reverse pleats that contribute to a generous fit over the hips, through the thighs and legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. She often slips a hand into one of the side pockets, cut behind the braided seams.

Stepping out in her black patent leather oxfords, Amy remains stoic in the face of a generally angry reception from the Légionnaires and their dates, all aside from Tom Brown (Gary Cooper), enthusiastically applauding from the front row much to the chagrin of his bought-and-paid-for date. Her socks appear to be thin black silk.

Working the room, Amy makes the most of her full-fitting evening trousers as she mounts the rail to meet her audience.

As the hapless, sweaty Lo Tinto—who looks comparatively pitiful in his own rumpled white tie kit—builds his credentials that his club is “patronized by the finest of society in Morocco!”, the laconic Amy needs only to wordlessly pop the crown of her flattened black silk top hat in response to put the obsequious club owner in his place. (This being a pre-Code film, where innuendo could be far less subtle, the symbolism is obvious that Dietrich’s Amy has the proverbial BDE—to borrow today’s parlance.)

Amy completes her look with the dress tailcoat, which she—again, wordlessly—demands Lo Tinto help her into. The immaculately cut evening coat is likely made from black or midnight-blue barathea wool to match the trousers, with fashionably wide shoulders and broad silk-faced peak lapels with slanted gorges that reposition each peak as an arrow pointing to the roped sleeve-heads that are just an inch away. Each sleeve is finished with four-button cuffs.

The tailcoat is fashioned in the traditional double-breasted configuration of three tapered buttons on each side, positioned above where the skirt is squarely cut away in the front, though these buttons are purely vestigial as the coat is not meant to be closed. The elegant tails extend down the back to Dietrich’s knees, with the two silk-covered vestigial buttons around the back of the waist a remnant of the tailcoat’s equestrian origins. Dietrich completes the appearance when Amy pulls a white cotton handkerchief from her trouser pocket and casually folds it into the welted breast pocket, which had evolved as an acceptable addition to evening tailcoats by the early 20th century.

As the orchestra plays behind her, Amy coolly smokes her cigarette and watches Tom arm himself with a bottle to “encourage” the booing crowd to turn those jeers into cheers. By the end of “Quand l’Amour Meurt”, she’s won almost everyone over to the point that she’s being offered free drinks… though there’s still one woman in the crowd a little too giggly at the idea of a woman dressed like her date. Amy strolls up to the young woman’s chair, pulls a flower from her hair, and asks “May I have this?”

“Of course,” answers the young woman, whom Amy promptly thanks with a kiss on the lips… converting one last reluctant audience member fully onto Team Amy. (Not only had Dietrich suggested the scene be added to the script, she also saved it from being cut by the censors when she remarked that the significance of Amy giving the flower to Tom would be lost if the audience hadn’t seen how she “earned” it in the first place.)

While Amy addresses the applauding crowd with a few debonair doffs of her hat, she spies Tom leading the applause as his own date scowls. She furthers Tom’s intrigue—and his date’s resentment—by tossing him the flower that he subsequently slips into his hair.

Her tails flowing behind her, Amy gradually wins over most of the crowd.

Two years later in Blonde Venus, also directed by von Sternberg, Dietrich would again don a menswear-inspired white tie and tails, this time with an all-white evening suit detailed with sparkling lapels and trouser trim.

More flamboyantly tailored in Blonde Venus two years later, Dietrich keeps eye contact with Cary Grant while pulling on a white top hat to match her studded dress suit.

What to Imbibe

“Quand l’Amour Meurt” wins over the crowd so much that an adoring mustached fan in his own evening suit raises his glass, “may I offer you this glass of champaigne, mademoiselle?”

Not one to turn down a free drink, she flicks away her cigarette—as only Dietrich could—slides over the rail, and takes the coupe, toasting before she downs the bubbly:

À votre santé!

How to Get the Look

Marlene Dietrich as Amy Jolly in Morocco (1930)

You can tell Marlene Dietrich is enjoying herself in her men’s evening dress suit as she swaggers from leaning on one railing to the next, hiking up her trousers and plopping that perfectly tilted silk hat farther down atop her head for emphasis at just the right moment in “Quand l’AMour Meurt.”

• Black or midnight-blue barathea wool evening dress suit:
  • Formal cutaway-front tailcoat with wide silk-faced peak lapels, “double-breasted” 6-button front, welted breast pocket, 4-button cuffs, and two vestigial back buttons
  • Double reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with silk double-braided side galon, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton shirt with detachable wing collar, stiff front bib (with two studs), and single cuffs (with links)
• White cotton marcella “pointed butterfly” self-tying bow tie
• White cotton marcella formal waistcoat with shawl collar, 4×2-button double-breasted front, straight hem, and adjustable back strap
• Black patent leather oxford shoes
• Black thin silk dress socks
• Black silk top hat

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

You can have it for nothing, if you like.

The post Marlene Dietrich in Morocco appeared first on BAMF Style.

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

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Don Cheadle as Buck Swope, adult film star-turned-stereo entrepreneur

Los Angeles, Winter 1983

Film: Boogie Nights
Release Date: October 10, 1997
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

WARNING! Spoilers and gore ahead!

Background

Approaching the new year and the prospect of fresh starts, I wanted to revisit the modern masterpiece Boogie Nights and in particular one of its ensemble cast that I have always found most compelling: Don Cheadle’s performance as the well-meaning but oft-hindered Buck Swope, a former porn actor looking to build a new life with his wife and fellow ex-porn star Jessie (Melora Walters).

After his employment history interferes with his prospects to fund his entrepreneurial endeavor to open his own stereo shop, Buck encounters a reversal of fortune just two weeks before Christmas. We don’t know where the Swopes were off to in their station wagon on this pivotal December evening, but fate directs them into the parking lot of Miss Donuts on Sherman Way, not far from the crossroads of tragedy for others in his orbit, blocks away from where a desperate Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) had just been beaten, and just passed by Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and “Rollergirl” (Heather Graham) in the limo where she suffered her own humiliation.

I love the tension hanging over the scene as the sweet-natured Buck picks out pastries for his pregnant wife as she patiently waits outside. After all, we’ve just seen the horrible, rock-bottom nights of his two former co-stars, and tragedy often comes in threes. When Buck slowly turns in response to that gunman storms into the café to the dulcet strains of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, tragedy seems inevitable for the most pure-hearted of Jack Horner’s coterie.

Indeed, tragedy does strike, but in an astounding manner that leaves Buck the last man standing… and better poised for the prosperity he so deserves. As his bloodied suit and bank history suggest, Buck will always carry the stains of his past, but at least he now has a leg up to position himself and his growing family for the future.

What’d He Wear?

Though down on his luck, Buck continues his pattern of dressing for the life he wants, manifesting success in his head-to-toe white suit and tie. Some argue that white is best reserved for summer, but southern California seems as good a place as any to rotate through one’s “winter whites”… though it’s a tricky fabric for a late-night cruller run where one runs the risk of ruining their bleached vestments at the mercy of a half-eaten jelly donut or the blood spattered by a gunfight between an armed vigilante and a violent thief.

Costume designer Mark Bridges explained to Clothes on Film that “the white suit on Buck was written in the script and was an inspired moment from Paul Thomas Anderson.” Bridges followed that direction to find an ensemble he would describe as “as early ’80s as possible”, making sure there would be multiples for additional takes after the white-suited Cheadle would be covered in arterial spray and brain matter.

Having emerged the unscathed survivor of a bloodbath, Buck considers his opportunity.

The lightweight white suiting presents a slubby texture, suggestive of linen or a linen blend. Though this lightweight natural fabric may be unseasonal for December, it would at least be more comfortable in a city like Los Angeles that reports an average high temperature of 73°F throughout the month. An unsophisticated dresser like Buck would be less concerned with whether or not white clothing was in season, focused more on how the clothes make him feel in that moment.

From collar to hem, Buck’s suit jacket reflects many excesses of ’80s fashion, as though he was trying to blend into a Duran Duran cover shoot. The lapels are uniquely shaped, consisting of a narrow collar around the neck like a shawl or roll collar, which is then sewn to the angular lower half of the lapel, creating the effect as if someone had cut off the top point of a traditional notch lapel. These lapels are folded over nearly the entire front of each side of the jacket, only tapering just a few inches above the short hem.

The red, white, and green Santas flanking Buck portend his future for the night; already clad in white, he’s soon to be doused in red… only to come away from the exchange with some unexpected green.

Buck’s jacket has a double-breasted configuration of four cream-colored plastic sew-through buttons, in two widely spaced columns, presumably designed so that only the lowest row could be fastened. The short hem doesn’t extend far beyond Cheadle’s hips, about as long as the ends of the sleeves, which are each finished with three decorative cuff-buttons.

The ventless jacket has padded shoulders and shallow welted hip pockets but no breast pocket.

Sifting through the blood and brains, note the unique detailing of Buck’s jacket, which falls short on his frame with the narrow-welted hip pockets offering relatively shallow storage compared to a more conventional suit jacket.

Buck wears a white cotton voile shirt with tonal self-stripes made somewhat more prominent against the semi-sheer ground. The shirt has a narrow point collar, front placket, and single-button mitred barrel cuffs. His narrow solid white tie is only somewhat wider than the tail, which hangs freely sans keeper loop or clip.

The suit’s matching white single-reverse pleated trousers have a lower rise, held up around the waistband with a white leather belt that closes through an elongated gold-toned buckle that’s rounded on one side and presents the only non-white aspect of his clothing, albeit subtly. The plain-hemmed bottoms break over his all-white leather cap-toe oxfords. Buck’s socks are presumably also white, as any other color would scream its contrast from his ankles.

Buck strides into Miss Donuts, perhaps considering the only threat to his clothing would be a dab of jelly squeezed out of a donut.

From what I’ve observed, Paul Thomas Anderson occasionally balances cynicism with hope, unafraid to bless some of his characters with happy endings… once they’ve earned them. As one of the purest-intended characters in Boogie Nights—if not the entire PTA canon— the sensitive and considerate Buck Swope emerges as a definite candidate to be put through the wringer to earn the elusive potential of a bright future.

Stepping into Miss Donuts, Buck looks almost angelic in his all-white vestments, soon sacrificing their purity (as well as some of his own) in the midst of an overpowering opportunity for Buck to trade some of his hard-maintained honesty for a long-deserved chance at success. The effect of the evening’s mayhem amplified by the contrast of the gore on Buck’s white clothing, PTA has finally if swiftly broken his proverbial cutie—in the parlance of TV Tropes—to allow Buck to earn his happy ending, once and for all.

How to Get the Look

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

I wish we knew more about the Swope family plans for this fateful December evening that deemed Buck to pull this all-white ensemble from his closet… though we can be sure that he wasn’t going anymore after his then-trendy suit was doused in blood and brains.

• White linen ’80s suit:
  • Short double-breasted 4×1-button jacket with collarless lapels, welted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated low-rise trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White self-striped cotton voile shirt with narrow point collar, front placket, and mitred barrel cuffs
• White skinny tie
• White leather belt with semi-rounded gold buckle
• White leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• White dress socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Speaking of PTA, I’m also looking forward to watching Licorice Pizza… has anyone seen it yet?

The Quote

How’s my little kung-fu fighter?

The post Boogie Nights: Don Cheadle’s White ’80s Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan assure their old acquaintance won’t be forgot among fellow New Year revelers as the eponymous leads in When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

Vitals

Billy Crystal as Harry Burns, sarcastic political consultant

New York City, New Year’s Eve 1988

Film: When Harry Met Sally…
Release Date: July 14, 1989
Director: Rob Reiner
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy New Year’s Eve!

One of my favorite romantic comedies, When Harry Met Sally… follows its two eponymous leads over twelve years of off-and-on friendship from their contentious meeting during a ride home from the University of Chicago up through a climactic New Year’s Eve party.

Several hours before the ball drops, Harry Burns is spending a lonely New Year’s Eve at home with Dick Clark and Mallomars, having all but ruined his friendship with Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) by sleeping with her at a moment of shared vulnerability… then awkwardly panicking to the extent that he alienates her, ruining not only their fledgling relationship but also their sincere friendship. Sally’s on his mind during Harry’s despondent stroll through the city, set to Sinatra crooning “It Had to Be You”, until he realizes that it had to be Sally and runs to find her at the party she was trying to leave.

After the dust settles, the kisses are shared, and the two are renewed by the promise of a new relationship in the new year, Harry returns to his neurotic nitpicking, this time at the expense of “Auld Lang Syne”:

What does this song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean “should old acquaintance be forgot…” Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances or, does it mean that—if we happen to meet them—that we should remember them… which is not possible because we already forgot ’em!

What’d He Wear?

Billy Crystal’s on-screen wardrobe often reflects military outerwear repurposed as comfortable civilian dress, such as the field jackets seen in both Running Scared and When Harry Met Sally. The latter presents yet another military-influenced jacket for the final sequence, as Harry pulls on a sage-green CWU-style flight jacket.

The nylon-like shell was a flame-resistant compound known as Nomex, developed by DuPont in the 1960s. In response to learning that the nylon used to make its MA-1 bomber jackets was prone to burning, the U.S. Air Force introduced Nomex as the shell material for the new garments authorized as the “Jacket, Flyer’s, Cold Weather” for pilots beginning in 1972, as reported by Albert Muzquiz for Heddels.

Made from this innovative material that proved resistant to flames, chemicals, and certain degrees of radiation, the new design provided the foundation for two Cold Weather Uniform (CWU) jackets: the lighter-weight CWU-36/P and the more insulated CWU-45/P. The design would be colloquialized as the “MA-2” by the late 1980s when the Cobles Clothing Company reportedly introduced it to market their civilian streetwear variations of these jackets. Nearly a half-century after their introduction, the CWU-36/P and CWU-45/P remain the primary active duty flight jackets for both USAF pilots and U.S. Navy aviators.

Harry’s jacket appears to be a commercial variant of the lighter CWU-36/P, defined by the same details of the mil-spec jackets aside from the lack of a velcro patch over the breast. The front zip is backed by a storm flap that runs the length of the zipper from hem up to the shirt-style collar. As with the earlier MA-1, the cuffs and hem are made from a ribbed knitting that matches the rest of the jacket, and there’s a zip-entry pocket on the left sleeve, but the primary outer pockets are now two large cargo pockets with angled seams over the edges of each patch, covered by a substantial flap.

Based on how the jacket wrinkles over Crystal’s frame, we can deduce that Harry’s jacket is based on the CWU-36/P rather than the more insulated CWU-45/P, though even this lighter-weight jacket would offer plenty of comfort, warmth, and protection for a brisk evening stroll.

For an extra layer against the wintry chill, Harry wears the intermediate layer of a gray cotton crew-neck sweatshirt, which he appears to wear inside-out with the fleecy reverse side showing. This casual but comfortable-looking reversal considerably dressed down the outfit, making his already-informal outfit even moreso against the sea of revelers in their fancy suits and gowns.

Harry’s reversed-out sweatshirt under a Nomex flight jacket may not be consistent with the party’s dress code, but he’s unfazed as he makes his case to Sally.

Harry’s base layer is a cotton T-shirt, horizontally striped in black and marled gray with a black banded crew-neck and sleeves. As Sophia Benoit pointed out in her great ranking of Harry’s costumes, there may be some significance to Harry wearing the same T-shirt here that he had layered under his sweater and Army jacket on the pivotal night that he and Sally first slept together.

A subdued New Year’s Eve, complete with Mallomars (“the greatest cookie of all time”) and basketball.

Although Crystal had worn Levi’s in earlier scenes, these blue jeans don’t appear to have any of the hallmarks of the “Big Three” denim brands: Levi’s, Lee, or Wrangler. He holds them up with a brown woven leather belt that closes through a brass single-prong squared buckle.

Harry’s sneakers are all white, save for the blue lining that extends over the collars of each shoe. Small navy swooshes toward the top of each heel suggest that these may be the same Nike sneakers he had worn when he and Sally ran into his ex-wife Helen and the dreaded Ira while singing karaoke at The Sharper Image months earlier.

“This is good.” Harry catches up on his window shopping.

For more appreciation of Harry’s style in When Harry Met Sally…, check out Sophia Benoit’s GQ feature story, in which she ranked all 32 of Crystal’s costume changes in celebration of the landmark comedy’s 30th anniversary. She places this outfit at #10, though the stripped-down T-shirt comes in only at #25, commenting that “I can’t be the only one who thinks it might be A Thing that he’s wearing the shirt he wore over to her house when they hooked up because it reminds him of her!”

What to Imbibe

Mallomars.

How to Get the Look

Billy Crystal as Harry Burns in When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

While I’d probably favor Harry’s mil-spec flight jacket, layered crew-necks, jeans, and sneakers for something along the lines of weekend errands, his functionally fashionable look has potential for low-key New Year’s Eve festivities if you swap out the sweatshirt for a dressier sweater and the sneakers for chukka boots.

• Sage-green Nomex CWU-36/P zip-up flight jacket with shirt-style collar, slanted-flap patch pockets, zip-up left-sleeve pocket, and ribbed-knit cuffs and hem
• Heather gray cotton crew-neck sweatshirt (worn inside-out)
• Black-and-gray horizontal-striped cotton short-sleeved T-shirt with black banded crew-neck and sleeve-ends
• Blue denim jeans
• Brown woven leather belt with brass squared single-prong buckle
• White sneakers

CWU-style flight jackets can be purchased with both mil-spec Nomex and less expensive nylon shells:

• Alpha Industries CWU-45/P Bomber Jacket (Heritage) in sage-green nylon (available from Alpha Industries and Amazon)
• Alpha Industries CWU-36/P Nomex Mil-Spec Lightweight Flight Jacket in sage-green Nomex (available from Alpha Industries)
• Genuine Issue CWU-36/P Nomex Summer Jacket in sage-green Nomex (available from Walmart)
• Mil-Tec CWU Flight Jacket in olive-green nylon (available from Amazon)
• Rothco CWU-45/P Flight Jacket in sage-green nylon (available from Rothco)
• TOPMAN Bomber in military-green polyester (available from YOOX)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve… I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

The post When Harry Met Sally: A Nomex Flight Jacket on New Year’s Eve appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jared Harris as Lane Pryce on Mad Men (Episode 4.03: “The Good News”)

Vitals

Jared Harris as Lane Pryce, advertising agency financial chief

New York City, New Year’s Day 1965

Series: Mad Men
Episode: “The Good News” (Episode 4.03)
Air Date: August 8, 2010
Director: Jennifer Getzinger
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

Background

Even with the increasing adoption of hybrid and remote workplaces, there are still many returning to offices and cubicles for the first day of the new year, a specific occupational dread that provides a “welcome distraction” for at least one lonely Brit during the final act of “The Good News”, the third episode of Mad Men‘s fourth season.

The reserved Lane Pryce hadn’t been too popular at work following his introduction to the Sterling Cooper offices the past season, though he finally ingratiated himself to the partners by doing them all the surprising favor of firing them—and himself—thus freeing them to reorganize the agency as the independent Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

A year later, SCDP gives the impression to clients that it’s thriving, though the British bean counter knows better that “things are precarious, financially.” The Pryce marriage isn’t doing much better, as the “quite severe” Rebecca (Embeth Davidtz) yearns for dear old England while Lane increasingly appreciates his adopted home.

Thus, Lane finds himself alone at the start of the new year, bound to his desk with little respite aside from a “very large” sandwich. He’s surprised by the early return of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who encourages him to abandon his desk for a Scotch-soaked day of movies, medium rare steak, and meeting Don’s “lady friends.”

What’d He Wear?

With the SCDP office presumably closed for New Year’s Day, there was little chance of Lane Pryce seeing his colleagues but the dignified Brit still dresses to his usual standard in a smart business suit, odd waistcoat, pocket square, and tie.

Lane is pleasantly surprised to find he’s not alone at the office when he looks up to see a dour Don darkening his doorway.

Lane is arguably a more interesting dresser than Don Draper, more willing to exhibit his personality through individualistic touches like odd waistcoats, brighter ties, and the occasionally fussy addition of a tie pin or watch chain. He also varies his wardrobe with more regularity, rotating through two- and three-piece suits, single- and double-breasted jackets, notch and peak lapels, and waistcoats of nearly every color, cut, and pattern. (In 2019, Brett White penned a fine retrospective appreciation of Lane’s singular style for Decider.)

For his day in the office—which becomes an evening out on the town with Don—Lane wears a dark navy worsted wool suit patterned with a gray pinstripe. The single-breasted, two-button jacket has notch lapels, a single vent, and three-button cuffs. The jacket also has straight flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket, which Lane dresses with a neatly folded white pocket square that he doesn’t bother to revitalize the following day.

The next morning, Lane has put himself back together, buttoning up his waistcoat and tying his tie, though he foregoes the ceremony of displaying his pocket square before his “walk of shame”.

This wouldn’t be the sole occasion that Lane wears this suit; I believe he also wears it for the surprising events of “Signal 30” (Episode 5.05) the following season. However, Lane’s habit of adding character to his costume via his contrasting waistcoats adds variety to his wardrobe. (We in the States have colloquialized these sleeveless garments as “vests”, but a dignified Englishman like Lane would surely refer to it as a waistcoat.)

Appropriate for the winter chill of a New Year’s Day in Gotham, Lane layers his suit jacket over a heavy tweed waistcoat, detailed with five black buttons and two jetted pockets. The coarse woolen tweed is a woven in a birdseye pattern, predominantly light gray but mixed with colorful flecks. Back in England, Lane’s decision to wear a sporting cloth like tweed to the office may have been considered inappropriate. Indeed, I believe it’s not until the fourth season that we see him “dressing down” for the office in less businesslike waistcoats in tattersall and tweed, embracing the looser atmosphere of the American business world after dissolving his ties from his British overlords in the previous season.

In fact, Lane shows little interest in maintaining the image of a dignified British businessman by this point in the series.

The navy pinstripe suit’s matching flat front trousers have belt loops, though Lane still relies on his English grooming sensibilities to forego a belt with a waistcoat. That said, there’s little to stop him from leaping up from his chair at the steakhouse, holding “this beautiful piece of American meat” over his groin and declaring “I got a big Texas belt buckle… yee haw!”

Likely held up with suspenders (braces), the trousers also have side pockets and are finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs), which break over the tops of his black leather wingtip monk shoes. These handsome dress shoes bridge the formality of oxfords and derbies, lacking laces in favor of a single strap over the vamp that closes through a buckle—in Lane’s case, a squared gold buckle. Post-series auction listings included several pairs of Lane’s size 10 screen-worn monks, invariably black Peal & Co. shoes by Brooks Brothers.

Lane’s Barnard-educated “date”, Janine (Elaine Carroll), invites him to continue their private party in Don’s bedroom, leaving Don and Candace (Erin Cummings) to make use of the living room.

Perhaps not feeling as jaunty as usual, Lane keeps his accessories minimal and utilitarian: his gold wedding ring on his left hand, despite concerns that his marriage may be over, and his usual tortoise-framed wayfarer-style eyeglasses, made by Bausch & Lomb as indicated in a post-production auction listing.

Lane’s white cotton shirt has a spread collar and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with gold ridged cuff links. Tied with a Windsor knot, his navy blue tie is patterned in an equestrian theme of small, scattered jockey caps and whips. Each little hat has a red-and-cream paneled crown, bisected through the front of the crown by a brown whip. (If one should want to get deep into sartorial significance, this could foreshadow his father—the man who fueled his and Don’s New Year’s Day depravity—later whipping him in the head with his cane.)

Despite their fortification with 25-year-old whisky, Lane and Don still wisely pull on their topcoats before venturing out for an afternoon movie and all their adventures to follow. Lane’s charcoal wool coat extends to above his knees, more closely resembling a “walker coat” than a full-length overcoat. The single-breasted coat has peak lapels, roped sleeve-heads, and straight flapped hip pockets. Lane also wears a woolen scarf in a burgundy, white, and navy shadow plaid with a navy overcheck and fringed ends.

We all have that friend like Don who suggests going to a movie and then scoffs at everything that’s playing.

What to Imbibe

As Don moves to tipple from Lane’s office supply, Lane produces a gift-wrapped bottle, explaining “I received something rather special from my father for my birthday.”

“What is it?” Don asks.

“Who knows?” Lane admits with a smirk, as he pops the cork. “He’s one of those alcoholics who thinks that he’s connecting,” he adds, pouring them each a large dram without realizing he may also be describing the man standing before him. Without meditating too hard on that similarity, Don raises his glass to meet Lane’s cin cin, registering his contentment. “There’s almost no…”

“…no bite at all,” Lane concludes with a smile, likely proud to have made an inroad with a colleague… even if it was via the toxic avenue that his own father so frequently explored.

Cin cin!

The screen-used prop bottle from “The Good News”, sourced from the ScreenBid auction listing in 2015.

I recall plenty of speculation about the brand of booze so savored by Lane and Don, though a prop auction following the series wrapped proved that this was one of the few instances where the Mad Men production team relied on a fictional brand. Prominently headlined with “Aged 25 years,” the label goes on to read:

This exclusive bottling is from one of the few remaining casks of the 1939 vintage and was selected by the malt master, Thomas Emslie.

A photo of the prop bottle later appeared on Reddit, presumably posted by whoever had obtained the bottle following the auction. As seen on the label, the math adds up as the whisky inside had been casked on May 16, 1939 and bottled June 5, 1964, almost exactly 25 years later and thus gifted by the severe Mr. Pryce to his son sometime over the last half of 1964.

How to Get the Look

Jared Harris as Lane Pryce on Mad Men (Episode 4.03: “The Good News”)

Having sided with his American partners by the fourth season of Mad Men, Lane Pryce relaxes his once-rigidly correct dressing for the office, pairing his worsted business suits with seasonally appropriate waistcoats like this birdseye tweed vest that adds character to his pinstripe suit and monk shoes for what could have been a dreary New Year’s Day at the office.

• Navy gray-pinstripe worsted wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with spread collar and double/French cuffs
  • Gold ridged cuff links
• Navy tie patterned with jockey caps and whips
• Light gray birdseye tweed 5-button waistcoat with two jetted pockets
• Black leather wingtip monk-strap shoes
• Dark socks
• Tortoise-framed wayfarer-style eyeglasses
• Gold wedding ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

The Quote

We’re not homosexuals, we’re divorced!

The post Mad Men: Lane Pryce’s Business Suit and Tweed Waistcoat on New Year’s Day appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 9: “After Moscow”)

Vitals

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

London, Fall 1918

Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “After Moscow” (Episode 9)
Air Date: October 26, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller

Background

I consider Sidney Reilly to be one of the most fascinating and mysterious figures of the 20th century. There’s little consensus on when he was born, when he died, or how he exactly spent he spent the fifty-odd years in between, though his oft-exaggerated exploits as a shadowy agent of the British secret service has established his enduring reputation as “the Ace of Spies”, aided by his own memoirs and an excellent 1983 twelve-part mini-series starring Sam Neill in the eponymous role of the Russian-born adventurer.

Following his attempted coup to overthrow the Bolshevik government in Russia, the ninth episode depicts Sidney Reilly having journeyed home to London in time for the end of World War I. Though his career to date has been mostly mercenary in its alliances, Reilly’s experiences in Russia have embittered him against the Bolsheviks as he now dedicates his remaining years to joining anti-revolutionaries like the fiery Boris Savinkov.

In between marriages, Reilly’s life back in London also includes affairs with a gun-toting prostitute nicknamed “The Plugger” (Lindsay Duncan) as well as the more demure Caryll Houselander (Joanne Pearce), a young ecclesiastical artist whose depicted clairvoyance suggests her ability to foresee Reilly’s violent death in Russia.

While the existence of “The Plugger” may be lost to history, Caryll Houselander was indeed a real person, described by author Richard B. Spence as “a shy, gangly redhead fresh from a convent school” when the 18-year-old art student met Reilly—who was more than twice her age—through her émigré friends. In Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly, Andrew Cook writes that “Caryll was fascinated by art, mysticism, and Russia, and found herself immediately attracted to a man who seemed to embody all these.”

What’d He Wear?

During this brief sequence set during the fall of 1918, the Russian-born Reilly looks every bit the dignified Brit in his handsome tweeds, particularly the Norfolk jacket. Arguably the first “sport jacket”, this style originated in the eastern English county of Norfolk sometime in the late 19th century. A favorite among outdoor sportsmen, the symmetrically arranged Norfolk jackets suggest a military bearing, apropos the recently returned Captain Reilly as he calls upon Ms. Houselander.

Norfolk jackets are defined by their sporty characteristics such as patch pockets, box pleats, and a belted waist. Intended for sporting pursuits that often involved shooting (but also ranged from horseback riding to golf), the garment was originally tailored to be loose enough that it would not impede a shooter raising his arm to aim and fire a rifle or shotgun.

Reilly specifically wears a “half-Norfolk” variation, which lacks some (but not all) defining characteristics of a Norfolk. In this case, Reilly’s jacket has only a half-belt, sewn to the body of the jacket across the back and fastening right-over-left through one of two front buttons. Instead of the box-pleated strips extending down each side of the front and back, his jacket boasts a pair of button-through patch pockets over the chest, in addition to the hip-positioned patch pockets that each close through a single-button flap. The jacket does have double sets of shorter pleats on each side, extending from the top and bottom of the belt on the jacket’s front and back.

Reilly admires Caryll’s art of “the mysterious man who was going around Moscow, spending thousands on the counter-revolution.”

Though not a complete suit as the contrasting trousers would prove, Reilly evidently had a high-fastening waistcoat made from the same light russet-toned brown tweed as the jacket, as the top can be glimpsed over the jacket’s buttoning point. The jacket’s notch lapels are welted around the edges, adding an additionally sporty touch as they roll to the top of the high-stance two-button front, which Reilly wears fully buttoned with the lowest of the two positioned under the self-belt. The sleeves appear to be finished with two buttons on each cuff.

Reilly wears a plain white cotton shirt with double (French) cuffs and a detachable starched white collar, likely attached via gold studs through the front and back of the neckband. The pinned collar is secured by a gold safety-style pin that pushes out the knot of his black tie with its low-contrast burgundy, navy, and sage all-over paisley print.

Reilly’s trousers contrast enough to inform us that he isn’t wearing a full Norfolk suit, instead effectively contrasting his tailored top half with tonally coordinated trousers made of taupe wool. Given the buttoned sport jacket with its full-skirted hem, we see little details of the trousers aside from the hand pockets and the turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

The cuffed bottoms break enough to show Reilly’s gray socks that continue the leg line of his trousers into his brown leather lace-up shoes.

Reilly layers in coat, scarf, and hat as he calls on Caryll Houselander.

In accordance with decorum and to combat the increasing chill of November in London, Reilly wears hat, coat, scarf, and brown leather gloves. His brown felt self-edged fedora with its matching grosgrain band would have been an emerging style in the years following World War I, effectively replacing the homburg and Lord’s hat as the semi-formal topper of choice with suits and sport jackets.

Reilly’s brown woolen coat has raglan sleeves and a dramatically drooping Prussian collar, to be fastened at the neck with a short tab that extends from under the left side of the collar to a coordinating button under the right side. The single-breasted coat has four buttons under a covered fly and closes with a self-belt around the waist, which separates the inverted box-pleat over the back and the long vent extending up the skirt.

Reilly also wears a burgundy foulard-printed scarf, ornately bordered but finished with solid burgundy on the fringed ends.

Reilly negotiates with Russian double agent Krassin (John Bluthal) over lunch, without removing his coat and scarf.

How to Get the Look

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 9: “After Moscow”)

Though Caryll Houselander’s flat appears to be in the center of London rather than the country, Reilly dresses down for the casual visit in his well-cut tweeds, the jacket fashioned into a handsome “half-Norfolk” that forgoes the traditional pleats in favor of two added pockets, appointed with a matching waistcoat but odd trousers that undercut the formality of his white shirt with pinned collar and tie.

• Light russet brown tweed single-breasted 2-button half-Norfolk sport jacket with notch lapels, two button-through chest patch pockets, two button-flapped hip patch pockets, half-belt with button-closed front, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton shirt with detachable pinned collar and double/French cuffs
• Black multi-color paisley-printed tie
• Light russet brown tweed high-fastening waistcoat
• Taupe wool trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Brown leather lace-up shoes
• Brown wool raglan-sleeved belted coat with large Prussian collar, 4-button fly front, and long single vent
• Burgundy foulard-print scarf
• Brown felt fedora with brown grosgrain band
• Brown leather gloves
• Gold tank watch with white square dial on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

I also recommend Andrew Cook’s Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly and Richard B. Spence’s Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly, both published in 2002 and seeking to work through the many myths to learn the truth about this secretive but significant agent of the early 20th century.

The Quote

There was also something else: passion. Life was lived at speed.

The post Sam Neill’s Half-Norfolk Jacket as Sidney Reilly appeared first on BAMF Style.

David Bowie, on location in New Mexico during production of The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Vitals

David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton, ambitious humanoid alien

From New York City to Artesia, New Mexico, 1970s

Film: The Man Who Fell to Earth
Release Date: March 18, 1976
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Costume Designer: May Routh
Suits by: Ola Hudson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 75th birthday of David Bowie, born in London on January 8, 1947.

Though he’d made a few screen appearances earlier in his career, The Man Who Fell to Earth was Bowie’s first prominent leading role. Adapted by Paul Mayersberg from Walter Tevis’ novel of the same name, Nicolas Roeg’s avant-garde cult classic transcends the trappings of traditional science fiction to spin the yarn of Thomas Jerome Newton, an ambitious if naïve starman who “fell to Earth” on a mission to bring water back to his home planet… only to fall even farther, seduced by the materialistic capitalism of 1970s America and all of its celebrated hedonistic indulgences of sex, television, drugs, and booze. (Not to forget forever changing my once-wholesome associations with Ricky Nelson’s “Hello, Mary Lou”.)

The daring surreality of The Man Who Fell to Earth extends to the setting, spanning decades as indicated by the on-screen achievements and the aging of Newton’s cohorts, though Roeg intentionally removed references to the passing of time, rooting all action to appear in the world of 1975, when production had commenced that summer in New Mexico.

My first viewing had initially left me feeling both overwhelmed and underwhelmed, and I’m ashamed to admit that I could muster little response aside from “huh… that was weird.” Yet, I noticed that it was sticking with me hours, days, and even weeks later, to the point where it was distracting me during a rewatch of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. A second viewing reinforced the power of this haunting movie, centered around David Bowie’s idiosyncratic presence and supported by a talented supporting cast that includes Candy Clark, Rip Torn, Bernie Casey, and Buck Henry, the prolific comedian who also died two years ago today on January 8, 2020. 

May Routh’s costume design sketch for Thomas Jerome Newton’s suit, described as “black slubbed silk” in her notes. (Source: The Huffington Post)

What’d He Wear?

In Men of Style, his volume for which Bowie himself graces the cover, author Josh Sims writes that the performer’s style during his Thin White Duke phase was “informed by German Expressionism, Cabaret, perhaps the jazz greats of the 1940s and 1950s — their boxy suits, braces, loosened ties, trench coats, fedoras — and cocaine use.”

Bowie rotates through a unique wardrobe that ranges from the functional to the futuristic, though his signature black suit is arguably his most frequently worn outfit.

Crafted by prolific designer Ola Hudson to flatter Bowie’s famously slender frame, the suit harmoniously unites Bowie’s neoteric style with the otherworldly character he portrayed. Costume designer May Routh recalled in an interview with DAZED that the collaborative star had been eager to create “a look that was very simple; as a man coming from another planet, he thought he should wear things that wouldn’t stand out or attract attention to him.”

After “falling to Earth” in his hooded duffel coat, Newton debuts the slim-fitting black silk suit that would reappear throughout The Man Who Fell to Earth. The shine of the slubbed silk in certain light suggests the archetypal shiny “space suits” of sci-fi, though Routh explained to The Huffington Post that “everything he wore was soft so the clothes didn’t injure him.”

The slubs of Newton’s black silk suit shine under the artificial light of Dr. Bryce’s living room.

Like the humanoid alien that Bowie portrays, Newton’s black suit may look mostly conventional at first but paying attention to the details shows plenty that distinguishes it.

Shaped with front darts, the ventless jacket closes with a single button positioned at Bowie’s waist. Each cuff is also decorated with a single button, though these are purely vestigial as there’s no split or vent at the end of the sleeve to even suggest functionality. The breast pocket is jetted—rather than welted—which works with the jetted hip pockets to present a minimalist appearance.

Note the distinctive details of Newton’s suit, such as the jetted—rather than welted—breast pocket and single-button closure.

The suit’s matching trousers rise high to where they’re fitted (sans belt) around Bowie’s natural waist, which has a shallow split in the center back as though to be worn with suspenders. Styled with reverse-facing pleats that add elegant dimension through his hips, the trousers have a full fit through the legs to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

The most obviously offbeat aspect of Newton’s wardrobe in these scenes are his black patent leather platform shoes, defined as such by the chunky, flat-bottomed black soles that flare from about an inch high under the rounded toe-box to raised several inches at the heel. These platform shoes are shaped like ankle boots with a zipper closing up each ankle-high shaft, finished with straps that cross over the vamp and buckle closed over the top of the back. Newton wears them with black socks.

Mary Lou carries Newton to his hotel room. Note that, as she sits him in bed, she’s unfastened his platform shoes, revealing the buckle over the straps that is typically covered by the break of his plain-hemmed trouser bottoms.

Newton’s wide-brimmed black fedora is the first aspect of this outfit that we see on screen, as its dramatic silhouette marks his entry into the home of harried patent lawyer Oliver Farnsworth (Henry). The black felt hat has a wide black grosgrain band around the base of its tall pinched crown, working with the wide self-edged brim to suggest the fashions of the ’40s that had reportedly informed the Thin White Duke’s image.

Forty years after the film premiered, Routh explained to DAZED that “because David was so thin, I got all his shirts for size 18 boys. And he wanted things like Viyella, which in America they call brushed flannel, so that they were all very neat and fitted.”

For his arrival at Farnsworth’s home and the check-in at the New Mexico hotel that fatefully introduces him to Mary Lou (Clark), Newton wears a gray melange shirt with a substantial point collar. The plain, non-placket front has seven pearl two-hole buttons that he tends to fasten up to the neck, a practice colloquialized as the “air tie”. The shirt also has a breast pocket and single-button cuffs.

Masked in the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat, Newton discusses his plans with Farnsworth.

After amassing his early fortune, Newton checks into an Artesia, New Mexico hotel as “Mr. Sussex” but quickly faints and collapses from the effects of the elevator. Working as an attendant in the hotel, Mary Lou desperately picks him up and carries him into his room, attempting to revive him. She evidently pulls off his gray shirt, hangs it in his bathroom (with the manufacturer’s tag faintly visible, to aid any eagle-eyed readers who hope to ID it), and allows Newton to rest, stripped down to his plain white cotton short-sleeved undershirt tucked into his trousers.

Newton awakens in his room, stripped down to his undershirt, trousers, and unfastened boots.

Newton’s initial meeting with Farnsworth outlines his plan to secure nine basic patents that would elevate his leadership of the aptly named World Enterprises, allowing him to fundraise for a substantial water supply that could save his draught-stricken home planet. Amidst the vignettes of his bustling to build this fortune, we see Newton chauffeured in the back of his limo wearing a dark indigo shirt, similarly styled as the gray shirt with the cream plastic buttons again fastened up to the neck and over the mitred barrel cuffs.

As Newton begins his work with Dr. Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn), we see him again wearing his black suit and an “air tie” shirt, this time in plain white but otherwise similarly styled with its point collar, plain front, and button cuffs. (When introducing Dr. Bryce to the orb, he pulls on a pair of black leather gloves.)

Before Dr. Bryce discovers his true identity, Newton wears a tan shirt with a brushed texture that suggests it’s one of the Viyella shirts that Routh had sourced on Bowie’s request. The shirt has the same ’70s-style long point collar as his others, but differs with its front placket and two chest pockets, each with a pointed flap that closes through a large golden translucent plastic button echoing those up the placket.

Bowie filming the finale on location in Los Angeles, photographed by Terry O’Neill. Only his upper half is clearly visible on screen, though this behind-the-scenes shot gives us a great look at the details of his distinctive platform shoes.

Released after years of painful experiments while in government captivity, having failed his mission to save his family and planet, and having lost his few friendships and relationships on Earth, the seemingly ageless Newton falls into an alcoholic depression by the movie’s end. He meets with Dr. Bryce at Butterfield’s Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, proclaiming that he can’t be bitter toward his betrayal as he would have likely taken the same actions. We hear the strains of Artie Shaw’s 1940 rendition of “Stardust” (no mention of “Ziggy”) as a waiter decides, “I think maybe Mr. Newton has had enough, don’t you?”

Newton’s back in the black suit he’d worn while building his initial success, draped in the same black-and-white herringbone tweed overcoat he had worn in earlier scenes. The knee-length coat has broad notch lapels with sporty “swelled edges”, a welted breast pocket, and flapped hip pockets. The fly front closes over three large black buttons, and the back is split with a long single vent. The sleeves are set-in with plain cuffs devoid of buttons, straps, or vents.

As he did when debuting the suit at Farnsworth’s home, Newton wears another wide-brimmed fedora, albeit in a brown felt with a narrower black grosgrain band. His shirt is also brown, a darker chocolate-hued Viyella that he wears with the brown translucent buttons fastened to the neck.

A broken, alcoholic Newton meets with a contrite Dr. Bryce.

A constant of Newton’s appearance throughout the movie is his reliance on a pair of silver-framed glasses with rounded hooks that secure behind each ear, carried in his jacket’s breast pocket when not on his face. The tinted photochromatic lenses are responsive to light, echoing “transition lens” technology and serving to protect Newton’s contact lens-covered eyes, which are extremely sensitive to X-ray light.

Despite how much attention has been paid to Bowie’s status as a style icon, I don’t believe that it’s been widely shared or determined who made these frames. The only external clue may be the simple etchwork over the temples, though even this might be too general for any definitive identification.

What to Imbibe

Initially, Newton doesn’t drink anything but water, to the point that Mary Lou jokes “boy, you’re really hooked on water, aren’t you?” Gin becomes Newton’s gateway to his eventually all-consuming alcoholism after Mary Lou talks herself into a G&T, pouring Beefeater gin and White Rock tonic together over four cubes of ice with a slice of lime.

G&Ts fuel Mary Lou’s first night with Newton, appropriately scored by Jim Reeves’ “Make the World Go Away” as this new spirit introduced to Newton’s life will eventually be one of the factors that distracts him from his mission on Earth, preventing him from saving his home planet, and—by extension—making his world go away.

This venerable highball had emerged in popularity by the early 19th century among British officers in India, who found their gin ration to be useful when ingesting their otherwise unpalatable tonic water, which was recommended at the time for its quinine to act against malaria.

Newton eventually also develops a taste for white wine, specifically the Tyrolia that Mary Lou picks up for him from Wightman’s, but Bryce later confirms that Newton’s preferred drink is still “gin, neat—no ice, right?”

The Gun

Some behind-the-scenes shots and portraits taken of Bowie on location in New Mexico portray him in costume, aiming a pistol that shares some visual characteristics with a longslide 1911. A closer look reveals the weapon to be a BB gun… more specifically, a Marksman Repeater that fires “.177-caliber” BBs.

Indeed, the foundation of this air gun resembles a classic 1911 pistol, and the weight of its heavy metal frame could certainly fool a non-firearms expert into thinking it was a more lethal weapon. The Marksman is loaded by tipping up a loading port at the front of the barrel and charged by pulling back a metal piece that clamps over the back of the frame, similar to racking the slide on an actual pistol.

Bowie aims the Marksman BB pistol while on location in New Mexico, photographed by David James.

This is not the same blank-firing nickel-plated Webley revolver that Newton and Mary Lou would introduce to their debauched romp.

How to Get the Look

David Bowie, on location in New Mexico during production of The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Black suits aren’t typically recommended for business, but if your business is changing the landscape of global technology solely to fundraise a mission to transport a vast water supply back to your home planet… embrace your inner alien!

• Black slubbed silk suit:
  • Single-button jacket with notch lapels, jetted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, vestigial 1-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Solid-colored long-sleeve shirt, buttoned to the neck
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Black patent leather side-zip platform shoes with ankle straps
• Black socks
• Black or tan felt wide-brimmed fedora with black grosgrain band
• Silver-framed glasses with photochromatic lenses

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and Walter Tevis’ novel.

The Quote

Bitter? No… we’d have probably treated you the same if you’d come over to our place.

The post The Man Who Fell to Earth: David Bowie’s Black Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather (1972)

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John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, insecure Mafia casino manager

Las Vegas, Summer 1954

Film: The Godfather
Release Date: March 14, 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

Background

“New year, new you” is a theme constantly touted by clickbait articles and lifestyle magazines through early January so, in the spirit of #MafiaMonday and the start of the 50th anniversary year of The Godfather, let’s take a look at one of the more startling reinventions in the world of mob movies: Fredo Corleone’s attempted transformation from forgotten brother to flamboyant swinger.

Sure, Fredo may still need the occasional “straightening out”—after all, banging cocktail waitresses two at a time is hardly good for business—but Las Vegas presents him with the opportunity to shed his middle child syndrome and explore a more independent side of himself… for better or worse.

Unfortunately for Freddie, he’s overestimated how much his brother would appreciate ostentatious displays of his newfound success, and neither the glitzy showgirls, chilled champagne, nor celebratory accordions are enough to impress Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) during his overnight business trip to the future Sin City. Instead, Michael recognizes the potential danger of his spineless sibling drifting too far from under the influence of the Corleones… and hints at the potentially tragic consequences.

Fredo: Mike! You don’t come to Las Vegas and talk to a man like Moe Greene like that!
Michael: Fredo… you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides against the family again. Ever.

What’d He Wear?

The move to Las Vegas proves beneficial to Fredo Corleone’s once-dwindling sense of identity, as he abandons the business suits favored by his brothers and adopts a playboy-adjacent style more consistent with his new mentor, Moe Greene (Alex Rocco). Note that when Moe swaggers into the “party”, he and Fredo are sartorially aligned in their yellowing sport jackets against the dark-suited Corleone contingent of Michael, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), and Al Neri (Richard Bright). Indeed, yellow seems to be the uniform for those accustomed to Las Vegas, not just for Fredo and Moe but also the casino bellhops and band and even the golden-hued turtlenecks of Moe’s lackeys that line the walls of the suite.

Fredo’s buttery blazer aligns him to the golden-dressed Moe and even the anonymous underling lingering behind them in a mustard turtleneck, all echoing the gold in them thar Las Vegas casinos against the slick business suits modeled by their now-opposing forces in Al Neri and Michael Corleone.

Mario Puzo’s source novel also draws attention to how Las Vegas changed Fredo’s appearance, though Puzo’s vision suggests more alignment with the Corleone uniform, describing the “far more dandified” Freddie now clad in “an exquisitely tailored gray silk suit and accessories to match.” The costume could hardly be more different in the cinematic adaptation.

Fredo welcomes Michael to Las Vegas while wearing a yellow jacket, a likely unintentional but still significant indication that Fredo may be the one attempting to “sting” Michael during their next meeting at a gambling haven. Though yellow isn’t the traditional color, Fredo’s single-breasted jacket fits a more liberal description of a “blazer” with its metal buttons and solid-colored cloth.

Two brass buttons shine from the front, matched by three smaller vestigial buttons on each cuff. Sporty details include “swelled” welted edges along the wide notch lapels and around the squared top yokes and rounded bottoms of the patch pockets on the hips and left breast.

Fredo dresses to work the room, but he soon learns that he’ll never truly own a room when his younger brother is present.

Yellow is a less conventional color for men’s tailoring, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be loud depending on how it’s worn. Of course, Fredo turns up the volume by layering his yellow blazer over a pitch black shirt, completing the image of an annoying bumblebee “buzzing” around the table while the real power players negotiate. The shirt’s silky texture suggests a synthetic fabric like rayon, detailed with a front placket, button cuffs, and a long point collar worn open at the neck to show his colorful scarf.

Knotted in the front to let the tails flay over the top of his open-neck shirt, Fredo’s black silk scarf is printed in a gray and magenta paisley.

Fredo’s beige trousers are checked in a black-and-gold tattersall that unites the colors of the rest of his outfit while adding a pattern that enhances the formality divide between he and the somberly dressed Corleones. He holds up these trousers with a smooth brown leather belt that closes through a polished gold square single-prong buckle.

Moe Greene’s mannerisms while explaining why he had to “straighten [Fredo] out” suggest how the domineering Moe essentially has Fredo’s “manhood” in his hands, informing how he expresses himself right down to angrily berating Freddie for his bedroom habits.

Not the first of Fredo’s violations for conduct unbecoming a Corleone.

A new addition to Fredo’s wardrobe is the gold ring on the third finger of his right hand, with channel-set diamonds gleaming from around the band. For a man who has so welcomed yellow in his wardrobe, it’s no surprise that Fredo favors yellow gold, as also seen by the brief glimpse of his metal-banded watch that shines under his left shirt cuff.

Fredo also spends much of the scene taking off and putting back on his gold-framed aviator sunglasses, with amber-tinted lenses hiding his eyes. Wearing his sunglasses indoors—as well as constantly fussing as to whether or not to keep them on or off—indicates just how conscious Fredo is of the image he’s trying to cultivate, alternating between projecting nonchalant success or his hapless quest to be taken seriously.

A popular singer and movie star modeled after Frank Sinatra, Johnny Fontaine (Al Martino) models a considerably more tasteful example of flashy mid-century menswear in his flatteringly tailored silk suit and coordinated tie.

While Michael Corleone dresses to look powerful, he doesn’t necessarily dress to look like a mob boss, still choosing white or off-white shirts and conventional ties even when clad in his flashier silk suits. Instead, Fredo embraces louder threads in the hope of communicating to the world that he’s every bit the gangster as the rest of his family.

Fredo would maintain this loud Las Vegas attitude in his attire the rest of his life, with sartorial highlights in The Godfather Part II to include a plaid silk dinner jacket for his nephew’s communion, a pink sports coat in Havana, and adopting full-on “gangster style” for New Year’s Eve in a white suit, black shirt, and white tie that totally inverses his more serious younger brother’s black suit, white shirt, and black tie.

How to Get the Look

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather (1972)

Fredo Corleone dresses loudly to make up for his lack of an authentic voice, instead buzzing around the hotel suite in the yellow blazer that defines his new position standing in solidarity against his more seriously dressed brothers. Though much of Freddie’s costume would have also been contemporary to the early 1970s production, the excesses of ’50s sportswear often portended the trends of the “disco decade”.

• Yellow single-breasted blazer with wide notch lapels, two brass buttons, rounded patch breast pocket, rounded patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Black silky rayon long-sleeved shirt with long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Black silk neckerchief with a gray-and-magenta paisley print
• Beige gold-and-black tattersall check flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with polished gold square single-prong buckle
• White leather loafers
• Black socks
• Gold-framed aviator sunglasses with amber lenses
• Gold ring with channel-set diamonds
• Gold wristwatch on gold bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series and read Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel that started it all.

Funko fans can also buy a figure of Fredo Corleone, clad in his Las Vegas livery of yellow blazer, black shirt open at the neck to show his knotted scarf, white shoes, and aviators clipped to his pocket, albeit with the addition of the mustache he wouldn’t grow until The Godfather Part II.

The post The Godfather: Fredo’s Yellow Blazer in Las Vegas appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray in To Sir, with Love (1967)

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Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray, novice high school teacher

London, June 1966

Film: To Sir, with Love
Release Date: June 14, 1967
Director: James Clavell
Wardrobe Supervisor: John Wilson-Apperson

Background

The death of Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE, was announced last Friday, prompting countless fans to recall memories of the great actor’s lasting legacy. Born February 20, 1927 in Miami to a Bahamian family, Poitier’s screen acting career took off during the 1950s, following his breakthrough performance in Blackboard Jungle (1955) with a charismatic turn in Edge of the City (1957). His Academy Award nomination for The Defiant Ones (1958) marked the first time a Black actor was nominated for Best Actor, and his ultimate win for Lillies of the Field (1963) established Poitier as the first Black recipient of the Best Actor Oscar.

Poitier’s career continued through the decade, with 1967 a particular banner year as he delivered three of his most iconic performances in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, In the Heat of the Night, and To Sir, with Love.

The latter stars Poitier as Mark Thackeray, newly hired to teach at the North Quay Secondary School, where one of his fellow teachers—raggedly cynical from the stress of teaching these students—considers Thackeray “a new lamb for the slaughter… or should I say, the black sheep.”

“No, just a teacher, Mr. Hackman,” Thackeray replies, learning that he’s mistaken Theo Weston (Geoffrey Bayldon) for the man he’s been hired to replace. Thackeray then meets the rest of the school’s beleaguered but welcoming teaching and administrative staff, including headmaster Mr. Florian (Edward Burnham), who asks: “Why do you want to be a teacher?” As his ultimate vocation is engineering, Thackeray is vague in his response (“Reasons…”), but he spends his brief tenure winning the respect and affection of this difficult class of seniors. Even the cynical Weston has come around to appreciating Thackeray’s talent by the the class’s graduation, expressing that he’s sorry to see him go: “Anybody can be an engineer, but teaching this mob is… well, I wish I had your gift.”

Indeed, few to follow could ever match Sidney Poitier’s particular gifts: irrepressible talent, undeniable charisma, and inimitable class.

What’d He Wear?

Across each of that trio of excellent, genre-spanning films he released in 1967, Sidney Poitier’s characters were always introduced to the audience while wearing a dark gray wool suit. Taking closer look at the details, each suit varied—whether in cloth, button configurations, vents—but the effect was always the same, presenting Poitier in that most classic of business suits, worn with a white shirt, straight tie, and black shoes to establish to audiences at the height of the civil rights movement that this was a man to be taken seriously, whether you’ll be calling him “Sir” or Mister Tibbs.

Although Mark Thackeray had never taught a class before, he looks strong and confident as he strides into the intimidating North Quay Secondary School in London’s tough East End wearing his stoic yet stylish dark gray worsted like a suit of armor.

Thackeray would soften his appearance for days in the classroom, possibly wearing the same gray trousers and black derbies but switching out the suit jacket, white shirt, and solid tie for a navy sports jacket, button-down collar shirt, and striped repp tie that suggest a personal “uniform” in lieu of North Quay’s lack of an official uniform. Otherwise, Thackeray wears this more formal dark gray worsted suit for his arrival and departure.

“Sir” receives a farewell present from his senior class during their graduation party.

The tailored suit is well-proportioned, with the single-breasted jacket’s two-button closure meeting the trouser waistband at Poitier’s natural waist. Aside from the plain-hemmed bottoms and side pockets, we see little of Thackeray’s flat front trousers under the buttoned jacket, but they’re likely styled similarly to the gray slacks he wears with his navy jacket; he may even orphan these trousers with that jacket on occasion. If so, they’re rigged with three-button “Daks top” side adjusters that had been developed in London by Simpsons of Picadilly during the early 1930s, later to be popularly seen on Sean Connery’s trousers as 007.

Shaped with front darts for a fuller chest and a gently suppressed waist, Thackeray’s jacket follows classic business suit conventions with its notch lapels and welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets are jetted for a minimalist presentation, and there are long double vents. The shoulders are wide with roped sleeveheads, and each sleeve is finished with four-button cuffs.

Thackeray’s white cotton shirt was made by prolific Pall Mall shirtmaker Frank Foster, whose client list also included the first three Bond actors, all four Beatles, a couple Rat Packers, and Cary Grant. The shirt has a spread collar, plain front, and double (French) cuffs fastened with cut onyx stone links, similar to these Lunessa cuff links.

Thackeray’s substantial cuff link shines from his shirt cuff as he looks over his going-away present from the senior class.

Both times Thackeray wears this dark gray suit, he pairs it with a straight and narrow tie made of tonally coordinated dark gray satin silk, knotted in a tight four-in-hand.

Thackeray’s primary outer layer is a khaki gabardine raincoat that extends to just above the knees. Four mixed taupe plastic buttons fasten up the front to a short Prussian collar. The coat has flapped hip pockets and two short side vents, rather than the single vent more traditionally found on men’s outerwear. The set-in sleeves are finished with a half-strap that closes through a single button at the cuff.

How to Get the Look

Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray in To Sir, with Love (1967)

An engineer by trade, Mark Thackeray’s well-tailored gray suit, white shirt, and tie presents a dignified professionalism that transcends specific industries as he seeks to make a good impression on his first day teaching at North Quay Secondary School.

• Dark gray worsted wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Darted-front trousers with “Daks top” three-button side-adjusters, extended hidden-hook waistband, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
  • Onyx cut stone cuff links
• Dark gray satin silk straight tie
• Black calf leather derby shoes
• Black socks
• Khaki gabardine raincoat with short Prussian collar, four-button front, set-in sleeves with single-button semi-strap cuffs, straight flapped hip pockets, and short double vents

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and share your favorite Sidney Poitier performance in the comments!

The post Sidney Poitier’s Gray Suit in To Sir, with Love appeared first on BAMF Style.

Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

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Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs, desperate drifter-turned-treasure hunter

Mexico, Spring to Summer 1925

Film: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Release Date: January 6, 1948
Director: John Huston
Wardrobe: Robert O’Dell & Ted Schultz (uncredited)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On the 65th anniversary of when Humphrey Bogart died on January 14, 1957, I wanted to visit one of his most lasting—if not exactly best-dressed—roles.

“Wait until you see me in my next picture,” Bogie had proclaimed to a New York Post critic outside 21 one night. “I play the worst shit you ever saw!” Indeed, unlike his previous protagonists like Sam Spade, Rick Blaine, and Philip Marlowe, who were primarily heroes marred by a cynical streak, there are few redeeming factors to Fred C. Dobbs, the panhandling prospector whose treacherous greed leads him well past the point of no return.

Adapted from an adventure novel by the mysterious “B. Traven”, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre excited Bogart, who was “at the peak of his ability, confident and ready for a new and demanding role,” according to authors A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax. The actor re-teamed with his pal and frequent collaborator John Huston, whose famous father Walter would portray the grizzled old-timer Howard who joins Dobbs and their younger partner Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) on their nightmarish journey.

“First he is a gentleman, then an actor, and what an actor!” Bogart proclaimed of Walter Huston. “He’s probably the only performer in Hollywood to whom I’d gladly lose a scene.”

Dobbs reeks of desperation like few Bogart characters ever had or would, peering out hungrily from under the brim of his tattered fedora at a discarded cigarette on the streets of Tampico (“some town to be broke in!”), only for a boy to grab the butt and squash his short-term dream of an expensive smoke. After squeezing his usual source—a white-suited American played by director John Huston—out of pesos, he and new pal Curtin impulsively takes an odd job on an oil derrick… only to get stiffed when the notorious employer welches. Dobbs and Curtin track the man to a cantina, where they beat out of him the $150 that they’re owed and use the money to finance a gold-digging trip into no man’s land with Howard, though the bounty of riches launches Dobbs into an increasingly dangerous paranoia that illustrates the destructive nature of greed.

What’d He Wear?

Fred C. Dobbs’ threadbare clothing in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre has arguably seen better days. Despite its wrinkles, tears, and grime, the foundation of the outfit is built on classic workwear pieces that—with a little TLC—may have lasted Dobbs a little longer, though he may have also obtained them secondhand.

Though filmed in black and white, color photography from the set confirms the colors of the clothing worn by characters like Dobbs and Curtin.

Humphrey Bogart’s screen persona through the ’40s was built partially on his heroic profile in a well-crafted Borsalino fedora: think Rick Blaine in his trench coat at the end of Casablanca, or his tough-talking private eyes in The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre immediately subverts the viewer’s expectations of Bogie the dashing hero, as one of the first things we see about him is the tattered taupe-gray fedora that’s literally coming apart at the seams. The eroding binding around the brim has been torn away in the front, which appears to be the portion of the hat that has taken the most abuse as the top of the pinched crown has been ripped through, the possible result of hat-hungry rodents or a bandit’s bullet. The wide black grosgrain band is also beginning to pull away from the base of the crown, threatening the sanctity of Dobbs’ favorite place to keep matchsticks handy.

Though iterations of the shirt had been independently produced earlier, the blue chambray work shirt was established as a menswear staple when the U.S. Navy authorized it for their work uniforms in the early 20th century.

Chambray’s origins date back even further, when plain-woven “cambric” linen was developed during the 16th century in the northern French commune of Cambrai. Over the centuries to follow, the dense yet light-wearing cloth gained a reputation for durability. Chambray emerged as a variation with differing colors in the warp and weft, though the most conventional combination remains a blue or indigo warp and white weft (or “filling”). Due to their shared textures, chambray shirts are often mistaken for denim, though the two cloths are constructed differently.

Dobbs’ blue chambray shirt follows the conventional styling of these work shirts, with a point collar and front placket fastened with large four-hole plastic buttons that he typically wears buttoned up to mid-chest, showing his undershirt and making room for his neckerchief. The two patch pockets over the chest have mitred bottoms and horizontal yokes across the top, where a single button closes through a vertical buttonhole, though the left pocket is detailed with an additional horizontal buttonhole positioned on the innermost edge of the top yoke. The long sleeves are fastened with a single button on the barrel cuff, though Dobbs invariably wears his sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up his forearms.

A duo of shirt pockets provide precious cargo space for a man like Fred C. Dobbs, who carries little with him but the clothes on his back.

Dobbs wears a red paisley cotton neckerchief knotted around his throat, ostensibly to catch his sweat in the intense heat and humidity of a region that has seen record high temperatures over 107 °F as early as March.

His undershirt is an off-white marled cotton short-sleeved henley with two two-hole plastic buttons at the top.

Dobbs spends a sleepless night dreaming of gold.

Corduroy’s origins as a hardy cloth favored by outdoor sportsmen in England and France make Dobbs’ brown needlecord cotton trousers a wise choice, though even they gradually tatter over the course of his misadventures. (“Needlecord”, also known as “pincord” or “pinwale” corduroy, refers to corduroy with higher numbers of wales per inch, typically between 16 and 21; for reference, 11 is considered a “standard” wale count.)

Dobbs’ flat front trousers have side pockets, set-in back pockets with pointed flaps that close through a single button, and plain-hemmed bottoms that Dobbs cuffs himself to clear over his boots. The wide belt loops signify that these were intended for heavy-duty wear with a hefty belt; Dobbs responds in kind with a wide brown leather belt that closes through a large gold-toned square single-prong buckle. He tests the belt’s sturdiness by looping a large open-top holster onto the back right to carry his Colt revolver.

Consistent with the rest of his hard-wearing work clothes, Dobbs wears a pair of sturdy combat boots that understandably catch the eye of the bandits he encounters toward the end. The uppers are a brown leather, faded and worn to a dusty, sun-drenched patina. These plain-toed boots are derby-laced with six sets of eyelets over the instep and seven sets of speed hooks extending up the mid-calf shafts.

One of the bandits eyes Dobbs’ boots, which appear to have fared ultimately better than his worn-and-torn corduroy trousers.

The climate doesn’t quite necessitate additional layers, so Dobbs keeps it light with his denim chore coat that he carries around Tampico with his modest bundle, pulling it on only briefly during traveling or the occasional night around the fire. Recently, chore coats enjoyed a renaissance as a “must-have” jacket for fall 2021, celebrated for being roomy yet ruggedly reliable, so many modern outfitters began reimagining this centuries-old workwear design that—like Dobbs’ chambray shirt and corduroys—can trace its origins to France. (Read more about the history of the chore coat, as penned by James Smith for Heddels.)

When introduced to French laborers in the late 19th century, these jackets were typically made from moleskin that had been dyed a distinctive shade known as bleu de travail, though they would be re-imagined as chore coats once they emigrated across the Atlantic to the land of denim.

Close-ups of Dobbs’ jacket show the characteristic denim twill, created by blue-dyed warp threads passing over two white waft threads before going under one (unlike chambray, which alternates the warp over and under one waft thread at a time.) Denim can range in thickness, but Dobbs’ ventless chore coat is arguably cut from a lighter-weight denim. The shank buttons up the front and on the edges of each cuff are semi-spherical brass, with the button closing the neck spaced farther apart from the buttons over the chest. In addition to straight set-in pockets over the hips, there are two patch pockets on each side of the chest, with a flap over the right-side pocket.

Howard and Dobbs.

Dobbs and Curtin each sport a set of dark indigo denim overalls when briefly working on an oil derrick, with the newness of Dobbs’ overalls suggesting that they were issued to him for the job. They are classic “bib-and-brace” overalls, as pioneered by H.D. Lee in 1911, consisting of jeans with a bib that extends over the chest. Two rivet-style buttons on each upper corner of the bib connects to a suspender-style looped hook at the end of the wide straps that pull over each shoulder. The front and back fasten further with a pair of buttons on each side—one at the waist, one several inches lower.

Bogie’s overalls have a large pocket over the bib with a narrow flap over the top that snaps closed. The white manufacturer’s tag sewn onto the center of this pocket would tell us who made Dobbs’ overalls, though I can’t discern the specific brand. The style suggests the North Carolina-based Blue Bell, though overalls were an early 20th century specialty of many denim outfitters like Lee, Levi’s, and the relatively new Wisconsin-based OshKosh B’gosh.

Below the waist, the overalls are styled like classic jeans with two slanted front pockets and two patch pockets on the seat. Dobbs wears the bottoms self-cuffed, showing that he indeed wears his overalls over his trousers.

An honest day’s work for less-than-honest men.

Off-screen and typically on-screen, Humphrey Bogart wore his father’s gold ring with two rubies flanking a diamond, but he—quite understandably—doesn’t wear this ring in his role as Fred C. Dobbs.

What to Imbibe

Dobbs and Curtin sidle up to the bar at a local cantina to await Pat McCormick’s arrival with their pay, each ordering a beer with the generic label “CERVEZA” (which, of course, is Spanish for “beer”.)

Dobbs and Curtin treat themselves to cervezas.

Days later, Dobbs and Curtin run into the garrulous McCormick, who offers to buy them each a shot of rye but is strong-armed into upping these to shots of brandy.

The Guns

Dobbs: Weapons? What do we need weapons for?
Howard: Meat’s one thing, bandits another. Bandit country’s where we’ll be goin’.

Howard’s point is proven almost instantly as the trio is forced to fend off a bandit attack while still on the train to their destination. The hanging ejector rods and rounded cylinder release clearly differentiate their armament as Colt revolvers. The smaller frame and the early-style hard plastic grips of Dobbs’ revolver suggest that at least he carries a Colt Police Positive, the service revolver developed for American law enforcement usage early in the 20th century.

As its appearance in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre suggests, the Police Positive’s moniker certainly didn’t limit it to lawmen as both criminals and civilians came to favor the trusty double-action six-shooter, with three quarters of a million sold over the course of its nearly 90-year production timeframe throughout the 20th century. In addition to the base model, Colt quickly introduced the stronger-framed Police Positive Special, differentiated by its ability to feed and fire the more powerful .38 Special round favored by most law enforcement agencies.

With Curtin’s newer Colt tucked in his waistband, Dobbs holds his Police Positive on his erstwhile partner.

Dobbs also arms himself with a Winchester Model 1892 lever-action rifle when he’s cornered in the brush by bandits who famously explain that they don’t have to show any “stinkin’ badges!”

The earlier Winchester Model 1873 had been immortalized by company marketing as “the gun that won the west.” The Model 1892 was a relative improvement on the ’73 with its lighter frame and a stronger action, designed by venerable gunmaker John Browning. Like the ’73, the Model 1892 was chambered for a range of low-pressure rounds up to .44-40 Winchester, fed through a tube magazine. More than a million Model 1892 rifles were manufactured over more than a half-century before production ended in 1945.

No stinkin’ badge would be much of a match for the .44-40 rounds that Fred C. Dobbs spits from his lever-action Winchester.

How to Get the Look

Humphrey Bogart with Walter Huston during production of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Assuming you take better care of your clothes than Fred C. Dobbs, you can use his daily warm-weather workwear as the foundation for a classic casual look that builds on the timelessness of a chambray work shirt, corduroy pants, and leather boots… YMMV when it comes to the neckerchief, henley undershirt, and fedora.

• Blue chambray cotton long-sleeved work shirt with point collar, front placket, two button-through chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Off-white marled cotton short-sleeved henley undershirt with 2-button top
• Red paisley cotton neckerchief
• Brown pinwale corduroy cotton flat front trousers with wide belt loops, side pockets, button-down flapped back pockets, and self-cuffed bottoms
• Brown wide leather belt with gold-toned square single-prong buckle
• Brown leather open-top belt holster
• Brown leather plain-toe mid-calf combat boots with derby lacing and speed hooks
• Dark brown calf socks
• Taupe-gray felt fedora with black grosgrain band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Conscience. What a thing. If you believe you got a conscience it’ll pester you to death. But if you don’t believe you got one, what could it do t’ya? Makes me sick, all this talking and fussing about nonsense.

The post Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre appeared first on BAMF Style.

Eli Goree as Cassius Clay in One Night in Miami (2020)

Vitals

Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, heavyweight boxing champion soon to be renamed Muhammad Ali

Miami, February 25, 1964

Film: One Night in Miami
Release Date: December 25, 2020
Director: Regina King
Costume Designer: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Background

Today would have been the 80th birthday of Muhammad Ali, the champion boxer born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. and nicknamed “The Greatest”. As we’re reentering movie award season, let’s revisit One Night in Miami,  the stylish drama that generated plenty of buzz last year and remains the most recent major screen portrayal of Ali.

The eponymous evening is February 25, 1964, when Clay’s surprise victory over Sonny Liston cemented him as the world heavyweight champion. Clay joins his fellow high-profile friends Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) in Malcolm’s hotel room, presumably for a celebration before it’s revealed that Malcolm had intended it to be a night of reflection and revelation, specifically of Clay’s intended conversion to the Nation of Islam.

Only 26 when the movie was filmed, Eli Goree energetically presents the charisma, conflict, and confidence of a 22-year-old who was just crowned heavyweight world champion and considering the direction that the rest of his life will take.

What’d He Wear?

Although his win earlier that evening makes him the guest of honor, Cassius Clay is the most casually dressed of the friends, though none of the foursome dresses down in any less than a suit.

“In 1964, Ali was having fun in his clothes,” costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck explained to The Wrap. “He was the youngest in the crowd, so I figured he was a bit more progressive in terms of what he wore. He was trying new things and going forward.”

Clay’s light brown wool suit is plain-woven in a fine glen plaid, with a double-lined sky blue windowpane overcheck. It’s possible that this may be Clay’s stop-gap outfit for a quieter night with his pals before changing into the tuxedo that he wears for the final sequence set among his adoring fans.

“Why am I so pretty?” Clay asks his reflection, and the coordination of his teal shirt to the sky-hued windowpane in his suit may certainly be especially pretty to a sartorial eye.

The most distinctive aspect of Clay’s single-breasted suit jacket is the unique narrow lapel with a short gorge consistent with early ’60s peak lapels but with the top “tip” of each collar seemingly clipped away, resulting in the effect of a shawl collar continuous running around the neck and sewn to the bottom half that resembles a more conventional peak lapel. (While this type of collar was never exactly common, it seemed to be most popular in the early ’60s among stars like Marvin Gaye, who had been photographed wearing a suit rigged with these quasi-peak lapels.)

These unique lapels roll to a two-button stance, perfectly positioned to meet the top of the trousers at Eli Goree’s waist. The shoulders are wide and padded, further reinforcing the power of the boxer’s silhouette, and the sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with four-button cuffs. Clay’s jacket has short double side vents, straight jetted hip pockets, and no breast pocket.

Clay’s flat front trousers have a beltless waistband with an extended front tab that closes with hidden hooks and buckle-style side adjusters rigged toward the back of each side of his waist. As generally seen through the scene, the trousers have an era-correct medium-high rise to Goree’s natural waist that meets the buttoning point of his jacket. The trousers also have side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Clay, Brown, and Cooke primp to look their best when posing for Malcolm X on the roof of his Miami motel.

“You see in footage how he seemed to gravitate toward polo shirts, and it was important for him to be comfortable while shadowboxing,” Jamison-Tanchuck explained to IndieWire of the real boxer. Jamison-Tanchuck also shared with The Wrap that “Eli [Goree] was very concerned about the clothes being able to flow with his body movements” when portraying Clay, so a less structured shirt made from Ban-Lon fit the bill. According to The Hollywood Reporter, her costume team made the first shirt from scratch with multiples provided by the British company Retro Style.

Clay’s knit short-sleeved sports shirt is an eye-catching teal, echoing the windowpane check in his suit. The shirt has large recessed four-hole buttons in teal plastic, buttoned up the ribbed placket to the neck, with white and blue ticked edge stitching along the edges of the large spread collar, both sides of the placket, the ends of each short sleeve, and around the pointed flap that closes over the squared patch pocket on the left breast.

Clay wears walnut brown calf leather monk shoes, a natty style that adds character to the outfit. Deemed “a true chameleon… [for] work and play” by Esquire‘s The Handbook of Style, Clay’s choice of a monk shoe nicely bridges the formality of his suit with the playfulness of his soft Ban-Lon shirt. Monks are traditionally made in single- and double-straps, and Clay wears a set of the former, with a pair of darker brown socks.

The single strap on each shoe tapers over the instep, closing through a polished silver-toned single-prong buckle on the outer side of each shoe. Each shoe has a punched cap toe but no additional brogue detailing.

Like many men with luxurious taste, Muhammad Ali would eventually adopt the Cartier Tank as one of his favored watches, but the younger Cassius Clay seen here in 1964 wears a more pedestrian yellow gold wristwatch with a round gold dial, secured on a gold bracelet.

How to Get the Look

Eli Goree as Cassius Clay in One Night in Miami (2020)

Muhammad Ali’s constant movement—even shadowboxing with friends and reporters—necessitated a comfortably loose style of dressing that was still stylish for a young and popular public figure. His glen plaid suit with the jacket’s fashionably unique lapels and self-suspended trousers would work just as well with a conventional shirt and tie, but our athletic hero stylishly dresses it down with a colorful knitted sport shirt that echoes the suit’s windowpane check.

• Light brown glen plaid, sky-blue windowpane, wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with semi-peak lapels, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and short side vents
  • Flat front trousers with extended hidden-hook waistband, slide-buckle side-adjusters, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Teal Ban-Lon knit short-sleeved shirt with white/blue-ticked edge stitching along large collar, ribbed front placket, and breast pocket (with pointed button-down flap)
• Walnut brown calf leather single monk-strap shoes with punched cap-toe
• Dark brown socks
• Gold watch on gold bracelet

If you’re looking for dark brown leather monk shoes with a non-cutaway single strap and a punched cap toe, options seem pretty limited as of January 2022:

• Magnanni “Lennon Monk Strap Shoe” in cuero leather (Nordstrom, $395)
• Nunn Bush “Newton Cap Toe Monk Strap” in brown (Nunn Bush, $57.90)
• Stacy Adams “Desmond Leather Cap Toe Monk Strap Loafer” in cognac (Nordstrom Rack, $79.97)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video and also available from the Criterion Collection.

You can also read more about the costumes in One Night in Miami from these sources:

• The Hollywood Reporter: ‘One Night in Miami’ Costumes Represent Historical Snapshot in Time by Cathy Whitlock
• IndieWire: Costuming ‘One Night in Miami’: A Wardrobe Fit for Four Black Icons of the ’60s by Bill Desowitz
• The Wrap: ‘One Night in Miami’ Costume Designer Explains How She Dressed 4 Iconic American Figures by Joe McGovern

The Quote

Alexander the Great conquered the world at 30, and I conquered the world of boxing at 22 without so much as a scratch!

The post One Night in Miami: Cassius Clay’s Light Brown Windowpane Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sean Connery as Mark Rutland in Marnie (1964)

Vitals

Sean Connery as Mark Rutland, publisher

Philadelphia to Baltimore, Spring 1964

Film: Marnie
Release Date: July 22, 1964
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Men’s Costumes: James Linn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Months before Goldfinger was released and cemented Bond-mania among the cinematic zeitgeist of the 1960s, Sean Connery got the opportunity to show audiences that he was capable of more than just suave secret-agenting with the back-to-back releases of thrillers Woman of Straw and Marnie. The latter has been celebrated as the better-regarded of the two, with some even calling it Alfred Hitchcock’s underappreciated masterpiece, though Hitch himself was more dismissive when discussing the work with François Truffaut:

I wasn’t convinced that Sean Connery was a Philadelphia gentleman. You know, if you want to reduce Marnie to its lowest common denominator, it is the story of the prince and the beggar girl. In a story of this kind you need a real gentleman, a more elegant man than what we had.

Say what you will about Connery’s performance, but I’ve considered Hitchcock’s criticism to be somewhat undeserved, particularly considering that the adaptation of Winston Graham’s 1961 novel of the same name condensed the characters of Marnie’s husband, Mark Rutland, and the psychoanalyst that Mark forces Marnie to see. Thus, Connery’s characterization requires him to convincingly depict Mark as first a charismatic cad, then a manipulative rapist, and—ultimately—a quasi-therapist whose motives are depicted more through the lens of spousal support than domination. Given the challenge of the role, I believe Connery ably rose to the occasion, bringing out more savage sides of the character than we may have believed in the hands of Hitch’s erstwhile stalwarts like Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart.

For those less familiar with the story, the eponymous Marnie (Tippi Hedren, celebrating her 92nd birthday today) is a charming but troubled con artist with a history of robbing employers like the blustering tax accountant Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel) who are often too distracted by her “even features” to care about her lack of references. One of Strutt’s clients, Mark Rutland, recognizes the “pretty girl with no references” when she comes to apply for a job at his publishing firm. Following her inevitable theft, Mark confronts her with his knowledge of her identity, extorting her into a marriage with forced intimacy, and ultimately determining that she needs to confront her disturbed past. (I may have been more convinced of the transition to the third act if not for the second act, as it seems like Mark’s villainy serves no purpose but to terrorize Marnie.)

The quest for this repressed truth leads them to Marnie’s mother, Bernie (Louise Latham), living in Baltimore. Amidst the panicking mother and daughter, Mark’s armchair psychology extracts Marnie’s suppressed memories from her childhood, when her mother was working with a prostitute and a brawl with one of her clients led to the young Marnie fatally attacking the man with a fireplace poker.

Following Connery’s death in October 2020, Hedren memorialized him in consecutive tweets as “an elegant man, a brilliant actor and, an over all amazing individual,” contrasting Hitch’s claims deriding his elegance and recalling that “he was a fabulous man and so very talented. He had a great sense of humor and he made our job fun.”

What’d He Wear?

For the final act of Marnie, Mark’s assumed role as Marnie’s de facto therapist finds him in this handsome herringbone suit that differs from his earlier tweeds in its grounded shades of light brown that—while perhaps too warm to flatter Sean Connery’s cool complexion—suggest a more modest man who finally has his wife’s best interests at heart. (Too little, too late, in my opinion, but Hitch’s intent differs from my judgment of the character!)

Marnie and Mark’s respective country attire reflect their activity on the day of the hunt: she’s dressed for equestrian pursuits, while his tweed suit and tie befit a gentleman spending an afternoon at his estate. (Neither are necessarily dressed for an impromptu two-hour drive in the rain, but that doesn’t stop the Rutlands!)

Previously introduced during a brief vignette at sea during Mark and Marnie’s nightmare honeymoon cruise, this herringbone tweed suit most prominently appears on the day of the storied fox hunt, an appropriately bucolic occasion for such a decidedly countrified suit. Tweed originated in the British Isles as a coarse fabric favored for outdoor sports and shooting. It maintains an enduring association with the region, though it journeyed across the Atlantic to become established as a fixture of American Ivy style by the early 20th century.

“Herringbone” was so named for the V-shaped chevrons that resemble a fish skeleton created by the broken twill weave, here consisting of alternating tan and cream-colored woolen tweed thread that create an overall beige textured effect.

The Rutland drawing room’s equestrian decor reinforce the contextual fitness of Mark’s warm light brown herringbone tweed country suit.

Though Mark lives and works in Philadelphia, Sean Connery makes no attempt to hide his Scottish accent so it’s likely that the Anglo-American publisher has his clothing made by an English tailor, which would explain the incorporation of English cut and detailing. (However, the tailoring differs enough from Connery’s clothing as James Bond that we can at least determine that the suits and sport jackets in Marnie were not tailored by Anthony Sinclair.)

The single-breasted jacket has a three-button front, perhaps the most obvious differentiator from 007’s two-button jackets. The notch lapels are fashionably narrow for the mid-1960s, though still more voluminous than the almost comically shrunken lapels from the early 2010s that attempted to mimic “Mad Men-era” suits. Mark’s ventless jacket has straight shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and three-button cuffs. The straight set-in hip pockets are covered with flaps, and he leaves the welted breast pocket consistently undressed.

Mark pulls back on his now-dry tweed suit jacket as he and Marnie prepare to leave her mother’s home, with a renewed future outlook as clear as the weather.

Unfortunately, Mark doesn’t think to grab a raincoat before driving to Baltimore so his suit gets drenched. As he pulls off his jacket in the hopes of keeping Marnie dry, we see that his right sleeve has two spaced buttons rather than three-button cuffs, suggesting the use of a different “stunt” jacket to protect Mark’s principal suit.

As Mark and Marnie wait for her mother to answer the door, he pulls off the jacket of his suit… though the spaced two-button cuffs differ from the “kissing” three-button cuffs.

Mark’s double forward-pleated suit trousers appropriately rise to Connery’s natural waist, self-suspended by an adjuster tab on each side of the waistband that fastens to one of three buttons. A squared extended waistband tab closes the front through two small hidden silver hooks. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) with almost no break. The trousers have straight vertical set-in side pockets, positioned about an inch forward of each side seam, but no back pockets.

Mark’s pale ecru cotton poplin shirt provides a soft harmony with the brown shades of the suit, detailed with a spread collar, front placket, and rounded single-button barrel cuffs. Frank Foster made the shirts that Connery wore in his two other 1964 movies—Goldfinger and the non-Bond thriller Woman of Straw—and Matt Spaiser has pointed out in his Bond Suits articles about Marnie that Mark Rutland’s shirts share similarities with those made by the prolific London shirtmaker.

Mark wears a rust brown twill tie, knotted in a Windsor or half-Windsor and held in place with a short gold tie clip, worn low. Of this dainty but oft-useful accessory, Sir Hardy Amies wrote in ABCs of Men’s Fashion—published in 1964, the same year of Marnie‘s release—that “tie clips are seen much less, now that ties are narrower.” Indeed, some scenes in Marnie show Connery’s tie swinging freely, the seemingly redundant tie clip hanging on for dear life having failed its mission of securing it to the shirt. Perhaps to lend some support to the clip, Connery begins the sequence with the tie blade tucked into his trouser waistband, though the struggle with an armed Marnie and the rainy journey to her mother’s home pull the pointed blade from this position.

Mark’s brown tie appears to lack any tipping sewn on the underside of the blade, suggesting a lighter-weight tie that would indeed benefit from a tie clip.

Appropriate for his country dress, Mark wears brown derby brogues, detailed with the full brogue’s characteristic perforated wingtips and decorative toe medallions. Returning to the contemporary wisdom of Sir Hardy’s 1964 volume, ABCs of Men’s Fashion describes the brogue as “really only used on the sort of footgear Americans and our continental friends think of as being typically British.”

Mark’s brogues are constructed of burnished cherry brown leather uppers, derby-laced with three sets of eyelets through each rounded facing, and welted to brown leather soles. The relatively short break of the trousers with the low openings of Mark’s shoes show his tonally coordinated dark brown socks.

The shorter break of Mark’s suit trousers provide a fine look at his handsome derby brogues.

Glimpsed under Connery’s left shirt cuff, we see the silver-toned flash of what appears to be the steel case and rotating bezel of a dive watch. It may indeed be a Rolex Submariner, like the ref. 6538 he had started wearing as James Bond two years earlier in Dr. No, though I wouldn’t feel qualified to make such a definitive judgement based on that evidence alone.

Even if Mark Rutland is wearing a 007-style Rolex Submariner, we can be certain that it merely tells the time and lacks an electromagnet, laser cutter, or circular saw.

The Gun

A distraught Marnie returns to the Rutland estate, armed with a Smith & Wesson Model 10 that she borrowed from a local farmer to kill her injured horse after the fox hunt. Mark slides the revolver just out of Marnie’s reach when he catches her robbing his safe, eventually storing the gun inside it.

Smith & Wesson had introduced its Military & Police revolver around the turn of the 20th century, with a swing-out cylinder designed to carry six rounds of .38 Special ammunition. The revolver quickly became a favorite of American law enforcement for decades to follow, including after it was designated the “Model 10” following Smith & Wesson’s adoption of numerical nomenclature in the 1950s.

Over its extensive production history, the Military & Police/Model 10 was offered in a variety of finishes and barrel lengths, though Marnie uses a classic blued model with a four-inch “service revolver” barrel.

Marnie places her newly acquired Smith & Wesson atop one of Mark’s issues of Publishers’ Weekly.

How to Get the Look

Sean Connery as Mark Rutland in Marnie (1964)

Dressing in a beige herringbone tweed suit potentially softens the appearance of a man who had earlier been presented to us as a successful businessman and domineering husband, appropriately accompanied by brown tie and brogues that befit the coarser cloth, warmer tones, and countrified setting.

• Tan-and-cream herringbone tweed tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with hidden-hook waistband tab, 3-button side-adjuster waist tabs, straight side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Light ecru cotton poplin shirt with spread collar, front placket, and rounded button cuffs
• Rust brown twill tie
• Short gold tie clip
• Cherry brown leather 3-eyelet medallion-toe wingtip derby brogues
• Dark brown socks
• Steel dive watch

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Mark Rutland’s wardrobe had been recommended as a post by BAMF Style reader Gleb nearly five years ago, but I finally got around to watching this after the Criterion Channel included it among their “Hitchcock for the Holidays” feature, a catalog of greats from the Master of Suspense scheduled to leave the channel by the end of this month.

The Quote

Marnie… it’s time to have a little compassion for yourself.

The post Marnie: Sean Connery’s Beige Herringbone Tweed Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Telly Savalas as Lt. Theo Kojak on Kojak (Episode 1.08: “Dark Sunday”)

Vitals

Telly Savalas as Theo Kojak, NYPD lieutenant

New York City, Fall 1973

Series: Kojak
Episode: “Dark Sunday” (Episode 1.08)
Air Date: December 12, 1973
Director: Charles R. Rondeau
Creator: Abby Mann

Background

Who loves ya, baby?

As today would have been the 100th birthday of Telly Savalas—born January 21, 1922—it felt like the time to take a long-overdue look at the Greek-American actor’s signature role as the tough and tenacious Theo Kojak.

Kojak’s famous lollipops were introduced in the eighth episode, “Dark Sunday”, which begins with the murder of a small-time criminal named Artie Fowler (Marc Alaimo). “He used to love to play with cars, you know,” recalls Kojak. “Strip ’em, drive ’em, steal ’em… oh well, what else?” Through his investigations of the murder, Kojak welcomes Artie’s girlfriend Maria Cranston (Lara Parker) to his office. He has a lit cigarillo in his mouth when she enters, but he swiftly tosses it away in favor of a Tootsie Pop pulled from his desk… the first of what would become one of the character’s trademarks.

The new habit is called out in this same episode by Kojak’s fellow detective, Bobby Crocker (Kevin Dobson), who had been eyeing the suckers with some suspicion.

Crocker: Hey, what’s with the lollipops?
Kojak: I’m lookin’ to close the generation gap. Get outta here!

What’d He Wear?

Kojak would eventually join the vast fraternity of classic TV shows to credit the wardrobe to Botany 500, the American menswear brand that dressed dozens of sitcom stars and game show hosts across the 1960s and ’70s, though the New York-based brand wasn’t yet credited by the time credits rolled on “Dark Sunday” (Episode 1.08). Still, this early episode provides a great look at the glabrous lieutenant’s approach to dressing as Kojak subtly deconstructs his attire over the course of a long day’s investigation.

Throughout the course of Kojak, Savalas dressed his famously bald dome in trilbies like this black short-brimmed hat, decorated with a band of seven black-and-white braids densely stacked to create the effect of staggered static waves around the base of the crown.

Savalas rotated through several pairs of sunglasses as Kojak, often styled with colorful lenses affixed to fashionable frames. His “Dark Sunday” sunglasses appear to be wire-rimmed with blue tinted gradient lenses, resembling a squared aviator-style frame.

Layered against the brisk New York fall morning, Kojak wears his navy melton wool double-breasted coat, with shoulder straps (epaulettes) affecting a martial appearance. The peak lapels and breast pocket are finished with sporty “swelled” welted edges.

Though he dresses for this particular day on the job in a gray flannel suit that had appeared in earlier episodes like “Girl in the River” (Episode 1.05), Lieutenant Kojak is hardly the quintessential American office drone. The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels, rolling to a two-button front, and detailed with four-button cuffs and long double vents. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets that slant toward the back, and a flapped ticket pocket added to the right side. The suit’s matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) has slim notch lapels, a four-button front, and four slim-welted pockets.

Kojak slips his fingers into his waistcoat’s lower pockets as he consults with Crocker.

Kojak holds up the flat front trousers with a black leather belt that closes through a large squared silver-toned single-prong buckle. The bottoms are plain-hemmed, breaking over his black leather shoes. The pockets slant back from behind the foremost belt loop, ending at each side seam, and there are no back pockets.

Kojak further deconstructs his wardrobe around the office by removing both his suit jacket and waistcoat.

The pale-blue shirt has a substantially sized collar, consistent with early ’70s trends, as well as a front placket, breast pocket, and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with a set of large silver etched disc links that resemble coins. His tie is printed in a navy, burgundy, bronze, and black paisley.

Making the most of that lollipop.

Savalas undoubtedly wore his usual array of gold necklaces layered under his shirt, but Kojak’s visible jewelry is limited to a pair of bracelets and a gold ring flashing from his left hand. He wears a different bracelet on each wrist, with the right bracelet connected by a series of small circular links and the left bracelet a twisted rope chain.

By the late 1970s, Savalas publicly touted Rolex watches but he spent much of the decade on Kojak wearing a unique digital timepiece. Finished with a gold case on a tapered gold expanding band, the watch resembles the Pulsar-style LED watch that Hamilton had brought to market at the start of the decade and popularized on screen via Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die.

Kojak flashes plenty of gold from his wrists.

Kojak’s digital watch has been identified as a gold-plated Omega Time Computer 1, specifically a 1974 model described by Uncrate as “one of the first LED watches made, sporting more transistors than the smallest TV of the time.” Solar Navigator goes on to explain that this waterproof watch has a single magnetic switch on the side that triggers the red-lit LED display.

The Gun

Kojak draws his issued revolver, identified by IMFDB as a Smith & Wesson Model 15 with a two-inch “snub-nosed” barrel appropriate for a plainclothes detective. Smith & Wesson had introduced the K-15 Combat Masterpiece at the end of the 1940s, renaming it the Model 15 the following decade when the brand designated each of its models with a numeric nomenclature. Per its original moniker, the revolver was built on Smith & Wesson’s medium-sized “K” frame and was chambered for the .38 Special ammunition typical of law enforcement service revolvers. The two-inch barreled variant was introduced in 1964 and would be discontinued in 1988 alongside the lengthy 8 3/8″ barrel.

How to Get the Look

Telly Savalas as Lt. Theo Kojak on Kojak (Episode 1.08: “Dark Sunday”)

Though the character’s wardrobe would rotate through a selection of uniquely detailed suits and sport jackets, this notable episode that introduced his penchant for lollipops illustrated how Lieutenant Kojak could also add his personal flourishes to a relatively conventional suit.

• Gray flannel suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Single-breasted 4-button waistcoat with slim notch lapels and four welted pockets
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale-blue shirt with large collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
• Navy, burgundy, and black paisley tie
• Black leather shoes
• Navy melton wool double-breasted coat with shoulder straps/epaulettes
• Black felt trilby with black-and-white braided band
• Wire-rimmed sunglasses with blue tinted gradient lenses
• Gold round-link chain bracelet
• Gold twisted rope-chain bracelet
• Gold ring
• Gold-plated Pulsar-style LED digital watch on expanding band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

Apologies for the low-resolution screenshots, but I unfortunately don’t have access to any high-quality versions of Kojak episodes.

The Quote

New York’s finest? They’re gonna end up makin’ the Keystone Kops seem like grave-diggers.

The post Telly Savalas as Kojak: A Gray Suit for the First Lollipop appeared first on BAMF Style.