Jean Peters and Max Showalter in Niagara (1953)

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Max Showalter as Ray Cutler, honeymooning salesman

The Canadian side of Niagara Falls, Summer 1952

Film: Niagara
Release Date: January 21, 1953
Director: Henry Hathaway
Costume Designer: Dorothy Jeakins

Background

Niagara remains one of the rare examples of colorful film noir, a seemingly oxymoronic cinematic phenomenon that had been established nearly a half-decade earlier by the great Leave Her to Heaven. Of course, many early 1950s dramas that would eventually be classified “film noir” were still being made in color, but Joseph MacDonald’s stunning Technicolor cinematography of Niagara captured the picturesque beauty of the titular falls… as well as the titillating beauty of its breakout star, Marilyn Monroe.

Niagara Falls brings honeymooning to mind, and that was exactly what had inspired producer Charles Brackett, who co-wrote the script with Richard Breen and Walter Reisch, with the latter specifically recommending that the story be a murder mystery.

Monroe stars as Rose Loomis, the seductive wife of volatile Korean War veteran George Loomis (Joseph Cotten), whose erratic depression and irritability suggest he suffers from PTSD. The troubled marriage is contrasted by the saccharine dynamic of their cheerful fellow vacationers, Polly (Jean Peters) and Ray Cutler (Max Showalter).

Born 105 years ago today on June 2, 1917 (one day after Monroe’s 1926 birthday), Showalter was a frequent face on screen during the ’50s and ’60s, perhaps best known as the original Ward Cleaver in the Leave It to Beaver pilot before he was replaced by Hugh Beaumont. He was credited for much of his career as Casey Adams, the more “bankable” name selected by 20th Century Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck when Showalter had signed as a contract player in the late 1940s.

Happy but aloof, Showalter’s Ray has yet to grasp the finer points of being married, such as not pointing out to his newlywed wife how attractive another woman is… even if she’s Marilyn Monroe. One evening early in their delayed honeymoon, the Cutlers are subject to the turbulence percolating within the Loomis marriage as Rose, who had been dancing among the hotel’s fellow guests during an outdoor bash, invites George’s rage by playing a ballad called “Kiss” that enrages him to the point of storming out of the couples’ cabin to violently smash the record.

What’d He Wear?

The emergence of men’s sportswear in the mid-20th century was influenced by returning servicemen’s uniforms, aloha shirts, and an overall slackening of American sartorial standards. The convergence of these factors resulted in the increased allowance for men to dress for warmer, informal environments in short-sleeved shirts. Thus… the rise of the camp collar.

Also known as the “revere collar” or “Cuban collar”, the camp collar generally refers to a casual shirt’s notched collar, meant to be worn open and flat, though some—like Ray’s shirt—feature a short loop on the left side that corresponds to a button hidden under the right collar leaf that could close the shirt over the chest, if needed.

Ray’s shirt is a rich dark navy rayon with a large-scaled print of white branches, all collected into quasi-medallion circles. As reported, the fashionably wide collar has a short loop that he wears undone. The shirt also boasts a pair of non-matching chest pockets and a plain front (no placket) with three flat white plastic buttons visible above his waistline.

“My wife and i saw you from across the motel parking lot where your husband’s in a PTSD-induced rage, and we’re really digging your vibe… can we buy you a non-spiked Coke?”

Given the cyclical resurgence of retro-minded camp-collar shirts (as you need look no further than the above list to see how they’ve been embraced by modern outfitters), perhaps the most dated part of Ray’s honeymooning party garb are his high-waisted and double-pleated trousers.

Made from a light gray woolen flannel, Ray’s double forward-pleated trousers appropriately rise to Max Showalter’s natural waist, where they’re self-suspended with side adjusters in lieu of a belt. The trousers are styled with slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and legs that taper down to the bottoms, finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Ray’s black leather apron-toe slip-on shoes are penny loafers, the relaxed style that had been introduced two decades prior with G.H. Bass pioneering the “Weejun” in 1936. In Icons of Men’s Style, Josh Sims writes that the characteristic slot on the strap traversing the vamp was intended to be purely decorative, “but when American college students began to wear the style—comfortable and smart, but sufficiently casual to avoid being corporate—during the period after the Second World War that saw the birth of the teenager, they slid a coin into the slot, hence the style’s nickname.”

His dark socks may be black, though certain light suggests a dark navy that would coordinate with his shirt.

Sartorial chroniclers have long debated the loafer’s acceptability with a suit, but Ray Cutler sidesteps the issue by suitably wearing his penny loafers with his casual yet tasteful sports shirt and flannel trousers.

Ray illustrates the practical versatility of penny loafers, wearing them with both casual outfits like this as well as with a navy sports coat and tie in a later scene.

Throughout Niagara, Ray wears a simple gold wristwatch with a round off-white dial on a gold bracelet.

“Plain Coke or did you spike it?” Rose asks in response to the Cutlers offering her a drink. “No, just plain,” Ray confirms.

How to Get the Look

Max Showalter as Ray Cutler in Niagara (1953)

The honeymooning Ray Cutler in Niagara neatly illustrated casual and comfortable yet classy mid-century leisurewear with his dark blue printed camp shirt, pleated slacks, and penny loafers. As printed camp shirts once again find favor as a retro-informed summer staple, you can respond in kind by dressing up your lower half with tasteful trousers and leather loafers.

• Navy and white medallion-printed rayon short-sleeve sports shirt with wide loop/camp collar, plain front, and two chest pockets
• Light gray woolen flannel double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with side adjusters, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather apron-toe penny loafers
• Dark navy socks
• Gold wristwatch with round off-white dial on gold bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. Please also share some tips in the comments for me as my fiancée and I plan for our honeymoon after our wedding this October!

The Quote

There’s still some shredded wheat in my joints!

The post Niagara: Max Showalter’s Navy Printed Camp Shirt on Honeymoon appeared first on BAMF Style.

Charlton Heston as CAPT Matthew Garth in Midway (1976)

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Charlton Heston as CAPT Matthew Garth, U.S. Naval Aviator

Pearl Harbor to Midway Island, Spring 1942

Film: Midway
Release Date: June 18, 1976
Director: Jack Smight

Background

Many familiar with World War II history are familiar with the significance of Monday’s date as, on June 6, 1944, the Allies landed at Normandy in northern France as part of the “D-Day” invasion that laid the groundwork for the eventual Allied victory. Two years earlier, the Americans had been engaged in yet another decisive battle that would turn the tide of the second World War.

The Battle of Midway had commenced 80 years ago today on June 4, 1942, following intelligence gathered by the U.S. Navy that allowed it to prepare for a counterattack against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Three days of battle followed, with American forces destroying all four Japanese fleet carriers that had engaged and—in both a tactical and symbolic victory—had also been part of the six-carrier force that attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier.

Though the Americans also suffered the loss of a carrier, a destroyer, and approximately 150 aircraft, casualties were considerably higher on the Japanese side (including nearly double the amount of aircraft lost), marking an early turning point of the Pacific War in favor of the Allies and which historian John Keegan has called “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.”

In addition to an 18-minute color documentary directed during the battle by John Ford, the Battle of Midway has been the subject of two major movies, mostly recently in 2019. A star-studded retelling of the battle and its lead-up was produced by The Mirisch Company in 1976, starring—among many others—Henry Fonda as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet. Having served in the Navy in real life during World War II, Fonda had actually partly narrated Ford’s 1942 documentary and also appeared as an unnamed admiral inspired by Nimitz in the 1965 epic In Harm’s Way.

The cast was rounded out by both established international stars from Robert Mitchum to Toshiro Mifune and relative newcomers like Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada, and a non-mustached Tom Selleck. Being made just over 30 years after World War II ended meant a number of actual veterans among its cast; in addition to Fonda, Glenn Ford, Charlton Heston, Hal Holbrook, Cliff Robertson, and Robert Webber had all served.

Though most of its characters are real-life figures, Midway centers around a fictionalized hero in the form of naval aviator CAPT Matthew Garth (Heston), for whom the battle presents the culmination of his increasing personal and professional troubles.

What’d He Wear?

While I haven’t yet seen the 2019 Midway, I suspect that at least one stronger point in the newer movie’s favor is a greater diversity of uniforms. The 1976 Midway is a constant parade of khaki, generally foregoing the full jacket-and-tie service uniform in favor of the simpler shirt-and-trousers working uniform. This may indeed have some basis in truth, but it made it all the more refreshing when certain characters subtly subverted the monotony, whether in the form of RADM Ray Spruance (Glenn Ford) briefly donning a khaki deck jacket during the battle or when CAPT Garth drops in on his pal CDR Joseph Rochefort (Hal Holbrook), the latter having draped a silk dressing gown over his khaki.

Seeking some comfort during his intelligence team’s long period sequestered in cryptanalysis, CDR Rochefort dresses for comfort in a non-regulation dressing gown over his partially buttoned khaki shirt and trousers, while CAPT Garth presents the image of naval formality in his freshly laundered shirt and black tie.

The United States military had started implementing the dressed-down khaki shirt and trousers as early as the mid-1930s following a request from the U.S. Army’s Panama Canal Department, where servicemen sought a comfortable but presentable uniform while working in the oppressive heat of the Panama Canal Zone. In April 1938, the Army authorized a “Class C” working uniform of shirts and trousers made from matching 8.2 oz. cotton twill, which would be continually modified over the course of World War II by reducing the weight to 6 oz. and ultimately 5 oz. by war’s end as well as introducing the convertible shirt collar that could be worn with or without a tie.

The practice would be followed by the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the U.S. Navy (USN), though the latter had been borrowing USMC’s khaki uniform elements for Naval Aviators since 1913. By the time the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the Navy had authorized khaki shirts and trousers as approved working uniforms aboard all ships and submarines, and this Service Khaki non-dress uniform remains in practice nearly a century later, albeit with the considerable difference of short-sleeved shirts having been authorized in the 1960s.

Stationed in the tropical Hawaiian islands, CAPT Garth exclusively wears his khaki working uniform throughout Midway, rotating through a series of nearly identical khaki cotton long-sleeved uniform shirts to match his colleagues. All of the long-sleeved shirts in Midway are styled appropriately with two chest pockets that each close with a single-button flap, though—as in real life—the shapes of these flaps vary between mitred corners (as worn by Henry Fonda as ADM Nimitz), scalloped (as worn by Robert Webber as RADM Frank Fletcher and Edward Albert as Garth’s son), and completely rectangular (as worn by CAPT Garth, CDR Rochefort, and RADM Spruance).

Try prying this one from his cold— well, you know the rest.

In warm climates, necessitating the removal of the coats of the aviation working uniforms, the insignia of rank, a metal pin-on device, shall be worn by all commissioned and warrant officers on the collar of the shirt.
— Chapter IX of the 1941 U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations

Per this uniform code, Garth wears his rank insignia on both leaves of the shirt’s collar, which alternates between a straight point collar in earlier scenes and a more spread collar in later scenes. Similar to the equivalent O-6 grade of colonel in the Army and Marine Corps, the insignia for Garth’s rank of captain is a silver eagle, designed to mimic the Great Seal of the United States with a U.S. shield superimposed over its chest with an olive branch and bundle of arrows in its talons.

As a Naval Aviator, CAPT Garth has also been prescribed to wear his gold “wings” pinned just above his left breast pocket. This all-gold design for the Naval Aviation device had originated in late 1917 and has remained essentially the same since it was described in the 1922 regulations as “a gold embroidered or bronze gold-plated metal pin, winged, foul anchor surcharged with a shield ½ inch in height, 2¾ inches from tip to tip of wings; length of foul anchor 1 inch,” though the latter had been reduced to 7/8 inch by the start of World War II.

Always while at sea and sometimes while on land, Garth wears the top of his shirt’s front placket undone, showing the top of his white cotton crew-neck short-sleeved undershirt. On the occasions that Garth does wear a tie with his khaki shirt, he follows the oft-cited 1941 regulations that stipulated a simple tie which “shall be plain black, four-in-hand, made of silk, rayon, or wool,” likely favoring the latter based on its matte appearance on screen.

CAPT Garth dresses to impress by wearing his tie when making the case for his prospective daughter-in-law’s family to be released from an internment camp.

Garth’s flat front trousers appear to be made from the same khaki cotton twill as his shirt, which balances being more proneness to wrinkling with also being cooler-wearing than heavier wool trousers. Styled with straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms, these relatively comfortable trousers transcended their wartime usage when they were popularized among civilians as relatively comfortable alternatives. Decades later, the enduring popularity of khakis provides a testament to their staying power.

Garth holds up his khaki trousers with the standard-issue 1¼”-wide khaki cotton web belt that closes through a plain gold-anodized brass slider buckle.

Garth typically presents a slightly more formal variation of his khaki working uniform while on land, not only wearing his tie but also the more decorative peaked “combination cap” with a khaki cotton cover to match the rest of his uniform. The hat has a gold lace ½”-wide “chinstrap” over the black mohair-braided cap band. As authorized for ranks of commander and captain, Garth chooses to adorn his black leather visor with the gold embroidered “scrambled eggs” decoration of oak leaves and acorns.

The officer’s device on the front of the cap is a silver eagle with its wings spread, perched on a shield and turned to the right in alignment with the sword arm, superimposed over two crossed gold anchors. (More information about U.S. Navy headgear from WWII can be found here.)

While at sea aboard USS Yorktown, CAPT Garth follows the Navy’s direction that “in lieu of officers’ and chief petty officers’ regulation caps, a garrison cap may be worn with winter and summer working uniforms.” Also known as a side cap, field service cap, and flight cap, this soft headgear had been originally authorized strictly for naval aviation officers until permission was expanded eight months after Midway to be an acceptable alternative to any Navy personnel who wore peaked combination covers.

Garrison caps were to made from the same cloth and color of the wearer’s uniform, so Garth appropriately wears a khaki cotton cap, made from the Navy dimensions of “a top curving from front to rear (3 inches high in front, 4¾ inches high in center, and 4 inches high in rear), without points at either end, fitted with a sweatband, and having aprons turned up on both sides and with the left side overlapping the right side.” This slanted “apron” tapered from a 3¼” height in the front down to just 2½” in the back, creating a graceful wave-like effect that contributed to the Navy garrison cap’s distinction from its Army and Marine cousins.

As an aviation officer, Garth affixes his cap with a miniature winged badge, scaled to half the size of the standard insignia, pinned two inches from the front on the left side, with his silver rank insignia pinned to the right.

You can read more about these caps here, which also explains their tactical advantage as “the small, foldable, easily cared for cap was a significant convenience to thousands of Navy personnel shipped overseas to busy combat zones during the war; and especially so when compared to the care requirements of the much more fragile peaked cap.”

Apropos their nomenclature, aviator-style sunglasses had been originally developed for pilots when the U.S. Army Air Corps contracted American Optical (AO Eyewear) to craft their D-1 flying goggles in 1935. As the government prepared for war, the Army and Navy collaborated on standardizing the “AN6531” lenses that would be used on millions of sunglasses issued to members of both branches, with the green-tinted Type 1 ultimately superseded by the “rose smoke”-tinted Type 2. A plethora of manufacturers including American Optical and Bausch & Lomb were contracted to meet the demand for these military “flying sun glasses (comfort cable)” with their nickel-plated copper alloy frames, teardrop-shaped lenses, and prominent brow bar.

Garth’s aviator sunglasses generally reflect the military-authorized AN6531 shape and pattern, but their gold-finished frames and lack of a frontal brow bar suggests that Heston likely wore a pair of post-war shades intended for the civilian market.

Garth’s appearance recalls the traditional image of General Douglas MacArthur in his peaked cap, aviators, and open collar, with Garth only missing the famous general’s corncob pipe.

In addition to their gold winged badge, Naval Aviators have long been sartorially differentiated by the authorization for brown service shoes to wear with their khaki uniforms. The only stipulations in the 1941 regulations were that they be “shall be made of plain brown leather and shall be of plain design,” though the comparatively more tasteful and traditional dressers of the era would have interpreted this to mean low lace-up oxfords or derbies with either plain or cap-toes.

The high-flying CAPT Garth follows the Navy’s direction, wearing russet-brown leather plain-toe derby shoes with plain black cotton lisle socks.

A Navy sentry confirms CAPT Garth’s authorization to enter the intelligence facility—and to wear brown shoes—by checking his identity card, which confirms he’s been a Naval Aviator for 18 years by the time of the opening scene, set in the spring of 1942.

Given the status of his rank and its yellow gold case, CAPT Garth’s watch is likely his personal timepiece rather than one of the more utilitarian models produced by companies like Elgin, Hamilton, and Waltham for American service members to wear during World War II.

Garth’s long-sleeved shirt tends to cover his wristwatch, but we get a glance of its gold case on the inside of his left wrist as he and CDR Rochefort share their conclusions about Midway with ADM Nimitz and his aide, LCDR Ernest Blake (Robert Wagner), who wears a more visible steel watch.

Fans of World War II-era USN khaki at sea would also see plenty in Mister Roberts, also starring Henry Fonda—albeit two decades younger—as the eponymous executive officer of a cargo ship in the Pacific.

CAPT Garth’s Uniform

Charlton Heston as CPT Matthew Garth in Midway (1976)

While you’d never want to steal valor by appropriating military uniforms or insignia, there’s plenty to be learned by studying the philosophy of military apparel. After all, there must be a reason that the U.S. Navy’s “non-dress” service khaki uniform has remained virtually unchanged for over 80 years with its matching cotton shirt and trousers, with the more tonally appropriate brown lace-ups for fliers like CAPT Garth, who earns the right to wear aviator sunglasses by virtue of his occupation. Dressing the same would look too much like attempting a uniform, but surplus Navy gear—sans insignia, of course—can be comfortable supplements to warm-weather wardrobes.

• Khaki cotton long-sleeve shirt with “convertible” point collar, front placket, two rectangular-flapped patch pockets on chest, and single-button cuffs
  • Silver eagle collar devices (denoting O-6 rank of Captain)
• Khaki cotton flat front trousers with belt loops, straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Khaki cotton web belt with gold-anodized brass slider buckle
• Russet-brown leather plain-toe derby service shoes
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Khaki cotton “combination cover” officer’s cap with gold-embroidered “scrambled eggs” across black leather visor
• Gold-framed AN6531 aviator-style sunglasses
• Gold wristwatch

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

You know, you’re being paid to fly fighter planes, not sit down in your cabin and cry over your girl’s picture!

The post Midway: Charlton Heston’s Naval Aviation Khaki appeared first on BAMF Style.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021)

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Daniel Craig as James Bond, retired British secret agent

Jamaica to Cuba, Spring 2020

Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 00-7th of June! The weather continues warming up as we approach summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and I’m sure I won’t be alone in turning to James Bond for inspiration as I begin rotating summer style staples back to the front of my closet.

To dissect the phrasing of his literary creator, you could say James Bond had lived enough for two lifetimes by the time we find the globetrotting secret agent now retired toward the start of No Time to Die. Approximately five years have passed since he finally left the employ of MI6 and—again, like Ian Fleming—he’s settled into seaside solitude on the shores of Jamaica, the Caribbean island nation where Ian Fleming penned many of his Bond novels and where the film series itself began with most of the action in Dr. No.

“You fell so far off the grid we thought you must be dead,” his old boss M (Ralph Fiennes) would ultimately tell him, and that appears to be just how Bond likes it, isolated in a tropical paradise with little to do but fish, drink, and work through piles of books with adventurous titles like A Sailor’s Tales, The Complete Book of Sea Fishing, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Returning home from a day of fishing, the erstwhile 007 proves that his spy-dey senses haven’t totally abandoned him as the presence of cigar ash—particularly Delectado cigars, as favored by his old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright)—alerts him to a recent intruder. He showers, brushes his teeth, and stows his pistol into his desk before driving his Land Rover into Port Antonio, where he engineers a run-in with Felix and his politically appointed State Department crony Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), who eagerly describes himself as “a huge fan” of Bond… only to be disparaged as “the Book of Mormon” by his espionage hero.

“It’ll be like old times,” Leiter pitches Bond over drinks on the prospect of reteaming, having specifically selected the retired agent to assist them in finding the missing MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). Bond declines the task, choosing to relive his “old times” by going home with Nomi (Lashana Lynch), a mysterious woman he had encountered the club… only to learn that she’s a British agent who threatens him into keeping out of her way.

Nomi: A lot’s moved on since you retired, Commander Bond. Perhaps you didn’t notice?
Bond: No, can’t say I had! In my humble opinion, the world doesn’t change very much.

Evidently, Nomi hadn’t realized that the now-cynical Bond had turned down Leiter’s request and—perhaps hoping to insult him into complacency—she aims to further twist a knife into Bond’s ego by revealing a detail of her relationship with his former employer.

Nomi: By the way, I’m not just any old double-O… I’m 007. You probably thought they’d retire it.
Bond: It’s just a number.

Nomi’s attempt to keep Bond in retirement fails, and indeed may have energized his wish to accept Leiter’s request for a “favor” when he calls the next morning and announces his decision: “Felix, I’m in.” Not a minute is wasted as Bond returns to the helm of his handsome Spirit 46 sailing yacht to traverse the Cayman Trench to meet his contact, the charming young agent Paloma (Ana de Armas), in Santiago de Cuba.

What’d He Wear?

It was April 29, 2019, the day before I was scheduled to leave for a work conference in Toronto. Among the final packing, travel arrangements, and meeting plans, I had received the long-awaited news that filming commenced the day before on the movie we all still knew as “Bond 25″… and that there were already behind-the-scenes photos from the Port Antonio production available online!

Bond fans received a dual treat with the April 2019 paparazzi shots released, not only sharing the first full outfit from No Time to Die but also teasing Jeffrey Wright’s return as Felix Leiter.

Considering that it was Daniel Craig’s approach to Bond’s casual style that drew me into the world of James Bond, I was delighted to see that our first glimpses—albeit unofficial ones—had shown yet another accessible and dressed-down outfit. The instant and intense scrutiny of the army of better-informed Bond style fans than I meant it wasn’t long before the brands were identified. Okay, Tom Ford, Omega, those jibe, but… Sperry? Tommy Bahama? You mean the stuff from my [retired] dad’s closet? (And yes, my closet too.)

As we learned more about the context of No Time to Die, it became clear that we were finally seeing Mr. Bond in retirement and, like so many retirees, he’d abandoned the constraints of dressing for work by favoring the more leisurely style championed by brands like Tommy Bahama. Sure, there may be more luxurious ways to do it, but—in the cinematic closure of a characterization consistent with the more fatalist pathos of Ian Fleming’s James Bond—it feels appropriate see our erstwhile civil servant dressed in more affordable and worn-in garb.

The well-tailored suits and dinner jacket would come later (this is still a Bond movie, after all), but this sequence in Jamaica feels like a 21st century sartorial update for the James Bond whose author had described items like his line up of Sea Island cotton shirts and a houndstooth suit alternately described as “battered” and “yellowing”.

Perhaps most importantly, the style is not only consistent with Bond’s literary roots but also the less-polished 007 that Daniel Craig had portrayed in his debut, Casino Royale. In that first film, his youthful Bond dressed for a night of poker at the Bahamas’ One&Only Ocean Club in an untucked black-presenting button-up shirt rumored to be from the unsophisticated Alfani label found only at Macy’s. Fifteen years later, the aged and retired Bond echoes that look with yet another untucked black shirt, suggesting a personal predisposition for how he favors dressing in the Caribbean.

One of the first officially released images from No Time to Die depicted Bond’s final moments of true retirement before returning to active duty as a favor to a friend. (Photo by Nicola Dove)

Bringing the conversation back to those better-informed Bond style fans, I always recommend Matt Spaiser’s site Bond Suits as the first place to find the best analysis of 007’s attire, with plenty of other excellent sources from experts and enthusiasts including Iconic Alternatives, James Bond Lifestyle, and The Bond Experience continuing to provide in-depth insights into the clothing, accessories, and gadgets of Bond’s world and wardrobe.

The Black Silk Shirt

After cleaning himself in an outdoor shower, Bond pulls on a comfortable black long-sleeved shirt that flatters Daniel Craig’s athletic physique but still offers a breezy fit, helped by two short notched vents on the sides. Like many Bond fans, I had initially registered considerable surprise to learn that Bond’s shirt had been positively identified as the Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”, but the style appears consistent with Bond’s standards, with a solid color in a luxurious fabric rather than some of the louder prints that Tommy Bahama is known for (and which I, neither sophisticated nor a secret agent, feel freer to wear.)

Per its name, the shirt is made from a silk twill, light enough to wear comfortably in a warmer environment, with a subtle white top-stitch along the edges. In his Bond Suits post about the outfit, Matt Spaiser concluded that the shirt had likely been tailored and shortened by the costume department, in turn reducing the number of buttons up the plain front from eight to six. The shirt buttons up to the neck, but Bond keeps the top few buttons undone, and the way that the one-piece collar presents so well when worn open-neck echoes the “convertible collar” originally developed in the mid-20th century for military uniform shirts to be worn effectively both with and without ties.

Bond keeps the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, but knowing the model of shirt he wears informs us that the mitred cuffs are finished with two stacked buttons to close. The shirt also has a squared patch pocket over the left side of the breast that’s just large enough for him to slip his sunglasses after the sun goes down, providing that rare case of a movie character visibly stowing something in a pocket without it magically disappearing when not in use.

Even Bond has the self-awareness to realize that Nomi’s taciturn self-invitation into his bedroom stretches the bounds of believability, asking that she “cut to the chase?” and disparaging her sense of “professional courtesy” after the damage she caused to his Land Rover. Now that he’s home, he’s presumably taken his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket but you can see them there throughout the Port Antonio nightclub scene, including while he’s drinking with Leiter and Logan Ash.

Years after No Time to Die was released, the shirt has evidently remained a favorite of Daniel Craig in real life as the great Instagram account @whatsdanielwearing spotted the actor wearing it while greeting fans after a May 2022 performance of Macbeth in New York City.

Read more about this shirt at James Bond Lifestyle. You can also buy the shirt from Tommy Bahama, though one should heed David Zaritsky’s word of caution in his excellent vlog to consider a size smaller than you usually wear.

The Gray Jeans

Unless you count the bottom half of Roger Moore’s powder-blue leisure suit in Live and Let Die or the denim-like pants briefly seen as Timothy Dalton’s disguise in Licence to Kill, Daniel Craig had been the first James Bond actor to prominently wear jeans as part of a significant outfit on screen, incorporating cream-colored Levi’s and more traditional dark blue denim 7 for All Mankind jeans among his casual fits in the action-packed Quantum of Solace.

Blue denim will always be the traditional cloth associated with jeans, but as they’ve become an established casual staple over the last few decades, other colors and cloths have emerged as alternatives that may regarded as slightly dressier, if for no other reason than lacking the century-old associations with manual labor, gold prospecting, and rodeos.

In No Time to Die, Bond pulls on a pair of light gray cotton jeans with a small black tab on the upper right side seam that has identified them as Tom Ford, the luxury brand that provided much of Daniel Craig’s tailored and casual-wear since Quantum of Solace. Despite the premium connotations of Tom Ford, the jeans follow traditional denim design with five pockets—two curved in the front, an inset right-side coin pocket, and patch back pockets—and nickel rivets, as well as a button-fly. Although the jeans have belt loops, Bond doesn’t wear a belt, in keeping with his more relaxed lifestyle as well as the jeans’ slim fit preventing the likelihood of any wardrobe malfunctions.

After finding unexpected cigar ash, Bond takes the extra precaution of arming himself with his personal Browning Hi-Power that’s never far from his reach, including tucked into his Tom Ford jeans before he stores it in a drawer in his living room. The lower rise of his jeans reveals the top of his black underwear as he pulls his pistol from the front of his waistband.

Read more about these jeans at Iconic Alternatives and James Bond Lifestyle. You can still find similar Tom Ford jeans for sale from retailers like Farfetch, or you could follow the rest of retired Bond’s budget-conscious example by finding light gray Levi’s for a fraction of the price without sacrificing quality.

The Boat Shoes

Boat shoes, or deck shoes, were pioneered in 1935 by New England-based outdoorsman Paul Sperry, who took inspiration from his dog’s paws to develop the now-famous siped sole that gave wearers traction aboard slippery decks. Initially, the Sperry Top-Sider remained limited to those who most needed to maintain their footing at sea, but the popularity slowly crept inland, first among the U.S. Navy who negotiated the rights to manufacture shoes for Naval Academy sailors and among the Ivy League students at universities that encircled Sperry’s headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.

“When deck shoes appeared on the cover of Lisa Birnbach’s tongue-in-cheek The Official Preppy Handbook in 1980, it cemented their place in the upper-crust WASP wardrobe as the dressier alternative to sneakers,” wrote Josh Sims in Icons of Men’s Style. Even 007 couldn’t resist the fashionable comfort of deck shoes, which debuted in the franchise when Timothy Dalton sported a pair while jumping across Tangier rooftops in The Living Daylights.

Following that adventure, it took Bond’s retirement to bring deck shoes back into his wardrobe when Daniel Craig was photographed on the set of No Time to Die wearing a weathered pair of Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original Rivingston boat shoes with full-grain nubuck leather uppers in a shade that Sperry describes as “Titan tan” but I’d be more inclined to describe as light brown. Following traditional deck shoe styling, these have hand-sewn moccasin-stitched toes and a customizable 360° lacing system for each shoe’s single brown rawhide lace entwined through two sets of rust-proof gold eyelets. Cushioned with lambskin lining and a layer of memory foam, the shoes are attached to non-marking latex outsoles with Sperry’s signature Razor-Cut Wave-Siping system.

“Boat shoe? More like yacht shoe, if we’re talking swag-factor,” describes the Sperry website, making their case simpler as our first look at the retired Bond depicts him cruising in a Spirit 46 sailing yacht… albeit barefoot. And on that note, Sims concluded his piece on the deck shoe by referring to “the sock controversy… to wear, or not to wear—the argument has yet to be won.” For the action-packed sequence in The Living Daylights, Dalton’s Bond had indeed worn socks with his deck shoes, but—for the retired Bond’s moment of relative leisure in No Time to Die—Craig appears to wear his Sperrys sans socks.

Daniel Craig on the Jamaican set of No Time to Die in April 2019.

Read more about these shoes at From Tailors With Love and James Bond Lifestyle. The latter also makes a compelling case for the “non-Rivingston” Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original boat shoe as a viable alternative, and—as it isn’t the screen-worn model—the tan colorway tends to be more frequently available. Though the screen-worn color is currently out of stock (as of June 2022), you can still purchase the Original Rivingston model from Sperry.

The Omega Watch

The end of Bond’s employment with MI6 evidently doesn’t mean the end of his preference for wearing Omegas, as the new model specifically designed for No Time to Die debuted during the scenes of Bond’s Jamaican retirement.

“When working with Omega, we decided that a lightweight watch would be key for a military man like 007,” Daniel Craig explained in Omega’s official announcement. The resulting product is the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer (210.90.42.20.01.001), worn on a metal “shark mesh” or “Milanese” bracelet that closes through an adjustable-fit deployable clasp. The 42mm case and bracelet were made from a lightweight yet durable and anti-corrosive Grade 2 titanium that offer a tactical advantage given the resistance to reflecting light.

“I also suggested some vintage touches and colors to give the watch a unique edge,” Craig shared in the announcement, no doubt referring to the unique “tropical brown” unidirectional bezel and dial, made from a weight-saving aluminum and providing an attractive alternative to Bond’s usual black and blue dials. The hours are indicated by luminous non-numeric markers, with a “broad arrow” just above the 6:00 marker that James Bond Lifestyle reports was “used by British Armed Forces and visible on some vintage watches issued and owned by the British Ministry of Defense (especially the W.W.W. watches from the Second World War).”

The watch is powered by Omega’s self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8806 movement with a power reserve of 55 hours and resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss. In addition to the screw-in crown, the Seamaster has a helium escape valve extending from the side at the 10:00 position.

Navigating the open sea presents the perfect context for Bond’s newly designed Omega which, particularly one with enough vintage design to echo the aging character himself.

You can purchase the No Time to Die Omega from Amazon and Omega… or check out the more affordable alternatives for both the watch and the mesh bracelet identified by Iconic Alternatives.

The Sunglasses

Following phases wearing Persol and Tom Ford sunglasses, Craig’s Bond seems to have settled on Vuarnet as his preferred eyewear brand after wearing their glacier goggles in his previous film, Spectre. Bond rotates between two pairs of Vuarnets in No Time to Die, beginning with these Vuarnet Legend 06 sunglasses that he wears in Jamaica and—like so many other items from Bond’s closet—had already been a favorite of Daniel Craig’s in real life.

The frames come by their sleek vintage design honestly, as French star and style icon Alain Delon had popularized the Vuarnet 06 when he wore a black nylon pair in the 1969 thriller La Piscine. A half-century later and appropriately renamed the Legend, these Vuarnets again received the star treatment when Craig wore a brown-framed pair with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses in No Time to Die.

Bond’s Vuarnets battle the setting sun as he cruises into Port Antonio at the wheel of a vintage Land Rover.

You can still buy these glasses from Vuarnet, advertised as “James Bond’s choice.”

The Baseball Cap

For his cross-sea journey to Cuba, Bond pulls on what may be the least characteristic part of his costume: a dark blue cotton baseball cap. Plain baseball caps have recently emerged as an unlikely status symbol associated with wealth, an image popularized by shows like Succession, albeit the Roys favor expensive cashmere caps that “subtly telegraph their affluence”, according to Wall Street Journal‘s Jacob Gallagher.

With his wardrobe of expensive tailoring from Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, and Tom Ford, some may expect Craig’s Bond to favor $500 Loro Piana caps à la the insufferable Kendall Roy, our Tommy Bahama-wearing retiree instead opts for the considerably more practical American workwear brand Carhartt, albeit de-branded for the finished movie. An “empty” square of stitching on the front suggests where the costume team would have removed the prominent brown leather Carhartt brand patch.

Made from a washed dark navy cotton canvas, the Carhartt cap follows traditional baseball cap styling with six triangular panels, each with a small ventilation grommet and top-stitched where sewn together, and an adjustable back strap.

In his Bond Suits analysis, Matt Spaiser observes that his plain navy baseball cap makes the character look more American—specifically like Craig’s style idol Steve McQueen as he appeared while piloting a glider in The Thomas Crown Affair.

You can read more about the Carhartt baseball cap at James Bond Lifestyle, which has identified the Carhartt “Odessa” Cotton Canvas cap as the likely contender for the screen-used version.

To buy similar caps, you can get the same “Odessa” with the prominent front branding that was removed for Bond or, if you want to avoid modification, the “Visor” with a plain front but a smaller Carhartt-branded tab sewn onto the left side.

The Waxed Jacket

In this sequence featuring brands both new and old (to Bond, anyway), the former agent introduced yet another Bond heritage brand to the outfit when pulling on a Barbour jacket for his unofficial mission to Cuba. This has been identified as the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham” jacket, a trimmed update of the classic Barbour Beaufort jacket designed in collaboration with Daiki Suzuki’s Engineered Garments with a waist-length cut and snap-up front that reminds me of a heavier-duty coach’s jacket.

This jacket perfectly suits the context, consistently casual like the rest of his outfit and in a neutral navy color that doesn’t threaten to clash while also evoking Commander Bond’s naval background and expertise at sea. The unwashed waxed cotton material would make for a comfortably lightweight layer in the tropical climate while still providing enough water resistance that would be an asset while sailing across the western Caribbean.

Like traditional deck jackets and other outerwear intended to resist the elements, this Barbour jacket has a wide storm-flap fly that fastens with five blue-finished snaps over a two-way brass-zipper with a circle pull. A substantial throat latch hangs under the left leaf of the wide collar, which closes over the neck by connecting to an exposed snap post on the right leaf should the wearer turn up his collar.

The full cut and raglan sleeves, left plain at the cuffs, offer Bond a substantial range of movement while navigating his boat. In addition to the wide-welted slash pockets, a large game pocket extends across the lower back with a vertical zip-entry on each side.

With his Barbour jacket now worn open, Bond meets his contact Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Santiago de Cuba, kicking off what the movie’s fans and detractors alike seem to agree would be a highlight of No Time to Die.

The “Graham” jacket has been discontinued (but still occasionally appearing on places like eBay), but—as of June 2022—the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Covert” jacket has generally adopted the same styling and can be purchased from Farfetch and MR PORTER.

You can learn more about the jacket from The Bond Experience, Iconic Alternatives, and James Bond Lifestyle.

The Gun

Dating back to many Ian Fleming novels and the first time Sean Connery introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond,” the Walther PPK had been well-established as 007’s duty weapon to the point that even many unfamiliar with firearms could identify this German-designed handgun as Bond’s preference. Originally chambered for the .32 ACP cartridge, the Daniel Craig characterization updated the compact pistol for a higher-caliber world by arming 007 with the slightly more powerful .380 ACP ammunition and the occasional modification of a PPK/S with a palm-print safety. Of course, once Bond is no longer in MI6’s service, he can no longer rely on the agency to equip him with firearms.

When Bond responds to a possible intruder in No Time to Die by arming himself with a Browning Hi-Power, we can assume that this is his personal pistol, perhaps having been stashed in a safe-house or privately purchased once MI6 demanded he hand in his latest Walther.  “Bond is a man of heritage, of classics, and of familiarity,” explained my friend Caleb Daniels, who manages the Commando Bond website and Instagram. “A retired 007, whether a ‘former SAS type’ or SBS, would have been very familiar with this firearm. It only fits that when reaching for a dedicated home defense firearm, he would reach for a functional classic like the Hi-Power.”

The Hi-Power had long been the designated service pistol of the British military, beginning with the 1950s when it was designated the L9 as the replacement for the aging Webley and Enfield revolvers; an upgraded Hi-Power was re-designated L9A1 during the following decade.

With his service record as a Commander in the Royal Navy and possibly the Special Boat Service (SBS), Bond would have been intricately familiar with the Hi-Power. The Walther PPK was a suitable choice when Bond needed a pistol that could be easily concealed, but his lifestyle in Jamaica would have reduced his armament needs to something reliable that he wouldn’t need to worry as much about carrying. With its double-stack magazine loaded with 9mm ammunition, the hardy Hi-Power would have been the perfect choice for his updated needs.

Caleb shared more about the specific Hi-Power that Bond wields on screen:

While we only see it for the briefest of instances, we can see that Bond’s pistol is interesting, as it is outfitted with a “commander”-style ring hammer and plastic grips which are typically found on MKIII Hi-Powers. This blending of old and new may just be a prop department accident, but I think it speaks well to Bond’s personal preferences. Ring hammers are popular on the Hi-Power platform as they prevent the dreaded hammer bit caused by the pistol’s short beavertail and aggressively sharp hammer. The newer production grips are a jet black polymer, and are detailed with a diamond stipple pattern and arched finger rests.

Bond, in his supreme confidence, carries this pistol inside the waistband at the appendix position (AIWB) without a holster or belt, for the briefest of moments, and then proceeds to lock it away in a concealed drawer prior to leaving his home to meet Felix Leiter. While I was disappointed to see Bond carry in such a way, it seems to have been just to briefly conceal the firearm, as he had not identified his mystery visitor as of yet, to provide an element of surprise if needed.

The curvature on the grips suggest the Mark III variant, which was introduced in 1988, though Bond’s Hi-Power could just be an older model modified with Mark III grips.

As its name implies, the Browning Hi-Power had been based on designs by firearms pioneer John Moses Browning in response to French military criteria, though Browning died in 1926, nearly a decade before the pistol was completed. It wasn’t until 1935 when his protégé Dieudonne Saive completed the design and Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN) produced the first P-35 Grande Puissance, or “Hi-Power”, named after its then unprecedented 13-round magazine capacity. Given that the pistol was chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, the Hi-Power was a precursor to what firearm writers would eventually dub the “Wonder Nine”, though this term would be more traditionally applied to double-action/single-action (DA/SA) pistols that appeared decades later.

With its single-action trigger and short recoil operation, the Hi-Power echoed the functionality of Browning’s iconic 1911 pistol design, though even the designer had to work outside of that earlier design since he had sold the 1911 rights exclusively to Colt. Despite this obstacle, the Hi-Power has ultimately emerged as a well-regarded pistol in its own right and has been continuously produced by FN Herstal since 1935, aside from a short four-year hiatus when production ended in 2018, only to be resumed this year as the modified “FN High-Power”.

Through its long lifespan, the Hi-Power had also undergone the cosmetic and functional updates one would expect of a nearly century-old design, including the Mark III variant introduced in 1988. Daniel Craig had previously handled another Browning Hi-Power as Bond when, in Casino Royale, he grabbed a Mark III from an embassy official’s desk in Madagascar.

Caleb concluded his points to me by remarking on the artistic parallels of this armament, pointing out that “Bond liberates the pistol in Casino Royale from the desk drawer of the embassy worker attempting to draw it on him, and, in No Time to Die, he returns it to a drawer that is filmed and styled suspiciously similarly. It’s such a small detail—the angle of the camera and the light on the gun as it rests in the drawer—but it feels right to see it at both the beginning and the end of the explosive and emotional tenure of Daniel Craig’s James Bond, 007.”

Read more about the firearms of No Time to Die at IMFDB.

The Vehicle

Although we know he keeps access to at least one Aston Martin stashed away overseas, Bond embraces the rugged nature of his off-the-grid lifestyle in a weathered blue 1977 Land Rover Series III, a canvas-roofed SUV designed for off-roading.

In addition to the aforementioned ’85 Aston Martin, the Land Rover could be considered an additional—if less obvious—vehicular flashback to The Living Daylights, in which Timothy Dalton’s James Bond clung to the canvas roof of an OD Landy full of assassins before sending it off the side of the Rock of Gibraltar.

Bond nimbly handles his open-topped vintage Land Rover as he powers into Port Antonio.

The Series III was the final and most-produced Land Rover generation, with more than 440,000 vehicles manufactured from 1971 to 1985, the last year for “series” Land Rovers as the brand continued more widely expanding its lineup. Two- and four-door models were produced on both 88″ (short wheelbase) and 109″ (long wheelbase) platforms, and Mr. Bond drives an SWB two-door model produced in 1977, right in the middle of the Series III run.

Among these dimensional options, each “series” Land Rover also offered both diesel and petrol engines, though I suspect Bond would have be driving the latter, generating 62 horsepower from its 2.25-liter Rover inline-four engine. Unlike his Aston Martins, Land Rovers weren’t intended to be high-performance vehicles, instead gaining a well-earned reputation for durability and longevity as the first mass-produced four-wheel-drive vehicles for civilian usage.

Bond drives his blue 1977 Land Rover Series III through Jamaica.

1977 Land Rover Series III (SWB)

Body Style: 2-door off-road vehicle

Layout: front-engine, four-wheel-drive (4WD)

Engine: 193.4 cu. in. (2.25 L) Rover OHV I4

Power: 70 hp (52 kW; 71 PS) @ 4000 RPM

Torque: 119 lb·ft (161 N·m) @ 1500 RPM

Transmission: 4-speed manual

Wheelbase: 88 inches (2235 mm)

Length: 142.4 inches (3617 mm)

Width: 66 inches (1676 mm)

Height: 77.5 inches (1968 mm)

Read more about this Land Rover at James Bond Lifestyle and IMCDB.

What to Imbibe

Skyfall established Heineken beer as Bond’s retirement beverage of choice, seen again in No Time to Die as he enjoys a round of the distinctive Dutch pale lager with Felix Leiter and Logan Ash… arguably enjoying the beer more than the latter’s sycophantic company.

The last time we saw Bond drinking Heineken, he was “enjoying death” in self-exile in Skyfall. One could argue he’d enjoy actual death more than a conversation with Logan Ash.

Either the prospect of returning to active service or Ash’s excessive grinning sends Bond back to hard liquor, so he sidles up to the bar and orders simply “Scotch,” though we don’t see what the bartender pours him.

Returning home with Nomi, he prepares a drink of Blackwell Black and Gold dark rum, neat. Presumably, he was also going to pour one for his new houseguest, but she had sauntered into the bedroom before he could even produce a second rocks glass for her. You can read more about this rum at James Bond Lifestyle, which quotes founder Chris Blackwell explaining that “James Bond has been a big part of my life, from my childhood lunches with Ian Fleming at GoldenEye to being a location scout on the first movie, Dr. No. It was a pleasure working alongside the No Time To Die production team in Jamaica providing our iconic rum for the set in James Bond’s house, which has made this very special relationship come full circle. This is a rum that celebrates Jamaica, my friendships, and also my family legacy.”

Bond reaches for the Blackwell rum, identifiable by the lowercase “b” on the label around the bottle’s neck.

How to Get the Look

Daniel Craig as James Bond during production of No Time to Die (2021)

James Bond illustrates how even a secret agent dresses both affordably and comfortably in retirement, remaining true to his character’s overall sartorial philosophy… if understandably less polished.

• Navy-blue unwashed waxed cotton waist-length jacket with large collar, snap-closed throat latch, storm flap with 5-snap/zip fly, raglan sleeves with plain cuffs, slash side pockets, and zip-entry back game pocket
  • Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham Jacket”
• Black lightweight silk twill long-sleeved shirt with convertible collar, breast pocket, 6-button plain front, 2-button mitred cuffs, and short side vents
  • Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”
• Light gray cotton five-pocket jeans
  • Tom Ford “Slim-Fit Selvedge Jeans”
• Brown full-grain nubuck leather two-eyelet moc-toe boat shoes
  • Sperry “Gold Cup Authentic Original Rivingston”
• Dark navy washed cotton canvas baseball cap
  • Carhartt “Odessa” Cotton Canvas Cap
• Vuarnet Legend 06 brown nylon-framed sunglasses with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses
• Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 210.90.42.20.01.001 titanium 42mm-cased self-winding watch with “tropical brown” aluminum dial and rotating bezel on titanium mesh bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. I also recommend watching David Zaritsky’s exclusive interview with Daniel Craig for The Bond Experience, discussing Bond style, No Time to Die, and more!

The Quote

You didn’t get the memo. I’m retired.

The post No Time to Die: Retired Bond’s Caribbean Casual Style appeared first on BAMF Style.

Anthony Quinn as Andrea Stavros in The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Vitals

Anthony Quinn as Colonel Andrea Stavros, tough Greek officer

Middle East, Fall 1943

Film: The Guns of Navarone
Release Date: April 27, 1961
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Wardrobe Credit: Monty M. Berman & Olga Lehmann

Background

Seersucker Thursday may be one of the few remaining bipartisan aspects of American politics. Inspired by the practice of early 20th century congressmen donning their tailored seersucker suits, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott reinstated the tradition in 1996, to be observed by men and women of the Senate on the second or third Thursday in June to coincide with National Seersucker Day, a standing celebration of the cool-wearing cloth.

There have certainly been more elegant showcases of seersucker suits in cinematic history, but one of the toughest examples can be seen with The Guns of Navarone‘s introduction of Colonel Andrea Stavros, the pipe-smoking officer of the Hellenic Army’s 19th Motorized Division.

“He’s from Crete. Those people don’t make idle threats,” Captain Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck) explains of the vindictive and serious Stavros. Mallory had reunited with the colonel to recruit him for a dangerous mission, despite Stavros having sworn to kill him, as their fellow commando Corporal John Miller (David Niven) learns.

Miller: Don’t you trust anyone?
Stavros: Nope. That’s why I have lived so long.

What’d He Wear?

Though seersucker cloth dates back considerably earlier, using the material for suits was popularized in 1909 by New Orleans tailor Joseph Haspel, crafting a summer-friendly solution for Southern businessmen and lawyers to maintain decorum without sweating their molasses off. The image of the strong Southern gentleman keeping cool in seersucker may have been best illustrated by Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, presenting the case for Tom Robinson’s defense in To Kill a Mockingbird.

In the decades following Haspel’s innovation, seersucker crept north, particularly among the Eastern seaboard, where it established itself among those ever-so-influential Ivy Leaguers. The Guns of Navarone suggests that seersucker suits had traversed the Atlantic by the time of World War II, as Peck’s co-star Anthony Quinn is introduced in a puckered clabber that’s clearly seen better days by the time Peck’s character tracks him down to a sweaty flop house somewhere in the Middle East.

A year before director Terence Young asked Sean Connery to sleep in his tailored suits to grow comfortable to James Bond’s elegant costumes, Anthony Quinn’s Colonel Stavros evidently took this philosophy to new levels by actually wearing his suits to bed.

If the seersucker suit had spent its first three decades associated with Southern sophistication, Colonel Stavros set out to undo its refined image with his weathered suit, made from cream-and-slate textured cotton arranged in the traditional “railroad stripe”. The single-breasted suit jacket presents much of the suit’s distress, particularly the sleeves, frayed at the edges to such an extent that suggests the cuffs themselves had been completely torn away.

The ventless jacket has wide, padded shoulders, notch lapels that hardly lay flat anymore, and three white buttons on the front, of which he appropriately wears only the center button fastened. Patch pockets over the hips and left breast dress the suit down to sportier levels.

As Anthony Quinn stood taller than six feet, Stavros’ three-button jacket should look neatly balanced, though there’s little that flatters the character in the scrappy way he wears his distressed seersucker suit.

The double forward-pleated trousers fall lower on Quinn’s waist, with no belt or braces to hold them up. As Stavros never removes his jacket on screen, we can see little of the trousers aside from side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Stavros hikes up his pleated trousers while sizing up his sworn nemesis… who has come to recruit him to join his team of commandos.

Stavros wears cheap dark brown nubuck leather plain-toe shoes that have been worn so thin that the uppers have lost much of their structure. These shoes are laced oxford-style through three closely-spaced eyelets. He also wears dark gray ribbed cotton lisle socks.

Most job interviews don’t look like this.

Stavros daringly—some may say unwisely—mixes similar stripes by wearing a white-and-gray bengal-striped cotton shirt that clashes against his stripe seersucker suit. The shirt has clear plastic buttons up the plain front with a spread collar, breast pocket, and rounded single-button cuffs. His light gray Windsor-knotted tie reflects a shine that suggests silk, though the cloth has lost most of its luster in Stavros’ hard-lived travels.

Stavros subdues Nicolai, the knife-wielding laundry “boy”… portrayed by the 42-year-old Tutte Lemkow, only three years younger than Anthony Quinn.

Colonel Stavros carries his revolver in a shoulder holster, though—unlike secret agents like James Bond whose shoulder rigs are designed for concealment—it’s a more tactical rig with a cross-chest strap that would only be concealed if his jacket was buttoned… and perhaps not even fully then. Stavros’ rig resembles contemporary military shoulder holsters like the M7 issued to U.S. Army paratroopers. (This differs from the simpler M3 shoulder holster issued to tank crews, which was secured across the body by a wider shoulder strap.)

Like the M7, Stavros’ rig consists of a large russet-brown leather open-top holster molded to the shape of his sidearm, with silver rings in the upper corner and on the back. Two narrow straps are clipped to both rings at each end, including a strap worn over the shoulder (and which Stavros wears over the same shoulder as the holster itself) and a second strap that wraps around the wearer’s torso to secure it in place. A shorter strap, folded over itself and snapped in place to form a ring, extends from the bottom of the holster for extra retention around a belt, though Stavros’ lack of a belt means this looped strap hangs free.

Not much detail can be seen of Stavros’ watch, which has a round gold-toned case with a round white dial, fastened to his left wrist on a brown leather strap.

The Gun

Colonel Stavros carries an Enfield No. 2 Mk I* revolver in his shoulder holster. The Enfield No. 2 Mk I was first produced in the early 1930s, when it entered British service alongside the Webley revolver, both chambered for the .38/200 cartridge (also known as .38 S&W Short), which had been adopted as the military’s preferred alternative to the heavy recoil of the powerful .455 round.

Developed at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) Enfield, “the design was a scaled-down Webley Mark VI with its ‘break-top’ frame and cylinder chambered for six rounds and firing a heavy-grain bullet,” as described by The Complete World Encyclopedia of Guns. In 1938, the revolver was retooled with a spurless hammer that rendered it double-action only, though it compensated for this with a lighter mainspring that eased the shot. This updated model was named the No. 2 Mk I*, differentiated by an asterisk rather than the perhaps more practical solutions of “Mk II” or even “No. 3”.

Note the spurless hammer which indicates Stavros carries either a genuine No. 2 Mk I* or an earlier No. 2 Mk I that was converted to double-action only.

The Enfield No. 2 Mk I* was relatively accurate as it lacked the typically heavy trigger pull encountered with double-action only handguns. The spurless hammer added the benefit of preventing it from snagging on clothing or tank cabling and controls. After the war, existing stocks of Enfield revolvers were almost all converted to resemble the No. 2 Mk I*.

Like its Webley cousins, the Enfield No. 2 Mk I* remained in British service long after most other nations had updated their service pistols to semi-automatics, until the United Kingdom finally replaced its venerable six-shooters with the semi-automatic Browning Hi-Power (L9/L9A1) in the 1960s, as you can read about in my previous post.

How to Get the Look

Anthony Quinn as Andrea Stavros in The Guns of Navarone (1961)

The avowed warrior Colonel Stavros never looks totally at home in his tailored seersucker, though—with some cleaner touches here and there—the same philosophies could translate to a refreshingly light summer suit today, though you’d probably want to avoid Stavros’ gamble of a striped shirt under his striped seersucker.

• Slate-and-cream striped seersucker cotton suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, plain cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated beltless trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White-and-gray bengal-striped cotton shirt with spread collar, plain front, breast pocket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Light gray silk tie
• Dark brown nubuck leather plain-toe 3-eyelet oxford shoes
• Dark gray ribbed cotton lisle socks
• Russet-brown paratroop-style shoulder holster
• Gold wristwatch with round white dial on brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Alistair MacLean’s novel.

The Quote

When the time came, I would find you.

The post The Guns of Navarone: Anthony Quinn’s Seersucker Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

The Beach Boys, clockwise from left: Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, David Marks, Dennis Wilson. Photo by Ken Veeder, 1962.

Vitals

The Beach Boys: Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, and David Marks

Malibu, California, Summer 1962

Photographs by Ken Veeder

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

Background

Sixty years ago this month, The Beach Boys debuted their first arguable hit single, “Surfin’ Safari” (with “409” on the B side) for Capitol Records in June 1962. The group of southern California youngsters had released their first single (“Surfin'”) with the short-lived Candix Records the previous fall… and the resulting regional success essentially bankrupted the fledgling record company, who could barely afford to pay the group a thousand dollars in royalties for a single that had charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

After signing with Capitol Records, the teens realized they were now in the big leagues. When Brian Wilson turned 20 in June 1962, “Surfin’ Safari”—the simple song he’d written years earlier with his cousin Mike Love—was now rising up the Billboard charts to peak at #14. The lineup now consisted of Wilson and Love with Wilson’s younger brothers Dennis and Carl as well as the 13-year-old David Marks, who had replaced their friend Al Jardine in February, though Jardine—who had left the group to attend dental school—would be back to replace Marks within the year.

On October 1, 1962, Capitol released the first full-length Beach Boys album, named Surfin’ Safari after the hit single that led the album. As their song titles implied, the Beach Boys were heavily influenced by surf music pioneers like Dick Dale, adding harmonies that provided more mainstream pop appeal and popularized what came to be known as the “California sound”.

To visually communicate this West Coast spirit, Capitol photographer joined the Wilsons, Love, and Marks on the seaside sands of Paradise Cove in Malibu for an album cover shoot that would visually communicate the spirit of California with the boys, complete with Dennis’ nine-foot Hermosa surfboard and a palm frond-decorated yellow 1929 Ford Model A pickup truck that Capitol art director Ed Thrasher rented for $50 from a local “beach contractor” known as “Calypso Joe”. In the tradition of all the rising young bands of the day, the Beach Boys dressed identically for that overcast August afternoon in the surf, all clad in woolen board shirts that evoked the band’s original name: the Pendletones.

What’d He Wear?

Had the Beach Boys kept Mike Love’s first suggested name, the “Pendletones” may have been one of the greatest examples of musically endorsed product placement in pop history. Consistent with their music about the southern California surfing scene, the bandmates dressed in what had emerged as the unofficial uniform of SoCal surfers: swim trunks and light-colored pants worn with the tough woolen shirts made by Pendleton Woolen Mills of Portland.

In celebration of their role in such an iconic trend, Pendleton continues marketing their Board Shirt today, still made in the original mid-weight 100% virgin wool sourced locally from ranchers in Umatilla County, Oregon. These shirts had originated in 1924, when the innovative fabric and eye-catching colors were quickly embraced by the market. World War II slowed production, but Pendleton shirts became more popular than ever during the postwar sportswear boom as men sought comfortable shirts for leisure, the outdoors, and indeed that emerging intersection between the two: surfing.

These plaid shirts were produced in varying colorways, though the Wilsons, Mike Love, and David Marks drove out to Malibu that August day in matching shirts with a complex blue-and-gray blocked plaid that Pendleton renamed the “Original Surf Plaid” upon its reintroduction in 2002, forty years after the Paradise Cove shoot. The plaid consists of three blue shades (cerulean, teal, and blue melange) and three grays of varying intensity from a pale melange to charcoal.

“We’re loading up our woody with our boards inside…” The Capitol creative team couldn’t exactly find a woody wagon as referenced in the album’s leading single, but Calypso Joe’s palm-fronded Model A certainly worked in a pinch. Brian Wilson sits front and center, perched on the roof with his cousin Mike Love, with Carl Wilson in the driver’s seat (despite not yet being old enough for his driver’s license), Dennis Wilson on the hood, and David Marks in the truck bed.

“Each Pendleton shirt is crafted from 26 to 38 different components,” the company states on its website. “All pieces of a shirt are cut from one bolt of fabric for absolute color and pattern consistency. Meticulous attention is given to matching patterns, balancing collar points, collar linings, labels and buttonholes.

For nearly a century, Pendleton Board Shirts have retained the same tried-and-true design, only recently complementing its Classic Fit with a “Fitted” variety that offers a slimmer cut. Regardless of cut, these long-sleeved shirts follow the same template: a long and sporty camp-style collar with a threaded loop on the left side, six buttons up the plain front (including one tucked under the right collar leaf, corresponding to the loop), button cuffs, and two patch pockets on the chest covered with free flaps. The shirt’s straight hem can be tucked in or left hanging.

As of June 2022, Beach Boys-style Pendleton Wool Board Shirts in “blue original surf plaid” are regularly offered via Pendleton, though you may also have some luck with outfitters like Backcountry, Macy’s, Urban Outfitters, and Zappos, all of whom regularly rotate certain Pendleton pieces through their offerings.

The rest of the barefoot band’s attire for the day was as simple as it gets, wearing the shirts unbuttoned over white cotton crew-neck short-sleeve undershirts, which were in turn untucked over the top of their pale beige trousers. James B. Murphy’s volume Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963 describes their “white T-shirts, blue plaid Pendleton shirts, and khaki chinos,” though the latter appear to be more jeans-like trousers, perhaps made from the durable and faintly ridged “Bedford cord” cotton like the similar trousers that “King of Cool” Steve McQueen had worn during his own famous coastal California photo shoot two years later.

Sandy-colored pants for sitting in the sand.

Contemporary shots from dance parties and other venues also show how the Beach Boys dressed their feet when not barefoot on the beach, all sporting white socks with plain black leather Venetian loafers.

On July 27, 1962, the Beach Boys were filmed for part of One Man’s Challenge, a short documentary about the founding of the Azusa Teen Club. (Source: Becoming the Beach Boys)

During their early appearances, painstakingly chronicled at the Becoming the Beach Boys web companion, the band interestingly dressed up their Pendleton shirts over white short-sleeved shirts, narrow dark ties, and dark trousers, essentially wearing their board shirts like sport jackets.

Mike Love, the Wilson brothers, and David Marks performing at UCLA’s Dykstra Hall on July 30, 1962, exactly a week before they would wear the same Pendletons sans ties and shoes out to Paradise Cover for Ken Veeder’s now-famous photo shoot. (Source: Becoming the Beach Boys)

Not long after the Beach Boys popularized their blue board shirts on the cover of Surfin’ Safari, the band began prominently rotating in red tartan plaid board shirts as well. These red, beige, and black-checked shirts would be their prevailing Pendletons through the next year before the band retooled their image with lighter short-sleeved shirts patterned with wide awning stripes.

You can read more about the Pendleton Board Shirt and its Beach Boys connection in several posts from the Pendleton blog:

• Before they were the Beach Boys, they were the Pendletones. This shirt is why.
• The Board Shirt by Pendleton, for an Endless Summer
• The Wool Plaid Shirt

How to Get the Look

The Beach Boys on the beach: Dennis Wilson, David Marks, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson. As the only actual surfer among them, Dennis looks most at home with his surfer shag and personal board.

The Beach Boys were originally the “Pendletones” for a reason, having embraced the local après-surf “uniform” of woolen Pendleton shirts—in a blue plaid, evoking the sea and sky—with plain white tees and washed-out khakis. Sixty years later, the outfit still offers as many good vibrations as it did that August 1962 day at Paradise Cove.

• Blue-and-gray plaid wool Pendleton Board Shirt with wide camp collar (with loop), six-button plain front, flapped chest pockets, button cuffs, and straight hem
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
• Beige Bedford cord cotton flat front casual trousers with jeans-style pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather Venetian loafers
• White cotton crew socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the Beach Boys’ discography including their first full-length album Surfin’ Safari to get a sense of their early sound (and see a photo from this shirt used as the cover) and their ambitious 1966 album Pet Sounds, widely regarded to be their masterpiece with now-iconic tracks like “God Only Knows”, “Sloop John B”, and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.

The post The Beach Boys in Pendleton Board Shirts, 1962 appeared first on BAMF Style.

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002)

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of when The Bourne Identity was widely released, check out this comprehensive breakdown of how Matt Damon’s style as the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne, née David Webb, evolved over the course of the original Bourne trilogy and was updated a decade later in Jason Bourne.

Unlike his fellow J.B.-named super-spy, Bourne never dressed to impress, instead favoring a more subdued and utilitarian wardrobe consistent with the “gray man” philosophy of blending in, specifically in urban environments like the European capitals where he evades his one-time CIA overlords.

If you’re interested in seeing a more ’80s take on Bourne, check out my posts about the 1988 miniseries The Bourne Identity, starring Richard Chamberlain in a two-part series that more closely adhered to Robert Ludlum’s source novel. The saga was also briefly spun off into The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner as Bourne’s fellow agent Aaron Cross.

The Bourne Identity

Film: The Bourne Identity
Release Date: June 14, 2002
Director: Doug Liman
Costume Designer: Pierre-Yves Gayraud

From Recovery at Sea to Switzerland

After the bullet-ridden Jason Bourne is pulled from the Mediterranean Sea and nursed back to the health by a group of Italian fishermen, he wears their borrowed clothing that doesn’t necessarily reflect how the character himself would choose to dress. The size dissonance between the hardy fisherman and the lean, athletic Bourne also results in their oversized puffer jacket and sea-eaten sweater generally enveloping him, presenting the image of a man out of his depth as he searches fo answers about his identity.

After two weeks at sea with the fishermen who pulled him from the water, Bourne arrives on the Italian coast and prepares to follow the trail of his mysterious identity to Switzerland.

Bourne doesn’t begin wearing anything of his own until he gets to Zurich and finds a stainless quartz-powered TAG Heuer chronograph in his safe deposit box… as well as a gun, cash, and passports for different identities. He bags all but the gun, straps on the watch, and gradually becomes he man he forgot he had been.

Bourne scales the U.S. Embassy in Zurich, stripped down to the torn sweater borrowed from the fishermen but now wearing his own TAG Heuer Link Chronograph.

The Clothes:

• Dark red polyester down jacket with red-zip front, slanted zip side pockets, elasticized cuffs, and black lining
• Ochre hand-knitted quarter-zip mock-neck sweater with brass-finished zip pull
• Dark brown zip-up/velcro-front rainproof jacket with zip-fastening hip pockets & hood
• Brown and navy Breton-striped cotton long-sleeve boat-neck T-shirt
• Slate-gray cotton flat-front work trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, mitred back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather Timberland Euro Hiker boots with metal D-ring eyelets, black textured rubber rand, and lugged black rubber soles
• Olive green cotton sleeveless “A-shirt” undershirt
• White cotton underpants
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

Having enlisted the Bohemian drifter Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente) into the dangerous search for his identity, Bourne returns to his Paris apartment and retains the foundation of his borrowed T and canvas work pants while adapting parts of his own wardrobe in the form of an olive-brown lightweight polyester hooded jacket.

Bourne returns “home” to Paris, where he adds more from his actual closet and gradually begins taking control of the situation.

Read more in my original blog post The Bourne Identity: From Zurich to Paris.

Paris Spycraft

As Bourne begins grasping the realities of his eponymous identity and why there seems to be a target on his back, he begins dressing like the nondescript and functional “gray man”, a philosophy of urban camouflage designed to blend in.

Given that it’s winter in Paris, this ensemble would need to be climatically appropriate, so Bourne layers a black woolen knee-length topcoat over comfortable sweaters and black jeans. When costume designer Pierre-Yves Gayraud joined my friend Pete Brooker on his podcast From Tailors With Love, Gayraud shared that the black coat was made by Paul Smith with seven duplicates used on screen.

The Clothes:

• Black wool knee-length single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, straight flapped hip pockets, and plain cuffs
• Slate-blue ribbed mock-neck sweater
• Gray heathered crew-neck T-shirt
• Black Lee jeans
• Black leather hiking boots
• Black socks
• Olive green cotton sleeveless “A-shirt” undershirt
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

Though he wears the washed-out slate mock-neck for most of the action in France, for the first day that finds Bourne and Marie investigating his prior movements at the Hotel Regina, he wears a black crew-neck “woolly pully” commando sweater with military-style epaulettes.

The morning after he and Marie realize they’re on the run, Bourne shows that he’s ready for business in the classic tactical garment of a commando-style sweater.

Read more in my original blog post Jason Bourne in Paris.

Reunion in Mykonos

With his days of evasion seemingly—alas, hopefully—behind him, Bourne dresses for a romantic reunion with Marie on the warm Greek island of Mykonos, dressed in an icy-blue linen collarless shirt and khakis that comprises arguably his “softest” look of the entire franchise.

Cue the Moby.

The Clothes:

• Pale-blue linen long-sleeve shirt with neckband, plain front, and set-in breast pocket
• Khaki cotton flat front trousers
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

An alternate ending had been shot that dresses Bourne in a more utilitarian outfit of gray hoodie and windbreaker for a more romantic reunion with Marie, but Team Liman ultimately chose the more tongue-in-cheek ending that included this cooler-wearing wardrobe.

The Bourne Supremacy

Film: The Bourne Supremacy
Release Date: July 23, 2004
Director: Paul Greengrass
Costume Designer: Dinah Collin

Retired in Goa to Re-entering Europe

Long before the most recent 007 movie, No Time to Die, had depicted James Bond’s retirement, The Bourne Supremacy began with the once-amnesic agent living off the grid in the tropics, with an off-duty vehicle and a service pistol packed away for emergencies. Unlike Mr. Bond, though, Bourne benefits from the company of his girlfriend Marie… at least until an assassin’s bullet yanks him out of retirement.

Bourne dresses coolly for the hot and humid Indian climate, favoring T-shirts, cargo shorts, and sneakers for day-to-day life.

Bourne stops into town to rehydrate after running along the beach in his T-shirt, cargo shorts, and sneakers.

The Clothes:

• Slate-blue cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
• Gray woolen crew-neck long-sleeve sweater
• Beige cotton cargo shorts
• Light stone-colored chino cotton flat front trousers with belt loops and rear buckle, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather hiking boots
• White ribbed cotton crew socks
• White ribbed athletic socks
• Olive green cotton sleeveless “A-shirt” undershirt
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

Following the “visit” from Kirill (Karl Urban), Bourne begins pulling together his familiar kit, swapping out the cargo shorts for long trousers—albeit light cotton ones, apropos the climate—and a torn gray sweater that provides a warmer outer layer as he makes the northwestern journey by sea to Naples.

Bourne arrives in Naples, dressed the same as we had last seen him in Goa albeit with the addition of a sweater.

Read more in my original blog post The Bourne Supremacy: From India to Italy.

Back to Berlin… then Moscow

As Bourne heads deeper into Europe—first Munich, then Berlin, and finally Moscow—his attire for these chillier cities resembles the template established in The Bourne Identity as he layers a trio of dark sweaters and black jeans under a black topcoat.

“Maybe leather,” the coat is erroneously described by a hotel clerk, but the knee-length coat is obviously an update of his woolen coat from the previous movie, albeit somewhat fuller-fitting without more traditionally notched lapels and none of the contrasting tan lining, presenting a lethally serious all-black silhouette as Bourne sneaks his way through Europe in an attempt to clear his name… and his conscience.

The Clothes:

• Black wool knee-length single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, straight flapped hip pockets, and 3-button cuffs
• Dark gray knitted wool boat-neck sweater
• Gray ribbed cotton crew-neck long-sleeve T-shirt
• Blue ribbed cotton crew-neck long-sleeve T-shirt
• Black denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit button-fly jeans
• Black leather sneakers
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

Read more in my original blog post The Bourne Supremacy: Bourne in Europe.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Film: The Bourne Ultimatum
Release Date: August 3, 2007
Director: Paul Greengrass
Costume Designer: Shay Cunliffe

The final scene of The Bourne Supremacy teases the plot—and costume—of the final installment in the original trilogy, The Bourne Ultinatum, as Bourne calls CIA deputy director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) while across the street in New York, several months later. I don’t know if it had always been planned for the Supremacy epilogue to be recreated at the midpoint of Ultimatum, but costume designer Shay Cunliffe neatly picks up the template that Supremacy costume designer Dinah Collin had outlined, shortening Bourne’s long coat to a dark waist-length jacket over a blue T-shirt with his usual black jeans and shoes.

The Bourne Ultimatum thus becomes the first and only movie in the franchise where Bourne wears the exact same outfit throughout, aside from the additional sweater over his T-shirt during the early scenes in Paris and London before he strips down to just the T-shirt for the warmer climates of Madrid, Tangier, and New York City.

The Clothes:

• Black cotton twill waist-length jacket with zip front, short standing collar, slanted side pockets, and set-in sleeves with plain cuffs
• Black ribbed crew-neck sweater
• Dark blue wide-ribbed cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
• Black denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit button-fly jeans
• Black leather Tommy Hilfiger all-terrain hiking boots
• Black crew socks
• TAG Heuer Link Chronograph (CT1111.BA0550) stainless steel quartz watch with stainless bezel, black dial with 3 sub-registers, and steel chevron-shaped link bracelet

Read more in my original blog post The Bourne Ultimatum.

Jason Bourne

Film: Jason Bourne
Release Date: July 11, 2016
Director: Paul Greengrass
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Nearly a decade—and one Jeremy Renner-led offshoot—had transpired since Damon and director Paul Greengrass reteamed to bring Jason Bourne back to the big screen. Costume designer Mark Bridges paid homage to the character’s sartorial tradition for Jason Bourne, but he also softened the harsher charcoals of the original trilogy by dressing TAFKADW in brown leathers and blue cloths, all still dark and traditionally masculine while less stark.

Bourne resurfaces in Athens with a Heckler & Koch USP pistol taken from an agent.

The Clothes:

• Brown rugged leather moto-style jacket with standing collar, zip-up front, slanted zip hand pockets, and set-in sleeves with plain cuffs
• Navy blue cotton long-sleeved shirt, either 3-button thermal henley or crew-neck T-shirt
• Dark blue denim Levi’s jeans
• Black leather belt
• Dark brown leather lace-up ankle boots with lugged soles
• Black cotton lisle socks
• TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph (CAU1114.FT6024) in black titanium carbide-finished steel with fixed bezel and black dial with 4:00 date window on black ridged rubber strap

Bourne wears a few other outfits at the beginning and toward the end, but his primary action gear follows the template in The Bourne Ultimatum of a single outfit worn across multiple settings, adapted for each with just the addition—or removal—of an intermediate layer, in this case a dark navy crew-neck or a lighter-wearing henley shirt of the same color under a brown leather jacket, all worn with dark indigo Levi’s jeans and a rotation of brown leather boots.

As Bourne pulls himself off the London pavement, his jeans show the distinctive Levi’s arcuate stitch across his back pockets.

Read more in my original blog post Matt Damon in Jason Bourne and check out the movie.

What’s your favorite element of Jason Bourne’s style?

The post Jason Bourne’s Style Across Four Movies appeared first on BAMF Style.

Philip Baker Hall as Richard M. Nixon in Secret Honor (1984)

Vitals

Philip Baker Hall as Richard M. Nixon, disgraced former U.S. President

New Jersey, early 1980s

Film: Secret Honor
Release Date: July 6, 1984
Director: Robert Altman

Background

This week, we learned that the great Philip Baker Hall died at the age of 90. Familiar as a recurring face in Paul Thomas Anderson movies and as the anachronistic, straight-talking “library cop” Bookman on an early Seinfeld episode, Hall’s breakthrough screen performance was reprising his stage role as a disgraced Richard Nixon in Secret Honor.

“You have read in the press the reasons for the Watergate affair. Today, my client is going to reveal to you the reasons behind the reasons,” Hall narrates into a tape recorder as the now-former President Nixon. It was fifty years ago today when five burglars were caught breaking into the DNC headquarters at the Watergate hotel, igniting a political scandal that resulted in the fall of a president and a widespread cynical distrust of American government.

Subtitled “A Political Myth”, Secret Honor was originally a one-man play written by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone, who adapted their work for Robert Altman’s film of the same name. Avoiding caricature of an easily caricatured man, Hall portrayed Nixon—the only human who ever appears on screen—who spends the film’s hour-and-a-half runtime ranting to the contents of his study, specifically a tape recorder, an increasingly empty bottle of Scotch, a loaded revolver, his mother’s grand piano, and portraits of presidents and significant figures in his life from Henry Kissinger to his own mother.

Hall’s Hollywood Reporter obituary cites the actor’s own direction for portraying Nixon, as he explained to the Los Angeles Times in 1988: “the character’s got like six ideas going on all the time, and he can’t sort them out. He’s trying to say a number of things at the same time — many, if not all, that are contradictory. That was the hook.”

Posited as “an attempt to understand,” Secret Honor dramatized a night at Nixon’s New Jersey estate, into which the family moved in 1981. Considerable time has passed since his memoirs and what he now considers to be a shameful presidential pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford. Restless in the mansion’s stately, wood-paneled study, Nixon is as profane, power-mad, and paranoid as would be expected of his reputation, but Secret Honor also presents him as a more pitiful figure that we’d seen, remorseful to a degree, albeit less for ethical reasons and more for his perceived scapegoating after the Faustian deal he made for power early in his political career.

“You know what they wrote about me? They said, at the end, that I was running around the White House crazy-drunk, talking to the pictures on the walls,” Nixon drunkenly informs, well, a portrait of Woodrow Wilson hanging behind his desk.

Descending into paranoid absent-mindedness and increasingly unburdened by his whisky, Nixon unravels the “reasons behind the reasons”, which ultimately appear to be treasons behind the reasons, as he rants to yet another of his infamous tape recorders about topics ranging from Henry Kissinger’s philandering to instructions for the portable radio—no, make it a fruit basket—that his unseen aide Roberto should buy for his gardener’s hospitalized wife.

“Having been driven almost mad because he had to carry the most terrible secrets of all, locked up inside his, uh, breaking heart, and his, uh, beating mind,” Nixon seeks to absolve himself by presenting the audience with the facts of his life, from his overbearing mother and brothers to countering his insecurities with cutthroat ambition as the unscrupulous hatchet man serving the shadowy “Committee of 100” before they ultimately left him out to dry:

I was just an un-indicted co-conspirator just like everybody else in the United States of America!

Secret Honor‘s inversion of Nixon’s famous resignation pose… though the former president is now alone in his study, his grasping his memoirs in his right hand.

What’d He Wear?

My wife does not wear a mink coat! My wife wears a good Republican cloth coat!

Secret Honor begins with Richard Nixon entering the study in a dark taupe-brown pinstriped suit, though he soon changes out of the jacket and into a velvet smoking jacket. This gently anachronistic touch quickly communicates Nixon’s own sense of self-importance through his deluded image of himself as the sort of dignified, old-fashioned statesman who would change into a smoking jacket for late evenings.

Made from a burgundy velvet with scarlet silk lining, the thigh-length jacket functions more like a robe than a classic tailored smoking jacket, with a shawl collar and belted sash made from the same cloth unlike some smoking jackets that featured quilted or smooth silk contrasting the lapel facings and pocket detail. The garment has a set-in breast pocket, slanted set-in hip pockets, and the neo-Edwardian detail of gauntlet (turnback) cuffs.

Nixon continues wearing the flat front trousers of his dark taupe-brown pinstripe wool suit, styled with side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. He holds them up with a wide dark brown leather belt with a polished gold-toned single-prong buckle.

Nixon appropriately keeps Kissinger’s framed portrait mounted above the bank of closed-circuit security monitors that illustrate the former president’s famous paranoia.

Though he could have changed into velvet slippers to match the spirit—and fabric—of his smoking jacket, Nixon continues wearing the black leather cap-toe derby shoes and black silk socks that he wore with his suit.

“Shit!”

Nixon’s white shirt reflects a pale icy-blue cast, detailed with tonal self-stripes. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and squared double (French) cuffs that Nixon fastens with a set of flat gold-finished sterling silver cuff links with recessed edges.

As opposed to the staid, conservative ties associated with presidential style, this post-presidency Nixon wears a lilac tie printed with a balanced series of brown zig-zagging “squiggles”—for lack of a better word—that snake upward from right hip-to-left shoulder like a stepped maze. These waves are broken up by brown polka dots that appear to be randomly placed along the maze like Pac-Man’s dinner but are actually neatly organized.

Secret Honor depicts Nixon wearing a steel-cased watch on a smooth dark brown leather strap with the round silver dial on the inside of his left wrist.

The real Nixon has often been associated with two wristwatches: a gold-finished Vulcain Cricket that he received from National Association of Watch and Clockmakers while serving as Vice President in the 1950s and an engraved all-gold Omega Speedmaster chronograph he was gifted (and refused, citing it was too valuable) following the 1969 moon landing. Known as the “Nixon” Omega, this ref. BA 145.022 was the first gold Speedmaster that Omega ever made.

Of these two, the plainer Secret Honor watch shares more in common with the Vulcain, though it clearly lacks the additional alarm pusher that defines the Cricket’s silhouette.

For reading from his memoir and the family bible, Nixon dons a pair of narrow rectangular-framed tortoise reading glasses.

What to Imbibe

In vino veritas, and—while we can’t be sure of ever hearing the exact truth from Richard Milhaus Nixon—Hall at least presents our increasingly drunk former president as describing what he himself believes to be true. (Though, in a second Seinfeld reference, he may just be operating under George Costanza’s maxim of “it’s not a lie if you believe it.”)

Nixon begins the evening by pouring himself a snifter of something brown from a glass decanter, probably cognac, before the next shot shows him pulling a bottle of Chivas Regal 12-Yr. Scotch whisky from his bookshelf and pouring some over ice. This bottle of Chivas would fuel the rest of Nixon’s night and its myriad rationalizations, confessions, and profanity.

Supposedly, Nixon was indeed a lightweight when it came to handling his booze in real life… not that it’s something I typically judge, but Nixon feels like safe fodder for judgement. Among the dry martinis chronicled in my volumes of presidential drinking habits (Mark Will-Weber’s Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt and Brian Abrams’ Party Like a President), it’s been reported that Nixon did drink Scotch, occasionally mixing Johnnie Walker Blue Label with ginger ale and a twist of lime.

His inability to handle his liquor well is lampshaded as Hall’s Nixon recalls when he was first urged to run for Congress after returning from war and was dazzled by the powerful “Committee of 100” who “showed him a vision of the riches and power of this world, and he drank their words and visions… he had a little sip of their whiskey too! This poor boy who didn’t drink—didn’t know how to drink—because of his strict Quaker background.”

The Gun

Nixon had entered the scene carrying a smooth varnished wooden box, which he opens to reveal a stainless steel Smith & Wesson revolver, with a service-length 4″ heavy barrel, walnut grips, and six hollow-point rounds of .38 Special in the cylinder. Based on its profile and the fact that it appears to be built on Smith & Wesson’s medium-sized K-frame platform, the revolver is either a Smith & Wesson Model 64 or a Smith & Wesson Model 65.

Nixon’s heavy-barreled stainless Smith & Wesson K-frame revolver is either a Model 64 or Model 65.

Smith & Wesson introduced both the Model 64 and 65 in the early 1970s, beginning with the Model 64 as the stainless variant of the venerated Model 10 Military & Police revolver, which had essentially introduced the .38 Special cartridge and revolutionized police sidearms at the turn of the 20th century. Two years later, the Model 65 was developed as a nearly identical cousin that—like the Model 13—could fire both .38 Special and the similarly sized but more powerful .357 Magnum.

Like the Model 10, the Model 64 and Model 65 could be fitted with a “heavy barrel”, a configuration which caught on as a particular favorite of law enforcement, particularly the Model 64 revolver authorized for NYPD usage. Other than discerning whether the barrel is etched on the right side with “S&W .38 Special” (Model 64) or “S&W .357 Magnum” (Model 65), it’s extremely difficult to tell the two firearms apart, though I imagine some experts could tell based on the length of the cylinder.

After Nixon checks the load, he balances it on the desk in front of him, where it remains for a significant portion of Secret Honor until he senses something in the house. Revolver in hand, Nixon scans his security camera feeds before holding it—hammer dangerously cocked—on the microphone attached to his tape recorder as he rants about liberals and the press.

Despite what James Bond may show us, booze and guns—especially lots of booze and loaded guns—don’t mix well! Nixon plays with fire every time he picks up that .38 while under the influence of increasing amounts of Scotch.

How to Get the Look

Philip Baker Hall as Richard M. Nixon in Secret Honor (1984)

Although smoking jackets had largely fallen out of vogue by the ’70s and ’80s, Secret Honor depicts the disgraced Richard Nixon as someone hoping to portray himself as a dignified statesman, the sort of gentleman who would retire to his wood-paneled study in a velvet smoking jacket with a snifter of brandy and letters to write… or a quickly dwindling bottle of Scotch and a tape recorder on the receiving end of his barked rants.

• Burgundy velvet shawl-collar smoking jacket with set-in breast pocket, slanted set-in hip pockets, gauntlet cuffs, and sash belt
• Icy-white tonal-striped shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
  • Flat gold-finished silver recessed-edge cuff links
• Lilac and brown zig-zagged print tie
• Dark taupe-brown pinstripe wool flat-front suit trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown wide leather belt
• Black leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Black silk dress socks
• Tortoise narrow rectangular-framed reading glasses
• Stainless steel wristwatch with round silver dial on dark brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. With due respect to F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus, it does feel beyond all logic that Philip Baker Hall wasn’t nominated for an Oscar—or any significant awards—for what I consider one of the most impressive screen acting performances.

The Quote

The word “pardon” has two definitions, first: there is the legal aspect, which is to excuse a convicted man from punishment, then there is the general definition of the word “pardon”… which is to forgive. Forgive! I’ll forgive them before they ever forgive me. Bastards! Fuck ’em. Son-of-a-bitches.

The post Secret Honor: Philip Baker Hall as Nixon appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 1.01)

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob chief

North Caldwell, New Jersey, Summer 1998

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “The Sopranos” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: January 10, 1999
Director: David Chase
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Father’s Day today often means cookouts and looking ahead to the start of summer. From its first episode, The Sopranos centered around the two “families” beleaguering Tony Soprano: the network of gangsters comprising the DeMeo crime family and as the suburban dad at the head of his biological family.

On a day celebrating dads and to honor James Gandolfini on the ninth anniversary of his death, let’s revisit the final scenes from the pilot episode as the actor ably balanced both of Tony’s “family” roles during a backyard cookout ostensibly for his son Anthony Jr.’s birthday.

The first attempt at A.J.’s birthday party had been ruined not just by “no fuckin’ ziti” but also by Tony’s panic attack. Following a covert Prozac prescription and an initial therapy breakthrough, Tony again resumes his grillmaster duties… despite using mesquite, which “makes the sausage taste peculiar,” according to his mother Livia (Nancy Marchand).

Encouraged by Tony’s therapeutic revelations that “talkin’ helps”, the Soprano backyard becomes an impromptu forum for malcontent, from chef Artie Bucco (John Ventimiglia) airing his grievances about his destroyed restaurant to the moody Christopher Molitsanti (Michael Imperioli) moping about not getting made after his murder of a rival mobster. Not exactly the usual family cookout banter.

What’d He Wear?

Perhaps after his revelation in therapy that his breakdowns have been brought on by the fear of losing his family—that is, his wife and kids, not wiseguys like Paulie and Silvio—the next we see Tony, he’s dressed more like the typical suburban dad than we’d ever be used to seeing him, albeit with his usual touches of gold jewelry.

Tony’s light sage-green camp shirt has a white plaid overcheck and is made from a lightweight puckered fabric, suggestive of linen or a linen/cotton blend. The short-sleeved shirt has a camp collar with a loop on the left, ostensibly to connect with a button under the right collar leaf, with six more flat sage-green plastic 4-hole buttons up the plain front.

Tony looks at Christopher with bemusement as the latter prattles about his cinematic ambitions.

Walk into any backyard BBQ on a summer afternoon, and you’ll likely see a dad working the grill in shorts. Tony follows this unspoken sartorial tradition in a pair of pleated knee-length shorts made from a washed taupe-gray chino cotton and styled with on-seam side pockets.

“John said he went to a cookout at your house… a Don doesn’t wear shorts,” Tony would be advised four seasons later by the aged mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi, Sr. (Tony Lip), an exchange reportedly inspired by a real-life gangster who had similarly advised James Gandolfini after The Sopranos‘ pilot aired. Carmine’s comment may seem trite when taken literally, but it could also be a metaphorical reflection of Carmine’s old-school thinking that a boss shouldn’t socialize with his employees.

Much in the manner that some men wear sockless boat shoes in the summer, Tony wears a pair of russet-brown leather tasseled loafers.

Tony joins his devious uncle “Junior” (Dominic Chianese) and mother Livia (Nancy Marchand) after Carmela announces that it’s time to eat… heralding the end of the episode and the beginning of an era.

Filmed two years before the rest of the first season, The Sopranos had yet to establish Tony’s regular jewelry, though the template had been set dictating a pinky ring, wedding band, and gold wristwatch.

Beginning with the second episode, Tony would famously wear an 18-karat gold Rolex Day-Date on a “Presidential” bracelet, but his watch in the pilot episode is the somewhat more modest TAG Heuer Professional 200M (S94.006) quartz watch, as identified by my friend @tonysopranostyle. The stainless steel TAG Heuer is plated in 18-karat yellow gold, including the 37mm case, the unidirectional rotating bezel, and the “rice-grain”-style bracelet with its deployable clasp. The dial is also a light shade of gold, with luminous, non-numeric hour markers and a date window at 3:00.

Flashing the gold jewelry afforded by his criminal lifestyle, Tony comforts his distressed pal Artie.

In addition to his gold wedding ring on his left hand, Tony wears a diamond-studded gold ring on his right pinky, though this would be replaced in the following episode by the more familiar ruby-and-diamond bypass ring that he inherited from his father. The second episode would also add a chain-link bracelet to Tony’s jewelry collection.

What to Imbibe

The DeMeo crew generally sticks to classic American beers for cookouts at Tony’s. Budweiser and Rolling Rock rule this particular party, with Tony taking pulls of the latter while grilling sausage and steaks for the rest of the party.

All-American brews for the all-American BBQ tradition.

Rolling Rock lager was first brewed in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Company, headquartered in my neck of the woods in western Pennsylvania.

There are multiple suggestions for the prominence of the number “33” printed over Rolling Rock’s distinctive glass bottles, some sharing that it commemorates the year 1933… both the year that Prohibition ended and the founding year of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who train in Latrobe. Theories abound to also include the 33 words that comprised Latrobe Brewing’s original pledge of quality or the numbers of steps from the brewmaster’s office in the original brewery, while others have proposed it’s merely a guide that was mistakenly added by the original bottle printers. Even after the beer was sold to Anheuser-Busch in 2006, the “33” legacy—and the mystery of its origins—lives on.

How to Get the Look

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 1.01)

A Don may not wear shorts, but a dad can wear whatever he wants!

• Sage-green plaid puckered linen short-sleeve camp shirt
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Taupe-gray chino-cotton pleated knee-length shorts
• Russet-brown leather tasseled loafers
• Diamond-crusted gold pinky ring
• Gold wedding ring
• TAG Heuer Professional 200M gold-plated steel quartz watch with rotating bezel, round dial with luminous non-numeral hour markers and date window, and rice-grain bracelet
• Gold necklace with St. Jerome pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series and follow my friend Gabe’s Instagram accounts: @TonySopranoStyle and @Don_Gabe_Marfisi.

The Quote

You know what I’m figurin’ out lately? Talkin’ helps.

The post The Sopranos: Tony’s Cookout Camp Shirt and Shorts appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)

Vitals

Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, impressionable bachelor and bond salesman

Long Island, New York, Summer 1925

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren

Background

“Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it,” laments Daisy Buchanan—somewhat redundantly—to her cousin Nick Carraway over a visit that kicks off the romantic drama of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. (The summer solstice today makes this the longest day of the year, so take note, Daisy!)

Set 100 years ago across the summer of 1922, The Great Gatsby begins with Nick joining the Buchanans, Daisy being his second cousin once removed and Tom one of his former classmates at Yale. The wealth disparity is represented in the fictionalized areas of Long Island where they live, Nick describing his home “at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two” when compared to their elaborate mansion located among “the white palaces of fashionable East Egg… across the courtesy bay.”

The novel merely has Nick driving around the sound to arrive for dinner, while the movie follows Sam Waterston’s Nick across the bay in a small boat, fumbling for his nearly-drowned hat while his narration relays his father’s time-tested advice to check one’s privilege prior to criticizing anyone.

Both the novel and Jack Clayton’s 1974 adaptation, arguably the most prominent cinematic retelling until Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 spectacle, begin with this “warm windy evening” among old friends, immediately introducing most of the central players in Fitzgerald’s drama aside from the eponymous Gatsby, who only merits a mention as Daisy’s golfer pal Jordan Baker establishes that Nick, new to West Egg, “must know Gatsby,” eliciting an intrigued curiosity from Daisy.

After a “golden afternoon” with the Buchanans, Nick motors away from their dock—and its familiar green light—as he returns to West Egg, under the watchful eye of his mysterious neighbor.

The mention of Daisy’s prior love doesn’t derail the evening, as she obsesses about candles and the two remaining weeks before the longest day in the year. A phone call likely from Tom’s “woman in New York” pulls the Buchanans from the table, but even that doesn’t deter Nick’s romantic reflection that:

It had been a golden afternoon, and I remember having the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. By the autumn, my mood would be very different.

What’d He Wear?

Weeks before the enigmatic Jay Gatsby would dress in a white suit, silver shirt, and golden tie, his neighbor Nick had already pulled together an impressive all-white suit when calling on the Buchanans at home. (It should be noted that costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge received one of The Great Gatsby‘s two Academy Awards.)

Nick’s “summer whites” may be a bit flashy for our grounded narrator, but this seasonally appropriate shade visually communicates the character’s cheery optimism at the start of the story, a significant contrast to the somber charcoal woolen three-piece he wears for the movie’s funereal fall-set finale. Even during this roaring decade, such a suit would have been inappropriate for the office, so Nick likely embraced the opportunity to deviate from the more staid blues and browns of his workplace wardrobe to wear something more bright and celebratory for his reunion with Tom and Daisy.

Nick blends in among the white linens and muted tones of Daisy’s sun-drenched parlor.

Nick’s bleached linen suit is slightly warmer than stark white, closer to an “eggshell” white than even ivory or cream. The single-breasted, two-button jacket blends sporty ’20s-inspired details with contemporary ’70s tailoring, the latter most significantly represented by the wide notch lapels with their welted edges.

Apropos the suit’s informality, the jacket has patch pockets: one on each hip and one over the left breast, which Nick dresses with a dark pocket square. All three pockets are detailed with a horizontal yoke across the tops with double sets of pleats that could expand the pocket as needed. A horizontal yoke extends across the back of the wide-shouldered jacket, with the seams softly gathered at the top of each sleeve. The sleeves are finished with four white buttons at the cuffs.

Nick cautiously motors his small boat across the Long Island Sound, the pleated back of his jacket allowing for an appropriately wider range of motion as he helms.

Early 20th century tailored sportswear was often characterized by “action back” jackets, typically crafted from systems of strategically placed pleats that allowed wearers a greater range of movement, specifically arm movement, for outdoor sports like shooting and golf. As detailed by Ethan Wong’s blog A Little Bit of Rest (formerly Street x Sprezza), this could range from simply a fully cut back restrained at the waist by a self-belt to the intricate “bi-swing” back with a deep pleat behind each shoulder that would expand as the arm was extended.

Nick’s “action back” jacket consists of the aforementioned yoke back with an inverted pleat down the center, designed to “open” as Nick extends his arms… a functionality he swiftly illustrates while attempting to regain control of his motorboat and then lunge to fish his hat from the water. A half-belt sewn around only the back of the jacket suppresses the waist so that the wearer can benefit from the upper fullness without the jacket appearing too baggy. Below the belt, a long single vent extends down to the hem.

Still dressed for polo, Tom escorts the white-suited Nick into the Buchanan estate. Note the “action back” details of Nick’s jacket below the horizontal yoke, including the inverted center pleat, the half-belt, and the micro-pleats resulting from the latter.

The suit has a matching single-breasted vest (waistcoat) with six white buttons and four welted pockets. Nick wears his gold pocket watch in the lower right pocket, with its gold chain strung “single Albert”-style through a hole adjacent to the fourth buttonhole down.

Nick may have worn the white linen suit’s flat front trousers orphaned with his navy blazer for his first of Gatsby’s famous parties, as they share design details like the side pockets, back pockets (including the scalloped button-down flap over the left), and bottoms finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

The trousers’ belt loops would have been a relatively new phenomenon on men’s tailoring at the time; in fact, it wasn’t until 1922—the same year that The Great Gatsby is set—that Levi’s began adding belt loops to their famous 501 jeans. Nick even foregoes suspenders (braces) to hold up his trousers with a white belt, defying the oft-stated sartorial practice of not wearing belts with waistcoats so gents could avoid any unsightly bulges caused by belt buckles.

“So, we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past…”

There’s no sartorial wisdom or “rule” insisting on white shoes with a white suit, as certain shades of brown leather can make for very handsome and harmonious footwear, but Nick sticks to his summery palette by sporting a pair of cap-toe oxfords with all-white leather uppers, worn with ivory cotton lisle socks. (The non-sueded leather finish and the black leather soles—rather than brick red rubber soles—inform us that these are simply white oxford shoes, not the Ivy-beloved “white bucks”.)

Nick precariously balances himself as he reaches for his drenched Panama hat.

Shop the shoes:

As of June 2022, the only cap-toe oxfords with white uppers and black leather soles appear to be the Stacy Adams "Gala" oxfords in white patent leather, available for less than $70 from:

• Amazon
• DSW
• Kohl's

Amidst the bleached layers of his suit, Nick infuses color with his multi-striped shirt and yellow paisley tie. The white cotton shirt is narrowly striped in a repeating pattern of blue, fuschia, and yellow stripes, the latter coordinating with his yellow tie, which is busily printed in a close all-over arrangement of burgundy, cream, gold, and sage-green paisley shapes. The shirt’s large point collar echoes the width of Nick’s jacket lapels, both of which may be concessions to the ’70s production but are still compatible. Nick’s high-fastening waistcoat results in little of the shirt seen beyond this sizable collar, but we can also see its button-fastened barrel cuffs.

The wide-brimmed white straw Panama hat that Nick labors to rescue from the Long Island Sound has a full “optimo crown,” characterized by a flat top with a raised center ridge from front to back. The wide black grosgrain band has a cross-hatched charcoal stripe around the center, bordered on top and bottom with a lighter gray stripe.

How to Get the Look

Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)

At the outset of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway dresses to match his attitude at the start of summer, attired in pure white from head to toe in wide-brimmed Panama hat, sporty linen suit, and leather oxfords.

• Eggshell-white linen tailored sport suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide notch lapels, pleated patch pockets on breast and hips, 4-button cuffs, and half-belted “action back” with inverted center pleat and single vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat/vest with four welted pockets
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, set-in back pockets (with left-side scalloped button-down flap), and turn-ups/cuffs
• White multicolor-striped cotton shirt with large point collar and button cuffs
• Yellow tie with burgundy, cream, gold, and green paisley all-over print
• White leather belt
• White leather cap-toe oxford shoes with black leather soles
• Ivory cotton lisle socks
• White straw Panama hat with optimo crown and black center-striped band
• Gold pocket watch on gold chain

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read the book.

The Quote

In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

The post The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s White Linen Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Vitals

Tim Roth as “Pumpkin”, aka “Ringo”, an otherwise unnamed small-time crook

Los Angeles, Summer 1992

Film: Pulp Fiction
Release Date: October 14, 1994
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Now that it’s summer—and already a hot one!—I’ve started rotating my favorite aloha shirts and tropical prints into my wardrobe. Luckily for me, bright Hawaiian-style resort shirts have been undergoing a wave of revival each summer, perhaps encouraged by Brad Pitt’s now-famous yellow aloha shirt in Quentin Tarantino’s latest, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Style in QT’s early movies typically conjures the well-armed professional criminals in their uniforms of black suits, white shirts, and black ties, but outside of this lethal look, characters in the Tarantino-verse often pulled from the Hawaiian shirts in their closet. The first example would be Harvey Keitel’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it palm-print shirt before taking Tim Roth’s Mr. Orange for tacos in Reservoir Dogs. Two years later, it was Roth himself that would be tropically attired for the next of Tarantino’s defining cinematic works.

Pulp Fiction begins and ends at the Hawthorne Grill, a nondescript L.A. diner where we catch up with a scrappy young couple in the middle of their conversation. The man—a self-described “sensible fuckin’ man” at that—thinks a little too much of himself, though the woman eagerly hangs onto every word, taking it to heart. They call each other “Pumpkin” and “Honey Bunny”, but we eventually learn that the latter’s name is Yolanda. Over refilled coffee and Red Apple cigarettes, the pair’s discussion deviates from what most couples discuss in diners… specifically how they can rob it.

“Nobody ever robs restaurants!” Pumpkin suggests. “Why not? Bars, liquor stores, gas stations… you get your head blown off stickin’ up one of ’em. Restaurants, on the other hand, you catch with their pants down. They’re not expectin’ to get robbed. Not as expectin’, anyway.”

“I bet you could cut down on the hero factor in a place like this,” Yolanda responds, providing a hypothesis that would prove correct minutes later when Pumpkin thrusts his revolver into the beefy neck of the manager who desperately cried out, “I am not a hero, I’m just a coffee shop—”

With their loose plan determined and their coffees refilled thanks to the garçon waitress, the two kiss, declare their mutual love, and leap onto their booths, wielding revolvers to take the restaurant hostage:

Yolanda: I love you, Pumpkin.
Pumpkin: I love you, Honey Bunny. (rising with his gun) Alright, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!
Yolanda: Any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!

If this doesn’t automatically trigger the surf-infused first few notes of “Misirlou”, then I can’t help you.

First-time viewers may have even forgotten about the wannabe Bonnie and Clyde after two hours with Jules Winnfield, Vincent Vega, Mia Wallace, Marsellus Wallace, Butch Coolidge, and the debonair fixer Mr. Wolf, before our final moments with Jules and Vincent back in the Hawthorne Grill.

A few tables away, we hear a familiar British accent call out “garçon!” and realize we’re right back where Dick Dale and the Del-Tones had left us, but with the knowledge that poor Pumpkin and Honey Bunny wouldn’t have been anticipating the two well-armed flies in the ointment in the form of Jules and Vincent, each packing serious heat under those tacky T-shirts.

What’d He Wear?

In a 2019 interview with Vogue for the 25th anniversary of Pulp Fiction, costume designer Betsy Heimann explained that she intentionally chose Yolanda’s costume to look like she purchased her muted mauve dress at a thrift store. It’s likely that she followed the same guidance when dressing Yolanda’s partner in crime in his worn-in Hawaiian shirt over a faded T-shirt and jeans.

Tim Roth’s screen-worn aloha shirt, as it appeared in a 2022 auction. (Source: Prop Store)

I’m grateful to my friend Pete Brooker (who hosts the From Tailors With Love podcast and website) for alerting me to the June 2022 Prop Store auction that includes Tim Roth’s screen-worn tropical shirt.

The Prop Store auction listing describes “this polyester blend, short-sleeve button-up seafoam green shirt features a breast pocket and is affixed throughout with images of waves and surfers. It exhibits minor signs of wear, such as fraying on some threading.”

The base print of Pumpkin’s shirt consists of seafoam and indigo illustrations of the breaking surf, depicted paler where the water foams as groups of surfers take to the waves. The surfers are all wearing patterned pink and purple board shirts, typically shirtless though one surf rider takes to the sea in a white sleeveless undershirt.

The shirt is significantly shorter than the traditional aloha shirt, with a finished straight hem suggesting it was intentionally made this way. The shirt’s camp collar is of moderate width, with a self-loop on the left side that would connect to a button under the right collar leaf. The rest of the shirt’s six white plastic buttons are sewn up the plain front (no placket), and there’s a non-matching pocket over the left breast. The short sleeves are widely cut with wide armholes for an additionally insouciant presentation.

Pumpkin wears the shirt totally open over a pilling cotton crew-neck T-shirt that may have once been black but appears washed or sun-faded to a charcoal.

The point of no return: Pumpkin takes his impromptu robbery scheme a little too far with the recently enlightened Jules Winnfield.

As Pumpkin leaps from the booth with his gat drawn, we see more details of his light stonewashed denim jeans, which have the familiar red tab and arcuate back stitching indicative of Levi’s. The cut and era suggest that they may be the classic Levi’s 501 Original Fit.

In keeping with Pulp Fiction‘s retro-informed sense of style, Pumpkin wears a pair of black leather engineer boots that add a dash of ’50s defiance, evoking the footwear famously worn by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

Characterized by their buckled straps across the instep and the top of each long shaft, these boots were pioneered during the 1930s for railroad firemen to protect these engineers’ legs from the intense heat and other hazards of their condition. These protective qualities—as well as the laceless design—led to motorcyclists embracing engineer boots as practical footwear following the World War II. The increasing “outlaw” reputation of bikers aligned engineer boots with greaser culture, beginning their decades-long association with the evolving counterculture from hustlers and punks to hipsters.

Yolanda and her man discuss the final details of their robbery plan.

Pumpkin and Honey Bunny never expressly define the nature of their relationship, but their gold wedding bands suggest that the two are married.

The Gun

One minute they’re havin’ a Denver omelette. The next minute, someone’s stickin’ a gun in their face.

Both Pumpkin and Honey Bunny carry compact revolvers, trading power and capacity for something that can be easily concealed. Yolanda arms herself with the hammerless Smith & Wesson Model 40 Centennial in .38 Special with a snub-nosed barrel, five-round cylinder, and an old-fashioned “lemon squeezer” grip safety.

Pumpkin carries a Smith & Wesson Model 30 revolver with a slightly longer three-inch barrel and a six-round cylinder, though it fires the less powerful .32 S&W Long ammunition.

Jules wouldn’t have been eating a Denver omelette (he doesn’t “dig on swine” and diced ham is typically included in these omelettes), and he was arguably quite prepared for when Pumpkin stuck a gun in his face.

The Model 30 was an evolution of the early Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector, developed around the turn of the century. The 1st Model .32 Hand Ejector, introduced in 1896, was Smith & Wesson’s first revolver to boast a swing-out cylinder. After seven years of production, the .32 Hand Ejector was modernized with the Model of 1903, which went through several series of subtle changes and more than half a million produced before production ended in 1942 during the early months of American entry in World War II.

Smith & Wesson modernized the .32 Hand Ejector when it was reintroduced to the market in the late 1940s, a decade before it was renamed the Model 30 after Smith & Wesson instituted numeric nomenclatures. For its first dozen years in production, the Model 30 was primarily built on Smith & Wesson’s small “I-frame” before it was replaced solely with the Model 30-1 on the slightly longer 3-screw “J-frame” through the end of production in 1976.

Barrel lengths for the Model 30 varied through 2″, 3″, 4″, and 6″, though the design was otherwise universally standard with either blued or nickel finish and rounded grips of checkered walnut. (The square-gripped model was designated the Model 31, having evolved from the earlier .32 Regulation Police.)

Pumpkin indicates his readiness to Yolanda by placing his Smith & Wesson on the table, though she doesn’t show any distress that he has the muzzle pointed directly at her.

How to Get the Look

Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Anyone can pull together a surf-printed Hawaiian shirt, black pocket T, and Levi’s, but the key to Pumpkin’s wardrobe is the appearance that these clothes have been through the wringer—either with him or before they made their way to the thrift store where he bought them—and are thus perfectly suitable for the kind of desperado who would hold up a suburban coffee shop with a six-shooter.

• Seafoam-and-indigo tropical surfer-print short-sleeved camp shirt with loop collar, breast pocket, and plain front
• Charcoal cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt with breast pocket
• Light stonewash denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit jeans
• Black leather engineer boots with silver-buckled straps
• Gold wedding ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Yeah, well, the days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun.

The post Pulp Fiction: Tim Roth’s Surfer Shirt appeared first on BAMF Style.

Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing (1982)

Vitals

Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady, helicopter pilot

Antarctica, Winter 1982

Film: The Thing
Release Date: June 25, 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Costume Supervisors: Ronald I. Caplan, Trish Keating, and Gilbert Loe

Background

We’re not gettin’ out of here alive… but neither is that thing.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Thing, which premiered June 25, 1982 and remains the personal favorite of director John Carpenter. Four days ago on June 21, British Antarctic research stations would have observed their Midwinter Day celebration that typically includes watching horror movies about being trapped in the snow such as The Thing and The Shining.

Indeed, the action begins during “first goddamn week of winter” grumbles R.J. MacReady, a grizzled helicopter pilot embedded with an American scientific research crew stationed in Antarctica. The U.S. Outpost 31 crew is baffled by the sudden appearance of a Norwegian gunman shooting at what appears to be a relatively benign wolfdog (Jed). “Maybe we’re at war with Norway,” quips Nauls (T.K. Carter), the cook, who more helpfully offers that “five minutes is enough to put a man over down here” as the team mulls over the gunman’s possible motives.

That night, it’s not the Norwegian who the crew needs to be alarmed about, but instead the curious creature locked up with the dogs. As their canine handler Clark (Richard Masur) warns Mac:

It’s weird and pissed off, whatever it is…

What’d He Wear?

R.J. MacReady layers against the cold in a well-worn leather flight jacket, apropos his profession as a pilot with a military background. The jacket’s leather shell resembles the design of the classic fur-collared jackets authorized to U.S. military pilots, including the World War II-era M-442A and the G-1 later made iconic by Top Gun, though MacReady’s jacket differs from the traditional mil-spec pattern with an insulating shearling-like fleece lining that would be particularly suitable against the bitter Antarctica cold.

I’ve read that the dark brown steerhide jacket featured in The Thing was sourced from Schott NYC, the venerable New York City outfitter that pioneered the Perfecto motorcycle jacket in the 1920s and was later contracted to provide outerwear for the U.S. military during World War II. The details of MacReady’s jacket—especially the off-white pile lining—suggest that the exact model is the Schott 674 (#IS-674-MS), produced from 1971 through 1987 according to the Schott blog.

The waist-length Schott jacket has a synthetic fur collar, as manmade pile had generally superseded authentic mouton fur even on military bomber jackets by this point. The silver Talon zipper that extends up from waist to neck is covered by a narrow fly that can snap closed at each end. Each shoulder is detailed with a military-like epaulette strap that snaps to the body of the jacket at the neck, under the collar. A large patch-style pocket is placed over each side of the zipper on the front, covered with a flap that closes with a single Schott-branded snap and each inset with an additional handwarmer pocket accessed via a slanted welt opening.

The set-in sleeves are finished with dark brown ribbed-knit wool cuffs that echoes the knitting along the waist hem. Unlike the military G-1 with its half-belted back, the back of the Schott is devoid of seams aside from the horizontal shoulder yoke.

MacReady takes control of the situation… or so he thinks.

Under his jacket, hoodie, and coveralls, MacReady typically layers two crew-neck T-shirts: a heathered gray short-sleeved shirt over a pale beige long-sleeved shirt.

MacReady rarely deviates from these shirts under his jacket and jumpsuit, though he does wear a rust, black, and white printed rayon button-up sports shirt during the scene when the outpost’s senior biologist, Blair (Wilford Brimley), is in distress.

MacReady and chief mechanic Childs (Keith David) take cover during Blair’s outburst.

MacReady always wears a military-style flight suit made of olive-green ripstop, the lightweight but resilient cloth developed during World War II as a replacement for parachute silk, though its application eventually expanded to uniforms by the Vietnam War. As its name implies, the reinforced weaving technique incorporated sturdier yarns that made the cloth less likely to rip and resulted in a cross-hatched finish. Given that Mac suspects that the eponymous thing tears through clothes when it takes over a new host, the resilient ripstop of his coveralls may serve as his final line of defense.

MacReady’s one-piece flight suit extends from neck to ankles with a rounded collar, a silver-toned zipper that pulls down from neck to crotch, and reinforced shoulders. The short waist tabs and cuff tabs close with a button, prior to the addition of Velcro. The seven zip-closed patch pockets are arranged with one on each side of the chest (each sharply slanted toward the center), one on each thigh (the right with a vertical opening, left horizontal), one on each shin with a vertical opening, and one the upper left sleeve with two inset pen slots.

Predating the CWU-27/P flight suits made from flame-resistant Nomex, Mac’s ripstop cotton flight suit resembles the Vietnam-era K-2B flight suit, albeit with the thigh pockets’ zip-opening directions reversed.

He frequently unzips the suit down to his waist, pulling down the top and wearing the coveralls essentially as pants. When he does this, it reveals the red-piped elastic waistband of his off-white long underwear, which he appears to tuck his T-shirts into.

Flight suit pulled down to his waist—and Scotch in hand—MacReady lends some assistance to the compromised meteorologist Bennings (Peter Maloney).

MacReady wears sturdy plain-toe combat boots with smooth black leather uppers that extend up his calves, laced through nine derby-style sets of eyelets. The thick gum rubber soles have a repeating chevron-style tread that The RPF user MorbidCharlie used to identify contemporary military contractor Ro-Search as the most likely manufacturer.

MacReady’s combat boots were in considerably better shape at the start of their adventure.

Apropos his snowy environment, MacReady protects his eyes with “glacier glasses” that have been identified as the Vuarnet 027 model. Though Vuarnet had swifly expanded to offer non-sports sunglasses, the French eyewear brand originated in the late 1950s with Roger Pouilloux’s invention of the Skilynx lens, who provided these in the goggles worn in the 1960 Winter Olympics by the French ski team, including gold medalist Jean Vuarnet.

Having established its credentials as winter eyewear, Vuarnet introduced its first “Glacier” goggles in 1974. 007 fans may recognize a newer evolution of these Vuarnets as worn by Daniel Craig for a snowy sequence in Spectre, as identified by James Bond Lifestyle.

The distinctive Vuarnet 027 goggles as seen in The Thing have rounded black “bug eye”-shaped frames with cable arms that curve around the back of the wearer’s ears for stronger retention, further detailed with the removable black leather side shields that provide additional protection. While both functionally and contextually appropriate, the unique look of these glasses also add a quasi-futuristic, dystopian cast to MacReady’s look, appropriate for The Thing‘s blend of sci-fi and horror.

MacReady hits the snow with geologist Norris (Charles Hallahan), who wears more conventional snow goggles as opposed to Mac’s fashionable yet functional Vuarnets.

MacReady and some of his outpost colleagues protect their hands with black leather snow gloves that were also identified by MorbidCharlie at The RPF, who shared the likely product as Castre snowmobile gauntlets, detailed with three ridges across the back of each hand and wide leather cuffs enveloping the wrists.

After taking command of the station from Garry (Donald Moffat), MacReady also begins wearing Garry’s russet-brown leather gun belt that adds a touch of classic Western gunfighter aesthetic to Mac’s wardrobe. He carries the gun—a Colt Trooper MK III revolver—holstered on the right side, secured with a single snap-retention strap. Cartridge loops around the back and left carry the Trooper’s designated .357 Magnum rounds, and the belt closes through a hefty steel octagonal single-prong buckle.

MacReady often adds the additional layer of a heathered blue cotton hooded sweatshirt under his flight suit, pulling the hood up while outside to protect himself from the cold. This pullover-style hoodie has a matching blue drawstring extending from each side of the hood.

MacReady and Norris fly out to the Norwegian base.

The final piece of the MacReady sartorial puzzle is the large brown felt sombrero-style hat that he often wears, with a wide brim that dramatically curls up on four sides. The tall four-pinched crown recalls early campaign covers that are still worn by drill instructors, Park Rangers, and Mounties, among others. The hat has a wide brown rawhide band, with self-loops on each side that collect the overlaid band that’s been woven in a manner that creates a yellow-shadowed black zig-zag against an orange ground. Two long rawhide straps extend from the insides of the hat, possibly extended from the band, knotted to create a chin-strap.

Mac dresses for his noble mission of introducing the first Arby’s to Antarctica.

I recommend that fans of the movie and MacReady’s attire further explore the oft-cited thread which MorbidCharlie began at The RPF, chronicling his research into MacReady’s screen-worn attire and his journey to collect or make it himself.

What to Imbibe

If R.J. MacReady’s heavy layers aren’t enough to keep him warm, he works to insulate himself from the inside out with steady drams of Scotch. Mac’s on-screen introduction may be among the most prominent product placements that a whisky brand could ask for, as the J&B Rare label alone takes up nearly a fourth of the screen as he pours some over a handful of ice in his rocks glass.

Though the history of Justerini & Brooks—as dedicated fan Truman Capote used to exclusively order it—dates back to the mid-18th century, the familiar J&B Rare variety seen in The Thing was developed for American drinkers toward the end of Prohibition, which was repealed in 1933 and launched J&B Rare’s quick success to a market thirsty for legal booze. The 80-proof blended Scotch is demonstrated to be particularly potent when MacReady pours just enough of it onto a victorious Apple II “Chess Wizard” to destroy the machine:

Cheatin’ bitch.

You’d think he’d have enough ice being in Antarctica, but J&B is better enjoyed on the rocks than neat.

The Thing may also chalk up a record number of unorthodox uses for booze as MacReady fetches himself a Budweiser on the first night, though he never even gets to crack it open, instead using the can to break the glass surrounding the fire alarm when he hears a concerning sound…

Mac finally gets to enjoy a beer when he alternates between a can of Coors Banquet and swigs from his beloved bottle of J&B during a late night spent pondering the team’s predicament. “I’m tired of talkin’, Fuchs. I just want to get up to my shack and get drunk.”

The Bandit and Snowman must have had considerable trouble dodging all those maritime smokies to bring Coors to MacReady all the way in Antarctica.

After Blair (Wilford Brimley) understands the true danger that the Thing poses, he steels himself with some 100-proof Smirnoff “Blue Label” and arms himself with a snub-nosed revolver to keep his crew from stopping him from cutting off the world. Once they subdue Blair in the toolshed, they leave him his same pint of vodka, from which Mac takes a pull.

The Guns

MacReady frequently arms himself with an Ithaca 37 shotgun, first when exploring the abandoned Norwegian base and again when facing off against The Thing. Per its name, the decades-old design for this pump-action shotgun finally went into production in 1937. A favorite of American law enforcement and military forces, the Ithaca 37 distinguishes itself from other pump-action shotguns with its loading/ejection port uniquely located on the bottom of the receiver. Many variations exist, though MacReady uses the classic configuration with a full wooden stock and slide and riot-length barrel.

When Garry (Donald Moffat) relinquishes command of the station to MacReady, he hands over his Colt Trooper MK III, the same service revolver he had used to shoot the Norwegian at the beginning. Colt introduced the first-generation Trooper in the 1950s to target the law enforcement market with a lighter-weight medium-frame revolver that could handle the standard .38 Special and .357 Magnum ammunition.

In 1969, Colt introduced the MK III series that updated many older revolvers, led by a refreshed Trooper MK III. Cosmetic changes to the Trooper MK III included a heavy barrel with a solid top rib and shrouded ejector rod, as well as the same corrosion-resistant steel finish as the rest of the MK III series. Internally, the MK III revolvers incorporated a safer transfer-bar lockwork system and improved internal springs. The MK III series ended in 1983 with the introduction of the refreshed MK V, which added the option of a Python-style ventilated top rib.

MacReady draws Gerry’s Colt Trooper MK III.

The most significant weapon in the station arsenal may be the M2A1-7 flamethrowers that MacReady and the station crew use to combat the thing. The flamethrowers prove to have multiple uses, with Mac also firing it on a very low flame to burn a wire he uses to cauterize each crewman’s blood in an attempt to draw out the thing’s natural defense mechanisms.

The M2 flamethrower was developed during the later years of World War II, when it was most frequently used in the Pacific theater. Weighing 68 pounds when full and still 43 pounds when empty, the M2 underwent a series of evolutions over its nearly forty years of service, resulting in the M2A1-7 model that MacReady would have been familiar used during his service in Vietnam.

“You tell ’em I’m coming… and hell’s coming with me—” wait, wrong badass Kurt Russell movie.

How to Get the Look

Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing (1982)

R.J. MacReady needs more insulating winter clothing than most, given his duties on an Antarctica outpost in the middle of a sub-freezing winter, so he relies on tried-and-true military gear like a fleece-lined bomber jacket, ripstop flight suit, and combat boots, comfortably layered and with context-informed accessories like snow goggles and gloves.

• Dark brown steerhide leather Schott 674 G-1-style flight jacket with synthetic fur collar, snap-down shoulder straps (epaulettes), large patch pockets with snap-down flaps and inset handwarmer pockets, and ribbed-knit wool cuffs and hem
• Blue heathered cotton hooded sweatshirt
• Gray heathered cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
• Light-beige cotton crew-neck long-sleeve T-shirt
• Olive-green ripstop cotton military-style flight suit/coveralls with round collar, zip-up front, six zip-closed pockets, zip-closed left-sleeve pocket with pen slots, button-fastened waist tabs, and button-fastened cuff tabs
• Black smooth leather plain-toe 9-eyelet combat boots with chevron-treaded rubber soles
• Off-white long underwear with red-piped waistband
• Black-framed Vuarnet 027 “glacier glasses” with sunglass lenses, curved cable arms, and removable black leather side shields
• Black leather gauntlet gloves
• Russet-brown leather gun-belt with right-side single-snap holster, cartridge loops, and octagonal steel single-prong buckle
• Brown felt sombrero with campaign-style crown, rawhide band, and zigzag-woven top band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I know I’m human. And if you were all these things, you’d just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn’t want to show itself, it wants to hide in an imitation. It’ll fight if it has to, but it’s vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies. Nobody left to kill it… and then it’s won. There’s a storm hitting us in six hours. We’re gonna find out who’s who.

The post The Thing: Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady appeared first on BAMF Style.

Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963)

Vitals

Elvis Presley as Mike Windgren, expat singer, part-time lifeguard, and former circus performer

Acapulco, Summer 1963

Film: Fun in Acapulco
Release Date: November 27, 1963
Director: Norman Taurog
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

This weekend, I saw Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis chronicling the life of the King of Rock and Roll with Baz’s characteristic splendor. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, most likely due to Austin Butler’s revelatory performance. (I’d need some more dedicated Elvis experts to confirm for me whether or not Colonel Tom Parker actually sounded as much like Goldmember as Tom Hanks’ performance portrayed.)

Elvis addressed the King’s cinematic ambitions, hoping to follow in James Dean’s footsteps but arguably ill-treated by his frequently banal material, as illustrated by the 1963 vehicle Fun in Acapulco.The eponymous setting made sense in keeping with the emerging travelogues of Elvis’s movies, though it was a particularly curious choice, given that Elvis was persona non grata in Mexico following a racist rumor spread about the singer earlier in his career. Despite being filmed without Presley ever traveling to Mexico for the production, the movie rose to become the year’s top-grossing movie musical, proving that audiences hadn’t yet tired of the standard formula of Elvis singing his way through a forgettable plot while romancing beautiful actresses; in this case, that was Elsa Cárdenas and Ursula Andress, the latter now an international phenomenon following her iconic introduction as the bikini-clad Honey Ryder in the first James Bond movie, Dr. No.

Andress’ follow-up project capitalized on the public’s positive response to seeing her in skimpy swimwear, as much of Fun in Acapulco‘s action was set poolside at the Acapulco Hilton, where Elvis’ character Mike Windgren has been hired as a lifeguard—and, of course, a part-time singer—while entrenching himself in a light love triangle with his rival diver’s girlfriend Margarita (Andress) and a seductive bullfighter Dolores (Cárdenas).

What’d He Wear?

Mike spends his days working at the Acapulco Hilton dressed in the lifeguard uniform of the hotel’s issued short-inseam swim trunks and waist-length shirts styled with the sporty “Lido collar”.

The Lido collar had emerged during the interwar years of the 1920s and ’30s that gave rise to less formal resort fashion. Its associations with stardom and Hollywood royalty like Gary Cooper resulted in the synonymous names “Hollywood collar” and “Cooper collar”. Lido collars can appear in different shapes, but the general essence is a one-piece collar that continuously follows where the front of the shirt cuts away at the neck, forced by design to be worn open-neck and thus less formal.

Not all Lido collars are the same, as illustrated by the King himself in the straight-collared beige shirt and the more shapely Cooper collar on his light blue silk shirt.

Mike’s first poolside shirt is made from a beige cotton, styled with a straighter one-piece collar that lacks the elegant tapered roll of some Lido collars. Since we also see Mike’s colleague and sometime rival Moreno (Alejandro Rey) wearing an identical shirt, we can assume that these have been issued by the hotel. These waist-length shirts are elasticized on the bottom sides of the hem for a blouson-like effect, with four tonal plastic buttons up the plain front to mid-chest, where the front tapers away to follow the lines of the flat one-piece collar. The short sleeves are set-in at the shoulder with the ends reinforced with sewn cuffs. A patch pocket is positioned over the left breast.

Mike and Moreno flank Dolores in their matching beige sport shirts.

The next time we see Mike poolside, he’s pulling on another waist-length, short-sleeved, Lido-collar shirt, though it’s made from a more fashionable light blue dupioni silk, as characterized by the sheen and slubbing. Though silk shines well under the sun, its warm-wearing properties would not make it particularly practical for the summer, particularly in the year-round heat of tropical Acapulco. Additionally, the fabric’s sensitivity to water makes it an especially curious choice as a post-swim “cover-up” shirt.

This would be enough evidence to question whether or not the shirt was truly silk, but the material is validated by the screen-worn shirt’s photos and paperwork featured at FiftiesStore.com, which also includes photos of the label confirming that this silk shirt was made for the King by “tailor to the stars” Sy Devore, who included Elvis and the Rat Pack among his celebrated clientele.

This blue silk shirt has five clear plastic buttons up the French-style plain front, with a straight hem that has short button-tabs on each side rather than the less elegant elasticized waist of the earlier beige shirt. The other stylistic differences include the addition of a second chest pocket on the other side, and a more traditional Lido collar with the curved roll and structure that indicates a high-quality shirt.

Mike pulls his blue silk shirt back on while conversing with Maggie, overseen by the precocious Raoul (Larry Domasin).

Mike’s Hilton-issued swim shorts are navy blue with a white band across the front of the waist, detailed with a repeating pattern of two colliding navy squares. Each end of this front waistband aligns with a white stripe down each side of the trunks. A white badge, likely indicative of the manufacturer, is embroidered over the left thigh.

The material is likely polyester and Lycra, a frequent blend for tighter-fitting performance trunks like these.

Mike’s poolside shoes appear to be simple loafers with tan canvas uppers and dark brown hard leather soles. A cool alternative would have been to see Elvis wearing huaraches, the handmade Mexican sandals with woven leather uppers, which became increasingly prominent among Americans during this era as they were embraced by the beatnik and hippie countercultures.

Huaraches or not, these are the only scenes that feature this footwear, as he otherwise wears black “Beatle boots” and brown slip-on Venetian loafers.

Elvis was a noted watch enthusiast in real life, and the stainless chronograph that appears in Fun in Acapulco was likely from the King’s own horological collection. The watch has a round black ringed dial and an expanding steel bracelet.

Understandably, Mike doesn’t frequently wear his watch while on lifeguard detail, but it does briefly appear during the scene where Margarita and her father Maximilian (Paul Lukas) find him being perhaps over-attentive to her romantic rival, Dolores.

“Life of a lifeguard,” as Mike quips.

How to Get the Look

Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963)

Though tailored dupioni silk may be a bit excessive—and impractical—Elvis makes the case for classing up the poolside shirts worn with swimwear in his waist-length Lido-collar sport shirts.

• Light blue dupioni silk short-sleeved sport shirt with Lido collar, plain front, two chest pockets, and straight hem with button-tab waist adjusters
• Navy polyester/Lycra short-inseam swim trunks with white-trimmed accents and side stripes
• Tan woven leather huaraches with dark brown leather soles
• Stainless steel chronograph watch with black dial on steel expanding bracelet

It’s increasingly difficult to find ready-made shirts with Lido collars, though I know Scott Fraser Simpson and Timothy Everest continue to provide fine products aligned with the King’s summer style.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post Fun in Acapulco: Elvis’ Lido-collar Shirts and Swimwear appeared first on BAMF Style.

Gary Busey as FBI Special Agent Angelo Pappas in Point Break (1991)

Vitals

Gary Busey as Angelo Pappas, beleaguered FBI agent

Los Angeles, Summer 1991

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“When are you gonna write about Gary Busey?”

“Where are your posts about Busey’s style in Point Break?”

“Show us the Busey, you coward!”

These are the kinds of questions and comments I never get, and yet, on the 78th birthday on this most idiosyncratic of actors, I want to take a deep dive—or surf—into the wardrobe of one of Gary Busey’s best-known roles.

Point Break provided an early starring role for Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, a rookie FBI agent and former OSU quarterback who goes undercover among the local surf community to infiltrate a suspected gang of bank robbers led by the charismatic and philosophical Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), who use their ill-gotten funds to chase their “endless summer” around the globe.

Shaking up this youthful dynamic, enter Gary Busey as Utah’s superior Angelo Pappas, a 22-year veteran of the FBI’s Bank Robbery Division and the kind of consummate professional whose lunch consists of two meatball sandwiches at 10:30 AM.

With a solid majority asking for the full Busey breakdown (or perhaps just hoping I get it out of my system faster), the poll results don’t lie!

What’d He Wear?

When not wearing his rumpled sport jackets and Jack Daniel’s-stained shirts, Angelo Pappas provides the delightful synergy of a wardrobe as outlandish as its wearer. Even subjectively speaking, Pappas would be far from the best-dressed of BAMF Style’s subjects, but there’s considerable interest in how he dresses for duty—a search for “gary busey point break shirts” on Twitter reveals as much!

My original plan was to focus on one of the two more prominently featured outfits from Pappas’ bold wardrobe, but an Instagram poll of BAMF Style followers made it pretty clear that, if we’re gonna talk about Busey, we may as well break it all down. Surf’s up, ace!

Aqua-Blue Tribal T-Shirt

Our first glimpse of Pappas’ undercover gear appears as he and Utah are getting chewed out by their constantly angry superior agent Harp (John C. McGinley) for having spent the last two weeks producing “squat!“, his ire particularly directed at Utah for having brought his surfboard into the office after he reports having caught his first tube that morning. Resentful that he’s being reprimanded for just doing his job and following Pappas’ own “lame-o idea”, Utah suggests a new investigative technique of comparing local surfers’ hair samples to a single sample recovered from an Encino bank job, eventually narrowing their search to Latigo Beach.

Pappas wears a bright aqua-blue T-shirt with an over-print in repeating strips of blue, black, and slate, resembling an abstract pattern of waves and tribal designs. My dim memories of the early ’90s seem to include seeing these shirts frequently throughout the summer and Pappas seems to have done his homework as they’re often associated with the surfer/skater subculture, as evident in the description for this ’90s-vintage Pipeline T-shirt.

When Pappas takes to the beach, we get a sense of how truly chaotic his outfit is once we see that he’s paired the shirt with a baggy cotton beach trousers printed in black, red, and yellow against a white ground. His flip-flop sandals are beach-appropriate, with soft layered rubber soles and blue Y-shaped thongs.

For those loyal readers of 10 years who had been eagerly waiting to see Gary Busey’s feet, you’re welcome.

Pappas completes his Latigo Beach stakeout from his ’87 Caprice, dressed behind the wheel in the same T-shirt but now with a more traditional pair of khaki flat-front trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Burgundy-and-Slate Printed Shirt

The next day, Pappas gears up for a raid against a house of violent Latigo Beach criminals. For this, he wears an oversized rayon shirt printed in a burgundy-and-slate wavy checkerboard pattern, overlaid by teal-and-white leaf sprigs. The shirt has a camp collar, non-matching breast pocket, elbow-length sleeves, and a French-style plain front that he wears buttoned up just enough to cover the wired microphone taped to his chest.

His khaki cotton trousers appear to be the same as he wore during the stakeout, worn with gray-and-white New Balance sneakers and white ribbed cotton crew socks.

The search for a mysterious cockapoo commences!

Blue-and-Yellow Printed Shirt

Thanks to the evidence of Roach (James LeGros) mooning them, evidence arises suggesting that Bodhi’s gang are indeed the bank-robbing gang of “Ex-Presidents,” prompting a late-night meeting where Pappas assures Utah that “tomorrow morning, first thing, we’ll be at the bank… like stink on shit.”

Even for this, Pappas wears one of his colorful camp shirts, boldly printed in a blue, black, yellow, gray, and white print vaguely depicting a beach scene. The shirt follows the same design as the burgundy-and-slate shirt with its camp collar, plain front, non-matching breast pocket, and short sleeves that envelop his elbows due to the oversized fit.

Mint Glyph-Print Shirt

As promised, Pappas is at the bank the next morning though the “stink on shit” comparison hasn’t ruined his appetite for mid-morning meatball subs:

Utah, get me two!

Giggling behind the wheel at Calvin and Hobbes, Pappas wears a lightweight rayon or silk shirt with a mixed mint-and-white ground, printed with a series of dark navy glyph-like patterns that range from simple swirls to more complex depictions. This short-sleeved shirt also has a camp collar, albeit one with more structure than the flat-laying camp collars of his previous two shirts, as well as the usual plain front and breast pocket.

If only we could all look forward to something with as much delight after 22 years of hard work.

Pappas’ Accessories

On the beach, Pappas wears wayfarer-style sunglasses with bold cream-colored acetate frames.

As opposed to Bodhi’s Breitling and Johnny Utah’s black-finished TAG Heuer, Pappas wears a relatively nondescript watch that reminds me of the Timex-made alternatives to the Rolex Datejust. The case and Jubilee-style link bracelet are plated in yellow gold, the round white dial left relatively minimalist with its gold non-numeric hour markers and a 3:00 day/date window.

“Have you seen my dog? I got a little dog I’m missing, it’s a cockapoo-like thing.”

The Gun

Angelo Pappas carries a nickel-plated Charter Arms Undercover, an appropriately named sidearm for his profession, despite the fact that I don’t believe it was ever officially authorized for FBI usage. Pappas’ 2″-barreled Undercover has black Pachmayr rubber grips and uniquely lacks of a front sight, suggesting either an intentionally removed sight or a longer barrel that had been cut down to two inches without replacing the sight.

Firearms designer Douglas McClenahan had founded Charter Arms in 1964 with the intent of manufacturing low-frills revolvers that were made simply with less moving parts and with stronger one-piece frames that could withstand higher loads. The lightweight Undercover was Charter Arms’ debut model, chambered in .38 Special—the standard American law enforcement cartridge—in a five-round cylinder.

Within a decade, the Charter Arms Bulldog was introduced, designed to take more powerful .357 Magnum and .44 Special loads. In the decades since, Charter Arms has increased its lineup with models ranging from .22 LR to .45 ACP, including less frequently encountered revolver rounds like .327 Federal Magnum and even the 9×19 mm Parabellum pistol ammunition. The company has been associated with some of the more infamous crimes of the ’70s, as serial killer David Berkowitz had used a Bulldog during his “Son of Sam” murders that resulted in his initial nickname “the .44-caliber Killer”, and the .38-caliber Undercover had also been used by Arthur Bremer (who shot and wounded George Wallace) and Mark David Chapman (who shot and killed John Lennon.)

Read more about the firearms of Point Break at IMFDB.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

In addition to the movie, I also recommend William Finnegan’s memoir Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life.

The Quote

Speak into the microphone, squid-brain!

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Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran filming The Irishman (2019)

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, tough Mafia enforcer

New Castle, Delaware, Summer 1962

Film: The Irishman
Release Date: November 1, 2019
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Sandy Powell & Christopher Peterson
Tailor: Leonard Logsdail

Background

I recently had the pleasure to rejoin my friends Pete Brooker and Ken Stauffer (@oceansographer) on Pete’s podcast From Tailors With Love, discussing The Irishman with master tailor Leonard Logsdail, who crafted many suits for the movie’s principals.

While recording the episode—released today and available to download via iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify—I had the opportunity to ask Leonard firsthand about one of my favorite sartorial moments from the film, the gold-suited reveal of a newly elevated Frank Sheeran as president of his local union, Teamsters #326, headquartered about 40 miles southwest of Philadelphia in New Castle, Delaware.

The Irishman dramatizes the decades-long association between Sheeran, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, and the mob, uniting cinematic tough guys Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel with director Martin Scorsese in a movie that’s less a flashy chronicle of mob history (like Goodfellas and Casino) and more a meditation on age and loyalty in a violent world.

The Irishman and its source material, Charles Brandt’s nonfiction bestseller I Heard You Paint Houses, both present a theory that “solves” the generations-old mystery of Hoffa’s fate, pointing a self-accusatory finger at his one-time friend and bodyguard Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, who narrates:

What can I say, I owe it all to Jimmy. He took me out of a meat truck and gave me my start. He gave me my first charter, he gave me my first union!

Through his duties as the new Teamsters #326 president, Sheeran vets which truckers would or would not inform on colleagues who steal for the mob, echoing his own questioning by Bill Bufalino nearly a decade earlier.

What’d He Wear?

Our first look at Frank Sheeran as the newly elected president of his local Teamsters union is an extreme close-up of his silver lapel pin, which depicts an old-fashioned Mack-style truck above the word “TEAMSTERS” against a blue navy enamel ground, above a navy-scripted “326” in the center of a scroll positioned beneath “LOCAL” in relief. These coin-sized IBT membership pins are still plentiful from online sellers like eBay.

The close-up also details the light brown worsted birdseye fabric of the suit that Sheeran wears following his ascension to the presidency, its golden sheen reflecting the Midas touch of his new friend and mentor, Jimmy Hoffa, as well as the then-fashionable “mustards and olives” that costume designer Sandy Powell told The Hollywood Reporter she wanted to capture from the ’60s.

During our From Tailors With Love conversation, tailor Leonard Logsdail explained that the suit’s silky iridescent finish was actually the result of a fabric that had woven in some degree of polyester, which felt like sacrilege to his craft but provided the intended look for how his final product would appear on screen.

Logsdail intentionally tailored his suits for The Irishman to reflect the trending fashions of the time period depicted on screen. This particular scene was set at the dawn of the 1960s, as suit design was leaning toward narrower details like lapels and pockets, though retaining some of the previous decade’s flatteringly full chest and intermediate-length jackets.

Sheeran’s single-breasted, two-button suit jacket incorporates many of these more minimalist hallmarks, particularly narrow—and narrowly notched—lapels. In addition to the standard welted breast pocket, the straight hip pockets are jetted, contributing to a cleaner, more minimalist look by lacking flaps. The shoulders are straight and padded, giving Sheeran the intimidating silhouette apropos a dangerous mob enforcer. Each sleeve is finished with three non-functioning buttons at the cuff. While we can’t see the back of Sheeran’s jacket, it’s likely finished with a single vent per the prevailing American tailoring of the era and his other suits.

Steven Zaillian’s screenplay signifies the importance of Frank’s suit in this vignette: “As Frank enters the trucking company owner takes one look at Frank’s suit and union pin and pulls an envelope from his desk to give him. Frank shakes his head no.”

The suit’s matching trousers rise to Sheeran’s natural waist, where they’d held up by a black leather belt with a gold-finished rectangular single-prong buckle. These trousers appear to have been tailored with front darts, a cleaner alternative to pleats that Matt Spaiser efficiently described for Bond Suits as “essentially a pleat that is sewn shut.” While presenting like a flat front, darts function similarly to pleats in how they allow the trousers to curve over the hips, thus aiding the 74-year-old Robert De Niro while portraying a man nearly half his age. The cuffed trouser bottoms break cleanly over his black calf leather plain-toe derby shoes, worn with black cotton lisle socks.

With his stylish gold suit and handsome new Lincoln Continental, Frank Sheeran has clearly transformed from the leather-jacketed trucker we met at the start of The Irishman.

Less a “gangster” in the traditional sense than we’re used to seeing in Scorsese movies, Frank Sheeran’s neck is spared from the razor-sharp spearpoint collars that had previously appeared in movies like Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino. His all-white self-striped shirt made by Geneva Custom Shirts has a traditional spread collar and squared double (French) cuffs, which he appropriately fastens with chunky gold triangle-imprinted links that match his suit.

Sheeran brings the color palette together with his striped silk ties, beginning with a narrow tie heftily block-striped in black, brown, and golden-tan, following the classic American “downhill” direction. When we next find Sheeran behind his desk, completing an interview with a mob-friendly trucker, he wears another earthy downhill-striped tie, though patterned with a series of balanced stripes with black shadow stripes alternating between narrow and narrower, all under a gradient cast that evolves from a near-black green at the top to a lighter brown toward the blade. Sheeran fastens his ties in place with a straight gold clip, detailed with a “downhill” diagonal ridge and positioned at mid-chest.

Sheeran’s newly prominent position shines from his hands in the form of a gem-studded ring and a new watch. Gleaming from the third finger of his right hand, Frank’s new gold ring boasts a cluster of multi-colored gemstones, with perhaps green, white, and amber stones shining most prominently, though that may just be me looking for deeper significance in a movie about a man nicknamed “The Irish-man.”

The wristwatch has a mixed-metal finish, its stainless steel case offset by a gold fluted bezel and crown. The large round white dial has numeric hour markers and a large IBT logo at the center, as often bestowed as a gift to Teamsters for milestones or retirement. Though almost certainly not a Rolex (as these were typically sourced from American watchmakers like Bulova and Waltham), Sheeran’s watch is worn on a mixed steel-and-gold five-piece link bracelet similar to the “Jubilee”-style introduced with the Rolex Datejust in 1945, harmonizing with the Datejust-style bezel fluting.

How to Get the Look

Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran filming The Irishman (2019). Note one of the de-aging guides fixed to the collar of his left lapel.

The criminals across The Irishman distinguish themselves among Martin Scorsese’s mobbed-up filmography with a quieter sense of style, though Frank Sheeran’s almost celebratory gold suit for his ascension to the head of his local Teamsters union illustrates the potential intersection of flash and good taste, particularly in the hands of a skillful tailor like Leonard Logsdail.

• Golden brown worsted suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with narrow notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and 3-button cuffs
  • Darted-front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White self-striped shirt with spread collar and double/French cuffs
• Dark earth-toned “downhill”-striped silk tie
• Gold single-ridged tie clip
• Black leather belt with gold-finished rectangular single-prong buckle
• Black leather plain-toe derby shoes
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Gold multi-gem ring
• Stainless steel watch with gold fluted bezel, round white IBT-printed dial, and steel-and-gold Jubilee-style five-piece link bracelet

If you’re a member (or president!) of your local union, finish the look by affixing that pin to your left lapel. If you’re not… well, let’s just say the Teamsters wouldn’t be too pleased to find out you were lying about being a member.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, currently streaming on Netflix and also released on Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection. I also recommend reading Charles Brandt’s 2004 source volume I Heard You Paint Houses, centered around his interviews with the real-life Frank Sheeran. And be sure to check out the latest episode of From Tailors With Love!

You can read more about The Irishman‘s costume design in these contemporary features and interviews with Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson:

• BFI
• Esquire UK
• GQ
• The Hollywood Reporter
• IndieWire
• MR PORTER
• Variety

The costume designers also cited the invaluable help of assistant costume designer Brittany Griffin, the real Frank Sheeran’s granddaughter, who provided archival photographs and personal items that belonged to her grandfather.

The post The Irishman: De Niro’s Golden Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in Risky Business (1983)

Vitals

Tom Cruise as Joel Goodson, ambitious high school student

Chicago, Fall 1983

Film: Risky Business
Release Date: August 5, 1983
Director: Paul Brickman
Costume Designer: Robert De Mora

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is Tom Cruise’s 60th birthday, and the charismatic superstar has proved his staying power with the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, currently the highest-grossing movie of 2022 and of Cruise’s prolific career. The original Top Gun had elevated Cruise to stardom, following his breakthrough performance in Paul Brickman’s sharp satire Risky Business.

Though perhaps remembered most—and unfairly dismissed—as a teen sex comedy, Risky Business critically explores the impact of capitalism and consumerism through the lens of our high-achieving high schooler, Joel Goodson, who’s spent these first years of his life knowing nothing other than a relentless drive to succeed. In addition to the professional pressure applied by his parents, Joel also feels both the internal and peer pressure to achieve in the sexual arena, which he satisfies after hiring an escort named Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) after his parents leave him home alone for several weeks.

Joel and Lana’s relationship swiftly evolves from professional to personal… and then a combination of both after his father’s Porsche takes a swim in Lake Michigan while under Joel’s unauthorized care. To bankroll the car’s astronomical repair costs before his parents’ return, Joel tests his own entrepreneurial savvy by joining forces with Lana and turning his family home into a brothel for one night to turn a profit from his rich and horny classmates.

To kick off the first semi-annual #CarWeek series of 2022, let’s take a look at Joel’s all-American varsity style (apropos Cruise’s birthday on the eve of Independence Day) while behind the wheel of that prized Porsche 928.

What’d He Wear?

Risky Business establishes Joel Goodson as the quintessential high school up-and-comer of the Reagan era, raised in a world of suburban privilege whose parents have already plotted his Ivy League path via extracurricular activities like the Future Enterprisers (likely a riff on the real-life Junior Achievement, the organization for whom I worked my first professional job after college.) The movie begins with Joel narrating his recurring dream that begins with his riding his bicycle through suburban Highland Park, clad in a patriotic red, white, and blue via his varsity jacket and blue jeans, subconsciously presenting the image of the all-American teen… and a quintessentially red-blooded one at that, given the dream’s evolution into fantasy as he encounters a young woman in his neighbor’s shower.

Varsity jackets were introduced in 1865 for the Harvard University baseball team and have remained a staple of American athletics in the generations since, worn by high school and college athletes across all sports and often emblazoned with a large personalized chenille letter over the left breast, hence the synonymous “letter jacket” in addition to the “baseball jacket” terminology. The jackets are almost always constructed of boiled wool bodies in one color and attached leather sleeves in a contrasting color, with both colors typically representing those of its wearer’s scholastic institution.

Though the real Highland Park High School colors are blue and white, Joel’s varsity jacket is red and white. The bright scarlet red body in boiled wool—accurately named for the process of agitating wool in hot water to create the dense, felt-like final product—has seven nickel snaps up the front, painted over in white on the right side, with two of these closely spaced over the waistband. The set-in sleeves are made from off-white leather, with the red ribbed-knit cuffs striped in black and white bands that matches the ribbed knitting on the standing collar and around the waist hem. The two slanted hand pockets are welted and lined in white leather to echo the sleeves.

Through the dream sequence that follows him from the neighbor’s shower to his late arrival to a college entry test, Joel wears a cream-colored oxford cloth button-down (OCBD) shirt in the style that had been so warmly embraced by ’80s prep culture. These shirts had originated around the turn of the 20th century following then-Brooks Brothers president John E. Brooks’ development of the “Polo shirt” with button-down collars inspired by English polo players he’d observed fastening down their collars during play.

OCBD shirts are a staple of Joel’s wardrobe, worn both on their own and layered under crew-neck sweaters. Perhaps his most famous would be the red-and-white bengal-striped OCBD shirt he wears under a red crew-neck sweater when saying farewell to his parents… before wearing it on its own with his “tighty-whitey” briefs and crew socks during a Scotch-fueled rendition of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”.

The good son sees his parents off at the airport… soon to remove all but his shirt, skivvies, and socks when home alone with Seger and Scotch.

The next time we see Joel’s varsity jacket, he pulls it on over a pink OCBD shirt to escape his home the early stages of its transformation into a bordello. Before he dons the jacket, we see more details of his shirt, which a user at The RPF suggests may have been made by Ralph Lauren. Of course, the shirts have a button-down collar with an elegantly shaped roll that presents well when he wears his shirts layered under sweaters. They’re styled with front plackets, breast pockets, and button cuffs fastening the end of each long sleeve. The back has a center box pleat, with a “locker loop” positioned at the top.

Joel and his pal Barry (Bronson Pinchot) get distracted by the carnal clamor just one floor above them.

Joel rotates between blue Levi’s and dark indigo Lee jeans, though he more frequently wears the former, almost always without a belt. Made from a medium blue stonewashed denim, these appear to be the classic Levi’s 501® Original Fit jeans, styled with a button-fly, straight fit, and the traditional five-pocket design of curved front pockets, inset coin pocket on the right, and back pockets detailed with the signature Levi’s arcuate stitching. The trademark Levi’s “red tab” is sewn along the back right pocket.

Nearly half a century after their conception, boat shoes were the shoes of the ’80s. As their name implies, boat shoes—also appropriately known as deck shoes—were pioneered to be worn on slippery decks when outdoorsman Paul A. Sperry was inspired by his dog’s paws to create the non-slip siped soles that are now a signature aspect of his company’s Sperry Top-Siders. Following their practical popularity at sea and their steady crawl inland, fueled by trendsetting Ivy Leaguers, boat shoes became a “crucial element” in preppy style, as celebrated by the cover of the tongue-in-cheek 1980 tome The Official Preppy Handbook edited by Lisa Birnbach.

As a relatively popular upper-class student, even a landlubber like Joel would have had a pair of Top-Siders or similar, detailed by the characteristic moc-toe stitching and the 360-degree lacing system with tan rawhide laces that Joel appears to wear irregularly

Of socks with boat shoes, author Josh Sims states in Icons of Men’s Style that “to wear, or not to wear—the argument has yet to be won,” though Joel Goodson keeps a foot (if you’ll forgive the pun) in both camps by typically foregoing socks with his Sperrys… aside from when he wears them with the same white cotton crew socks that he wears to famously slide across his parents’ hallway.

The shower in Joel’s dreams isn’t quite the sort of wet scenario that Paul A. Sperry had envisioned when he pioneered his famous Top-Siders nearly a half-century earlier.

Although Joel and Lana may share an irregular relationship, there are still semblances of high school courtship as he drapes his varsity jacket around her shoulders to stay warm one fateful night on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The Car

Porsche. There is no substitute.

Left to his own devices, Joel doesn’t waste much time before liberating his father’s Porsche 928 from hibernation.

As detailed by IMCDB, at least four Porsche 928 vehicles were sourced for the production of Risky Business:

• 1981 model with an automatic transmission, used for driving scenes and the chase scene
• 1979 model with a five-speed manual transmission and gold-colored interior, used for driving scenes
• 1979 model with a five-speed manual transmission and cream-colored interior, used when rolling toward Lake Michigan
• 1979 model with an automatic transmission, used exclusively to be dunked in Lake Michigan with its gutted drivetrain

Porsche had introduced the 928 in 1978, originally intended by managing director Ernst Furhmann to replace the iconic 911 as the German automaker’s flagship model. Of course, any auto enthusiast could tell you that Porsche never stopped making the 911, thanks in part to Furhmann’s replacement, Peter Schutz, who correctly determined that the differences between the 911 and 928 could earn each a continued place in Porsche’s lineup. Perhaps with some irony, the 928 ended production in 1995, while the 911 has been continuously produced for almost sixty years.

Compared to the compact 911 with its rear-mounted engine, the 928 grand tourer was intended to incorporate sporty elements with luxury. Fearing a regulation against rear-mounted engines that never materialized, Porsche mounted the 928’s V8 engine—another first for the automaker—in the front, and the 928 remains Porsche’s only coupe to have been built with a front-mounted engine.

Porsche 928 driven by Tom Cruise in Risky Business (1983)

1979 Porsche 928

Body Style: 2+2 fastback coupe

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

Engine: 275 cu. in. (4.5 L) Porsche M28 SOHC V8

Power: 219 hp (163 kW; 240 PS) @ 5250 RPM

Torque: 254 lb·ft (344 N·m) @ 3600 RPM

Transmission: 5-speed manual

Wheelbase: 98.4 inches (2500 mm)

Length: 175.1 inches (4447 mm)

Width: 72.3 inches (1836 mm)

Height: 51.7 inches (1313 mm)

One of the screen-used Porsches, specifically the ’79 five-speed featured in many of the driving scenes, was auctioned last year for $1.9 million, a massive increase from its $49,200 sale in 2012. Originally painted green, this was one of the “RB928” cars repainted to match the golden “Platinum Metallic” 1981 model. Perhaps most significantly, this was the Porsche in which Risky Business producer Jon Avnet taught Tom Cruise how to drive a manual transmission.

Read more about the auctioned “RB928” from Auto Week, Motor Trend, and Robb Report.

What to Imbibe

One of my favorite—and perhaps unfortunately relatable—sequences from Risky Business depicts Joel’s first night home alone, attempting to conduct himself like the adult he so strives to be. As he’s no doubt seen his father do many times before, he pours himself a dram of Chivas Regal 12-Year-Old blended Scotch, topped with soda… er, cola, that is.

Joel may be misinterpreting Scotch & Soda or he just knows adding Coca-Cola to booze can make it more palatable for his inexperienced liver.

Scotch & Coke is hardly a classic highball, but it’s a highball nonetheless. In Keith Richards’ memoir Life, the Rolling Stones guitarist recalls drinking Scotch & Coke with the late Brian Jones, and William Least Heat-Moon’s excellent travelogue Blue Highways also mentions it as the chosen drink for two downtrodden young women at the Crow’s Nest bar in Harbor Beach, Michigan.

But Joel is neither a rock god nor a floozy hoping to dance… he’s just an unsophisticated kid trying to feel like he’s anything but.

Coke-laced Scotch and a half-thawed TV dinner. If that doesn’t whet your appetite, I don’t know what will!

How to Get the Look

Tom Cruise as Joel Goodson in Risky Business (1983)

As a privileged suburban student, Joel Goodson embodied the all-American prep style ideal in his varsity jacket, classic OCBD shirts, blue jeans, and boat shoes.

• Red boiled wool varsity-style baseball jacket with off-white leather set-in sleeves, seven-snap front, slanted welt hand pockets, black-and-white banded red ribbed-knit collar, cuffs, and hem
• Pink oxford cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs, and box-pleated back with “locker loop”
• Blue denim Levi’s 501® Original Fit button-fly jeans
• Brown leather moc-toe Sperry Top-Sider boat shoes with white siped rubber soles
• White cotton briefs

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

The dream is always the same.

The post Risky Business: Tom Cruise’s Varsity Prep Style and Porsche appeared first on BAMF Style.

Warren Oates in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

Vitals

Warren Oates as “GTO”, an otherwise unnamed former TV producer

Arizona through Tennessee, Fall 1970

Film: Two-Lane Blacktop
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Monte Hellman
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

A race for pink slips between a ’55 Chevy and a GTO across a long-gone America when the road was much more than a shopping aisle. Three road hogs and an underage girl riding in back with the tools. The nights are warm and the roads are straight. This one’s built from scratch, and, as Warren Oates says, “Those satisfactions are permanent.” — Tom Waits

“Because there was once a god who walked the earth named Warren Oates,” Richard Linklater included among the sixteen reasons why he loves Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman’s low-buedget 1971 road movie that has become a cult classic.

One of my favorite actors, Oates was born 94 years ago today on July 5, 1928 in Depoy, an unincorporated community in western Kentucky. His craggy features suited him well to early roles as cowboys and criminals, though he rose to more prominent stardom through the ’70s beginning with his co-starring role as the garrulous, tragi-comic motorist who impulsively bets his showroom-bought Pontiac GTO in a cross-country race against James Taylor and Dennis Wilson’s “homegrown” ’55 Chevy in Two-Lane Blacktop.

Best known as musicians, neither Taylor nor Wilson had ever acted on screen—nor would they after—bringing a uniquely raw presence that was complemented by the inexperienced Laurie Bird as “The Girl” who shakes up the duo’s dynamic… as well as their ultimate rivalry with the man they know only as “GTO”. Along with his friend Harry Dean Stanton—who cameos as a hitchhiking cowboy whose advances are swiftly rejected by GTO—Oates contrasts the inexperience of the actors occupying the primer-gray Chevy as “an actor and a half,” as marveled by Michael Goodwin on his October 1970 chronicle of the movie’s production for Rolling Stone.

Released two days after Oates’ 43rd birthday, Two-Lane Blacktop was filmed in chronological order and on location, capturing the waning pre-interstate days of Route 66 as our drivers’ journey snaked across the southern United States from California into Tennessee. Its existential themes of nihilism and alienation against the open road with a contemporary rock soundtrack recall its road-themed predecessors like Easy Rider and Vanishing Point. “It was the perfect brutal reflection of a smug self-satisfied year when the shit of the peace and love era was really hitting the fan,” writes Adam Webb of the movie.

The more we see of GTO, the clearer he emerges as a tragic dreamer: one of those guys who will invest far too much money into his pursuits without investing any actual skills, all to hopelessly override the emptiness of his supercharged mid-life crisis. He may be truly self-deluded, believing some part of the false biography he invents anew with each hitchhiker who climbs into his brightly painted Detroit muscle.

“This nameless driver has bought the James Bond ideal of the well-rounded man, but he prefigures Woody Allen’s Zelig in the desperate speed with which he adapts himself to every new situation and passenger,” details Kent Jones in his essay “Slow Ride” for the movie’s 2007 Criterion Collection release. “Warren Oates’ GTO (as he’s credited) is every pontificating drunk, every reformed junkie or born-again proselytizer, every guy who moves to a town to begin again.”

The two automotive stars of Two-Lane Blacktop: a primer-gray 1955 Chevy and the “Orbit Orange” 1970 Pontiac GTO.

With a couple of aggressive honks outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, GTO interrupts the nomadic peace of the taciturn twosome powering their ’55 Chevy across the country, eventually catching up at a Tucumcari service station where—due to his persona du jour—GTO can’t help but to taunt the laconic, long-haired Driver (Taylor).

GTO: I don’t like being crowded by a couple of punk road-hogs clear across two states. I don’t.
The Driver: I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you… ‘course there’s lots of cars on the road like yours. They all get to look the same. They perform about the same.
GTO: If I wanted to bother, I could suck you right up my tailpipe.
The Driver: Sure you could.

GTO continues to press, but the Driver gets his kicks from doing, not from talking. After GTO suggests the race he’s been pushing for all along, the Driver ups the stakes by suggesting they compete for “pinks”, with the loser ceding possession of the auto upon reaching their destination… which he allows to GTO to determine: “in that case, smart-ass, Washington, D.C.”

The spirit of competition initially paints the lines of a bitter feud between the GTO and those in the ’55 Chevy, though the latter recognize their clear advantage and begin finding an uneasy alliance with GTO, offering tips, helping to rebuild his leaking carburetor, and even serving as his relief driver during long, drowsy stretches of the blue highways stretching from the southwest to the nation’s capitol.

What’d He Wear?

When director Richard Linklater outlined the sixteen reasons he loved Two-Lane Blacktop, reason #10 was “because Warren Oates has a different cashmere sweater for every occasion.”

Oates contrasts Taylor and Wilson’s road-worn denim by rotating through a colorful selection of V-neck sweaters—including some that indeed appear to be made from the soft wool of the cashmere goat. It wasn’t until I had seen Two-Lane Blacktop several times (and particularly watching with a more sartorial eye than usual) that I noticed that, like the boys in the Chevy, Oates seems to always wear the same shirt, trousers, and shoes. Befitting his shapeshifting sycophancy, all GTO need do is change his sweater—as frequently as he changes his personality and backstory—though it’s just a mutable layer over an unchanging and ultimately unexciting foundation.

GTO wears a white oxford-cloth cotton long-sleeved shirt with a tall button-down collar, much larger than usual on classic Ivy OCBDs through the height—while also fashionable for the early ’70s—also neatly contains his colorful silk scarves. The buttons fastening the collar to the body of the shirt also contain the dramatic collar relatively within the necklines of his sweaters.

The first and last time we see GTO on screen, he wears a baby-blue sweater in a soft wool suggesting cashmere, with a deep V-neck that’s ribbed along the neckline to match the long cuffs, which he wears neatly rolled back over each wrist. We first see the sweater outside Flagstaff, as a honking GTO pulls alongside the Chevy with a William S. Burroughs-lookalike hitchhiker beside him.

The sweater disappears until GTO’s final scene at the end of Two-Lane Blacktop, picking up two Army privates looking to spend their ten-day leave in New York City. As he begins telling them the fictionalized circumstances of how he acquired his GTO, we understand the significance of the scene as a virtual “reboot” for GTO’s melancholic journey in search of purpose; still reliant on banal boasts and blatant lies, he has learned nothing.

GTO introduces himself to the ’55 Chevy occupants, alongside his passenger who has likely already grown tired of his inaccurate preachings about horsepower and torque.

The second time we see GTO, he’s wearing a bright canary-yellow cashmere sweater, also with a deep V-neck. Like the baby-blue sweater, we never see GTO wearing this yellow sweater outside of his car, though it does make two appearances: once when passing the Chevy again prior to their actually meeting and racing, and again after crossing into Arkansas and picking up a nihilist hippie hitchhiker.

Not all of GTO’s passengers were quite so willing to listen to his spiel.

When GTO finally meets the ’55 Chevy’s occupants at a service station outside Tucumcari, New Mexico, he wears a sage-green sweater similarly styled to his others with its deep, ribbed V-neck and folded-back ribbed cuffs, though the finish of the cloth reminds me more of a softly knit acrylic than cashmere.

Unlike the red silk cravats with the blue duo-tone print that he had worn with the previous two sweaters, his neck-scarf is geometrically printed in teal, red, and gold.

The contenders plot their path to D.C., as mapped out across GTO’s hood.

Once the race is on, GTO drives hard through a Texas rain to John Hammond’s cover of “Maybellene”, picks up the lonely, denim-clad Harry Dean Stanton, and forms his uneasy truce with the Chevy that results in the boys rebuilding his carburetor while he sleeps one off from the wet bar in his trunk.

Through this chaotic leg of the race, GTO wears a bright royal-blue V-neck sweater and the earlier-seen red-and-blue printed silk scarf knotted under his shirt.

GTO awakes in his own passenger seat, his carburetor having been rebuilt by his asphalt adversaries.

Shortly after GTO crosses from Oklahoma and Arkansas, he spies the familiar primer-gray ’55 Chevy parked outside a roadhouse and turns around to join them. He’s now dressed in a bright cherry red V-neck sweater, echoed by the grounding color of the red and duo-toned blue printed silk scarf around his neck.

NO DANCING

The rain again falls as GTO makes his most distressing pickup, offering a ride to an old woman and her granddaughter, who had just lost both of her parents in an accident. Befitting their sad story and the gloomy weather, GTO appropriately wears his most somber sweater, made from a dark navy blue cloth and seemingly with a less dramatic V-neck than many of his earlier sweaters.

GTO’s navy sweater and white collar provide a surprising sartorial parallel to the elderly lady he picked up hitchhiking, though she’s more transparent about her sorrow, which he buries beneath horsepower, torque, and self-purported legend.

GTO arrives at the Lakeland International Raceway in Memphis, where the Driver seeks out a race to earn some extra cash. He wins the bread… but loses The Girl, who has climbed in alongside the driver of the GTO. He pontificates about their shared future as he drives the drowsy teenager to a diner near Deals Gap at the North Carolina/Tennessee state line, where the Driver and Mechanic ultimately catch up with them.

Through his overnight adventure, GTO wears a mustard-brown cashmere sweater that also seems to have a shallower V-neck. As with the green sweater, he wears the more colorful teal, red, and gold-printed silk scarf.

The honeymoon ends.

GTO always wears dark gray wool flat front trousers styled with then-fashionable “frogmouth”-style open-top front pockets, jetted back pockets (with a button through the left), and plain-hemmed bottoms. His sweaters typically cover the waistband, but he appears to wear the trousers sans belt.

The plain gray trousers are an important part of GTO’s chameleon-like ability—or desire, more accurately—to blend in to situations. In the early ’70s, blue jeans like those worn by his eight-cylinder adversaries were still more widely associated with counterculture before gaining their relative acceptance in American culture. A short-haired guy in wool trousers would have an easier time convincing an Arkansas reactionary that the two denim-clad longhairs at his table were certainly not hippies but “hometown boys” and that he, in his button-down shirt and slacks, is their manager.

Amidst the widening acceptance of less-formal footwear throughout the 20th century, Aldo Gucci pioneered a distinctive moc-toe loafer ornamented with a gold metal piece similar to a horse’s snaffle bit attached to the vamp. Having first appeared in 1966, the comfortable horsebit loafer (or “Gucci loafer”, as even non-Gucci models were shorthanded) emerged as a favorite shoe over the following decade whether hustling in a conference room or on a disco floor.

GTO wears brown leather horsebit loafers with hard dark brown leather soles, rather than the bumped rubber dotted-sole variant that emerged later in the ’70s as a “driving moccasin”. Though he appears not to change his shirts or trousers, GTO thankfully changes his socks, rotating between beige hosiery (as seen with his navy sweater) and a darker brown (as seen with his sage-green and royal-blue sweaters).

GTO finds himself stymied by yet another classic Chevy, this one unwilling to yield its license plate to help discourage the attention often bestowed upon out-of-state drivers.

Knowing the importance of looking the part, GTO outfits himself with a pair of black leather driving gloves, detailed with open knuckles and holes punched through the fingers and palms for additional ventilation. Proper gloves can indeed improve a driver’s grip on the steering wheel and gearshift—though the GTO’s automatic transmission voids the latter purpose—though GTO’s reasoning likely falls closer to vanity than practicality.

Somewhat deflated by his experience with the Driver, Mechanic, and the Girl, GTO rebuilds his sense of self in his optimistic baby-blue sweater from the beginning and the leather gloves that complete his image as a high-octane racer.

On the inside of his left wrist, GTO wears a stainless steel watch on a Rally-style metal racing strap characterized by large holes that, like driving gloves, originated to ventilate the wearer’s wrist.

The Car

There’s no coming away from watching Two-Lane Blacktop without knowing that GTO drives, well, a GTO. More specifically, the two-door muscle coupe driven by Warren Oates’ character is a then-new 1970 Pontiac GTO in the bright “Orbit Orange”, an appropriate color scheme given his own comment that “if I’m not grounded pretty soon, I’m gonna go into orbit.”

GTO’s GTO, in all of its shining glory. He’s kept it in fantastic condition while speeding through the rain, dirt, and dust across at least six or seven states.

The Mechanic: You’d have yourself a real sweet-sweeper here if you put a little work into it.
GTO: I go fast enough.
The Driver: You can never go fast enough.

In contrast to the Driver and Mechanic, who have totally customized and souped up their ’55 Chevy, GTO relies solely on the car as sold to him—no doubt with considerable ease—by some GM in an L.A. showroom. Without the first-hand knowledge and hard-earned pride of the boys who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into that tough Chevy, GTO can only recite marketing brochures among his biographical fictions when touting the car’s merits.

“She’s got a hard pull, doesn’t she? 0-60 in 7.5,” he tells a string-tied hitchhiker pulled in from a New Mexico highway. “She’ll do a quarter-mile in 13.40. Performance and image, that’s what it’s all about,” he concludes, and we all know how he values image when he unnecessary adds that “I bought her in Bakersfield, California… I was testin’ jets at the time.”

From there, he bores the man with a twice-recited and still inaccurate spiel about “when the 455 came out with the Mark IV Ram Air and a beefed blower end and a Carter high-rise setup, I was on line. 390 horsepower, 500 foot-pounds of torque… whatever that is. It’s all in the folder right there in the glove compartment if you wanna take a look at it. Oh, she’s a real road king, alright!”

Given his personality, it would be easy to judge Oates’ character’s taste in cars… if he was driving almost anything but a Pontiac GTO!

Upon its 1964 introduction as an option package for the Pontiac Tempest and Lemans, the GTO was almost immediately immortalized in song by the surf rock group Ronny & the Daytonas, whom Two-Lane Blacktop star Dennis Wilson may have considered competition for the Beach Boys if not for his own band’s far more enormous success. Some have credited the GTO with accelerating the muscle car craze that swept Detroit automakers for nearly ten years, before emissions standards and rising gas prices put a swift end to the Big Three’s performance wars.

“To create the GTO, Pontiac sidestepped GM’s prohibition on intermediate cars having engines over 330 cid,” explained the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide in Kings of the Street: American Muscle Cars. “Pontiac hoped to sell 5,000 ’64 GTOs; it sold 32,450. The Goat, as it was affectionately dubbed, generated a cult following and sent rivals scrambling to come up with similar machines.

While Ford, Chrysler, and even its own GM stablemates continued pushing out high-horse muscle that have come to define an automotive era, Pontiac proved that it never fell asleep at the wheel when the 1970 GTO rolled out of Detroit. Added late in the model year was the impressive Ram Air IV package that would so tempt our unnamed driver… though the poor guy doesn’t seem to realize the difference between the 400 cubic-inch Ram Air engine and the somewhat less powerful air-inducted 455 cubic-inch “High Output” V-8. (The lack of decals reinforces that Oates does not drive a GTO enhanced with “The Judge” package.)

Warren Oates in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

1970 Pontiac GTO

Body Style: 2-door sports coupe

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

Engine: 400 cubic inch (6.6 L) “Ram Air IV” OHV V8 with Rochester 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 370 hp (276 kW; 375 PS) @ 5500 rpm

Torque: 445 lb·ft (603 N·m) @ 3900 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed Turbo Hydra-matic automatic

Wheelbase: 112 inches (2845 mm)

Length: 202.9 inches (5154 mm)

Width: 76.7 inches (1948 mm)

Height: 52.3 inches (1328 mm)

Oates’ character both over- and under-sells his GTO’s performance, confusingly suggesting that it boasts both a 455 cubic-inch engine as well as the Ram Air IV package, though Ram Air was only mated with 400 cubic-inch engines. Nor would the GTO still have “a Carter high-rise setup,” as even the Driver’s dialogue includes him requesting a rebuild kit for a “1970 GM QuadraJet.” Power ratings were notably inaccurate, so we’ll give him some leeway in giving himself an extra 20 horsepower and 55 foot-pounds of torque (which, in short, measures the force applied to the drive shaft.) According to Automobile Catalog, a GTO built to Two-Lane Blacktop specs would actually hit 0-60 in 5.8 seconds, nearly two seconds less than Oates boasts.

The standard transmission for the ’70 GTO was a four-speed manual Muncie “rock crusher”, though shots of Oates’ interior show that his GTO has an automatic transmission, which would have been GM’s three-speed Turbo Hydra-matic.

You can read more about the Two-Lane Blacktop production and its memorable cars in Thomas A. DeMauro’s 2008 interview with director Monte Hellman for Motor Trend, which confirms that Pontiac provided two GTOs that remained to-spec on screen, aside from its aftermarket Keystone Klassic wheels.

Is any GTO really complete without a horny Harry Dean Stanton in the passenger seat?

What to Imbibe

During the brief “truce” just over the Oklahoma state line, GTO responds to The Mechanic offering him a hard-boiled egg by showing off the stocked bar in the Pontiac’s trunk with the assurance that “I’ve got other items, depending on which way you wanna go: up, down, or sideways,” before toasting “here’s to your destruction,” and taking a pull from whatever he poured from his flask into a tin cup.

GTO’s bar includes Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, from which GTO refills his flask the next morning… and promptly falls asleep in a service station garage after enjoying far too much of it far too early in the morning.

Not wise for many reasons. Luckily, the Driver and Mechanic intervene in a manner that lets GTO sleep off his hangover without driving impaired.

Jack Daniel’s needs little introduction even to the world of non-drinkers, as this Tennessee-distilled spirit remains the best-selling American whiskey in the world as of 2021. GTO pours from one of the brand’s distinctively square bottles with the black “Old No. 7” label, which would have been a hard-hitting 90 proof before the alcohol by volume was lowered in 1987 and then further in 2002 to its current 80 proof standard.

How to Get the Look

Warren Oates in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

While potential companions or acquaintances in your travels may appreciate a fresh shirt once in a while, Warren Oates’ GTO illustrates the power of a colorful top layer by merely rotating his vivid sweaters over a neutral foundation of a white OCBD shirt, gray trousers, and horsebit loafers that would be comfortable for hours behind the wheel, adding a dandyish dash with coordinated silk scarves.

• White oxford cotton shirt with large button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Red and duo-toned blue printed silk neck-scarf
• Cashmere V-neck sweater with set-in sleeves and ribbed cuffs
• Dark gray wool flat front beltless trousers with frogmouth-style front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather moc-toe horsebit loafers
• Brown socks
• Black leather driving gloves
• Stainless steel watch on steel Rally-style racing bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

This is competition, man. I got no time.

The post Two-Lane Blacktop: Warren Oates as GTO appeared first on BAMF Style.

Don Johnson as Harry Madox in The Hot Spot (1990)

Vitals

Don Johnson as Harry Madox, drifter and used car salesman

Texas, Summer 1990

Film: The Hot Spot
Release Date: October 12, 1990
Director: Dennis Hopper
Costume Designer: Mary Kay Stolz

Background

I’m wrapping up this summer’s #CarWeek with the under-discussed neo-noir The Hot Spot, made among the wave of sweaty erotic crime dramas of the ’80s and ’90s exemplified by movies like Body Heat through Basic Instinct.

Don Johnson was nearing the end of his star-making tenure on Miami Vice when he was tapped for The Hot Spot‘s leading role as Harry Madox, an enigmatic drifter whose arrival in the quiet Texas berg of Landers sets forth a series of events straight out of James M. Cain or Jim Thompson’s poison pen.

The Hot Spot comes by its pulp credentials honestly, adapted from Charles Williams’ 1952 novel Hell Hath No Fury and originally intended to be adapted as a Robert Mitchum vehicle in the early ’60s. Though set in the present, The Hot Spot retains much of this retro style inspired by the era of its original conception, as seen in many of the costumes and cars, most specifically Harry’s black ’59 Studebaker Silver Hawk that he drives into town.

“If you look at the movie, it will appear that it takes place in the present day, because Johnson is a used car salesman and he’s selling recent cars. But I didn’t really change anything, because I didn’t want to,” explained director Dennis Hopper in an interview with Roger Ebert. “At heart, it’s a film noir from the 1940s or 1950s. I put them all in 1940s-looking clothes. I figured, in a small town in Texas, not a whole hell of a lot has really changed, you know?”

After impulsively selling a Mercury at the town’s car dealership, Harry lands himself not only a job but also a dangerous but enviable position in a love triangle between the dealership owner’s seductive wife Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen) and his good-natured young colleague Gloria (Jennifer Connolly). His fellow salesman Lon Gulick (Charles Martin Smith) sees through Harry’s “you gotta take what you want” maxim and adds his own words of wisdom: “look before you leap.”

Trouble instantly finds Harry that morning in the form of a phone call from Dolly, shaving her legs while asking that he bring over a hat belonging to her husband… who happens to be out of town, by the way. Despite the flimsy excuse and its accompanying Mai Tai, Harry’s advances are met with mixed signals so he turns his attention back to Gloria, inviting her to join him for a soda. But, only several hours later, he’s strolling back into the tiki-decorated yard of the Harshaw estate, under the watchful eyes of Dolly, standing naked in her bedroom window. Their inevitable affair can only to lead to trouble… but will Harry look before he leaps?

What’d He Wear?

Among Harry’s offbeat style in The Hot Spot, he dresses somewhat more conventionally for this pivotal day-into-night sequence, illustrating a practical if retro-inspired sense of how to blend dressing professionally but with character against the summer heat.

Like many professionals in warm climates, Harry beats the heat in tailored linen, specifically a gray single-breasted jacket with a white-flecked finish. Gray is a common color for business tailoring, though not necessarily for linen, which is traditionally found in more “natural” colors along the beige-to-brown spectrum. Harry’s lighter gray linen jacket smartly avoids the dissonance of wearing this cool-wearing fabric in a darker gray while still businesslike enough to look appropriate for his new job. (Though I’ll allow that Harshaw Motors does not seem to restrict its salesmen to a specific dress code… or moral code.)

With its straight, padded shoulders and full fit, Harry’s jacket would have been stylish during The Hot Spot‘s late 1980s setting and production, though in a manner more reminiscent of classic ’50s fashions than Johnson’s baggier Miami Vice fashions. The jacket has notch lapels of moderate width that roll to a low two-button stance, as well as a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets as found on most business suit jackets. The ventless jacket is finished with three-button cuffs.

Harry’s skinny silk tie also recalls fashion trends of the mid-20th century, though perhaps more ’60s than ’50s as lapels, collars, and tie widths narrowed. With a mid-gray ground coordinating with his jacket, the tie has a scattered tonal pattern that resembles stretched-out animals (perhaps dogs) in varying directions. He holds the tie in place at mid-chest with a silver tie clip detailed with a raised stone in the center.

Lon’s bolo tie indicates that Harshaw Motors’ neckwear philosophy extends beyonds Harry’s more traditional long tie.

Rather than conventional dress shirts, many of Harry’s shirts worn for work are two-pocket sport shirts like those fashionable during the ’40s and ’50s “noir era”. These shirts are often detailed with camp collars, with an additional loop on the left side to connect to a small button under the right-collar leaf that closes the shirt up to the neck, presenting like a point collar that allows wearing a tie.

With this outfit, Harry wears a long-sleeved white shirt patterned with a dark gray grid-check that looks as though “sketched” onto the shirt with a particularly inky pen. The back has side pleats, and the front has two box-pleated chest pockets, each covered with a non-buttoning flap. The shirt buttons up a plain (French) front, sans placket, with the aforementioned loop collar seen most clearly when he’s removed his tie.

Harry balances the lighter upper half of his outfit with a pair of pitch black wool trousers with a long rise to Johnson’s natural waist, where he holds them up with a black leather belt that closes through a thin gilt single-prong buckle.

The double-forward pleated trousers are detailed with side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) with a half-break over the tops of his black leather plain-toe derby shoes, a more traditional business shoe than the natty tan bucks he often wears with more natural-toned outfits. Though not discerned clearly, he almost certainly wears black socks to avoid disrupting any harmony below the belt. (Dolly and Gloria provide enough of that as it is.)

As the nature of Harry’s relationship with Dolly devolves into sexual territory, The Hot Spot shows Harry’s underwear (though many viewers may be more distracted by Dolly’s lack thereof), including a pair of ecru cotton boxer shorts patterned with narrow gray pinstripes. The shorts appear to be two pieces: a front and a back that create short side vents where they are seamed together on the sides.

Harry also wears the quintessential “tough guy” undershirt, sporting a white ribbed cotton sleeveless A-shirt. This style was pioneered by Jockey in the 1930s, originally known as the “athletic shirt” (hence “A-shirt”) before it received the unfortunate colloquial nickname of “wife-beater” following a much-publicized mugshot of an undershirt-clad Detroit man arrested in 1947 for killing his wife.

Yeah, but I got ambitions. See, I figure if I stick around sellin’ jalopies another 30, 40 years, somebody’ll give me a testimonial… and a $40 watch.

Strapped to his left wrist, Harry wears a Fossil “Uomo” quartz watch with a polished gold-toned case and smooth dark brown leather strap with black edge stitching. The black dial has a gold-printed inner ring with short notches in increments of 10 and the even hour markers marked in gold numerals while the odd hours are non-numeric triangles, aside from the 3:00 position, which is replaced with a white date window.

Founded in 1984 by Tom Kartsotis, Fossil was still a relatively young brand at the time, but its initial intent to offer “fashion watches with a retro look” made it the ideal choice for Don Johnson to wear in The Hot Spot, a stylish thriller with a retro noir feel. The brand philosophy remains in effect today, with many Fossil “hybrid” watches offering smartwatch functionality in a classic package.

The Car

Harry’s ride stands out among the contemporary K-cars across the Harshaw Motors dealership lot as he pulls into town behind the wheel of a black 1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk, a sleek and sporty automotive artifact from the fabulous fifties and particularly the celebrated “year of the fin”.

In an earlier scene, Harry pulls his Studebaker into the dealership parking lot while wearing his horizontal-striped shirt, taupe suit, and tie.

Studebaker had introduced its Hawk series in 1956, differentiated the following model year with the introduction of the elegant pillared Silver Hawk to replace the Power Hawk and Flight Hawk models. Engine options included a base 170 cubic-inch straight-six or the more powerful 259 cubic-inch V8, as was chosen for The Hot Spot according to an IMCDB commenter who spied the telltale “bright wheel opening, drip rail and full taillamp housing trim” that was characteristic only of V8-powered Silver Hawks. (Depending on whether it had a single- or quad-barrel carburetor, this V8 engine could generate between 180 and 195 horsepower.)

Movie critic Roger Ebert marveled at The Hot Spot‘s inclusion of the Silver Hawk, which he described as “the only car I have ever loved” when interviewing director Dennis Hopper about the movie. Hopper responded that he was also a fan, explaining that he thought it was “the best-looking car ever made” and specifically chosen to reflect the era’s influence on his contemporary-set movie.

Don Johnson drives a 1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk in The Hot Spot (1990)

1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk

Body Style: 2-door pillared coupe

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

Engine: 259 cubic inch (4.2 L) Studebaker V8 with 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 195 bhp (147.6 kW; 197.8 PS) @ 4500 rpm

Torque: 265 lb·ft (359 N·m) @ 2800 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 120.5 inches (3061 mm)

Length: 204 inches (5182 mm)

Width: 71.3 inches (1811 mm)

Height: 55 inches (1397 mm)

Designed by Robert Bourke, contracted from Raymond Loewy Associations, the Silver Hawk echoed the glamorous detailing associated with the late ’50s. However, many Studebaker customers found themselves instead drawn to the less expensive Lark compact series, and the Silver Hawk was discontinued in 1959 after only three years in production. The Hawk name hobbled along as Studebaker continued to offer Hawk—and the restyled Gran Turismo Hawk—through the mid-’60s.

Despite its automobile production dating back to the turn of the century, Studebaker itself wouldn’t last much longer, moving operations from South Bend to Ontario, where the final Studebaker automobile rolled off the production line on March 17, 1966.

The Gun

“Oh you were expected alright!” Dolly greets Harry, pulling a nickel-plated derringer from under her pillow and pointing it at his head… until he takes it from her hand while she goes down on him. The IMFDB experts have identified the specific weapon used on screen as an American Derringer Model 1, a recreation of the classic 19th century-style derringers as popularized as a backup weapon in Westerns.

American Derringer began producing the Model 1 in 1980, more than a hundred years after the over/under-barrel style had been designed by Dr. William H. Elliott and first produced by Remington in 1866. Unlike the Remington Model 95, which was only available in the rimfire .41 Short, the American Derringer Model 1 is available in a wide range of ammunition from the small .22 LR and .22 WMR up to .45 ACP and .45 Long Colt and even the .410 shotgun shell and .45-70 Government rifle rounds.

Like its Remington forebear, the American Derringer Model 1 loads by breaking the three-inch barrel upwards and inserting both rounds. Once the barrel is snapped back into place, the single-action weapon can only be fired by cocking the hammer and squeezing the spur trigger to fire one round (from the bottom barrel), before re-cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger again to fire the second (from the top).

What to Imbibe

Dolly has “My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii” performed by The New Hawaiian Band playing when Harry arrives, befitting her selection of drinks for their mid-morning rendezvous: “I hope you like Mai Tais.” (At first I considered this a missed opportunity for Harry to respond with “I like your everything,” but I guess that’s why I don’t end up in situations like this.)

Made with two kinds of rum, the Mai Tai may be the quintessential cocktail of tiki culture, the American-led movement inspired by Polynesian and south Pacific culture. Both Donn Beach (of Don the Beachcomber’s) and Victor J. Bergeron (of Trader Vic’s) have claimed to have invented the Mai Tai, though it was likely Bergeron who was first to use the name—inspired by the Tahitian word maitaʻi—and whose recipe remains in rotation today.

The IBA-specified method for making Mai Tais calls for amber Jamaican rum (4 parts), 4 parts Martinique molasses rum (4 parts), fresh lime juice (4 parts), orange curaçao (2 parts), orgeat syrup (2 parts), and simple syrup (1 part), shaken over ice and poured into a taller glass filled with crushed ice, then tropically garnished with a pineapple spear, mint leaves, and lime peel, though—like the recipe itself—these are subject to change at the bartender’s discretion.

Dolly’s tropical-themed bar also includes Monte Alban mezcal, Icy vodka, and that Old Oak “Limbo Drummer” that Sally Draper mistook for syrup in her father’s apartment during the fourth season of Mad Men. After Harry returns and the two consummate their attraction, they enjoy some post-coital I.W. Harper bourbon poured from her bedside bottle.

How to Get the Look

Don Johnson as Harry Madox in The Hot Spot (1990)

Though some of the details may trend toward specific eras, Harry Madox’s overall sartorial philosophy of a businesslike linen odd jacket with a shirt, tie, and slacks on a hot day could be universally applied beyond selling cars in a noirish Texas town.

• Gray flecked linen single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White grid-check long-sleeved sport shirt with looped camp collar, plain front, flapped box-pleated chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Gray dog-printed skinny silk tie
• Silver stone-detailed tie clip
• Black wool double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt with gold-finished square single-prong buckle
• Black leather plain-toe derby shoes
• Black socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless A-shirt/undershirt
• Ecru pinstripe cotton boxer shorts
• Fossil Uomo quartz watch with gold-toned case, black ringed dial (with 3:00 date window), and dark brown edge-stitched leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and Jack Nitzsche’s bluesy soundtrack that features an original collaboration between John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal, and Roy Rogers.

The Quote

In this life, you gotta take what you want… damn sure can’t stand around and wait for somebody to give it to you.

The post The Hot Spot: Don Johnson’s Gray Linen Jacket and Studebaker appeared first on BAMF Style.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, ambitious middleweight boxing contender

The Bronx, Summer 1941

Film: Raging Bull
Release Date: December 19, 1980
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: John Boxer & Richard Bruno

Background

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Jake LaMotta, the tough middleweight boxer born July 10, 1922 who was cinematically immortalized by Robert De Niro’s Oscar-winning performance in Raging Bull. Now considered one of the best movies ever made, Raging Bull was adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from LaMotta’s similarly titled autobiography, inspired by his own nickname “the Bronx Bull”.

Raging Bull spans nearly a quarter-century in the boxer’s life, beginning with his introduction to professional boxing in 1941. Having debuted that March at age 18 when he defeated Charley Makley after four rounds, LaMotta would remain undefeated until his controversial loss to Jimmy Reeves in Cleveland that September. Raging Bull takes some liberties with the timeline of LaMotta’s story, depicting the already-married middleweight spending his time outside the ring courting his future wife Vikki, portrayed by Cathy Moriarty in her Academy Award-nominated screen debut. (In reality, the couple’s courtship would have been a few years later, though they indeed met at a community pool while LaMotta was still married to his first wife. Vikki was spelled “Vickie” in Raging Bull, but I’ll stick with the real spelling for the sake of consistency.)

Scored by Artie Shaw’s hit single “Frenesi”, Jake’s brother Joey (Joe Pesci) introduces Vikki to Jake, who cajoles her into riding with him in his brand-new Packard convertible. He clumsily moves his arm around her during the sunny ride, and the Ink Spots crooning “Do I Worry?” on the radio could possibly be vocalizing Vikki’s inner monologue as she sizes up the impulsive slugger behind the wheel. As with so many young summer dates, the two engage in a round of mini golf, though Jake uses the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to fine-tuning the voluptuous Vikki’s putting methods. He slowly abandons any innocent pretense at their next stop, the LaMotta apartment in the Bronx, otherwise empty aside from the strains of Orazio Strano’s canzone “Turi Guilano” heard as he awkwardly begins putting the moves on her in the family kitchen. He continues their date through an ostensible tour of the flat, through the dining room and—well, would you look at that?—-into Jake’s bedroom.

In 1946, the 24-year-old Jake married 16-year-old Vikki, though she ended the marriage eleven years later following his increasingly abusive and controlling behavior as depicted on screen in Raging Bull.

After years of putting off even considering the project despite his friend and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro’s urging, Martin Scorsese had intended Raging Bull to be his final film project (an almost laughable thought more than 40 years and nearly 20 movies later), with he and De Niro taking an exacting approach to presenting the story. Famously a dedicated method actor, De Niro trained with the real LaMotta to look the part of a convincing boxer… and then spent four months eating his way through Europe to gain the 70 additional pounds needed to portray the older, out-of-shape LaMotta.

In addition to De Niro’s Oscar, Raging Bull‘s second Academy Award win among its eight nominations recognized editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Though she had previously worked with Scorsese for his feature debut Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967) and contributed some uncredited help on Taxi Driver (1976), her Oscar-winning work for Raging Bull marked the start of the director and editor’s ongoing professional collaborations.

What’d He Wear?

The economic boom of the interwar era and Hollywood’s increasing cultural influence resulted in many leisure-oriented sartorial advances that influenced how American gentlemen dressed outside the office. A byproduct of this era was the casual “loafer jacket”, also known as a “Hollywood jacket” in tribute to its southern Californian origins, and which anticipated the infamous leisure suits that would emerge during the disco era. Unlike their safari-inspired 1970s offspring, ’40s-era loafer jackets suggested more of a tailored influence, often structured like looser and lighter sports coats but with detailing incorporating contemporary casual sensibilities.

Jake wears a two-toned loafer jacket, likely black and white, with the white portions only being the chest yokes on each side and the pointed, buttoned-down pocket flaps that droop down on each side, more similar in size to the traditional ticket pocket. The black “cran necker” (Parisian) notch lapels provide a deep contrast over these yokes, rolling to the top of a three-button front that Jake wears completely open throughout their date. In addition to the two narrow set-in pockets over each side of the chest, a patch pockets is positioned low on each hip, with a curved open-top entry. A belt hangs free across the all-black back, buttoned against the waist at each side, and the sleeves are finished with two-button cuffs.

The final stop on Jake LaMotta’s home tour.

Jake is rarely a formal dresser at this point, often wearing an open-neck shirt with his suits when most other men are in ties, so a late summer date spent mini-golfing doesn’t have him wearing anything more ceremonious than a plain white cotton crew-neck T-shirt. The year is 1941, months before American entry to World War II and more than a decade before Marlon Brando and James Dean symbolized on-screen rebellion, so short-sleeved shirts like this were still considered undershirts.

A color photo from the production of Raging Bull illustrates that Jake’s black slacks and white T-shirt look just as black and white as they do in the movie itself.

Jake’s dark trousers appear to be black wool, with double reverse-facing pleats and an era-correct long rise to De Niro’s natural waist, where he wears a black leather belt with a plain single-prong buckle. The trousers have gently slanting vertical side pockets, jetted back pockets, and a full fit through the legs down to the bottoms, finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Although more casual shoes were being pioneered like slip-on boots and G.H. Bass’s “Weejun” penny loafers, Jake wears black leather cap-toe oxfords, a more formal style of shoe that would be more appropriate with suits and ties than loafer jackets and undershirts.

Evidently, Jake’s talent in sports exceeds beyond the world of boxing.

Raging Bull‘s costume design credit was shared by the appropriately named John Boxer and Richard Bruno, who would continue to collaborate with Martin Scorsese in The King of Comedy, The Color of Money, and Goodfellas, all following their initial teaming for New York, New York.

How to Get the Look

Robert De Niro and Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull (1980)

The young Jake LaMotta’s streetwise swagger calls for looser, less formal clothing, which Raging Bull‘s costume designers rooted in the early ’40s for Jake and Vikki’s first date with his unique two-toned loafer jacket that adds a dressed-up insouciance to how he presents himself in everyday life.

• Black-and-white loafer jacket with cran necker notch lapels, 3-button front, short-flapped set-in chest pockets, curved-entry patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and belted back
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
• Black wool double reverse-pleated long-rise trousers with belt loops, vertical side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

That’s a bird… it was a bird. It’s dead now, I think.

The post Raging Bull: De Niro’s Two-Tone Loafer Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “Made in America”, The Sopranos‘ series finale.

Vitals

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob captain and Army veteran

Kearny, New Jersey, Late Fall 2007

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Made in America” (Episode 6.21)
Air Date: June 10, 2007
Director: David Chase
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This weekend, fans of The Sopranos mourned the death of Tony Sirico, who had played the eccentric gangster “Paulie Walnuts” in addition to appearances in movies like Goodfellas, Dead Presidents, and Cop Land.

Sirico was born July 29, 1942 in Brooklyn, beginning a colorful life that would be paralleled by his character’s succinct autobiography as shared in a third-season episode:

I was born, grew up, spent a few years in the Army, a few more in the can, and here I am: a half a wise guy.

Following more than two dozen arrests, Sirico was serving a 20-month sentence at Sing Sing when his encounter with an acting troupe of ex-convicts convinced him to try acting. From his first screen appearance as an extra in the 1974 crime film Crazy Joe, Sirico brought his real-life experience to most frequently portraying gangsters—and the occasional cop—before landing the role of Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos.

Sirico had initially auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior but, on the condition that David Chase assure him Paulie would never turn “rat”, accepted a different role that very quickly began to mirror Sirico himself, from Paulie’s own background to his penchant for gray-winged hair, white loafers, and pinky rings. On Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa’s podcast Talking Sopranos, writer Terence Winter recalled how Sirico was just as idiosyncratic yet intimidating as his character, cornering him on the first day with his expectations: “You’re the new writer? Let me tell you something. If you ever write a script where I die? First, I die. Then you die.”

Though series star James Gandolfini hadn’t lived to see the renewed wave of Sopranos fandom in the age of podcasts and events like SopranosCon, Sirico had the opportunity to see firsthand the impact that his performance had on scores of fans. Following years of declining health advanced by dementia, Sirico died last Friday, July 8, three weeks before his 80th birthday.

Tony Sirico and James Gandolfini on set in Kearny while filming The Sopranos‘ season finale. (Photo by Bobby Bank)

True to Sirico’s demands for the character, Paulie emerged as one of the few series gangsters to remain definitively alive by the end of the series, even if his prospects beyond there may not be promising. (As with everything, there’s a Reddit thread for that! I invite readers to follow the theories present in this post.)

With most of his crew being wiped out either through arrest or assassination, family boss Tony finally looks to the stalwart gangster Paulie to step up and lead one of his most prominent crews… only to be shocked when the vocally ambitious Paulie chooses to pass, believing leadership of the crew to be doomed to an early death.

Tony: Alright, you don’t want the job, then you don’t want the job. I could put Patsy in there, he’s going to be a part of my family now, it’ll be good.
Paulie: (shaking his head) Prick… you always know what to say to me, don’t you?
Tony: I’m serious.
Paulie: I live but to serve you, my liege.

Perhaps the final victim of Tony’s sociopathic manipulations, Paulie finally gives in and agrees to take the cursed capo position. Tony—and the audience—leave him just as we first met him, sunning himself on a folding chair outside the pork store… though the early winter weather is far from the sunny afternoon of the pilot episode, with the potential specter of death present in the form of the lingering cat which may or may not be the reincarnation of Christopher Moltisanti.

What’d He Wear?

Neither the late autumnal chill nor the target seemingly placed on every Jersey made man’s back can stop Paulie Walnuts from his preferred pastime of sunning himself outside the pork store, though he does take measures to keep warm by layering under and over one of his trademark tracksuits.

Rather than just wearing the tracksuit over a sleeveless undershirt, as Paulie and his pals are wont to do are warmer days, he wears a soft creamy white cashmere sweater with a finely ribbed mock-neck, a comfortable style that had been featured in both short- and long-sleeved variations by the mobbed-up characters of the Soprano-verse.

Tony Sirico’s screen-worn Alan Stuart tracksuit from The Sopranos‘ season finale. (Photo sourced from The Golden Closet)

One of The Sopranos‘ most prolific tracksuit aficionados, Paulie debuts a newly seen warmup suit for his final appearance on screen. According to its listing at The Golden Closet, this marone—er, maroon—velour tracksuit was made by Alan Stuart, a now-defunct menswear designer dating back to the ’80s that made several pieces that would appear in Paulie Walnuts’ wardrobe across the series.

Both the jacket and trousers are primarily burgundy, though the zip-up track jacket also boasts a black velour shirt-style collar and black side panels down the front, which are piped with a white stripe along the side nearest the center. The cuffs and hem are elasticized for a blouson-like fit appearance, and vertical-entry hand pockets are set-in against each black side panel. The jacket appears to be at least partially lined in a white piled fleece along the inside of the neck, adding more insulation that would make it an even more appropriately comfortable piece for this cooler day in Kearny.

All that shows of the track pants are solid burgundy, though they’re likely finished with an elasticized waistband and hand pockets.

Paulie’s top layer is one of his many leather jackets, made from a black leather outer shell with the collar, cuffs, and hem finished in a black ribbed-knit material. The silver-finished zipper extends up from hem to neck, though Paulie wears the jacket totally open and with the collar folded down and the tracksuit collar worn over it. The jacket’s slanted side pockets each close with a zipper.

In the final minutes of The Sopranos’ finale, survivors Paulie and Tony sit amongst the empty chairs that illustrate how their ranks have dwindled. Just a season earlier, the guys would have been out laughing, smoking, and “ohh”-ing with Bobby Bacala, Christopher Moltisanti, Eugene Pontecorvo, Silvio Dante, and Vito Spatafore…

The ribbed cuffs of Paulie’s jacket cover his wrists, so we can’t see his usual gold chain-link bracelet on his right wrist or his gold-finished steel Movado Esperanza wristwatch with its open-link bracelet around his left wrist, but his animated responses to Tony’s questions flash that familiar gold ring proudly placed on his right pinky ringer, its black squared stone flashing as he outlines his rationale for not accepting the offered promotion.

At the start of The Sopranos‘ second season, Ilene Rosenzweig had interviewed Tony Sirico for the New York Times article “Ba-Da-Bing! Thumbs Up for the Pinkie Ring”, during which he explained that he’d been wearing these rings for more than thirty years:

Mr. Sirico was discussing his pinkie ring, the same one he wears when playing Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos, the HBO mob opera that started its second season last week. “They say Mafia wear pinkie rings, but men of style wear pinkie rings,” Mr. Sirico said. “So long as they’re not gaudy and the man has a nice hand — not too feminine a hand.” Mr. Sirico, who favors what he called a “sexy” black onyx look, said he was unaware that pinkie rings had gone out of style.

After watching Paulie almost exclusively wear his white leather loafers for season after season, “Remember When” (Episode 6.15) finally took us into Paulie’s closet where audiences could spy at least four pairs of these comfortable-looking shoes with the manufacturer’s name, Vikings, printed on the insole.  A favorite of Sirico’s in real life (of course), these comfortable-looking slip-on shoes have white leather uppers with a split toe and top-stitching that follows the curve of the front quarters over the insteps. Given his stated distaste for shoelaces, we shouldn’t be surprised that Paulie almost exclusively wears non-laced loafers.

The last we see of Paulie… and possibly of Christopher too.

How to Get the Look

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “Made in America”, The Sopranos‘ series finale.

Our last look at Paulie Gualtieri features many of Tony Sirico’s signature style contributions to the character, including a velour tracksuit, white shoes, and the ever-present pinky ring, layered with a mock-neck sweater and black leather jacket as the series timeline enters winter… and the winter of Paulie’s years.

• Black leather blouson jacket with ribbed-knit collar, cuffs, and hem, zip-up front, and zip-up slanted side pockets
• Burgundy velour zip-up track jacket with black collar, white-piped black side panels (with vertical-entry hand pockets), and white fleece lining
• Burgundy velour track pants
• Cream cashmere mock-neck sweater
• White leather split-toe Vikings loafers
• Movado Esperanza 0607059 gold-coated stainless steel watch with black minimalist dial on gold-finished “free-falling” open-link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with black onyx rectangular stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series, and follow my friend @tonysopranostyle on Instagram for more looks into the mobbed-up menswear of The Sopranos.

For fans of the show, I always recommend picking up a copy of The Soprano Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall.

Finally, feel free to share your favorite Sirico tributes shared across social media over the weekend, as many fans and friends of the actor have:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @realmichaelimperioli

The right way to honor Tony Sirico is to go to Jersey and get just batshit insane lost in the woods.

— Kashana (@kashanacauley) July 8, 2022

RIP Tony Sirico. Legendary. Silvio’s best buddy “Paulie Walnuts” in The Sopranos, Frankie “The Fixer’s” older brother Antonino “Father Tony” Tagliano in Lilyhammer. A larger than life character on and off screen. Gonna miss you a lot my friend. Deepest condolences to the family. pic.twitter.com/pAkDnqfLEs

— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) July 8, 2022

RIP, Tony Sirico. A walk down “Paulie Walnuts” memory lane… pic.twitter.com/tGpoHe28aT

— Rex Chapman (@RexChapman) July 8, 2022

The post The Sopranos: Saying Goodbye to Paulie Walnuts appeared first on BAMF Style.

Harrison Ford as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973)

Vitals

Harrison Ford as Bob Falfa, confident street cruiser

Modesto, California, Summer 1962

Film: American Graffiti
Release Date: August 11, 1973
Director: George Lucas
Costume Designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 80th birthday, Harrison Ford! Before his star-making performances as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, one of the Chicago-born actor’s most visible roles was in American Graffiti, George Lucas’ nostalgic coming-of-age comedy set one late summer night in 1962.

American Graffiti primarily centers around four friends and recent high school graduates enjoying one last Saturday night of R&R… rock ‘n roll and road races. Among the four, the ’32 Ford-driving John Milner (Paul Le Mat) is arguably the most prolific racer, called out when one of his fellow hot-rodding friends warns him that “there’s a very wicked ’55 Chevy looking for you.”

We finally see the black Chevy when Terry “the Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith) pulls up next to it in his pal Steve’s ’58 Impala. The mild-mannered Terry revs his engine in challenge, but the grinning Bob Falfa behind the wheel of the Chevy knows there’s a better challenge out there, asking: “Hey, you know a guy around here with a piss-yellow deuce coupe? Supposed to be hot stuff!”

Having stated his intent to “blow his ass right off the road,” Falfa eventually catches up with Milner as they engage in a series of mutual taunts, Milner commenting on Falfa’s “field car” while Falfa shares his sarcastic appreciation for the “cross between piss-yellow and puke-green” of Milner’s Ford. Eventually, the race is on, as the cars cruise out to Paradise Road to the tune of Booker T. & the MGs’ instrumental R&B hit “Green Onions” with Steve’s [now] ex-girlfriend Laurie having impulsively hopped a ride with Falfa… who finds her to be a “weird broad”.

Produced for under $800,000 with a box office gross surpassing $115 million, American Graffiti remains one of the most profitable movies ever made. At least $90,000 of the movie’s budget had gone into securing the rights for its totally diegetic soundtrack of more than 40 contemporary rock and doo wop hits spanning between 1953 and 1962 that perfectly set the musical scene for the action. Supposedly, Universal Pictures had initially been hesitant to green-light a soundtrack entirely of decades-old songs, but this decision was quickly reversed once cooler heads realized the impact of Lucas’ carefully curated tracks, and the album would eventually be certified triple platinum in the U.S.

What’d He Wear?

Much can be determined about the characters in American Graffiti just from an initial glance at their costumes: the relatively straitlaced Steve (Ron Howard) and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) are dressed practically in checked button-down shirts and J.C. Penney’s khakis, the awkward Terry the Toad looks a bit out of place in his thick-framed specs, custom pink-and-black shirt, and white bucks, and drag-racer John Milner may have taken some inspiration from James Dean’s rebellious style in his blue jeans and plain white T-shirt (with a deck of Camels rolled into the left sleeve).

Speeding into the scene comes Bob Falfa, a self-styled cowboy in his cowboy hat, western-styled snap shirt, and Wrangler jeans.

Evidently, the hat came about from Harrison Ford’s refusal to cut his hair to a more period-correct length. To accommodate this, Falfa was thus outfitted in a beige woven straw cowboy hat with a narrow taupe elasticized band. Earlier this summer, the hat was auctioned by Prop Store, which explained in the listing that “this hat has been owned since late 1973 or early 1974 by Sam Crawford, a big fan of the film upon its release, who arranged to purchase the ’55 Chevy that Falfa drove in the film directly from Universal Studios.”

The listing includes photos of the brown leather sweatband along the inside, with the Bailey U-Rollit manufacturer’s logo printed in gold along the left side. George S. Bailey founded the Bailey Hat Company in 1922 in Los Angeles, where it continues to produce headgear that “explores the juxtaposition of Hollywood elegance and Western toughness and is influenced by both directional culture and fashion that serves as a unique framework for original design.”

Falfa and one of his dates (Debralee Scott) cruise the Modesto main drag, looking for action.

Early ’60s Modesto wasn’t exactly the wild west, but Falfa introduces a gunslinger spirit with his white western-styled shirt, characterized by the snap-front placket that had reportedly been innovated by Rockmount Ranch Wear founder Jack A. Weil in the early 1900s. The original intent of snap closures had been to easily break away should part of a wearer’s garment get snagged on a fence while on horseback, but Falfa ultimately illustrates their modernized purpose as the shirt cleanly pulls itself apart while he escapes from his burning Chevy.

Falfa’s white long-sleeved shirt is arranged in the traditional western configuration, with pointed yokes and two chest pockets. Each pocket is covered with a “sawtooth”-shaped double-pointed flap, with a snap on each point and a packet of Lucky Strikes stored in the left pocket. The shirt also has a narrow point collar and snap-closed cuffs, though Falfa always wears them undone and rolled up to his elbows so we can’t easily determine if they’re finished with two or three snaps.

Falfa recovers from a night that didn’t go as intended, as his untucked and unsnapped shirt indicates.

Falfa wears dark indigo denim jeans with the familiar “W” stitching across the back pockets that indicates Wrangler, the North Carolina-based outfitter that was last to join Levi’s and Lee to form the triumvirate of American denim outfitters when its parent company Blue Bell introduced the Wrangler 11MWZ “Cowboy Cut” jeans in 1947. Within five years, the style would be renamed 13MWZ to be consistent with its 13 ounce-per-yard denim weight. He holds up the jeans with a smooth dark brown leather belt with subtle tooling around the center.

Falfa completes his cowboy image with a pair of tan leather cowboy boots, detailed with a gold-buckled strap that stretches around the back of each heel.

The Levi’s-wearing John Milner helps the Wrangler-wearing Falfa back up onto the pavement.

In addition to jump-starting the careers for director George Lucas and many of the cast, American Graffiti was also the first movie for costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers, who would reteam with both Lucas and Ford in their third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi (1983). You can read more about her work in the movie in this exclusive interview for Kip’s American Graffiti Blog.

The Car

The “very wicked ’55 Chevy” aptly describes the black 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty that Bob Falfa drives to rule the mean streets of Modesto.

Ford’s Chevy vs. a Ford.

In 1953, Chevrolet introduced the One-Fifty and its more upmarket sibling Two-Ten—also marketed as the “150” and “210”, respectively, for obvious reasons. Unlike the midrange Two-Ten and the premium Bel Air, the One-Fifty was a barebones economy model that would ultimately appeal to racers for its performance potential, with body styles ranging across two- and four-door sedans to wagons. Only six-cylinder engines were available in the One-Fifty and Two-Ten for their first two model years. A three-speed manual transmission was standard, with GM’s two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission not an available option in the One-Fifty until ’54.

Everything changed in 1955, when the One-Fifty and Two-Ten were restyled and Chevy introduced its first modern small-block V8, available in both models in addition to the “Blue Frame” straight-six. Drivers were quickly impressed by the lightweight but powerful engine that, with a little TLC, could transform their nondescript business coupe into a road king. Through 1956 and 1957, Chevy maintained similar engine offerings in the One-Fifty and Two-Ten, with power ranging based on carburetion. For 1957, the final model year for both, the six available engines ranged from the 140-horsepower straight-six up to a fuel-injected “Super Turbo-Fire” 283 cubic-inch V8 that was rated at 283 horsepower, more than double the base six-cylinder engine.

Chevy replaced the One-Fifty and the Two-Ten with the Delay and Biscayne, respectively, for ’58, but hot-rodders never forgot the potential and these “tri-fives” still command a premium from collectors.

Their popularity was increased by movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti, which actually used at least one of the same Chevys on screen. According to the Unofficial American Graffiti Home Page maintained by Kathy Schlock and Walt Bailey, “the story of the American Graffiti ’55 Chevy began in 1970 when three 1955 Chevy 150 sedans were built for the 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop by Richard Ruth of Competition Engineering in Sunland, California,” based on Ruth’s own street racer, which had been fitted with an aftermarket big-block V8.

Harrison Ford drives a ’55 Chevy with an aftermarket big-block V8 in American Graffiti.

1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty (Customized)

Body Style: 2-door sedan

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

Engine: 427 cubic inch (7.0 L) Chevrolet L88 V8 with “Tri-Power” 3×2-barrel Holley carburetors

Power: 435 bhp (324 kW; 441 PS) @ 5800 rpm

Torque: 460 lb·ft (624 N·m) @ 4000 rpm

Transmission: 4-speed Muncie manual

Wheelbase: 115 inches (2921 mm)

Length: 195.6 inches (4968 mm)

Width: 74 inches (1880 mm)

Height: 60.5 inches (1537 mm)

The three One-Fifty two-door sedans that appeared in Two-Lane Blacktop included a “primary car” rigged with a 427 cubic-inch V8 and four-speed Muncie M-22″rock crusher” manual transmission, an interior “camera car” with a 454 cubic-inch V8 and another four-speed, and a steel-bodied “stunt car” with a 454 V8 and TH400 automatic transmission. The camera car was independently purchased after production on Two-Lane Blacktop wrapped, so—when transportation supervisor Henry Travers searched the studio storage lot for Falfa’s ride, he selected the two remaining cars: the 427/4-speed for exterior shots and the 454/auto for interior shots as the automatic transmission would allow for smoother shots of the actors. Travers retained the classic 15″ Covico three-spoke steering wheels, but both cars were repainted a gloss black, and the bucket seats and sliding plexiglass windows were replaced with a stock bench seat and conventional steel doors with roll-up windows.

GM’s big-block “L88” 427 cubic-inch (1966) and “LS5” 454 cubic-inch (1970) engines weren’t introduced until after the setting of American Graffiti, but we never see Falfa’s engine compartment so we can assume that his souped-up engine may be the dual-quad 409, introduced in 1961 and immortalized by the Beach Boys’ 1962 surf rock single “409”.

When Falfa blows a tire and runs his car off the road, terminating his race against Milner, neither of the Two-Lane Blacktop Chevys were sacrificed. Travers had obtained a non-running ’55 One-Fifty hardtop from a salvage yard, with a piece of wood standing in for the window post that would “transform” it from a hardtop into a pillared sedan. The 454-powered Chevy was towed down the strip for the rollover, then replaced with the non-running hardtop when the car needed to burn.

And burn it did!

Some have written that the American Graffiti Chevy was a Two-Ten rather than a One-Fifty, but most documentation seems to support that Falfa drove a One-Fifty, identified on IMCDB “by the rubber around the windshield instead of stainless trim, lack of side stainless, and the lack of stainless along the beltline.”

I recommend that fans of American Graffiti, Two-Lane Blacktop, and the ’55 Chevy that appeared in both check out this well-researched article at the Unofficial American Graffiti Home Page.

How to Get the Look

Harrison Ford and Linda Christensen in American Graffiti (1973)

From head to toe, Bob Falfa outfits himself in cowboy-styled clothing to match his daring persona.

• White western-styled shirt with narrow point collar, snap-front placket, pointed yokes, two chest pockets with double-snap “sawtooth”-pointed flaps, and snap-closed cuffs
• Dark indigo denim Wrangler 13MWZ “Cowboy Cut” jeans
• Dark brown leather center-tooled belt
• Tan leather cowboy boots
• Beige woven straw cowboy hat with narrow taupe elasticized band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I ain’t nobody, dork!

The post Harrison Ford in American Graffiti appeared first on BAMF Style.