Michael Caine as Elliot in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Vitals
Michael Caine as Elliot, financial advisor
New York City, Thanksgiving 1985
Film:Hannah and Her Sisters Release Date: February 7, 1986 Director: Woody Allen Costume Designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Background
Happy Thanksgiving! Hannah and Her Sisters is one of my favorite movies to keep in my Turkey Day rotation (I know, I know, Woody Allen… And no, I’m certainly not one of the Maxes in the “Woody Underground” described in Jason Diamond’s excellent recent article for his Substack, The Melt.)
Set between three Thanksgivings, the story centers on the eponymous Hannah (Mia Farrow) and those in her orbit, including her nebbish ex-husband Mickey (Allen) and her current husband Elliot (Michael Caine), a “glorified accountant” whom we meet at the outset harboring an impossible obsession with Hannah’s sister Lee (Barbara Hershey).
“God, she’s beautiful,” Elliot’s limerence-laden narration begins over Harry James’ “I’ve Heard That Song Before,” as he continues detailing his private admiration and lust for Lee while he and Hannah host their annual Thanksgiving party. Of course, he’s concerned less about the Thanksgiving turkey than at landing himself that elusive Hershey’s kiss (do you get it please?)
Though still considered one of Allen’s best, having received three Oscars—one for Allen’s screenplay, one for Caine’s supporting performance, and another for Dianne Wiest as Hannah’s other sister Holly—Mia Farrow recalled in her memoir What Falls Away how the movie hit a little too close to home… literally, as the Thanksgiving scenes were actually filmed in her apartment at The Langham on Central Park West.
Farrow recalled how her mother, actress Maureen O’Sullivan who would also play her mother in Hannah and Her Sisters, had a “stunned, chill reaction to the script that enabled me to see how he had taken many of the personal circumstances and themes of our lives, and, it seemed, had distorted them into cartoonish characterizations,” though it also awakened Farrow’s suspicion that Allen may have had feelings for her own sisters echoed in the script by Elliot’s attraction to Lee.
What’d He Wear?
Thanksgiving #1
Much like the previous Thanksgiving movie I wrote about, the execution of Elliot’s apparel in the first scene of Hannah and Her Sisters is deeply rooted in ’80s trends, but I admire the overall approach that blends homey comfort with approachable semi-formality, perfectly suited for hosting a well-attended Thanksgiving dinner at home.
Lee strolls past, distracting Elliot from his conversation with a mustached guest portrayed by John Doumanian, a Woody Allen mainstay perhaps most memorable as the “coke fiend” in Annie Hall.
Elliot wears a gray ribbed-knit cardigan sweater that incorporates elements of a tailored jacket like notch lapels and a double-breasted front. Running the full length of the sweater down to the hem that hits his hips, the “lapels” are more like a wide shawl collar that has a “fish-mouth” cut-out at each side of the neck, rather than the actual three-piece construction of a tailored jacket’s notch lapel.
The bottom is cut straight across, with a square double-breasted arrangement of four flat wooden two-hole buttons, positioned low at his waist with two to button. The sweater has a hand pocket on each side, with a ribbed welt vertical entry.
Elliot’s shirt is block-checked in slate-gray, blue, taupe, olive, rust, and charcoal, a multi-color combination that adds complexity while subtly low-contrast enough not to look too flashy. The shirt has a narrow button-down collar and barrel cuffs that close with the same brown plastic buttons as those on the collar and up the front. He wears a brown silk tie that echoes the tones of the rest of his outfit, coordinating with his trousers and shoes, the sweater’s brown buttons, and the shades of olive and rust in the shirt.
Combined with his blushing countenance, the tightly knotted tie at Elliot’s throat reinforces how much our “dignified financial advisor” attempts to repress his feelings for Lee.
Below the waist, Elliot dresses in the fall-appropriate shades of brown, from his dark brown flat-front trousers held up by a dark brown leather belt with a gold-finished squared single-prong buckle to the brown leather apron-toe derby shoes.
Elliot wears oversized eyeglasses with translucent brown plastic frames, which I believe were Michael Caine’s own specs at the time of production. According to IMDB, the actor had asked Woody Allen “shall I wear my glasses? Because I figure I’m playing you.”
Caine also wore his own watch, an 18-karat yellow-gold Rolex Day-Date “Oysterquartz” ref. 19018 on the distinctive “President” (or “Presidential”) semi-rounded three-piece link bracelet as seen in his other movies of this period like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and which sold for $166,500 in a Bonhams auction earlier this month, as reported by Robb Report. While actors wearing their own watches don’t always fit the character, it makes sense that a well-to-do advisor—even one dismissed by another character as a “glorified accountant”—would wear such a prestigious watch.
The Day-Date has a 36mm case with a fluted bezel and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal protecting the champagne-colored dial with its date window at 3 o’clock and arced day-of-the-week window across the top.
In a later scene, we get a better look at Caine’s glasses and Rolex that he wore on screen as Elliot.
Thanksgiving #2
By the next Thanksgiving, Elliot and Lee have been romantically involved for months, though his refusal to leave Hannah and commit to her has made her realize that their affair must come to an end. For this holiday, he wears another gray sweater, albeit a darker cable-knit crew-neck with colorful flecks. He wears an ecru shirt with taupe-brown awning stripes, each bisected by a green stripe, open at the neck where he also wears a burgundy striped silk tie. He also wears golden tan gabardine flat-front slacks.
Now wearing a loosened tie—as opposed to the tightly knotted one at the previous Thanksgiving—Elliot has shed his repression as he’s now unfortunately engaged in an affair with Lee, though the indignity of a loosened tie, curiously paired under a crew-neck sweater that covers much of it anyway, reflects how much our “dignified financial advisor” has changed in the last year.
Thanksgiving #3
For the third and last on-screen Thanksgiving, Elliot’s relaxed approach to dress reflects his now less-troubled state of mind as he has reconciled his marriage to Hannah. He wears another multi-colored plaid shirt, though the flannel shirting, camp collar, and two chest pockets define it as an arguably less formal shirt, especially as he wears the plain front totally unbuttoned and open over his beige cable-knit turtleneck, with the shirt sleeves rolled back to show the sweater’s ribbed cuffs.
His affair behind him and his marriage healthily restored, Elliot looks his most relaxed and easygoing yet for the film’s third and final Thanksgiving, comfortably sporting a plaid shirt open over his turtleneck.
How to Get the Look
Michael Caine as Elliot in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Each of Elliot’s respective Thanksgiving outfits have their own merits, though the most prominently featured is his first combination that he wears while both fielding and indulging his flirtation with Lee. With a few updates to modernize the ’80s details, his sporty double-breasted cardigan, multi-color checked shirt, and tie could still be effectively worn to host your own annual Turkey Day celebration!
Gray ribbed-knit notch-collar cardigan sweater with double-breasted 4×2-button front and vertical welted hip pockets
Slate-gray, blue, taupe, olive, rust, and charcoal block-checked shirt with narrow button-down collar and button cuffs
Brown silk tie
Dark brown flat-front trousers
Dark brown leather belt with squared gold-toned single-prong buckle
Dark brown apron-toe derby shoes
Brown translucent plastic-framed oversized eyeglasses
Rolex Day-Date “Oysterquartz” ref. 19018 watch in 18-karat yellow gold on gold “President” three-piece link bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie… and if your spouse has gone to all the trouble to prepare a great Thanksgiving dinner, the least you could do is not flirt with her sister. Either way, I hope you all have a terrific time.
The Quote
Easy, you’re a dignified financial advisor. It doesn’t look good for you to swoon.
Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham in Out of the Past (1947)
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham, aka Jeff Bailey, laconic gas station owner and former private detective
Bridgeport, California, Fall 1946
Film:Out of the Past Release Date: November 25, 1947 Director: Jacques Tourneur Costume Credit: Edward Stevenson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the 75th anniversary since the release of Out of the Past, often considered among the best of classic film noir, the shadowy sub-genre known for its murky morals, gat-toting gumshoes, and double-crossing dames.
We begin in the small northern California town of Bridgeport, where laconic gas station owner Jeff Bailey enjoys a quiet fishing date with his girlfriend Ann Miller (Virginia Huston) until he’s silently interrupted by his deaf employee, “The Kid” (Dickie Moore), signing for Jeff to return. Back in town, Jeff is greeted by Joe Stefanos (Paul Valentine), a mob torpedo sent to invite Jeff—whom we learn is actually an ex-private investigator named Jeff Markham—to Lake Tahoe to meet a mysterious figure from… out of his past.
What’d He Wear?
Jeff dresses simply but stylishly for his idyllic lakeside date with Ann, layered in a suede jacket over a V-neck sweater and boots that would still be natty autumn attire three-quarters of a century later.
Filmed in black-and-white with little color photography remaining today, we can only speculate as to the colors present in Jeff’s wardrobe, though this waist-length jacket was almost certainly made of brown suede, perhaps a curious fabric for fishing given the cloth’s Seinfeld-reinforced sensitivity to water.
The jacket has seven two-hole buttons that fasten up the front from the straight-cut waist hem to the neck. The back is semi-belted with fit-adjuster straps that tighten through a round ring toward the back of each side. The set-in sleeves are finished with half-strap cuffs that close through one of two buttons for adjusting the fit around his wrists. The sole outer pockets are the slanted-entry jetted hand pockets on each side, keeping his cigarettes in his right pocket.
To keep warm against the late fall chill, Jeff layers at least three shirts under his jacket. He appears to be wear a white cotton undershirt with a high crew-neck under a medium-colored flannel button-up shirt. The intermediate layer between this shirt and his jacket is a dark woolen V-neck sweater with long sleeves, ribbed at the cuffs.
Ann: “You were never married before, were you?” Jeff: “Not that I can remember.”
Though rugged workwear trousers like jeans and khakis were increasingly popular by the mid-1940s, Jeff dresses for this casual outing in a pair of dark woolen flannel double forward-pleated trousers, with the bottoms self-cuffed for a high break to keep them clear of the water while fishing. Like his jacket, the lighter napped leather shade of Jeff’s derby-laced work boots suggests brown nubuck.
Jeff’s meeting with Joe Stephanos next has him dressing in his old raincoat and fedora as he returns to the proverbial trenches of his past life, called to account for himself to Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) and into an unexpected—and undesired—reunion with Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer).
How to Get the Look
Robert Mitchum as Jeff Markham in Out of the Past (1947)
Before his past comes calling and ushers him into the standard issue noir hero trench coat, Jeff hopes to live the relatively simple life of a small-town gas station owner and dresses the part in a rugged suede jacket, layered shirts, and work boots.
Brown suede waist-length jacket with 7-button front, shirt-style collar, slanted jetted hand pockets, set-in sleeves with pointed half-strap button cuffs, and half-belted back with side adjuster straps
Medium-colored flannel work shirt
Dark wool V-neck long-sleeve sweater
Dark woolen flannel double forward-pleated trousers with on-seam side pockets and self-cuffed bottoms
Ahead of Cyber Monday sales tomorrow (as the tryptophan hit too hard after Thanksgiving to get it together in time for Black Friday), I wanted to revisit my once-annual tradition of pulling together a holiday gift guide that you could use either when shopping for others… or just looking to fill out your own Christmas list!
Ho-ho-oooh!
The below list combines a mix of inspiration from movies and TV as well as my own favorite things, many of which I wear or use on a regular basis.
CWU-Style Flight Jacket
Although the famous much-patched G-1 leather flight jacket from the original Top Gun made an appearance, Tom Cruise spent much of this year’s well-received follow-up film Top Gun: Maverick wearing this practical yet still-stylish update: the Nomex-shell CWU/36P.
The World War II-era N-1 deck jacket authorized by the U.S. Navy delivers an elegantly tough-looking and offbeat alternative to the classic fur-collared flight jacket that’s been favored by screen icons from Paul Newman to Ryan Gosling and even featured on screen in movies like Point Blank as sported by the one and only Lee Marvin.
SIS Training Gear delivered on a much-requested Bond fan favorite with this screen-accurate reproduction of the PTI training suit that the “resurrected” 007 wears when getting back into fighting shape in Skyfall (2012).
PTI Tracksuit Jacket
SIS Training Gear, $79.99
PTI Tracksuit Pants
SIS Training Gear, $69.99
Waxed Trucker Jacket
Ruggedly reliable waxed jackets are having a moment right now, offering a more weather-resistant alternative to the classic denim trucker jacket as recently featured on screen in productions like Yellowstone, The Adam Project, and the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die.
Freenote Cloth Waxed Canvas Riders Jacket, as worn by Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) on Yellowstone Franklin & Poe, $400
Rogue Territory Ridgeline Supply Jacket, unlined, in waxed tan canvas, as worn by Daniel Craig in No Time to Die (2021) STAG Provisions, $295
The venerated surf rock band’s name was The Pendletones, in reference to the Oregon-based textile mill that made the tough plaid woolen flannel shirts they had appropriated from southern California surf culture. Sixty years after the re-christened band released their first hit single, Pendleton Woolen Mills continues to make board shirts in the blue plaid colorway that the Beach Boys famously wore throughout their early years of fame.
When not dressed in his OG-107 Army fatigues, M*A*S*H‘s maverick surgeon Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda) dressed down to swill his homemade gin martinis in an aloha shirt with a bold white-on-navy blue hibiscus print. Fifty years after the iconic series’ debut, a nearly identical print remains identical as offered from authentic Hawaiian outfitter RJC.
In addition to their screen-accurate reproductions and reinterpretations of Daniel Craig’s Skyfall training suit, SIS Training Gear also offers its Spy Collection that includes many “quiet” references to other 007 adventures, like T-shirts and mugs imprinted with the logos and names of establishments from the Bond-verse like Shrublands Health Retreat (Thunderball), Piz Gloria (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), and the Barrelhead Bar & Grill (Licence to Kill) where our 00-hero had to shoot and speed his way out of yet another perilous situation.
Interest in the shawl-collar cardigans favored by Steve McQueen was reinvigorated after Daniel Craig, a fan of the “King of Cool”‘s sense of style, wore a black Tom Ford cardigan in Quantum of Solace. Since then, the shawl-collar cardigan has been re-established as a menswear must-have, bringing the style out of our grandfathers’ closets and into the forefront for more than a decade now.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of the cardigan with something as classically stylish as a solid navy shawl-collar sweater, you may be inclined to evolve to bolder weaves or prints like the famous Cowichan knit Pendleton “Westerley” zip-up cardigan worn by Jeff Bridges as the White Russian-sipping protagonist in The Big Lebowski, one of my favorite movies.
If you’re still trying to navigate the ins, outs, and what-have-yous of wearing this type of sweater, there are still some great budget options to ease into your comfort level without needing to reduce yourself to the cheap costume-quality replicas (not that I’m above it, as my Halloween 2021 costume can attest.)
Still not convinced that cardigans are right for you? Another rugged knitwear option recently popularized—by Daniel Craig’s James Bond, of course—is the commando-style military sweater, characterized by elbow and shoulder patches. The N.Peal sweater made for Craig to wear in No Time to Die also incorporated the drawstring-adjusted boat-neck borrowed from British military gear (and even seen on screen decades earlier in The Great Escape!)
N.Peal 007 Ribbed Army Sweater as worn by James Bond (Daniel Craig) in No Time to Die (2022) Farfetch, $495
Brown’s Beach Cloth Vest
The name may be a bit misleading as I can’t imagine wearing this tough and warm vest anywhere near the beach on a summer sunny day, but I love the heritage of these classic workwear waistcoats. Originally made by Brown’s Beach from 1901 through 1960 in their proprietary cloth blend of wool and cotton, these are now reproduced by Full Count & Co.
The Brown’s Beach Cloth vest may be most recognizable these days as one of the hardy pieces worn by Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) during his doomed journey in Titanic (1997).
Brown’s Beach Cloth Vest as worn by Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Titanic (1997) Clutch Cafe, $470
Filson Mackinaw Wool Vest
Another great vest straight from the screen is the Filson Mackinaw Wool Vest worn by John Dutton (Kevin Costner) in the first season of Yellowstone. Filson describes their 24-oz. virgin Mackinaw wool cloth as “manufactured with uncommonly-tight weave [that] excels at blocking the wind and withstands hard use for decades… There’s a very good reason it’s been a cornerstone in the Filson product line for more than half a century—it performs admirably in countless situations out of doors, or in.”
Filson Mackinaw Wool Vest as worn by John Dutton (Kevin Costner) on Yellowstone STAG Provisions, $225
Double RL Jeans
I was late to the Yellowstone game, finally starting the series this year, but—like so many, including my friend Iconic Alternatives—it was easy to get caught up in the Western style fever. Thus, you’ll see quite a bit of ranch-inspired fashions on this list, including a modern update of the Ralph Lauren “Double RL” jeans that Kevin Costner had liked so much that first-season costume designer Ruth E. Carter reproduced more than a dozen pairs of the discontinued style for the actor to wear both on- and off-screen.
There are a few current iterations of RRL denim, but the closest to JD-style jeans will have that Western “bug and wrinkle”-like medallion stitching across the back pockets.
RRL Slim Fit Jeans in “Conrad wash” similar to the RRL jeans recreated for John Dutton (Kevin Costner) on Yellowstone STAG Provisions, $240
Levi’s 541 Jeans
I’m not inclined to dictate rules of menswear, but I think that most men know by the time they’re 30 what kind of jeans they prefer. For me, it was an evolution from my all-too-tearable Hollister jeans in high school, through American Eagle and its sadly short-lived “mature” brand Martin + Osa in college, then finally exploring the realm of Levi’s. The 501 Original Fit never felt right, but I settled like a glove into the 541 Athletic Taper (despite not being much of an athlete), made from a blend of predominantly cotton with enough polyester and elastane to provide stretch for what Levi’s calls a “relaxed feel with a slightly tailored fit.”
I’ve long been a fan of Chelsea boots, having long been a devotee of Timberland boots. (Was David Duchovny’s style as Hank Moody on Californication an influence? I plead the fifth.) However, after needing to replace several pairs of Tims—whether for worn-out soles, busted pull tabs, or any other stress beyond the usual wear-and-tear—I realized it was time to find a new brand.
Australian footwear brand Blundstone needs little introduction, but I was aware of their quality when I first picked up a pair of their Chelsea boots four years ago and they’ve proven to be one of my best footwear choices yet, offering a rugged construction, stylish appearance, and comfortable cushioned soles… and the 23-year-old version of me who started this blog would be delighted to know that Mr. Duchovny did indeed swap out his Timberlands for Blundstones on occasion.
My preferred Blundstone variety is the #1609 model with “antique brown” water-resistant leather uppers and black elastic side gussets, though I’ll likely be growing my collection.
In the market for something dressier? I mentioned above not being too focused on the “rules” of menswear and I willingly chose to break one when sporting a pair of monk-strap shoes with my double-breasted dinner suit for my wedding last month. Though perhaps not equal to tuxedoes on the formality meter, monk shoes had always been a favorite of mine for their visually interesting properties and comfort, not to mention that I share the literary James Bond’s dislike of shoelaces… as my preferred boot style above may also suggest. Still, I opted for the most formal monk shoes I could get, with polished black calf uppers (rather than brown), a single strap (rather than double), and a plain toe-box.
While you’d probably prefer to wear your monks with a blazer, sports coat, or suit, I was ultimately satisfied with the appearance and suitability of the Florsheim “Sorrento” shoes I wore throughout the wedding day with my tuxedo, from the first photo call around 2 p.m. to stumbling back from the after-party with my bride at 2 a.m.
Florsheim Sorrento Monk Strap Shoes, as worn by me! DSW, $120 $99.99
Bombas socks
While we’re dressing your feet, let me tell you about the socks that changed my life. And this is not an #ad.
For about five Christmases in a row, my girlfriend wife (gotta get used to saying that) had included Bombas socks on her wish-list. As members of my family would buy them for her, their intrigue would grow and they’d buy pairs for themselves. I foolishly felt above it all, pulling on my tired pairs of Gold-Toes until finally asking her, in my Seinfeldiest voice, “so what’s the deal with these bomb-ass socks, anyway?”
One more Christmas and four initial pairs of socks later, I found out firsthand just why these were a perennial favorite of hers and, now, everyone else in my family. The comfort is unmatched by any other sock I’ve worn not to mention that, as a Certified B Corporation, Bombas aims to do good and matches each purchase with a donation of a similar item to a community in need of clean, comfortable socks or underwear.
I recommend you get started on the right foot (hehe) with a four-pack of the colorfully marled calf socks, the very hosiery that got me hooked as well.
Dandy Del Mar remains one of the first brands I consider when shopping for leisure-wear, specifically poolside garb of the terry toweling cloth variety as had been popular through the ’60s and ’70s. When the California-based brand introduced their Tropez Terry Cloth robe in a duo-toned green gardenia print, I knew it had to be mine. Nearly two years later, it’s still the first I reach for whether nursing my morning coffee or drying off after a dip.
Dandy Del Mar Tropez Terry Cloth Robe in gardenia, as worn by me honeymooning last month Dandy Del Mar, $119 $89
Doxa SUB300T Sharkhunter
One of the most frequently questions I get asked is “what kind of watch do you wear?” The answer isn’t so straightforward as I rotate through about a dozen or so, including a few Seikos, a Tissot moonwatch, some Invicta tributes, and my sole Omega—a beautiful gold Constellation that has been in my wife’s family since it was purchased new in the early 1960s.
My Doxa SUB300T Sharkhunter is among my favorite watches, blending a reliable movement with a distinctive appearance that appeals to me. Like the Omega, the Doxa had been gifted to me by my father-in-law, who purchased his Sharkhunter during the 35th anniversary reissue in 2002. I believe that my FIL, who still wears an orange-dialed Doxa, had been drawn to the brand due to Clive Cussler choosing it for Dirk Pitt; I was purely tickled to have a similar model as the watch worn by Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor, made all the more significant by having once belonged to a loved one.
I was halfway through high school when I was first prescribed glasses, a rimless pair meant solely for distance like reading the chalkboard from the back of the classroom or the occasional night-drive. As the years went on and relentless screen-time took its toll on my eyes, the conditions worsened until all but eradicating my use for any non-prescription eyewear.
When the time came for me to make the Very Mature Purchase of my first prescription sunglasses, I tried on a few various pairs until landing on Persol, specifically the “Havana” tortoise-framed PO9649s Pilot model. I’ve added some other prescription specs to the lineup since, but the Persols remain my favorite as I also wear the Persol 3121V for my regular (non-sun) glasses.
You can get life-size or mini, but I can imagine there’s something jarring about finding a two-foot cardboard Elliott Gould under your tree on Christmas morning. Life-size is probably the way to go.
I try to keep my EDC pretty limited, but one item I rarely leave the house without (and often carry at home too) is my Kershaw RJ Tactical 3.0 knife. The ergonomic nylon handle houses a three-inch black oxide-coated stainless steel blade with Kershaw’s quick and simple “SpeedSafe” one-handed release that flips the blade out and locks it into place. While I have experience with a few other pocket knives, the Kershaw is my everyday favorite for its portability and easily maintained sharpness after several years of heavy use.
For any BAMF Style readers who—like a certain fictional British secret agent—regularly carry a Walther PPK or Walther PPK/S pistol, my friend Caleb (@CommandoBond) collaborated with TH Holsters to develop the Spectre Mk III, a holster created with Bond fans in mind. Named in tribute to Daniel Craig’s fourth Bond movie and the fictional terrorist organization that dates back to Ian Fleming’s novels, the Spectre MK III combines the modern retention of a Kydex holster with a handsome tobacco-colored suede wrap that echoes Craig’s on-screen Vega IWB holsters. Additionally, the holsters are rigged with a tuckable Walther-branded clip that allows wearers to cleanly conceal their sidearm under the folds of a tucked-in shirt.
Caleb was kind enough to gift me a Spectre MK III that I’ve since used to regularly carry my own PPK, and I can confirm that it’s every bit the five-star holster that a seasoned MI6 agent would want while withstanding the storied wear-and-tear in the field: concealable, comfortable, and smooth to draw from.
TH Holsters Spectre MK III (author’s own holster and PPK pictured) TH Holsters, $114.99
Tivoli Bluetooth Radio
This one’s on my personal wishlist so I don’t have any personal experience with it yet, but I’m hoping to report back after the holidays! Bond Lifestyle spotted the Tivoli Model One AM/FM radio in the retired James Bond’s Jamaican home in No Time to Die, and maybe I’m a double-O-sucker, but I was drawn to its clean, vintage aesthetic as well as the positive reviews for the Bluetooth connectivity.
The market is flooded with portable power banks, none of which ever felt like they were truly the right solution until I found the VRURC power bank. This is another find I have to credit to my wife, who may have originally seen it on TikTok or in some influencer’s Instagram story. Unlike the other power banks that have crossed our paths, the VRURC offers a convenient size (about the same as my iPhone 12 Mini) with integrated USB cords and even an integrated plug that goes directly into a wall outlet, making it the most grab-and-go power bank I’ve seen yet. In addition, the VRURC has a display that shows you exactly how much battery it has left itself. This thing has been a life-saver.
Booze & Vinyl: A Spirited Guide to Great Music and Mixed Drinks by André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington
Another in a string of excellent gifts from my wife, Booze & Vinyl lives up to its name by thoughtfully pairing classic records with two cocktails—one for each side; for example, Johnny Cash’s 1968 live album At Folsom Prison is offered with the appropriately named Suffering Bastard (side A) and the rum-and-cider-based Stone Fence (side B), while Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours suggests a Manhattan (side A) and the glitzy Tuxedo Cocktail (side B).
From Tailors With Love: An Evolution of Menswear Through the Bond Films by Pete Brooker & Matt Spaiser
You know them, you love them, now read their book! Pete Brooker (of the From Tailors With Love podcast) and Matt Spaiser (of the Bond Suits blog) collaborated on this excellent chronicle that belongs on the shelf of all fans of James Bond, menswear, and the stylish intersection of both.
After two decades of painstaking research and interviews with survivors, A Night to Remember inspired a renewed wave of interest in the Titanic disaster upon its release in 1955, including a compelling movie that remains my favorite filmed account of the sinking. Always attuned to my interests even before I was, my dad gave me his much-loved copy when I was in the third grade and it’s still regularly rotated through my reading list.
Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki by Martin Cate & Rebecca Cate
This may not be a new book, but it was new to me when I received it for Christmas last year, thoughtfully chosen by my wife’s brother and his girlfriend to help me expand my interest and knowledge in all things Tiki… and, in just a year, it has been a helpful reference not just for perfecting my Painkiller recipe but for also decorating a Polynesian paradise in my own home.
This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories by Carla Valderrama
Carla is one of my favorite storytellers of all things Old Hollywood—indeed, her Instagram @thiswashollywood is a must-follow—so I knew I couldn’t wait to pick up her book after it was first released in 2020. Two years later, I always keep it within reach in my home office, whether researching a BAMF Style post about John Garfield or merely passing the time by reading fascinating yet almost-forgotten lore from Tinseltown.
Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos by Michael Imperioli & Steve Schirripa
A month into the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopher and Bobby Bacala themselves brought some much-needed distraction into everyone’s quarantines with the start of their 91-episode podcast Talking Sopranos that pulled back the gabagool to bring fans behind the scenes of the landmark series with a degree of humor and honesty that make their new book all the more welcome.
Me wearing Pendleton shirt, Doxa SUB300T, Persol sunglasses, Levi’s 541s, and Blundstone Chelsea boots while shopping during Small Business Saturday yesterday.
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Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Vitals
Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, smooth but dangerous gunsel
Los Angeles, Summer 1948
Film:Devil in a Blue Dress Release Date: September 29, 1995 Director: Carl Franklin Costume Designer: Sharen Davis
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As #Noirvember comes to a close, I want to celebrate one of my favorite characters from neo-noir, the trigger-happy “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress, played by Don Cheadle who was born November 29, 1964 and celebrates his 58th birthday today.
Fledgling private eye Ezekial “Easy” Rawlins (Denzel Washington) calls his old pal Mouse for some high-caliber help as the stakes climb but soon regrets his decision: “You ain’t been in my house five minutes and you gone and shot somebody already, Mouse!” Dangerous as he may be, Mouse remains fiercely loyal to Easy—aside from drunkenly pulling both of his guns on his friend—and proves to be a crucial (and charismatic!) element for the final act as Easy confronts gangster DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore) and his armed thugs who have kidnapped Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), the eponymous cerulean-clad femme fatale.
Adapted from Walter Mosley’s excellent 1990 novel of the same name, Devil in a Blue Dress received many deserved accolades as an elevated entry in the oft-tired noir canon, including Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and National Society of Film Critics Awards for Cheadle’s enthusiastic performance as the live-wire Mouse.
What’d He Wear?
Dressed in a charcoal-brown suit with a tonal bar-stripe, Mouse makes his dramatic entrance into the proceedings just in time to save Easy from the knife-wielding Frank Green (Joseph Latimore), though his trigger-happy tactics scare the hood away and ruin Easy’s chance of converting him into an effective source of information.
Mouse’s wardrobe reflects much of the “Bold Look” that Esquire had observed emerging in American menswear through 1948, characterized not just by flashy ties but also full-cut tailoring that echoes a newfound extravagance in the economically optimistic years after the end of World War III saw both an American victory as well as the end of wartime fabric rationing.
The double-breasted jacket is dramatically cut and styled with wide, full-bellied peak lapels, padded shoulders, and roped sleeveheads. The buttons are arranged in a traditional 6×2 configuration, though Moose always wears his jacket open so he can better access the guns in his waistband. The ventless jacket also has a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and three-button cuffs.
The reverse-pleated trousers have an era-correct long rise to Don Cheadle’s natural waist, where they’re rigged with belt loops that go unused as Moose instead favors suspenders (braces) that fasten to buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband. These suspenders are brown cloth with triple rows of broken tan stitching, connected to the waistband buttons by tan leather hooks.
Mouse wears a lavender melange shirt with periwinkle bar stripes, bordered on each side with a narrow slate-colored stripe. The shirt has a point collar and double (French) cuffs that Mouse secures with a set of gold links.
His silk tie reflects the “swing tie” trend of the ’40s, characterized by swathes of bold printed silk that flare out from the knot to a wide blade. The predominant color is a bright scarlet-red, with a yellow center that follows the shape of the tie and includes some of the brown stenciled abstract designs.
Moose wears a dark brown felt derby hat with a matching brown grosgrain band and edge trim. Also known as a bowler hat across the pond—in recognition of 19th century London hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler—this round-crowned style had generally fallen out of fashion by the late 1940s, eclipsed in popularity by the fedora, trilby, and more formal homburg.
The hat was likely chosen to continue Walter Mosley’s first description of Mouse, which mentions his “plum-colored suit and a felt brown derby.”
After the fracas with Frank, Moose bemoans “you got blood on my coat, Easy! This is a damn expensive coat!”, providing some context for why he continues to wear the suit trousers but with a different jacket. Thus for the final act of Devil in a Blue Dress, Mouse wears another double-breasted jacket made of gold hopsack.
Like the suit jacket, this jacket features a classic 6×2-button configuration and wide, padded shoulders, though the broad peak lapels are even wider. The ventless jacket also has three-button cuffs, straight jetted hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket.
With this jacket, Mouse wears a warm tan-colored shirt with a point collar, front placket, and double cuffs that he again wears with gold links. He wears another red-and-gold swing tie—albeit in more of a coral red than the earlier scarlet tie—with a chaotically abstract print that includes, among the yellow strands and gray filmstrip-like bars, the white-and-red nuclear radiation symbol that would have been all too familiar in these early Cold War years.
Mouse wears the same self-striped charcoal-brown pleated suit trousers, now held up by a set of green, orange, and brown-striped cloth suspenders that have silver adjusters and tan leather hooks connected to the inside of the trousers waistband.
Mouse wears a gold signet ring that he switches from his right pinky in his first scenes onto his left pinky. His steel wristwatch has a round white dial and a brown leather strap.
Mouse’s wardrobe differs slightly from the items specifically mentioned in Walter Mosley’s novel, which introduces Mouse in the present-day wearing “a plaid zoot suit with Broadway suspenders down the front of his shirt” as well as “spats on over his patent leather shoes,” which feels appropriately snappy for Mouse even though we never actually see his footwear on screen.
What to Imbibe
At Dupree’s house, Mouse washes down his chicken with most of a bottle of Kentucky Tavern, a Bourbon dating back to 1880 that transferred operations several times during the generations to follow before landing at the Barton Distillery in Bardstown, where it’s currently produced by the Sazerac Company.
The Guns
In the novel, Mouse intimidates Frank with what he describes as “this here long-barreled forty-one caliber pistol,” which Easy himself narrates to be “the biggest pistol I had ever seen.” At the time of the movie’s setting in the late 1940s, most .41-caliber handguns would have been outdated .41 Long Colt single-action revolvers (aside from the then-discontinued Colt Official Police, which was also occasionally chambered in .41 Long Colt), so the movie’s armorers instead leaned into the size aspect of Mouse’s sidearm.
The already large Webley Mk VI looks massive when handled by the 5’8″ Don Cheadle. Chambered for the large .455 Webley cartridge, the Webley Mk VI was the latest iteration of the double-action Webley service revolver that was first adopted by the British military in 1887. The design underwent five more subsequent revisions over the following three decades until May 1915, when the Webley Mk VI was authorized for use. The Webley was generally phased out by the 1930s in favor of the more modernized Enfield variant, but older stocks were pressed into service during World War II.
Unlike its four- and five-inch barreled predecessors, the Webley Mk VI was standardized with a six-inch barrel that brought its overall length to just ¾” shy of a foot and weighed nearly two-and-a-half pounds… quite a hefty bit of firepower for Mouse to tuck into his waistband.
“Goddamnit, I’m gonna blow your nose off!” Mouse gives Frank an uncomfortably close look at the business end of a Webley revolver.
Just in case the substantial Webley wasn’t enough, Mouse also carries the smaller Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, the paramount sidearm for concealed carry in the early 20th century due to its smaller size, reliable operation, and the “hammerless” slide that actually shrouded the hammer so that it couldn’t snag when being drawn from one’s pocket. Unlike earlier pocket-oriented pistols like derringers, the John Browning-designed Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless could carry up to eight (.32 ACP) or seven (.380 ACP) rounds in the magazine, plus an extra in the chamber.
Mouse actually handles both his Webley revolver and the blued, pearl-handled Colt pistol during his introductory scene, memorably also drawing both on Easy while in a confused, drunken stupor.
How to Get the Look
Don Cheadle as Raymond “Mouse” Alexander in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Mouse Alexander’s colorful wardrobe recalls the extravagant elegance of “Bold Look” menswear from the late ’40s, illustrated by his full-cut tailoring, sharp point collars, and silk swing ties and made his own by the addition of his brown derby hat.
Charcoal-brown self-striped suit:
Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops and side pockets
Lavender melange slate-striped shirt with point collar and double/French cuffs
Gold cuff links
Red-and-gold abstract-print silk swing tie
Striped cloth suspenders
Brown felt derby hat
Gold signet pinky ring
Stainless steel wristwatch with round white dial on brown leather strap
Patent leather shoes and spats (probably!)
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and read Walter Mosley’s novel.
The Quote
If you ain’t want him killed, why’d you leave him with me?
James Caan as Walter Hobbs, workaholic children’s book publisher
New York City, December 2003
Film:Elf Release Date: November 7, 2003 Director: Jon Favreau Costume Designer: Laura Jean Shannon
Background
Happy December!
The late James Caan effectively subverted his screen image when he starred in Elf, a family-friendly comedy that’s already established as a modern holiday classic. Of course, as one of the big screen’s most famous tough guys, Caan’s Walter Hobbs begins the story on Santa Claus’ notorious “naughty list” as a children’s book publisher too focused on his bottom line to care about his family or even the minutae of his job, overlooking the last two pages of his latest book that leave the fate of a beloved puppy and pigeon too ambiguous for its young readers.
What’s the only thing that could save Walter from another lump of coal in his stocking this year? The surprise arrival of his biological son, Buddy (Will Ferrell), who’s spent the first thirty years of his life being raised as a North Pole elf and has now arrived in the Big Apple in search of his dad. Walter’s understandably bewildered when an enthusiastic 30-year-old man in a green elf costume and yellow tights presents himself as his Large Adult Son, but the world’s fastest ever paternity test quickly proves that Buddy is indeed the result of Walter’s one-time romance with a woman named Susan Wells.
Walter’s wife Emily (Mary Steenburgen) welcomes Buddy into their home more warmly than Walter, explaining to her husband that “clearly he has some serious issues, we can’t just throw him out in the snow?” to which Walter responds “why not? He loves the snow! He’s told me 15 times!”
What’d He Wear?
In a film full of bright costumes depicting the magical world of Santa Claus and his elves, costume designer Laura Jean Shannon effectively grounded Walter Hobbs’ wardrobe in business—even if that business is publishing fanciful children’s books. Walter’s adherence to his businesslike palette of blues and browns clearly contrast his humbug holiday attitude against the bright red and green Christmas decor including, or perhaps especially, Buddy’s elf costume.
Nothing to see here…
Perhaps the most interesting of Walter’s office apparel is the camel-on-camel he wears to the work the morning after he and Buddy meet. Through the week we spend with the Hobbs family, Elf establishes a knee-length camelhair overcoat as Walter’s preferred winter outerwear, interestingly layered through this sequence over a camelhair sport jacket with only a slight contrast between them.
“Camelhair is the real thing—a rich, golden-fawn colored cloth that is the natural color (cleaned up a bit of course) of the soft hair from the underside of the camel,” described Sir Hardy Amies in 1964 for ABCs of Men’s Fashion, wryly adding, “This makes it expensive.” In the decades since Sir Hardy’s volume was published, some less prestigious outfitters have used “camelhair” as a marketing shorthand for softly napped wools dyed the same color, but a man of Walter’s status—and with the New Line Cinema costume budget at his disposal—would opt for true camelhair, albeit likely mixed with some synthetic fibers that offer more resistance to the elements. This is a common practice as the typically heavy weight of camelhair garments make them ideal insulators in colder weather when rain and snow would be expected.
Walter’s camel overcoat appears to be dyed slightly warmer and darker than his sport jacket. The single-breasted coat has notch lapels that roll to a low three-button front, a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and a single vent. The long sleeves are roped at the sleeveheads and finished with three buttons on each cuff. In his early 60s when Elf was made, James Caan had maintained his strong physique with his famously squared shoulders even more emphasized under the padding over his coat and jacket. (Especially worn open, the effect recalls the “comfortable lightweight camelhair overcoat with over-buttressed shoulders” that Ian Fleming described as part of James Bond’s disguise when he is “Americanized” to resemble a typical New York businessman in the 1954 novel Live and Let Die.)
A true camelhair overcoat can be a considerable investment—and an impractical one if not appropriately treated for the weather or worn frequently enough to warrant it.
Check out these camel-colored coats from around the web, made from luxurious wools like merino or cashmere, that can get you started on the right hump when exploring your camel outerwear journey:
Banana Republic Aosta Italian Melton Topcoat in "camel" 80% wool, 20% nylon blend ($450, Banana Republic)
Charles Tyrwhitt Wool Overcoat in "camel" 100% wool ($499, Charles Tyrwhitt)
Jos. A. Bank Tailored Fit Topcoat in "camel" 60% wool, 40% synthetic blend ($159 $99.99, Jos. A. Bank)
Lauren Ralph Lauren Luther Luxury Blend Overcoat in "camel" wool/polyamide/cashmere blend ($495 $189.99, Macy's)
Prices and availability current as of November 30, 2022.
Walter’s single-breasted sports coat retains the natural lighter shade of camelhair, even if it too had been blended with another fiber for resilience. The two-button jacket has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and a single vent. The shoulders are padded with heavily roped sleeveheads and four-button cuffs.
Walter’s tie is printed in a neatly arranged repeating triangle pattern, each triangle alternating between a low-contrast navy and burgundy that can hardly be differentiated in low light. His cotton shirt appears to be a solid light-blue but is actually a series of hairline-width blue stripes against a pale-blue ground, organized in tightly spaced sets of four.
The shirt is designed with a point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double (French) cuffs that Walter closes with a set of small gold “cluster” links.
Walter maintains the same brown color family by pairing his dark charcoal-brown wool reverse-pleated trousers to his camelhair jacket. The clear difference in fabrics could make traditional khakis a suitable trouser to wear with a camelhair jacket, even without much contrast between the colors, but Walter assures an attractive contrast while also leaning into a seasonally appropriate look with his darker wool slacks.
The trousers have side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs). Walter holds them up with an edge-stitched leather belt in dark brown, a shade lighter than his trousers but also neatly coordinated with his chestnut brown leather cap-toe oxfords.
Walter goes from learning that he has another son to tucking him into bed, all within the same day.
Walter limits his jewelry to a plain wedding band on his left ring finger, made from a silver-toned metal that I would guess to be white gold. His watch is a stainless chronograph with an all-white dial, three silver sub-registers at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, and a black leather strap with edge-stitching and a swelled center.
Walter opens the gift that Buddy had thoughtfully chosen “for that special someone…”
I had first suspected Walter’s watch was a Breitling Chronomat before I noticed the elongated lugs and other details which suggest otherwise, and I imagine a reader better versed in horology than I could more accurately identify it.
How to Get the Look
James Caan as Walter Hobbs in Elf (2003)
Walter Hobbs typically dresses for work in tasteful sports coats and ties, generally consistent with a professional blue and brown palette that allow items to be easily cycled between each other. His camelhair jacket is a timeless example of winter-friendly business-wear, particularly in a professional environment—like publishing children’s books—that may not have the rigid suit-and-tie policies of a bank or law firm.
Camelhair single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
Blue hairline-striped cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
Gold cluster cuff links
Navy-and-burgundy repeating triangle-patterned silk tie
Dark charcoal-brown wool reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Dark brown edge-stitched leather belt with brass-finished single-prong buckle
Walnut brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Camelhair single-breasted 3-button knee-length overcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
White-gold wedding ring
Stainless steel chronograph with white dial and three silver sub-registers on black edge-stitched leather strap
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Remember the Night (1940)
Vitals
Fred MacMurray as John “Jack” Sargent, smooth-talking New York prosecutor
New York to Indiana, Christmas 1938
Film:Remember the Night Release Date: January 19, 1940 Director: Mitchell Leisen Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
This year’s winter #CarWeek installment kicks off with a holly jolly hoosier holiday in Remember the Night, a 1940 romcom released at the outset of a decade that included many classics of Christmas cinema like The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Holiday Inn (1942), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), 3 Godfathers (1948), and Holiday Affair (1949). Yet before all those classics came Remember the Night, arguably one of the earliest major movies to recognize how compellingly Christmas, both at its loneliest and most celebratory, could be effectively woven into a story.
“While it has remained for decades mysteriously under the radar, its tender romance and comedy are so skillfully blended—and its use of Christmas so poignant—that it stands among the very best holiday movies,” describes Jeremy Arnold in the TCM volume Christmas in the Movies.
Remember the Night centers around assistant district attorney Jack Sargent (Fred MacMurray) and Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck), the lovely shoplifter he was in the midst of prosecuting before requesting a holiday recess to avoid Christmas spirit swaying a jury’s sympathies in Lee’s favor. A miscommunication with a bondsman known as “Fat Mike” (Tom Kennedy) results in Lee being escorted from jail up to an astounded Jack’s apartment, just as he was preparing to leave to spend the holidays back home in Indiana.
Jack: Look, when court reconvenes, I’m going to try my best to put you in jail for a good long time. That’s my business, but you haven’t been convicted yet, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t enjoy Christmas like the rest of us. That’s why I had Mike get you out. Lee: And bring me up here! Jack: I did not ask him to bring you up here! Lee: Then why did that gorilla bring me up here? Jack: Because he’s got a mind like a… sewer! Lee: Thanks.
Jack extends an olive branch by inviting Lee to join him at dinner, where he requests that the band play James F. Hanley and Ballard MacDonald’s 1917 standard “(Back Home Again in) Indiana”, resulting in his and Lee bonding over their shared home state. In the grand tradition of holiday romcoms, the moment of sentimentality leads to the surprising decision for Jack to volunteer to drive Lee to her mother’s home on his way to spend Christmas with the Sargents.
Lee is warmly welcomed for Sargent family Christmas by Jack, his mother Lucy (Beulah Bondi), his aunt Emma (Elizabeth Patterson), and “Chilly” Willie Simms (Sterling Holloway), who is the family’s… housekeeper?
This was the first of four on-screen collaborations for MacMurray and Stanwyck, whose next pairing would be considerably more sinister in the quintessential film noir Double Indemnity, in which Stanwyck played a conniving murderess… a significantly badder “bad girl” than the small-time shoplifter Lee Leander.
Remember the Night was penned by Preston Sturges, one of the screenwriting masters from this golden age of screwball comedies, who added just enough farcical elements without underselling the romantic chemistry between Missy and Fred. The experience would be doubly influential for Sturges, who was so dismayed by producer-director Mitchell Leisen’s cuts that he never allowed his scripts to again be adapted by a director other than himself. On a more positive note, Sturges was so impressed with Barbara Stanwyck that he immediately began work on Ball of Fire, specifically as a vehicle for Missy’s comedic talents. Indeed, Stanwyck had characteristically impressed all of her colleagues, including Leisen, who credited the actress’s professionalism as the primary factor in his being able to complete the film eight days ahead of schedule and $50,000 under budget.
Sturges himself recognized why Remember the Night was such a success upon its release, quipping that “it had quite a lot of schmaltz, a good dose of schmerz, and just enough schmutz to make it box office.”
What’d He Wear?
After he’s introduced in a dark dressing gown, then a double-breasted suit for his day prosecuting Lee in court, Jack Sargent pulls on a dark sweater vest with his glen plaid suit, white OCBD shirt, and tie for what becomes his extended holiday road trip back home to Indiana with Lee.
Jack’s glen plaid wool suit is tailored in the elegant cut characteristic of the late 1930s and early ’40s, illustrating why this era has often been described as a golden age for menswear. The athletic silhouette flatters MacMurray’s 6’3″ frame, with broad shoulders and a full chest tapering to a suppressed waist.
The single-breasted jacket has wide peak lapels with long gorges, pointing each lapel at the padded shoulders (further emphasizing them) and rolling to a two-button stance positioned to button at MacMurray’s natural waist line. The ventless jacket also has four-button cuffs, straight flapped hip pockets with the addition of a flapped ticket pocket on the right side, and a welted breast pocket that Jack rakishly dresses with a dark silk kerchief that hangs out.
Jack and Lee get better acquainted over highballs.
Signifying that Jack is no longer dressing for work, he wears a white cotton shirt with an elegantly rolled button-down collar. The style had been popularized around the turn-of-the-century by Brooks Brothers after the company president, John E. Brooks, observed English polo players fastening their collars to their shirts. Though the button-down shirt would eventually become generally accepted business dress in the United States after mid-century, they were still relatively sporty at this point and more typically reserved for more casual engagements. Due to the informality of the button-down collar, these shirts remain almost always paired with plain button cuffs, though a few style mavericks like Cary Grant favored the incongruous combination of button-down collars and French cuffs. Jack’s shirt is designed with the more standard button cuffs as well as a breast pocket.
Jack wears a dark foulard tie, patterned with small medium-colored diamonds framed in a lighter-colored border. He knots the tie with a neat four-in-hand and pulls it out just a tad to present more of the cloth over the neckline of his sweater.
Under his suit jacket, Jack wears a dark broken twill-woven sweater vest with a shallow V-neck that perfectly follows the line of his shirt collar and shows the top of his tie. This knitted layer softens his appearance from the ruthless prosecutor we had seen in court while also adding a comfortable and warm layer for the chilly road trip home.
Jack plays “Old Folks at Home” for the old folks at home.
The suit’s matching trousers are styled with double reverse pleats, adding a fashionable fullness to the leg that differed from the stovepipe styles of the roaring ’20s. Trousers of this era were styled to continue the athletic “hourglass” silhouette of the jackets, closely fitted around the waist and full through the legs.
Jack’s trousers were thus perfectly tailored to fit MacMurray, with no belt loops around the waistband though he does hold them up with a set of suspenders (braces). These narrow, dark-colored suspenders have a light bisecting bar stripe, rigged to dark leather V-shaped hooks that connect to buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband. The trousers have gently slanted “quarter top” side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs).
The colors of Jack’s costume are likely all lost to history, but his oxford shoes appear to be a lighter leather than black, suggesting brown—which would befit the less formal look and context. His socks are a high-contrast argyle pattern, characterized by the intercrossing check over a large-scaled repeating diamond pattern.
Not the ideal situation for your finest oxfords or furs.
Jack’s outer layer is a knee-length topcoat woven in a large-scaled herringbone, likely black and white due to the heavy contrast. The three-button coat has a wide ulster collar, slanted side pockets, and raglan sleeves that allow the coat to wear more comfortably over heavy layers like his suit jacket and sweater vest. The coat has a suppressed waist and a flared skirt with squared quarters.
Per the decorum of the era, Jack also regularly wears his hat, a dark felt fedora with a dramatically pinched crown, wide grosgrain band, and grosgrain-finished edges.
What to Imbibe
Jack’s much-abused valet Rufus (Fred “Snowflake” Toones) serves a pair of Scotch and soda highballs to Jack and Lee. It’s strange to think that such a simple combination would need to be “invented”, but Boston bartender Patrick Duffy—no, not that one—made just that claim, citing a request from an unnamed but famous English actor who approached his bar at the Adams House in 1894 and requested the simple concoction. Whether there’s any truth to Duffy’s claims or not, Scotch and soda was firmly entrenched by the start of the early 20th century among the venerated family of highballs, a highball being loosely defined as nothing more sophisticated than a mixture (in any proportion) of a boozy spirit and a non-alcoholic (and oft-carbonated) mixer, thus including gin and tonic, rum and Coke, and Seven and Seven among its definition.
Rufus serves a round of highballs for Jack and Lee.
Following dinner, Jack orders the pair “a couple of B&Bs”. Unlike their pre-dinner highballs, B&B was a relatively new addition to bar menus. This combination of brandy and French herbal liqueur Bénédictine had just been introduced in the 1930s in response to a growing customer preference for drier liqueurs and was sold pre-mixed by the company that manufactured Bénédictine.
The Car
Jack Sargent drives with Lee from New York to Indiana (and back) in a dark 1937 Chrysler Royal convertible. Like many marques of the era, Chrysler produced the Royal in a range of body styles, including convertibles that were produced in both two- and four-door varieties. Jack drives a two-door Royal convertible coupe which was likely the more practical choice for a bachelor like Jack, though he may have wished for the roominess of the four-door when he and Lee sought to catch forty weeks by the side of the road near rural Blairs Mills, Pennsylvania.
At the end of the first leg of their trip, Jack steers his Chrysler through the sleepy streets of Blairs Mills, Pennsylvania.
Chrysler revived the “Royal” nameplate from its use earlier in the decade, now designating their entry-level replacement for the Airstream, taking its place under the eight-cylinder Airflow and the luxurious Imperial. The Royal was powered in 1937 and 1938 by the 228.1 cubic-inch Chrysler Straight Six engine that produced 93 horsepower and which contemporary advertising described as achieving between 18 to 24 miles per gallon, which would have been quite an asset for Jack while crossing the Midwest with Lee. Chrysler continued to produce the Royal through the ’40s, ending after the 1950 model year.
1937 Chrysler Royal
Body Style: 2-door convertible
Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)
Engine: 228.1 cu. in. (3.7 L) Chrysler straight-six
Fred MacMurray as Jack Sargent in Remember the Night (1940)
Fred MacMurray makes an early cases for sweater vests to soften a business suit, already dressed down with its less-formal button-down collar shirt and protruding pocket square. Granted, there’s probably little need to still dress up this much for a winter road trip stretching over 700 miles…
Glen plaid wool tailored suit:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with right-side flapped ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
Double reverse-pleated trousers with fitted waistband (with inner suspender buttons), gently slanted “quarter top” side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White cotton shirt with button-down collar, breast pocket, and button cuffs
Dark foulard tie with framed medium-colored diamond print
Dark broken twill-weave V-neck sweater vest
Dark (with light bisecting center stripe) cloth suspenders
Brown leather oxford shoes
Argyle socks
Black-and-white herringbone wool 3-button raglan coat with wide ulster collar and slanted side pockets
Dark felt fedora with dark grosgrain band and edges
Ryan O’Neal as Oliver Barrett IV, preppy Harvard student
Boston, Winter 1966
Film:Love Story Release Date: December 16, 1970 Director: Arthur Hiller Costume Design: Alice Manougian Martin & Pearl Somner
Background
As Car Week continues, it may not seem like it makes sense to focus on such an exposed car like the vintage MG roadster that appears in Love Story, but Ryan O’Neal bundles up accordingly in his reversible raincoat while behind the wheel with Ali MacGraw by his side.
O’Neal and MacGraw played the star-crossed lovers Oliver and Jenny whose conflicts include their background—he a privileged Harvard student, while she comes from a more working class family—and learning whether or not love means having to say sorry. (Spoiler alert: It doesn’t, in this case.)
After one of her piano recitals at Radcliffe, the two argue about what her assuming that their vast differences will lead to inevitable breakup when he blurts out that he wants to marry her, unable to give much more of a reason than “because,” which Jenny accepts as good enough. Back on the same team, Oliver tears through Massachusetts in his MG to bring an anxious Jenny to the opulent Barrett estate, where she’ll meet his parents (Ray Milland and Katharine Balfour) for the first time.
Jenny: You’re driving like a maniac! Oliver: This is Boston, everybody drives like a maniac. Jenny: You’re gonna kill us before your parents can murder us!
What’d He Wear?
Apropos his upbringing and Harvard education, Oliver dresses in the Ivy tradition with his navy blazer, OCBD shirt, and striped ties, and a visit to his conservative father would be no time to buck the older man’s sartorial expectations of his son.
Oliver’s dark navy wool single-breasted blazer follows the classic American sack style, characterized by a boxier fit without darts to shape the jacket. The blazer has a single vent and flat brass shank buttons, with two on the front (positioned at Ryan O’Neal’s natural waistline) and two decorating each cuff. The blazer’s notch lapels, welted breast pockets, and hip pocket flaps are finished with sporty “swelled edges”.
Oliver dresses to impress his pompous father and ultimately plays his sartorial cards right as both father and son wear dark navy blazers, albeit the older Oliver III wears a dignified double-breasted while Oliver IV looks more youthful in his single-breasted sack jacket.
Oliver’s white button-down shirt and striped ties also follow the Ivy tradition. The button-down collar famously originated in 1896 after Brooks Brothers president John E. Brooks witnessed English polo players fastening their shirt collars down while in play, inspiring the accordingly equipped “Original Polo Button-Down Oxford”. As Brooks Brothers emerged as a vanguard of Ivy style through the early 20th century, the Oxford-cloth button-down (OCBD) shirt thus became firmly entrenched as an Ivy staple. (FWIW, the term “button-down shirt” shorthand most appropriately applies to these shirts specifically with a button-down collar; any shirt that buttons up the front, regardless of collar, would be called a “button-up shirt”… thus, Oliver’s white shirt is an example of both.)
Around the same time in the early 20th century, Brooks also played a part in introducing striped neckwear to the American market, reversing the direction of English school and club tie stripes so that wearers in “downhill” direction stripes wouldn’t be accused of stealing valor from across the pond. The first striped tie that Oliver wears with this blazer is dark navy with double sets of closely spaced burgundy bar stripes.
For his visit home, Oliver wears a navy and burgundy balance repp striped tie, again with the stripes in the classic American downhill direction and knotted four-in-hand. This time, the navy in his tie is a slightly lighter shade—closer to true navy—than his dark blazer.
Arguably, the most traditional trousers worn with navy blazers are khaki slacks and gray flannels. Oliver opts for the latter, both for their darker formality befitting the occasion and their warmer seasonality as the bare trees and fallen foliage suggest that it’s winter, or at least late fall.
These are likely the same flat-front trousers we see him wear with other sports coats, including the glen plaid jacket when he meets Jenny’s father, cut with trim legs that taper to cuffed bottoms that neatly break at the top of his black leather cap-toe derbies, with black cotton lisle socks covering the difference.
Oliver also wears a gray scarf made from a soft, luxurious wool—likely cashmere.
Jenny: “You want to marry me?” Oliver: “Yeah.” Jenny: “Why?” Oliver: “Because.” Jenny: “That’s a good reason!”
Even for a millionaire’s son, an Ivy League dorm room only has limited closet space so Oliver wisely invests in a “two-fer” that’s appropriate for both rainy days and formal evenings. This reversible coat has a black-and-gray herringbone tweed shell that can be reversed to present a khaki water-resistant gabardine.
Coats like this are uniquely designed with two sets of buttons and buttonholes so that the wearer can retain the traditional male left-over-right buttoning system. Oliver’s single-breasted coat has five buttons that match each side: mixed gray on the herringbone side, plain khaki on the raincoat side. The coat also has a Prussian collar, single vent, set-in sleeves with plain cuffs, and vertical-entry side pockets with a large, somewhat slanted welt entry. Similar to modern jackets often marketed as “walkers”, the thigh-length cut makes it suitable for maneuvering in and out of the low seats of his MG.
Oliver wears the herringbone side of the coat outward when walking with Jenny after her piano recital, then reverses it to show the khaki gabardine against the elements when driving her home to meet his parents.
Prices and availability current as of December 4, 2022.
Especially in an open car on a wintry night in New England, driving gloves would be a must. Oliver wears three-point gloves in walnut-brown leather.
Oliver and Jenny debrief about the visit during their chilly ride home.
Oliver wears an unidentified gold wristwatch with a round white dial on a dark brown leather strap over his right wrist.
The Car
Oliver drives a 1945 MG TC Midget, the first model produced after World War II by British sports car marque MG Cars. The MG featured in Love Story has a black exterior with a burgundy grille and burgundy leather upholstery.
The MG T-Type series originated in 1936 with the TA Midget, the perhaps politically incorrect second half of its moniker continued from the earlier M-Type to refer to its downscaled size. The TA was replaced by the TB Midget, manufactured for only two years before World War II forced production to end following the 1940 model year.
In September 1945, MG relaunched production after the war with the new TC Midget, which retained many characteristics of the pre-war TB, including its general dimensions and the pushrod 1250cc straight-four engine that now generated almost ½ more horsepower due to a slightly higher compression ratio.
Just over 10,000 TC Midgets were manufactured over its four-year production timeline, including many that were exported to the American market though—as seen in Love Story—these retained their English right-hand drive controls.
“Why is that I suddenly wish my name were Abigail Adams or Wendy Wasp?” Jenny asks as Oliver pulls his MG into the Barrett estate driveway.
MG naturally followed the TC with the TD Midget, also of some interest to Love Story fans as Wicked Local reports that it was Bud Kreuger’s pristine “autumn red” 1951 TD Midget that was rented by publicist Kathy Rochefort for Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw to drive through the Harvard campus to promote their play Love Letters in February 2016. The promotion capitalized on their appearance in Love Story more than 45 years earlier, right down to O’Neal sporting a Harvard crimson-and-white striped school scarf over his navy blazer while behind the wheel of the MG.
More than 45 years after Love Story, Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw returned to Harvard in an antique MG roadster. (Photo by Elise Amendola, AP, sourced from USA Today)
The TD Midget was superseded by the MG TF, which was produced until 1955 when MG formally wrapped the T-Type series and focused on the MGA model.
How to Get the Look
Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw in Love Story (1970)
Returning from Harvard, where he’s being educated on his father’s dime, Oliver Barrett IV embraces the preppy traditions of Ivy style in the navy blazer, white OCBD shirt, repp striped tie, and gray flannel trousers that he wears when returning home to introduce his new girlfriend to his parents.
Dark navy-blue wool single-breasted 2-button sack-cut blazer with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
White oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar and button cuffs
Navy-and-burgundy “downhill”-striped repp silk tie
Dark gray flannel trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
Black leather cap-toe derby shoes
Black cotton lisle socks
Khaki gabardine/black-and-gray herringbone tweed reversible single-breasted raincoat with Prussian collar, 5-button front, vertical welted side pockets, set-in sleeves, and single vent
Gray cashmere woolen scarf
Walnut-brown leather three-point driving gloves
Gold wristwatch with round white dial on dark brown leather strap
George Lazenby as James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Vitals
George Lazenby as James Bond, smooth British secret agent
Bern, Switzerland, Christmas Eve 1969
Film: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Release Date: December 18, 1969 Director: Peter R. Hunt Costume Designer: Marjory Cornelius
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Wrapping up this winter Car Week on the 00-7th of December, let’s flash back to 1969 and Aussie actor George Lazenby’s sole adventure as James Bond. Whether the Bond production team was reversing its formula after the larger-than-life You Only Live Twice or playing it safe after Sean Connery left the role, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service closely follows the plot of Ian Fleming’s source novel, chronicling the agent’s romance with the self-destructive Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) as well as setting up his snowbound investigation of arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) at his research institute Piz Gloria, located high in the picturesque Swiss Alps.
The action culminates in a Christmas Eve confrontation that results in 007’s alpine getaway on commandeered skis, assisted by Tracy and her bright red 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 that had first captured his attention when they met in Portugal three months prior.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the first time we saw James Bond on skis, excitedly captured by second-unit director and editor John Glen (who would later direct every ’80s Bond movie himself) and featuring stunt doubles Luki Leitner and Vic Armstrong performing Bond’s ski stunts.
What’d He Wear?
James Bond had arrived at Piz Gloria assuming the cover identity of genteel genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, though the agent’s nocturnal sexploits with Piz Gloria’s nubile patients tipped Blofeld off as “respectable baronets from colleges do not seduce female patients in clinics.” Blofeld orders Bond to be temporarily imprisoned before he can focus on giving the agent his own “yuletide greetings”.
Bond being Bond, he escapes from captivity and changes out of his dirty cardigan and tweed suit trousers into found ski clothes, though his blue ski suit differs from the black-and-orange uniforms worn by Blofeld’s henchmen. Matt Spaiser confirmed at Bond Suits that Bond’s ski suit was made by Willy Bogner, beginning a collaboration that would last through Roger Moore’s white ski gear in A View to a Kill (1985).
“I am sure that this sport owes something of its popularity to the attractiveness of the costume,” wrote Sir Hardy Amies of skiing in ABCs of Men’s Fashion in 1964, adding, “I would like to say that most skiers have a good physique. All these one-color schemes will show it off.” For whatever criticisms fans may have of Lazenby’s performance, there’s no doubting that the erstwhile underwear model was in fine shape to play Bond, shown off by trim athletic clothing like this tight blue ski suit, basically the winter equivalent of the similarly cut and styled tan golf costume he had worn earlier.
The stretchy, water-resilient cloth may be pure nylon or the “Helanca” blend of wool and coiled nylon that had been marketed by Maria Bogner in more than 40 colors since the 1950s. The cloth may also incorporate spandex, which had been developed by DuPont in 1959 and would allow skiers to more comfortably wear tight costumes that stretched with them while retaining shape.
The top half of the sky-blue ski suit is a trim hip-length jacket with matching blue ribbed-knit collar and cuffs. The silver-toned zipper has a silver “B” logo zip pull, representing Bogner’s company.
Unlike the popular and stylish ski sweaters often worn during his era—as seen in ’60s films like The Pink Panther—Bond’s skiwear is built expressly for speed, his jacket and trousers fitting him like a glove to reduce any wind resistance or flapping fabric that could branch off snag on any branches or twigs during his downhill descent.
The tight ski pants echo the slim, minimalist design of the jacket, with only an extended tab over the front of the fitted waistband that presumably fastens through a hidden hook closure. Already close-fitting, the trousers taper toward the ankles to allow them to be easily tucked into ski boots. Although the literary Bond’s ski trousers have a hip pocket where the agent keeps his passport, the screen-worn ski pants have no visible pockets.
Ski boots are specifically designed to be securely fastened into skis and thus make very clunky footwear for any other purpose. Ski boot technology has greatly evolved since the 1960s, though the emphasis for quality boots have always been to keep the wearer secure, warm, and dry.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was produced toward the end of the era when ski boots were predominantly made with tough leather uppers rather than the lightweight plastic and polyamide shells that were pioneered in the ’60s and remain the predominant boots today. The close-ups we see of Lazenby’s boots appear very similar to examples of Swiss-made Molitor ski boots I’ve seen from that era (such as this eBay listing).
Rather than more traditional lacing, wearers are typically secured into ski boots via a system of buckles that latch over the center to securely keep the wearer’s feet locked in place… and keeping snow and other elements out. Lazenby’s lined black leather ski boots share the Molitors’ unique cable-laced system of three buckles on the outer side of each boot—two over the two-piece vamp, one on the ankle shaft. Each buckle tightens a spring cable that’s looped through two speed hooks on the inner side of each boot.
Bond's cable-laced black leather ski boots are as much a relic of the 1960s as George Lazenby thought the character himself was, but you can still track down some of these classic boots from vintage or secondhand sellers.
This eBay listing for Molitor boots—handmade in Switzerland in the '60s—appear to match nearly every detail of Lazenby's screen-worn boots, right down to the cable-laced buckles and the unique toe where the two-piece vamp is cut away.
Listing active on December 5, 2022.
“As a shirt, there is nothing smarter than a polo-necked sweatshirt in cotton or wool,” advised Sir Hardy in ABCs of Men’s Fashion, editorializing that “white is never wrong” though he also allows pale-blue and, for the more daring, scarlet.
Bond takes Sir Hardy’s advice with his white lightweight knitted jumper, designed with the requisite “polo-neck”, also known as a roll-neck or turtleneck. Given Bond’s intent to make his alpine getaway as fast as possible, this was a smart choice as the double layers around his neck would add warmth while the overall fit coordinates with the rest of his costume without adding bulk like a heavier ski sweater.
A tender moment between the future Mr. and Mrs. Bond.
Bond wears a navy-blue knitted wool winter cap, elongated and detailed with a navy yarn pom-pom at the end like the style known among Brits as a “bobble hat”. This strikes me as a surprisingly non-functional choice as a simple “beanie” or watch cap would likely be more aerodynamic, but I’ll defer to any more skilled winter sportsmen to suggest why Bond’s bobble hat may have been a better choice.
Bond protects his eyes with a set of massive white-framed snow goggles with rounded amber-tinted “bug-eye” bubble lenses that remind me of Mrs. Bell (Ruth Kempf), the comically bespectacled flight student who undergoes a destructive lesson with Roger Moore two Bond films later in Live and Let Die (1973). Designed with vents around the frame to prevent fogging, these are likely the ParaSki goggles hat were popular through the late ’60s and can still be found from places like Vintage Ski World. The goggles secure with a black-and-white houndstooth elastic headband.
Bond’s heavy lined ski gloves are black leather with ribbed padding on the dorsal sides and small sliver clips on each wrist to attach them when not being worn.
Note Tracy’s fur hooked over the bench where Bond happened to sit. Did he pick a lucky spot or what?
In the novel, Tracy assists Bond’s escape by zipping him into her fur parka, which our hero can’t help but to note smells of Guerlain’s “Ode”. Luckily for Diana Rigg, the cinematic Tracy can keep her Harold J. Rubin furs for herself as Lazenby’s Bond has already found himself an outer layer both to keep warm and evade detection by Blofeld’s surviving henchmen.
Hanging outside a bar in town, Bond finds an oversized woolen flannel camper coat, patterned in a brown, white, black, and purple plaid. This jacket has a thigh-length cut like a classic pea coat but is single-breasted and half-belted, suggestive of the hardy mackinaw jackets favored by outdoorsmen of the American midwest, particularly the snowy regions of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Lined in a beige quilted nylon, the hip-length coat has a large shirt-style collar that lays flat like a revere collar, three taupe-brown woven leather shank buttons positioned high over the chest, and set-in sleeves that fasten at the cuffs with a half-length strap that closes through a single button. A belt hangs loose across the back, and there are two slanted welt-entry hand pockets over the hips on the front of the jacket.
Both of Bond’s Rolex watches appear during this sequence. After he flees to temporary safety at the skating rink in Lauterbrunnen, Bond pulls his commandeered coat over him, flashing the Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 that he had earlier worn with his tuxedo and glen plaid suit. This may be the same Submariner that Lazenby had purchased in real life as part of his plan to look like Sean Connery’s Bond to wow the producers during his audition. This Submariner follows the classic configuration of stainless steel case and Oyster-style link bracelet with a black bezel and dial. The ref. 5513 non-chronometer was introduced in 1962, the same year that 007 debuted in theaters in Dr. No.
Bond’s Submariner shines from between his glove and the cuffs of his jackets. If only Q had modified this with something that could help him escape!
Later, while romancing Tracy in the abandoned barn, Bond appears to have swapped out his Submariner for the “pre-Daytona” Rolex Chronograph ref. 6238 that was part of Bond’s undercover disguise as Sir Hilary Bray. While the discrepancy is obviously the result of continuity errors that would only be noticed by the most insufferable nit-pickers (*warily raises my hand*), it’s fun to speculate on how or why Bond would have changed his watch during his escape. We know his ski clothes didn’t have any pockets, so—being a spy—perhaps Bond tucked one of the watches away in the one place he knew he wouldn’t be searched… never mind.
According to James Bond Lifestyle, EON Productions had purchased this Rolex from Bucherer on October 23, 1968, originally intending for the watch to double as a compass with the red second-hand guiding Bond back to safety. The screen-worn watch (serial #1206513) has been sold and auctioned multiple times since production ended, as it evaded the destructive fate of doubling as a “knuckle-duster” like the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that Ian Fleming had described Bond as wearing—and subsequently destroying on a henchman’s face—while making his escape from Piz Gloria.
This line of Rolex chronographs would eventually be named the “Daytona” series, based on the Florida-based racing hub, but early examples before this nomenclature became official are known as the “pre-Daytona” by collectors. The ref. 6238 was produced from 1960 through 1967, overlapping with the launch of the Cosmograph Daytona that moved the tachymeter from the dial (as on the ref. 6238) onto the bezel. The 36mm stainless steel-cased Rolex worn by Lazenby follows the relatively rare “albino” colorway, referring to the lack of contrast between the silver dial and the trio of sub-registers at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. Like his Submariner, Bond’s pre-Daytona Chronograph is worn on a riveted steel Oyster-style three-piece link bracelet.
For an intimate night in the barn with Tracy, Bond’s Submariner appears to have been swapped out with his “Sir Hilary” Rolex, the silver-dialed ref. 6238 chronograph.
The Car
When Tracy’s candy apple red 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 first sped past his Aston Martin on that winding seaside road in Portugal three months earlier, James Bond could have had no inkling that he’d one day be relying on that very same car—and its beautiful driver—to speed him out of danger.
In the novel, Tracy had driven “a low white two-seater, a Lancia Flaminia Zagato Spyder” which—while appropriately stylish for the Italian-born countess—may have been even less practical than a heavy rear-wheel-drive American muscle car for the winding, snow-covered roads of the Bernese Oberland… not to mention that the production wouldn’t have received the same level of “help and co-operation of The Ford Motor Company” specified in the end credits.
I hope the Cougar’s big end will stand up to all this!
After the successful launch of the FordMustang in 1964 established a market for the sporty “pony car” segment, the Ford Motor Company green-lit development of a similar sports coupe to be marketed under the downmarket Mercury marque. Though based on an early proposed Mustang design, the Cougar quickly found its own identity with more luxurious features and a sophisticated European-inspired design that immediately appealed to consumers, particularly with the luxurious XR-7 trim package. The Cougar was a runaway success, accounting for 40% of Lincoln-Mercury division sales in 1967 and receiving the 1967 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award.
Maintaining its emphasis on performance, only V8 engines were available for the Cougar; in 1967, this ranged from the 289 cubic-inch Ford “Windsor” engine to a series of Ford FE 390 engines. By 1969, American automotive momentum had shifted toward increased power and engine size. Anything smaller than the now-standard 351 cubic-inch “Windsor” V8 was dropped from the lineup while the massive 428 Cobra Jet reigned supreme, conservatively rated at 335 horsepower with or without Ram Air, though actual power was said to be closer to 370. In addition to a subtle “Coke bottle” redesign consistent with the times, 1969 also introduced a convertible to the Cougar lineup, which had previously only been offered in a two-door hardtop coupe.
Although James Bond would drive his customary Aston Martin in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the film would also serve as a showcase for the impressive 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. Automotive designer Carroll Shelby prepared the three Cougars that would appear on screen, each painted “candy apple red” with a black vinyl powered retractable roof featuring a glass rear window.
Lazenby and Rigg with the “barn” Cougar XR-7 that was restored in 2020 and auctioned by Bonhams that December. The bright candy apple red paint is generally obscured by the snow but it—and the ski-rack—would remain on the car for more than a half-century.
“The Cougars used in the film all have the 428-ci. 4V Cobra Jet Ram Air V8, C-6 Select Shift three-speed automatic transmission, a 3.50 conventional rear axle, Ram Air induction, Hauser Racing Traction-Lock limited-slip differential, front disc brakes, power steering and even hood pins,” wrote Stef Schrader for The Garage of the screen-used Cougars. “Inside, there are dark red leather bucket seats, color-keyed floor mats, a center console, tilt steering, and AM radio.”
Of the three Cougars, one was reportedly destroyed during production while one of the two survivors—chassis no. 9F94R549292, used for the low-action barn scene—was fully restored in 2020 and auctioned that December by Bonhams for £356,500. According to the auction listing: “Eon Productions ordered this car on the 30th January 1969. It was scheduled to be built on the 12th February but was actually completed six days earlier on 6th February 1969. The car was flown from the USA to the UK and registered on 13th February 1969.” You can also read more about the screen-used Cougar at James Bond Lifestyle.
1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7
Body Style: 2-door convertible
Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)
Engine: 428 cubic-inch (7.0 L) Ford FE “Cobra Jet” V8 with Holley 4-barrel carburetor
The Cougar would outlast the muscle car era, expanded into the full-size “personal luxury car” segment for the 1974 model year though—as with all cars of the ’70s—this came at the expense of engine power, if not displacement. At the start of the ’80s, the Cougar was downsized again to share the same Ford Fox platform as the Mustang before again returning to the luxury sports segment shared by the Thunderbird.
There was no Cougar in 1998, though the redesigned model that launched in 1999 returned to its sporty roots. This eighth-generation Cougar was the first to be offered in front-wheel-drive, with a contemporary, aerodynamic look, though its straight-four and V6 “Sport” engine options paled in comparison to its muscular forebears. With sales declining each year since its introduction, the newest Cougar lasted only a few years into the 21st century until production ended after the 2002 model year.
How to Get the Look
George Lazenby as James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Making his getaway from a terrorist stronghold in the Swiss Alps, James Bond dresses for speed skiing in form-fitting ski clothes that conform to his physique rather than the stylish but heavier ski sweaters popular through this era.
Sky-blue stretch-nylon Bogner ski suit:
Hip-length zip-up jacket with knitted collar and cuffs
Tapered trousers with hidden hook-closure waistband
Brown, white, black, and purple plaid woolen flannel three-button camper coat with slanted hand pockets, belted back, and button-strap cuffs
White lightweight knitted turtleneck sweater
Black leather cable-laced ski boots
Black socks
Navy knitted “bobble hat” with navy pom-pom
White vented-frame ParaSki ski goggles with amber-tinted bubble lenses and black-and-white houndstooth elastic headband
Black leather ski gloves
Rolex “pre-Daytona” Chronograph, ref. 6238, with stainless steel case, silver “albino” dial with three silver sub-registers, and stainless steel “Oyster”-style three-piece link bracelet
For this holiday treat, I again welcome BAMF Style contributor Ken Stauffer (@oceansographer on Instagram), here sharing his thoughtful analysis of a screen icon in a holiday classic.
Cary Grant and Loretta Young in The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
Vitals
Cary Grant as Dudley, debonair angel
New York City, December 1947
Film:The Bishop’s Wife Release Date: December 9, 1947 Director: Henry Koster Costume Designer: Irene Sharaff
Background
Happy holidays, BAMF Style readers! To celebrate the season, we’re looking back at the Christmas classic The Bishop’s Wife, which premiered at the Astor Theater in Times Square exactly 75 years ago today. Interestingly, general audiences would not have a chance to see the movie until the following February, an odd marketing decision that shows how much the film industry has evolved over the years.
The film stars Cary Grant as Dudley, a literal angel on Earth, assigned to help Manhattan-based Episcopalian Bishop Henry Brougham, drolly performed by David Niven. While acting as the bishop’s assistant, Dudley finds himself drawn to his eponymous wife Julia, played by Loretta Young in an enchanting turn.
Given how perfectly cast the movie is, it’s funny to think about the rocky road that led to its production. Original director William Seiter was abruptly fired by studio head Samuel Goldwyn days into shooting. By the time script rewrites had been completed, star Teresa Wright was pregnant and had to be replaced in the part of Julia. Dana Andrews, who was playing the bishop up to that point, was leant out to RKO in exchange for Loretta Young joining the cast. New director Henry Koster then brought on Cary Grant, which then necessitated David Niven to switch parts from angel Dudley to Bishop Henry, in order to play to Grant’s strengths. Honestly, it’s a miracle that this ended up as good a movie as it is!
Don’t you wish it was that easy?
At the outset of the story, Henry has committed to building a gaudy new cathedral to appease a demanding dowager. When the bishop rebukes the advice of his new angelic assistant, Dudley contents himself to take the neglected Julia out on a string of romantic excursions: lunch at a luxurious French restaurant, bottomless sherry drinking with her professor friend (played by Monty Woolley no less!), shopping for a new hat, and Olympic-level figure skating. At some point during these outings, Dudley finds himself falling for the bishop’s wife, complicating his heavenly mission.
In spite of its title, the film is a very fun romp that never comes off as preachy, even during the reading of a sermon. Still, the studio was so afraid of public perception that it temporarily retitled the picture Cary and the Bishop’s Wife in many markets while adding the gossipy-sounding tagline, “Have you heard about CARY AND THE BISHOP’S WIFE?” onto posters in other venues. Legend has it that Grant’s star power was so great that the inclusion of his first name (not the name of his character!) in the title boosted ticket sales by 25% in those areas.
What’d He Wear?
At several points in the story it’s implied that Dudley has been walking amongst us for eons. With that in mind, it seems he’s chosen his clothes to remain inconspicuous in 1940s New York. The angel with one name dons only a single outfit throughout the length of the film, one that reflects both the general trends of the decade as well as Grant’s own personal style.
The immortal character’s look is anchored by a two-piece, dark gray woolen flannel suit. Of the two varieties of wool flannel fabric, woolen and worsted, woolen is thicker and softer with a fuzzy, mottled appearance. It therefore lends its wearer a more casual air, while naturally resisting wrinkles, and keeping the wearer comfortable in cooler temps.
Twenty years after the film’s release, Cary Grant continued to extol the virtues of gray flannel suits in the Winter 1967/68 issue of GQ:
What about a second suit? Well, I think a grey worsted or flannel would be most serviceable. Not too light in color, not too dark. And, this time, of medium weight but not more than what is known as ten-ounce cloth. It might be advantageous to purchase an extra pair of trousers for wearing separately with a sweater or a sport shirt. A grey flannel suit, with or without extra trousers, together with a sport coat could, at a pinch, be sufficient for a weekend in the country.
This suit is cut like many that the actor wore around this time, incorporating aspects of both English and American tailoring. Grant’s influence on his characters’ wardrobes is well documented with the actor most often wearing his own garments on screen. Thus, the look of his costumes remain amazingly consistent from picture to picture.
The jacket has a low 3-roll-2 button stance, a signature of virtually all the single-breasted jackets that Cary wore throughout his career. Its notch lapels are wide and set in a steep gorge indicative of the era, with a boutonniere hole on the left side. The shoulders are well padded and extend past Grant’s own to give him ideal proportions on screen. The sleeveheads are gently roped, and the comfortably wide sleeves taper to cuffs finished with four kissing buttons. All of the suit’s rimmed buttons appear uniform in color and appear to be made from a glossy, dark plastic.
The jacket’s two hip pockets are straight and jetted, and there’s a standard welted breast pocket on the left breast. Inside it, Dudley keeps a neatly folded white pocket square, likely made of cotton or linen, which tends to sink in and move around a bit throughout the course of the film.
The matching trousers are cut wide and straight with a plain hem. We don’t glimpse their waistband as the ethereal character never unbuttons his suit jacket. He does however occasionally put his hands into the on-seam pockets revealing their high rise and double reverse-pleats. It’s also likely these pants have an extended tab closure and sliding buckle side adjusters as these features were common on Grant’s tailored pants of this era.
Beneath the suit, Dudley wears a simple white poplin dress shirt with a button-down collar, traditional placket, mother of pearl buttons, and long, soft, rounded single-button cuffs that overlap a good deal.
He pairs it with a traditional silk repp tie in wide alternating bands of dark navy and medium brown, tied in Grant’s usual four-in-hand knot. A small, shiny metal tie clip can be seen affixed above the widest part of the tie blade in a few moments of the film when the tie doesn’t reach below the buttoning point of the jacket.
With a story set during a particularly snowy New York December, our angelic protagonist frequently dons a black overcoat made of what appears to be heavy melton wool. The coat has three exposed buttons and steep notch lapels that roll in a manner similar to his suit jacket. It extends just past the knees and is cut generously through the body with a plain back and long center vent, giving the wearer freedom of movement. Grant wears the coat with the bottom two buttons fastened and the top one undone, much like how he buttons his suits in other works (though this buttoning choice is far more accepted on outerwear).
The coat is rather uniquely constructed with raglan sleeves, turnback cuffs, and flapped, patch pockets. It has thick, welted seams throughout that match the swelled edges of the jacket’s edges, lapels, pockets, and cuffs. These characteristics are often found on balmacaans, ulster coats, and polo coats, but none of those traditionally feature notch lapels or a plain back, making this overcoat a curious hybrid.
It seems like a good chunk of an angel’s job is just run-of-the-mill stalking.
Before Dudley first goes out to find Julia in the park, the Broghams’ housekeeper, Matilda, insists he take a scarf to protect himself from the cold. She pulls out a wide, fringed silk one with dense rows of white polka dots plotted against a dark background. It’s really the most eye-catching piece that Grant wears as Dudley, and as John Burton beautifully summed it up on his blog Ivy Style, “this one dash of flash bestows his singular cinematic glamour. It’s a reminder that you only need one stylish item per outfit to look distinguished.”
If colorized lobby cards and DVD covers are to be believed, the silk scarf is a deep burgundy in color. Dudley drapes it around his neck, under his coat, throughout his adventures with Julia, before it goes on full display on the skating rink.
Dudley wears his heart on his sleeve scarf.
When the pair returns to find Henry at home, he takes note of both the scarf and the way his heavenly assistant regards his wife. It seems the housekeeper had previously given this scarf to the bishop as a gift, but he paid it no mind until seeing it wrapped around Dudley. Interestingly, when the angel takes leave of the family for good, he leaves the scarf behind.
Hmmm, something beautiful in the bishop’s home that he takes for granted and never brings out, but that Dudley instantly appreciates? It almost sounds like the movie is trying to tell us something.
On the character’s feet are a timeless pair of black calf leather cap-toe oxfords finished with natural-colored leather soles. Through the first half of the movie, Dudley wears a pair of light colored socks, but those are replaced by darker ones later on. As the supernatural character wears the same pristine outfit in every scene, one could regard this as a continuity error. That said, as we never learn where Dudley spends each (presumably sleepless) night, I contend the character just changed them off screen for reasons that are never explained out of respect for the audience’s time.
One accessory that is conspicuously absent from the character’s ensemble is any form of hat. This is explained in the story when Dudley tells Matilda that the cold never affects him. In reality, Grant realized a decade earlier that hats didn’t favor his features, observing that he looked silly wearing them on screen.
What to Imbibe
Dudley escorts Julia to lunch at Michel’s, an elegant French bistro that her husband has been too busy/preoccupied to patronize lately, though it holds a special meaning for her as the place where they were engaged to be married. After inviting the three gossipy community church ladies to join them (and mitigate talks of scandal), Dudley orders a round of Stingers.
After lunch, they join the Professor for “rather inferior grade, but potable” sherry, which Dudley magically refills over and over in the Professor’s glass.
Bottoms up–and keep ’em up!
How to Get the Look
Cary Grant in The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
With the effortless charm that was his trademark, Cary Grant was the ideal fit for a flawless, immortal angel. He imbued what was essentially a stock character with a playful wit, and his comfortable wardrobe staples allowed his relaxed, reassuring nature to take center stage.
Dark gray woolen flannel suit:
Single-breasted jacket with wide, steeply angled notch lapels, 3-roll-2 button front, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
Double reverse-pleated high rise trousers with wide, straight legs, on-seam side pockets, extended waistband tab, buckled side adjusters, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and long, rounded single-button cuffs
Navy and brown silk repp striped tie
Polished metal tie clip
Plain white handkerchief
Black melton wool full length overcoat with raglan sleeves, turnback cuffs, plain back, and center vent
Burgundy silk scarf with white polka dots and matching fringe
Black calf leather cap-toe oxfords with leather soles
Light or dark dress socks
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Pour yourself a bottomless glass of sherry, and check out the movie.
The Quote
Supposing I told you I came from another planet. Would you believe me?…We all come from our own little planets. That’s why we’re all different. That’s what makes life interesting.
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo in First Blood (1982)
Vitals
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, tough and resourceful Vietnam veteran who’s more than “just another smart-ass drifter”
Hope County, Washington, December 1981
Film: First Blood Release Date: October 22, 1982 Director: Ted Kotcheff Costume Designer: Tom Bronson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Six years after exploding to stardom having written and starred in Rocky, Sylvester Stallone returned to a similar formula playing a tough guy with a heart of gold and unbreakable determination whose five-letter name began with an “R” in First Blood, adapted by Stallone, Michael Kozoll, and William Sackheim from David Morrell’s 1972 novel of the same name, with Morrell himself having said that he prefers the film over his own novel!
Former Green Beret and Medal of Honor-winner John Rambo arrives in rural Washington state in search of his war buddy Delmar Barry, only to learn that Delmar had died the previous summer from cancer contracted by Agent Orange in Vietnam. “Got himself killed in ‘Nam, didn’t even know it,” Rambo later assesses when talking to his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna).
Aimlessly wandering the area after the shocking news of his friend’s early death, Rambo encounters Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), the sheriff of Hope County who has let his power go to his flat head as he bullies Rambo for being a drifter in their “quiet little town” and ultimately arrests him for vagrancy. (The unspoken cause for Teasle’s treatment was more fleshed out in Morrell’s novel: the sheriff was a Korean War veteran who resented the attention being given to Vietnam vets like Rambo while his own war was all but forgotten.)
Unfortunately for these “Jerkwater, U.S.A.” deputies, a war-conditioned badass with severe PTSD isn’t going to take their mistreatment laying down, and they’re about to learn that he doesn’t need that massive Bowie knife in his belt to make them regret their decisions.
The decorations strewn throughout Hope’s businesses—including Sheriff Teasle’s station—remind us that this is set during the Christmas season, which effectively stresses Rambo’s isolation as he has no one welcoming him for the holidays.
What’d He Wear?
“You know, wearin’ that flag on that jacket—lookin’ the way you do—you’re askin’ for trouble around here, friend,” Sheriff Teasle greets Rambo upon their first meeting outside Hope.
Rambo wears what was presumably his Army-issued M-1965 field jacket, detailed with an American flag patch over the right breast and “U.S. ARMY” taped over the left. The jacket was originally produced in olive-green (OG-107) cotton sateen, water-treated and tightly woven to be windproof and weather-resistant, though the fabric evolved to a hardier and less expensive blend like the 50% cotton, 50% nylon used to make Stallone’s screen-worn jacket as seen on the tag from its Heritage Auctions listing.
Sheriff Teasle disarms Rambo of his knife as he arrests him for vagrancy.
Officially designated the “Coat, Cold Weather, Man’s Field” (MIL-C-43455J), the M-65 was authorized for U.S. military usage in 1965, replacing the M-1951 that had been an evolution of the World War II-era M-1943 and its shorter-length predecessor, the M-1941.
The M-65 retains the overall hip-length design of its two predecessors, featuring shoulder straps (epaulets) and four outer pockets. The two chest pockets and the two larger hip pockets each close with a single covered snap on a pointed flap. The most substantial difference between the M-65 and its field jacket forebears is the rounded collar with a built-in protective hood enclosed by a zipper around the neck. (A fur-trimmed winter hood could also be buttoned onto the collar, with additional buttons along the inside to accommodate a cold-weather lining.) An inner drawstring cinches the waist for a tighter fit, and the jacket closes with a large brass zipper that’s covered by a snap-closed front storm flap.
The classic M-65 pattern ended its service in 1980 as the U.S. military transitioned to standardized camouflage Battle Dress Uniforms (BDU), where the M-65 design lived on in each branch’s respective camo schemes until being ultimately phased out in the 2000s by the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) and Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) uniforms.
Due to the timeframe when it was issued, the M-65 retains a cultural association with Vietnam veterans, particularly disillusioned characters in film like Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in Taxi Driver and, indeed, John Rambo.
The dirty red cotton crew-neck sweatshirt that Rambo wears under his green Army field jacket suggests a Christmas color scheme, consistent with the informed setting of the movie. We see little of the sweatshirt, other than the fact that it has raglan sleeves after it’s been laid out with his field jacket following his delousing at the police station.
Rambo continues to wear his stainless steel Army-issued “dog tags”, torn from his neck by Deputy Mitch Rogers (David Caruso) when “Rambo, John J.” refuses to identify himself to the Hope County deputies.
The novel depicts Rambo escaping from the police station completely naked (and eventually bartering for clothes from some local Kentucky moonshiners), but First Blood spares Sylvester Stallone this humiliation as the cinematic Rambo has already put his undershirt, jeans, and boots back on. (The boots give Rambo a tactical edge over John McClane, who wears a similar tank top and trousers but barefoot while fighting the terrorists taking over the Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve.)
Rambo’s undershirt is actually a light stone-gray cotton Adidas sweatshirt, modified with the sleeves removed and the crew-neck cut out wider to resemble a baggy tank top.
“When I did the rewrite on the First Blood script, I thought about John Rambo’s escape from the prison and how he would be wearing this flimsy sweatshirt,” explained Stallone in the Heritage Auctions listing for one of these shirts. “I decided to have the character wear it inside out because that’s the way I used to wear my sweatshirts in high school when I would play football. It was the style in my neighborhood back then and I just thought, ‘Well, why not keep it going? It always looked kinda cool.’ Also, these sweatshirts would get incredibly cold and wet while driving on the motorcycle and they constantly had to be rotated with other identical ones so I could avoid getting severe chest colds and bronchitis.”
Though Stallone explains that the shirt was worn inside-out to reflect his high-school football days, it was likely also a tactical choice by the costume department to hide the Adidas logo over the left breast.
Rambo eyes the sinister shaving kit that brings back painful war memories and unleashes his PTSD-induced beast mode.
Rambo’s wears light blue denim jeans that follow the usual five-pocket and belt loops configuration, but they lack any characteristic stitching, patches, or tags that could easily identify their maker, at least among the “big three” American denim outfitters. His belt is a dark olive webbed cotton belt that closes through a squared single-prong buckle and has a matching silver-finished end.
Rambo initially tucks the flared boot-cut bottoms of his jeans into the tops of his boots, as he would have with his Army fatigues, though he doesn’t do this after he pulls his clothes back on after his arrest and leaves the bottoms of his jeans untucked over his boot shafts.
Said to be made by Texas Steer, Rambo’s combat boots have dark brown leather uppers with an apron-toe and either 7 or 8 sets of brass-finished eyelets derby-laced up the mid-calf shaft.
Rambo floors the accelerator in his commandeered National Guard truck.
In need of some form of outerwear to combat the chilly Pacific Northwest woods in December, Rambo finds a large piece of rotten brown canvas that he cuts into a makeshift tunic, secured with a thin rope around his waist.
In a Heritage Auctions listing for this prop, Stallone explains that the scene unfolding on screen reflected a real-life need discovered during the production:
What makes this garment so significant is that it saved me. What I mean by that is, while working on the script, I had no idea how cold it was going to be in Canada. I had written that John Rambo escapes in a flimsy, sleeveless, sweatshirt. Once we were out there filming, I realized, “I’m not gonna survive much longer unless I’ve got something to wear.” Rather than make the character steal a policeman’s jacket or something, low and behold, in real life, I found this discarded piece of industrial canvas underneath a truck that must’ve been there for thirty years. It smelled of oil and it was stained and rugged and weathered and I thought, “What a perfect garment for this character!” And it was made right at that moment. What you’re seeing in the film is actually what happened spur of the moment—I took the canvas, cut a hole in it, and wrapped it around myself; the wire around my waist was also just something I happened to find next to this abandoned truck. And there it was—the “Rambo look” was created before your very eyes!
According to IMDB, the canvas became such a “treasured prop” on set that Stallone kept it in his possession for years, at least presumably until it was auctioned in 2015.
Who needs Burlington Coat Factory when you can just find old canvas rotting under an abandoned truck?
Rambo carries his famous knife (more on that later) in a light brown leather sheath with a snap-down retention strap that keeps the knife in place and an additional pocket with its own snap-closed retention strap where Rambo ostensibly keeps a sharpening stone. A large loop along the back of the sheath, behind the knife handle, secures the sheath onto Rambo’s belt with a rawhide cord just below the tip that can be knotted around his thigh for extra retention.
The final piece of the “Rambo look” is a makeshift headband, evidently fashioned from a strip of the canvas he used to create the tunic.
The Knife
“Why would you be carrying a knife like this?” asks Sheriff Teasle, who initially disarmed Rambo of his sheathed Bowie knife. “Hunting,” grunts Rambo in response.
Teasle: Don’t be a wise guy. What do you hunt with a knife? Rambo: Name it.
Rambo’s knife was crafted by Jimmy Lile, who was specifically chosen by Sylvester Stallone to create the 15½”-long survival knife featured in First Blood and the 1985 sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II. The bead-blasted blade has contrasting satin-finished edges and a series 15 serrations, nine of which are positioned along the double blade toward the base for a rugged, sawtooth-like cut. In addition to its dangerous blade, the knife was equipped with a hollowed-out handle, accessed by unscrewing the base that itself contained a compass. The handle could then be used to store useful materials in the field, such as a suture needle and thread as seen when Rambo treats his injured arm.
You can see more details of the knife and sheath in this Prop Store listing for one of the original 13 Jimmy Lile knives made. Lile still manufactures First Blood-style knives, listed as the “Model FB” and available in both the Utility Series and the Presentation Cerakote Series.
The Gun
Rambo cycles through a few firearms over the course of his escape—first, the bolt-action Winchester Model 88 rifle he takes from the fallen Deputy Galt (Jack Starrett) and then an M16A1 from one of the deputies—but the weapon most famously associated with him in this first movie is the venerable M60 machine gun.
At knifepoint, Rambo hijacks a National Guard truck being driven by guardsman Robert A. Cathcart, dismissing the mild-mannered driver after learning that the cargo is an M60. Rambo crashes the truck into the town of Hope, where he straps on the M60 and takes two boxes of 7.62x51mm NATO belt-feeding ammunition before abandoning the truck that he set aflame next to a service station, causing a massive explosion that effectively calls out Sheriff Teasle and his remaining deputies.
Dressed in criss-crossed ammunition bandoliers, Rambo prepares to make his assault on Teasle’s station with his deadly M60 and—hey, can anyone else really go for a Raleigh Light right now?
Inspired by German weaponry like the fearsome MG42 known among G.I.s as “Hitler’s buzzsaw”, U.S. Army Ordnance designed the M60 general-purpose machine gun that entered service in 1957 and issued to units two years later. The M60 fired the same 7.62x51mm NATO round authorized for the contemporary M14 battle rifle, fed from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. This feed system as well as the gun’s 23-pound mass (when unloaded!) made it primarily a crew-served weapon or mounted… far too heavy and unmanageable for one man, unless it’s a one-man army recruited into a private war like John Rambo.
“The M60 machine gun was a weapon that seemed fine in theory, but for soldiers in Vietnam terrible design defects were obvious,” describes The Complete World Encyclopedia of Guns by Will Fowler, Anthony North, Charles Stronge, and Patrick Sweeney. “The bipod and the gas cylinder were permanently attached to the barrel, so quick barrel changes after firing bursts of 200 rounds proved extremely difficult during a contact. To handle the barrel, the Number 2 on the gun required a heat-protecting mitten, which was often lost on patrol or in a contact. Finally, key components in the operating group, such as the firing pin, were prone to fracturing. Unsurprisingly, the gun came to be known by frustrated soldiers in Vietnam as ‘the Pig’.” Additional issues with the M60 included the lack of a gas regulator that could result in jams or the opposite, a “runaway gun” that continued firing even when pressure was taken off the trigger.
After decades of compounding issues, the improved M60E3 was developed in the late 1980s that reduced the weight and simplified the gas system. Unfortunately, many “improvements” also resulted in new problems such as a lighter barrel that was more prone to burning out after only just a few hundred rounds fired fully automatic. By this time, troops had enough and were happy to sacrifice weight for reliability with the M60’s heavier replacement, a military variant of the FN MAG general purpose machine gun designated M240.
How to Get the Look
Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo in First Blood (1982)
Before Sly strips down to the classic Rambo image of muscles bulging out of a tank top accessorized with a dirty bandana and ammo belts, he brings a military sensibility to simple ’80s street fashion with his field jacket, jeans, and combat boots.
Olive-green cotton/nylon M-1965 U.S. Army-issue field jacket with rounded collar (with zip-in hood), four flapped pockets (with covered snaps), epaulets/shoulder straps, and drawstring-cinched waist
Red cotton crew-neck raglan-sleeve sweatshirt
Light stone-gray cotton tank top, converted from sweatshirt
Light-blue denim boot-cut jeans
Dark olive cotton web belt with squared silver-toned buckle
Dark brown leather apron-toe derby-laced combat boots with mid-calf shaft
Brown leather knife sheath with snap-closed retention strap, belt loop, thigh lace, and sharpening-stone pocket
Steve Buscemi as Carl Showalter, loquacious kidnapper
Minnesota, Winter 1987
Film: Fargo Release Date: March 8, 1996 Director: Joel & Ethan Coen Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 65th birthday to Steve Buscemi, born in Brooklyn on December 13, 1957. After serving as a New York City firefighter in the early ’80s (and volunteering again the day after 9/11), Buscemi steadily became an increasingly familiar face in movies and TV, particularly films depicted by Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers. 1996 was a breakthrough year for Buscemi, who wrote and directed his first feature—the excellent Trees Lounge—and co-starred as the “funny-lookin'” crook Carl Showalter in the Coens’ acclaimed wintry black comedy Fargo.
Having previously worked together in Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, and The Hudsucker Proxy, Joel and Ethan Coen had Buscemi in mind specifically to portray the anti-smoking and anti-parking attendant Carl, who teams up with the dangerously silent Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) across a swath of the Midwest described by the Minnesota-born Coens on TheCharlie Rose Show as “Siberia with family restaurants.”
Little of this “homespun murder story” is actually set in the eponymous North Dakota town, save for the opening where Carl and Gaear are contacted by the mild—and I do mean mild—mannered Jerry Lundegard (William H. Macy), a spineless Oldsmobile salesman who has concocted a desperate scheme to have his own wife kidnapped in the hopes of splitting the $80,000 ransom to be paid by his wealthy father-in-law Wade (Harve Presnell).
What’d He Wear?
All of Carl Showalter’s on-screen costumes fall along the yellow-to-brown scale, matching the “burnt umber” Cutlass Ciera he drives throughout Fargo. His wardrobe is anchored by a thigh-length coat made of shearling sheepskin, showing a walnut-dyed suede-like outer shell and a similarly toned fur reverse side that presents on the collar, along the vertical seams running down the front and back of the coat, and around the edge of the hem and sleeves.
One of the oldest outerwear cloths, dating back to the Stone Age, sheepskin’s naturally warm, insular properties would have made it a wise sartorial choice—indeed, probably one of Carl’s smartest decisions overall—in a Minnesota winter. The single-breasted coat has three large nut shank buttons, each with its woody finish respectively worn away in differing degrees. The two outer pockets are set-in with entries along the fur-trimmed vertical seams.
When we—and Jerry Lundegard—first meet Carl and Gaear at the King of Clubs dive bar in Fargo, North Dakota, Carl wears a butter-yellow ribbed-knit turtleneck with a chunky roll-neck and set-in sleeves.
Following his and Gaear’s enlistment into the Lundegard kidnapping, Carl wears a rust-colored ribbed-knit turtleneck made from a slightly lighter-weight cloth.
With this turtleneck, Carl wears a nearly matching pair of straight-leg jeans made from a rust-red pinwale corduroy. Styled like traditional jeans with a five-pocket layout, belt loops, and plain-hemmed bottoms, these trousers have a white Levi’s tab sewn along the back-right patch pocket, indicating a vintage product as Levi Strauss & Co. had used these white tabs on their corduroy products through the 1960s and ’70s.
While I applaud Carl dressing for the climate, a smart sartorial guideline for kidnappers should be to avoid easy identification through distinctive clothing like a one-of-a-kind shearling coat, vintage rust-colored corduroys, and harness boots. There can’t be too many Midwest hoodlums regularly sporting this getup.
To reward himself for a job… done, Carl hires an escort (Michelle Hutchison) and treats them both to a Jose Feliciano concert at “The Celebrity Room”. He dresses up for the occasion in a brown textured twill single-breasted sport jacket in addition to his usual combination of a near-matching turtleneck and corduroy trousers. The thin turtleneck is a silky golden-tan melange with dark streaks across the fabric.
“You know, Jose Feliciano, ya got no complaints…”
Carl’s tan pinwale corduroy cotton trousers are uniquely styled with wide belt loops and six pocket. The patch-style front pockets have curved entries like jeans, each with an inset cargo pocket over the hip that closes with a single copper rivet button through a rectangular flap; the two back pockets are also flapped. The slightly flared bottoms are plain-hemmed.
A rough night for Carl Showalter, dealing with bullets, beatings, and a busted belt loop.
The trousers have five extra-wide belt loops, the front left of which seems to tear away during Carl’s gunfight with Wade. He continues wearing his usual dark brown leather belt with indented edges and a brass-toned square single-prong buckle.
“Are we square?”
Carl wears black leather harness boots, a style characterized by the system of four non-adjustable straps and rings around the ankles of each boot. The style had evolved in the mid-20th century from the simpler engineer boots that had gained popularity with motorcyclists. Carl’s penchant for harness boots may suggest that he’s a biker, or he may just like the “bad boy” image they project. The high shafts and heavyweight leather would have also afforded Carl considerable comfort and protection from the snowy environment. Many bootmakers have specialized in harness boots of different colors and sizes since they were pioneered during the 1960s with makers including Ad Tec, Durango, Frye, and Harley Davidson.
In his more vulnerable moments where he’s been caught with his boots off—once while enduring a mid-coital beating delivered from Shep Proudfoot and again during an incident with a woodchipper—we see Carl’s plain white combed cotton crew socks.
For long hours behind the wheel of that burnt umber Oldsmobile, Carl appropriately wears black leather driving gloves—the type defined by holes cutout over the knuckles and the backs of his hands—and a pair of gold wire-framed sunglasses with rounded brown gradient lenses.
Carl wears a yellow-gold watch, or at least a watch made of gold-plated steel, on a metal expanding band. The light “champagne”-colored round dial has non-numeric hour markers and a date window at the 3 o’clock position.
Though they may have the coats and sweaters to dress for the cold, what truly differentiates Carl and Gaear as outsiders? They’re the only main characters to not wear hats with ear-flaps!
What to Imbibe
Carl and Gaear have more than a half dozen bottles of Grain Belt beer on their table when Jerry meets them at the King of Clubs in Fargo, having waited for him an hour due to a possible miscommunication via Shep Proudfoot.
With all those empty beers lined up, it’s no wonder that “he’s peed three times already,” as Carl assures Jerry of Gaear’s bladder.
The brew perfectly suits the setting, dating back to 1893 when Grain Belt Golden was introduced by the recently formed Minneapolis Brewing Company. The brewery encountered many of the same challenges faced by American alcohol manufacturers during Prohibition, though it was revived in part by the post-World War II introduction of Grain Belt Platinum and—later in the 20th century—when it was acquired and refreshed by the August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm to remain a mainstay in Minnesota and the Midwest at large.
The Gun
Carl and Gaear arm themselves with a nickel-plated pistol that resembles a SIG Sauer P226, though the actual screen-used weapon appears to be what’s known as a “Non-Gun” rather than a true blank-firing firearm. Typically molded to resemble real-life firearms, electronically operated Non-Guns were developed by International Studio Services to provide a safer alternative for guns to be fired on screen with other actors in close range. When “fired”, Non-Guns emit a smoky flash that resembles a gun being fired, though they’re limited to this alone; due to their lack of movable parts aside from the trigger, Non-Guns can’t depict a revolver’s rotating cylinder or—in the case of semi-automatic pistols like Carl’s “P226″—slide recoil and a spent shell being ejected.
The SIG Sauer P226 that Carl and Gaear are meant to be using can trace its origins to the 1970s, when German weapons manufacturer SIG Sauer introduced the innovative double-action P220 that was quickly adopted by the Swiss as the “Pistole 75”. Nearly a decade later, SIG Sauer rolled out the P226 variant that accommodated double-stack magazines to carry more ammunition than the single-stack P220 magazines.
SIG Sauer had developed the P226 in response to the U.S. Army’s XM9 Service Pistol Trials seeking a replacement for the venerable M1911A1 pistol. Though the Army eventually chose the Beretta 92-series, SIG Sauer recognized the potential of the P226 and brought it to market in 1984, eventually catching on with the U.S. Navy SEALs, who adopted it as the Mk 25 Mod 0 five years later.
The P226 was primarily chambered for the universal 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition at first, though variants were also offered to fire .357 SIG and .40 S&W as those respective cartridges were introduced in the early ’90s.
The Car
My biannual Car Week focus is technically over, and there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera that Jerry Lundegard procures for Jerry and Gaear… which makes it just the ideal car for their purposes (and their mediocrity.) Though Brainerd Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) refers to it as “tan”, Jerry more colorfully describes the sedan as a “brand-new burnt umber Ciera”.
A base model ’87 Cutlass Ciera four-door sedan, rather than the Brougham or GT trim options, would have been available in either the the 2.5L “Iron Duke” straight-four engine, mated to a three-speed GM Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission and churning out 98 horsepower, or the 2.8L V6, which generated 125 horsepower and was mated to a four-speed automatic transmission.
I remember my grandfather had driven several of these in the early ’90s before he switched to his final Buick. Grandpa’s Cutlass Cieras were comfortable enough rides, but he never had reason to test them against a Minnesota winter.
How to Get the Look
Steve Buscemi as Carl Showalter in Fargo (1996)
Carl Showalter dresses for his wintry crimes in a shearling coat, turtlenecks and nearly matching corduroy trousers, and black leather harness boots.
Brown sheepskin shearling thigh-length coat with notch lapels, three-button front, and vertical fur-trimmed seams with set-in side pockets
Warm-toned turtleneck
Tan or rust pinwale corduroy cotton jeans with large belt loops and plain-hemmed bottoms
Dark brown dented-edge leather belt with brass square single-prong buckle
Black leather harness boots
White cotton crew socks
Wire-framed sunglasses with brown gradient lenses and gold arms
Black leather driving gloves
Gold-plated wristwatch with round champagne dial with non-numeric hour markers and 3:00 date window on gold expanding bracelet
The Coens also had a hand in adapting their masterpiece into a continued series helmed by Noah Hawley on FX, essentially an anthology series set in a shared universe but with each season depicting mostly new characters in different locations at different eras.
The Quote
That’s the first thing you’ve said in the last four hours. That’s a… that’s fountain of conversation, man. That’s a geyser. I mean, whoa daddy! Stand back, man. Shit. I’m sitting here driving. Doing all the driving, man. The whole fucking way from Brainerd driving. Just trying to… chat, you know. Keep our spirits up, fight the boredom of the road, and you can’t say one fucking thing just in the way of conversation. Oh fuck it. I don’t have to talk to you either, man. See how you like it. Just total fucking silence. Two can play at that game, smart guy. We’ll just see how you like it. Total silence.
Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen in The Silent Partner (1978)
Vitals
Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen, mild-mannered bank teller
Toronto, Christmas 1977
Film:The Silent Partner Release Date: September 7, 1978 Director: Daryl Duke Wardrobe Credit: Debi Weldon
Background
Among all the Christmas and Christmas-adjacent cinematic classics, I feel like The Silent Partner has yet to receive its due. Written on spec by Curtis Hanson—who later directed and co-wrote L.A. Confidential, among many others—this Canadian-made thriller blends touches of comedy with genuine thrills and a unique plot. Elliott Gould stars as Miles Cullen, a bored bank teller who foils a robbery plot attempted by the psychotic Harry Reikle (Christopher Plummer), whose wardrobe frequently alternates between a mall Santa costume and drag.
Through one of Harry’s abandoned hold-up notes, Miles caught wind of the robbery plan in advance and decided to let the crook’s larcenous plans benefit him as well by squirreling away a small fortune in anticipation of the heist. When Harry finally carried out the robbery, Miles was ready and handed over only a fraction of the money to the gun-toting Santa.
Miles’ coolness under pressure makes him popular among his colleagues, particularly the attractive Julie Carver (Susannah York), who shifts her attention from their married manager Charles Packard (Michael Kirby) to Miles, who accompanies her to a Christmas party at the Packard home on the following Sunday. Unfortunately, his quick thinking during the holdup has also attracted the attention of a bitter Harry Reikle, who realizes what Miles has done and begins threatening the scheming teller for the remaining money he feels he rightfully owed.
What’d He Wear?
Miles Cullen regularly wears sport jackets at work but dresses up for the boss’ Christmas party in a full two-piece suit, made of a warm medium-gray woolen flannel. Double-breasted jackets can have an old-fashioned connotation, but 1970s menswear trends neatly integrated with the contemporary revival of this style, as worn by Elliott Gould for Miles’ Christmas party.
Miles’ gray flannel suit jacket follows the hourglass silhouette that had been popular during the double-breasted style’s “golden age” heyday in the ’30s and ’40s and was again trendy during the disco era, naturally structured with concave shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and front darts that add dramatic shape through the full chest, suppressed waist, and flared skirt. The peak lapels are fashionably broad with high, slanted gorges. The 6×2-button configuration has a narrow wrap that, in addition to the wide hip pocket flaps and long single vent, serve to update the style for the seventies. The sleeves are finished with three dark gray vestigial buttons matching those on the front.
The suit’s matching flat front trousers rise to Gould’s natural waist, where he holds them up with a black leather belt that closes through a silver-toned single-prong buckle. Following the prevailing fashions of the ’70s, the trousers are tight through the hips with Western-style “full-top” or “frogmouth” pockets, which present cleaner lines without gaping open like some side-entry trouser pockets. The trousers are cut straight through the legs, with the plain-hemmed bottoms breaking over the tops of his black leather shoes.
Miles’ white poplin shirt has a then-fashionably long point collar, echoing the spearpoint collars of the ’30s and ’40s. The shirt has a front placket and barrel cuffs that fasten with clear plastic buttons, and the breast pocket is detailed with a horizontal yoke across the top.
He incorporates some festive color with his crimson-red pocket square and tie, wisely not exactly matching the fabrics as the pocket square is solid satin silk while the silk twill tie is regimental-striped with pale-blue bar stripes shadowed along the top with a narrower navy stripe, all following the “downhill” direction. (He later wears the same tie with a dark blue striped three-piece suit.)
Miles awkwardly primps upon arriving to great fanfare at Packard’s party, tugging at his tie and pocket square, which are both seasonal shades of red.
Miles layers to combat the chill of a Canadian December in a British Warm, a martial-inspired overcoat descended from the double-breasted greatcoats authorized for British Army officers during World War I.
These knee-length coats are distinguished by their cloth (typically a camel or fawn Melton wool, consistent with Army uniform regulations), their leather-buttoned double-breasted front with de rigueur peak lapels, and military-styled shoulder straps (epaulettes). Miles’ fawn-colored British Warm follows these design points, with its two neat columns of three dark brown woven leather shank buttons down the front and the set-in sleeves each finished with a single button at the end. His coat is additionally detailed with a long single vent, a welted breast pocket, and rear-slanting flapped hip pockets.
Who needs an overcoat? Miles is burning with love… as well as some of Julie’s white wine to keep him warm.
Miles wears his usual brown outerwear accessories, including leather three-point gloves with snap closure over the inside of each wrist and a woolen scarf with shallowly fringed ends.
Miles receives the first of several threatening phone calls from the bank-robbing Santa, demanding that he “think of a number…”
On his left wrist, Miles wears a yellow-gold wristwatch that was likely Elliott Gould’s own timepiece. The watch has a round silver dial with plain gold non-numeric hour markers, secured on a dark brown leather band.
What to Imbibe
After the Packards’ party, Miles drives Julie back to her home where they share a nightcap of Courvoisier, appropriately poured into brandy snifters. These short, bulbous glasses have long been the preferred drinkware for brandy, designed to contain the aroma and to maximize how much of the glass can be gripped to warm its contents.
The youngest of the “big four” cognac houses, Courvoisier was founded in 1835 in the Parisian suburb of Bercy, where Napoleon Bonaparte had supposedly been inspired to arm his artillery companies with rations of cognac after an 1811 visit. Though Napoleon I was dead for more than a decade by the time Emmanuel Courvoisier began production, his nephew Napoleon III personally requested Courvoisier as “Official Supplier to the Imperial Court” toward the end of his reign as Emperor. In 1951, Courvoisier introduced its now-familiar wide-based bottle with a narrow neck, known as the “Josephine” bottle in tribute to Napoleon’s first wife.
How to Get the Look
Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen in The Silent Partner (1978)
Miles Cullen again sets the Gould standard for dressing up for the holidays, adding subtle festivity and seasonal warmth to a tastefully trendy business suit.
Gray flannel suit:
Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with wide peak lapels (with high, slanted gorges), concave shoulders with roped sleeveheads, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long single vent
Flat-front trousers with belt loops, full-top “frogmouth” front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White poplin shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
Crimson regimental-striped silk twill tie
Crimson satin silk pocket square
Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
Black leather dress shoes
Fawn-colored wool double-breasted “British Warm” overcoat with welted-edge peak lapels, 6×3-button front, shoulder straps (epaulettes), welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, long single vent
Dark brown leather three-point gloves with snap wrist closure
Dark brown woolen scarf with short-fringed ends
Gold dress watch with round white dial on dark brown leather strap
Monty Woolley as Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
Vitals
Monty Woolley as Sheridan Whiteside, catty, cantankerous, and “celebrated author and critic”
Ohio, Winter 1941
Film:The Man Who Came to Dinner Release Date: January 1, 1942 Director: William Keighley Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly
Background
Based on a play of the same name by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, the holiday-centered screwball comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner was released 80 years ago this year. Inspired by Hart’s own experiences with critic and writer Alexander Woollcott, the eponymous “man” is Sheridan Whiteside, an acerbic radio personality whose well-publicized national tour includes a stop in the invented town of Mesalia, Ohio, where his prestige has preceded him more than his condescending attitude.
Whiteside arrives in Mesalia on Thanksgiving Eve, several days ahead of his planned lecture to stay at the home of the well-to-do Stanley family, despite his snobbish protestations that “I simply will not sit down to dinner with Midwestern barbarians… I think too highly of my digestive system.” As the prim Women’s Club president Mrs. Stanley (Billie Burke) excitedly describes Mesalia’s culture, Whiteside turns to make one of his many acerbic quips at the small town’s expense, but karma sends the self-described “first man of American letters” tumbling down a staircase. Whiteside’s resulting hip fracture unfortunately extends his brief stay into an extended respite, during which he essentially takes over the Stanley home through the holidays, inviting in a parade of colorful guests and bizarre gifts.
“Christmas is Mr. Whiteside’s personal property. He invented it, it belongs to him,” explains Whiteside’s long-suffering secretary Maggie Cutler (Bette Davis) on Christmas Eve, after he’s been staying in the Stanley home for nearly a month. “Tomorrow morning, very first thing, Mr. Whiteside will open each and every present… and he’ll raise the biggest stink that you’ve ever seen in your life.”
What’d He Wear?
After weeks spent convalescing and barking out orders from his room at the Stanley domicile, Sheridan Whiteside finally makes his grandiose reappearance, resplendent in a Christmassy silk dressing gown and necktie while pushed in a wheelchair by his much-abused nurse Miss Preen (Mary Wickes, a frequent face of holiday classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas.) “Big Lord Fauntleroy,” taunts Maggie as Whiteside attempts to be characteristically domineering from his silken-swathed throne on wheels, proving she can dish it back as much as her supercilious boss.
The first of Whiteside’s robes is festively festooned in a holly-and-berry print, likely in green and red (respectively), against a darker ground and with a matching shawl collar, cuffs, and sash in an elegant light-colored satin silk. This dressing gown also has a breast pocket and hip pockets.
Whiteside wears a woolen blanket over his lap, so the only other pieces of his wardrobe generally visible are his white shirt and his silk tie, printed with abstract swirls and a dark-dipped blade. The shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and two-button cuffs.
Next, Whiteside wears a darker silk dressing gown, covered in a Deco-style print of circles, lines, and swirls that reminds me of cigarettes, smoke, and ashtrays, echoing a favorite activity of Whiteside who’s rarely far from his cigarette holder. This robe is similarly detailed as the first with its light satin-finished collar and cuffs and trio of pockets, though this sash matches the body of the robe rather than the collar and cuffs. (Eagle-eyed reader Parker Cross noted to me on Twitter that this appears to be the exact same robe worn nearly a decade later by Robert Walker as the dapper but dangerous Bruno Antony in Hitchcock’s great 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train.)
“How do you like my new tie?” he asks the youngsters when trying to soften them up. “I think your tie is very pretty” replies the daughter Harriet (Ruth Vivian), with the son Richard (Russell Arms) going even further: “Now that we’re on speaking terms, Mr. Whiteside, I don’t mind telling you, I’ve been admiring all your ties!”
Whiteside: Do you like this one? Richard: I do! Whiteside: (untying it) It’s yours!
The tie that captures young Richard’s attention depicts jazz fiends playing an array of instruments like trumpet, clarinet, and double bass, with only the eyes and mouths of each “performer” illustrated on their pale faces against a dark ground.
At one point, Whiteside pushes back one of the grand silken cuffs to check his watch, a metal wristwatch on a brown leather strap.
His jazz-fiends tie replaced by an “air tie” with his shirt buttoned to the neck, Whiteside’s wristwatch gets some brief air-time from under the grand cuffs of his dressing gown.
On Christmas Eve, Whiteside wears a checked woolen flannel twill garment with a more intentional structure and a shorter length that suggests a comfortable smoking jacket rather than one of his dressing gowns. The colors of this tri-toned tartan plaid jacket may be lost to history, though lobby cards suggest that the darkest check is an appropriately seasonal wine-red. As with his robes, the smoking jacket has a collar and cuffs in an elegantly contrasting fabric, this time a dark velvet rather than silk. The lapels have the slim notches characteristic of the “cran Necker” or “Parisian” style, in the same dark velvet also seen facing the full belt, turned-back cuffs, and atop the set-in breast and hip pockets.
Whiteside wears another swirly tie, uniquely trussed to present a conservative repp stripe over the knot with the rest of the tie printed in more colorful swirls echoing the eyes of storms.
Whiteside wears dark woolen trousers, almost certainly pleated and finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs). Regaining some mobility, he’s swapped out his slippers for brown leather plain-toe ankle boots with straps across the tops.
Though Whiteside’s grand loungewear may be his most memorable attire, he bookends the movie wearing his traveling suit—a striped broken-twill two-piece tweed clabber—for his arrival the day before Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day.
This sporty suit consists of a single-breasted, two-button ventless jacket with softly padded shoulders, notch lapels, four-button cuffs, and patch pockets, with a plain white linen kerchief in the breast pocket. His trousers have an appropriately long rise to meet the jacket’s buttoning point at Woolley’s natural waistline, and the bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).
Even with his staid tweed suit, Whiteside continues his tradition of wearing flashy ties. His Christmas tie is patterned with a series of white and dark balanced stripes that are perpendicularly cornered and overlaid by large white polka dots.
To combat the wintry weather, Whiteside layers with a dark wide-scaled broken twill tweed Balmacaan-style overcoat, with a Prussian collar, five woven leather buttons, slanted welt hand pockets, turnback cuffs, and the requisite raglan sleeves characteristic of a classic Balmacaan coat. He also wears a dark soft felt or velvet trilby and a dark tri-toned tartan plaid woolen scarf with fringed ends.
Careful on those icy steps, Sheridan!
What to Imbibe
Maggie’s beloved playwright paramour Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis) offers to mix up a quick quartet of his self-titled Jefferson Special cocktails to celebrate Lorraine’s faux engagement. “My Jefferson Special will cure anything!” the amiable newspaperman promises. Unfortunately, we never get to learn more about these drinks, other than the fact that a rejuvenated Sheridan Whiteside requests that his be a double.
Just because Bert Jefferson doesn’t tell us what’s in his Jefferson Specials doesn’t mean we can’t figure something out for ourselves!
Given what little we had to go on—primarily, the appearance of the cocktail with its foamy finish—I set out to look for an adequate alternative, preferably incorporating bourbon so that I could pay tribute to Bert’s surname by using Jefferson’s Bourbon, which also happens to be one of my favorites.
The search for a frothy seasonal cocktail with bourbon as a base spirit led me to Julie Kotzbach’s recipe for a Bourbon Flip, found on Bread Booze Bacon and described as “a lighter take on eggnog.” You’ll need these ingredients:
2 ounces of bourbon (Ms. Kotzbach used Maker’s 46, but I’d use Jefferson’s for reasons stated above)
1 ounce of simple syrup
1 large egg, raw
Nutmeg, freshly grated
Break the raw egg and pour its entire contents—sans shell, of course—into a shaker with the bourbon and simple syrup, then shake it vigorously for more than a minute. Strain it into a coupe or vintage martini glass, top with the freshly grated nutmeg, and serve!
The “flip” category of mixed drinks originated at sea during the 17th century, though by the time Jerry Thomas published his seminal bar guides nearly 200 years later, the overall definition of a flip had evolved into hot or cold drinks made with a spirit, egg, sugar, and spice, though lacking cream to differentiate them from nog. Base spirits were typically brandy, rum, or gin, though even port wine and sherry were often used, such as the pair of sugared-rim sherry flips ordered by William Holden and Nancy Kwan in The World of Suzie Wong (1960).
The sherry flips served in The World of Suzie Wong don’t look very appetizing, and Suzie’s reaction informs us that these lacking qualities aren’t limited to its presentation.
Historical examples of flip drinkers include:
Future U.S. President Ulysses Grant, who enjoyed hot rum flip while he was a young West Point cadet in the 1840s
Roaring ’20s bon vivant Harry Crosby who drank porto flips with New York Journal columnist Molly Cogswell
Scottish-born ambassador R.H. Bruce Lockhart who cited daily rations of brandy flips to overcome his malaria in the early 1910s
How to Get the Look
Vegging around the house during Christmas more frequently means T-shirts and sweatpants or a family in matching pajamas, but Sheridan Whiteside sets a template for dignified loungewear in his silk robes or velvet-collared smoking jacket with white shirts and fanciful ties.
Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie. “With so many sentimental movie takes on Christmas, especially in the 1940s, the dose of irreverence is refreshing,” wrote Jeremy Arnold in TCM’s Christmas in the Movies.
You can also read more about Orry-Kelly’s glamorous costume design in this piece by GlamAmor.
The Quote
Is there a man in the world who suffers as I do from the gross inadequacies of the human race?
Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell on Mad Men (Episode 4.02: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”)
Vitals
Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell, ambitious advertising accounts manager
New York City, Christmas 1964
Series:Mad Men Episode: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” (Episode 4.02) Air Date: August 1, 2010 Director: Michael Uppendahl Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
Background
Welcome to BAMF Style, Pete Campbell! Long-ignored as I had reserved Mad Men‘s sartorial spotlight on his colleagues Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery), Sterling Cooper’s ambitious accounts man finally gets his time to shine on this #MadMenMonday less than a week before Christmas. Rather than his bright blue suits from early seasons or the uniquely cut waistcoats from his three-piece suits in later seasons, Pete’s inaugural BAMF Style post explores how he dresses for the inaugural SCDP holiday party.
The fledgling agency had been planning on a humbler holiday gathering, but after a self-invitation from their spoiled client Lee Garner Jr. (Darren Pettie), Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce pulls out all the stops to impress Lee Jr., who represents Lucky Strike cigarettes, responsible for 73% of the company’s total billings. Some of his colleagues like the recently divorced Don and Army wife Joan (Christina Hendricks) go stag, but Pete wisely invites his “hostess with the mostest” wife Trudy (Alison Brie), whose default mode has her already-considerable charm turned up to eleven.
Pete’s unabating ambition doesn’t cease even in the face of potential humiliation as Lee Jr. tries to goad Roger into wearing a Santa Claus costume. “I’ll do it, I’d love to be Santa!” Pete volunteers, his voice almost cracking in its sycophancy. “Oh come on, it’d take three of you to fill that suit,” Lee Jr. sneers in response, turning his predatory eye back to Roger, “besides, everybody knows Santa’s got white hair.”
What’d He Wear?
As one of the younger executives at SCDP, Pete Campbell’s fashion sense tends to more frequently echo contemporary trends, and the hip blazer for the newly formed company’s first Christmas party is no exception. “Straight out of Carnaby Street,” as Meredith Blake described in her Los Angeles Times review when the episode first aired in 2010, Pete incorporates seasonal color with a double-breasted blazer made of burgundy woolen flannel.
Though double-breasted tailoring can suggest an old-fashioned connotation, Pete’s blazer has been updated for the ’60s with narrower details like the lapels, wrap, and cut. Finished with sporty “swelled” edges, these slim lapels are uniquely notched in a manner that more closely resembles the Parisian or “cran necker” style rather than traditional peak lapels.
The six etched copper-toned shank buttons are arranged in two closely spaced parallel columns of three, with all three buttons to fasten (6×3-style). This neo-Edwardian style offers a variety of how the jacket can be “correctly” buttoned, with Pete opting to fasten the top two of three. Pete’s blazer has padded shoulders, long double vents, a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets, and the added neo-Edwardian detail of narrow turnback or “gauntlet” cuffs at the end of each sleeve.
“You know Peter, he’d rather spend every waking second right here in the city,” Trudy explains of their holiday plans in the Bahamas.
Pete wears a plain white cotton poplin shirt with a front placket and a narrow spread collar, dressed here with a gold collar pin. This fussy detail was popular through the ’60s and kept its wearer disciplined as a pinned collar looked very neat with a tie knotted in place but instantly looks sloppily incomplete should the tie become loosened or the top of the shirt undone. Pete’s shirt has double (French) cuffs, which he fastens with gold-framed rectangular cuffs with shining gold centers.
Pete’s skinny tie also serves to represent some seasonal color with a darker burgundy ground than his jacket, tied in a half-Windsor knot that’s pushed forward by his collar pin. The tie has been trussed to present a single scarlet-red “uphill”-directional bar stripe just above the blazer’s buttoning point; printed just above the stripe is a small gold regal motif similar to the French fleur de lis.
The last we see of Party Pete, he’s uncomfortably grimacing while being forced by Lee Jr. to pose for a photo on Santa Sterling’s lap… a fair enough reason to duck out of any party.
Pete wears plain charcoal-gray trousers, styled with either a flat front or darted front. The brief glimpse we see of Pete with his jacket unbuttoned doesn’t bely any hint of a belt buckle, so the trousers have likely been tailored to fit sans belt or braces, though they may also be rigged with button- or buckle-tab adjusters on the sides of the waistband. The trousers taper down to the plain-hemmed bottoms that break just at the top of his shoes.
I love Pete’s choice of monk shoes for the party, an interesting bridge between the formality of lace-ups and less formal loafers that nicely suits yet another instance of “work disguised as a party” so frequent in the world of Mad Men.
Characterized by either a single- or double-strap that buckles closed over the instep, this monk shoe came by its moniker honestly, as Alan Flusser writes in Dressing the Man that this footwear had been “worn for centuries in European monasteries,” specifically “among friars in the Italian Alps in the fifteenth century” who had so impressed a visiting brother from England that he widely introduced the shoe back home. Though the shoes were certainly worn—albeit more frequently among the more fashion-forward set—through the sixties, they curiously don’t even warrant a mention in Sir Hardy Amies’ ABCs of Men’s Fashion, published in 1964, the same year that “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” is set.
Pete’s black calf leather plain-toe monk shoes are of the single-strap variety, with a brass-finished buckle closing a broad strap over each shoe’s instep. His socks are also black.
Joan leads a conga line, following Roger’s directive to transform the SCDP party “from convalescent home to Roman orgy”, all to please Lee Garner Jr., who keeps his own predatory hands flanking the bow on Joanie’s behind. Behind him, Pete and Trudy look authentically gleeful… never a couple to miss an opportunity to dance their way through an agency party.
How to Get the Look
Vincent Kartheiser and Alison Brie on Mad Men (Episode 4.02: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”)
If looking fashionably festive is your holiday party priority, let Pete Campbell be your surprising yuletide guide with a burgundy blazer and black monk shoes that subtly liven up his otherwise standard ’60s office-wear of a pinned collar, skinny dark tie, and charcoal trousers. My only feedback..? I’d have added a pocket square.
Burgundy woolen flannel 6×3-button double-breasted blazer with narrow Parisian lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, narrow turnback/gauntlet cuffs, and long double vents
White cotton poplin shirt with pinned spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
Gold collar pin
Gold rectangular cuff links
Dark burgundy skinny tie with single gold regal motif and scarlet-red “uphill” bar stripe
Charcoal flat front trousers with beltless waistband and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black calf leather plain-toe single-strap monk shoes
It takes a lot for new movies to break through the cinematic ice to enter people’s Christmas viewing rotations. For decades, there were the classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and White Christmas, then a boom through the late ’80s and ’90s with newer entries like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, and—yes—Die Hard. After Elf and Love Actually were released in 2003, it seemed like the proliferation of Hallmark holiday movies so saturated the market that it would be nearly impossible for a modern movie to make its yuletide impression… let alone an adaptation of a book published more than a half-century earlier about a fictional lesbian romance. Enter Carol.
Seventy years ago, suspense writer Patricia Highsmith followed up her debut novel—the smash-hit Strangers on a Train that had already been adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock—with The Price of Salt, chronicling the relationship between aspiring set designer Therese Belivet and housewife Carol Aird, whom Therese meets working at a Manhattan toy store in the days leading up to Christmas, inspired by a brief encounter that Highsmith experienced while working in Bloomingdale’s toy department during the 1948 holiday season. Due to the impact that the novel’s sapphic content may have had on her career, Highsmith was credited under the alias “Claire Morgan” when The Price of Salt was first published in 1952.
Surprisingly, there was an attempt to adapt The Price of Salt for the screen not long after it was published, but the tight restrictions of the Production Code immediately enervated the script, which was renamed Winter Journey and centered around Therese’s romance with a man named… Carl. Luckily, wiser minds evidently prevailed and allowed for the first major screen adaptation to be Todd Haynes’ thoughtful Carol in 2015 starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as Carol and Therese, respectively.
We meet Therese while she’s working at the fictional Frankenberg’s department store in Manhattan, casually dating her cordial co-worker Richard Semco (Jake Lacy). A Navy veteran with artistic aspirations, Richard has grand plans for his future with Therese, even if she doesn’t outwardly share his enthusiasm. Unfortunately for Richard, his dreams of marriage, shared holidays, and European travels with “Terry” are increasingly dashed after she meets the elegant and enigmatic Carol while working at the toy counter.
After a pair of misplaced gloves and some creamed spinach over poached eggs, Therese makes a plan to visit Carol at her home in the country, scheduling it in her calendar for Sunday, December 21, 1952, seventy years ago today, and—in the years since the movie’s release—December 21 has become an unofficial celebration for fans celebrating “Carol Day”.
Presenting the evidence that Carol is, indeed, a Christmas movie.
What’d He Wear?
When I first posted about Richard’s wardrobe on my Instagram last Christmas Eve, I was pleased to receive a comment from Jake Lacy himself that described how costume designer Sandy Powell and her team approached Richard’s costume, including his attractive plaid coat:
Sandy is nothing short of a genius in her field. She and her team custom built this coat. They it based off a half-dozen vintage pieces they had pulled from costume warehouses. They wanted Richard to be dressed mostly in drab grays and browns in order to show him as a part of the world she’s leaving behind. The vintage ones the pulled all had brighter coloring or some tonal warmth to them. And so they built and aged this one.
In response to Therese asking how many times he’s been in love, Richard laughs in response “Never!” before tactfully adding “…until you.”
Richard’s thigh-length belted coat follows the design of traditional hunting jackets popular through mid-century. The material is a heavy taupe-brown woolen twill, patterned across the front in a charcoal plaid. Three dark brown woven leather shank buttons fasten up the front to mid-chest, with an additional button at the neck should Richard want to close it. While the bottom half of the lapels are plaid to match the front of the jacket, the long-pointed collar is the same solid taupe as the body of the jacket.
The set-in sleeves are also solid taupe, each finished at the cuff with a short strap that fastens through a single button. Flapped pockets are positioned below the belt on each side of the front, providing handy storage for Richard’s tan knitted gloves.
Christmas is only four days away when Richard accompanies Therese to wait for Carol to pick her up outside a yule-decorated Frankenberg’s.
“Therese’s ostensible boyfriend Richard offers a large, domineering silhouette in his scenes with her,” observed Tom + Lorenzo. “Richard’s shape is distinctly masculine, with exaggerated shoulders paired with a tightly defined waist, fedora, and a high collar. While he’s mostly presented as jovial, clueless, and entitled, his presence always buzzes with an underlying threat or sense that things could turn dark on a dime. This is helped along by the clashing plaids of his outfit and the way Therese’s own clash of stripes and plaids speak of her mindset when she’s around him: overwhelmed, confused and discordant.”
The coat has a full fit through the chest, aided by inverted box pleats that extend down from the horizontal yoke across the front of the jacket and down the center of the back. The silhouette tapers from the broad shoulders to the suppressed waist, emphasized by a plaid self-belt around Richard’s waist, pulled tight through a gunmetal-finished buckle. The ventless back keeps the fit close around his hips.
Richard invites Therese to his family’s Christmas celebration, adding that “my mom’s sort of planning on it.”
Consistent with the hat-positive decorum of the early ’50s, Richard never ventures outside without his usual fedora, made from a slightly darker taupe-brown felt than his jacket and detailed with a pinched crown, self-edged brim, and narrow black grosgrain band.
The most color in Richard’s wardrobe comes from his neckwear, dressed for the Manhattan winter in a soft woolen twill scarf with parallel twill lines in white and yellow criss-crossing to form a wide-scaled grid-check that separates the body of the scarf into squares in different shades of red including scarlet, burgundy, maroon, and wine.
Powell’s costume design illustrates Richard’s lack of creativity as the brown suit and red tie effectively mirror the jacket and scarf he wears atop them. Little can be seen of the suit, but the suiting is a slightly warmer shade of brown and the tailoring demonstrates the usual excess of ’50s menswear with a full-fitting double-breasted jacket with wide, padded shoulders and broad peak lapels.
Richard even wears more red neckwear with white and yellow accents in the form of his scarlet silk tie with its sets of abstract-looking gradient streaks in white and yellow.
After a day of working together at Frankenberg’s, Richard brings Therese out to join their projectionist pal at the movies.
Later, after Therese informs Richard that she’ll be missing his family’s Christmas celebrations to join Carol on the road, he’s wearing his usual white cotton dress shirt, red patterned tie, and brown suit trousers but with the additional layer of a shawl-collar pullover sweater.
Knitted from an almost electric lime-green fabric with a napped charcoal contrast ribbing throughout that creates an almost iridescent finish, the sweater’s appearance recalls the very similarly colored and styled roll-neck that Therese wore when she first met Carol at the counter at Frankenberg’s. Tom + Lorenzo observe that this provides “a visual callback to what [Richard] sees at that moment as the source of his problems, as well as a character motif that places him as another person obsessed with Carol and what she means.”
Whether he’s wearing the jacket or not, Richard regularly wears the pleated trousers of his brown suit, though little details can be discerned aside from the generous fit aided by the pleats and the full-break bottoms finished with turn-ups (cuffs), all characteristic of the era.
The full trouser break that typically engulfs his shoes even still manages to cover the top of them while he’s bicycling with Therese to work. The shoes are dark brown leather long-wing derby brogues.
Patricia Highsmith rarely described much of Richard’s wardrobe in her novel The Price of Salt, aside from the occasional mention of an overcoat, though Therese does go into some detail when describing Richard in the second chapter:
There was a new charcoal smudge all over one knee of his tan cotton trousers. He wore a shirt inside the red and black checked shirt, and buckskin moccasins that made his big feet look like shapeless bear paws.
In the movie, most of our time with Richard is spent adjacent to work, which calls for a dressier shirt and tie than the casual wardrobe outlined by Highsmith. However, we do catch up with Richard at a party months after Therese’s experiences with Carol ended her relationship with him. She spies him across the room, clad in a red-and-green tartan plaid woolen flannel shirt with a white double-lined overcheck, styled like the classic Pendleton “Board Shirt” with a broad camp collar and two flapped chest pockets. His pleated slacks may be the same brown suit trousers he often wore in the earlier scenes, and the large swath of a white cotton T-shirt visible under the open collar of the shirt reflects the undershirt described by Highsmith.
We can’t see his feet to know if the somewhat warmer weather has called for the book-described buckskin moccasins, which may have looked incongruously unseasonal and undressy with the somewhat more professional clothing that the cinematic Richard wore while working at Frankenberg’s.
For his last screen appearance, Richard’s red plaid shirt with a visible white undershirt and slacks may be a nod to the clothing described by Patricia Highsmith.
What to Imbibe
“I drink to forget I got to get up for work in the morning,” Richard groans over a lineup of spent Rheingold Beer bottles while drinking with Therese and their friends.
CAROL
“Rheingold Beer was once a top New York brew, guzzled regularly by a loyal cadre of workingmen, who would just as soon have eaten nails as drink another beer maker’s suds,” described the New York Times of the venerable beer in 2003, long after it was no longer produced… an eventuality that would have been shocking to New Yorkers a half-century earlier when the brewery dominated more than a third of the state’s beer market.
The Rheingold story begins in mid-19th century Brooklyn, where German immigrants Samuel Liebmann and his sons Charles, Henry, and Joseph opened a brewery in Bushwick, resuming the business that Samuel had operated back home in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart. According to Suzanne Spellen’s history of the beer for Brownstoner, the Rheingold name was coined in 1883 “after a Metropolitan Opera performance of the Ring Cycle. The conductor, taken with the beer, held it up to the light and declared it the color of ‘Das Rheingold.'”
Though many American breweries struggled through Prohibition, Liebmann’s beer almost didn’t make it that far when it was subject to anti-German sentiment during World War I. After barely surviving Prohibition by producing “near beer”, the brewery was rejuvenated with the arrival of Dr. Hermann Schülein, who had overseen Lӧwenbrau in Munich before he traveled to America to escape Hitler’s persecution of Jews in the 1930s. Under Dr. Schülein’s management, the brewery formally introduced the Rheingold name through an extensive advertising campaign that included the highly publicized “Miss Rheingold” contest that launched in 1940 and would run annually for a quarter of a century.
Unfortunately for Liebmann’s Brewery, the growth of national beers massively impacted the sales of regional beers like Rheingold and the brewery ended its operations in the late 1970s, ultimately torn down in 1981.
What to Listen to
In addition to its score by Carter Burwell, Carol boasts an excellent soundtrack of music from the era, including contemporary hits of the early 1950s like The Clovers’ “One MInt Julep”, “You Belong to Me” by Helen Foster and The Rovers, and Les Paul and Mary Ford performing “Smoke Rings” as well as older standards like Billie Holiday’s 1937 recording of “Easy Living” backed by Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra, the latter becoming a leitmotif for Therese’s relationship with Carol after she plays the song on Carol’s piano and ultimately gifts her an LP that includes the song.
Of course, the Christmas setting also warrants the inclusion of holiday standards like Perry Como’s recording of “Silver Bells” played as the two women embark on their wintry road trip, though I believe this is from his album The Perry Como Christmas Album released in 1968, more than sixteen years after the setting.
How to Get the Look
Jake Lacy as Richard Semco in Carol (2015)
Even if he’s meant to represent a less exciting alternative than the eponymous Carol for Therese’s romantic future, I have a soft spot for that ’50s-inspired, custom-made plaid belted coat that Richard Semco wears while bicycling—or walking his bike—around New York City at Christmastime, appointing his ensemble with a red checked scarf that feels seasonally appropriate in all the right ways. The coat would probably be cumbersome when worn over a suit jacket as we see Richard do, but the way he wears it over a uniquely ribbed shawl-collar sweater is ideal.
Taupe-brown (with charcoal plaid front) woolen twill thigh-length 4-button hunting jacket with front and back inverted box pleats, full belt with gunmetal buckle, flapped hip pockets, and set-in sleeves with button-fastened semi-straps
Brown suit:
Double-breasted jacket with wide peak lapels
Pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
White cotton dress shirt with point collar and button cuffs
Scarlet-red silk tie with abstract white and yellow streaks
Lime-green and fuzzy charcoal-ribbed shawl-collar pullover sweater
Brown leather long-wing derby brogue shoes
Dark taupe-brown felt fedora with narrow black grosgrain band
Red multi-toned soft woolen twill scarf with white and yellow twill check
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, L.A. Confidential chronicles a faction of cops and crooks in the City of Angels through the early 1950s, with Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson’s Oscar-winning screenplay adapted from James Ellroy’s sprawling pulp novel of the same name. The movie begins on Christmas Eve 1952, based on a real-life episode known as “Bloody Christmas” when seven prisoners were abused while in LAPD custody on the morning of December 25, 1951, resulting in a wave of indictments, suspensions, and transfers of the more than four dozen officers involved.
“You’re like Santa Claus with that list, Bud… ‘cept everyone on it’s been naughty,” observes corrupt LAPD Sergeant Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) of his crusading partner, Officer Wendell “Bud” White, who watches an abusive husband ruin his wife’s Christmas through gritted teeth.
Lounging in the backseat of their unmarked Chevy with a dwindling flask of Old Crow, Stens insists that Bud leave it be—after all, they’ve been assigned the task of picking up booze for their precinct’s Christmas party—but the sound of breaking glass sends Bud into action. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, the abusive husband sprang from his wife to see what was the matter… only for a buzz-cutted “ghost of Christmas past” to swiftly incapacitate the parole-breaking abuser and give the maltreated wife a few bucks to find refuge with a neighbor.
After stopping at a liquor store for Stensland’s prescribed errand, Bud’s protective instinct kicks in yet again when he spies a bruised woman in the backseat of a parked sedan with a debonair pimp (David Strathairn) and armed driver (Darrell Sandeen). The situation is soon resolved by the glamorous Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), whom Bud had encountered inside the store moments earlier.
Bud: Merry Christmas. Lynn: Merry Christmas to you, officer. Bud: That obvious, huh? Lynn: It’s practically stamped on your forehead.
In the midst of hunting-and-pecking his way through a typewritten report back at the station, White’s troubles are compounded when he’s recruited by smooth-talking Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) to restrain his drunken partner from brawling with a group of Mexican-American prisoners… only for one of the men to make an unfortunate comment disparaging Bud’s deceased mother, in turn inviting Bud’s famous fists to join the brawl soon to be dubbed “Bloody Christmas” by the press.
What’d He Wear?
Scored by Johnny Mercer’s exuberant “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”, L.A. Confidential‘s opening credits reinforce the conspicuous prosperity in postwar America, a prosperity reflected in exaggerated and excess tailoring like the late ’40s “Bold Look” described by Esquire, though not everyone strolled into the fabulous fifties wearing roomy suits with buttressed shoulders and broad lapels. That style may work for Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), the celebrity cop who revels his role in the public eye, but it wouldn’t suit Bud White, whose approach to dressing is as simple as his mindset.
With a closet mostly limited to brown sport jackets, white short-sleeved shirts, and complementary slacks, Bud could easily wake up and pull any combination of jacket, shirt, tie, and trousers together without having to think about it… for as Bud is often informed by superiors, thinking ain’t his strong suit. And speaking of suits…
Bud’s screen-worn wardrobe consists entirely of brown sport jackets, some detailed with the mini-checks and atomic flecks popular through the 1950s. At the start of the movie on Christmas Eve, we’re introduced to the hard-nosed officer wearing a sports coat constructed of a solid dark brown flannel twill, devoid of any contrasting patterns or weaves.
The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels of moderate width but with small notches, rolling to a two-button front that Bud always wears open, allowing quick access to his belt-holstered Colt Detective Special. The sloped shoulders extend broadly out to the roped sleeveheads. Though shaped with front darts, the ventless jacket still presents a fashionably full fit. It is additionally detailed with a welted breast pocket and straight jetted hip pockets.
Bud invariably wears white short-sleeved shirts and ties, a utilitarian choice likely more comfortable in the L.A. climate (even in December!) despite its unfashionability often likened to high school principals… as well as the jacket sleeves’ exposure to body oils on the forearms, though Bud doesn’t seem the type to care too much about his clothes.
This shirt features the puckered white-on-white suggesting the light-wearing seersucker cotton, adding a degree of complexity to the shirt that also hints at how Bud may have more beneath the surface than being the “mindless thug” dismissed by Ed Exley (Guy Pearce). As well as his usual notched short sleeves, the shirt has a narrow spread collar, plain front (no placket), and breast pocket.
“You touch her again, I’ll have you violated on a kiddie raper beef. You know what they do to kiddie rapers in Quentin.”
Held in place by a textured silver bar, Bud’s silk tie is patterned in a low-contrast striped tie that repeats a gradating series of burgundy, forest-green, brown, and tan stripes, all following an “uphill” diagonal direction. (I believe Bud re-wears the tie but with a different jacket about a month later when he finds a corpse in the crawlspace under the Lefferts home.)
Another Christmas present for Bud Quixote in the form of a second potential damsel in distress… and one who looks like Rita Hayworth to boot!
Bud wears fashionably roomy slacks in a very neutral medium shade of taupe-brown with double reverse-facing pleats, side pockets, and narrow turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. He holds up the trousers with a black leather belt that closes through a silver-toned single-prong buckle. The belt coordinates to the shoe leather of his usual black calf apron-toe oxfords, worn here with chocolate-brown cotton lisle socks.
To me, Bud’s age, appearance, and attitude always suggested military experience, though there’s no evidence supporting this in the movie or—from what I understand, having yet to read it—James Ellroy’s source novel. That said, he appears to wear an old-fashioned trench watch, an early transitional prototype for wristwatches that was developed during World War I to meet the specificity of timekeeping needs in combat. Worn by many nation’s militaries during the conflict, trench watches were essentially pocket watches—with or without the covers—but converted to be worn on the wrist with the addition of wire lugs to support a strap.
Whether purchased secondhand or passed down through the family (likely not from his murderous brute of a father), Bud’s round brass-finished watch has a large prominent crown and black dial with a sub-dial at the 6:00 position and luminous off-white Arabic numeral hour markers. The telltale wired lugs secure to two small leather tabs on a brown leather Bund strap, the two-piece bracelet developed to protect German aviators’ wrists from their metal watch-backs in extreme flying conditions by completely covering the wrist in a swath of leather and strapping the watch atop it.
Noo, don’t do it, Bud! He didn’t mean it… he didn’t even know your mother!
What to Listen to
The liquor store where Bud meets Lynn and purchases the booze for the holiday party plays Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters’ version of “Mele Kalikimaka”. Recorded in 1950, this Hawaiian-themed Christmas song would have still been relatively new at the time that L.A. Confidential was set.
Robert Alex Anderson had been inspired to write the song in 1949 while working at the Hawaiian corporation Von Hamm-Young when a stenographer asked him where there were no original Hawaiian Christmas songs. Borrowing a decades-old loan-phrase from English, Anderson set out to rectify the stenographer’s concern with a catchy tune that so impressed his occasional golfing buddy Bing Crosby that Bing, in turn, surprised his pal by recording the now-hit single for Decca with the Andrews Sisters.
Covered by artists like the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett, and Kacey Musgraves, “Mele Kalikimaka” remains a holiday favorite more than a half-century later, though Crosby’s rendition remains the gold standard, having also featured in movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) and Catch Me If You Can (2002).
Looking for more L.A. Confidential-inspired Christmas music? Though none of his holiday jams are on the soundtrack, the movie does feature tracks by jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, who was born on this day in 1929. You can find Baker’s recordings of “The Christmas Song”, “The First Noel”, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”, “Silent Night”, “Winter Wonderland”, and my personal favorite yuletide standard “The Christmas Waltz” all available among samplings of his work.
How to Get the Look
Russell Crowe as Wendell “Bud” White in L.A. Confidential (1997)
Bud White is a simple cop and a simple dresser, but—just like the character himself—looking deeper at his wardrobe can reveal unique details like his old-fashioned trench watch, gradating tie stripes, or the subtle puckered stripe of his seersucker shirts that suggest more of a distinctive texture than initially apparent.
Dark brown flannel twill single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
White-on-white seersucker striped cotton short-sleeved shirt with narrow spread collar, plain front, and breast pocket
Burgundy, forest-green, brown, and tan gradient-striped tie
Textured silver tie bar
Taupe double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
Black calf leather apron-toe oxford shoes
Chocolate-brown cotton lisle socks
Brass-finished trench watch with black dial (with luminous Arabic numeral hour markers and 6:00 sub-dial) on brown leather Bund strap
Leonardo DiCaprio and Nathalie Baye in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Vitals
Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., suburban high-schooler
New Rochelle, New York, Christmas 1963
Film: Catch Me If You Can Release Date: December 25, 2002 Director: Steven Spielberg Costume Designer: Mary Zophres
Background
Merry Christmas!
Based on the now mostly debunked claims of fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr., Catch Me If You Can was released 20 years ago today on Christmas 2002, an appropriate opening date for a movie that benchmarks its protagonist’s status by how he spends each yuletide.
When we first meet Frank in late 1963, he’s a relatively well-adjusted teen with plenty of charisma if perhaps a bit precociously streetwise for a 15-year-old in the suburbs of New Rochelle, no doubt a byproduct of his artful father Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), depicted passing on several lessons in minor larceny to his son. Before Frank Jr.’s first Pan Am uniform fitting or check forgery, we spend one last idyllic holiday with the Abagnale family in their New Rochelle home during Christmas 1963, as both Frank and his father take turns dancing with his Algerian-born mother Paula (Nathalie Baye), reminiscing about Frank Sr.’s courtship of the “blonde bombshell” Paula while he was serving in France during World War II.
Within a few months, Frank Sr. and Paula have divorced and—armed with a skimpy checking account and his father’s charisma—the teenage Frank Jr. has embarked on a life of financial crime, destined for lonely Christmases to come with no real company save for supercilious FBI Special Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) on the other end of the phone.
The stockings were hung by Christopher Walken with care… in hopes that Tom Hanks soon wouldn’t be there.
As I mentioned, the bulk of Abagnale’s most compelling claims have been discredited, the truth being that the real Frank occasionally got ahold of some pilot uniforms and passed bad checks in small amounts between his arrests for car theft and vagrancy through the ’60s, eventually fleeing to Europe where he was a ward of the French and Swedish prison systems until he was ultimately released. After yet another prison stretch in the early ’70s—for forging about $1,400 bad checks while again occasionally posing as a pilot and a doctor—Abagnale eventually smooth-talked his way into a career as a financial security consultant, during which time his grandiose claims of fraudulent escapades began to pick up momentum, resulting in public speeches, TV appearances, and ultimately the 1980 book that was further fictionalized when it was adapted into Steven Spileberg’s stylish and entertaining movie.
While I’m not sure if the real Frank Abagnale spent any of his adolescent Christmases on the phone with FBI Agent Joseph Shea (who inspired the Carl Hanratty character), the holidays hold some significance in the real Frank’s criminal career after he was released from the New York maximum-security correctional facility Great Meadow Prison on Christmas Eve 1968 after serving nearly three and a half years for stealing a Ford Mustang from one of his father’s neighbors.
What’d He Wear?
The movie doesn’t clarify when during the 1963 Christmas season this particular scene occurs, but Frank Jr. is dressed festively for yuletide in a wintry patterned sweater, constructed in a stranded knit like Fair Isle. (The traditional Fair Isle technique originated in the Shetland Islands and refers to a very specific technique of no more than two colors per row, popularized by Edward VIII—then Prince of Wales—when he publicly wore his Fair Isle jumpers in the early 1920s. Due to the specificity of Fair Isle knitting and my own relative ignorance in the topic, I feel most comfortably referring to Frank’s sweater as a “Fair Isle-style” stranded knit.)
Rows of repeating red and blue designs are woven against the sweater’s warm beige ground, the largest being a band of red-centered blue snowflakes across the chest, each flake alternating with a mixed blue-and-red knitted diamond design. The patterns end with a row of inverted triangles across the lower chest, filled in below with just a field of blue flecks against the lower half of the sweater’s beige ground like snow falling against the sky.
The sweater has a plain beige ribbed crew neck and long ribbed cuffs, each turned back once over the wrists. The set-in sleeves have intentionally dropped shoulder seams so that the sleeves generally present an unbroken motif that matches what we see across the front and back.
Frank watches his parents dance in what would be one last happy memory for the Abagnale family.
Frank layers the sweater over a red plaid cotton button-up shirt, patterned with a thick navy and narrow yellow check, though we see little else of the shirt under the full crew-neck of his sweater, nor do we ever see it worn again to confirm any other details.
Brushing against the sweater’s left cuff, Frank wears his usual plain steel wristwatch, detailed with a brown swollen leather strap and a black dial that has tan hour markers that are more pronounced for each even-numbered hour. As he embarks on a criminal career that sees him posing as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer, he occasionally swaps in more sophisticated-looking gold watches, but he does occasionally still wear this watch from his high school era.
Frank balances the eye-catching sweater with plain dark brown flat-front trousers, styled with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. His dark brown leather penny loafers are appropriate for the tastefully casual situation, worn with brown-and-tan argyle socks that unite the standout colors of his sweater and slacks.
While Frank Jr. and his mother Paula immediately jump into action to clean up her wine spill, Frank Sr. is less bothered and takes the opportunity to offer to dance with his wife instead.
How to Get the Look
Leonardo DiCaprio and Nathalie Baye in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Even as a high schooler, Frank Abagnale Jr. reminds us that Christmas sweaters can be tasteful rather than tacky. He probably had no idea he’d be spending the next Christmas wearing a Pan Am pilot’s uniform.
Beige Fair Isle-style stranded-knit crew-neck sweater with red-and-blue wintry motif
Red, navy, and yellow-checked cotton button-up shirt
Dark brown flat-front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
Dark brown leather penny loafers
Brown-and-tan argyle socks
Steel wristwatch with black dial (with tan non-numeric hour markers) on brown swollen leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie… and have a very happy holiday!
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, “in your words, the world’s greatest detective”
Spetses, Greece, May 2020
Film:Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Release Date: November 23, 2022 Director: Rian Johnson Costume Designer: Jenny Eagan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As its quick ascension to the #1 movie on the service suggests, many are spending their Christmas holiday and its surrounding days watching Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which had only a one-week theatrical release earlier this year before it premiered on Netflix on December 23. My wife and I watched it last night and enjoyed yet another fun, stylish, and unorthodox mystery centered around Southern-fried investigator Benoit Blanc, reprised by Daniel Craig after his entertaining turn in Knives Out.
Thanks to accounts like @whatsdanielwearing—which has long identified all the brands mentioned below—fans have long anticipated seeing how the idiosyncratic detective would be dressed in this latest installment.
Acclaimed costume designer Jenny Eagan updated Blanc’s closet from the tweedy threads appropriate for the autumnal New England setting of the first Knives Out to a warmer wardrobe befitting the sun-baked Greek seaside setting in Glass Onion. “There’s a dandy about him that takes you back to a time before,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly. “It borders on period and old-fashioned but yet contemporized a little bit. He’s a character dressing for where he’s going and what he’s getting into.”
Craig’s on- and off-screen style has often been compared to Steve McQueen, but his latest portrayal of Blanc adds another iconic influence to the mix: Cary Grant.
“In my dreams, I could look like Cary Grant,” Craig joked in a Netflix interview, adding that “the references for this are basically Jacques Tati and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief.”
The most obvious visual reference to To Catch a Thief may be the flashback to the evening before a group of frenemies sails out to the innovative island estate owned by obnoxious tech entrepreneur Miles Bron (Edward Norton). While Blanc is content to allow Miles to believe that pandemic-driven boredom inspired him to follow the perhaps mistaken invitation to the island, the flashback reveals that it was part of a plan designed with Helen Brand (Janelle Monáe), twin sister of the recently deceased Andi Brand, who contacted Blanc and will be posing as her own dead sister to try to drive out her potential murderer during the weekend.
We’re informed multiple times that the action is set during May 2020, with the restaurant terrace full of masked waiters and sanitizers on the tables reminding us that this was the height of COVID-19 as Blanc and Helen meet one last time before the boat journey to finalize their plan. Proving that he doesn’t need one as a mystery-solving prize, Blanc sets down his iPad upon Helen’s arrival and shares that he’ll be at the dock early to “really lay on some Southern hokum” among their handful of suspects.
What’d He Wear?
Unlike his relatively limited wardrobe of shirts cycled with the same hopsack jacket and trousers in Knives Out, Benoit Blanc cycles through four outfits on screen during his trip to Greece in Glass Onion, including a tan suit with the jacket removed for his arrival, an old-fashioned seersucker swimsuit made by Anto Beverly Hills, and a beige linen safari-styled suit that was the focus of Bond Suits’ excellent post yesterday.
Worn the prior evening before Blanc joins the rest of the guests at the Glass Onion, the fourth outfit consists of a rakish casual look of a striped jumper, neckerchief, and slacks that was directly inspired by Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. It feels like an appropriate time for Blanc to don the look as the scene depicts his seaside scheming, not unlike Grant as the mischievous yet charming cat burglar John Robie.
Homage without cosplay: Benoit Blanc channels John Robie’s Riviera style without trying to mimic the exact costume from Hitchcock’s stylish 1955 drama.
A uniting element of Benoit Blanc’s Greek style is the addition of a neckerchief, whether under the open collar of his shirts or banded around the top of his crew-neck sweater à la Robie. Consistent with the summery light colors of his outfit, Blanc wears a pale pink kerchief with a white repeating print, which @whatsdanielwearing identified as the Last Chance Textiles“Cotton Daisy Bandana” in shell pink organic cotton, though this colorway appears to be discontinued as of December 2022.
Knotted at the front of his throat, the bandana serves more than just an aesthetic purpose, catching sweat to protect the sweater’s neck-line.
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Blanc wears a Boss Hugo Boss sweater in “beige multicolor” 100% cotton, which would wear comfortably cool in the heat of an evening in Spetses, where low temperatures rarely dropped below 76° in July 2021 when these scenes were being filmed, though it would have been about ten degrees cooler in May 2020, when it was set. (As of December 2022, the exact Boss sweater can still be sourced from outfitters like Saks Off 5th, though size availability is dwindling.)
The sweater has raglan sleeves finished with tan ribbed cuffs that echo a ribbed hem that goes unseen as Blanc wears the sweater tucked into his trousers. The crew-neck is banded with two black stripes narrower than those on the sweater’s body and sleeves.
The black bar stripes balanced against an eggshell white ground recall Breton stripes, which have been associated with the sea since their standardization for French sailors during the 1850s. Whether indicating significance or consequence of coincidence, Blanc’s stripes also echo the similarly striped cardigan that Helen wore while identifying Andi’s body at the morgue during a flashback-within-a-flashback.
Blanc’s off-white linen trousers echo the tailoring and style of his other suit trousers, with a classic high rise to Daniel Craig’s natural waist where they lack belt loops or braces (though that’s not to say there aren’t inside buttons for the latter), suspended by a slide-buckle adjuster on each side of the waistband.
Rather than traditional pleats, the trousers have an inverted box pleat on each side of the front, forming an inverted “V” shape that peaks just below the waistband and looks even more exaggerated when Blanc places his hands in the slanted side pockets, stretching out the fabric between the pleats. The trousers also have jetted back pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms with a full break.
Blanc wears a different pair of shoes with each outfit, beginning with these white loafers that @whatsdanielwearing identified as the Rivieras “Classic” slip-ons, worn either sockless or with low “no-show” socks. The shoes have white cotton canvas uppers, each consisting of a front piece and back piece that are trimmed with dark brown piping and finished with short white elastic side gussets.
For his brief stroll with Helen from the restaurant to the ice-cream stand, Blanc pulls on a soft khaki canvas trilby similar to the style famously worn by French comic Jacques Tati in a quartet of mid-century movies as Monsieur Hulot, whom Craig specifically cited as a direct influence on this part of Blanc’s costume. Like a cross between the slouchy bucket hat and a traditional trilby, Blanc’s soft-crowned hat has a narrow self-band and a short, stiff brim that’s elongated in the back.
Seen in beautiful close-up earlier on screen, Daniel Craig continues his Bond-informed tradition of wearing beautiful Omega watches on screen, here sporting the Omega Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial Master Chronometer Small Seconds, part of the Swiss watchmaker’s “1948” heritage series launched four years ago to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Seamaster and limited to only 1,948 pieces.
Blanc specifically wears the ref. 511.12.38.20.02.002 on a brown non-grained calf leather strap with a 38mm stainless steel case. The silver domed dial boasts a “small seconds” sub-dial at 6:00 as well as non-numeric hour markers aside from 12, 3, and 9, all in 18-karat white gold that match the leaf-style hands.
How to Get the Look
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Flashy dressing doesn’t always have to be complicated, as Benoit Blanc illustrates with his relatively simple and retro-minded casual seaside outfit in Glass Onion, combining inspiration from Cary Grant, Jacques Tati, and Daniel Craig’s own personal style in a light striped sweater, neckerchief, pleated trousers, and classic Omega.
Eggshell-white and black bar-striped cotton crew-neck long-sleeved sweater with tan ribbed cuffs and hem
Pale-pink and white-printed cotton bandana
Off-white linen high-rise trousers with inverted box pleats, slide-buckle side adjusters, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton canvas slip-on shoes with brown piping
Khaki canvas trilby
Omega Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial Master Chronometer Small Seconds ref. 511.12.38.20.02.002 with stainless steel 38mm case and silver dial with 6:00 sub-dial on brown calf leather strap
Vintage gold Omega Seamaster DeVille watch with round gold dial on textured dark brown leather strap
In recognition of Law’s December 29th birthday landing directly between Christmas and New Year’s Day, it feels most appropriate on his milestone birthday to review his scarf-positive performance in Nancy Meyers’ yuletide romantic comedy The Holiday, which was incorrectly rumored this month to be receiving a sequel 17 years after its initial release.
For those unfamiliar, The Holiday centers around American movie promoter Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) and English columnist Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) who arrange to escape their respective holiday heartbreak by swapping locales via homeexchange.com, and—this being a Nancy Meyers joint—finding love in the process. While Iris lands the affable composer Miles (Jack Black), Amanda ends up with Iris’ “semi-respectable big brother” Graham, who drunkenly dashes into her life with a tan that defies what admittedly little I know about UK winters.
Amanda meets Graham several days before Christmas when he drunkenly shows up at Iris’ cottage in Surrey, a situation that may have been a “meet-cute” for 2006 audiences but would surely trigger red flags among scores of murderinos today. Though initially alarmed by his pounding at the door and asking to use the bathroom, Amanda quickly grows comfortable with the stranger and shares how she ended up staying in his sister’s cottage to try to assuage her holiday loneliness. After Amanda fears she’s overshared, she quips “I bet you’re glad you knocked on this door,” to which Graham earnestly responds “I am, actually,” and kisses her goodnight… a well-received risk that results in her impulsively asking him to spend the night.
What’d He Wear?
Graham had likely started his day dressed for work before it devolved into an evening at the pub, clad in a plaid sports coat and tie dressed down with jeans and layered under one of his requisite overcoat-and-scarf combinations. Though it’s only a relatively brief scene, we get a clear sense of his wardrobe as he strips down from being inside to crash on Iris’ couch as usual… and then to dress again the next morning after sleeping with Amanda.
This first scarf is arguably the simplest of Graham’s screen-worn collection, made from a thick charcoal wool that has significant pilled. While certainly functional, this scarf doesn’t make as much of an impression as the natty plaid scarf he would wear the following evening when hoping to run into Amanda at his local pub.
I’m particularly fond of Graham’s topcoat in these scenes, a brown Donegal tweed thigh-length coat with the colorful flecking characteristic of this Irish-woven woolen fabric. Other than its length, the flattering three-button coat is styled like a tailored single-breasted sport jacket with its “swelled”-edge notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, single vent, and set-in sleeves with roped shoulders and four “kissing” buttons on each cuff.
When Graham drunkenly slides out of his coat while getting to know Amanda, we briefly see his stylish wool sports coat, patterned in a black-on-brown glen plaid with a teal-blue graph overcheck. The single-breasted, two-button jacket has straight, padded shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and long double vents. Front darts shape the jacket into a handsome hourglass silhouette. In addition to the welted breast pocket, the hip pockets are slanted rearward with wide, rounded flaps.
The most unique aspect of the jacket are the skirted cuffs, which have a deep vent and wide gauntlets that each fasten to a single button in lieu of traditional cuff buttons.
Aside from the white shirt during the New Year’s Eve-set finale, Graham wears exclusively light blue shirts, both solid and in various stripes like the shirt he wears when he meets Amanda. This particular shirt is pale-blue cotton with stripes alternating between a narrow double set of burgundy track stripes and a hairline-width light-blue stripe. Fitted to flatter Law’s frame, the shirt has a spread collar, French front (no placket), and single-button rounded cuffs with additional gauntlet buttons.
Coordinating with his shirt’s track stripes, Graham’s dark burgundy silk tie is patterned with a neatly organized field of white pin-dots and tied in a four-in-hand that—given how he spent the first part of his evening—is already considerably loosened by the time he arrives at Amanda’s door.
Even with a jacket and tie, Graham typically wears dark indigo denim jeans, which he mentions are often battling hot chocolate stains thanks to his fatherly festivities with Sophie (Miffy Englefield) and Olivia (Emma Pritchard). As was fashionable through the mid-2000s when The Holiday was filmed, Graham’s jeans have gently flared boot-cut bottoms with full breaks that envelop his brown leather oxford-laced shoes… though we admittedly don’t see enough of them to know that they’re not boots. The footwear likely match his dark brown leather belt that goes unseen here but flashes a silver-toned square single-prong buckle in other scenes.
Graham wears a gold dress watch that has a gold dial detailed with non-numeric hour indices and sub-dials at the 12 and 6 o’clock positions, worn on a russet crocodile-scaled leather strap.
Having misplaced his contact lenses, Graham puts on his black-framed glasses the following morning, adding a dash of bookish sensitivity apropos this self-proclaimed “weeper” that indicate his increased vulnerability as he stumbles through trying to share his feelings for Amanda in the morning.
Law wore the FACE À FACE “Oscar” frame that reportedly garnered the French eyewear brand so many inquiries that they rereleased a limited run of 300 copies stamped with The Holiday markings along the inside.
What to Imbibe
Despite the fact that he’s returned from getting “inordinately pissed” at the local pub, Amanda offers Graham a drink (“Glass of water? Tea? Wine, maybe?”) to which he responds by pointing out a bottle of Raynal VSOP tucked among Iris’ Bombay Sapphire gin and Glen Moray whisky, requesting “Maybe there’s a bottle of brandy… fancy a glass?”
I’ve never tasted Raynal myself, but Total Wine & More describes this budget-friendly brandy as:
A blend of three eaux-de-vie sourced from the most famous French wine regions. Carefully handcrafted and aged in French oak to provide a smooth, velvety taste containing notes of almond and walnut. Long finish, with hints of candied fruit and ginger.
How to Get the Look
Jude Law in The Holiday (2006)
There are certain things I suspect Graham Simpkins can get away with because he’s played by Jude Law—for instance, spontaneously kissing a woman just minutes after you met her by drunkenly pounding on her front door—but a distinctive sport jacket should be on any man’s wishlist, incorporating an eye-catching design like Graham’s plaid as well as unique detailing like his button-down gauntlets. It may be just the panache you need to wear a jacket, tie, and jeans without looking like Jerry Seinfeld. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)
Brown-and-black glen plaid (with teal-blue overcheck) wool single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, wide button-down gauntlet cuffs, and long double vents
Pale-blue track-striped cotton shirt with spread collar, plain front, and 1-button rounded cuffs
Dark burgundy pin-dot silk tie
Dark indigo denim jeans
Dark brown leather belt with silver-toned square single-prong buckle
Brown leather oxford shoes
Brown flecked Donegal tweed single-breasted 3-button thigh-length overcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button “kissing” cuffs, and single vent
Charcoal woolen scarf
Black-framed glasses
Gold dress watch with gold dial on russet croc leather strap
Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens in The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Vitals
Ernest Borgnine as Mike Rogo, a tough New York detective
Aboard the S.S. Poseidon en route Athens, New Year’s Eve 1972
Film:The Poseidon Adventure Release Date: December 12, 1972 Director: Ronald Neame Costume Designer: Paul Zastupnevich
Background
Happy New Year’s Eve! Fifty years ago, the holiday was celebrated in spectacular fashion aboard the S.S. Poseidon, the fictitious ship at the center of “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen’s Academy Award-winning 1972 blockbuster The Poseidon Adventure, based on Paul Gallico’s novel on the same name inspired by a journey on the RMS Queen Mary, the now-defunct ship where parts of the movie were filmed. Following the example set by the subgenre-establishing Airport two years earlier, The Poseidon Adventure gathered a group of a stars in a perilous situation that picked them off one by one, allowing its substantial advertising campaign to ask audiences “who will survive?”
Of course, before an undersea earthquake capsizes the aging ship just as auld acquaintances be forgot, its passengers are navigating their own personal dramas like “by-the-book” New York detective Mike Rogo (Ernest Borgnine), who continues struggling coming to terms with how his ex-prostitute wife Linda (Stella Stevens) had made her living before their marriage. His jealousies make their way onto the menu as the two are seated with Reverend Frank Scott (Gene Hackman) at the captain’s table for a New Year’s Eve dinner, but the broadside wave that literally turns their lives upside down plunges the Rogos and their fellow passengers and crew into a desperate adventure to survive.
Let’s hope your New Year is off to an easier start!
What’d He Wear?
Contrasted agains the staid dark suit and neutral turtleneck worn by Reverend Scott, Mike Rogo embraces the flashy festivity of New Year’s Eve in a burgundy silk dinner jacket, pink evening shirt, and black bow tie. Although colorfully coordinated tuxedoes dominated the tackier corners of 1970s fashion—if the powder-blue tailoring in my dad’s prom photos are any indication—Mike’s evening-wear features narrower details that suggest they were made through the late ’60s before the more excessive trends of the ’70s entered the mainstream.
Though the flashy color may not be for everyone, Mike’s burgundy silk dinner jacket is still flatteringly tailored for the burly Ernest Borgnine, with a narrow self-faced shawl collar that rolls to a single button positioned at his natural waist, though we never see Mike wear the jacket buttoned. The short length of Mike’s double side vents would also have been popular during the previous decade as vents grew generally longer in the ’70s.
The jacket has no breast pocket, and the straight jetted hip pockets are trimmed in the same black silk piping along the narrow turnback (gauntlet) cuffs detailing the end of each sleeve with their two buttons. Turnback cuffs are a neo-Edwardian detail that tailors resurrected through the 1950s and ’60s across a variety of styles from dressed-down sports coats to dinner jackets, as spied on Sean Connery’s first tuxedo as James Bond in Dr. No. Some regard turnback cuffs a sporty addition, making them particularly appropriate for Mike’s creative black tie ensemble.
Mike and Linda toast to the new year!
Mike wears a black bow tie in a straight batwing shape as was popular early in the previous decade and harmonizes with the narrower collars of his jacket and shirt, though he may lose some sartorial credit after the wreck when the unfastened tie hangs from his neck, revealing that it’s not only pre-tied but likely of the clip-on variety.
Mike Rogo may mock his wife for not wearing anything under her dress, but at least she’s not the one wearing a clip-on bow tie.
Mike wears a rose-pink cotton formal evening shirt that softly coordinates with his dinner jacket by remaining in the red color family. A classic white evening shirt could work just as well with a burgundy dinner jacket—and could be argued as the classier choice—but wearing a pink shirt indicates that Mike built his evening-wear with intention.
In spite of the trendy color, Mike’s shirt thankfully avoids some of the gaudier fashions of the era like ruffles or oversized collars. Indeed, the shirt’s slim spread collar is proportional with his jacket, also detailed with a narrowly pleated bib with four polished silver studs visible that match the cuff links fastening his double (French) cuffs.
To balance the colorful upper half of his black-tie kit, Mike wears the conventional black formal trousers detailed with black silk braiding down each side seam from the waist to the plain-hemmed bottoms. Mike’s suspenders (braces) are white silk with a tonal satin bar-stripe down the center, rigged with silver adjuster hardware and white leather back-patch and double-ears that fasten to the pairs of buttons along the inside of the front of the waistband and a pair on the outside of the rear center. In addition to the suspenders, Mike’s trousers are self-suspended with a set of button-tab adjusters rigged on each side of the waistband.
Though the aforementioned Mr. Bond often forewent the evening-wear tradition of covering his waist with either a waistcoat or cummerbund, Mike Rogo plays by the rules by sliding a black satin silk cummerbund around his waist, fastened in the back through an adjustable silver-toned buckle. “While shawl-lapel dinner jackets look elegant with either form of waistband covering, the cummerbund’s curved design harmonizes particularly well with this shape of lapel,” wrote the eminent Alan Flusser in Style & the Man.
When Reverend Scott suggests that the women in his escape party can’t climb up the fallen tree to the galley in their long gowns, Mike observes the potential issue if his wife disrobes as “she’s got nothin’ on underneath,” which she confirms by stating: “Just panties, what else do I need?”
For the sake of decorum, Mike—with a groan—yields his pink dress shirt to Linda for the duration of their escape attempt, stripping himself down to a white cotton short-sleeved undershirt with a V-shaped neckline that only gets deeper as the shirt gets wetter… and not in a way that would win Mr. Borgnine any contests at sleazy bars.
The Poseidon passengers’ fancy dinner clothes significantly devolve over the course of their attempted escape, with Mike protecting his wife’s modesty by giving her his pink evening shirt and wearing just his undershirt.
Mike wears the traditional black-tie footwear of black leather lace-ups and dress socks. His shoes appear to be cap-toe derbies, a tasteful but traditionally less formal alternative to oxfords.
Mike wears a simple stainless steel wristwatch with a plain round white dial on a black leather strap around his left wrist. On his left ring finger, he wears a hefty gold ring with a substantial red ovular stone that luckily doesn’t weigh him down as he swims through the ship’s submerged bowels.
How to Get the Look
Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Ernest Borgnine wears a reasonable execution of creative black tie for a New Year’s Eve at sea in the early ’70s, a festive situation that arguably allows the frivolity of a burgundy silk dinner jacket and tonally coordinated pink shirt, tastefully appointed with black formal trousers, cummerbund, suspenders, and black leather lace-ups.
Burgundy silk single-button dinner jacket with narrow shawl collar, black-jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs with narrow black-piped gauntlets, and short double vents
Rose-pink cotton evening shirt with spread collar, narrowly pleated front, and double/French cuffs
Silver shirt studs
Silver cuff links
Black straight batwing-shaped bowtie
Black darted-front formal trousers with black silk side-seam braiding, button-tab side adjusters, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White silk tonal-striped suspenders/braces with silver adjuster hardware and white leather back-patch and double-ears
Black silk cummerbund with silver-toned back buckle
Black leather cap-toe derby shoes
Black dress socks
White cotton V-neck short-sleeve undershirt
Stainless steel wristwatch with round white dial on black leather strap
Series.
