Roger Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). Promotional photo by Ian Vaughan.

Vitals

Roger Moore as James Bond, British secret agent

“San Monique” (actually Jamaica), Spring 1973

Film: Live and Let Die
Release Date: June 27, 1973
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Julie Harris
Tailor: Cyril Castle

Background

Released 50 years ago today, Live and Let Die officially began Roger Moore’s 12-year, seven-film tenure as James Bond. Eon Productions’ first attempt recast Sean Connery in the iconic role resulted in the excellent On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), though some audiences—as well as George Lazenby himself—had trouble accepting the inexperienced Aussie as agent 007.

With credits like Maverick, The Saint, and The Persuaders! to his name, Roger Moore brought considerably more experience to the role when he was recruited after Connery’s brief return in Diamonds are Forever (1971). Eon learned from the Lazenby episode to reimagine Moore’s Bond as a totally separate “other fella” from his predecessor… which [initially] meant no tuxedo, no martinis, no Q, and no cool car.

Sure, he didn’t need another Aston Martin, but the Bond series may have swung a little too far in the opposing direction for 007’s transport of choice in Live and Let Die.

Then of course in Live and Let Die I took it to another extreme when I drove an AEC Regent RT-type double-decker bus. I remember that day well: it was 7 December 1972, on location in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and I had to drive it under a low bridge, sheering off the top deck. Maurice Patchett from London Transport’s Chiswick depot spent three months preparing for the stunt, including taking me on a crash course—forgive the pun—on the Chiswick skid pad. Maurice took over the driving as the bus headed for the bridge; the top deck had been carefully removed and replaced only on rollers, to ensure a relatively clean detachment as it hit precisely 30 mph

Maurice said that if the film game didn’t work out for me, I’d make a good London bus man. That would have pleased my mum, who still lived in hope I might one day get a proper job.

— Roger Moore, Bond on Bond

Adapted from Ian Fleming’s second novel set between Harlem and Jamaica, Live and Let Die capitalized on the blaxploitation cinematic trends of the early ’70s, as exemplified by movies like Shaft (1971), Black Caesar (1973), Cleopatra Jones (1973), Coffy (1973), and Foxy Brown (1974). The novel villain’s scheme to sell 17th century gold coins from Sir Henry Morgan’s buried treasure to finance Soviet spy operations was updated for the screen to a drug monopoly, with some of the novel’s unused elements later recycled for later Bond films, specifically For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Licence to Kill (1989).

“This all combined for an exciting plot in which Jimmy Bond tackled the drug barons head on, or at least Harlem drug lord Mr. Big, whose plan was to distribute the world’s largest cache of heroin, free of charge, on the open market. It would drive other drug cartels out of business, increase the number of addicts, and give Mr. Big and his alter ego, poppy-farming Dr. Kananga, a monopoly,” recalls Bond himself, Sir Roger Moore, in his memoir Bond on Bond.

What’d He Wear?

In their book From Tailors With Love, Peter Brooker and Matt Spaiser described the process that went into costuming Roger Moore as the new James Bond for Live and Let Die, including the collaboration of esteemed costume designer Julie Harris and Moore’s then-tailor Cyril Castle. “Julie Harris decided that Moore’s wardrobe of flashy clothes from previous projects would not have been suitable for Bond, so she went to Castle to more ‘conventional’ clothes made for him,” Brooker and Spaiser explained.

A notable costume-related moment of Live and Let Die appears as Moore’s Montecristo-smoking Bond glides onto Mr. Big’s San Monique estate for his intended rendezvous with Solitaire (Jane Seymour). 007 initially wears a dark navy leisure suit and neckerchief, perhaps to provide a degree of covert camouflage against the night sky… though one might then question the logic of the hang-glider’s bright green wings. Upon reaching the ground, he rather inexplicably tears away the trousers and reverses his jacket to reveal a beige tropical-weight suit that better fits the warm climate.

Castle’s undercutter Stephen Kent relayed to the authors of From Tailors With Love that he first met Moore when the actor was discussing with Castle how to create the tear-away trousers for the navy leisure suit: “they agreed upon the use of Velcro, a relatively innovative product at the time, down the leg line.”

Other than being a fun, quintessentially Bond moment—recalling Sean Connery unzipping his nylon wetsuit to reveal a white dinner jacket and bow-tie in Goldfinger (1964)—I’d argue that there isn’t much purpose to this segment, as Bond could have easily found a happy medium (not the same kind of “happy medium” that Solitaire would be a few hours later)… not to forget that it’s sartorially insulting to suggest that the reverse of a four-button leisure suit jacket could resemble a tailored two-button lounge suit jacket. (The series would commit a similar sartorial error with Moore a decade later during the Octopussy pre-credits sequence.)

Bond must have realized that, even in 1973, leisure suits would not be ideal for seduction. Luckily, his magically reversible leisure-to-lounge jacket and tear-away trousers solves that problem!

I shouldn’t complain too much, as Moore’s briefly seen beige suit through the following sequence is one of my favorites of his tenure. The cloth is likely a tropical wool, perhaps blended with linen for an even lighter-weight construction. The suit was tailored by Cyril Castle, who maintained the basics of traditional English tailoring while also incorporating contemporary trends. In the early 1970s, the predominant fashion trend was flare, as Castle employed for Moore in his jacket cuffs and trouser bottoms. You can read more about the suit in expert detail in Matt Spaiser’s post for his blog Bond Suits.

The single-breasted two-button jacket has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets that slant rearward, and single-button flared cuffs. The silhouette follows Castle’s then-usual profile for Moore, with straight and gently padded shoulders, roped at the sleeveheads, a full chest and suppressed waist shaped by front darts, and the double vents that we later hear Moore’s Bond specifically request from his on-screen tailor.

Bond takes dressing up for a date to a new level in Live and Let Die.

For his initial landing and seducing Solitaire, Bond dresses up the suit with a wide brown satin silk tie that he evidently discards before the pair make their escape from Mr. Big’s property.

Bond maintains the color palette established by his beige suit and brown tie by wearing a light brown-and-white bengal-striped cotton shirt. The shirt has a semi-spread two-button collar, front placket, and two-button barrel cuffs, rather than the cocktail cuffs found on many of his other shirts across Live and Let Die. The shirt’s distinguishing characteristics—specifically the placket—led Matt Spaiser to conclude that it is one of the few that Moore wears in Live and Let Die that was not made by his then-usual shirtmaker, Frank Foster.

Note the two buttons under the right side of Bond’s collar as he chats topside with Quarrel Jr. (Roy Stewart).

The suit’s matching trousers are also cut and styled consistently with the other trousers Castle would tailor for Moore in Live and Let Die, aside from the three-button “Daks top” side-adjusters that would be replaced with belt loops in The Man with the Golden Gun. The trousers rise to Moore’s natural waist, with long darts (rather than pleats or a traditional flat front) over the hips. The waistband has an extended tab over the front, closing through a hidden hook-and-eye.

The two button-through jetted back pockets are conventional, but the usual front or side pockets are replaced with less conspicuous coin pockets set-in below the trouser waistband on each side of the front, resulting in what Brooker and Spaiser describe as “a sublime androgyny” without the pockets gaping open and disrupting the lines of his trousers as Moore moves. In keeping with Castle’s eye for contemporary trends, the plain-hemmed bottoms are flared.

Bond’s black leather tassel loafers were likely made by Gucci, as this was before Moore switched to Ferragamo leather on screen at the urging of his neighbor (who was related to the Ferragamo family) as he recalls in his memoir Bond on Bond.

The black shoes and matching black socks harmonized better with his navy leisure suit and provide a jarring contrast against the lighter beige suit; I would have recommended shoes with brown leather uppers, or even the dark russet crocodile loafers he would later wear when Mr. Big’s henchmen sentence him to serve as croc bait.

Roger Moore on the set of Live and Let Die. Photo sourced from thunderballs.org.

Though Live and Let Die sought to differentiate Roger Moore’s characterization of James Bond as much as possible from his predecessors, he continues wearing the same type of watch that had been established more than a decade earlier on Sean Connery’s wrist in Dr. No.

Moore’s stainless Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 diver doesn’t just tell time, however, as the unseen Q has equipped his watch with a rotating buzz-saw. The Submariner otherwise follows the expected design of the non-chronometer ref. 5513—introduced in 1962, the same year the world met the cinematic Bond—with its stainless 39mm case, black aluminum bezel and matching black dial, and stainless Oyster-style three-piece link bracelet. (For what it’s worth, the Connery-worn Rolex seen in Dr. No was the slightly older ref. 6538 Submariner.)

This would be no time to activate the Rolex’s buzz-saw bezel, James.

 

Go Big or Go Home

The cards say we will be lovers.

Like its source novel, which was the subject of some controversial sensitivity updates earlier this year, the movie Live and Let Die includes several moments that haven’t aged so well in the half-century since its release, including one of the arguably cringier moments of the series—resulting not from an ill-attempted commentary on race relations but rather one of Mr. Bond’s more manipulative “seductions”. Whether a continuation of the late ’60s hippie counterculture or merely a reaction to trying to make sense of a post-Watergate, post-Vietnam world, astrology was having a cultural moment in the ’70s, and thus fit neatly into Live and Let Die with its voodoo themes and the inclusion of Mr. Big’s fortune-telling girlfriend, Solitaire, the OG astrology girlie.

Unfortunately, Bond uses a deck of tarot cards stacked with “The Lovers” to manipulate the vulnerable virgin Solitaire into tearfully sleeping with him… not a great moment for our protagonist, which he compounds by attempting to reassure her with:

Cheer up, darling. There’s to be a first time for everyone.

Not fair, James!

Whether you’re into tarot reading or just want to pad your collection of Bond-adjacent memorabilia, Bond Lifestyle identified the deck as the “Tarot of the Witches” cards designed by Fergus Hall. A set of the screen-used cards were auctioned by Christie’s in 2012 in conjunction with their “50 Years of James Bond” celebration, fetching £24,000.

You can occasionally find reissued versions of these decks on Amazon… and at much affordable prices than the deck used on screen!

How to Get the Look

Roger Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). Photo sourced from thunderballs.org.

Bond’s beige suit, brown tie, and coordinated stripe shirt is one of my favorite looks to channel for the start of summer… as long as I swap out his curiously chosen black shoes for literally any other brown shoe, from penny loafers to suede brogues.

• Beige lightweight tropical wool (or wool/linen blend) tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, flared 1-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Darted-front trousers with squared extended waistband with hidden double hook-and-eye closure, three-button “Daks top” side-adjusters, two front set-in coin pockets, two button-through back pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• White-and-brown bengal-striped cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, 2-button barrel cuffs
• Brown satin silk tie
• Black leather tassel loafers
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 stainless steel dive watch with black aluminum bezel and black dial on stainless Oyster-style link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

There’s no sense in going off half-cocked.

The post Live and Let Die: Bond’s Beige Tropical Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975)

Vitals

Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper, oceanographer

Amity Island, July 1974

Film: Jaws
Release Date: June 20, 1975
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Design: Louise Clark, Robert Ellsworth, and Irwin Rose

Background

As this summer’s headlines are dominated by stories of orcas reclaiming the sea, now is as good a time as any to revisit the 1975 blockbuster Jaws that thrilled audiences upon its release 48 years ago this month.

Based on Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, Jaws centers around the hunt for a man-eating shark terrorizing the beach of a New England resort town. The hunters include aquaphobic police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), fearless shark hunter and USS Indianapolis survivor Quint (Robert Shaw), and the intense, serious-minded marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), visiting from the Oceanic Institute.

The details of Hooper’s character—including his ultimate fate—changed considerably from the novel, where he had also been an Amity Island local and was thus engaged in an affair with Brody’s wife. The film presents a more cooperative relationship between Hooper and Chief Brody, characterized by a mutual respect lacking in the antagonistic association between Hooper and Quint—which mirrored the actual off-screen tension between Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw.

Steven Spielberg reportedly rewrote the Hooper character to better fit Richard Dreyfuss, whom Spielberg’s friend George Lucas had suggested after directing him in American Graffiti (1973), as well as to mirror his own personality to the extent that the director eventually saw the actor’s portrayal as his own alter ego, according to Joseph McBride’s 1999 biography.

What’d He Wear?

Matt Hooper’s scrappy style has been requested by several BAMF Style readers throughout the years, so readers interested in finding where to buy clothes like Hooper’s can click here to skip ahead to a “Shop the Look” section at the bottom of this page, researched specifically to help you find modern head-to-toe alternatives inspired by Amity Island’s visiting oceanographer.

From the time he arrives on Amity Island, Hooper maintains a daily uniform anchored by his denim jacket, jeans, and deck sneakers, rotating through a trio of sweatshirts or the odd chambray shirt—with a corduroy sports coat, knitted tie, and boat shoes should he need to “dress up”—all tucked away into his russet leather duffel bag.

Hooper wears a dark navy ribbed-knit cap, similar to the woolen watch caps worn by sailors while standing shipboard watch in cold weather. Also known as beanies, skull caps, and toques, this headgear has a centuries-old association with seafarers, from its U.S. Navy authorization to the red knit caps famously worn by Jacques Cousteau and his fictional counterpart Steve Zissou.

When Hooper joints Quint and Brody to set out on the Orca, he swaps out the watch cap for a dark indigo-blue denim bucket hat with a six-paneled soft crown detailed with white contrast stitching that continues in ten bands around the brim. Nicknamed the “Daisy Mae”, this work hat was authorized for U.S. Army wear in 1937, though variations of it may have been worn for decades prior.

Connected to thin gold arms and a gold bridge, Hooper’s rimless eyeglasses have semi-hexagonal lenses, rounded across the top but angled into three distinct sides across the bottom.

Hooper wears a well-traveled blue denim jacket with details indicative of the Levi’s 557XX, which became the latest generation of the San Francisco-based brand’s trucker jackets when it was introduced in 1962. Though known to collectors as the “Type III”, Levi Strauss & Co. designated the jacket as No. 70505 five years later to align with the companion zip-fly Levi’s 505 Regular Fit jeans that were introduced in 1967.

The Levi’s trucker jacket had already undergone two major evolutions (now known as the “Type I” and “Type II” models) following its introduction at the start of the 20th century, though the Type III arguably remains the standard for modern trucker jackets with its trim waist-length design, twin flapped chest pockets, tapered V-shaped front seams, and metal buttons.

Hooper’s jacket has six copper rivet buttons up the front, each coordinated to buttonholes on the left side that have been reinforced with darker navy blue thread, each showing some white fraying thread as well. The two pointed chest pocket flaps align with the horizontal chest yoke, and the characteristic V-shaped front seams taper down from under the top of the pocket flap (at the yoke) to the waist hem. The waistband has a two-button adjustable tab on each side, and the sleeves also have buttons to close the cuffs. (Hand pockets would not be added to Type III jackets until the ’80s, so Hooper’s jacket has only the two chest pockets.)

The signature Levi’s branded red tab would have been sewn along the right side of the left pocket, though this appears to have been removed—either de-branded by the costume team or meant to be a casualty of the wear-and-tear of Hooper’s oceanographical duties.

Hooper’s most frequently worn sweatshirt is the heather gray crew-neck sweatshirt he wore when he arrived on Amity Island, constructed with raglan sleeves.

When Hooper joins Chief Brody to recruit Quint for their shark-hunting mission, he wears a navy raglan-sleeved sweatshirt layered over his lighter blue chambray work shirt, with the latter’s collar positioned over the sweatshirt’s crew neck and both sets of sleeves rolled up his forearms.

On the climactic day aboard the Orca, Hooper wears a baby-blue crew-neck sweatshirt. Like his others, this has long raglan sleeves.

Hooper may wear a Levi’s trucker jacket, but his jeans are Lee Riders, identifiably by the wavy “lazy S” stitch across the back pockets and the “X”-shaped bar tacks stitched at their corners. Though Lee initially branded their 13-oz jeans as “Cowboy Pants” upon their introduction in 1926, Heddels informs us that they originally marketed their jeans to seamen as well as cowboys and loggers.

Made from a light-medium blue denim, Hooper’s jeans are clearly meant to be the same pair throughout the movie, characterized by considerable distress including fraying along the pockets and a self-mended patch over the back right hamstring. He holds them up with a plain black leather belt that closes through a gunmetal-toned double-prong buckle.

Ideal for his substantial work on wet decks, Hooper wears the CVO-style deck sneakers that originated in the 1930s when Paul Sperry was inspired by his dog’s paws to develop siped soles for the seagoing Top Sider shoes. Over the decades that followed, the style has been popularized by brands like Converse, Keds, Sperry, and Vans.

I’ve seen “CVO” described as meaning both “Circular Vamp Oxford” and “Canvas Vulcanized Oxford”, the former referring to the overall shape while the latter relates to the canvas uppers and vulcanized rubber soles. These qualities make them popular for activities like sports or sailing, with the canvas uppers both lightweight and durable for lots of movement while the soles provide extra traction.

Hooper’s navy-blue canvas uppers have five sets of nickel eyelets for the flat white oxford-style laces, with a coordinated navy foxing stripe around the top of his thick white rubber outsoles.

Situations like this are when you appreciate shoes with traction-friendly soles like the siped bottoms of most CVO-style deck sneakers.

Hooper often goes sockless, likely to avoid the discomfort (and potential infection) of his socks growing soggy as water permeates his shoes’ canvas uppers. That said, there are times we see him wearing socks, including a surprising glimpse of his burgundy socks in the background during Brody’s too-close-for-comfort interaction with Bruce the shark. Later that night, when Hooper is drinking and showing off shark-bites with Quint, he pulls back the leg of his jeans to show a pair of gray ribbed socks.

During this same sequence, Hooper wears a pale-pink cotton long-sleeved henley shirt with a three-button placket. He may wear this as an undershirt beneath his sweatshirts, or it may just be how he chooses to dress for a leisurely night of storytelling and beer.

An oceangoing expert whose work often takes him underwater, Hooper understandably wears a dive watch but opted for a less-common model with his Alsta Nautoscaph Superautomatic. Water-resistant down to 300 meters, this satin-finished stainless steel automatic diver has a 36mm squared case and a narrow black unidirectional bezel. Encased under sapphire crystal, the round black dial features luminous coffin-shaped hour indices, in addition to luminous Arabic numerals indicating 12, 6, and 9 o’clock and a white date window at the 3 o’clock position. The watch is secured to a distinctive steel “porthole” bracelet, characterized by its oval-shaped cutouts in each link, a variation of metal rally-style bracelets.

Alsta has wisely capitalized on its Jaws connection by reviving the original Nautoscaph Superautomatic design—sized up to a 38mm case—as well as a line of updates designated the Nautoscaph II, III (PVD-coated), and IV.

Hooper also wears a uniquely shaped open ring on the ring finger of his left hand, made of a light-colored gold with a large black onyx stone set adjacent to the asymmetric fault line.

Mr. Spielberg, Hooper’s Alsta Nautoscaph is ready for its close-up…

When Hooper changes into his blue neoprene diving suit for the final act spent in the shark cage, he fastens the Alsta over the suit’s left cuff.

Hooper uses his dive watch for exactly its intended purpose… though running out of oxygen may not be his #1 concern when testing out the shark cage.

On land, Hooper’s version of “dressing up” doesn’t much differ from his everyday expedition-ready gear. His light-blue chambray two-pocket shirt is a smart choice, as this classic naval work shirt is compatible with his everyday duds while also having the collar that allows him to dress it up with a tie as needed. In this case, he wears a hefty burgundy knitted wool tie with a flat bottom, its coarse texture making it more compatible to be worn with denim and corduroy than a dressier smooth silk tie.

When he and Brody are called away from dinner to work, he swaps out the sports coat for his usual trucker jacket and—much to Hooper’s credit—the look remains pretty cohesive.

Hooper’s three-button sport jacket is made from a navy pinwale corduroy cotton (also known as “needlecord”), with patch pockets over the hips and left breast, two-button cuffs, and a single vent. He continues wearing his usual Lee Rider jeans, though he swaps out the sneakers for somewhat more presentable brown leather boat shoes with black socks. He matches his dark brown leather belt (with a large squared brass single-prong buckle) to the shoes. With their brown leather uppers, two-eyelet 360-degree lacing system, and clean white outsoles, the shoes are likely classic Sperry Top-Siders.

What to Imbibe

Hooper joins the Brodys for dinner, which includes going through several bottles of wine including a Barton & Guestier 1971 Beaujolais. Produced in the historical Beaujolais province in France, located in the southern part of Burgundy just north of Lyon, this typically light-bodied red wine is made from the thin-skinned Gamay grape.

Chief Brody keeps the evening going by opening the B&G Beaujolais.

The Barton & Guestier (B&G) wine house was founded in 1725 when Irish merchant Thomas Barton arrived in Bordeaux. His grandson Hugh partnered with French trader Daniel Guestier in 1802 to officially form B&G, whose wines were growing an impressive international audience with orders from no less than then-President Thomas Jefferson.

Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975)

How to Get the Look

Maritime expert Matt Hooper sticks to a regular uniform anchored (so to speak) by a well-worn denim jacket, jeans, and deck sneakers, a rotation of hats and sweatshirts, and an essential tool of his aquatic trade: a reliable dive watch.

• Blue denim Levi’s 557XX “Type III” trucker jacket with six-button front, chest pockets with single-button pointed flaps, single-button squared cuffs, and button-tab waist adjusters
• Heather gray crew-neck raglan-sleeve sweatshirt
• Blue denim Lee Rider jeans with belt loops and five-pocket layout
• Black leather belt with gunmetal double-prong buckle
• Navy canvas CVO-style deck sneakers with 5 nickel eyelets, flat white laces, and navy foxing-striped white rubber outsoles
• Gray socks
• Navy ribbed-knit woolen watch cap
• Semi-hexagonal rimless eyeglasses with gold-toned arms and bridge
• Large gold open ring with round black onyx stone
• Alsta Nautoscaph Superautomatic stainless steel dive watch with 36mm case, black unidirectional bezel, black dial (with luminous hour indices and 3 o’clock date window), and stainless “porthole”-cutout link bracelet

Shop Hooper’s Look

Shop the hats:

Navy Ribbed-Knit Wool Watch Cap by Rothco ($12)

"Daisy Mae" Denim Army Hat by The Real McCoys ($136)

Prices and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

Shop the jacket:

Levi's "Type III" Trucker Jacket in medium indigo wash ($79)

Price and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

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It wasn't until the 1980s that Levi's added hand pockets to their standard trucker jacket, so you'd need to find a vintage Type III for the true Hooper look.

Shop the sweatshirt:

Hooper's favorite heather gray crew-neck raglan-sleeved sweatshirt remains a staple nearly a half-century later, available at every price point whether you're looking for a no-frills sweatshirt or something more elegantly constructed and intentional for warmer summer weather.

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Budget sweatshirts:

Anelune sweatshirt in gray cotton/poly ($24.95)

Fruit of the Loom sweatshirt in heather gray cotton/poly ($21.89)

Elevated sweatshirts:

Madewell Garment-Dyed Crewneck Sweatshirt in heather gray cotton ($66.99)

Todd Snyder Surf Terry Sweatshirt in heather gray cotton ($118)

UpWest Weekend Raglan Sweatshirt in light heather gray ($48)

Prices and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

Shop the jeans:

Lee® Regular Fit Straight Leg Jeans in "vintage stone" denim ($44)

Price and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

Shop the shoes:

Sperry Unisex Cloud CVO Deck Sneaker in navy ($79.95)

Vans Authentic Shoe in dress blues/true white ($60)

Prices and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

Shop the watch:

Alsta's reissued "Hooper watch":

Alsta Nautoscaph Superautomatic ($1,000)

Seiko alternatives:

SEIKO SRPF03 Prospex ($393)

SEIKO SRPE03 Prospex ($449.65)

I believe the SRPE03 (possibly not the SRPF03) can be fitted with this Hooper-like metal rally bracelet:

MiLTAT 22mm Watch Band for Seiko Turtle ($89.99)

Budget-friendly alternatives:

ADDIESDIVE NH35A Automatic Diver ($105.83)

TACTICAL FROG SKX007 Diver ($159.99)

Prices and availability current as of June 26, 2023.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Peter Benchley’s source novel.

I also recommend this excellent Primer article by Chris Scott that finds updated alternatives to each major character’s costumes.

The Quote

If we’re lookin’ for a shark, we’re not gonna find him on the land!

The post Jaws: Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper appeared first on BAMF Style.

Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm (Episode 10.04: “You’re Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey”)

Vitals

Larry David as himself, a neurotic comedy writer

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Summer 2019

Series: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Episode: “You’re Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey” (Episode 10.04)
Air Date: February 9, 2020
Director: Jeff Schaffer
Creator: Larry David
Costume Designer: Leslie Schilling

Background

Happy birthday to Larry David! Born 76 years ago today on July 2, 1947, LD grew successful as a co-creator of Seinfeld in the 1990s before becoming more visibly famous as an exaggeratedly neurotic version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is currently producing its twelfth (and possibly final) season.

The tenth-season episode “You’re Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey” begins with Larry consulting with the ubiquitous Leon (J.B. Smoove) amidst construction of Latte Larry’s, the “spite store” he’s building to steal business from his rival Mocha Joe (Saverio Guerra), who stops in to remind him that “good coffee is all about the beans.”

At the same time, Larry’s coterie is planning a plane trip to Cabo San Lucas for their friend Mickey’s wedding, despite Larry grumbling about having to travel two hours for a wedding, prompting his manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin) to utter the episode’s title in the unseen Mickey’s defense… and who could portray such a widely revered friend but the absurdly charismatic Timothy Olyphant?

This being LD’s world, the trip is fraught with low-stakes drama, including the “combustible situation” of his ex-wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) attending, Ted Danson’s unexpected arrival during an oral hygiene emergency, and Larry being twice asked to provide the pilot captain with each passenger’s weight ahead of the journey. As no one is willing to volunteer the information—with Jeff’s wife Susie (Susie Essman) going so far as to scream “I’d rather be dead in the Sea of Cortez than have you know what I weigh!”—the 163-pound Larry must resort to guessing, and his under-estimation results in he and his date Donna (Megyn Price) needing to jettison their luggage en route.

What’d He Wear?

It’s always fun for Curb fans when LD dresses beyond his usual sartorial formula of soft layers in typically neutral colors. Forced to abandon his luggage due to their private plane’s weight restrictions, Larry embraces the opportunity to dazzle his pals with a summery ensemble appropriate for a resort wedding.

Susie earnestly—if a bit passive-aggressively—compliments “I like the color, I like you in color,” while her husband Jeff is more candid about Larry’s new look: “What’s going on here? Are you Our Man in Havana? Are you undercover for the CIA?”

Donna may not love her borrowed dress from Susie, but Larry seems pretty pleased with himself in his new white suit.

The color in question comes from a floral shirt that Larry wears under the suit, patterned with a large-scale print of pale-yellow flowers and dark-green leaves against a light sky-blue ground. The pattern encourages the idea of a “Hawaiian shirt”, though the shirt design differs—specifically with its point collar rather than the flat camp collar of conventional aloha shirts. A column of white stitching down the front creates a placket-like effect aside the seven buttons.

Larry layers the floral shirt over one of his characteristic white cotton undershirts. Series costumer Leslie Schilling explained to Caroline Reilly for a 2020 Vulture interview that all of Larry’s white Supima cotton crew-neck undershirts are made by the Los Angeles-based Cotton Citizen, founded in 2012. The shirt’s recognizable banded crew neck is visible under the floral shirt’s open collar, and the visible sleeve-ends under Larry’s jacket suggests a long-sleeved T-shirt.

For better or worse, Leon’s fashion sensibilities may be rubbing off on Larry as he picked out his new clothes for Mickey’s wedding.

Larry dresses appropriately for the warm Cabo weather in a bleached summer-weight suit, made of white cotton. The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels, double vents, a welted breast pocket, and patch pockets on the hips that are consistent with the suit’s sporty nature. The two mixed light brown buttons on the front match the four “kissing” buttons on each cuff.

The untucked shirt covers the tops of his trousers, but we see enough to know that they have side pockets and button-through back pockets. The plain-hemmed bottoms bunch up a bit at Larry’s feet, but they otherwise fit generally well for an off-the-rack suit purchased in a pinch.

Larry wisely leaves his usual ECCO sneakers in his “little box” of a hotel room, having smartly purchased a set of brown leather apron-toe penny loafers to compliment his suit. Schilling’s insights in her Vulture interview with Caroline Reilly suggest that LD likes to wear ECCO shoes in any situation, raising the possibility that these slip-ons were also made by the Danish footwear brand. His light taupe cotton lisle dress socks neatly balance the contrast between his white suit and his brown shoes.

Larry makes a stylish impression on his friends who are used to his neutral sport jackets, sweaters, and corduroys.

Larry has a tradition of wearing hats to beachside weddings, as established in “The Korean Wedding” (Episode 5.09) when he wore a ridiculous straw hat to their friends Mark and Marla’s wedding. “I’m married, I can wear whatever I want,” Larry told Jeff at the time.

Five seasons and a divorce later, Larry doesn’t have the same excuse to back his sartorial decisions, so he has to up his headgear game while protecting his famously bald scalp from the Mexican sun. His ivory woven linen short-brimmed trilby with its narrow brown edge-stitched leather band may contribute to the “man of mystery” pastiche that Jeff chides (evidently, Jeff making fun of Larry is part of the tradition), but it certainly harmonizes with the colors and spirit of the rest of his suit.

The Danson beef heats up.

Larry continues wearing his favorite Oliver Peoples glasses, specifically the round gold-framed MP-3 model that he had been wearing since the ’90s. “He does have a pair that are transition lenses,” Schilling confirmed to Reilly for Vulture, and these are almost certainly the glasses he wore for Mickey’s wedding.

After having worn a rectangular-cased watch with a pink dial for many of the show’s early seasons, Larry introduces a new round-cased watch during the tenth season, secured to his left wrist on an edge-stitched taupe napped leather band. The stainless steel watch has an elegantly simple design, with a large white matte dial detailed only with non-numeric hour indices and a sub-dial at 6 o’clock.

Larry grabs a sack of the Hacienda Hidalgo coffee beans that he hopes will launch Latte Larry’s over Mocha Joe’s.

Larry’s watch isn’t seen clearly enough to confirm the maker, but I suspect it could be an automatic Longines, though I can’t align as specific model with the details on the screen-worn timepiece. (The closest current approximation I’ve seen is the 39mm L4.812.4.11.2 model from Longines’ “Elegant Collection”, though this has Roman numeral indices rather than simple bars.)

How to Get the Look

Larry David and Megyn Price on Curb Your Enthusiasm (Episode 10.04: “You’re Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey”)

When Larry David steps out of his sartorial comfort zone, he does so with pizzazz, having some fun for a beachside Cabo wedding in an off-white summer suit, floral-printed shirt, and coordinated trilby.

• White cotton suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 4-button “kissing” cuffs, and double vents
  • Flat-front trousers with side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Sky-blue floral-printed short-sleeved shirt with point collar
• White Supima cotton crew-neck long-sleeve T-shirt
• Brown leather apron-toe penny loafers
• Light taupe cotton lisle dress socks
• Ivory linen short-brimmed trilby with narrow edge-stitched brown leather band
• Gold round-framed Oliver Peoples MP-3 transition-lens glasses
• Stainless steel automatic dress watch with white dial (with non-numeric hour indices and 6 o’clock sub-dial) on edge-stitched taupe napped leather band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, including the tenth season—available on DVD and streaming on Max.

The Quote

This is why you don’t invite divorced couples to a wedding, Mickey!

The post Curb Your Enthusiasm: Larry’s White Wedding Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

Vitals

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley, country rock guitarist and singer

Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956

Film: Elvis
Release Date: June 23, 2022
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin
Tailor: Gloria Bava

Background

It doesn’t get much more American than Elvis.

Austin Butler went all out in his performance as the King of Rock and Roll in Baz Lurhmann’s characteristically flamboyant biopic, released last summer. Butler’s performance received particular praise—including endorsements from the Presley family—and Elvis would be nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Costume Design.

Elvis follows Presley’s brief life from boyhood through the various levels of stardom, particularly through the lens of his complicated relationship with his domineering manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). In the early years of his fame, Presley’s hip-swinging celebration of Black music is shown to so enrage the bigoted establishment that he’s being threatened with legal trouble.

The film presents his July 4, 1956 concert in Memphis as an opportunity for Presley to maintain the cleaned-up “New Elvis” image he had introduced three days early while performing “Hound Dog” on The Steve Allen Show three days earlier, stuffed into a white tie and tails as he crooned to an actual basset hound. Instead, having rediscovered the meaning behind his music among the blues joints on Beale Street, Elvis delivers a sweltering performance of “Trouble”—and lands himself right in it, arrested by the Memphis vice squad when he soundly disobeys being told to not “so much as wiggle a finger.” To avoid prosecution, Colonel Tom devises a plan for Elvis to swap out his blue suede shoes for spit-shined service derbies: “It’s either the Army or jail.”

Except that isn’t quite what really happened.

True, Elvis had just felt embarrassed himself by the overly formal “Hound Dog” bit on Allen’s show on July 1, and indeed there was some pressure to maintain the more widely acceptable “New Elvis” image. But when Elvis took the stage at Russwood Park on that 97-degree night in Memphis, the city that the Tupelo-born singer had called home since he was 13, he reclaimed his pulsating persona to the delight of the crowd… and nary a notable protest from any law enforcement. True, he was rushed out of the stadium by Memphis police—but it was merely to protect him from the usual mob of excited fans.

When the furor finally died down, and Elvis had graciously accepted a city proclamation designating Wednesday, July 4, as Elvis Presley Day, he turned to the crowd and announced, with that inscrutable mixture of boyish charm and adult calculation, “You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none, I’m gonna show you what the real Elvis like tonight.”

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

The real Elvis Presley performing at Russwood Park in Memphis, July 4, 1956.

The King’s set list 67 years ago tonight could not have included “Trouble”, as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wouldn’t write this blues number until more than a year later, when Presley recorded it for the soundtrack of his 1958 movie King Creole. Instead, he opened his half-hour set with his recent chart-topper “Heartbreak Hotel”, followed by a series of Presley standards and “Hound Dog” to close… without a top hat-wearing basset hound this time.

Presley’s Army career was also far less calculated than Elvis depicts, though Colonel Tom did encourage his client to not resist the draft as he suspected that military service would help improve Presley’s image among older Americans. After he received his draft notice, the Army and Navy both made Presley attractive offers, but the singer refused both and chose to simply enter the U.S. Army as a regular soldier, sworn in at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas on March 24, 1958 to begin his two-year service.

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Catherine Martin deservedly received her fourth Academy Award nomination for Elvis, bringing three decades to vibrant life on screen as well as dressing Austin Butler’s Elvis in at least 93 costume changes, including dozens through the 1950s sequence that “encapsulated Elvis’ rebelliousness and sexuality at that watershed moment,” as she explained in a call with Helen Barrett for Financial Times. Martin expressed her desire to focus on designing costumes that allowed Butler’s characterization to breathe on its own “rather than slavishly copying the originals,” but she still brilliantly recreated many of the King’s looks through the two dozen years of his professional career.

“He was dressed all in black save for red socks and the red tie which he and his father had picked out just before the show,” Peter Guralnick writes in Last Train to Memphis of Presley’s attire for the July 4, 1956 charity concert in Memphis, a description that also accurately describes how Martin dressed Butler during this era before Elvis transitioned to his famous leather jumpsuits of the ’70s.

Austin Butler’s screen-worn black suit was tailored by Gloria Bava with a loose fit, echoing the actual black silk suit that Elvis wore for the Memphis concert. Looser fits were fashionable through the ’50s, partly as there was still an association between prosperity and excess fabric following the end of World War II-era fabric rationing. The fashionably full fit also allows the King a full range of movement for his famous gyrations that begin with his little finger and end with his sprawling across the stage.

Similar to how the real Elvis wore his single-breasted suit jacket that night, Butler’s Elvis wears only the lowest of the two buttons fastened on his jacket. The shoulders are wide and padded, again consistent with ’50s fashions. The sleeves have roped heads at the shoulders and are finished with four buttons on each cuff. The single-vented jacket has appropriately sporty patch pockets over the hips and left breast.

The singer keeps his jacket buttoned through the duration of his performance—no small feat, given how much his swinging pelvis tests that single button’s strength. This keeps the top of his trousers mostly covered, but we can safely assume that they’re pleated (consistent with the era’s trends and King’s other trousers at this point in the story) and held up by a black leather belt. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Elvis’ unconventional style meant a range of unique footwear, from a rotation of black-and-white spectators to the celebrated blue suede shoes of Carl Perkins’ rockabilly hit that the King had covered in ’56. For the Memphis concert, his black leather apron-toe loafers are a bit more conventional, following the guidance that black shoes are a safe bet with a black suit. That said, Elvis breaks up the black with scarlet-red socks that coordinate with his tie, uniting his outfit into a dangerous-looking black-and-red color scheme.

Elvis’ red socks echo the primary color in his tie, both pieces boldly standing out against his black suit. In contrast to the pink-and-black that defined Elvis’ look for the first two years of his success, the new black-and-red color scheme looks more dangerous.

Martin’s costume team magnificently recreated the patterned scarlet-red twill tie that the real Presley had received (and was subsequently photographed wearing) when he signed his recording contract with RCA Records in November 1955 and indeed wore again several months later for the Memphis concert. As seen in photos from when it was auctioned by Julien’s Live in 2014, both the real tie and the silk screen-worn tie are patterned with a white repeating motif of RCA’s longstanding “His Master’s Voice” logo, depicting a dog gazing into a gramophone horn.

This logo originated around the turn of the 20th century after English artist Francis Barraud painted his late terrier Nipper listening to a Edison-Bell phonograph. After the image was promptly dismissed by the Edison-Bell company (“dogs don’t listen to phonographs”), Barraud showed it to a representative of the Berliner Gramophone company, who offered to buy the painting… on the condition that Barraud repainted a Berliner Gramophone instead of the competing brand’s phonograph. After Barraud obliged, the image was registered as a trademark for the Berliner Gramophone company on July 10, 1900 and was retained for use by its American successor, Victor Talking Machine Co.—which would be redubbed RCA Victor by the time they signed the King.

Elvis wears the tie with a solid black shirt, designed with a point collar and button cuffs.

Elvis wears a tie depicting his master’s corporate logo… while rebelling against their wishes for his public image.

A staple of Elvis’ style by this point in his career was an assortment of diamond-studded gold horseshoe-shaped rings, worn on the ring finger of his right hand. He would continue to wear these through the next two decades of his life, eventually purchasing them from jeweler Lowell Hays, who recreated the ring from the original mold for sale on the Graceland store.

Not only was he wearing the ring for the Memphis concert, but Peter Guralnick writes that, among the festivities on that July night, “Elvis’ signature fourteen-diamond horseshoe ring (worth six hundred dollars) was won in a drawing by seventeen-year-old Roger Fakes.”

Elvis also wears a gold pinky ring with a dark inset stone on his left hand.

Elvis was associated with a variety of distinctive watches over the course of his life, from the triangular Hamilton Ventura seen in movies like Blue Hawaii to the funky gold Rolex King Midas he sported in the ’70s. We don’t see much of the timepiece dressing his wrist during the Memphis concert, aside from an unassuming metal case and a black leather strap.

That night at Graceland (at least I believe it’s supposed to be that night), he has swapped out his watch for a more ornate gold watch with a black dial—detailed with two white sub-registers—on a gold expanding band.

Elvis shares a moment with his mother Gladys (Helen Thomson) as the family comes to terms with the Colonel’s plan to enlist the singer in the Army.

You can read more about the real Elvis’ favorite watches at Gear Patrol and Wrist Enthusiast.

How to Get the Look

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

I associate black suits with death, whether dressing for a funeral or as a movie hitman. Though this suit was informed by historical record, it’s an appropriate look for this sequence that depicts a rebellious Elvis decidedly “killing” his cleaned-up image and aligning himself against the puritanical establishment.

• Black silk loose-fitting suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black shirt with point collar and button cuffs
• Scarlet-red silk tie with repeating white RCA “Nipper” logo motif
• Black leather apron-toe loafers
• Scarlet-red socks
• Diamond-studded gold horseshoe ring
• Gold inset-stone pinky ring
• Metal-cased dress watch on black leather strap

For what it’s worth, just because my friends and I were huge Rush Hour fans in high school, I can’t see a black suit, black shirt, and red printed tie without thinking of Jackie Chan. But the King did it first.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

You can also see how closely Catherine Marine’s Oscar-nominated costume design echoed what Elvis Presley actually wore for the concert in this silent color footage from 67 years ago tonight:

The Quote

A lot of people sayin’ a lot of things. Of course, you gotta listen to the people that you love, and—in the end—you’ve gotta listen to yourself.

The post Austin Butler as Elvis: Black Suit for a 4th of July Concert appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)

Vitals

James Caan as Axel Freed, gambling-addicted English professor

New York City, Fall 1973

Film: The Gambler
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Karel Reisz
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky

Background

Screen icon James Caan died one year ago today on July 6, 2022. Among a varied filmography from The Godfather (1972) and Thief (1981) to Misery (1990) and Elf (2003), the Bronx-born Caan specialized in roles that called for a “tough insouciance” as summarized in Ronald Bergan’s obituary for The Guardian.

The Gambler (1974) remains one of Caan’s most celebrated films, written by James Toback as a semi-autobiographical meditation on self-destruction, inspired by the gambling addiction that plagued him while he lectured at City College of New York. Fresh from his success as Sonny Corleone, Caan was drawn to the challenge of what would become one of his favorite of his own movies as “it’s not easy to make people care about a guy who steals from his mother to pay gambling debts.”

After learning that her son owes $44,000 in gambling debts, Naomi Freed (Jacqueline Brookes) takes Axel to several banks to withdraw the needed cash to repay the mobster Hips (Paul Sorvino). He promises her that this is “the end of it”, but—as we’re only about 1/4 into the movie—we know there must be plenty more drama to follow… and not just the “painful thinking” Naomi asks Axel to do.

In one of his first screen roles, a young James Woods portrays the bank officer who helps Naomi withdraw the rest of her savings for Axel.

Axel attempts to arrange payment, but Hips is out when he calls, so he spends the afternoon with his girlfriend Billie (Lauren Hutton) instead, inviting her to observe him teaching a course and then to swim at his grandfather’s home. As they drive back to the city, Axel impulsively stops at a phone booth, blowing the whole stack on a basketball bet—despite his mother having just emptied her bank accounts that day to fund his debts. After all, he believes that, “if my money’s gonna blow, I wanna be the one that does the blowing.” Understandably fed up with his terrible decision-making, Billie storms out of the Mustang.

“You know, I once tried to commit suicide over a girl named Billie, you know that? I was nine. She was 36. I had to have her, she wouldn’t have me,” he shares with her. After Axel finishes his “first-rate bullshit story,” Billie reluctantly gets back into the Mustang as he speeds east toward Mecca for American gamblers: Las Vegas.

What’d He Wear?

Axel’s rotation of smart jackets includes a camel sports coat that indeed appears to be made of true camelhair. Menswear is often described as camel when the color resembles the “rich golden-fawn” (Hardy Amies, ABC of Men’s Fashion) or “light yellowish tan” (Alan Flusser, Dressing the Man) of a camel’s coat, but true camelhair garments are made from the real thing: the soft, elegant wool sourced from the undercoat of a Bactrian camel, which can make it expensive but worth the investment for their comfort and hardiness.

Axel’s single-breasted camel jacket features some dated elements like the notch lapels of then-fashionable breadth, but the jacket is otherwise relatively timeless. The pick-stitched lapels taper down to the two-button stance positioned at James Caan’s natural waistline, both buttons made from a mixed light brown that matches the four buttons on each cuff. The softly padded shoulders build up Caan’s famously square-shouldered physique. The jacket also has long double vents, a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and a flapped ticket pocket positioned above the right hip pocket.

“If failure is the absolute evil, what must be eliminated at any cost? The element of… risk.” If only Axel heeded his own teachings!

Axel contrasts the warmth of his camelhair jacket by layering it over a dark indigo-blue shirt, likely made from jersey-knit polyester as indicated by the stretch, texture, and polyester’s ubiquity during the ’70s. This shirt has the decade’s requisite long point collar, a front placket, and gently mitred barrel cuffs that each close through a single button.

Axel smokes a cheroot during a poolside conversation with his wealthy grandfather.

Axel wears fashion-forward jeans from Lee and Levi’s through The Gambler. The mid-blue denim jeans he wears with his camelhair jacket appear to be from Levi’s, specifically among the lineup they branded with an orange tab (rather than the familiar red tab) to indicate trendier cuts like bell-bottoms or Axel’s boot-cut jeans with their somewhat more restrained flare. He holds up the jeans with a wide dark brown leather belt that closes through a dulled brass squared single-prong buckle.

Unless he’s at the beach or playing tennis, Axel generally rotates between two sets of casual footwear: his sand-colored suede chukka boots and brown leather loafers, wearing the latter here. These walnut-shaded slip-ons are feature a gold bar detail attached to the strap across each vamp. He wears them with dark brown cotton lisle socks.

In his camel jacket, tight jeans, and loafers, Axel allows Billie a “hot for teacher” moment while lecturing his class.

The Car

Next week will be my semi-annual Car Week feature, but it feels wrong to write about The Gambler—specifically these scenes—without addressing Axel Freed’s baby-blue 1968 Ford Mustang convertible.

Axel lounges in his Mustang while mulling over the “first-rate bullshit story” he’ll tell to get Billie back into the car.

One of the most recognizable cars in the world, the venerable Ford Mustang debuted in April 1964, firmly establishing the “pony car” class of sporty two-door cars that offered an affordable and compact alternative to the increasingly powerful “muscle car” street machines. Ford evolved its flagship pony car with cosmetic changes and performance improvements through the ’60s, including the Mustang’s first significant redesign in 1967 that would continue through the 1968 model year, the same year of the famous highland-green fastback driven by Steve McQueen in Bullitt and James Caan’s base-model convertible in The Gambler.

The 1968 model year was the first year that the chrome “FORD” lettering was removed from the hood and the final year for vent windows. The side scoops were streamlined into a sleeker, more vertical design than on the ’67 Mustang.

In addition to a 200 cubic-inch Thriftpower inline-six, the array of available V8 engines included the 195-horsepower 289 Challenger, which would be phased out that year by the new 230-horsepower 302 Windsor as the standard small-block V8, and the 325-horsepower 390 Thunderbird Special; the beastly 427 and 428 Cobra Jet engines were available only for the GT.

Note the 1968-specific details of Axel’s Mustang: the lack of “FORD” lettering on the hood, window vents, more vertical side scoops, and red reflecting side markers on the rear fenders.

Axel’s Mustang lacks any GT badging, though it also lacks the scripted “Mustang” emblems on each front fender that were standard on base-model Mustangs. The exterior is painted “Diamond Blue”, a light aqua-teal shade that essentially replaced the more silver “Arcadian Blue”. Given that it would be the standard small-block V8 for the 1968 model year, I’m inclined to suspect Axel’s Mustang has the then-new 302 cubic-inch Windsor V8 under the hood, mated to Ford’s long-running three-speed Cruise-O-Matic automatic.

1968 Ford Mustang

Body Style: 2-door convertible

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

Engine: 302 ci (4.9 L) Ford Windsor V8 with Motorcraft 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 230 bhp (172 kW; 233 PS) @ 4800 rpm

Torque: 310 lb·ft (420 N·m) @ 2800 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic automatic

Wheelbase: 108 inches (2743 mm)

Length: 183.6 inches (4663 mm)

Width: 70.9 inches (1801 mm)

Height: 51.6 inches (1311 mm)

Caan’s cinematic connections to first-generation Mustangs date back to the start of his career, when he drove a white and blue-striped 1965 Shelby GT 350 fastback in the Howard Hawks-directed racing flick Red Line 7000 (1965).

The actor’s connection to the car would continue in Misery, when Paul Sheldon’s ill-fated ’66 hardtop crashes in a blizzard… delivering the author into the sadistic hands—and sledgehammer—of superfan Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates).

How to Get the Look

James Caan as Axel Freed in The Gambler (1974)

One of my favorite looks from The Gambler among James Caan’s cardigans and sport shirts is this tasteful camelhair jacket, dressing up an otherwise laidback ensemble of an indigo jersey-knit shirt, blue jeans, and loafers.

• Camelhair single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
• Dark indigo jersey-knit polyester long-sleeved shirt with long point collar, front placket, and mitred button cuffs
• Blue denim Levi’s “orange tab” jeans with belt loops, five-pocket layout, and flared boot-cut bottoms
• Dark brown wide leather belt with large brass squared single-prong buckle
• Brown leather loafers with gold strap-detail
• Dark brown cotton lisle socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m scorching, I’m hot as a pistol.

The post The Gambler: James Caan’s Camel Jacket and Mustang appeared first on BAMF Style.

John Travolta as Jack Terry in Blow Out (1981)

Vitals

John Travolta as Jack Terry, horror movie sound technician

Philadelphia, Fall 1980

Film: Blow Out
Release Date: July 24, 1981
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Vicki Sánchez

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

My favorite Brian De Palma movie, Blow Out, culminates with a thrilling chase through the director’s hometown of Philadelphia during Liberty Day, a fictional jubilee celebrating 100 years since the last ring of the Liberty Bell.

Commissioned in 1752, the 2,000-pound bell made of copper and tin rang from the Pennsylvania State House for more than two decades before its perhaps most famous pronouncement, said to be among the many bells that rang through the City of Brotherly Love to announce the signing of the Declaration of Independence… four days later, on July 8, 1776—247 years ago today.

Hidden for safekeeping during the American Revolution, then remounted for regular use through the first half of the 19th century, the Liberty Bell was likely last rung in February 1846 for George Washington’s birthday, a commemoration said to exacerbate the bell’s now-famous crack that rendered it “forever dumb” after that moment, as historian David Kimball rather rudely put it. (As this was the bell’s last-known usage, it’s clear that De Palma and company chose to extend the Liberty Bell’s initial life for another three or four decades in the Blow Out universe as the movie is clearly set in the “present day” of the early 1980s… and not 1946!)

Blow Out centers around sound technician Jack Terry (John Travolta), who uncovers evidence of a political assassination. Capturing ambient sound effects in the park one night, Jack is drawn to a car accident, where he manages to save the young escort Sally Bedina (Nancy Allen) from the wreckage while the driver, the current governor and presidential hopeful, dies. While listening to the audio footage, Jack hears a gunshot before the crash and realizes he has unintentionally stumbled into something far more sinister, declaring:

I know what I heard and what I saw, and I’m not gonna stop until everyone in this fuckin’ country hears and sees the same thing.

In the meantime, the sociopathic Burke (John Lithgow) who engineered the crash has began murdering women who look like Sally so that her eventual death will be attributed to a string of serial killings by “the Liberty Bell Strangler” and not connected to a dangerous political conspiracy.

As it turns out, the accident had also been filmed by blackmailer Manny Karp (Dennis Franz), whose footage syncs up perfectly with Jack’s audio to reveal the details of the assassination. After Sally takes the film for a purported meeting with a local newscaster to break the story, a reasonably suspicious Jack follows her only to find that she was being lured by the murderous Burke. He takes chase in his blue Jeep Renegade, unintentionally crashing it into Wanamaker’s “Liberty or Death” display window during the Liberty Day parade.

One if by land, two if by sea, three if by Jeep.

Will Jack recover in time to stop Burke, save Sally, and uncover the conspiracy? You’ll just have to watch Blow Out to find out!

What’d He Wear?

Set in the Cradle of Liberty, Blue Out features plenty of patriotic imagery, from the pomp and circumstance of the Liberty Day festivities to Jack Terry’s wardrobe and surroundings, completed by the image he creates when—clad in a red shirt and blue jacket—he leaps into his white-topped blue Jeep.

Jack exclusively wears red and blue long-sleeved shirts that follow a workshirt-inspired design, with a point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and two chest pockets with mitred-corner flaps that each close through a single button. Jack’s red shirt is made from a medium-weight cotton flannel, brushed to a soft chamois-like finish.

Jack debuts the red flannel work shirt under an olive-brown mid-wale corduroy sports coat with dark charcoal flat-front trousers. Though likely made in the late ’70s given the production timeframe, the jacket design follows a more timeless style than that decade’s then-trendy excesses, with notch lapels of moderate width that roll to a two-button front. The jacket also has a single vent, welted breast pocket, and flapped patch pockets over the hips.

When he’s working, Jack favors the utility of field jackets with their heavy-duty multitude of pockets. He was wearing a khaki M-65 field jacket on the night of Sally’s crash with the governor, swapping out for a similarly styled dark-blue field jacket for the rest of the movie, including the climactic Liberty Day chase.

Also known as the M-1965 field jacket in reference to the year it was authorized for cold-weather service by the U.S. armed forces, the four-pocket M-65 features a zip-up front, cinched waist, and rounded collar that houses an integrated hood. The MIL-C-43455J standard stipulates a windproof, water-repellent shell, originally made of a tightly woven, weather-treated 100% cotton that evolved to a less-expensive sateen blend of cotton and synthetic fabric.

The thigh-length jacket closes with a brass zipper that extends straight up from the waist to the neck, covered by a storm flap reinforced with snaps. Consistent with its martial origins, the shoulders are detailed with straps (epaulets) where a service-member could wear rank insignia. The two bellows pockets on the chest and two large set-in pockets on the hips are all covered by pointed flaps that have covered snaps. The waist cinches closed with an internal drawstring, and the set-in sleeves are finished with short pointed half-tabs with velcro pads to adjust the fit over each wrist.

Government contractors produced the M-65 for military usage in olive green (OG-107) and camouflage color schemes, though their eventual popularity among civilians led to M-65 field jackets being produced in arrays of other colors—often black, khaki, and navy-blue, as sported by John Travolta in Blow Out. (You can find your own commercial blue Rothco M-65 field jacket from Amazon.)

With the blue field jacket during the Liberty Day finale, Jack wears rust-brown needlecord jeans from Levi’s, detailed with the white tab sewn along the seam of the right back pocket. As opposed to their traditional red tab or fashion-forward orange tabs, white tabs were used by Levi’s through the 1960s and ’70s on their corduroy products. These flat-front casual trousers are otherwise styled like conventional jeans with belt loops and the recognizable five-pocket layout of two patch-style back pockets, two curved-entry front pockets, and an inset watch pocket on the right side.

Jack’s wide dark brown leather belt closes through a brass squared single-prong buckle.

Jack relies on hardy footwear for work that keeps him on his feet in different environments, sporting a pair of dark brown leather ankle boots, derby-laced through five gold-finished eyelets and worn with dark socks.

His fondness for V-neck undershirts allows Jack to wear the top few buttons of his shirts undone without showing the top of an undershirt, unlike what would happen if he wore crew-neck T-shirts instead.

On the inside of his left wrist, Jack wears a steel digital watch on a khaki ribbed nylon NATO strap. The watch’s matte steel case shows considerable wear, detailed with four small pushers—two on each side—and a black LCD display panel. This style of watch was growing in popularity through the later years of the “quartz revolution”, from late 1970s into the ’80s, thanks to watchmakers like Casio, Seiko, and Timex, though even the likes of Hamilton and Omega offered their own digital wristwatches at the time.

I’m not expert enough to definitively identify Jack’s watch, though the ridge across the top of the case (above the display) reminds me of some Ricoh watches from the era.

Regardless of who made Jack’s timepiece, they failed to include a wire garrote like on Burke’s Red Grant-style watch.

What to Imbibe

At home, Jack takes the edge of with a dram of J&B Rare, the almost-ubiquitous blended Scotch whisky that would get some prominent screen-time the following year in The Thing (1982).

We also later see him watching TV with a Modelo Especial beer, freshly opened as indicated by the foam rising to the top of the bottle neck. This 4.4% ABV pilsner-style lager was first bottled in 1925, the same year that its parent company Grupo Modelo was founded in Mexico City. As of June 2023, Modelo Especial rose from being a top imported beer to beating out domestic brands to become the best-selling beer in the United States.

Jack’s foaming Modelo Especial in front of the TV.

The Car

Jack drives a 1981 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade, painted “Montana blue” (code 1A) with a white roof. This model dates back to the 1940s, when Willys-Overland introduced the CJ (“Civilian Jeep”) series toward the end of World War II, aimed at rural drivers whose usage would echo the purposes that Jeeps served the military. The CJ continued to evolved through the 20th century, including after Willys was purchased by Kaiser Manufacturing Company in 1953 and thus eventually dropped “Willys” from the name.

The last generation debuted in 1976 as the Jeep CJ-7, with four-, six-, and eight-cylinder options available, and an automatic transmission available for the first time in the CJ series history. The sporty Renegade trim package was offered through all ten years of the CJ-7’s production timeline, including the 1981 model that appears in Blow Out.

In 1981, this wasn’t your granddady’s Jeep.

Jeep discontinued the CJ series after the 1986 CJ-7, with the last models commemorated by a dash plaque that reads “Last of a Great Breed – This collectors-edition CJ ends an era that began with the legendary Jeep of World War II”.  The model would be reconfigured and rebranded as the Wrangler, which debuted in 1987 under Chrysler’s new ownership of the marque and remains in production today.

Blow Out continues the patriotic on-screen color scheme when Jack’s white-and-blue Jeep is parked next to a red 1972 Plymouth Duster. For those curious, an early ’70s Duster is my “attainable” dream car, and donations are welcome to help fund making it happen.

How to Get the Look

John Travolta as Jack Terry in Blow Out (1981)

Jack Terry dresses practically for his work as a sound technician (and unofficial assassination conspiracy investigator), with ample pockets provided by his work shirts and field jackets, dressed up with the occasional corded sports coat.

• Red brushed cotton flannel long-sleeved work shirt with point collar, front placket, two flapped chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Olive-brown medium-wale corduroy single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped patch hip pockets, and single vent
• Navy-blue cotton M-65 field jacket with straight-zip/snap-closed storm flap front, rounded collar with zipped-in hood, epaulets (shoulder straps), bellows chest pockets with covered-snap flaps, set-in hip pockets with covered-snap flaps, internal waist-cinching drawstring, and set-in sleeves with velcro-adjusted half-tab cuffs
• Rust-brown needlecord flat-front jeans with belt loops and five-pocket layout
• Dark brown leather belt with brass-finished square single-prong buckle
• Dark brown leather derby-laced ankle boots
• Dark socks
• White cotton V-neck short-sleeved undershirt
• Steel quartz-powered digital watch on khaki vinyl NATO strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Keep looking.

The post John Travolta in Blow Out: Red Shirt for Liberty Day appeared first on BAMF Style.

Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette in True Romance (1993)

Vitals

Christian Slater as Clarence Worley, newlywed rockabilly enthusiast and former comic store clerk

Los Angeles, Spring 1992

Film: True Romance
Release Date: September 10, 1993
Director: Tony Scott
Costume Designer: Susan Becker

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Earlier this year, I commemorated National Road Trip Day with a brief look at Christian Slater’s rockabilly-inspired style in True Romance, the Quentin Tarantino-penned romantic crime thriller directed by Tony Scott. Now, to kick off Car Week for the summer that this film celebrates its 30th anniversary, let’s revisit Slater’s style as the scrappy newlywed Clarence Worley.

Clarence and his new wife Alabama (Patricia Arquette) have driven across the country in his pink (more like purple) Cadillac convertible, hoping to leave Detroit—and his murder of her former pimp Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman)—far behind them.

In his haste to collect Alabama’s things from the Spivey pad, Clarence grabs a suitcase full of cocaine that Drexl had stolen from Blue Lou Boyle’s mob… but also makes an unintended trade with the corpse. “Woulda got away with it, but your son—fuckhead that he is—left his driver’s license in a dead guy’s hand,” Boyle’s urbane consigliere Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken) later explains to Clarence’s father.

The two honeymooners plan to bankroll their future by selling the twice-stolen nose candy in Hollywood, taking advantage of the tenuous connections made by his dimwitted actor pal Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport). Dick hooks the Worleys up with aspiring actor Elliot Blitzer (Bronson Pinchot), currently working as an assistant to producer Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek). Forced to overcome his aversion to roller coasters, Elliot reluctantly agrees to broker the deal between Clarence and Lee, scheduled for three days later.

Unfortunately, that three days allows enough time for reckless yuppie Elliot to get arrested and promptly forced into service as a police informant. To make matters worse, the Mafia has also tracked down the Worleys to their honeymoon suite at the Safari Inn motel, where a defiant Alabama is brutally treated by sadistic mob henchman Virgil (James Gandolfini) while Clarence’s errands are sidetracked by chili cheeseburgers and his Elvis obsession.

With the police clued in and the vengeful mob in pursuit, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation in Lee’s suite at the Beverly Ambassador Hotel.

What’d He Wear?

Clarence spends the final act of True Romance dressed in a red aloha shirt, worn partially buttoned over a white T-shirt. The shirt follows the standard structure of traditional Hawaiian aloha shirts, with a camp collar, short sleeves, and a straight hem meant to be worn untucked. The shirt has a non-matching breast pocket and white buttons that fasten up the plain front, though Clarence typically wears only the lowest two or three buttons done.

Brad Pitt cameoed as Dick’s stoner roommate Floyd, posing here with Michael Rapaport, Christian Slater, and Patricia Arquette.

The shirt’s red two-toned ground provides the backdrop suggesting a “sailor’s delight” sky at sunset, with colorful one-way prints repeated around the body of the shirt. Each design depicts a tropical vignette, illustrated with green palm trees, blue water lapping against blue rocks, red-and-yellow huts, and boats rigged with red, white, and yellow sails.

Shop the shirt:

Like many shirts from popular movies and TV shows, replicas abound of the aloha shirt that Christian Slater wears in True Romance. Some intentional sleuthing can help discern higher-quality products from cheap imitations, but aim for trusted brands with reliable reviews, when possible.

---

While I don't have any firsthand experience with it, the Sun Surf shirt available via Amazon appears to be one of the best available current replicas of Clarence Worley's Hawaiian shirt.

Sun Surf Aloha Shirt ($139)

Price and availability current as of July 9, 2023.

Under the aloha shirt, Clarence wears one of his usual white cotton short-sleeved T-shirts, though the sleeves are just as long (if not slightly longer) as the sleeves on his aloha shirt, the result of his wearing a standard T-shirt rather than a shirt specifically designed to be an undershirt. The crew-neck T-shirt also has a patch breast pocket.

Consistent with his throwback style, Clarence wears a ’50s-styled windbreaker to the meeting with Lee. The shell is a light-gray gabardine, patterned with thin irregular navy-blue stripes that resemble lines drawn with an inky pen. Navy appears as a contrasting accent color throughout the jacket, including the underside of his collar, the lining, two elasticized squares along the bottom toward the back of each side, and the inside of each long inverted box-pleat that extends vertically from the straight chest yoke to the top of the wide waistband.

The waist-length jacket has a shirt-style collar and a full-zip front to the neck. Each cuff closes with a single button, though Clarence wears the cuffs undone and rolled back once to show the navy lining.

Clarence’s style may be clearly rooted in the past, but his overall approach to dressing is at least more timeless than producer Lee Donowitz’s early ’90s garb.

Clarence continues wearing his light blue denim Levi’s 501® Original Fit jeans, characterized as Levi’s by the “arcuate stitch” along both back patch-style pockets and the signature red tab sewn along the seam of the back-right pocket, and specifically identifiable as the iconic 501 by their cut and the button-fly. He self-cuffs the bottoms of his jeans.

Upon arriving in L.A., Clarence begins holding up his jeans with a narrow black leather belt that closes through a small silver-toned single-prong buckle. When stuffing his revolver into his waistband outside the hotel, the box-frame buckle appeared to be a simple square-shape, but the glimpse we see when he draws the gun inside the elevator reveals a longer rectangular-shaped buckle with an extension rather than a traditional bar—detailed with a complicated leaf-like relief.

Clarence’s ’50s-inspired style extends to his shoes, sporting a pair of white bucks throughout the second half of True Romance rather than the blue suede shoes and black boots he’d worn back in Detroit.

Characterized by their white or off-white nubuck leather and often brick-red rubber soles, bucks arrived in the United States early in the 20th century, though it wasn’t until they found a foothold (so to speak) among college students in the 1950s that they grew popular as the clean-cut Ivy alternative to casual sneakers. “Though a certain percentage of the younger generation did indeed fit this mold, it was not representative of the all teenagers, and thus—fittingly, one might say—intentionally keeping your bucks scuffed and dingy during the 1950s was in fact seen a sign of rebellion in some circles,” describes the blogger Chronically Vintage in her excellent history of bucks.

“Bucks have enjoyed continual renaissances, mainly because they make ideal partners for dark jeans and khakis,” advises Esquire’s The Handbook of Style. As long as they meet the criteria of their napped leather uppers and low profiles, bucks can vary in style, including between closed (oxford) or open (derby) lacing systems. Clarence wears derby-laced plain-toe bucks with pure white laces that illustrate the contrast against the sandier beige uppers. He also wears plain white ribbed cotton-blend crew socks.

Clarence channels his idol Elvis Presley through his choice of eyewear. Through his last decade of fame in the 1970s, Elvis Presley began wearing the gold “Nautic 2” oversized pilot sunglasses from German eyewear company Neostyle, personalized with his initials “EP” at the bridge and each temple inscribed with “TCB” for the singer’s personal motto—”Takin’ care of business.”

In the decades since Elvis’ death, scores of inexpensive imitations of the iconic Nautic 2 have appeared on the market. Clarence sports a set of these reproduction shades, with the plastic frames painted a metallic gold. The lenses are amber, and each arm has five holes that regress in size as the arm tapers toward the black plastic-covered ear rests. (A pair of Christian Slater’s screen-worn sunglasses sold at auction ten years ago, with the listing and photos viewable here.)

Clarence takes care of business.

Clarence wears both an ID bracelet and a horseshoe ring on his left hand. Since the beginning of True Romance, he had worn the chunky tarnished silver ID bracelet with its curb-link chain and a name bar personalized with “Clarence” in a scripted font.

After he and Alabama tied the knot, they symbolized their marriage with a matching pair of diamond-studded gold horseshoe rings, echoing the style of ring famously worn by none other than Elvis Presley.

Clarence and Alabama’s matching diamond-studded gold rings shine as they share a tender, wounded moment in the sun.

The Car

Undoubtedly inspired by the pink Cadillacs celebrated and owned by Elvis Presley throughout his career, Clarence drives a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, painted a deep shade of pink—close to purple.

The pink ’50s-era Cadillac parked outside the Safari Inn illustrates exactly what had motivated Clarence to buy his own pinkish Cadillac when he pulls up in his ’74 Eldorado.

Cadillac introduced the Eldorado in 1953, its aureate name chosen to commemorate the marque’s golden anniversary. Over the following decades, the Eldorado became increasingly associated with automotive luxury. In 1971, Cadillac unveiled the ninth generation of the Eldorado, which was available as a two-door coupe or convertible. These models were impressively long, measuring in at 223 inches. Powering these vehicles was the massive 500 cubic-inch (8.2-liter) V8 engine, which was exclusively reserved for the Eldorado and paired with GM’s renowned three-speed Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission.

Due to emissions restrictions, the engine’s power output was reduced to 210 horsepower by the 1974 model year. Despite its size and weight, the convertible Eldorado could reach a top speed estimated to be around 114 mph. However, the emphasis of these cars was on comfort rather than performance, and it has been reported that the 1974 Eldorado convertible took approximately 11 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph.

1974 Cadillac Eldorado

Body Style: 2-door convertible

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

Engine: 500 cu. in. (8.2 L) Cadillac V8 with Rochester 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 210 hp (156.5 kW; 213 PS) @ 3800 RPM

Torque: 380 lb·ft (515 N·m) @ 2000 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 126.3 inches (3208 mm)

Length: 224.1 inches (5692 mm)

Width: 79.8 inches (2027 mm)

Height: 53.9 inches (1370 mm)

In Quentin Tarantino’s original screenplay, the character Clarence was supposed to drive a red Mustang. However, director Tony Scott decided that a pink—or perhaps more accurately, a purple—Cadillac would better suit the character. While in Hollywood shortly before production, Scott spotted a Cadillac of the desired color and arranged for the studio to purchase it from the owner. The production also acquired a second Cadillac as a backup, which was repainted to match the purple convertible and used for stunt scenes.

According to a comment from a user on IMCDB, the main Cadillac used in the film was originally manufactured and sold in 1974 with a Pharaoh Gold exterior and a gold interior. After the production of the film, director Tony Scott gifted the car to Patricia Arquette. However, Arquette found that the car attracted too much attention and eventually decided to sell it. The current owner discovered it in December 2017 and undertook restoration work to bring it back to its former glory. You can read more about this surviving Cadillac, available for premium rentals, at TrueRomanceCadillac.com.

The Guns

Clarence had used a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson Model 66 to kill Drexl Spivey, and he continues carrying the same revolver upon arriving in Los Angeles. The Model 66 was introduced in 1971 as a stainless steel variant of the classic Model 19, both double-action revolvers built on Smith & Wesson’s medium-sized “K-frame” that carried six rounds of .357 Magnum ammunition.

Clarence draws his own Smith & Wesson Model 66 upon entering his and Alabama’s shared suite at the Safari Inn.

After discovering that Alabama has killed the mob enforcer Virgil, Clarence ups his firepower by arming himself with Virgil’s Smith & Wesson Model 625 revolver as he heads into the drug deal, rationalizing that:

One thing this last week has taught me: it’s better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

The Model 625 was a relatively new revolver when True Romance was released, having been introduced only five years earlier in 1988. Built on Smith & Wesson’s large N-frame, the .45-caliber Model 625 was configured with 3-, 4-, and 5-inch barrels, with a 3-inch Model 625 appearing in True Romance.

Before his deal with Lee, Clarence checks the load in Virgil’s Smith & Wesson Model 625. You can see the “.45 CAL” etched on the barrel, which has a fully cylindrical shroud running the entire length of the barrel, as opposed to the .357 Magnum Model 66 that he had carried earlier.

Evolved from the earlier Smith & Wesson Model 22, the matte-finished stainless Smith & Wesson Model 625 comes in different variants that can be fired with either .45 Long Colt or .45 ACP ammunition. The .45 Long Colt is a well-regarded revolver caliber that has a rich history dating back to the 1870s when it was initially developed for the Colt “Peacemaker” Single Action Army revolver. On the other hand, the choice of using .45 ACP in the Model 625 is unique as the .45 ACP cartridge is a rimless round primarily designed for semi-automatic pistols like the M1911, and not specifically intended for use in revolvers.

Moon clips provide a means for certain revolvers like the Model 625 and the older M1917 service revolver to successfully accommodate, fire, and extract .45 ACP ammunition. This innovation allows these revolvers to utilize .45 ACP rounds even though their cylinders were originally designed for rimmed cartridges. In 1920, the Peters Cartridge Company introduced the .45 Auto Rim, a specialized ammunition specifically developed to enable revolvers like the M1917 and Model 625 to fire a ballistically similar cartridge without the need for moon clips.

Clarence holds his Model 625 on Elliot in the elevator, using his other hand to potentially block getting sprayed with blood if he chose to shoot him. The gesture likely references Steve McQueen doing the same thing when debating whether to shoot Al Lettieri in a hotel hallway in The Getaway (1972), a movie that True Romance screenwriter Quentin Tarantino dedicates a chapter to in his recent book Cinema Speculation.

How to Get the Look

Christian Slater as Clarence Worley in True Romance (1993)

Clarence Worley champions ’50s rockabilly-inspired style with the windbreaker, bucks, and jewelry that he dresses over his rumpled red aloha shirt and jeans while navigating L.A.

• Red tropical-print rayon short-sleeved aloha shirt with camp collar, 6-button plain front, non-matching breast pocket, and straight hem
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve pocket T-shirt
• Medium-blue denim Levi’s jeans
• Beige nubuck derby-laced shoes with white laces and brick-red rubber soles
• White ribbed cotton-blend crew socks
• Gold plastic Nautic 2-style oversized pilot sunglasses
• Silver necklace
• Silver chain-link ID bracelet
• Gold diamond-horseshoe ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Elliot, do I look like a beautiful blonde with big tits and an ass that tastes like French vanilla ice cream?

The post True Romance: Clarence’s Aloha Shirt and Cadillac appeared first on BAMF Style.

Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Vitals

Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch, seaweed salesman and beleaguered son-in-law

Southern California, Summer 1962

Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas

Background

Car Week continues with a look at a road movie very close to my heart, Stanley Kramer’s 1963 epic comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, released 60 years ago this November. I used to spend many weekends at my grandma’s house watching this cavalcade of comics—many of whom had died even before I was born—as they sped, flew, and chased each other through southern California in pursuit of a $350,000 payday.

The movie begins as a black two-door Ford Fairlane recklessly snakes its way along Seven Level Hill, a mountainous segment of California State Route 74 just south of Palm Desert, honking as it weaves through traffic. The Fairlane shakes its way past an Imperial Crown convertible, but the driver loses control of the car and the Fairlane goes careening—no, sailing—off a cliff. The four carloads of people behind it all pull to a stop and get out—surely no one could survive such a fatal tumble. But alas, the significantly schnozzed driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, sprawled out among the rocky hillside.

In his dying moments, Smiler tells the gathered men of a hidden fortune, the $350,000 proceeds from a 15-year-old tuna factory robbery, buried under “a big W!” in Santa Rosita Park. He indeed kicks the bucket (and how!) before he can elaborate on the admission, leaving the witnesses to debate its veracity amongst themselves and as a group. When it becomes abundantly clear that, no matter what way they figure it, “it’s every man—including the old bag—for himself”, the four groups run back to their respective automobiles and tear off for the fictional Santa Rosita.

Though they’d been leading traffic when the Fairlane went sailing right past them off the cliff, the Imperial Crown is now trailing the others. At the wheel of the Imperial is mild-mannered J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle), an edible-seaweed entrepreneur from Fresno on his way to Lake Meade with his prim wife Emeline (Dorothy Provine) and her brash mother (Ethel Merman).

On the 115th anniversary of Uncle Milty’s July 12, 1908 birthday, let’s dig into this iconic entertainer’s wardrobe from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

What’d He Wear?

Arguably the most affluent of the group, J. Russell Finch’s costume is coded for leisure. He tops his outfit with a peaked cap apropos his role as “captain” of his luxurious land yacht. The soft dark navy wool serge cover is detailed on the front with a gilt-embroidered pair of fouled anchors, crossed and superimposed by a life ring—a crest often associated with private yachtsmen thought it also resembles the foundation of the U.S. Coast Guard seal. A black braided strap runs around the front of the black leaf-textured grosgrain band, and the visor is black patent leather.

The Finches watch the uncovering under the “big W” in varying states of excitement.

Finch wears a smart wool single-breasted sports coat, checked in gray, navy, and gold against a charcoal-gray ground. The jacket follows the tasteful and relatively timeless cut of the early ’60s, with slender notch lapels rolling to a two-button stance positioned at Milton Berle’s natural waist. The straight, narrow shoulders are lightly padded with roped sleeveheads, and front darts shape the jacket to flatter Berle.

The jacket has a welted breast pocket and flapped hip pockets that slant gently rearward. Only the short double vents and spaced two-button cuffs date it to the ’60s, though these are more subtle than the trends that can date other eras’ clothing.

Finch and the honeymooning dentist Melville Crump (Sid Caesar) are the first to arrive on the scene of Smiler Grogan’s crash.

Finch wears a gray melange jersey-knit short-sleeved polo shirt. The top of the shirt has two smoke buttons, keeping both undone.

Finch and his new traveling companion, J. Algernon Hawthorne (Terry-Thomas), confide during a stop.

Finch continues the monochromatic color scheme with charcoal flat front trousers, detailed with belt loops and plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears a narrow black leather belt with the buckle pulled off to the side, presenting a clean look unbroken by the contrasting buckle.

Fisticuffs!

Finch’s black leather shoes are typically cap-toe derbies with two-eyelet lace panels that cut away in a V-shape, elegantly elongating the vamp. However, a brief close-up of Finch’s feet as he and Hawthorne invert Mrs. Marcus to extricate the Jeep’s keys from her bosom show a pair (of shoes!) with at least four or five eyelets. Regardless of the shoe style, Finch always wears black socks.

A continuity error shows a different set of black leather lace-ups while extracting the keys from Mrs. Marcus (left), while Berle typically wears the two-eyelet derbies (right) through the rest of his screen-time.

Finch dresses his hands with a pair of rings, both of which seemingly Berle’s real-life jewelry. He wears a chunky gold ring with a jade-green stone on his right pinky, and his gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand.

The Finch-Marcus family crowds into Hawthorne’s Willys, which is already crowded with the rare plants he’s spent ten days collecting.

As with his rings, Finch’s gold watch is likely Milton Berle’s own timepiece. Auctioned watches from the comedian’s own collection (per Bonhams and Classic Driver) show that he had a preference for round-cased gold watches on black leather straps—admittedly, a very popular configuration through most of the 20th century. Finch’s wristwatch has an assuming gold dial with a sub-register at the 6 o’clock position, somewhat similar to the Tiffany & Co. watch that Berle had been gifted by Irving Geist in October 1944, though the screen-worn watch lacks some of the Tiffany’s more obvious detail, like the large luminous Arabic numeral hour indices.

“Blood!”
“It certainly is.”

The Car

“We’re the ones with the Imperial and we’re running last?” an upset Mrs. Marcus shouts from the back seat after the chase has truly commenced. I can’t blame her for the frustration, as—of all the cars prominently featured in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World—Finch’s ice-blue 1962 Imperial Crown Convertible may be the most desirable, blending luxury styling with a powerhouse Chrysler V8 engine.

Chrysler had been using the Imperial model name to denote luxury since the 1920s, though it wasn’t until 1955 that the company spun off Imperial as its own top-of-the-line marque to compete against Cadillac and Lincoln. Through its initial two-decade production timeline from 1955 through 1975, all Imperials would be powered by Chrysler’s largest V8 engines, mated to automatic transmissions.

Offered in a range of body styles, the Imperial underwent five major design phases. The second generation debuted in 1957, consistent with Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look” design for Chrysler, emphasizing passenger comfort over performance despite the powerful V8 under the hood. Like their competition, tailfins came and went on the Imperial, replaced by an emphasis on size through the early ’60s. Indeed, the Imperial’s 227-inch length made it the longest American non-limousine at the time and, at just shy of 82 inches wide, the 1961-1963 Imperial models remain the widest non-limousine in American automotive history.

Note the freestanding “gunsight”-style taillights, revived from early 1950s Imperials for the 1962 model year only. The ’61 Imperial featured large tailfins while the ’63 Imperial would integrate taillights onto the fenders before they would be lowered to bumper level on subsequent models.

Of the 14,337 Imperials produced for the 1962 model year, only 554 were convertibles, sold at a base price of $5,939 (equivalent to nearly $56,000 in 2023). The only available engine was the 413 cubic-inch Wedge V8, Chrysler’s largest engine (until the development of the 426 Hemi two years later), mated to a push-button three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

1962 Imperial Crown Convertible

Body Style: 2-door convertible

Layout: rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 413 cu. in. (6.8 L) Chrysler RB “Golden Lion” V8 with single Carter 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 340 hp (253.5 kW; 345 PS) @ 4600 RPM

Torque: 470 lb·ft (637 N·m) @ 2800 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic

Wheelbase: 129 inches (3277 mm)

Length: 227.1 inches (5768 mm)

Width: 81.7 inches (2075 mm)

Height: 56.8 inches (1443 mm)

The Finchs’ Imperial gets damaged—presumably totaled—when Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters) accidentally drives his truck into it. According to Buddy Hackett, the screen-used Imperial was purchased back by MGM after production ended and used for studio lot transportation for several years to follow.

How to Get the Look

Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

J. Russell Finch signifies his comfortable position in the American leisure class with his early ’60s “smart casual” dress in a plaid sports coat, pollo shirt, slacks, and derbies—all coordinated in shades of gray and topped with a peaked captain’s hat.

• Charcoal plaid wool single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with narrow notch lapels, welted breast pocket, gently slanted flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and short double vents
• Gray melange jersey-knit short-sleeved 2-button polo shirt
• Charcoal flat-front trousers with belt loops and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Narrow black leather belt
• Black leather 2-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes
• Black socks
• Dark navy serge-covered captain’s peaked cap with gold crossed-anchor embroidery, black leaf-textured grosgrain band with black braided strap, and black patent leather visor
• Gold pinky ring with jade-green stone
• Gold wedding band
• Gold round-cased watch with round gold dial (with 6:00 sub-register) on black leather strap

Do Yourself A Favor And…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

You want me to tell you something? As far as I’m concerned, the whole British race is practically finished. If it hadn’t been for lend-lease—if we hadn’t have kept your whole country afloat by giving you billions that you never even said “thank you” for—the whole phony outfit would be sunk right under the Atlantic years ago.

The post Milton Berle in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World appeared first on BAMF Style.

Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Vitals

Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne, British Army officer and rare plant collector

Southern California, Summer 1962

Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas

Background

Today wraps up Car Week and a mini-celebration of the 60th anniversary year of the star-studded madcap road comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, following on Wednesday’s post by commemorating yet another star’s birthday. Although many sources list July 10 as his birthday, Terry-Thomas himself listed July 14, 1911 as his birthday in his autobiographies, so we’ll celebrate the famously gap-toothed English character actor today by way of his Jeep-driving Lieutenant Colonel J. Algernon Hawthorne.

Terry-Thomas perfected his screen persona as an “amiable bounder”, as described by Gilbert Adair for The Independent after the entertainer’s death in 1990. He had been performing on stage, radio, and screen for nearly thirty years before he was offered the Hawthorne part in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World… which he initially turned down, then reconsidered during his flight back to London, where he called Stanley Kramer from the airport to accept the part before hopping on a return flight to California.

Colonel Hawthorne wasn’t among the canonical four cars who came across Smiler Grogan’s car crash, when the dying crook described the $350,000 fortune buried under a “big W” in Santa Rosita Park, but he’s brought into the chase when his Willys is flagged down by J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle), a seaweed salesman accompanied by his demure wife (Dorothy Provine) and her outspoken mother (Ethel Merman), who later antagonizes the men to the extent that they find the need to hold her upside-down until the keys to Hawthorne’s Jeep shakes out of her bosom.

What’d He Wear?

Lieutenant Colonel Hawthorne explains to Finch’s family that he’s spent the last ten days collecting rare plants and cacti while on leave from his “hush-hush” liaison work at Vandenberg AFB in Santa Barbara County. Considering his military pedigree, Hawthorne looks appropriately dressed for his desert expedition among the plants of the American southwest.

Hawthorne tops the look with a short-brimmed trilby of natural straw, with a round crown and light brown pleated cotton puggaree band.

Hawthorne’s bush clothing consists of a khaki cotton safari shirt and matching shorts. Inspired by military uniforms from units stationed in warm weather, bush clothing was developed by explorers and sportsmen in the 1930s.

Hawthorne’s khaki short-sleeved shirt has a point collar, epaulets (shoulder straps), and two box-pleated chest pockets with pointed flaps that each close through a single button. Rather than a full-length button-up front, the shirt is of the popover style with a four-button placket that extends down to Hawthorne’s stomach—pulled off and on like a polo shirt. All of the buttons are brown.

“Oh! So it’s fisticuffs you want, is it?!”

Hawthorne’s khaki cotton shorts have a long rise, worn at Terry-Thomas’ natural waistline, where they’re held up with a khaki cotton belt that nearly matches the fabric of his clothing. The belt fastens with a small gold-finished frame-style sliding buckle. The shorts have double forward-facing pleats, side pockets, and no back pockets.

These high-waisted, pleated shorts with their knee-length hem follow the Bermuda shorts pattern, so named for their origins where they were adopted by the British Army during World War I.

The final moments before disaster.

Although Hawthorne wears knee-length shorts as a cooler-wearing alternative to long trousers, he wears tall socks that rise to just below his knees. Of course, this was the early 1960s, before shorts were commonly worn for any purpose that didn’t specifically require them—Hawthorne’s plant-collecting would apply as a specific purpose in this case.

His khaki ribbed cotton socks are only a shade darker than the rest of his clothes, with the tops folded over to avoid the knee. These high-wearing socks serve practical purposes for Hawthorne, protecting his lower legs against the sun, bugs, and the various thorny plants he collects.

Disaster!

Hawthorne wears snuff-brown suede two-eyelet desert boots. Characterized by low derby-laced suede uppers and crepe soles, this style was pioneered by Nathan Clark, inspired by the Cairo-made footwear he’d seen his fellow British Army officers wearing while stationed in Burma during the 1940s. Clark took the design back to his family, which managed the UK shoe company C. & J. Clark, which officially debuted their desert boot at the 1949 Chicago Shoe Fair.

Perhaps author Josh Sims had Terry-Thomas in mind when he wrote in Icons of Men’s Style that “the boots even look good teamed with baggy khaki shorts, as they originally were: after all, they have ‘legendary qualities in hot climates’, as the company’s advertisements declared in the 1950s.”

Say what you will about J. Algernon Hawthorne, but he definitely chose the ideal region for wearing desert boots.

The Car

Colonel Hawthorne chose a practical “machine” for collecting his array of desert flora, a 1955 Willys Jeep Utility Wagon painted a shade of teal-green that appears to be Willys’ color code 110 (“Julep Green Poly”).

Toledo-based manufacturer Willys-Overland Motors had been producing passenger automobiles for more than 30 years when it was selected by the U.S. Army to produce the durable, lightweight reconnaissance vehicles that had been designed by American Bantam, immortalized during World War II as the “Jeep”.

After the war, Willys capitalized on the vehicle’s popularity by introducing a line of Jeeps intended for the civilian market, including the open-top “CJ” (Civilian Jeep) and the enclosed Jeep Station Wagon, designed by industrial designer Brooks Stevens. The Willys Jeep Station Wagon became the first all-steel mass-market station wagon upon its introduction in 1946. Initially offered only in rear-wheel-drive, Willys introduced anoptional four-wheel-drive option in 1949, arguably making the Willys Jeep Utility Wagon—as the 4WD was first branded—the world’s first production SUV.

Engine options included a standard four-cylinder F-head “Hurricane” (Model 475) and a slightly more powerful Kaiser Continental inline-six (Model 6-226) that was introduced in 1954 after Willys merged with Kaiser. Hawthorne’s two-door Willys wagon is clearly stenciled “Jeep 4 Wheel Drive” on the rear door, but I’m not well-versed enough in these models to determine if his can be differentiated between the four-cylinder 475 or the six-cylinder 6-226 based on what we see on screen. (Though, for what it’s worth, I’ve heard that the cowl can be a differentiating factor between these models.)

1955 Willys Jeep Utility Wagon

Body Style: 2-door station wagon

Layout: four-wheel-drive (4WD)

Engine: 134 cu. in. (2.2 L) Willys “Hurricane” F-head inline-4 with single Carter YF-951S 1-barrel carburetor

Power: 75 hp (56 kW; 76 PS) @ 4000 RPM

Torque: 115 lb·ft (156 N·m) @ 2000 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed manual

Wheelbase: 104.5 inches (2654 mm)

Length: 176.25 inches (4477 mm)

Width: 71.75 inches (1822 mm)

Height: 74 inches (1880 mm)

Finch and his family were likely pleased to flag down a vehicle that could transport them over any rough terrain they may encounter, though they may have been dismayed at the speed disadvantage, given that Willys Utility Wagons could hardly top 80 miles per hour.

Production of the Jeep Station Wagon and Utility Wagon ended after the 1964 model year, as it had been generally phased out by the then-new Jeep Wagoneer.

How to Get the Look

Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Whether you’re collecting rare plants in the American southwest or simply eager to channel that traditional high-socked safari aesthetic this summer, let Terry-Thomas’ head-to-toe khaki from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World be your sartorial guide.

• Straw short-brimmed trilby with brown cotton puggaree band
• Khaki cotton short-sleeved popover bush shirt with point collar, epaulets (shoulder straps), 4-button placket, and two box-pleated chest pockets (with button-down flaps)
• Khaki cotton double forward-pleated knee-length Bermuda shorts with high rise, belt loops, and side pockets
• Khaki cotton belt with gold-toned sliding buckle
• Snuff-brown suede 2-eyelet crepe-soled desert boots
• Khaki ribbed cotton knee socks

Do Yourself A Favor And…

Check out the movie. I also recommend finding Ernest Gold’s soundtrack, which can be quite an ear-worm once you get past some of the kitschy choral verses.

The Quote

I must say, if I had the grievous misfortune to be a citizen of this benighted country, I should be most hesitant in offering any criticism whatever of any other.

The post Terry-Thomas in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World appeared first on BAMF Style.

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 6.13: “The Promise)

Vitals

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal

Miami to Lebec, California, Fall 2018

Series: Justified
Episode: “The Promise” (Episode 6.13)
Air Date: April 14, 2015
Director: Adam Arkin
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Patia Prouty

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Raylan Givens is coming back to TV in just three days! The mini-series Justified: City Primeval will premiere on FX on Tuesday, July 18, with Timothy Olyphant reprising his extremely charismatic portrayal of the Deputy U.S. Marshal created by author Elmore Leonard.

I’m typically wary of revivals, reboots, and reunions, especially after a series finale as neatly wrapped as Justified, but I have faith in the team and the fact that it looks like the Detroit-set Justified: City Primeval will be focusing on an original story rather than revisiting the plot that had been so well-resolved in “The Promise”.

Fans will recall that the final act of Justified was set after Raylan nearly met his match—and his end—facing off against quick-draw gunman Boon (Jonathan Tucker). Set four years after the climactic gunfight, the epilogue follows Raylan to wrap up the three pillars of his arc throughout the series:

• His family: Raylan enjoys an amicable co-parenting situation with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea), allowing a few light digs at her new partner Richard (Jason Gedrick) but prioritizing his daughter Willa (Eden Henderson), presumably undoing a cycle of generational trauma that had been perpetuated by his late father. (Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian Olyphant will play Willa in City Primeval.)
• His career: Raylan has been reassigned to Miami, where he had been working when the series began, though he maintains a friendly—and fruitful—professional relationship with his former colleague, Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel).
• The Crowder family drama: Raylan resolves his long-term drama with Ava (Joelle Carter) in a manner that provides both of them closure with the irrepressible Boyd (Walton Goggins):

We dug coal together.

Co-written by series creator Graham Yost (with Fred Golan, Dave Andron, and Benjamin Cavell) and directed by actor Adam Arkin, “The Promise” is a satisfying series finale experience that served as the end of this story… but not the end of Raylan Givens, justifying (so to speak) the existence of Justified: City Primeval to continue his story without undoing the resolution of the finale.

What’d He Wear?

A New Hat

After his signature silverbelly cattleman’s hat was literally shot off of his head four years earlier, Raylan has taken to wearing Boon’s fedora, following a storied western tradition of gunslingers adopting the headgear of the man they killed.

Boon gives up his hat when he gives up his life.

Rachel: Nice hat.
Raylan (recalling a first-season interaction): I tried it on, and it fit.

Much of Justified centers around whether or not its characters can ever truly leave Harlan County behind. By swapping out his cowboy hat for a more city-associated hat, Raylan signifies he’s ready to finally leave eastern Kentucky behind as he resumes his duties in the considerably more urban environment of Miami. (That said, promotional photos have made it clear that Raylan will be back in a silverbelly cattleman’s hat for City Primeval.)

Justified series creator Graham Yost explained to Matt Zoller Seitz for Vulture that dressing Raylan in the new hat was also done in tribute to the late Elmore Leonard’s original vision for the character, explaining that Boon’s fedora is “a little closer to what Elmore had in mind for Raylan. It’s still not quite the businessman Stetson. But at least more in that neighborhood.” Yost later elaborated that this hat was the only thing he recalled Timothy Olyphant taking home after production wrapped.

Recalling the predominant business hat style through most of the 20th century, Boon’s fedora is made of olive felt with a self-edged brim and a matching olive grosgrain band, with a green-tipped matchstick tucked behind the bow on the left side—a signature of its Venice, California-based hatmaker, Nick Fouquet. The hat also has a small gold clip clamped over the front right part of the brim.

How do we feel about Raylan’s fedora era?

Miami

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 6.13: “The Promise)

How to Get the Look:

• Charcoal-on-blue checked cotton long-sleeved shirt with straight point collar, plain front, and squared button cuffs
• Charcoal lightweight cotton Miami Marlins short-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt
• Medium-dark blue denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit button-fly jeans
• Black tooled leather belt with silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Tan leather custom-made belt holster for full-sized Glock pistol
• Cigar-brown ostrich-leg Lucchese cowboy boots
• Dark olive felt self-edged fedora with olive grosgrain band
• Sterling silver horseshoe-shaped ring
• Versales polished steel-cased quartz watch with round luminous white dial on black leather strap

Speaking of hats, I believe the last time we saw Raylan in a graphic T-shirt, it was for yet another Florida sports team in the first-season episode “Hatless” (Episode 1.09). Now that he’s reassigned to the 305, Raylan wears his regional pride in the form of a Nike-made T-shirt celebrating the Miami Marlins, the major-league baseball team that had been known as the Florida Marlins until 2012.

The short-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt is made of charcoal lightweight cotton, marled to a soft, vintage-looking finish. The chest is the large heathered red, yellow, blue, and gray “M” logo that the team adopted with their name change in 2012, underlined by “MIAMI” in gray. The familiar red “swoosh” at the left shoulder indicates that the shirt was made by Nike.

Four years after leaving Harlan County, Raylan still recognizes that there are few problems that ice cream can’t solve (or at least make more palatable.)

Heading back into the office, Raylan pulls on a charcoal-on-blue checked John Varvatos shirt that he had worn several times throughout the series, both for a light layer that somewhat covers his holstered Glock but also to add a touch of professionalism with his T-shirt, though the Marshals’ office in Miami appears to have a more relaxed dress code than Raylan typically followed while working at the Lexington office.

The shirt is patterned with horizontal bar stripes alternating between muted shades of blue and charcoal, framed with a thin black and charcoal check. The long-sleeved shirt has a straight point collar and squared single-button cuffs, and a plain front for the smoke-toned plastic buttons, though Raylan wears the shirt completely open in “The Promise”. All these edges are detailed with a dark contrasting baste-stitch.

Lebec

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 6.13: “The Promise)

How to Get the Look:

• Navy-and-brown tartan plaid flannel long-sleeved shirt-jacket with narrow point collar, 6-snap front placket, snap-flapped chest pockets, on-seam hand pockets, and squared single-snap cuffs
• Navy cotton long-sleeved 4-button henley shirt
• Medium-blue denim Levi’s 501 Original Fit button-fly jeans
• Black tooled leather belt with silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Tan leather custom-made belt holster for full-sized Glock pistol
• Cigar-brown ostrich-leg Lucchese cowboy boots
• Dark olive felt self-edged fedora with olive grosgrain band
• Sterling silver horseshoe-shaped ring
• Versales polished steel-cased quartz watch with round luminous white dial on black leather strap

Raylan follows Rachel’s tip about Ava Crowder’s whereabouts to Lebec, California, a small, unincorporated census-designated community about 40 miles south of Bakersfield in Kern County. Here, he’s more warmly layered for fall than he had been with his lightweight open shirt and T-shirt in Miami.

Raylan’s base shirt is a navy cotton long-sleeved henley shirt with a short four-button top that he wears with all but the top button fastened.

He layers it under a navy-and-brown tartan plaid flannel twill shirt-jacket that closes with six gunmetal-toned snaps up the front placket, though he wears the front totally open. The shirt-jacket (“shacket”, if you will) is cut and styled like a regular shirt, with a narrow point collar, two chest pockets that each close with a pointed snap-down flap, and squared single-snap cuffs. Other than the heavier weight of the garment, the most significant differentiation from a regular shirt are the addition of the on-seam hand pockets.

Raylan exclusively wears blue denim Levi’s jeans, specifically the Levi’s 501® Original Fit, though he rotates through several washes like the darker blue “stonewash” denim seen in Miami to the medium-shaded blue denim in the Lebec sequence.

Most Levi’s jeans follow the same five-pocket design and are detailed with the brand’s recognizable red tab sewn against the side of the back-right pocket, but the 501 differentiates itself with its button-fly and timeless cut. The venerated 501 traces its origins back to 1873 when Levi Strauss & Co. perfected their riveted “waist overalls” designed specifically for miners… or, in the parlance of Raylan and Boyd, men who “dug coal together.”

Raylan’s Usual Boots, Belt, and Accessories

Raylan ends the series wearing the same Lucchese L1380 cowboy boots that costume designer Patia Prouty had selected him to wear for the third season onward, replacing the Justin anteater boots from the first two seasons. The boots are made from a “cigar” brown ostrich-leg, a soft and durable hide that was aged by Prouty’s costume team after they were acquired for the production.

Raylan nods to his cowboy values with his tooled leather belt, made from a black leather that has been worn to such a degree that the edges show the lighter brown natural leather before it was tanned. The belt closes through a polished silver-toned single-prong buckle.

When on duty (and not enjoying ice cream with his daughter), Raylan affixes his U.S. Marshals badge and gun to his belt. He carries his Glock in a tan full-grain leather paddle holster with a snap-closed top strap, custom-made by Alfonso Gun Leather of Hollywood from the second season onward, replacing the cosmetically similar Bianchi Model 59 Special Agent® he had worn for the first season.

Raylan also shows his cowboy side with his sterling silver horseshoe-shaped statement ring, designed with black-filled braided sides that taper toward the back of the band.

After wearing a stainless Rolex Submariner in the pilot episode and a leather-strapped TAG Heuer Series 6000 Chronometer through several seasons to follow, Raylan had actually downgraded his watch by the end of the series to what an eagle-eyed expert at the WatchUSeek forums identified as a quartz watch from the budget-oriented Japanese watchmaker Versales, worn on a black leather strap. The polished steel case has a round white dial with black Arabic numeral hour indices, each with the coordinating 24-hour marker printed smaller in red. A pusher at the 2 o’clock position likely activates the luminous dial.

Truly the last we saw of Raylan, opposite an imprisoned Boyd Crowder. We see little more than Raylan’s nondescript solid black shirt, but we can assume it’s tucked into Levi’s 501s with his usual tooled leather belt and ostrich-leg boots.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series. I also recommend that fans of the show who are on Facebook follow the great page @EverythingJustified which features many great photos, videos, and moments from the series as well as shots of screen-worn gear and chances to get your hands on similar clothing.

The Quote

Every long-time fugitive I’ve ever run down expects me to congratulate them for not doin’ what no one’s supposed to be doin’ anyhow.

The post Justified: The last time we saw Raylan Givens appeared first on BAMF Style.

Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby in Memento (2000)

Vitals

Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, vengeful insurance investigator with anterograde amnesia

Los Angeles, Summer 1999

Film: Memento
Release Date: September 5, 2000
Director: Christopher Nolan
Costume Designer: Cindy Evans

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

I have no short-term memory. I know who I am, I know all about myself, I just—since my injury, I can’t make new memories. Everything fades. If we talk for too long, I’ll forget how we started. The next time I see you, I’m not gonna remember this conversation.

Memento stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance claims investigator out for revenge after an attack on his wife that left him with a rare form of short-term memory loss. Appropriate for today (July 17th) being National Tattoo Day, Leonard covers his body with tattoos to help him instantly recall his understanding of the facts of what happened and who he must target for revenge.

A tattoo on Leonard’s hand asks him to “remember Sammy Jankis”, recalling one of his former cases when he rejected the insurance claim of fellow amnesiac Sammy (Stephen Tobolowsky), having believed that Sammy’s condition was more psychological. The job trained Leonard well for his new reality as “I had to see through people’s bullshit, it was useful experience because now it’s my life,” though he concludes that his own condition could be “some poetic justice for not believing Sammy.”

We don’t know how many times Leonard has been through this cycle of anonymous motels and shifty accomplices before, but he’s currently staying at the Discount Inn, entangled in a complicated web that includes ex-cop John “Teddy” Gammell (Joe Pantoliano) and the mysterious bartender Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).

In only his second feature film, Christopher Nolan adapted his brother Jonathan Nolan’s short story “Memento Mori” into a unique non-linear psychological thriller, presented in two alternating sequences: a black-and-white sequence that advances chronologically and a color sequence shown in reverse order, each only several minutes long to depict the duration of Leonard’s memory.

What’d He Wear?

For most of the movie, Leonard wears a tan suit with a vivid blue shirt, made from a cornflower-blue herringbone-woven cotton. The shirt has a point collar, front placket with seven white plastic buttons, breast pocket, rounded button cuffs, and a box pleat down the center back.

There’s a darkly funny moment at the expense of Leonard’s memory when he is getting dressed after sleeping at Natalie’s home. Unable to remember which clothes are his, he instinctively tries putting on Natalie’s white shirt, which is a bit too small for him. “Lenny… before you go, could I have my shirt back please?” she asks, tossing him the blue shirt he had been wearing earlier. The dramatic irony is that she likely recognized the shirt as having belonged to her scumbag boyfriend Jimmy—and that Leonard has no recollection of putting the shirt on after he killed Jimmy.

The bold blue shirt with a tan suit echoes an aesthetic worn the previous year by Pierce Brosnan in his penultimate James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough (1999). It’s likely this degree of fashionability that prompts the schlubby Teddy to describe Leonard as wearing a “designer suit”, though Teddy also knows that he pulled it off of the late Jimmy Grantz (Larry Holden), a drug dealer affluent enough to also be driving a late-model Jaguar convertible.

A Heritage Auctions listing describes the twill suiting as “tan wool”, though I suspect there may also be some cotton based on how the cloth wears and wrinkles. (That said, the listing also describes the jacket’s obvious notch lapels as “peaked lapels”, so there’s little to be gained by relying solely on auction listing descriptions.)

Note the different weaves of his suit and shirt fabrics.

Lenny’s commandeered single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a three-button front. The cut and details are consistent with trends of the ’90s, including the padded shoulders and larger fit—which makes sense here as the suit had initially belonged to Jimmy rather than Leonard. The larger fit also allows him to comfortably carry his camera on a shoulder strap under his jacket.

The jacket has a single vent and four buttons on each cuff that match the mixed brown horn buttons on the front. In describing his system, Leonard mentions that “you need a jacket that’s got, like, six pockets in it—particular pockets for particular things,” which may have instinctively drawn him to wearing it. Consistent with the suit’s sporty nature, the jacket has patch pockets over the left breast and both hips.

The suit’s matching flat-front trousers have gently slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. Leonard holds them up with Jimmy’s belt, a strip of scaled brown kipskin leather that closes through a gold-toned single-prong buckle.

Evidently, Leonard either didn’t try on or failed to fit into Jimmy’s brown chukka boots, which would have been more congruous with the suit than Leonard’s own chunkier brown plain-toe work derbies that he continues wearing with his dark brown socks. (To his credit, Teddy recognizes the value of Jimmy’s chukkas.) Leonard’s work shoes have heavy-duty black lugged rubber outsoles.

Leonard continues wearing his hardy brown leather derbies even after relieving Jimmy Grantz of his nattier chukka boots.

As seen frequently throughout, particularly in scenes involving the tattoos on Leonard’s legs, he wears white tonal-striped cotton boxer shorts as underwear.

Leonard uses “habit and routine” to make his life possible, aided by a black Polaroid 690 instant camera that he wears strapped around his left shoulder, under his jacket. The camera’s ability to print and develop photos within seconds allows him to write a coordinated note on each so that he will have some guidance navigating the people, places, and pieces of his life.

Given how much his marriage drives his actions, Leonard understandably continues wearing his silver-toned wedding ring, a plain band on the ring finger of his left hand.

Throughout the black-and-white sequence (which becomes pigmented as it aligns with the color sequence), Leonard wears a gray, red, and white plaid shirt under a dark utility vest. This zip-up vest has a knitted collar, two low-positioned inverted box-pleat pockets with velcro-closing flaps, and cinched adjusters on each side of the waist.

His distressed and dirty light blue denim jeans are held up by a thick brown leather belt with a gunmetal double-prong buckle. He wears the same brown leather work shoes, which harmonize better with this more rugged casual outfit.

The Car

Leonard drives a dark green 1997 Jaguar XK8 convertible that gets considerably dirtier and more damaged over the course of the narrative. His Polaroid describes the XK8 as “my car”, though Natalie’s reactions to it hint at its true owner’s identity.

The XK8 debuted for the 1997 model year, establishing Jaguar’s new luxurious XK grand tourer series to replace the aging XJS series. Available in two-door coupe and convertible body styles, the sleek XK8 was initially powered by Jaguar’s new 4.0-liter V8, exclusively mated to a five-speed automatic transmission.

The standard 4.0 V8 could propel the XK8 convertible from 0-60 mph in 7 seconds, reaching an estimated top speed of 154 mph (the hardtop coupe is slightly faster, reaching 0-60 in 6.7 seconds and a top speed of 156 mph.) Introduced in 1998, the XKR used a supercharged version of the same 4.0 V8 that generated eighty more horsepower and reduced the 0-60 mph acceleration by more than a second.

1997 Jaguar XK8

Body Style: 2-door convertible

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

Engine: 243.9 cu. in. (4.0 L) Jaguar AJ26 V8

Power: 290 hp (216 kW; 294 PS) @ 6100 RPM

Torque: 290 lb·ft (393 N·m) @ 4250 RPM

Transmission: 5-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 101.9 inches (2588 mm)

Length: 187.4 inches (4760 mm)

Width: 72 inches (1829 mm)

Height: 51.4 inches (1306 mm)

Jaguar overhauled the XK series for the 2003 model year, enlarging the engine in both the XK8 and XKR models to a 4.2-liter V8, now mated to the new ZF six-speed automatic transmission.

What to Imbibe

“Hmm… I don’t feel drunk,” Leonard realizes as he awakens on a toilet holding a bottle of what appears to be J&B Rare blended Scotch whisky but has a very similar prop label imprinted with “L&D” on it instead. It turns out he had earlier grabbed it to be an improvised weapon while awaiting Dodd (Callum Keith Rennie) in his motel room.

That Scotch would’ve probably been much safer—or at least more pleasant—to drink than the, uh, dusty beer that Natalie initially serves him when he goes to meet her at Ferdy’s bar.

The Guns

Through much of Memento, Leonard arms himself with the Smith & Wesson 3913 pistol that he found in Dodd’s motel room. “Must be his… I don’t think they’d let someone like me carry a gun,” Leonard quips to himself.

Smith & Wesson introduced the 3913 model in 1990 among its stable of third-generation semi-automatic pistols. These hefty metal-framed handguns can trace their lineage to the first generation of Smith & Wesson pistols, the Model 39 (introduced in 1955, fed from a single-stack magazine) and the Model 59 (introduced in 1971, fed from a double-stack magazine). Denoted by three-digit model numbers, the second-generation series through the 1980s expanded the lineup to include a range of finishes, calibers, and sizes.

Leonard had expected to see the Gideon Bible… but not a 9mm Smith & Wesson placed atop it.

The third and final generation was produced through the ’90s, with an even wider range as indicated by the four-digit model numbers that each describe the pistol in hand—the 3913 indicates that it evolved from the 9mm Model 39, the “1” describes the double-action-only (DAO) trigger and scaled-down size, and the final “3”describes the stainless alloy construction and finish. (For contrast, a 5906 evolved from the Model 59, the “0” is a traditional double/single-action but full-sized, and the “6” indicates a stainless steel frame. A 4505 is a .45-caliber pistol, also with a double/single-action, full-sized frame as indicated by the “0”, but the last digit being a “5” means a blackened steel finish.)

Produced throughout the 1990s, the Smith & Wesson 3913 weighs just under two pounds with a 3.5-inch barrel. Like the earlier Model 39, Model 439, and Model 639 that it evolved from, the Model 3913 is fed from eight-round single-stack magazines.

Leonard checks the load of the single-stack magazine carried in Dodd’s Smith & Wesson 3913.

In his “past life” as a non-amnesiac insurance investigator, Leonard actually did own a gun as he loads a Beretta 8000F Cougar Inox upon recognizing that there’s an intruder in the house attacking his wife. The Beretta 8000 series was introduced in 1994 as a compact alternative to the full-size Beretta 92 series. The “Cougar” nickname emerged from the Italian firearms manufacturer’s long-time pattern of naming their pistols after big cats, e.g., Bobcat, Cheetah, Jaguar, Minx, and Tomcat.

Like the contemporary Smith & Wesson third-generation semi-autos discussed above, the Cougar was available in a variety of different configurations that varied by caliber, capacity, size, and action. Leonard’s pistol is clearly an “F”-configured traditional double-action (DA/SA) model, complete with external hammer and ambidextrous de-cocker. Though the caliber is unconfirmed, most movie handguns are chambered for universal 9×19 mm Parabellum, which is also one of the most reliable when cycling blanks. The stainless steel finish and white grips indicate that Leonard owns a version with Beretta’s signature “Inox” finish.

In a flashback to the attack on his wife, Leonard arms himself with a Beretta Cougar Inox pistol.

At the “end” of the movie, Leonard briefly handles Teddy’s presumably police-issued Smith & Wesson Model 19, extracting the six .357 Magnum shells from the cylinder and leaving them in his truck, then tossing the piece itself into the cash that Jimmy G. brought to what he believed would be a drug exchange.

Smith & Wesson developed the Model 19 in 1957 as a .357 Magnum revolver built on its medium-sized K-frame. Produced in blued carbon and nickel-plated steel finishes, the reliable Model 19 grew popular among civilians and law enforcement alike. Standard barrel lengths ranged from a long 6-inch to the 2.5-inch “snub-nosed” variant as carried by Teddy in Memento, apropos his concealment needs as a plainclothes (or possibly undercover) officer.

Leonard takes away Teddy’s Smith & Wesson Model 19.

How to Get the Look

Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby in Memento (2000)

Leonard Shelby may not have short-term memory, but he’s got plenty of style—thanks to the late Jimmy Grantz—navigating a world of cheap motels and duplicitous acquaintances in a “borrowed” tan sport suit and cornflower-blue shirt that cover his multitude of tattoos.

• Tan wool/cotton-blend twill suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, gently slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Cornflower-blue herringbone cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, rounded button cuffs, and box-pleated back
• Brown scaled kipskin leather belt with brass single-prong buckle
• Dark-brown leather plain-toe derby work shoes
• Dark brown socks
• White self-striped cotton boxer undershorts
• Silver wedding ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I have this condition…

The post Guy Pearce in Memento appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jake Johnson as Doug Renetti on Minx (Episode 1.10: “You happened to me”)

Vitals

Jake Johnson as Doug Renetti, easygoing porn publisher

San Fernando Valley, California, Summer and Fall 1972

Series: Minx
Episodes:
– “Mary had a little hysterectomy” (Episode 1.06, dir. Carrie Brownstein, aired 3/31/2022)
– “You happened to me” (Episode 1.10, dir. Stella Meghie, aired 4/14/2022)
Creator: Ellen Rapoport
Costume Designer: Beth Morgan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After the show’s fate seemed uncertain at the end of last year, Minx returns this Friday, July 21 on Starz. The streaming platform had rescued the series after it was unceremoniously canceled by HBO Max in December 2022 and removed from its service, alongside other original series like Westworld and The Nevers. Though its future was in doubt, Minx completed filming the second season within a week and, exactly a month after HBO Max canceled it, Starz announced on January 12, 2023 that Minx would be adopted onto its service.

Also set in the San Fernando Valley during the so-called “golden age of porn”, Minx could be described as a lighter-hearted companion piece to Boogie Nights, to the extent that Jake Johnson told Brooke Marine for W Magazine that he “used to play it in my trailer [during Minx] to remember the certain energy and bounce to that movie. When it would be early in the morning and I’m putting on tight pants, it would instantly make me happy to be at work.”

The first season is primarily set through 1972, a pivotal year for both the country (Watergate!) and the adult entertainment industry (Deep Throat!), as lovably sleazy Van Nuys publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson) is all too happy to cash in on the opportunities that adult entertainment has offered him. However, his new business partner—feminist writer Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond)—is considerably more reluctant, having teamed up with Doug’s Bottom Dollar Productions only out of a desperate desire to have her perspectives in print, while he sees the moneymaking opportunities of publishing erotica for women as capitalizing on a largely untapped market. Both are forced to make compromises, though it’s initially Joyce who is forced to compromise to a much greater degree, sacrificing her vision that began as the progressive zine The Matriarchy Awakens and has evolved into Minx, a flashy volume with her thoughtful articles dumbed-down among photos of naked firemen.

“Johnson’s empathetic but tough performance makes clear who Doug is, and the complicated motivation that lies behind his scruffily direct exterior,” Daniel D’Addario reviewed for Variety. “Doug doesn’t want to wholesale change who Joyce is: He just wants to bundle her ideas, Trojan-horse style, into a package that women outside the academy will embrace.”

Doug and Joyce continue to disagree on what direction to take Minx, with his unintentionally dominating her appearance on The Dick Cavett Show finally fissuring their business relationship. By the finale, Doug makes amends with Joyce, inviting her back to the team as Minx‘s editor, but “as partners this time.” When Joyce answers that she would rather see what she can accomplish on her own, and not as a partner, Doug hands over total control of the magazine, earnestly encouraging that “I can’t wait to see what you do.”

What’d He Wear?

For a lover of ’70s fashion like me, the parade of polyester through each episode of Minx is almost as pornographic as the pages produced by Bottom Dollar Publications. Costume designer Beth Morgan zeroed in on some of the most delightfully dated fads for most of the characters in Doug Renetti’s charmingly tacky world. (I’d make an exception when discussing Joyce’s wardrobe, as she strikes me as a tasteful dresser—still adhering to many trends of the ’70s but with smarter sensibilities than most of her colleagues.)

“Beth Morgan, the head of wardrobe, is brilliant,” Jake Johnson explained to Brooke Marine for W Magazine, adding, “The clothes are not comfortable. This was one of the first jobs for me where someone put so much thought into the clothes… She was choosing clothes to define a character.”

The last time we see Doug, he’s striding away from Joyce’s apartment complex while clad in a pink leisure suit—a standout from his closet full of colorful leisure suits and one of the few pieces he repeats over the course of the first season.

Leisure suits evolved from sporty apparel developed throughout the 20th century, including function-oriented safari jackets and the leisure-oriented “Hollywood suits” and loafer jackets. As synthetic materials presented cheaper alternatives for making clothing around the same time that American culture was rebelling against formal clothing and office dress codes, the leisure suit emerged as an almost inevitable byproduct.

Doug’s leisure suit is made from chambray, a lightweight yet hardy cloth often used for workwear. Though chambray is traditionally blue, Doug’s leisure suit is plain-woven with a red warp and white filling yarns, presenting a mottled pink appearance.

The lightweight chambray cloth and shorter cut makes the top half of Doug’s leisure suit more of a shirt-jacket than a traditional jacket. Some leisure suits, specifically lighter-weight ones more adjacent to safari style, were designed to be worn like an untucked shirt-jacket and trousers, though we always see Doug wearing this particular pink leisure jacket layered over another shirt.

The jacket has a flat collar and five silver-colored snaps up the front placket from the waist to just below the neck, where the top snap is positioned lower so that the long-pointed collar would still present flat and open should Doug choose to fully snap his jacket up to the top. The shoulders have epaulet straps with pointed ends that snap against the jacket (on the side nearer the neck), and the set-in sleeves are finished with squared cuffs that have a snap to fasten through one of two studs. (Not the same kind of stud that poses in Minx.)

The two chest pockets are outlined in the same white contrast stitch that details the edges of the jacket, and each pocket is covered with a gently pointed flap that closes through a single snap. The jacket also has a pair of vertical-entry hand pockets, and a vent on each side aligns with seams running down from the armpits. The jacket is lined in bright red, with a pink chambray square positioned low on the left side to provide an inner pocket.

While leisure jackets were very distinctively detailed, their matching trousers often typically resembled conventional trousers. Aside from their eye-catching color, Doug’s flat-front trousers are no exception, with belt loops, gently slanted side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms with a subtle flare, consistent with trending cuts of the ’70s.

Doug holds the trousers up with a black-edged belt of tan leather, affixed to his brass statement belt buckle that he rotates through a variety of belts. The buckle’s shape reminds me of a fish, “facing” Doug’s right with swirls on the top and bottom and a circle indented through the center.

Doug wears his usual russet-brown leather bicycle-toe ankle boots. The uppers closely follow the shape of his feet over his ankles, and the heels are slightly raised.

Doug’s shirts are typically solid-colored knits or wildly printed button-ups, and costume designer Beth Morgan has Jake Johnson modeling both styles with this particular leisure suit.

He debuts the pink leisure suit in “Mary had a little hysterectomy” (Episode 1.06) with a bright red knit short-sleeved polo shirt, detailed with a contrasting broken white stitch along the edges of the collar, placket, and along the top of the patch-style breast pocket. The placket has four red cloth-covered buttons that he wears totally undone. (He had earlier worn a dark-green version of this shirt in the first episode.)

Tina (Idara Victor) joins Doug at the airport bar, where he drowns his sorrows about being unable to get a meeting in Tempe with the Thrifty stockist.

For the final scene of the finale, “You happened to me” (Episode 1.10), Doug wears another shirt that coordinates to the suit—albeit in a different way. The shirt has a black ground, hardly seen against the all-over pink and purple print of varying flowers and leaves. The shirt has a long collar that Doug wears purposely flat atop the collar of his leisure suit jacket, with the top few black buttons of his shirt placket undone to show his chest. The long-sleeved shirt has button cuffs.

Doug’s floral shirt echoes his blooming maturity in the season finale, willingly handing control of one of his publications to Joyce.

No man could rightfully claim to be a deity of the ’70s porn world without an array of gold jewelry, to which Doug dutifully complies with a hefty necklace and no less than four rings, a gold watch, and a gold bracelet to balance out his wrists. Worn on a gold snake-chain necklace, Doug’s large gold pendant depicts a figure who appears to be carrying two large gems: an amber stone in his right hand and a purple stone in his left. (The purple stone appears to have fallen off by the end of the series.)

Worn on a gold snake-chain necklace, Doug’s large gold pendant features an angel carrying an amber stone in their right hand and an amethyst hanging from a heart-shaped setting in their left. “It’s this genuine piece we found thrifting and I decided his mother gave him,” costume designer Beth Morgan explained to Carolyn Twersky for W Magazine. “I like to think it’s a piece that has a lot of sentimental meaning to Doug.”

Though his jewelry configuration changes, he begins “Mary had a little hysterectomy” with a pair of rings on each hand. On his right index finger, he wears a gold ring with a diagonally set black oval stone. On the ring finger of his right hand, he wears another gold ring with a black stone, though this squared stone is set flush with the ring’s band and appears to be flanked by Masonic symbols on each side.

From the second episode on, Doug wears a gold wristwatch with a gold-and-brown gradient dial detailed with non-numeric hour indices. The watch’s gold bracelet has a rice-grain textured finish, though it’s a solid bracelet.

Doug rallies his Minx troops to brainstorm how to boost sales.

On his left index finger, Doug wears a braid-textured gold ring with a squared “face”. His usual pinky ring on this hand is also gold, flaring out to accommodate a large round “tiger’s eye” stone.

Doug typically wears a chunky and ornately textured gold link bracelet on this wrist, though a continuity error at the end of “Mary had a little hysterectomy” (Episode 1.06) finds him nursing his airport beer with a thin gold rope-chain bracelet instead. He typically wears this thinner bracelet on his right wrist with his watch.

By the episode’s end, Doug looks hardly able to rally himself.

How to Get the Look

Jake Johnson as Doug Renetti on Minx (Episode 1.06: “Mary had a little hysterectomy”)

Little of Doug’s wardrobe, characterized by outfits like this pink leisure suit and trove of gold jewelry, would work well outside of the 1970s—and even then, it was probably best contained to the San Fernando Valley porno industry. Yet, there’s a rakish sensibility about how comfortably Jake Johnson pulls it off that I can’t help but to admire.

• Pink chambray leisure suit:
  • Shirt-jacket with wide flat collar, five-snap front placket, shoulder straps (epaulets), two chest pockets (with snap-down flaps), two vertical-entry hand pockets, squared single-snap cuffs, and side vents
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, gently slanted side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Red knitted short-sleeved pocket polo shirt or black, pink, and purple floral-print long-sleeved shirt
• Russet-brown leather bicycle-toe ankle boots
• Gold gemstone-accented pendant on gold snake-chain necklace
• Four gold rings
• Gold rope-chain bracelet
• Gold quartz watch with gold-and-black gradient dial on gold bead-textured bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, currently streaming on Starz.

The Quote

How do you think we built this place? We built this place with hustle!

The post Minx: Jake Johnson’s Pink Leisure Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy on Succession (Episode 3.07: “Too Much Birthday”)

Vitals

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, ousted media conglomerate exec and self-described defender of democracy

New York City, Spring 2020

Series: Succession
Episode: “Too Much Birthday” (Episode 3.07)
Air Date: November 28, 2021
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today’s my 34th birthday, a day I share with Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams, and Cat Stevens. Luckily, things have been going good enough that nothing has me considering calling in Springsteen to rescue the vibe, but the same can’t be said for Succession‘s #1 boy.

The third-season episode “Too Much Birthday” centers around Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) planning to “go nut-nut, pure excess, full-bore” for his 40th birthday bash at The Shed in Hudson Yards. The extravagant jubilee is merely a very transparent attempt to compensate for the lack of real personal connections in his life, severed even further after going public against his father’s toxic leadership of Waystar Royco at the end of the previous season.

“This is highly egalitarian,” Kendall insists during the planning, sharing that he wants everyone from servers to his “imagineers” to have fun, “like do your job, but fuckin’ get your drink on, get your buzz on. There’s no boundaries if you’re cool.”

Kendall is pleased to hear his beleaguered publicist Comfry (Dasha Nekrasova) estimate that 80% of his A-list are planning to attend—unfazed by the 15% of which that are “maybes” (“maybes are nos, let’s not live in a dream world,” he insists)—including “Jeff, Elon, and Lukas.” It’s more her dawdling over whether “the sibs” plan to attend that has Kendall nervous, though he tries to hide it.

Back at the Waystar Royco office, the aforementioned sibs Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) are debating whether to attend “KenFest”. Roman rationalizes his initial interest as “pure rubbernecking”, but it becomes Don Draper’s work-described-as-a-party upon learning that erratic tech CEO Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård) will be there, giving the Roys a chance to negotiate for a deal.

Like a modern-day Gatsby, Ken begins the party by overseeing it from a lonely “VIP” section above it all, driven by a sense of validation that keeps a watchful eye on the attendees. “I feel like it’s pretty fuckin’ iconic,” he comments to Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), just before he lights up upon the arrival of not one, not two, but all three of his siblings!

Shiv: Go on, tell us… who’s here?
Kendall: Who isn’t?
Roman: Your dad.
Shiv: Your mom.
Connor: Your wife and kids.
Roman: Any real friends.

Shiv is only partially right as, technically, their mother did make an appearance by way of the entryway he designed to replicate his entrance into the world through her “cold and inhospitable” vaginal canal forty years earlier. Their father, Logan (Brian Cox), also sends his regards by way of an insultingly generic birthday card inscribed with the heartfelt message “Happy birthday Cash out and fuck off”.

Kendall ignores his siblings’ sadly accurate ribbing at the expense of his emotional isolation and leads them into a room designed to only enhance the gulf between them, decorated with oversized headlines from the future predicting their respective fates: Connor elected president (of shitting his bag), Shiv arrested in a streetwalker roundup, and Roman dead from a “tragic jerk-off accident”. The party also boasts an eerie compliment tunnel, a thankfully aborted crucifixion of Billy Joel’s “Honesty” which Kendall had been rehearsing at the start of the episode, and a replica of Kendall’s childhood treehouse, where he tucks Mattson away from the prying eyes of his siblings: “This is my treehouse. You shouldn’t be anywhere near here.”

“It’s a great night. Happy you’re here. Fuckin’ best birthday ever,” he had told the sibs, though the last line seems more designed to convince himself as he circulates through his five-dimensional catastrophe of “all bangers all the time.”

With his father’s $2 billion “mind game” burning a hole in his pocket and the realization that his siblings are only at his party for networking reasons, Kendall breaks down upon not even being able to find the gift from his two children among the pile of empty presents, leaving him an even more depressed and empty shell than we’ve ever seen as he enters his 40th year:

This is so pathetic. I wish I was- I wish I was home.

What’d He Wear?

Kendall insists on his guests handing over their coats with their phones (“Kendall would like his present to be everyone being present”), even repeatedly asking Connor (Alan Ruck) to remove his as he feels the presidential hopeful’s quilted coat is “souring the vibe”.

Of course, the rule doesn’t apply to Kendall himself, who most assuredly considers his flamboyant $6,900 Gucci jacket to be an indispensable part of his birthday fit. The distinctive jacket debuted in 2017 as part of a collection designed during creative director Alessandro Michele’s second year at the helm, according to High Snobiety.

Despite how he’s dressed (and enforcing hypocritical coat policies), Kendall seeks confirmation from his two lackeys that he isn’t merely hosting “an asshole’s birthday party”.

The quilted body of the jacket is a dark gray-green satin-finished cotton, with black quilted raglan sleeves each detailed with a gold-edged green velvet strip running the length of each arm from neck to wrist. The ribbed-knit collar, cuffs, and hem are banded in five balanced maroon and white stripes.

From the front, the jacket may look a little ostentatious—from the sides, perhaps a little louder—but the back turns the volume all the way up with its colorfully embroidered UFO splashed across the entire back. The design is embroidered in shades of red, blue, and green, underscored by bedazzled bursts of red and green. (You can see more detailed photos of the UFO design and the rest of the jacket in this Grailed listing.)

Ken allows himself an out-of-this-world moment of bonding with his sibs, unaware of their actual reason for attending his party.

The structure of the jacket recalls a traditional MA-1 bomber jacket with its ribbed-knit collar, cuffs, and hem, as well as a straight-zip fly, covered with a four-snap storm fly that coordinates with the banded elements for a varsity jacket-inspired touch.

The orange quilted lining also hearkens back to the “emergency” lining on military outerwear, designed to be reversible so that a downed pilot could wear a bright color visible to rescue planes. I don’t believe Kendall’s Gucci jacket was designed to be reversible, and the only interior pocket is the set-in pocket on the left inside chest panel where he stores the card and buy-out offer from his father.

For Kendall, the only emergency now is finding the birthday gift his kids made him, clutching to the fading hope of connecting to people who actually care about him.

Kendall swathes himself in green under the jacket, wearing a bottle-green wool-and-cashmere turtleneck sweater that @successionfashion identified as an $890 sweater also from Gucci. The sweater has a narrowly ribbed roll-neck, cuffs, and hem. (Kendall clearly places considerable value in cashmere sweaters, tasking Comfry with bribing Connor to trade out his own quilted jacket for a complimentary cashmere jumper… but our presidential hopeful who was interested in politics at a very young age doesn’t fall for the sartorial bait.)

“Too Much Birthday” also introduces a popular statement piece from Kendall’s closet (in fact, Jeremy Strong’s real-life closet) by way of the octagonal 9-karat gold pendant etched with a face from artist Rashid Johnson’s “Anxious Men” series of paintings, suspended on a chunky blackened silver chain-link necklace and accented with a ruby stone. One of a limited run of only 15 pieces designed in collaboration with LIZWORKS, the necklace initially cost $15,500 (according to Tom Barker for High Snobiety), though LIZWORKS now lists the price at $30,000.

Production photo of Jeremy Strong on Succession. Photo credit: Macall B. Polay/HBO.

Kendall wears black cotton slim-fit jeans and completes the Gucci-of-it-all with a pair of Gucci Flashtrek sneakers that may look chaotic on their own but at least unite the green, black, and gray color scheme from the rest of his outfit.

Originally retailing for $975, these leather-and-mesh sneakers have a unique lacing system, similar to hiking boots with four sets of silver-toned metal eyelets—the front two conventionally spaced, while the two behind it are farther apart—and a set of speed hooks at the top of each instep. (Thankfully, Kendall forewent the gem-embellished straps that could come with the Flashtreks… seriously.)

The leather rounded toes and the rubber midsoles and outsoles are army green, trimmed by gray suede accents. The rest of the shoes’ construction are primarily black leather and black mesh, aside from an ovular green patch that extends up each side of each shoe and to which the two rearward sets of eyelets are affixed. The black mesh-and-leather tongue has “GUCCI” prominently embroidered and encircled across the top in yellow, in a font licensed to resemble the Sega logo.

“Mission control out! Shit is about to pop off!”

Shop the shoes:

Gucci Flashtrek ($1,725 $899.99 at Gilt)

Prices and availability current as of July 11, 2023.

Aside from the Rashid Johnson-designed pendant, Kendall’s only other visible jewelry is a black ridged bracelet around his right wrist, perhaps meant to signify his treehouse-level of access for the party.

I can’t tell if Kendall is wearing a watch under the ribbed-knit cuffs of his turtleneck, but his descent into despair is accelerated when Naomi tries to distract him from looking for the present that his kids made him by giving her gift. We can’t see much of the rose-gold watch on a black leather strap, but we know it doesn’t go well. After all, it was established as early as the first episode when Logan received (and promptly gave away) a Patek Philippe for his birthday that wristwatches—even prestigious luxury watches—are about an impersonal as a gift can get in the Succession-verse.

“I don’t wanna be a dick, but I have a watch,” Kendall responds. And yes, Kendall, you have many watches… what’s one more to add to the collection? Of course, it’s not about the watch and never was.

What to Imbibe

Having handed off the baby bottle that he was ironically(?) drinking milk from earlier, Kendall pulls a shot of Hennessy X.O. cognac off a server’s tray after Comfry hits him with the uncomfortable update that his siblings have been searching his party for Lukas Mattson… and he puts the pieces together to realize that they were never there to celebrate him at all.

When Maurice Hennessy created Hennessy X.O. in 1870 from cognacs that had long matured in their casks, he in turn developed a new grade of cognac, designated “X.O.” for “extra old”.

Kendall returns to the belly-warming comfort of Hennessy X.O. yet again when he’s cornered by the Roy family’s favorite butt-monkey, Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun).

A conversation with Cousin Greg is enough to drive even the recovering addict Kendall to drink.

On the other end of the prestige spectrum, Kendall pulls a 40 of Olde English 800 to wash down the bad taste in his mouth after a conversation with his ex-wife Rava (Natalie Gold), continuing to take pulls from it while talking to Greg about Comfry.

One of the canonical malt liquor 40s of my college years, “Old E” originated in the 1940s not in the UK but at the Peoples Brewing Company in Duluth, Minnesota. The name changed as operations moved around the country, with Olde English 800 established in 1964 under its Blitz-Weinhard ownership in Portland, Oregon. The brand continued changing names over the course of the 20th century, from Pabst to Miller, who has continuously produced Old E since 1999. The alcohol content varies by region, though typically between 5.9% and 7.5% ABV with Canadian offerings up to 8.0% ABV.

Hennessy cognac and Olde English both have ingrained associations with hip-hop music and culture, explaining why they would appeal to a guy like Kendall who pumps himself up by rapping along to the Beastie Boys’ open letter to NYC.

How to Get the Look

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy on Succession (Episode 3.07: “Too Much Birthday”)

He may claim to be “the eldest boy” by Succession‘s finale, but Kendall Roy rings in his 40th birthday in an attempt to look youthful in his loud quilted bomber jacket, green cashmere turtleneck, and designer sneakers—all by Gucci. Unfortunately, he learns the hard way that layering yourself in tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothes and accessories aren’t enough to enrich his soul.

• Green-gray quilted satin-finished zip-up bomber jacket (with four-snap storm fly) with maroon-and-white banded ribbed-knit collar, cuffs, and hem, snap-fastened welted hand pockets, black quilted raglan sleeves with gold-trimmed green velvet strip detail, and UFO-embroidered back
  • Gucci
• Green wool/cashmere turtleneck sweater
  • Gucci
• Gold designer-etched octagonal pendant on blackened silver chain-link necklace
  • LIZWORKS x Rashid Johnson “Anxious Men” Pendant
• Black cotton slim-fit jeans
• Green, black, and gray leather-and-mesh designer sneakers with metal-eyelet lacing system and green lugged rubber outsoles
  • Gucci Flashtrek

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, currently streaming on HBO Max.

For fans of the show’s style, I recommend following the great Instagram accounts @successionfashion and @successionfits.

The Quote

Look, it just-it just-it just-it just feels like an asshole’s birthday party? And my thing, from the very first meeting, is that it shouldn‘t feel like an asshole’s birthday party. Yeah?

The post Succession: Kendall’s Gucci Birthday Party Outfit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Matthew McConaughey as Willis Newton in The Newton Boys (1998)

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Matthew McConaughey as Willis Newton, good-natured Texas-born outlaw

Toronto, Summer 1923

Film: The Newton Boys
Release Date: March 27, 1998
Director: Richard Linklater
Costume Designer: Shelley Komarov

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One hundred years ago today, the Newton Gang—a quartet of Texan brothers best known for their nighttime bank burglaries and the occasional train holdup—attempted a daring yet disastrous heist of pedestrian bank messengers in downtown Toronto. Though financially successful as it netted the gang around C$84,000, the July 24, 1923 robbery tarnished their reputation for nonviolence when a physical altercation resulted in Willis Newton wounding two messengers during his struggle to get away.

Among Richard Linklater’s diverse filmography that includes the poignantly romantic Before trilogy, nostalgic stoner comedy Dazed and Confused, and ambitious coming-of-age epic Boyhood is this star-packed chronicle of the real-life Newton brothers, presented as an affable outlaw story with plenty of charm even if it otherwise misses the narrative mark.

All hailing from Uvalde, Texas, the eponymous Newton brothers are the natural leader Willis Jr. (Matthew McConaughey, also from Uvalde in real life), the easygoing war veteran Jess (Ethan Hawke), sensitive youngster Joe (Skeet Ulrich), and the tough ex-con Wylie, aka “Dock” (Vincent D’Onofrio), the latter being the only one who really fits the prototypical criminal profile. Together with their safecracking accomplice Brentwood Glasscock (Dwight Yoakam), the brothers formed a tight-knit gang that specialized in breaking into banks at night, specifically targeting those with older safes with rectangular doors more vulnerable to nitroglycerin, working from a list provided by a corrupt Texas Association of Bankers insurance official. With the communication lines cut by Willis, the brothers would then blow open the safe, bag the contents right down to the last coin, and then speed away from town in fast Cadillacs and Studebakers.

From their red Studebaker touring car with Joe at the wheel, Willis, Jess, Brentwood Glasscock, and Dock survey the plan for Willis’ “lead-pipe cinch” of an open-air heist in downtown Toronto.

“If there are any bank robbers you’d want as family members, it would be the Newton Boys,” author Duane Swierczynski writes in This Here’s a Stick-Up: The Big Bad Book of American Bank Robbery. “Unfailingly polite, nonviolent, and professional heisters, the boys had the smarts to pull over 80 bank heists in 10 states and two countries without getting caught.”

Their methodical, non-confrontational tactics allowed them to succeed for years, though the boys should have learned their lesson from the Toronto mishap. Nearly a year later in June 1924, the gang teamed up with a crew of racketeers to rob a postal train. As Willis and Jess took over the train and forced it to stop near Rondout, Illinois, Glasscock mistook Dock Newton for an armed postal employee and shot him five times with a .45. The high-profile nature of the $3 million heist and Dock’s desperate need for life-saving medical attention resulted in the gang’s undoing as they were all swiftly rounded up and arrested, including the cowboy Jess lured back across the Mexican border by Texas Ranger Harrison Hamer, brother of the famous Frank Hamer who would later lead the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde.

All four Newton boys were eventually sentenced to prison terms, but their demeanor—both during their crimes and the trial—resulted in relatively light sentences. The Newtons would be occasionally jailed again over the rest of their long lives, enjoying longer and more peaceful lives than those in their profession. That said… in 1968, the now-septuagenarian Dock was again arrested for bank robbery in Rowena, Texas (Bonnie Parker’s hometown), but the charges were reduced due to his age, and he died six years later at the age of 83. Jess had already died more than a decade earlier, and Willis would live to be 90 years old, dying in August 1979. After a relatively law-abiding life that included a cameo in the Texas-filmed 1955 western The Last Command, youngest brother Joe died on February 3, 1989 at the age of 88.

I had watched and enjoyed The Newton Boys a few times in my younger days, drawn to it given my interest in bank robbers of the 1920s and ’30s. Now more familiar with Richard Linklater’s filmography, it was interesting to rewatch it through what I now know to be Linklater’s deliciously sentimental lens—what I had once liked as a fun take on a real-life crime saga, I could now appreciate even more as a chronicle of four brothers making the most of their limited time together in the prime of their lives. That may be giving The Newton Boys too much credit, but I’ll never not be able to see this fun little flick through rose-colored lenses—and/or those little golden tea shades that D’Onofrio wears during the Canadian heist)—plus the soundtrack by Bad Livers and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band is one of the best to recreate an authentic ’20s sound.

What’d He Wear?

The Suit

Willis Newton arrives in Canada dressed for business in a dark gray three-piece suit, constructed of a plain blue-gray diamond-shaped weave against a charcoal ground, patterned with white pinstripes. The screen-worn suit was included (but not sold) in a 2017 Prop Store auction, with photos and a description currently hosted at an iCollector listing that indicates the suit was rented from storied Hollywood warehouse Western Costume.

Note how the pinstripe of Willis’ suiting subtly follows the waves in the diamond-patterned weave.

The details of the single-breasted jacket are consistent with suit design from the early 1920s, including the softened notch lapels and neo-Edwardian gauntlet cuffs (or “turnback cuffs”). Rather than being a merely ornamental addition to the traditional sleeves as worn on screen by Steve Buscemi in the Prohibition-set series Boardwalk Empire and several incarnations of James Bond, Willis’ gauntlet cuffs have a single button that goes through them.

Willis and Louise ride through Toronto.

The rest of the three-button suit coat follows traditional men’s lounge jacket design, including flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket that Willis dresses with a white display kerchief for the heist. The shoulders are straight and wide out to the roped sleeveheads, and there is no vent. The cut follows and flatters Matthew McConaughey’s frame, just generous enough to allow for a shoulder holster where Willis carries his large, 7.5″-barreled Single Action Army revolver.

The suit’s matching waistcoat (vest) is also single-breasted, with four welted pockets, no lapels, and a six-button front that fastens high on Willis’ chest.

The flat-front suit trousers rise appropriately high to McConaughey’s natural waistline, where they are held up by black cloth suspenders (braces). These suspenders have gold-finished adjuster hardware on the front straps, a Y-shaped back with a tan leather connector and white back-strap. He attaches the suspenders to small buttons along the outside of his waistband, including on the “fish-tail” notch positioned just above the cinch-strap in the back. The trousers have slanted side pockets and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Dressed down to just his open-necked shirt, braces, and trousers, Willis enthusiastically briefs his brothers on his impulsively conceived “lead-pipe cinch” of a plan to rob the Imperial Bank of Canada.

Shirts, Collars, and Ties

Willis often wears the typical dress shirts of the era, characterized by a plain neckband that would have a separate collar attached to it. This allowed shirts and collars to be laundered separately, specifically valuable so that these collars—which were both the most visible and also most subject to dirt from rubbing against the neck—could be starched to a crisp and clean appearance.

Detachable collars were most popular through the early 20th century, before the younger generations of the roaring ’20s embraced informality and the comfort and practicality of softer shirt collars. The Great Depression arguably hammered the final nail into the coffin of the detachable collar, which remained en vogue only among older gentlemen and/or the ruling class.

For much of the Toronto sequence, Willis wears a plain white cotton “neckband shirt”, which has a full button-up front placket and double (French) cuffs that he closes with gold links.

While riding to Toronto with his brothers and Brentwood, Willis wears a detachable collar that follows the point collar shape, albeit with rounded ends. His wide dark brown tie is diagonally striped in the “downhill” direction with narrow tan stripes, bordered with beige stripes, and he secures the tie at mid-chest with one of his signature gold stickpins that Willis encourages his brothers to wear to bribe their way out of small-town jails.

For the actual robbery, Willis wears another detachable collar but in a much different shape, with a wider spread. He wears another striped tie, this one with a more subdued black-and-maroon “downhill” stripe design against a burgundy ground.

Willis had earlier worn the same tie when he was out with Louise, spotting the “two Canucks and a bag of money” that gives him the idea for the robbery in the first place. Instead of a white shirt and detachable collar, he wears a multi-striped shirt that appears to have an attached—albeit handsomely starched—semi-spread collar. The shirt is striped in tan and brown against a white ground.

Everything Else, From Head to Toe

Willis rotates through a pair of hats during the Canadian sequence, beginning with a gray felt homburg (detailed with a black grosgrain silk band and edges) while out with Louise. For the robbery, he wears a darker brown felt Lord’s hat, a cousin of the homburg characterized by its unbound brim and a fedora-like pinched crown that reduces the formality.

Willis loads his left hand with plenty of gold jewelry, including a square-cased watch on an expanding band and a trio of rings on his last three fingers—a tiger’s eye ring on his middle finger, a plainer wedding band on his ring finger, and a chunky pinky ring studded with seven diamonds.

Though he wears dressier black oxfords before and after the job, Willis dresses for the bank messenger holdup in a set of russet-brown leather lace-up ankle boots.

The Guns

The Newton Gang typically only carried firearms for the occasional crowd control during their nighttime bank jobs, but a daytime holdup calls for more serious firepower with an aim to intimidate. Willis arms himself with what appears to be a Browning Auto-5, which became the first mass-produced semi-automatic shotgun when it was patented in 1900 and introduced to the market by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) two years later.

Designed in 1898 by John Browning, the Auto-5 was so named for its semi-automatic operation that fed from a total of five shells—four loaded into the tubular under-barrel magazine with an additional shell in the chamber. Characterized by its high “humpback” receiver shape, the Auto-5 was predominantly chambered for 12-gauge shells, though variants were also available for 20-gauge and—to a more limited degree—16-gauge shells.

Willis draws his shotgun on the two bank messengers.

Browning had considered the Auto-5 his finest design achievement to date, though he was rebuffed when he presented it to Winchester, who had produced many of his previous designs, including the venerable Model 1873 rifle, lever-action Model 1887 shotgun, and Model 1897 pump shotgun. After the president of Remington died before Browning could work with him to bring the weapon to fruition, he took the design overseas to the Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale, which had already produced a run of Browning-designed pistols.

FN began manufacturing the Auto-5 in 1902 and would continue to do so for nearly a century, temporarily relocating their own production to the U.S. during World War II while also licensing the popular design to American firearms manufacturers Remington and Stevens throughout the 20th century, resulting in the Remington Model 11 and Stevens Model 720, respectively.

An anomaly in the Remington Model 11 production history includes “The Sportsman”, a variant introduced in 1930 that shortened the capacity to only three total (two in the magazine, one in the chamber) to comply with some states’ hunting restrictions and stamped with “game scene” roll marks on each side. Jonathan Krisko writes for American Rifleman that the Sportsman—initially available only in 20-gauge before 12-gauge and 16-gauge models were introduced—were pressed into American service during World War II, specifically “for training aerial gunners and anti-aircraft personnel on the concepts of lead and follow-through against moving targets.”

As we see “The Sportsman” etched on the bolt inside the ejection port, we can safely deduce that Willis carries not the Browning Auto-5 but instead the cosmetically similar but anachronistic Remington Model 11 Sportsman.

After Willis fires a warning shot from his shotgun into the air, the shotgun stovepipe-jams on him at a crucial moment… giving the guards an opportunity to fight back.

The stovepipe jam in Willis’ Model 11 Sportsman gives one of the bank messengers the opportunity to wrestle the shotgun from him. In response, Willis draws his blued Single Action Army revolver and wounds the guard with a shot to the shoulder, one of the rare instances of violence in the Newton Boys’ career.

Though newer handguns—including semi-automatics like Dock’s 1911—had proliferated in the half-century since Colt introduced the Single Action Army in 1873, Willis the cowboy would be familiar with the operation of a single-action “Peacemaker”. The standard barrel lengths ranged from the 4 3⁄4″ Quickdraw and 5½” Artillery up to the full-sized 7½” Cavalry model, which is what Willis appears to carry in his shoulder holster.

What to Imbibe

The day after the Toronto heist, Willis celebrates the haul with a bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne in his bathtub at Toronto’s King Edward Hotel as Louise reads to him a newspaper account of the robbery.

Willis seems to be doing alright, alright, alright in the aftermath of the daytime heist in Toronto.

How to Get the Look

Willis dresses for business (and banditry) for the heist in a dark gray pinstripe three-piece suit, designed to the contemporary sartorial standards of the early 1920s, from his detachable shirt collars to uniquely detailed jacket cuffs.

Matthew McConaughey and Julianna Margulies in The Newton Boys (1998)

• Dark-gray pinstripe wool business suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with softened notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 1-button turnback/”gauntlet” cuffs, and no vents
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with four welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat-front high-rise trousers with external suspender buttons along waistband (including back “fish-tail” notch), back cinch-strap, slanted side pockets, turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton neckband shirt with detachable collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Burgundy or dark brown “downhill”-striped tie
• Gold stickpin
• Black cloth suspenders with gold-finished hardware and white leather button-hooks
• Russet-brown leather lace-up ankle boots
• Gray felt homburg with black grosgrain band and edges or dark brown felt Lord’s hat
• Brown leather shoulder holster for 7.5″-barreled Single Action Army revolver
• Gold square-cased wristwatch on gold-finished expanding band
• Gold ring with tiger’s eye setting
• Gold wedding band
• Diamond-studded gold pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post The Newton Boys: Matthew McConaughey’s Gray Pinstripe Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Vitals

Joseph Cotten as Charles Oakley, attentive uncle and enigmatic “Merry Widow Murderer”

Santa Rosa, California, Summer 1941

Film: Notorious
Release Date: January 12, 1943
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Design: Vera West

Background

A vintage pin I purchased at a thrift store several years ago commemorates July 26 as Uncle’s Day, a day I’ve discovered has been inclusively expanded to become Aunt and Uncle’s Day. As I chose to celebrate Mother’s Day last year with a post from Psycho, your Uncle BAMF again returns to the Master of Suspense’s oeuvre for today’s observance, specifically the mysterious “Uncle Charlie” in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 masterpiece Shadow of a Doubt.

Often cited by Hitch himself as a personal favorite of his filmography, Shadow of a Doubt was released 80 years ago in January, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten, the latter having recently made his screen debut across a trio of films directed by his pal Orson Welles: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Journey Into Fear.

Cotten subverted his genial screen presence with a chilling turn as the conniving Charles Oakley, who leaves a sinister trail of wealthy widows’ corpses across the country to his family’s doorstep in the idyllic Bay Area community of Santa Rosa, California. His sister and her family are delighted to welcome Uncle Charlie, though none are more overjoyed than his niece and namesake, Charlotte “Charlie” Newton. The teenage Charlie adores her uncle, with whom she seems to have an almost paranormal bond… and thus allows her to be among the few to begin to see him for who he really is.

What’d He Wear?

Uncle Charlie maintains a handsome wardrobe, as expected of a man whose calling requires him to charm his way into the fortunes of the “horrible, faded, fat, greedy women” he so resents. That fortune includes $40,000 that he takes to his brother-in-law’s bank shortly after his arrival in Santa Rosa, where he teases the staff for their stuffy atmosphere… all while dodging the two investigators on his trail.

The young Charlie accompanies her uncle on this errand, for which he dresses dapperly for the warm weather in a navy blazer with summer-weight slacks, snappy spectator shoes, and a seasonally appropriate Panama hat.

A tale of two Charlies.

Though marketing and colloquial shorthand have widened the usage of the term “blazer”, one of the most traditional definitions refers to a tailored jacket in a solid color (most often navy blue) with metal buttons and often sporty details like patch pockets. Charles Oakley’s jacket for his trip to the bank perfectly fits this description, and the softly napped wool’s dark color and the era’s sartorial conventions almost certainly inform us that it is made from a navy-blue cloth, possibly serge.

Charlie’s navy blazer follows the usual single-breasted jacket design, tailored for the times with wide shoulders and a ventless back. The broad lapels are neither classic notch nor peak lapel but rather the “cran necker” lapel often associated with Parisian tailoring, resembling a cross between both styles with its fishmouth-shaped notch and angled peak. Our elegant executioner dresses the left lapel with a white carnation.

The lapels roll to a two-button front that meets the top of his trousers at Joseph Cotten’s natural waist. These two buttons and the four on each cuff are made from a shining metal, continuing the blazer’s maritime origins—consider the similar style on naval uniforms. Patch pockets over the hips and left breast also communicate the blazer’s sporty nature.

Charlie and Charlie at the bank, though the younger niece is dressed more for conducting business than her uncle in his tasteful summer-appropriate blazer, slacks, and hat. Note the sign pushing “defense bonds”, suggesting that the story’s action is set prior to the U.S. entry into World War II when these were redubbed “war bonds”.

Fancy ties blossomed during the ’40s, though this was primarily during the postwar era at the end of the decade. Charlie’s distinctively patterned tie of thin white scrolls against a dark ground is the most unique one that he wears on screen, contextually appropriate with the rest of the outfit. The rest of his ties are all either solid-colored or widely striped.

Charlie wears a light-colored shirt in a shade likely lost to history, though I’d guess it’s a pale-blue cotton. The shirt’s double (French) cuffs are naturally with links, though these are often covered by the blazer sleeves, which should be a tad shorter to allow more shirt cuff to show.

The shirt’s point collar is pinned behind the tie knot with a metal safety-style pin—recognizable by the loop on each end, indeed resembling the hinge on a safety pin. “Considered by many shirt savants to be the pinnacle of collared carriage,” Alan Flusser colorfully describes the pinned collar in Dressing the Man, outlining that the decorous if somewhat fussy style enjoyed its greatest popularity through the 1930s.

A collar pin takes some panache to wear effectively but, when worn correctly, it can exceedingly enhance the look.

While the majority of men today tend to pair their navy blazer with khakis or gray flannel slacks (or, unfortunately, navy blue trousers—in the misplaced hope of creating a suit-like effect), white trousers have long been a sophisticated alternative in warm weather locales. To again cite the estimable Mr. Flusser, who wrote in his volume that “with blue and white as the imperatives of nautical dress, navy blazers and white trousers made a dashing sports outfit for the wealthy American man of the 1920s.”

Decades later, the appearance of a navy blazer and white trousers maintained its rakish charm as Charles Oakley strolled through the streets of Santa Rosa with his niece on his arm, en route the local bank. Almost certainly cut with pleats (per the predominant trends of the era) that continued the generous fit through the legs, the trousers have an appropriately high rise to Cotten’s waist and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottom.

Charlie’s spectator shoes are appropriately sporty with his summer-friendly jacket and slacks, though their shady connotations of their origins are also appropriate for his character. Tradition maintains that this two-toned footwear gained a reputation among caddish third parties in divorce cases (named as “co-respondents” in English law) and thus were nicknamed “co-respondent shoes”. Charlie’s wingtip brogues are white through the vamps, with a darker leather on the wingtips, lace panels, and heels—either black or a very dark brown. He also wears medium-colored cotton lisle socks.

Charlie completes his summer-ready ensemble with a white straw Panama hat shaped with a full “optimo” crown, a distinctive style characterized by a raised ridge crossing front to back over the center of the hat’s otherwise flat top. The hat is finished with a narrow plain black band.

Note the raised ridge across the top of Charlie’s Panama hat, an indication of an “optimo” crown.

How to Get the Look

Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Charles Oakley takes the opportunity to dress up for his new small town surroundings during a simple trip to the bank, appropriating a tastefully sporty summer outfit of navy blazer, white slacks, and Panama hat—accentuated by a collar pin, fancy tie, spectator shoes, and a flower in his lapel.

• Navy wool serge single-breasted 2-button blazer with cran necker lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Pale-blue cotton shirt with pinned point collar and double/French cuffs
• Dark tie with white scroll motif
• Off-white pleated slacks with turn-ups/cuffs
• Black-and-white leather wingtip spectator brogues
• Medium-colored cotton lisle socks
• White straw optimo-crown Panama hat with narrow black grosgrain band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

The whole world is a joke to me.

The post Shadow of a Doubt: Uncle Charlie’s Navy Blazer appeared first on BAMF Style.

Chevy Chase with Anthony Michael Hall, Beverly D’Angelo, and Dana Barron in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

Vitals

Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold, Jr., hapless family man

Chicago to Los Angeles, Summer 1982

Film: National Lampoon’s Vacation
Release Date: July 29, 1983
Director: Harold Ramis
Men’s Costumer: Robert Harris Jr.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Why aren’t we flying? Because getting there is half the fun, you know that!

Today is the 40th anniversary of the release National Lampoon’s Vacation, a comedy classic celebrating the great American tradition of the family summer road trip. Inspired by John Hughes’ short story “Vacation ’58” about a fictitious cross-country trip to Disneyland in a lemony station wagon that ends with our protagonist’s Dad shooting Walt Disney in the leg, Vacation introduced audiences to Clark W. Griswold, Jr., a well-intended family man who regularly goes disastrously above and beyond expectations to attempt to create memorable experiences for his family.

National Lampoon’s Vacation sends the Griswold family toward the fictional southern California destination of Walley World, a thinly veiled nomen à clef of Disneyland, though filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valenica. Clark packs his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and their children Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and Audrey (Dana Barron) into a clunky conglomeration of American automotive excess for a nightmarish family vacation from the Windy City to Walley World that Clark eventually describes to Roy Walley (Eddie Bracken) as “two weeks of living hell.”

What’d He Wear?

Consistent with the image of success among 1980s consumerism, Clark Griswold’s vacation apparel is conspicuoulsy branded from head to toe in brands like Converse, Izod Lacoste, Members Only, Sasson, and Yves St. Laurent. His clothing sensibilities are shared by most of his family, particularly his son Rusty.

The Day Before: Chicago

Say goodbye to the old gas-guzzler, Russ!

It’s presumably at the end of a workday in food additives—not preservatives—when Clark and Rusty bring the family’s 1970 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon to Lou Glutz Motors in Chicago (actually Star Ford in Glendale, California), intending to trade it in for the Antarctic blue “Super Sports Wagon” he ordered… only for the unhelpful Ed (Eugene Levy) to outfit him with a gaudy monstrosity on wheels.

Still dressed for the office, Clark wears a summer-weight cotton suit, hairline-striped in light blue and white. The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to two white buttons matching the three buttons on each cuff, also detailed with a welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, and long side vents. The matching flat-front trousers have gently slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets that each close through a loop buttonhole, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms.

Clark wears an ecru oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs that he rolls up while at home doing the dishes and plotting their road trip. His maroon tie has dark navy “downhill”-direction bar stripes, bordered with narrow silver stripes on the top and bottom. He completes the look with dressy brown leather cap-toe oxfords that coordinate with his belt.

Day 1: Chicago to St. Louis

Walley World, here we come!

Once the road trip is underway, Clark leaves the business gear behind as he rotates through a collection of polo shirts and button-ups, jeans and khakis, and sneakers.

As expected of the Griswolds, their trip begins with a singalong on their way out of Chicago before a politically incorrect detour through St. Louis. The dulcet languidity of “Mr. Blue” by The Fleetwoods then lulls Clark to sleep behind the wheel, though his drowsy drive luckily takes the family directly to a motel for the night.

For the Wagon Queen Family Truckster’s first fuelup, Clark spends much of their first afternoon looking for the fuel tank inlet.

Clark begins the journey wearing a burgundy cotton piqué short-sleeved Izod Lacoste polo shirt, easily recognized by the green crocodile logo embroidered over the left breast in tribute to the nickname of company founder, French tennis player René Lacoste. The brand was technically “Izod Lacoste” from the early 1950s through 1993, but I’ll refer to simply “Lacoste” going forward in reference to its original and restored current brand name.

Held up by a black leather belt, Clark’s dark indigo denim jeans are from the short-lived American outfitter Sasson, as identified by the white-lettered dark red brand strip on the back right pocket. Rather than the standard five-pocket layout on conventional jeans, these have only two set-in front pockets just below the belt line and two back pockets, both decoratively detailed with a “bug-and-wrinkle” stitching in the same brightly contrasting white stitch found along the seams.

Clark also wears white Converse Pro Leather low-top sneakers with ivory suede overlays and a red accent star and chevron on each side. Converse introduced this style in 1976 as the “All Star Professional Basketball Shoe”, available in both high- and low-top models, with Clark favoring at least three variations of the latter.

Day 2: Through Dodge City to Coolidge, Kansas

Personally, I’d rather see a pile of mud than Eddie…

The Griswolds make their first planned stop in Dodge City, Kansas, complete with a recreation of the Long Branch Saloon. The dreaded journey to visit Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) also includes roadside attractions such as the world’s largest mud house and Christie Brinkley at the wheel of a bright red Ferrari.

Eventually, the family arrives at Eddie and Catherine’s homestead outside Coolidge, Kansas (in fact, filmed outside Pueblo, Colorado, as the mountains in the distance reveal) for an evening of lower-class living that results with Clark and Ellen agreeing to take the cantankerous Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) to Phoenix… and not agreeing to loan Eddie his requested $52,000.

Clark Griswold goes from an artificial “Wild West” to a someone more authentic one at Eddie’s redneck estate.

Given the Western theme of the day and Clark’s comfort with corniness, he may have intentionally selected a checked shirt in the hopes of channeling some cowboy style,  in this case wearing a navy-and-green Black Watch tartan plaid cotton long-sleeved shirt with a button-down collar (which he wears undone), front placket (with the top few buttons undone), breast pocket, and button cuffs (which he also wears undone and rolled up past his elbows).

Like many of his casual shirts, Clark’s tan cotton flat-front trousers are also made by Lacoste, indicated by the green alligator embroidered on the small button-donw flap of the set-in coin pocket just below the right side of his belt line. The straight-leg trousers also have side pockets, back pockets, and belt loops, through which he wears a medium-brown leather belt that closes through a gold-toned squared single-prong buckle.

He completes the Western-themed look with a souvenir cowboy hat in a silverbelly felt with a round, telescope-style crown, curved brim, and a black, brown, and tan-braided leather band. His sneakers are another set of Converse Pro Leather sneakers, with tan uppers and burgundy star-and-chevron detail.

Day 3: Coolidge, Kansas to South Fork, Colorado

Rusty: Dad, he bites!
Clark: Bite him back.

Eddie and Catherine don’t let the Griswolds leave without taking Aunt Edna and her aggressive, Family Feud-loving dog Dinky… and a pair of Eddie’s flashy white patient leather loafers that Clark had facetiously been “admiring” during a previous visit.

At a roadside picnic, Clark gets to ogle at something he actually admires—the Ferrari-driving blonde from the day before—who seems to be paralleling their cross-country journey. Unfortunately, Clark learns one bite too late that the prized baloney-and-cheese sandwich he’s been modeling for her has received some additional seasoning via Dinky’s urine. After the family crosses into Colorado and its lush mountains, they set up camp at the rustic tents offered at Kamp Komfort.

Years before he would be enrolled in a jelly-of-the-month club by an ungrateful employer, Clark receives a “gift that keeps on givin'” in the form of Eddie’s white patent leather loafers.

Clark wears another Lacoste short-sleeved piqué polo shirt, this one in pink but otherwise identical to the two-button burgundy shirt he had worn at the start of the trip. He again wears it with dark indigo Sasson jeans and a black leather belt, and he debuts a third pair of Converse Pro Leather sneakers in pale-gray with navy-blue star and stripe detail on the sides.

For an additional layer, Clark dons a stone-colored polyester Members Only racer jacket, the iconic outerwear that dominated the ’80s. Inspired by classic racer jackets, these zip-up jackets were characterized by a belted strap around the short standing collar and similar epaulet-style straps looped on the shoulders, all with snap closures. The cuffs are ribbed-knit to match the rest of the jacket, as are the welting on the slanted hand pockets and the set-in breast pocket. A small white rectangular patch with “MEMBERS ONLY” embroidered in black is sewn just below the breast pocket ribbing, indicating to the rest of the world that its wearer has indeed joined the special club of “members” who spent $55 on a polyester jacket.

In his Members Only jacket, Lacoste polo shirt, Sasson jeans, and Converse Pro Leather sneakers, Clark is every bit the ’80s everyman.

Day 4: South Fork, Colorado to New Mexico

I think the worst is behind us.

Excitement is high with Clark’s promise to take his family to visit “the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth,” only to learn of Dinky’s accidental death—as alerted by an emotional highway patrolman (James Keach).

Clark: Despite all the little problems, it really is fun, isn’t it?
Ellen: No.

Clark and a tearful cop wince when considering Dinky’s likely fate.

Our hero again wears his indigo Sasson jeans and ivory-on-white Converse Pro Leather sneakers with red star and chevron, but this time with a muted teal cotton piqué Yves Saint Laurent polo shirt. With its short two-button placket, the short-sleeved shirt is styled like the Lacoste polos, with the obvious exception of a mint-embroidered “YSL” logo at the end of each sleeve instead of a crocodile over the breast.

Day 5: “Somewhere in Arizona”

This is no way to run a desert!

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster meets its ultimate challenge “somewhere in Arizona” when Clark accidentally jumps it fifty yards into the desert, resulting in considerable damage and leaving the family relatively stranded for quite some time.

Clark and Rusty find time for a “man-to-man talk” while weighing their options about seeking help for the damaged station wagon.

“Everything on this safari has cost twice as much as you figured out,” Ellen comments, perhaps a subtle dig at his dated safari jacket. Clark indeed layers a light khaki cotton five-button safari jacket over his polo shirt, a continuation of the hold that safari-style clothing had over ’70s casual-wear, though fashion icons like Roger Moore’s James Bond were still wearing safari jackets (albeit, in more safari-like contexts) as seen in Octopussy. Though Clark’s jacket lacks the belted waist often found on safari jackets, it has the military-informed epaulets (shoulder straps) and quartet of flapped pockets—two inverted box-pleated chest pockets with gently pointed flaps and two somewhat larger patch-style hip pockets with scalloped flaps.

Clark wears a lilac cotton petit piqué Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirt, naturally styled with two-button placket and green embroidered croc over the breast. He again wears his usual dark indigo Sasson jeans with a black leather belt as well as his blue star-and-chevron pale-gray Converse Pro Leather sneakers.

When he rolls up the bottoms of his jeans (and eventually pulls them off) during his desperate crawl through the desert, we see he wears them with white ribbed cotton crew socks. He completes the look with a plain bottle-green cotton twill baseball cap that has brass-finished ventilation eyelets through each of the six soft panels comprising the crown, though he evidently ditches this hat somewhere in the desert. (He also ditches the safari jacket, though he evidently goes back to retrieve it as we see him wearing it at Walley World in the candid photographs during the credits.)

At the service station, he changes out of his desert-distressed gear into a nondescript ecru OCBD shirt, his Lacoste khakis, and the tan Converse Pro Leather sneakers with the burgundy star and chevron.

Clark is dismayed to spend “$500 on four bald tires and a tow” when it becomes evident that the sheriff will have little consideration for this service station’s questionable business practices.

Day 6: Grand Canyon to Phoenix, Arizona

I think you’re all fucked in the head. We’re ten hours from the fuckin’ fun park and you want to bail out! Well I’ll tell you something, this is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun! I’m gonna have fun, and you’re gonna have fun. We’re all gonna have so much fuckin’ fun we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You’ll be whistling “Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah” out of your assholes! I gotta be crazy, I’m on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praise Marty Moose! Holy shit!

Cleaned out of cash after the service station swindle and unable to use credit cards or personal checks, Clark rushes his family out of the historic El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon (hey! I stayed there!) and then it’s on to Phoenix to drop off Aunt Edna.

Unable to take in the natural wonders behind them, the family considers what to do about Aunt Edna.

Clark wears another Yves Saint Laurent short-sleeved polo shirt, this one in mint-green with a blue-embroidered YSL breast logo. He again wears his khaki Lacoste trousers with the brown leather belt, and he briefly re-dons the silverbelly cowboy hat while glancing at the Grand Canyon.

Rain greets the Griswolds as they roll into Phoenix, so Clark and Ellen don matching nylon rain slickers from Lacoste (this family really likes Lacoste), though Clark’s is blue while Ellen’s is tan. These simple zip-up rainproof jackets have a drawstring hood and hand pockets.

The family that wears Lacoste rain jackets while dropping off their dead aunt at an Arizona doorstop together… stays together. At least after the dad makes up to the mom after he’s caught skinny-dipping with a beautiful blonde at their motel.

Night 6: Phoenix, Arizona

You only go around this crazy merry-go-round once!

By the time they get to Phoenix, nearly a week of compounding calamities on the road has crushed the Griswold family’s morale. After an argument with his wife, Clark finally catches up with Christie Brinkley, whom he joins for a night of skinny-dipping. The cold water triggers his inability to keep his cool and his loud yelps awaken the rest of the motel, resulting in a confrontation, reconciliation, and late-night swim with Ellen.

It’s a Members Only world, and a naked Christie Brinkley invites you to the club.

Clark dresses in—you guessed it!—his dark indigo Sasson jeans and another Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirt, this time in light blue cotton piqué. He also brings back the tan Members Only previously worn during the family’s roadside picnic in Kansas. This being the ’80s, the Members Only seems to be a beacon for gorgeous supermodels as both times he wears it, he ends up in the same place as Christie Brinkley… though it may be his decision to wear Eddie’s sparkling white patent leather horsebit loafers that brings the two even closer. These slip-on shoes have an apron-toe and gold horsebit detail across the vamp straps.

Clark steps out in his ladykiller loafers.

Through their evening at the motel, Ellen wears a pink Lacoste polo shirt that appears to be Clark’s shirt he wore for the third day of their journey.

Again, this family really likes Lacoste!

Day 7: Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles

First ones here!

Their camaraderie restored, the Griswold family finally makes it to Walley World… only to discover that the park is temporary closed for maintenance. After everything they’ve gone through, Clark determines that this two-week closure certainly doesn’t apply to the Griswolds.

Clark dresses comfortably simple for a day at the amusement park, introducing a new shirt, shorts, and shoes that hadn’t been worn previously on the journey. His cotton short-sleeved sporrts shirt is patterned in a blue-and-gray tartan check against a white ground, styled with a point collar, breast pocket, elbow-length sleeves, and a plain button-up front.

Clark also wears khaki cotton shorts that could have been pulled from the set of Magnum, P.I. These double forward-pleated shorts have a fitted waistband (with no belt loops), side pockets, and a set-in coin pocket on the right side, just below the waistband. These are also Lacoste (of course), informed by the small green crocodile embroidered on the right thigh. He wears dark burgundy leather penny loafers, without socks.

Accessories

Clark’s oversized tortoise-framed glasses are typical of the era. He has both a prescription pair with clear lenses and a pair of identical sunglasses with tinted amber lenses. His eyeglasses would eventually be cracked after accidentally jumping his station wagon in the Arizona desert, requiring him to tape the bridge.

Befitting “the last true family man” as a colleague would describe him in Christmas Vacation (1989), Clark always wears his gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand… though he does claim the ring belongs to his brother when talking to Christie Brinkley in the lounge of the family’s Phoenix motel.

Until the incident in the desert, Clark wears a wristwatch with a gold-finished cushion case and a plain white dial with non-numeric hour indices, strapped to a smooth, plain black leather band. The piece looks like it could be one of the inexpensive mechanical watches produced by Timex through the ’80s, which would be consistent with Clark Griswold’s budget and fashion sense.

It’s never the right time to flirt by kissing a baloney sandwich drenched in dog piss.

The Car

Clark had intended to order the “Antarctic blue Super Sports Wagon with the C.B. and the optional Rally Fun Pack” from Leo Glutz Motors but is instead presented with the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in metallic pea-green, a ridiculous station wagon custom-made for the movie by George Barris in an accurate send-up of the late 1970s American auto industry. The salesman Ed (Eugene Levy) describes the monstrosity as “a damn fine automobile… if you’re thinking of taking the tribe cross-country, this is the automobile you should be using, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. You think you hate it now, but wait ’til you drive it.”

Certain parts of St. Louis aren’t the best place to bring a Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

“Vacation ’58” established the family’s ride as a “brand-new 1958 Plymouth Sport Suburban Six station wagon” with only six and three-tenths miles on the odometer when Clark brings it home to the family.

The five wagons featured on screen were built by Barris Kustoms from the two-ton Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon, painted in a metallic pale avocado scheme with imitation wood paneling on the sides, hood, and rear, all consistent with trends of late ’70s design. The distinctive grille was redesigned to be mostly covered with bodywork, leaving only two small horizontal openings positioned above the bumper and an excessive array of eight headlights, including an additional pair that was stacked and mounted upside-down below those already offered on the LTD. Barris further accented the car’s impracticality with an oddly placed fuel tank cap and garbage-liner air bags that deploy at odd times.

The fictional “Wagon Queen” brand is represented with gold crown decals on each side, hubcaps, and an ostentatious crown-shaped hood ornament. I’ve read 1979, 1980, and 1981 as possible model years for the LTD Country Squire, with the case being well-argued in the comments of the vehicle’s IMCDB entry. Given that at least five were made for the movie, it’s possible that Barris pulled from across three model years to complete his five Family Trucksters for the Griswold family.

The Griswold family’s Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

1980 Ford LTD Country Squire (converted)

Body Style: 5-door station wagon

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

Engine: 302 cubic-inch (4.9 L) Ford 5.0 “Windsor” V8 with Motorcraft 2-barrel carburetor

Power: 130 hp (97 kW; 132 PS) @ 3600 rpm

Torque: 230 lb·ft (312 N·m) @ 1600 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 114.3 inches (2903 mm)

Length: 215 inches (5461 mm)

Width: 79.1 inches (2009 mm)

Height: 57.4 inches (1458 mm)

You can read more about one of the screen-used Family Trucksters in this 2019 Driving article before it was on the block at a Barrett-Jackson auction. You can also read about a real-life Griswold family’s excellent work recreating a Family Truckster from an ’80s LTD Country Squire for their own cross-country road trip.

An arguably cooler ride featured on screen is Christie Brinkley’s red 1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi, right out of Magnum, P.I.

Which would you rather drive across the country? A garish pea-green station wagon with pea-green wood paneling or a sporty red Ferrari? To the Griswolds’ credit, at least there probably isn’t much room for suitcases (or kids) in that 308?

The Gun

Rusty: Is that a real gun, Mom?
Ellen: I don’t know, Rusty, but when this is all over, your father… may be going away for a little while.

Christie’s Ferrari wouldn’t be the only reference to Thomas Magnum as Clark claims his newly obtained BB gun is “a Magnum, P.I.” In fact, it’s a non-lethal Marksman Repeater 1010 BB pistol.

Introduced in the mid-1950s, these heavy metal air guns were designed to somewhat resemble the M1911A1 service pistol, to which they were dimensionally similar. A semi-“slide” over the back half of the frame could be pulled back to compress the firing spring, firing .177-caliber steel BBs, pellets, or darts. The pellets and darts had to be loaded one at a time into the muzzle, but the pistol had a capacity for 18 BBs, loaded directly into a chamber above the breech.

Eventually, Russ recognizes that the pistol may not be a functioning firearm, so he and Clark argue about whether or not it could break the skin and, if so, cause an infection—or is that just an old wives’ tale?

“We’re not really violent people… this is our first gun!” Ellen had explained to the nervous security guard Russ Lasky (John Candy).

What to Imbibe

Clark finds plenty of opportunities to enjoy beer while on the road, including when he shares a fictional “Flagler” beer with Rusty during their man-to-man talk in the Arizona desert. Productions like Vacation often use prop houses, including like Earl Hays Press, to provide fictional alcohol brands like “Flagler”, particularly for scenes like that one which depict underage drinking.

Earlier in Vacation, Clark is handed a half-drunk can of the very real Coors Banquet during a visit to Cousin Eddie. At the time Vacation was made in the early 1980s, the Colorado-brewed Coors was still famously only available in 13 states across the western United States, including Kansas where Eddie and his family dwelled. (Had Clark chosen not to proceed to Walley World but to return eastbound and down with a Family Truckster full of Coors, we may have had a Smokey and the Bandit IV situation on our hands.)

Eddie’s the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back and the beer from his lips… not that you’d necessarily want either.

What to Pack for the Road

There are more practical ways to pack for a road trip than Clark Griswold’s rotation of Lacoste and YSL polos and Converse sneakers, but if you’re dedicated to replicating that suburban ’80s dad aesthetic on the road…

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

Shirts:

• Burgundy cotton piqué Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button placket
• Pink cotton piqué Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button placket
• Light-blue cotton piqué Lacoste short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button placket
• Teal-green cotton piqué Yves Saint Laurent short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button placket
• Mint-green cotton piqué Yves Saint Laurent short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button placket
• Navy-and-green Black Watch tartan plaid long-sleeved shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• White with blue-and-gray plaid short-sleeved shirt with point collar, plain front, and breast pocket
• Ecru oxford cotton long-sleeved shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs

Trousers and Shorts:

• Dark indigo denim Sasson jeans with set-in front pockets and decoratively stitched back patch pockets
• Khaki cotton flat-front Lacoste trousers with belt loops, gently slanted side pockets, flapped right-side coin pocket, back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Khaki cotton double forward-pleated Lacoste shorts with fitted waistband, side pockets, and flapped right-side coin pocket

Shoes:

• White leather Converse Pro Leather low sneakers with red star-and-chevron accents
• Tan leather Converse Pro Leather low sneakers with burgundy star-and-chevron accents
• Light-gray leather Converse Pro Leather low sneakers with navy star-and-chevron accents
• Dark burgundy leather penny loafers
• White patent leather horsebit loafers with gold bit

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

Outerwear:

• Stone polyester Members Only zip-up racer jacket with belted neck, belted epaulets, welted breast pocket, welted slanted hand pockets, and ribbed-knit cuffs
• Blue polyester Lacoste zip-up rain slicker with drawstring hood and side pockets
• Khaki cotton five-button safari jacket with epaulets, two inverted box-pleat pockets (with gently pointed button-down flaps), and two large patch-style hip pockets (with scalloped button-down flaps)

Everything Else:

• Green cotton twill baseball cap with ventilation grommets
• Silverbelly felt cowboy hat with telescope-style crown and brown, black, and tan braided leather band
• Brown leather belt with gold-toned square single-prong buckle
• Black leather belt with gold-toned square single-prong buckle
• Tortoise-framed oversized eyeglasses
• Tortoise-framed oversized sunglasses
• Gold-finished cushion-cased watch with white round dial on smooth black leather strap
• Gold wedding band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m just trying to treat my family to a little fun.

The post Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 2.01: “Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office…”)

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob boss

North Caldwell, New Jersey, Summer 1999

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office…” (Episode 2.01)
Air Date: January 16, 2000
Director: Allen Coulter
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

“A Don doesn’t wear shorts.” Yeah, yeah, every fan of The Sopranos knows the story… but after the record-breaking heat last month, I think we can all agree that Tony Soprano would get a pash for that as we head into August.

The second season premiere of The Sopranos begins with the Skip striding out to the end of his driveway as usual, though he comes back not just with The Star-Ledger but also Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore). Puss had been one of Tony’s closest friends among his crew before he mysteriously went missing at the end of the previous season, prompting rumors that he became an informant.

Even after the return of the prodigal Pussy, Tony can’t help but to eye his friend with suspicion, even over the flames of his charcoal grill during a backyard barbecue. By that point, Puss is far from Tony’s only problem, as he’s also welcomed back his estranged sister Janice Parvati (Aida Turturro)… and all the conniving baggage that entails. Ever the instigator, Janice tries to start drama by commenting to their sister Barbara (Nicole Burdette) about their mother’s absence: “Some family reunion… the woman that bore them all barred from the premises!”

Upon learning during the cookout that Janice is already trying to block his sale of their mother’s house, Tony complains to Carmela that “I’m still a little fat kid to her!”, though even at his angriest, he still doesn’t seem ready to hear her ask about his plans on returning to therapy. It isn’t until he verges on a panic attack while observing Big Pussy at the party that he again contacts Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) in the hopes of resuming his treatment.

Of course, just because Tony’s ready again doesn’t mean that Dr. Melfi is. Stewing from the loss of a patient who committing suicide due to her Tony-induced unavailability, the good doctor hits back at her felonious former patient by asking “How many people have to die for your personal growth?”

What’d He Wear?

Aside from his usual assortment of gold jewelry, Tony Soprano’s checked sports shirt, shorts, and boat shoes illustrate more of a typical suburban dad aesthetic, without the bold silk prints or Italian knits that define much of his mafioso style. The attire recalls how Tony had dressed for a similar context toward the end of the first episode during his son’s birthday cookout a year prior.

In “Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office…”, Tony wears a lightweight puckered cotton short-sleeved shirt with a light stone-gray overcheck against a black-and-gray buffalo-checked ground. The overchecks consist of one triple-striped check that intersects against the lightest gray squares and a white double-striped check that intersects over the black squares.

The shirt has a flat casual collar known as a “camp collar” or “loop collar” (for the self-loop on the left side that presumably connects to a top button under the right collar leaf), a breast pocket, and six smoke-gray plastic buttons up the plain front (no placket), with the top few left undone to show the top of Tony’s usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt.

Tony’s sisters observe him at the grill, surrounded by his cronies, remarking how much the scene reminds them of their late father.

Tony dresses for the summer cookout in a set of black cotton double-pleated shorts that end above the knees.

An oft-repeated story from the production of The Sopranos involves a late-night call that James Gandolfini received between seasons, during which a mysterious man complimented his work on the series in a gravelly voice but added one piece of advice. “Listen, you’re a great actor, we like what you’re doing, but you got to know one thing: A don never wears shorts,” the actor was told, as later relayed by his co-star Michael Imperioli (per The Daily Mail.)  Although Gandolfini was understandably creeped out by the invasion of privacy, the incident was relayed in the fourth season premiere when New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. (Tony Lip) pulls Tony aside to share the same tip: “John said he went to a cookout at your house… a Don doesn’t wear shorts.”

Despite the shadowy suggestions of a real-life wiseguy and Carmine’s in-universe comments, Tony remains undeterred and continues to wear shorts for his at-home cookouts as seen in later episodes like “Marco Polo” (Episode 5.08), proving that a Don wears whatever the hell he wants.

Though he’s not at the helm of the Stugots, Tony benefits from the casual comfort of boat shoes. Also known as “deck shoes”, this design emerged from outdoorsman Paul A. Sperry’s development of siped soles in the 1930s, inspired by his dogs’ grooved paws. With their herringbone-cut non-skid soles, Sperry Top-Siders became the must-have shoes for 20th century boatsmen before they strolled inland as a “crucial element” of 1980s yuppie style, according to the cover of The Official Preppy Handbook. By the start of the 21st century, boat shoes were standardized as a staple for men (and, to some extent, women) seeking comfortable yet presentable footwear in warm weather.

Tony’s deck shoes have brown leather uppers, styled with the requisite moc-toe and 360-degree lacing system.

Tony’s usual gold jewelry includes a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of rings, and his classic Rolex Day-Date “President”, ref. 18238. This luxury chronometer has an 18-karat yellow gold case, champagne colored-dial with day of the week across the top and a 3:00 date window, and the distinctive semi-circular three-piece “President” or “Presidential” link bracelet introduced in tandem with the Day-Date model in 1956.

Promotional photo of James Gandolfini on set.

Suspended from Tony’s thin gold necklace is a round pendant depicting Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost items to Catholics like the Soprano family and evidently his namesake. He wears his gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand and a diamond-and-ruby bypass gold pinky ring on his right hand. Tony’s yellow-gold bracelet over his right wrist has been described by @tonysopranostyle as “a Cuban curbed link chain and an Italian Figaro link chain with a twist.”

Is it truly a family reunion if no one has you howling with rage in the kitchen?

How to Get the Look

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 2.01: “Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office…”)

Tony Soprano saves the bowling shirts, bold prints, and knitwear for mobbed-up functions, instead dressing for his backyard barbecue in a checked sports shirt, pleated shorts, and boat shoes that could have been found in any dad’s closet in the ’90s… unlike much of the gold jewelry.

• Gray-and-black buffalo-check (with light stone-gray overcheck) puckered cotton short-sleeved camp shirt with loop collar, breast pocket, and plain front
• Black cotton double-pleated knee-length shorts
• Brown leather boat shoes
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date “President” 18238 self-winding chronometer watch in 18-karat yellow gold with champagne-colored dial and Presidential link bracelet
• Gold curb-chain link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with bypassing ruby and diamond stones
• Gold wedding ring
• Gold open-link chain necklace with round St. Anthony pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series.

The post The Sopranos: The Don Wearing Shorts appeared first on BAMF Style.

Stephen Graham as Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 5.08: “Eldorado”)

Vitals

Stephen Graham as Al Capone, infamous mob boss

Chicago, Spring 1931

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episode: “Eldorado” (Episode 5.08)
Air Date: October 26, 2014
Director: Tim Van Patten
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 50th birthday to Stephen Graham, whose memorable performance as Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire counts among the best cinematic depictions of the real-life Chicago crime lord, who was also been portrayed on screen by Robert De Niro, Ben Gazzara, Tom Hardy, Rod Steiger, Neville Brand, and—curiously, given Al’s stout physique—F. Murray Abraham and Jason Robards.

To the appropriately funereal tune of Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra adapting Duke Ellington’s 1930 classic “Mood Indigo”, the Boardwalk Empire series finale spends one last moment with Graham’s Capone as he surrenders himself at a Chicago federal court to face trials for tax evasion and Volstead Act violations. Though the wily Capone had managed to evade consequences for building his criminal empire over the decade, the roaring ’20s are now over and Capone seems aware that it’s all over for him.

Aware that this would be his last public moment as a big shot, Capone takes a private moment to make sure his famous facial scar is adequately covered, arms himself with a fat cigar, and then exits his chauffeured town car to greet the throngs of reporters and well-wishers with his usual bravado. He’s risen high from being the scrappy, trigger-happy hijacker stomping through the New Jersey woodlands at the start of the series, but even his characteristically gregarious façade shows cracks as Capone ponders his fate while marching to legal doom up the steps of the Federal Building.

What’d He Wear?

John A. Dunn’s opulent costume design on Boardwalk Empire reflects clothing’s longstanding role in American gangsterdom, with flashy mafiosi like Al Capone flaunting their success by evolving their wardrobe to match it.

At the start of the series, set in 1920, the young Capone is relatively new to the Chicago underworld, his role relegated to finding violent opportunities to himself when not waiting by the car. His scrappy attire of mackinaw coats, shirts buttoned to the neck, and “the cap of a boy” echoes this low position. Upon coming into a higher status, Capone prioritizes getting a tailored suit to equal his position. Once he’s firmly established as an ambitious lieutenant—and eventual boss—of the Chicago Outfit, he exclusively dresses in tailored suits, silk ties, coats, and hats all befitting his extravagant reputation as king of the gangsters.

Even in real life, the flamboyant kingpin didn’t shy away from colorful tailoring even during his legal troubles of 1931, reportedly wearing suits in bold shades of blue, green, banana-yellow, and gray for his many courtroom appearances, even sporting a “heather-purple pinchback suit” during his sentencing in October 1931, as described by John Kobler in his 1971 biography Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone.

Chicago, 1931: the actual Al Capone signs his $50,000 bail bond in the Federal Building. Photo credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

Likely aware that he’ll be trading his custom-tailored suits for prison stripes sooner rather than later, Stephen Graham’s Capone dresses to make a splash for both the audience on the courthouse steps and the Boardwalk Empire audience watching at home.

Capone strides from his Auburn town car in ivory herringbone three-piece suit, made from a slubby raw silk. The off-white color is an obviously offbeat choice for court, particularly illustrated by the reporters, agents, and bodyguards surrounding him in more conventional shades of brown, blue, and gray. Raw silk has a nubby texture that can often be mistaken for linen, though silk’s luxurious properties typically make it softer and more lustrous, befitting a flamboyant gang lord and evident by his suit’s subtle sheen in the sunlight.

Three-piece suits with double-breasted jackets were a common tailoring configuration through the early 1930s, especially among men like Capone who could afford it—and wanted to show that they could afford it. Capone’s ivory silk suit has a double-breasted jacket, with era-correct wide peak lapels that have a straight gorge and roll to the second row of a classic 6×2-button arrangement. The buttons are a cream-colored plastic or horn, matching the four-button cuffs. The ventless jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets, structured with straight, padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads that build a more imposing physique.

Under the watchful eyes of his legal pursuers, the white-suited Capone gesticulates on the Federal Building steps.

We see little of the suit’s matching waistcoat and trousers on screen, though a behind-the-scenes photo that Graham took with fellow actor Michael Iacono shows more detail, consistently detailed with the other suits that Capone wore on screen through Boardwalk Empire‘s fifth season.

The single-breasted waistcoat (or vest) has peak lapels and a high-fastening six-button front with cream-colored buttons matching his suit jacket. The bottom is notched, and the waistcoat also has four welted pockets. The waistcoat does its name-implied job of covering Capone’s waist, so we don’t see the waistband of his trousers. Despite the oft-repeated sartorial guidance that waistcoats and three-piece suits shouldn’t be worn with belts (to avoid the buckle bunching up under the waistcoat), it’s possible that Capone wears one as the real-life Capone wore diamond-studded belt buckles, even with three-piece suits, reflected by Graham’s other on-screen three-piece suit trousers.

However the trousers are held up remains mere speculation, as all we can see are the single forward-facing pleats on each side of the fly and the plain-hemmed bottoms.

More of Capone’s waistcoat, trousers, and shirt can be seen in this behind-the-scenes photo of Stephen Graham with young actor Michael Iacono, who can be seen near Capone in many shots of him ascending the Federal Building steps.

One of my favorite aspects of  Boardwalk Empire’s costume design is the intention that John A. Dunn’s team put into the men’s shirt collars, including the abundance of detached white dress collars particularly seen among wealthier characters during the show’s early seasons. By the early 1930s, when the final season is set, men’s shirts had evolved toward attached collars being the norm, though fussier dressers like protagonist Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi) could still dress them up with metal collar pins and bars.

Even after reaching his highest position in the Chicago underworld, Capone typically disregards the formality of contrasting white collars until this final scene. The body of his cotton shirt is light-blue, patterned with white bar stripes that are each bisected by a faint slate dotted line. The double (French) cuffs match the body of the shirt, each fastened by a set of copper scroll-engraved hexagonal cuff links with bullet-back closure. The shirt’s contrasting clean white point collar may be attached (an arrangement known as a “Winchester shirt”) or it may be one of the few detached-collar shirts in the screen Capone’s closet. Either way, the point-shaped collar presents with a “pinned” effect thanks to a curved gold bar that slides onto each collar leaf behind the tie knot.

Capone creates a rich, non-threatening devil-may-care look with his lavender diamond-woven silk tie that calls out the blue tones of his shirting.

When not being observed, a more dour Capone examines the makeup over his scars in his gold-finished compact to make sure his last public appearance as a big shot gangster will be a flattering one. Note also his flashing display of accessories, from collar bar and cuff links to the diamonds set on his gold ring.

Like many of his ilk—including his ill-fated early mentor “Big Jim” Colosimo (also known as “Diamond Jim”)—Capone used diamonds to add flash to his look and communicate his growing fortune, from rings to belt buckles, all either worn or given away as extravagant gifts.

In the Boardwalk Empire finale, Capone’s diamond addiction is represented by a large gold ring on Stephen Graham’s left hand. The ring flares out to a silver-filled center with a squared center for a large diamond, flanked by four diamonds—one in each corner.

Although I believe the real Al Capone often favored pocket watches with—of course—diamond-studded chains when wearing three-piece suits, Graham’s Capone wears a vintage Elgin wristwatch on a black calfskin leather band, strapped to his left wrist and closed through a silver-toned single-prong buckle. The silver tonneau-shaped case is expanded so that etched scrollwork flanks the right and left sides of the dial, which is off-white with gold-scripted Arabic numeral hour indices and a second-hand sub-register at the 6:00 position.

Capone tops his look with a creamy white felt fedora. The wide band and edges are made from a matching cream-colored grosgrain silk that hardly contrasts against the lush felt hat.

“What? Is there a ball game here today?”

Capone completes the summery ensemble with a set of spectator shoes, an appropriately caddish and flashy style given Snorky’s reputation. These two-toned shoes were arguably their most popular during the Prohibition era, worn on both sides of the Atlantic, though they were somewhat less regarded in the UK, where they were also known as “co-respondent shoes” for their association with third-party “co-respondents” in adultery-related divorce cases.

The brown-and-white leather shoes that Capone wears have five oxford-style lace eyelets and are fully brogued, with brown wingtips against the white instep.

Though barely glimpsed on screen, even in this zoomed-in version of their only screen appearance, Capone’s brown-and-white spectator shoes are almost as unmistakable as he is in his off-white suit against the crowd of darker-dressed men surrounding him.

Three months after Boardwalk Empire aired its finale in October 2014, many of the series’ costumes and props were auctioned by ScreenBid, including the suit, cuff links, wristwatch, and ring that Stephen Graham wore for his final scene as Al Capone.

Capone’s screen-worn suit, tie, hat, shoes, cuff links, ring, and watch, all auctioned by ScreenBid after Boardwalk Empire ended production in 2014.

How to Get the Look

Stephen Graham as Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 5.08: “Eldorado”)

Dressed by costume designer John A. Dunn, the Al Capone of Boardwalk Empire followed the a sartorial trajectory similar to his real-life counterpart, ending the series flashily dressed in an all-white three-piece suit with matching hat, spectator shoes, and a hefty diamond ring.

• Ivory raw silk tailored suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with straight-gorge peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, ventless back
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with peak lapels, four welted pockets, and notched bottom
  • Single forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light-blue (with white bar stripes bisected with slate dotted lines) cotton Winchester shirt with contrasting white point collar and self-double/French cuffs
  • Gold sliding collar bar
  • Copper scroll-engraved hexagonal cuff links
• Lavender diamond-woven silk tie
• Cream-colored felt fedora with cream-colored grosgrain silk band and edges
• Brown-and-white leather 5-eyelet oxford-laced wingtip spectator shoes
• Gold-and-silver ring with diamond-studded face
• Vintage Elgin wristwatch with silver scroll-etched tonneau-shaped case, off-white dial with gold Arabic numerals and 6:00 second-hand sub-register, and black calfskin leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series.

The Quote

What “Outfit”? I’m a businessman!

The post Boardwalk Empire: Al Capone’s Ivory Suit in 1931 appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993)

Vitals

Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, intrepid Deputy U.S. Marshal

Chicago, Spring 1993

Film: The Fugitive
Release Date: August 6, 1993
Director: Andrew Davis
Costume Designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the 30th anniversary since the release of The Fugitive, Andrew Davis’ 1993 update of the 1960s TV series that followed a doctor wrongly accused of his wife’s murder as he travels the country in the hopes of clearing his name by finding the one-armed man he believes to be guilty.

Pursuing the innocent Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) through the Midwest is Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), the determined Deputy U.S. Marshal leading the hunt with his team of trusted pros. Though a snarky master of caustic wit, Gerard is serious about doing his job—and only his job—as established during the memorable scene when Kimble tries to dissuade his persuader by assuring him of his innocence.

Dr. Kimble: I didn’t kill my wife!
Gerard: I don’t care!

While The Fugitive already has all the elements for solid entertainment, Gerard’s playful dynamic with his fellow marshals helps elevate it above the standard chase thriller, whether they’re bantering in the office, correcting him for instantly forgetting a name he just heard, or performing their duty while closing in on a dangerous fugitive.

Gerard’s team was so well-received from the movie that it led to a 1998 sequel, U.S. Marshals, that centers not on Dr. Kimble—who doesn’t appear at all!—but rather Gerard, his fellow marshals, and the Diplomatic Security Service agent seconded to their team as they hunt for yet another fugitive whose innocence or guilt remains in question.

What’d He Wear?

Almost twenty years before Justified, Samuel Gerard set the standard for Deputy U.S. Marshals dressing for the office in a tailored jacket and tie over jeans—business on top, action on the bottom. However, unlike the rotation of suit jackets and sports coats that would be favored by Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Gerard relies on a classic navy blazer with his ties and jeans.

Gerard’s dark navy-blue wool blazer follows the traditional single-breasted design, with notch lapels that roll to two gold-toned shank buttons, each etched with a crest. Metal buttons are considered by many to be a defining characteristic that sets blazers apart from other tailored jackets, a functional and visual reference to the garment’s maritime origins. Gerard’s blazer has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, a single vent, and three-button cuffs.

Gerard commands the search inside the laundry facilities of the Chicago Hilton.

The first time Gerard wears his blazer on screen, he layers it over a tan work shirt and scarlet-red button-up sweater. Unlike the blazer’s later appearances, he wears the shirt open-neck—with no tie and the top button undone. The shirt has a front placket, single-button cuffs, and—as we see through the opening of the sweater—two flapped chest pockets.

The scarlet-red cable-knit wool sleeveless sweater has five brown woven leather buttons up the front and ribbed-knit armholes.

During the action-packed sequence that takes the team of U.S. Marshals from Kimble’s abandoned apartment to Cook County Hospital and eventually Chicago’s famous St. Patrick’s Day parade, Gerard layers for the late winter chill in another sweater with his scarf and tie.

Gerard’s shirt is a classic light-blue oxford-cloth button-down (OCBD), the Ivy staple established by Brooks Brothers at the start of the 20th century after president John E. Brooks found inspiration from English polo players securing their collars to the bodies of their shirts. Gerard wears a burgundy, navy, and gold paisley silk tie that unites the blue in his blazer, jeans, shirt, and soft navy wool V-neck sweater with his red scarf.

Gerard’s jacket and tie keep him looking respectable while interviewing leads in search of his suspect.

The simple scarlet-red soft wool scarf is fringed on the ends, worn both inside Gerard’s overcoat and atop its lapels.

For the final act of The Fugitive through the climactic hotel showdown, Gerard wears a pale ecru cotton shirt with a button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs. His burgundy foulard tie is printed with four-square boxes that alternate between stone-colored squares and gray-colored diamonds.

Even in the office, Gerard eschews traditional trousers in favor of blue jeans, likely always in preparation of the unpredictable action that comes with being a Deputy U.S. Marshal in the midst of an active investigation. His mid-blue denim jeans are from Wrangler, the same brand that Kimble wears with his tweed jacket and tie. Though the jeans follow the conventional style with belt loops and five-pocket layout, they can be identified as “Cowboy Cut” Wranglers by the branded tan leather patch over the back-right pocket as well as the “W”-shaped stitch on both back pockets.

Gerard holds up his jeans with a heavy-duty brown leather belt that closes through a brass-toned double-prong buckle, with his Glock pistol holstered in a black leather paddle holster worn in the 5 o’clock position on his waistband, toward the back right for a right-handed draw.

The action-packed life of a Deputy U.S. Marshal calls for adaptational dressing, with a jacket and tie to look appropriate at the office but jeans with a heavy-duty belt for when an investigation calls you out to the wild terrain of… the Chicago Hilton.

Tonally and texturally consistent with his jeans while still relatively appropriate for office-wear, Gerard wears plain-toe derby-laced ankle boots made of black leather that shows a much-worn patina.

While escaping the courthouse in Chicago, Dr. Kimble orchestrates a Batman gambit by telling the officers to watch out for an armed man causing havoc in “a blue topcoat”, clearly alerting them to Gerard in his dark navy wool knee-length overcoat.

Appropriately layered for winter in the Windy City, Gerard’s single-breasted coat has notch lapels, a three-button covered-fly front, three-button cuffs, and a single vent. In addition to the flapped hip pockets, the coat has a welted breast pocket where he often hooks his U.S. Marshals Service badge, though he neglected to do so before chasing Kimble through Chicago City Hall… and thus gets mistaken for a crazed gunman.

Gerard’s tasteful topcoat differentiates him from his fellow marshals when Frederick Sykes (Andreas Katsulas) quips about “a trench coat convention” in his home after Kimble’s break-in.

The chilly weather and the nature of Gerard’s work keeps his wrists mostly covered, but we do get a glimpse of a watch on his left wrist—at least we see a wristwatch’s olive nylon strap with a wide self-keeper. In the follow-up movie, U.S. Marshals, Gerard wears a stainless Hamilton, which feels like an appropriately functional yet attractive choice to fit Gerard’s overall aesthetic.

Gerard’s frequent outfit of a blazer and jeans has been the subject of several requests over the years, specifically from BAMF Style readers Lee and Ryan. Hope you gents enjoyed!

The Gun

Glock pistols had been around for more than a decade by the time Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard drew his Glock 22 in The Fugitive, but these boxy, polymer-framed semi-automatic pistols were still relatively new to celluloid.

Gerard aims his Glock at a fleeing Dr. Kimble in the Chicago City Hall lobby.

Many moviegoers received a misleading primer in Die Hard 2 when John McClane (Bruce Willis) describes the non-existent “Glock 7” as “a porcelain gun made in Germany that doesn’t show up on your airport metal detectors and costs more than you make in a month”… quite a string of inaccuracies for the relatively affordable Austrian-made Glock 17 that, despite its polymer frame, has quite a number of metal parts that would trigger security screenings, including the actual ammunition.

The Glock 22 was introduced in 1990, a full-sized service pistol nearly identical to the older Glock 17 but chambered for the then-new .40 S&W, which had been developed jointly by Smith & Wesson and Winchester in response to the FBI’s request for a round that could mimic the performance of 10mm Auto ammunition but be retrofitted to fit medium-framed 9mm handguns. Smith & Wesson intended for its Model 4006 to be introduced to the market in tandem with the .40 S&W round in January 1990, but Glock narrowly beat Smith & Wesson to the market with the Glock 22 announced a week before the S&W 4006. Like the earlier Glock 17, the Glock 22 is a full-sized, striker-fired semi-automatic pistol that feeds from high-capacity double-stack magazines, with the .40-caliber Glock 22 typically loaded with 15-round magazines.

The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals correctly depicted Glocks as the standard sidearms authorized for the U.S. Marshals Service, even arming Gerard with the appropriate Glock 22 variant chambered in .40 S&W rather than choosing a cosmetically identical 9mm variant (like the Glock 17 or 19) as often done in movie and TV productions. Thus, The Fugitive was the first major screen appearance of the Glock 22, according to IMFDB.

Gerard’s Glock locks open after he empties the magazine during a gunfight with another fugitive… a mission requiring a more informal manner of dress than his usual blazer, tie, and jeans.

One of Tommy Lee Jones’ screen-used Glocks (serial #ZU747) was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2018, confirming that Gerard indeed wielded a .40-caliber Glock 22 on screen. The serial number and the closed-tip guide rod inform us that Gerard’s pistol is a second-generation Glock 22, likely produced in 1991 or 1992 and thus nearly brand-new before it was blank-adapted for the production.

U.S. Marshals would continue Gerard’s Glock usage into something of a Glock commercial, arming the marshal with both his regular Glock 22 as well as a backup Glock 27 (essentially a .40-caliber version of the subcompact Glock 26) in an ankle holster. He even chides DSS Special Agent John Royce (Robert Downey Jr.) about his stainless steel Taurus PT945, urging him to “get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol.”

How to Get the Look

Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993)

Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard maintains a reliable daily “uniform” that blends form, flexibility, and function, dressed up enough for the office in his blazer, OCBD shirts and ties, and a rotation of knitwear, with his trusty Wrangler jeans and well-worn lace-up boots granting him the sartorial latitude to impulsively chase a fugitive through almost any conditions.

• Navy wool single-breasted 2-button blazer with notch lapels, crested gold shank buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Light ecru or blue oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Burgundy printed silk tie
• Navy wool V-neck long-sleeved sweater
• Blue denim Wrangler “Cowboy Cut” jeans
• Brown leather belt with brass double-prong buckle
• Black leather plain-toe derby-laced ankle boots
• Charcoal-blue wool single-breasted knee-length overcoat with notch lapels, covered-fly 3-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Scarlet-red soft wool scarf with fringed ends
• Wristwatch on olive-green nylon strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Give it up—it’s time to stop running!

The post The Fugitive: Samuel Gerard’s Navy Blazer and Jeans appeared first on BAMF Style.

Gregory Hines as Sandman Williams in The Cotton Club (1984)

Vitals

Gregory Hines as Delbert “Sandman” Williams, affable and ambitious dancer

Harlem, Spring 1929

Film: The Cotton Club
Release Date: December 14, 1984
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

Background

One of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time, the multi-talented Gregory Hines died 20 years ago today on August 9, 2003. His charismatic performance as “Sandman” Williams in The Cotton Club remains a highlight from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club, an ambitious and controversial part-musical, part-mob drama that producer Robert Evans spent five years bringing to the screen.

Centered around the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem, the movie boasts all the ingredients to entertain: an evocative Prohibition-era setting at an iconic nightclub, a pitch-perfect period soundtrack from John Barry that replicates the sounds of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, and a talented cast that includes then-rising stars like Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Grey, James Remar, and Gregory and Maurice Hines.

The characters include many actual gangsters connected with the club; Remar terrifies as an appropriately erratic Dutch Schultz, Joe Dallesandro cameos as the smooth Lucky Luciano, Bob Hoskins portrays the Cotton Club’s British-born manager Owney Madden, and Fishburne appears as “Bumpy”, inspired by the real “Bumpy” Johnson he would portray a decade later in Hoodlum. Gere’s mobbed-up trumpeter-turned-movie star Dixie Dwyer reads like a conglomeration of Bix Beiderbecke and George Raft, while Nicolas Cage plays his brother Vincent, standing in for the real-life gunsel Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll. As Dixie’s love interest, Diane Lane’s jazzdoll-turned-nightclub hostess recalls Texas Guinan. The Hines brothers drew on their natural talents to portray the Williams brothers, inspired by the famous Nicholas brothers who had indeed danced at the Cotton Club in their youth.

When it was finally released in December 1984, The Cotton Club failed to recoup even half of its inflated $58 million at the box office. Reception was scattered, with Oscar and Golden Globe nominations as well as a Razzie. The violence may not have been limited to the mobsters on screen, as the May 1983 murder of show business promoter Roy Radin was dubbed “The Cotton Club Murder” due to a drug-fueled connection to the film’s financing. The behind-the-scenes drama and box-office failure took a toll on the reputations for most involved, including the film itself.

Coppola took a shot at redemption in 2017 when he premiered The Cotton Club: Encore, a director’s cut more aligned with his original vision and structure before the distributors were involved. Many reviewers agree that the enriched cut adds life to the story, giving more breathing room to the excellent performances including a romp from Jackée Harry that had initially been left on the cutting room floor. The Cotton Club Encore also gives Hines more deserved time in the spotlight, including the previously unseen “She’s Tall, She’s Tan, She’s Terrific” number he performs for the benefit of singer Lila (Lonette McKee) at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

What’d He Wear?

The increasing informality of the roaring ’20s saw the rise of men’s sport jackets, previously reserved solely for outdoor sporting pursuits—as their nomenclature implies. “By the latter part of the twenties, the sporting jacket, trimmed of its countrified detailing and worn with separate trousers in contrasting fabrics such as flannel or gabardine, became the ideal expression of casual elegance for competitors and spectators alike,” writes Alan Flusser in Dressing the Man.

Among my favorite aspects of sporty tailoring from this era are “action-back” jackets, so named for the strategically placed pleats that would allow a wearer a greater range of movement without compromising the overall silhouette. Tailors desiring to appoint their jackets accordingly could choose from the bi-swing bellowed pleats behind each armhole and/or a center pleat vertically between yoke and waist, where either a full- or half-belt restrained the excess fabric of the upper half to retrain the desired silhouette.

Sandman’s action-back sport jacket features the bi-swing shoulder pleats and an inverted center pleat that aligns with the long single vent, bisected at the waist by a half-belt.

Sandman’s action-back jacket allows for his type of action: extensive tap-dancing.

Woven in a black-and-cream houndstooth check, the single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front. Sandman wears both light-brown buttons fastened, typically a sartorial no-no (never button the bottom button!), though it may be intentionally done to keep the jacket close to Gregory Hines’ body as he dances without the quarters flapping around. The three buttons on each cuff match the two front buttons.

Consistent with the countrified weave and action-back details, the breast pocket and hip pockets are all sporty patch pockets with an inverted box pleat.

Sandman wears a white cotton shirt with a point collar, front placket, and double (French) cuffs. His pointed butterfly-shaped silk bow tie is abstract-checked in black and cream, neatly coordinating with his jacket.

Sandman contrasts his houndstooth jacket with tan-on-cream striped trousers in a pattern that reminds me of the black-and-gray “cashmere-striped” trousers associated with traditional morning dress. The double forward-pleated trousers have an appropriately long rise to Gregory Hines’ natural waist, which flatters his lean 6’0″ frame, particularly as he’s dancing in the Hoofers’ Club without his jacket on.

He holds the trousers up with suspenders that connect to buttons along the inside of his trouser waistband via brown leather hooks. The tan cloth suspenders have two black bar stripes, continuing the color scheme seen on his jacket and bow tie. The trouser waistband closes through an extended button-through tab and also has slide-through side adjusters, positioned a few inches below the waist on each side. The trousers also have straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Not long after the style emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, two-toned spectator shoes were often considered to be tasteless footwear, particularly in the UK where they gained the moniker “co-respondent shoes” from their association with the caddish third-party co-respondents in English divorce cases. As the Jazz Age took hold through the 1920s, spectator shoes shook off some of their gauche connotations, especially in the United States, where they were increasingly spotted at summer soirees, where revelers enjoyed raucous dance crazes like the Charleston, Black Bottom, and Lindy Hop. In time, this led to two-toned shoes being associated with professional hoofers like Fred Astaire, already a dapper dresser who further cemented the association between dance and spectator shoes.

Sandman may or may not have been expecting to dance when he stepped into the Abyssinian Baptist Church that spring morning in 1929, but his feet were certainly dressed for the part in black-and-white spectator shoes that continue the black-and-cream themes of his outfit.

Due to a slight continuity error, Gregory Hines actually wears two different sets of black-and-white spectator oxfords for this sequence, first a set of semi-brogue shoes (characterized by their straight cap-toe) followed by a slightly more worn pair of wingtip full-brogues in the next scene. Both sets of shoes follow the same color configuration with the toe-caps, oxford-style lace panels, and heel quarters all in black while the rest of the shoes are white. However, the cap-toe shoes are regular oxfords with hard leather soles while the wingtips are actually tap shoes with metal tap plates under the toes and heels.

The close-ups reveal the difference between Sandman’s black-and-white spectator oxfords: more structured semi-brogues at the church (left) and slightly more worn-in wingtip tap shoes at the Hoofers’ Club (right).

Sandman’s ivory socks have broken broken stripes, continuing the leg-line of his trousers into his shoes.

He tops the outfit with a solid black felt fedora with a black grosgrain band and the brim worn turned up.

“I like it that you’re taller than me!”

Sandman wears a gold rectangular watch with a long, elegant Deco-style case, gold rectangular dial, and black leather strap. (The watch can best be seen here in this later scene during an argument at the Williams family dinner table.)

How to Get the Look

Gregory Hines as Sandman Williams in The Cotton Club (1984)

Even when not dressed for the stage in a dinner jacket and tap shoes, Sandman wears sporty clothes from the era that accentuate his athletic abilities, specifically a handsome houndstooth “action-back” sports jacket, high-waisted trousers, snappy spectator shoes, and a bow tie.

• Black-and-cream houndstooth single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, inverted box-pleat patch pockets, 3-button cuffs, and “action back” with bi-swing shoulder pleats, center inverted box-pleat, half-belted back, and single vent
• White cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Black-and-cream abstract-checked silk pointed butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Tan-on-cream cashmere-striped double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with extended waistband, side-adjuster tabs, belt loops, straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Tan and black-striped cloth suspenders with brown leather hooks
• Black-and-white leather semi-brogue spectator oxfords
• Ivory and brown-striped cotton lisle socks
• Black felt fedora with black grosgrain band
• Gold Deco-style rectangular wristwatch with gold rectangular dial on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

You can also check out a selection of films starring the Nicholas Brothers today on TCM as the show-stopping dance duo are featured as part of the channel’s “Summer Under the Stars” series.

The post The Cotton Club: Gregory Hines Dances in Houndstooth appeared first on BAMF Style.