Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993).

Vitals

Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, fugitive and former doctor trying to clear his name

Chicago, Spring 1993

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

In addition to being one of the best modern thrillers, The Fugitive is also one of the best TV-to-movie adaptations, seamlessly updating the characters and story to transform four seasons of a 1960s TV show into a compelling and suspenseful 1990s action flick.

After being wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife, Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) gets a lucky break when his prison transport crashes after fellow prisoners launch an escape attempt… making him the primary target of Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). Unlike lesser films that would try to paint Gerard as a lawman using this case for his own redemption or personally entangled with his mark, this is simply another job for the marshal.

Dr. Kimble evades Gerard and his team during a St. Patrick’s Day parade, but the close shave encourages him to continue his journey of putting the pieces together to clear his name and bring justice to his wife’s killers.

What’d He Wear?

This segment of The Fugitive is clearly set in the late winter and early spring, but Dr. Kimble’s “on-the-run” look would be just as comfortable and practical for a fall day. His outfit of a tweed jacket, chambray shirt, knit tie, and blue jeans certainly evokes Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor, a similar story about an innocent man that finds himself on the run in the big city.

Dr. Kimble’s outer layer is a tweed sport jacket made up of brown yarns mixed with beige and blue. The notch lapels have swelled edges, a buttonhole stitched through the left lapel, and a tan woolen strip beneath the collar that is clearly seen when Richard turns up his lapels against Chicago’s windy night air.

Like most accused criminals on the run, Dr. Kimble likes to keep in touch with the very lawman who is chasing him.

The single-breasted tweed jacket has two brown leather buttons on the front and three slightly smaller buttons on each cuff. The front is darted, the back is split with a single vent, and the natural shoulders have softly roped sleeveheads.

Even for a guy living his life on the run like Richard Kimble, you never know how your day will end up.

There is a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and a pocket on each inside panel; directly under the jetted right inside pocket, a black Benjamin label can be spotted.

Dr. Richard Kimble’s jacket manufacturer shares its name with Harrison Ford’s oldest son. Hm.

Dr. Kimble wears a large-fitting and lightweight blue chambray cotton work shirt. The shirt has a slim collar with white stitching about a half-inch from the edge. It has white plastic buttons down the plain front, each buttoning through a white-stitched buttonhole. The cuffs each close with a button. There are no darts or pleats on the back.

There are two patch pockets on the shirt chest, with a single-button flap over each one to close. The pocket flaps have rounded corners and closer white edge-stitching than the collar, about a millimeter from the edge of the flaps and pockets. The left pocket has a short open pen slot on the inside.

One of Jane Lynch’s earliest screen roles was, as seen here, Dr. Kathy Wahlund, Richard’s friend at Chicago Memorial Hospital.

Kimble’s slim knit tie is black with sets of three thin red horizontal stripes. The tie has a pointed blade and no rear keeper loop so the slimmer, flat-bottomed tail flies free during the sequence’s many action scenes.

Black and red is an interesting choice for a tie with this outfit, popping some subtle color diversity into the predominantly blue and brown palette.

Part of the genius of Dr. Kimble’s attire is that it nicely walks the line between professional and casual, because – let’s face it – in America these days, most people will still think you look “fancy” just because you’re wearing a tie, whether you’re sporting it with a tailored suit and well-shined oxfords or clean jeans and sneakers.

Of course, it helps that Kimble is wearing a pair of clean, rich-colored medium blue denim jeans with a straight leg. They have a standard five-pocket layout and no visible manufacturer’s tag. Although they have belt loops – as jeans usually do – Richard wears them with no belt.

Plus, a rugged pair of jeans protects your legs better when you dive through a glass skylight.

Dr. Kimble wears a pair of all-black leather sneakers with black laces and black soles, an unobtrusive choice if one must wear sneakers with a dressier outfit. (Given Kimble’s predicament, sneakers rather than dress shoes was probably a good idea!) His socks appear to be basic white cotton tube socks.

With everything that’s been going on in his life lately, you can’t blame Richard Kimble for taking a quick snooze when he gets the chance.

Dr. Kimble wears no undershirt, but the elastic waistband of his white cotton boxer shorts can be glimpsed when takes a crowbar to Charles’ legs during the film’s climax.

A swing and a hit!

What to Imbibe

Why, of course our a everyman hero drinks a bottle of Budweiser beer!

St. Patrick’s Day or not, this all-American hero isn’t going to drink a brew that wasn’t crafted right here in the USA!

(Although, as this was set in Chicago, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Richard downing a bottle of Old Style.)

How to Get the Look

Dr. Kimble’s ensemble in the city is perfect for blending in: rugged and durable but still fashionable enough that he can fit in anywhere from a banquet to a backyard.

• Brown mixed tweed single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Blue chambray work shirt with button-down flapped chest pockets and button cuffs
• Black slim knit tie with sets of triple red stripes
• Blue denim jeans
• Black leather sneakers
• White cotton tube socks
• White cotton boxer shorts

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I thought you didn’t care?

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate

Las Vegas, Spring 1973

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn

Background

It does absolutely nothing to advance the plot and it’s unnecessary to establish the traits an already well-established character, but the sequence of Ace Rothstein’s brand of justice for two men caught cheating at blackjack under his watch in the Tangiers casino is one of the most entertaining and memorable in the film.

True to his name, Ace has tremendous gambling instincts and is thus able to spot “two yokels” trying to run a scam on a blackjack table purely from watching the way they bet. He does some first-hand investigating and discovers that a gruff, bearded man and his twerpish confederate have spotted a weak dealer who isn’t protecting his hole card well enough. Ace calls in two of his security team – Armstrong and Friday – and instructs the one armed with a cattle prod to zap “BJ 19, second base, the beard” (indicating the bearded man sitting at the second seat at blackjack table #19). When he calls in an order for “Mr. Happy… loud”, the casino is distracted by cocktail waitresses singing about a dealer’s birthday while Armstrong uses the aforementioned prod to down one of the cheaters in a fit presumed to be cardiac arrest.

The bearded man is taken to a frightening bare back room straight out of Orwell, and Rothstein calmly asks which hand the man uses to “shuffle your checks”. Upon finding out that the man uses his right hand, Rothstein nods to one of his officers and a hammer comes out of nowhere, smashing the man’s right hand. “Now you’re gonna have to learn with your left hand,” Rothstein duly informs him.

The affable Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) is dispatched to rope in the twerpish man, who is immediately confronted with the sight of his co-cheater’s mangled hand. He agrees never to cheat at the Tangiers again and thanks Rothstein (likely for letting him keep his life) before he leaves. “Throw him in the alley and tell the cops he got hit by a car,” Rothstein orders.

It shows just how much trust studios have in Martin Scorsese that he could keep a relatively superfluous scene running several minutes in a movie that was already just a few seconds shy of three hours long… all set to the sounds of Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart covering Willie Dixon’s 1961 blues ballad “I Ain’t Superstitious”.

What’d He Wear?

Ace Rothstein decks himself out in all light and dark shades of azure for one of the most memorable sequences, from his Yale blue suit to the more sky-toned matching shirt, tie, and pocket square. Why so much blue? On Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan used blue clothing to indicate moral corruption in Walter and Skyler White’s characters in reference to Heisenberg’s blue meth product.

Perhaps in Casino, Ace’s all blue suit is a nod to his role in this scene specifically as the casino’s “police”, investigating criminal activity and doling out justice as he sees fit. Perhaps it’s Ace asserting his masculine dominance over two men trying to cheat him over by sporting the most traditionally masculine-associated color.

The slubbing of Ace’s dark blue suiting indicates either raw silk, linen, or a blend of both. The silk would be more “on brand” for Ace Rothstein, but a linen suit would certainly breathe coolly and comfortably during Las Vegas’s dry, hot nights… especially if one is inclined to wear a dark suit.

Ace’s suit is likely raw silk, lacking the shine of a finished silk like dupioni or shantung.

Ace’s single-breasted suit jacket closes with only a single button. Not much is seen of the flat front trousers as Ace keeps his jacket buttoned throughout the scene, but the slightly flared bottoms are plain-hemmed and he definitely has side pockets where he often slips his hands.

Ace commands the room as he confronts a blackjack cheater.

The suit jacket’s wide peak lapels have a full belly, a convex break line, and a shorter gorge seam despite the ’70s-appropriate lapel width. The wide shoulders are well-padded with strongly roped sleeveheads. Like the front of the jacket, each cuff closes with one button. The jacket appears to have double vents and patch hip pockets. The breast pocket is welted with a sky blue silk display kerchief neatly folded inside, made by Anto to perfectly match the shirt and tie.

Sam Rothstein means business.

Anto created all of Ace’s shirts, ties, and pocket square, allowing for each set to perfectly match in a manner that a fastidious and detail-oriented dressed like Ace would appreciate. The sky blue silk shirt that Ace wears in this scene has a large point collar with edge stitching about a half-inch in. It buttons up a plain front and has single cuffs for links, which appear to be 14-carat white gold with a half bezel set emerald cut blue aquamarine in the center. Naturally, his silk tie is the same shade of sky azure as his shirt.

All blue.

When conducting surveillance on the two cheaters in his casino, Ace bends down to ostensibly tie his shoelace. The cheaters should have been suspicious: Ace’s shoes don’t have any laces. In fact, he is wearing a pair of black leather loafers with raised heels and a silver horsebit detail. His dark socks are probably blue to continue the trouser leg line into his shoes.

Ace, as he would’ve been seen by the ‘eye in the sky’.

Ace being who he is, his ring perfectly matches his cuff links. The 14-carat white gold ring on his right pinky has an emerald cut blue aquamarine stone, set in a geometric polished shank. Though his wristwatch is barely seen through most of the sequence, it would be very uncharacteristic for Ace to switch metals now; he’s appears to be wearing an 18-carat white gold Bueche Girod vintage watch.

Calling for “BJ 19, second base, the beard.”

This iconic outfit was naturally featured on Ibraheem Youssef’s poster Ace’s Casino suits, shown second from the right on the second row but featured with the light blue leather shoes that he would later wear when meeting county commissioner Pat Webb in his office.

How to Get the Look

Ace exudes luxury and power as he dispenses his brand of Las Vegas justice while wearing all blue silk.

• Dark blue lightweight raw silk tailored suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 1-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Flat front trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Sky blue silk dress shirt with long point collar, plain front, and single cuffs
• Sky blue silk tie
• White gold 14-carat cuff links with half bezel set, emerald cut aquamarine stone
• Black leather horsebit slip-on loafers with silver horsebit detail and black raised heels
• Dark blue dress socks
• Bueche Girod 14-carat white gold vintage wristwatch
• White gold 14-carat pinky ring with emerald cut, geometric shank-set aquamarine stone

Of course, it’s little details like the matching sky blue pocket square – perfectly folded into his breast pocket – that help set Ace Rothstein’s distinctive style apart from any wannabe wiseguys in his circle.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

They never know what hit ’em. And if and when they do find out they just got zapped by a cattle prod, they wish they really did have a heart attack.

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Molitsanti on The Sopranos (Episode 4.05: “Pie-O-My”)

Vitals

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, drug-addled mob soldier

New Jersey, Fall 2002

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05)
Air Date: October 13, 2002
Director: Henry J. Bronchtein
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

There are two types of silk suits that mobsters seem to prefer: one can be worn with a tie, and the other is usually worn with sneakers. The latter, also known as a “Bensonhurst tuxedo”, will be featured in today’s Mafia Monday post using an example from – what else? – The Sopranos.

In the show’s fourth season, the ambitious Christopher Moltisanti is plagued with issues ranging from the stress of being a newly “made” man to his increasing reliance on drugs and alcohol. Even forces unknown to him, like his girlfriend Adriana’s forced defection to FBI informant, are bringing him down.

By “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05), Adriana’s guilt is physically manifesting itself to the point where she feels unable to join Christopher for a family dinner with Tony Soprano. She cites the flu, but he isn’t having it. “Couple of drinks, it’ll kill the germs,” suggests Dr. Moltisanti. Adriana remains steadfast, so a frustrated Christopher shoots up some heroin and leaves without her.

What’d He Wear?

Many equate the image of a successful mobster with pristine silk suits and shiny gold pinky rings. While the latter might hold true, Juliet Polcsa and her costume team on The Sopranos knew that many mobsters opted for a “Bensonhurst tuxedo” when it came to everyday dressing. Usually a zip-front tracksuit made from a luxurious fabric like velour, the Bensonhurst tuxedo is what made guys wear when loafing in front of a butcher shop or idling the day away at a no-show job site.

The actual screen-worn tracksuit. (Source: Christie’s)

Christopher Moltisanti was bred to be a mafioso from the day he was born, and he sports track suits in many of his early appearances, almost always in his favorite colors of black and red. By the fourth season, Chris has finally been inducted into the DeMeo crime family and is well on the rise as a made guy. He’s clearly upgraded too, opting for Genelli Silk Wear tracksuits rather than the cheaper but more athletically-oriented Nike and Fila shell suits of his younger days.

The Genelli tracksuit that Christopher wears in “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05) was sold for $2,375 by Christie’s in their June 2008 “Pop Culture” auction. The jacket is black and red, with an all-black collar, front panel on both sides of the zipper, and black “stripe” down the back. The elasticized straight hem is also all black, save for where the red border stripe extends all the way to the bottom to separate it from the front panel. Each red portion is a 90-degree angle that extends down the arm and torso with that thin red border stripe following it a few millimeters away.

The jacket zips all the way up the front with a black zipper on black tape. It has a flattened “shirt-style” collar that can still zip all the way to the edge, if necessary. Each raglan sleeve ends with an all-black elasticized cuff. There appears to be a slanted hand pocket on each side.

Christopher’s penchant for red and black tracksuits makes this Genelli piece very fitting.

The pants are all black with an elasticized waistband, plain bottoms, and side pockets.

Pretty much all of the info I can find online about Genelli relates to its popularity among The Sopranos characters, particularly Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri. Genelli seems to appeal more to the, uh, “less-than-active” gentleman who desires the intersection of luxury and comfort that only a silk tracksuit could provide. Christopher would later wear another Genelli tracksuit – this time in light brown – during the show’s sixth season.

Underneath the tracksuit, Christopher’s only shirt is his usual sleeveless white ribbed cotton undershirt, also known as an “A-shirt”. The gold St. Christopher medallion always worn around his neck hangs down just enough to hit the top of the shirt.

Chris wears a pair of white sneakers with white laces, white rubber soles, and a navy-accented tongue. Based on what looks like the British Union Flag flag on the sides, they may be a pair of Reebok running shoes, similar to the current Reebok Classic Leather 101. He wears them with a pair of white tube socks.

Chris falls back to a bad habit for support.

Mostly unseen here but certainly his watch of choice throughout the fourth season, Christopher wears a yellow gold Cartier Pasha Grid wristwatch, named for the gold grid that covers the round white dial.

How to Get the Look

Christopher grew up around mobsters, so he knows that a black and red silk tracksuit is the thing to wear when there’s no one you need to impress.

• Black and red silk Genelli tracksuit, consisting of:
  • Black-and-red zip-front jacket with flattened “shirt-style” collar, side pockets, elasticized cuffs, and elasticized straight hem
  • Black pants with elasticized waistband and side pockets
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• White Reebok sneakers with white laces and white rubber soles
• White cotton tube socks
• Thin gold necklace with a round gold St. Christopher medallion
• Cartier Pasha Grid yellow gold wristwatch with round case, white dial (under a gold grid), and gold bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire series!

The Quote

Come on, get dressed. Couple of drinks, it’ll kill the germs, you’ll forget all about it.

Angie Dickinson and Lee Marvin in Point Blank (1967).

Vitals

Lee Marvin as Walker, revenge-driven armed robber

San Francisco, Summer 1967

Film: Point Blank
Release Date: August 30, 1967
Director: John Boorman
Costume Designer: Margo Weintz

Background

Responding to another request from BAMF Style commenter Ryan Hall, this post looks at Lee Marvin’s wardrobe in 1967’s Point Blank, the first cinematic adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s crime novel The Hunter. The book became the first in the long-running Parker series penned by Westlake (as “Richard Stark”) that led to a total of 23 books before Westlake’s death in 2008.

At this point in the film, Walker (the film’s re-named version of Parker) is edging closer to getting his $93,000 back. Together with his sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson), Walker heads to the home of syndicate boss Brewster (a pre-All in the Family Carroll O’Connor) to move the endgame into place.

What’d He Wear?

Although Point Blank is set in summertime, San Francisco’s year-round chilly weather means Walker’s warm, creative earth tones makes a great fall outfit.

Walker’s rust brown flannel sport jacket is single-breasted with distinctive notch lapels that roll down over the top of the three-button front. The left lapel has a buttonhole and a sporty throat-latch tab edging out into the notch. The shoulders are padded with roped sleeveheads.

Walker’s jacket has some sporty details like the throat latch lapel tab and the flapped breast pocket.

All three external pockets – the breast pocket and the straight hip pockets – are flapped. The jacket has a relatively short fit, both to stay in step with 1967 fashions and also because Lee Marvin is a tall man at 6’1″. Like Walker’s other sportcoats (but not his suit jackets), this jacket has double vents and 1-button cuffs.

Walker’s salmon orange poplin shirt appears to be a polyester/cotton blend. It has a slim spread collar, button cuffs, and a wide front placket with mother-of-pearl buttons. His patterned tie is three shades of brown that provide a cooler contrast against the warmer brown flannel jacket and clash with the bright orange shirt; a dark brown abstract grid on the tie connects a series of tan and brown dots and figures.

A jaded Walker reflects on the events that led him to Brewster’s apartment.

Like his other trousers in Point Blank, Walker’s dark brown flat front trousers in this scene are worn beltless with a fitted band that rises high on his waist. They taper down the leg to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

Walker kicks back.

Walker wears the same brown leather 4-eyelet longwing brogues by Bally throughout Point Blank, and they are especially fitting with the earth tone outfit in this scene. Due to their construction with wings extending the full length of the shoe, longwing brogues are always derbies (aka bluchers). These brogues, with their perforated wingtip, were made by Bally as proven by the British Film Institute site. He likely wears them with dark brown socks here.

How to Get the Look

A man of few words, Walker isn’t afraid to let loud clothing do his talking for him.

• Rust brown flannel single-breasted 3-button sportcoat with notch lapels (with throat-latch tab), flapped breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and double vents
• Salmon orange poplin dress shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Tri-tone brown patterned tie
• Dark brown flat front trousers with fitted waistband, side pockets, and tapered plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather 4-eyelet longwing brogue bluchers with perforated wingtips
• Dark brown socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).

Vitals

Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy

Orient Express from Istanbul to Italy, Spring 1963

Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair

Background

For the 00-7th of October, I want to focus on a nice fall suit while also marking a milestone for this blog; this post marks the first 007 film where each of James Bond’s on screen outfits has been exhaustively analyzed by BAMF Style! Very appropriate too, given that From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond flick and – perhaps coincidence, perhaps not – also features some of my favorite movie suits. (I’m in good company; Sean Connery has also stated that From Russia With Love is his personal favorite 007 adventure.)

The consulate escape. A thrilling train ride on the Orient Express where ordering red wine with fish leads to a gripping fight to the death in a small compartment. An explosive boat chase. From Russia With Love is by far the most realistic and grounded spy story of the franchise, but it still packs plenty of iconic thrills into its final act.

James Bond escapes onto the Orient Express with Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) after stealing the film’s MacGuffin from her place of employment. They travel as honeymooning couple David and Caroline Somerset, but the subterfuge is short-lived and little needed as 007 confides in MI6 agent “Captain Nash”… in reality a cold-blooded SPECTRE assassin named Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw).

Bond is never totally trusting of “Nash”, but it is Grant’s dinner wine pairing that truly raises Bond’s suspicions and leads to a fight to the death in 007’s cramped train compartment while a drugged Tatiana snoozes next door. Supposedly, this brutal brawl took three weeks to film with both Connery and Shaw performing without the use of stunt doubles. Even this intense action is grounded in reality as Ian Fleming had incorporated his experience at an Interpol Conference in Istanbul with the true story of an American naval attaché that was assassinated by a Communist agent and thrown from the Orient Express in 1950.

Bond is hardly out of the water once he and Tatiana escape from the train… there’s still two more deadly chases to go! The film pays homage to North by Northwest as 007 is forced into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists piloting a helicopter. Bond wasn’t the only one who nearly lost his life, as the helicopter pilot flew far too close to Sean Connery during the scene and director Terence Young was actually trapped when his helicopter crashed over the water. Despite injuries that left Young’s arm in a sling, the director went right back behind the camera to keep on filming.

After escaping fatal forces from land and air, Bond and Tatiana take to the sea where they are again pursued by SPECTRE’s murderous agents. Again, it’s Bond’s quick wits and accurate trigger finger that save him… no gadgets needed.

What’d He Wear?

When Sean Connery took on the role of James Bond for Dr. No, director Terence Young modeled the character’s look after himself and ordered specially tailored Savile Row suits for Connery, supposedly even asking the actor to sleep in one to develop his comfort level in them. Young and Connery developed a de facto uniform for Bond that differed from the blue suits, white shirts, and black knit ties of Ian Fleming’s novels.

By From Russia With Love, Young doubled down on his investment and ordered eight tailored suits (including a dinner suit) to be tailored for Connery by Anthony Sinclair, each for around $2,000. For this climactic sequence in From Russia With Love, Connery is outfitted in his archetypal 007 look of a gray “Conduit Cut” suit with a distinctive pale blue turnback cuff shirt and dark navy grenadine tie from Turnbull & Asser.

Bond settles in for a cordial chat with “Captain Nash”.

Connery wears a dark gray semi-solid pick wool suit, tailored by the legendary Anthony Sinclair. The lightweight suit makes it an ideal stunt suit for the variety of obstacles that Bond faces from the train fight to his various chases over air and water. In addition, the vision of a man running from reckless aircraft while wearing a dirty gray semi-solid suit with a ventless jacket may take the North by Northwest homage another step further.

Whether it’s a cropduster in Indiana or a helicopter on the Scottish cliffs, you always want to be wearing the right gray suit to outrun the aircraft that’s chasing you.

The single-breasted suit jacket features all characteristics of Sinclair’s “Conduit Cut” with its darted, fitted front, natural shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and a low 2-button stance that works in tandem with the slightly suppressed waist to draw attention to Connery’s athletic build. The full chest with its slight drape also allows for Bond to wear his Walther PPK in a shoulder holster without the obvious bulge of a slimmer fitting suit with a cleaner chest.

Bond bids farewell to a new friend.

Bond wears a white linen pocket square neatly folded into the suit jacket’s welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets are jetted with no flaps for a cleaner look that also channels Cary Grant’s North by Northwest suit. Each sleeve has 4-button cuffs. The notch lapels are fashionably narrow for the era while still retaining a timeless width.

Bond bargains for his life with gold sovereigns. Just another day in the life.

Bond’s high rise trousers feature all the elements seen on his other suits. The waistband is beltless with a squared extended waistband in the front that closes through a hidden hook closure, and it is fastened on each side with a 3-button tab “Daks top” side adjuster. There is a slanted pocket on each side and a jetted back pocket on the right where Bond slips his PPK when he doesn’t have time to don his holster. They have double forward pleats with a full fit over the thighs and a tapered leg down to the cuffed bottoms.

Note the usual double forward pleats and beltless waistband of Bond’s Sinclair-tailored trousers.

With almost every suit in From Russia With Love, Bond wears a pale blue poplin dress shirt from Turnbull & Asser with a spread collar, front placket, and distinctive 2-button turnback or “cocktail” cuffs. This shirt appears to be a slightly lighter shade of blue than seen elsewhere in the film.

Tatiana must have been very surprised to open Bond’s suitcase and find a week’s worth of identical shirts. (At least she didn’t try to open his attaché case!)

Bond’s dark navy grenadine tie is another part of his From Russia With Love “uniform” and also from Turnbull & Asser. The slim tie is likely just shy of 3″ wide, narrower than the ties in Dr. No, and is tied in a tight four-in-hand knot.

Bond tries that time-tested technique of bargaining for his life by insulting the man holding him at gunpoint. Ah,

As usual with his gray suits in From Russia With Love, Bond wears a pair of black leather 3-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes – also known as bluchers – with a pair of dark gray socks.

Kicking some Soviet ass.

This scene doesn’t feature a “Clark Gable moment” since 007 keeps his shirt on (at least he does on screen!), but shots of Connery without his suit jacket on reveal the outline of a white sleeveless A-shirt as an undershirt.

Over his shirt, Bond opts for his usual tan chamois leather shoulder holster, fixed under his left armpit with a large blue shoulder strap over his left shoulder (connected to a slimmer blue strap that hooks around his right shoulder), giving his right-hand quick access to his trusty Walther PPK in one smooth move.

Bond fastens his holster to the left “Daks top” side adjuster buttons.

Bond: Excuse me, you did say your clock was correct?
Consulate clerk: Russian clocks are always-

Bond’s charming antagonism of a stuck-up Russian consulate clerk gives the signal to detonate a hidden tear-gas bomb while also providing an opportunity to show off his stainless Rolex Submariner 6538 wristwatch to the audience. Bond’s watch has a black bezel and black dial and is worn on a black leather strap.

I have a feeling that Bond’s Rolex will tend to be more accurate than whatever Commie mass-produced clock that clerk is talking about.

The glimpse at his watch also briefly shows off the details of Bond’s unworn overcoat, a three-quarter length single-breasted topcoat in black and white herringbone with peak lapels, a fly front, a welted breast pocket, straight shoulders with roped sleeveheads, and a single back vent. Although he never wears it on screen and ditches it while making his escape from the consulate, a behind-the-scenes photo of Connery and director Terence Young shows the actor wearing it to keep warm between takes in Istanbul.

Young and Connery on set in Istanbul, 1963.

The piece of outerwear that Bond does wear onscreen is his dark olive brown felt trilby that typically spends most of its time having been rakishly tossed onto Moneypenny’s hat rack. James Bond Lifestyle offers plenty of information about Bond’s Lock & Co. Hatters “Sandown” trilby, which is evidently still available from the St. James Street store in London.

Bond does the unthinkable and downs an entire helicopter with a single .22 round. (Granted, he uses it to hit a man inside the helicopter that was holding a grenade but still…)

When Bond and Tania get to their escape boat, Bond adopts the look of a seaman by donning a heavy wool work jacket and peaked cap. The navy Melton wool single-breasted coat structurally and stylistically resembles a traditional British workman’s donkey jacket without that garment’s trademark leather-reinforced shoulders. Bond’s 4-button coat has hip patch pockets on the bottom of the front, a horizontal yoke across the upper back, and a single vent.  As more of a worker’s jacket, it’s not intended to be worn over a suit and is just an additional layer that Bond wears for practicality to keep him warm while on the chilly sea.

007 isn’t above playing dress up when he takes to the high seas.

Less practical is Bond’s decision to don a black peaked cap with a gold embroidered anchor and shiny black polished leather visor. Although fitting for the maritime setting and Bond’s commission in the British Royal Navy, it’s not really necessary to wear just because he happens to be on the water. It’s fun though, I guess.

Go Big or Go Home

Red wine with fish… well that should have told me something.

James Bond’s snobbery comes in handy when dining with Tatiana and his supposed MI6 contact, Captain Nash. From Russia With Love is one of of the more authentic portrayals of the “trust no one” world of spies, and 007 is never sure who around him can be trusted. The charismatic Kerim Bey, one of the few contacts he feels he can trust, ultimately proved his loyalty in a brutal fight to the death against poorly-tailored enemy agent Benz. By the time he sits down to dinner with Tania and Nash, Bond is able to veil his paranoia as he isn’t sure whether he can trust either of his dining companions.

Bond and Tatiana are content to enjoy their grilled sole with the appropriate wine, thank you very much!

Grant’s performance as Nash is flawless to a point, adopting a convincing accent and even an irritating, Gatsby-esque term of endearment (“old man”) that serves to make Bond more annoyed than suspicious. But it isn’t Grant’s frequent questions, his demeanor, or even his affectations that betray his duplicity… it’s the fact that he orders goddamn Chianti with his grilled sole.

Before Grant clarifies that he desires “the red kind”, the waiter asks if he means “white Chianti”, which doesn’t exist. Either the waiter was uninformed, or he was being a snob in his own way. (I prefer to think the latter.) Either way, this scene has always freaked me out about ordering the “right” wine when I’m trying to impress someone, whether it’s a date, a boss, a foreign spy, etc.

A Taittinger Blanc de Blanc ad celebrating the 1955 vintage, which is quite likely the very champagne that Bond and Tania would have enjoyed during their 1963 train journey.

What to Imbibe

Since he’s not a treacherous troglodyte like some people – looking at you, Red Grant! – James Bond knows to order white wine with his fish dinner. Earlier in the film, he was relaxing with Sylvia Trench while chilling a bottle of Taittinger Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine on his toe. Since the two were so rudely interrupted by Bond having to go to work, it can be assumed that poor 007 didn’t get to enjoy this premium champagne (although he did get laid, so my heart isn’t exactly bleeding for him.)

Taittinger’s association with James Bond goes back to the very first novel, Casino Royale, when Bond orders a 1945 vintage when dining with Vesper Lynd. The waiter instead suggests that “Blanc de Blanc Brut 1943 of the same marque is without equal” so Bond takes him up on his suggestion and uses the opportunity to mansplain to Vesper that Taittinger may not be as well-known as other champagne brands, but he finds it to be the best. A 1953 version of “you’ve probably never heard of it, but…” Bond is pissed that M’s club doesn’t have any in stock in Moonraker, but the agent gets an opportunity to once again enjoy his favorite champagne a few adventures later in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. To my knowledge, From Russia With Love was the only official film in the EON franchise to feature Taittinger champagne as Bollinger and Dom Pérignon replaced it as the cinematic Bond’s preferred bubbly.

How to Get the Look

007’s gray business suit on the Orient Express is quintessential Connery Bond attire: a sharp, simple, and elegant suit appropriate for both loving and fighting.

• Gray semi-solid pick wool “Conduit Cut” suit tailored by Anthony Sinclair, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, andventless back
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with 3-button tab “Daks top” side adjusters, straight on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue poplin long-sleeve Turnbull & Asser dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and 2-button turnback/”cocktail” cuffs
• Dark navy blue grenadine woven silk necktie, worn with a four-in-hand knot
• Black leather 3-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes/bluchers
• Dark gray dress socks
• Olive brown felt Lock & Co. Hatters short-brimmed trilby with a narrow dark brown grosgrain band
• Rolex Submariner 6538 wristwatch with stainless case, black bezel, and black dial on black leather strap
• Tan chamois leather shoulder holster (RHD) with a blue strap, for the Walther PPK
• White linen folded pocket square

For more information about Sean Connery’s suit in these scenes, check out The Suits of James Bond’s blog post.

The Gun

Bond uses both his trademark Walther PPK and the Q-issued Armalite AR-7 survival rifle in these scenes, but the sequence’s most effective and memorable firearm is the signal pistol, a Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III*, that he finds on the captured boat and uses to ignite his discarded fuel drums during the boat chase.

Part of me wishes Bond would have been armed with a blunderbuss here, just to fit the whole theme of him pirating a boat. At least that old WWI-era flare pistol has a few cosmetic similarities.

More information about this single-shot, break open signal pistol can be found at IMFDB.

(If you were hoping to read about Bond’s use of the PPK and AR-7 in From Russia With Love, check out my posts about his charcoal flannel suit and the dark chalkstripe flannel suit he wears for the finale.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and pick up Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel, which was very faithfully adapted to the screen.

If you like the concept of Sean Connery involved in a killing on the Orient Express, check out 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express, based on Agatha Christie’s brilliant mystery novel. You know I love me some Agatha Christie. (And that will certainly be a subject for a later blog post too!)

The Quote

I’d say one of their aircraft is missing.

Footnotes

Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi on location in Istanbul. Note Connery’s brown loafers and blue socks, evidently the actor’s personal preference when not wearing Bond’s black bluchers.

From Russia With Love made the most of its location budget, featuring Sean Connery in beautiful locales in and around Istanbul. The Russian consulate was a Pinewood Studios soundstage in England decorated right down to a photo of famous Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin, but Bond, Tatiana, and Kerim make their daring escape through the Basilica Cistern, an ancient cathedral-size cistern under Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. Although a great location for dramatic purposes, it’s been noted that the Russian consulate was and still is in Beyoğlu, further away from the cistern than the film would have you believe. (Kerim also mistakenly tells Bond that it was constructed by Emperor Constantine… in reality, it had been commissioned by Justinian in 532 AD.)

The trio emerges into daylight and heads to Istanbul’s Sirkeci Station to board the Orient Express, taking them on a route through Zagreb to Trieste that had curiously been discontinued the previous year. (Sirkeci Station was also used as the location for the Belgrade stop.)

The production had meant to film the final helicopter and boat chases on location in Turkey, but logistical difficulties took the cast and crew to Argyll and Bute in the western region of Sean Connery’s home country, Scotland. Bond evaded the helicopter at Lochgoilhead, boarded the boat with Tania at Lunga House, and finally blew up the boat’s fuel barrels (and Morzeny’s SPECTRE henchmen) in Loch Craignish.

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966).

Vitals

Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, caddish Cockney car service driver

London, Fall 1962 through Spring 1965

Film: Alfie
Release Date: March 24, 1966
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Jean Fairlie
Tailor: Douglas Hayward

Background

Brown tweed is a great look for fall, so BAMF Style is focused on this outfit sported by Michael Caine in Alfie (as suggested by frequent blog commentor Ryan Hall) for this early October post.

Caine wears this outfit in several major scenes in Alfie: during an argument with Gilda (Julia Foster) following the birth of their son and when he meets the vivacious Ruby (Shelley Winters) while out hocking photographs on the streets of London.

What’d He Wear?

Tweed is traditionally an element of country clothing so our pal Alfie is breaking a few sartorial conventions (as well as moral ones, for the early ’60s at least) by sporting this brown tweed sport jacket in the heart of London.

Alfie’s single-breasted sportcoat is brown tweed with mixed red, beige, and blue yarns. It is single-breasted with two urea sew-through buttons to close the front and two functioning buttons on each cuff. The slim notch lapels have swelled edges and a buttonhole through the left lapel. Edge swelling is also present on the jacket’s four outer pockets: a patch pocket on the left breast, two flapped hip pockets that slant slightly toward the back, and a flapped ticket pocket on the right side. The shoulders are well-padded with roped sleeveheads, and there is a single vent in the back.

Alfie’s wardrobe stays pretty consistent throughout the various stages of his on-screen life.

Alfie confines his outfit to all earth tones. His fitted shirt is a brown and white mini-gingham check with a slim button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and mitred cuffs that close with two stacked buttons.

As a new dad, Alfie learns the rules of ‘peek-a-boo’ fairly quickly.

His flat-bottomed “old gold” silk tie is super slim, fitting for his shirt collar and the era. The slubbing indicates dupioni silk.

With this jacket, Alfie always wears trousers in shades of brown. When arguing with Gilda and meeting Ruby, he wears a pair of taupe low-rise trousers with a darted front and an extended front waistband tab. He wears a very slim brown leather belt that is often hidden by the shirt billowing over the waist line. The side pockets are slanted, and the back pockets are jetted. They are straight through the leg with plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears a similarly styled but darker brown pair when playing with his son.

Alfie swaps out a darker pair of trousers for play time with his son… perhaps to avoid grass stains?

Alfie’s footwear is only briefly seen in these sequences, but he appears to be wearing a very dark brown pair of penny loafers with a pointed toe. His socks curiously appear to be dark blue.

Alfie always wears the same accessories, a gold pinky ring with a brown ovular face and a stainless wristwatch with a black dial and steel rice-grin bracelet. The ring is on his right pinky, and his watch – which I’ve previously hypothesized to be an Omega Seamaster – is on his left wrist.

Alfie stands next to The Most British Looking Man.

During a brief scene as he and Gilda stroll with their new baby, Alfie casually wears his khaki waterproof cotton raincoat with the brown leather shoulder and elbow patches that was previously covered in a post on this blog. The single-breasted coat has a three-button front and two patch pockets (each with an inlayed patch pocket of its own), but Alfie wears it totally open and tucked behind his back for post of this scene.

Alfie is always ready for a rainy day in London.

How to Get the Look

Alfie takes his disregard for the “no brown in town” rule a step further by pulling off a very countrified tweed outfit in the very urban setting of London in the swinging ’60s.

• Brown mixed tweed single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with slim notch lapels, patch breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Brown-and-white mini-gingham check shirt with slim button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and mitred 2-button cuffs
• Old gold dupioni silk “skinny tie”
• Taupe darted-front low rise trousers with slim belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and straight plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather slim belt
• Dark brown leather penny loafers
• Dark blue dress socks
• Khaki waterproof cotton single-breasted 3-button raincoat with brown leather shoulder/elbow accents, flapped patch pockets, half-belted back, and long single vent
• Stainless wristwatch with a black dial on steel deployable-clasp bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with a brown oval setting

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

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

Vitals

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

Las Vegas, Spring 2001

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

Background

Danny Ocean’s crew had a tough night out before their big heist. In a possible management decision snafu, Danny (George Clooney) left the over-eager Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) behind with the Malloy twins (Scott Caan and Casey Affleck) while he, Basher (Don Cheadle), and The Amazing Yen (Shaobo Qin) conduct a break-in. Feeling left out and annoyed by the Malloys, Linus takes the initiative and breaks into the facility on his own… just seconds before the other guys come back out.

The less experienced Linus attracts attention from security guards and barely makes his escape in the van with the rest of the guys, but poor Yen gets his thumb – the thumb he so dearly needs for his lucrative acrobatics the next night – as the gang is forced to make a speedier getaway than they intended. If only Rusty – the de facto leader according to most of the group – had been along, this may have never happened… but the problems don’t end there.

After greeting Danny and a tail-between-his-legs Linus back at the Bellagio a few hours before go time, the crew receives word that Danny has been red-flagged for harassing his ex-wife. Now the bitter and much-maligned Linus is called upon to step into Danny’s well-shined shoes, so Rusty gives him a crash course in grifting that even Henry Gondorff wouldn’t have been fast enough to follow.

Rusty: You look down, they know you’re lying. (as Linus looks up) Up, they know you don’t know the truth. Don’t use seven words when four will do. Don’t shift your weight. Look always at your mark but don’t stare. Look always at your mark, but don’t stare. Be specific but not memorable. Be funny, but don’t make him laugh. He’s got to like you then forget you the moment you’ve left his side. And, for god’s sake, whatever you do, don’t, under any circumstances-
Livingston: Rus?
Rusty: Yeah?
Livingston: Come look at this?
Rusty: Sure.

Linus is left with his mouth agape. What the hell should he not do?

Of course, this turns out to mostly be a ruse to encourage Linus to take a bigger role in the heist (and probably also to entertain most of the guys who were in on the joke), but it’s surprising that a group who thinks of everything would leave a chance at $160 million – not to mention their lives – up to the mercurial emotions of an insecure, impulsive pickpocket with something to prove.

What’d He Wear?

Ocean’s Eleven is full of sharp-dressed characters, with Brad Pitt’s Rusty Ryan leading the pack in his distinctive suits and shiny shirts and ties. His outfit on the morning of the heist perfectly exemplifies his sartorial philosophy from the irreplicable lapels of his suit jacket to the iridescent metallic shirt.

This scene is the sole appearance of this dark gray semi-solid suit with a shine that indicates the possibility of a lightweight silk-wool blend suiting. The most distinctive aspect of the suit is the “split-lapel” that resembles a “notchless notch lapel” in structure; the collar has an extended tongue that fills the notch space, giving the overall impression of a split shawl lapel. I had previously only seen this type of lapel on super-trendy double-breasted suits of the early ’70s.

Noir-ish lighting emphasizes Rusty’s unique lapels and highlights his shiny shirt and tie.

Rusty’s single-breasted suit jacket’s unique “split lapels” roll down to a single button closure. The shoulders are wide with subtly roped sleeveheads. The welted breast pocket is visible but other details like the hip pocket and vent situation are not as easily seen; the jacket appears to have straight jetted hip pockets and double vents. The jacket sleeves end with functional 3-button “surgeon’s cuffs” which Rusty wears totally unbuttoned, a rakish decision in concern with his unorthodox open shirt cuffs. Both the single front button and the cuff buttons are all gray plastic.

What this awkward elevator ride really needed was a good loud fart to break the tension. Sadly, even the constantly eating Rusty couldn’t muster anything up.

The suit’s flat front trousers have a fitted waistband with no belt loops that rises low on Pitt’s waist. There is a straight on-seam pocket on each side, two jetted back pockets, and plain hems at the bottom of each comfortably full cut leg.

Remind me to start doing squats

Rusty wears a purple cotton shirt, made for Brad Pitt by Anto Beverly Hills, with an iridescent shine that offers varying cyanic shades in different light. The large point collar rises high and tall on Pitt’s neck with a 1.5″ band and 3.5″-long points and dark green detailing lining the inner collar, most visible when he wears the neck open.

The shirt has a plain front, double side pleats on the back, and distinctive square cuffs worn totally open with no button or links to fasten. These 4¹/8″-wide cuffs offer a cleaner and über-modern version of the look created by some of his other shirts, similar to short French cuffs ironed flat and kept unfastened. Like the collar, the cuffs are lined with dark green detailing. (All fabric and size details were confirmed by Anto.)

Rusty drops some rapid truth bombs on an unprepared Linus.

The gold satin silk tie was likely also made by Anto with a subtle tonal cross-hatch pattern that also adds iridescent qualities to the tie’s silky shine.

And, of course, he’s eating again.

This suit also made a brief appearance earlier in Ocean’s Eleven when Danny and Rusty are in L.A. recruiting the members of their team. In that instance, Rusty paired his gold tie and gray suit with a mustard gold dress shirt with a large point collar.

Rusty shares with Danny that he mourned the loss of a fellow thief by dating his wife “for a while.”

The most conventional aspect of Rusty’s outfit are his shoes, which appear to be a pair of black leather square-toed bluchers (or derby shoes) worn with a pair of black dress socks.

Despite the many issues that seem to be plaguing the gang at the last minute, Rusty looks cool, calm, and casual as he addresses each issue.

Rusty wears two different rings in this scene. A thick silver ring with a blue set-in stone adorns the third finger of his right hand while a simpler small silver ring shines from his left pinky.

Rusty lays down the law.

Rusty wears a silver-colored – likely white gold – wristwatch that appears to have a silver dial and is strapped to his right wrist on a link bracelet.

How to Get the Look

I’d call Rusty Ryan a trendsetter… but he doesn’t seem to want anyone copying his style, tripling down on his unique factor by wearing suits with inimitable lapels and stylishly shiny suits and ties that just couldn’t work for anyone else. (But don’t let that stop you from trying! Rusty’s smooth confidence – not to be confused with arrogance – goes a long way.)

• Gray semi-solid lightweight silk-wool two-piece suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 1-button jacket with distinctive “split lapels”, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, double vents, and functional 3-button cuffs
  • Flat front low-rise trousers with fitted waistband, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Purple iridescent cotton Anto dress shirt with large point collar, plain front, open squared single cuffs, and dark green detailed collar and cuff lining
• Gold cross-hatched satin silk Anto necktie
• Black leather square-toed bluchers/derby shoes
• Black dress socks
• Thick silver ring with blue stone on right ring finger
• Silver pinky ring on left hand
• White gold wristwatch with silver dial on link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Don’t use seven words when four will do.

Screenshots from Red Light District (2005), my 10th grade exploration of the sex-and-drugs culture that permeated the ’70s. I’m the one in the gray striped double-breasted suit with the distinctive “split lapel”.

Footnotes

I tend to plan my posts well in advance (I currently have a loose schedule planned through early spring of 2019!), so it is purely coincidence and not SEO-driven opportunism that the title of this post includes “Brad Pitt” and “split” so soon after his divorce from Angelina Jolie.

Some of you may know about my attempts at amateur filmmaking. In 10th grade, I wrote, directed, and starred in a Blow-meets-Goodfellas mashup (or “ripoff”) titled Red Light District. Red Light District was set mostly in and around Venice Beach stretching from the late ’60s through the mid-’80s. Since I was making it mostly for me and my friends, I was free to use any music that I damn well wanted, so you hear plenty of obnoxious disco grounded by deep cuts from the Stones’ best albums. But I digress…

During one early scene set in 1971, I wore a gray double-breasted suit with a subtle black pinstripe and unique lapels similar to those seen on Brad Pitt’s suit in Ocean’s Eleven. It had been a lucky find from the local Goodwill, tricked out with a high-fastened 6-on-3 double-breasted front, slanted hip pockets, and a loud-as-hell paisley lining of baby blue and old gold printed on an ivory ground. I’ll try to dig this gem up from my closet full of costumes the next time I’m at my parents’ house and get some fresh photos.

Ray Liotta and Debi Mazar as Henry Hill and Sandy, respectively, in Goodfellas (1990).

Vitals

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate, drug dealer, and ex-con

New York City, Fall 1978

Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

Background

Today’s Mafia Monday post examines a brief – but brilliantly-scored – sequence in Goodfellas detailing the newly-paroled Henry Hill’s regression into criminality, now exacerbated with drug deals in Pittsburgh (hey, that’s my hometown!) Of course, not only is Henry’s interstate cocaine commerce illegal for many reasons, but it’s also verboten in his branch of the Lucchese family as dictated by capo Paulie.

Henry’s new drug trade means a few new women in his life, too. In addition to his wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco), the Hills have enlisted the help of an idiosyncratic courier named Lois Byrd (Welker White) who complains about Pittsburgh (HREY!) and refuses to travel without her lucky hat. Henry’s also got a new goomar, Sandy (played by Debi Mazar and based on his real-life girlfriend Robin Cooperman), whose irresponsibility makes her a poor partner for the tricky business of cocaine trafficking.

The sequence is set to The Rolling Stones’ “Monkey Man”, a brilliant deep cut from their masterful 1969 album Let It Bleed that also featured during the movie’s iconic “helicopter sequence” toward the end. Never released as a single, “Monkey Man” enjoyed a resurgence in popularity thanks to its use in Goodfellas and the Stones themselves incorporated it into their Voodoo Lounge and Live Licks tours in the ’90s and 2000s. The song was also prominently used in an episode of HBO’s Entourage, which also starred Debi Mazar in a supporting role.

What’d He Wear?

Henry rocks some great vintage leather while out and about in Queens, sporting a brown hip-length jacket with styling that would’ve been very fashionable in the late ’70s. The front placket has four brown plastic buttons that button up to the long, shirt-style collar. The waist is pulled-in for a more athletic silhouette. On each front side below the waist is a hand pocket with a slanted opening. The breast pocket closes with a straight zipper. The sleeves are set-in and each end in a pointed tab that Henry leaves unfastened over his wrists.

Henry also wore the jacket in a brief scene after the fallout of the Lufthansa heist when leaving a diner with Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). Jimmy goes over to harass some sleeping FBI agents, giving Henry a great opportunity to showcase The Liotta Laugh.

Henry’s silky white disco shirt would have been quite fashionable in 1978 with its excessively long point collar, worn wide open with the top two buttons unfastened down the placket. His initials “HH” are monogrammed in dark threading on the left breast. The shirt bunches up at the cuffs, fastened tightly with a single button around each wrist.

Men’s fashion in the ’70s followed a somewhat hourglass-inspired structure – not to be confused with hourglass body figures – with width emphasized at the top (shirt collars) and bottom (flared legs), pulled in tight and slim through the torso and mid-section. We clearly see this with that large-collared shirt; his brown flat front trousers also follow this pattern, tight over the hips and then flaring out from the knee to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

The trousers fasten around the waist with two 2-button tab adjusters on each side toward the back. The front has a pointed tab that extends over the right side of the fly and through a single belt loop to fasten with a single button. There is a straight pocket on each side seam and a small pointed flap that buttons down over a coin pocket on the right side, just below the waistband button.

Henry surprisingly opts for black leather footwear despite the brown leather jacket. He appears to be wearing black socks with his black split-toe bluchers.

You can’t really feel bad for Henry Hill at all*; using this apartment as the center of a cocaine-dealing operation is just begging to get caught. (*Also, I tend to have a policy of not feeling bad for criminals!)

Around his neck, Henry wears a gold necklace chain with two pendants symbolizing his faith: a Catholic cross for his birth family and a Star of David for his conversion to Judaism after marrying Karen. Including this necklace, all of Henry’s jewelry is yellow gold.

Karen, Lois, and Henry react to Lois’ borrowed baby with different degrees of enthusiasm.

Henry’s other symbolic jewelry is the plain yellow gold wedding band worn on the third finger of his left hand. The rest of his jewelry is clustered on and around his right hand, including a gold pinky ring with a set-in diamond.

Want to show Henry Hill that you don’t care about him? Buy him silver jewelry.

On his right wrist, Henry wears a slim yellow gold wristwatch with a round white dial and diamond-crusted bezel. Closer to the hand, Henry wears a yellow gold chain-link ID bracelet.

How to Get the Look

Henry dresses fashionably to be a man around town in the late ’70s with brown leather and plenty of gold jewelry to boot.

• Brown leather hip-length jacket with long shirt-style collar, 4-button front placket, straight zip-closure breast pocket, slanted open hand pockets, and 1-button pointed-tab cuffs
• White silk shirt with extra-long point collar, front placket, “HH” breast monogram, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Brown flat front trousers with front pointed-tab self-belt, 2-button side-tab waist adjusters, button-down flapped right-side coin pocket, on-seam side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather split-toe bluchers/derby shoes
• Black socks
• Thin yellow gold necklace with gold Catholic cross pendant and Star of David pendant
• Gold wristwatch with diamond-circled white dial on flat gold bracelet
• Gold chain-link ID bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with set-in diamond
• Gold wedding band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody on the set of Boardwalk Empire while filming “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02).

Vitals

Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody, ambitious war veteran and “half a gangster”

Atlantic City, January 1920

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
* “Boardwalk Empire” (Episode 1.01, aired September 19, 2010, dir. Martin Scorsese)
* “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02, aired September 26, 2010, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Broadway Limited” (Episode 1.03, aired October 3, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Anastasia” (Episode 1.04, aired October 10, 2011, dir. Jeremy Podeswa)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Jimmy Darmody’s death was a shocking loss to fans of Boardwalk Empire, especially in the pre-Game of Thrones “anyone can die” TV landscape.

When I revisited the first episodes to capture screenshots for this post, it was even more heart-wrenching to see the character’s potential and the tortured forces that were effectively dooming Jimmy from the outset… not to mention watching poor little Tommy Darmody, clearly unaware of how the events of the following decade would lead to him firing a bullet into the face of his father’s erstwhile mentor.

The world of Boardwalk Empire rewards ambition among the privileged and ruthless, dooming Jimmy’s scrappy but proud brand of ambition from the outset. Tragedy befalls anyone invested in Jimmy’s success, whether it’s a violent end (Angela, Pearl, and Richard Harrow) or an increasingly sad, unavoidable trajectory (Gillian being institutionalized, Tommy’s determination to kill Nucky, etc.)

On the other hand… Nucky gave up on him early and lived just long enough to retire; Jimmy’s father, the Commodore, dismissed him early and enjoyed a long life of ruthless, irascible corruption before Jimmy ended it; and Al Capone – not unsurprisingly – never stood up for his friend and would outlive the show’s time frame to die at his Florida estate after nearly a decade of retirement.

In the first episode, Jimmy bemoans to Nucky that all he wants is an opportunity. Nucky retorts: “This is America, ain’t it? Who the fuck’s stopping you?” You are, Nucky!

What’d He Wear?

Jimmy’s wardrobe during the early days of Prohibition make sense for his character, a lackey freshly returned from serving three years in the death-ridden trenches of France while his native Atlantic City marches on without him to the beat of hot jazz, uninhibited sex, and boisterous parties… all with no end in sight while Jimmy was seeing men his own age meeting their end face down in the mud.

I wrote in my post about Jimmy’s first “grown-up” outfit, a very popular blue tattersall check suit, that Jimmy’s “muted working class style” in these first episodes reflected a clear contrast against the loud pastels and bold checks of Nucky Thompson’s bespoke wardrobe. Jimmy returned from war more cynical than ever but his ambitions were far from tarnished. He knew the potential that the Volstead Act laid out for guys like him – skilled with a gun with nothing to lose – and was more than eager to make the transition from soldier to gangster. It makes sense that his outfit would reflect the colors and structure of the former occupation.

Two very different men with very different aesthetics.

Jimmy wears two different brown cheviot tweed Norfolk jackets during his duration in Atlantic City over the show’s first three episodes. Originally designed as a loose, belted shooting jacket and named for either the Duke of or county of Norfolk, the Norfolk jacket became a country staple when it was popularized by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in the 1880s. A “Norfolk suit”, which Jimmy Darmody wears, is a moniker for a Norfolk jacket worn with matching tweed trousers.

Atlantic City is about as far as you can get from the English country, further marking Jimmy as an outsider in this new world of flashy printed suits, vibrant silk ties, and two-tone spectator shoes. The significance of Jimmy the soldier wearing a garment originally designed for hunting shouldn’t be overlooked.

Jimmy’s first Norfolk jacket, worn in the pilot episode only, was auctioned by ScreenBid with the matching trousers and vest in January 2015. The brown tweed is mixed with red, orange, tan, and green yarns.

Source: HBO.

This jacket is distinctive for its box pleat strips down the front and back, holding the belt in place. It is single-breasted, as a Norfolk jacket should be, with a high-fastening 4-roll-3 button front. The highest button is covered by the roll of the notch lapels, and the bottom button is on the self-belt located right on Jimmy’s waist. (This may even be a 5-roll-3 button front if there is a top button under the right collar to connect through the left lapel buttonhole!)

Jimmy stakes out the boardwalk in search of Nucky after a daring heist in the first episode.

The box pleats are two strips of tweed fabric that extend down the front from the pointed chest yokes. The back mirrors the front with a double-pointed back yoke featuring box pleat strips that extend down over the belt to the bottom of the jacket. The jacket is entirely detailed with swelled edges, found on the lapels, pockets, yokes, and pleats. The only outer pockets are the traditional bellows pockets on the hips, located just behind the front box pleat strips. The shoulders are padded, the sleeveheads are roped, and each sleeve has 4-button cuffs at the end.

Jimmy cynically inhales an Old Gold cigarette in front of the flag representing the country he fought so bravely for.

In “The Ivory Tower” (1.02) and “Broadway Limited” (1.03), Jimmy wears a more simplified Norfolk jacket in a slightly duller shade of brown with a new vest and trousers to match. Superficially the same with traditional details like a 4-roll-3 single-breasted front, notch lapels, and edge swelling throughout, this jacket’s notable differences are the absence of box pleats, the addition of a breast pocket, and a full belt held in place by waist loops.

This second Norfolk jacket has all of the buttons placed directly on the jacket rather than the belt. This belt hangs freer, held in place only through the three conventional waist loops rather than sewn into place under the box pleat strips. The lack of box pleats also frees up the chest area for a patch pocket over Jimmy’s left breast. The edge swelling appears more pronounced on this jacket as well. One other slight difference: this jacket has 3-button cuffs while the first episode’s jacket had 4-button cuffs.

Jimmy’s second jacket has a non-pleated front with a breast pocket and a simplified belt loop system.

Jimmy’s tweed flat front trousers match his respective jackets and feature era-correct styling from the long rise and button fly to the split “fishmouth” notched back of the waistband with a small button on each of the two notch points for his suspenders. His trousers have on-seam side pockets with swelled edges, button-through jetted back pockets, and straight legs down to the cuffed bottoms.

Home from war, Jimmy is more than happy to shed his jacket and help around the house, whether that means playing with Tommy or showing off the new vacuum cleaner he got as a Christmas gift for Angela.

Though Jimmy abandons most of his old wardrobe after going suit shopping with Al Capone in Chicago, he does keep the snazzy suspenders from his tweed suit, a surprisingly colorful set of braces that may be a nod to the fact that – under the surface – Jimmy has the same criminal aspirations as his flashier mentor. These red argyle suspenders have an alternating pattern of overchecked tan and blue diamonds and hook to the trousers with brown leather fastening straps.

Jimmy lets a hint of color peek out from the drab, mottled tones of his tweed suit and work shirt.

The suit has a matching tweed vest that he wears in the first episode (sans tie) and again in the second, third, and fourth episodes. Since Jimmy wears a different jacket for the following episodes, it’s possible that he was also fitted with a different waistcoat and trousers to match the tweed of this jacket, but all of the styling remains the same: a single-breasted, high-fastening, six-button front with four welt pockets and a notched bottom. The back of the vest is covered in a dark brown lining with an adjustable strap.

Now an associate of the Chicago Outfit, Jimmy joins Al Capone when meeting with Charlie Sheridan and his cohorts for the first time.

When not wearing the suit’s matching waistcoat, Jimmy rocks some sleeveless cardigan sweaters that stand out from the rest of his early wardrobe by incorporating more than one color. His most frequently seen sleeveless cardigan is a high-fastening red knit vest with brown accents on the edges, pocket welts, and entire back in a shade of brown similar to the color of the suit. This cardigan has six buttons up the front with a notched bottom and two low pockets.

Jimmy has an inkling that he’s in the presence of his wife’s lover… little does he know…

Seen only in the first and third episodes, Jimmy wears a similarly styled bulky gray wool knit sleeveless cardigan with taupe trim on the edges, back, and pockets. It has six buttons and a notched bottom similar to the other vest, but this one has four bellows pockets, best seen when Jimmy is making his getaway to Chicago in “Broadway Limited” (1.03).

Although similar in looks to his red cardigan, this gray sweater has four bellows pockets as opposed to the red vest’s simpler two welt pockets.

Jimmy’s drab-colored shirts continue to illustrate the deep divide between he and Nucky. While Nucky prefers boldly patterned and brightly colored well-starched dress shirts with crisp white detachable collars, Jimmy wears plain rough-and-ready work shirts indicative of his lower status in Atlantic City’s hierarchy. His cotton work shirts have a point collar and dark buttons down the front placket. His rounded cuffs close with a single button. Edge stitching is visible throughout.

Jimmy’s primary shirt is a mottled dark blue work shirt, worn in all four of the first episodes and paired with both the red knit cardigan and the suit’s matching tweed vest.

A brooding Jimmy flips through the family photo album.

When sporting his gray knit cardigan vest, Jimmy wears a lighter mottled gray-blue work shirt with white hairline stripes. He wears this in the first episode as well as during his escape to Chicago in “Broadway Limited” (1.03) and “Anastasia” (1.04).

A production photo from “Anastasia” (1.04) showing Al Capone (Stephen Graham) and Jimmy Darmody prepping for their Sheridan meeting.

When he wears a tie, he opts for a dark olive-shaded ties that further nod to his military service, either a plain drab olive green cotton tie or a slightly fancier tie with a Deco-style pattern in olive and black silk.

Although Jimmy eventually swaps in a patterned tie to replace his drab one, the pattern is still subtle enough to not draw too much attention.

Only 22 when he returns to Atlantic City, Jimmy has barely had time to re-establish himself since he was an 18-year-old who ran off from Princeton to join the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, he still wears a flat “newsboy cap” that, as a rabbi would tell Capone, is more indicative of a boy than a man. Jimmy’s cap is brown mixed tweed with the top panels collected with a single covered button on the top and another button attaching the front to the brim.

Sporting his flat cap, Jimmy corners an easily amused Al Capone in the first episode.

One part of Jimmy’s wardrobe that never changes over the show are his black leather ankle-high combat boots with black laces through six eyelets and four upper hooks. We don’t see yet whether or not he keeps his 1918 Mk I trench knife holstered in his left boot.

Jimmy reaches for his discharge papers (and spare cash!) in the middle of the night.

Jimmy’s Norfolk jacket serves a second functional purpose; this warm suit provides enough insulation to prevent him from needing an overcoat. Despite this, he still briefly sports a topcoat while making Greektown collections with Al Capone in Chicago during “Anastasia” (1.04). Jimmy’s black leather raincoat closes with three large plastic buttons widely spaced down the single-breast front. The coat has a half-tab on the cuff of each set-in sleeve that closes with a single button, open slanted handwarmer pockets, and a wide belted back above the long vent.

Jimmy prepares for stormy days ahead after his move to Chicago in “Anastasia” (1.04).

This outfit makes only a brief appearance during Jimmy’s tenure in Chicago, all featured in “Anastasia” (1.04) which includes a few extended scenes of Jimmy in his underwear, finding consolation in the arms of starry-eyed prostitute Pearl (Emily Meade) at the Four Deuces. His undershorts are beige cotton flannel with a notch on each side of the waistband with laces to fasten them around his waist; modern boxer shorts with elasticized waists were still a few years away as they would developed by Everlast founder Jacob Golomb in 1925 to replace the leather-belted trunks worn by pugilists in the ring.

Jimmy and Pearl by day and by night. She rounded out the trio of beautiful and complex women in his orbit whose association with him ultimately led to their tragic ends.

“Anastasia” (1.04) also showcases Jimmy’s undershirt, a short-sleeve henley in a beige cotton flannel to match his undershorts. The henley shirt has three white buttons widely spaced over the placket and white stitching around the shoulder seams where the sleeves are set in. He was earlier seen wearing a similarly-styled but longer-sleeved henley in “Boardwalk Empire” (1.01).

How to Get the Look

Jimmy bridges his transition from military to mob in simple but practical tweed duds that both serve his purposes and reflect his modest position in life. The Norfolk jacket, developed for shooting purposes, is a perfect fit for a man who lives by the gun.

“The Ivory Tower” (1.02), depicting a simpler Norfolk jacket than the box-pleated one worn in the first episode.

• Brown cheviot tweed single-breasted Norfolk jacket with notch lapels, high-fastening 4-roll-3 button front, full belt with box-pleated front and back, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
• Red knit sleeveless cardigan sweater with brown back and trim, brown pocket welt detailing, and single-breasted 6-button front with notched bottom
• Brown cheviot tweed high-rise flat front straight-leg trousers with button fly, 2-button “fishmouth” notched back, straight/on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark blue-gray cotton work shirt with point collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Dark olive and black-patterned necktie
• Red argyle suspenders with brown leather hooks
• Brown mixed tweed flat “newsboy cap”
• Black leather combat boots with 6 black-laced eyelets and 4 upper hooks
• Black ankle holster for trench knife
• Beige cotton flannel henley shirt with 3-button placket and short set-in sleeves (with white-stitched shoulder seams)
• Beige cotton flannel undershorts with side laces
• Black leather knee-length raincoat with single-breasted 3-button front, slanted handwarmer pockets, 1-button half-tab cuffs, and belted back with long single vent

By the time he buys his first “gangster suit” in “Anastasia” (1.04), his choice is made and his life begins following an inevitable path.

The Gun

Although Jimmy would later notably arm himself with the popular .32-caliber Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol, the only sidearm that he has during these early days in Atlantic City is a blued Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” revolver that he retrieves from atop a cabinet in his home before leaving town in “Broadway Limited” (1.03). It may be a memento from the war, as Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” revolvers were indeed fielded in small numbers by U.S. Army troops during World War I.

Jimmy grabs his revolver before heading off to Chicago. The fixed front sight looks like it has a notch rather than the S&W Military & Police’s simpler half-moon sight.

Originally known as the “Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector”, this revolver has been continuously produced by Smith & Wesson since 1899. It received its current designation – the Smith & Wesson Model 10 – when the company began numbering its models in the late 1950s. It is every bit the classic service revolver with its six-shot swing-out cylinder, fixed sights, and venerable .38 Special chambering.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the whole series. This outfit is seen in various incarnations throughout first three first season episodes.

The Quote

Look, you can’t be half a gangster, Nucky. Not anymore.

Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody on Californication. (Episode 3.02: “The Land of Rape and Honey”Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, borderline alcoholic and womanizing college professor, née novelist

Venice Beach, Fall 2009

Series: Californication
Episode: “The Land of Rape and Honey” (Episode 3.02)
Air Date: October 4, 2009
Director: Bart Freundlich & David Von Ancken
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Midterms are in full swing for fall semester college students, so BAMF Style is taking a look at Californication‘s Hank Moody making his brief foray into the world of academia. Frankly, the show’s third season is where it started to lose my interest with broader humor that seemed more focused on being zany and raunchy than relatable. (For example, a brooding student’s suicide attempt is seemingly written in – and quickly written off – as an excuse for Hank to pontificate and spout a few one-liners and find out that one of his hot students is also a stripper.)

…but now I’m pontificating! “The Land of Rape and Honey” (eek, that episode title!) is the most we see of Professor Hank Moody in action – before using his job to get some action – and, of course, he kinda sucks at it.

What’d He Wear?

Hank Moody doesn’t dress any differently than usual when working his brief professorial shift, sporting dark button-up shirts and dark jeans typically accompanied by his trademark brown smoking jacket and Chelsea boots.

Hank looks up from his phone for a few minutes to deliver some sage advice to the young writers of America.

The olive brown smoking jacket re-emerges in this episode, having been briefly replaced by a darker and heavier version in the third season premiere. It is the same familiar thin-corded, single-breasted 2-button jacket that Hank’s been wearing since his introduction in the first episode. Edge swelling is present throughout from the notch lapels to the welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets. It has a single back vent and 3-button cuffs.

Hank wears this comfortable black lightweight cotton button-up shirt in many third season episodes (“Wish You Were Here”, “Zoso”, “Comings and Goings”, and the climactic finale in “Mia Culpa”), always with the button cuffs undone and rolled partially up his forearms. It has a plain front with no placket and no pocket. It is distinctive with its slim, soft collar, reinforced stitched seam across the horizontal back yoke, and the easily-wrinkled material that suggests the possibility of a cotton-linen blend.

Hank sits at attention in his office.

It takes a wedding, a funeral, or extreme physical activity to get Hank Moody in anything but jeans, so a few hours slumped behind a desk each day would hardly be enough to get him to wear anything but “the people’s fabric”. His dark blue denim jeans in this scene may or may not be from the New York designer Earnest Sewn, which definitely made some of Hank’s jeans as confirmed by the ScreenBid auction of Californication costumes and props in July 2014.

Hank takes a decidedly casual approach to teaching.

You may not realize it at first glance, but Hank actually wears a different pair of brown Chelsea boots than usual in this scene. These boots are dark brown oiled leather with lighter brown elastic side gussets, brown-stitched quarter seams, and black soles.

…a very casual approach

The Timberland Earthkeepers® Tremont Chelsea boot in dark brown oiled leather.

Hank’s usual Chelsea boots are sueded leather Timberland Torrance boots with black side gussets in various shades of brown. The boots in this episode more closely resemble the Timberland Earthkeepers® Tremont Chelsea – available here or from Amazon in the same dark brown oiled leather – although the Earthkeepers have distinctive Gripstick™ + Green Rubber™ soles for superior traction while Hank’s boots in this episode appear to have more typical black rubber soles.

Though not clearly seen, Hank is probably wearing his usual black socks and black boxer briefs. During Hank’s tussle with Dean Koons in “Comings  and Goings” (Episode 3.11), the orange-lettered “Calvin Klein” logo can be seen on the black waistband of his boxer briefs.

Hank’s usual jewelry and accessories are also on full display as he gesticulates wildly, doling out unsolicited romantic advice and solicited (but unappreciated) career advice. On his right index finger, he wears his silver ring with two rows of silver “teeth” embedded in the ring’s black ridge.

Hank makes Jill one of many offers that she isn’t eager to accept.

The familiar faded black leather stud bracelet is snapped to Hank’s left wrist with its silver hexagonal studs and a single round stud over the snap. It is supplemented by a black woven leather braid, tied in a permanent knot on the same wrist. Replicas of both bracelets are available at Urban Wrist.

What to Imbibe

It makes sense that a metal fan like Hank Moody would idle his office hours time by enjoying Lemmy’s favorite cocktail, Jack and Coke… or, um, “Jake” and Coke since the show used the fictional lookalike: Jake Danzel’s Old No. 2 Kentucky Whiskey.

Those poor students…

The opportunistically transparent “Jake Danzel’s” is a label offered by Earl Hays Press, one of several prop houses that provides products for movies and TV shows that want to avoid product placement for legal or financial reasons. This can range from beverages, cigarettes, and food to newspapers, magazines, and medicines. Interestingly, although the show goes to these lengths to avoid the actual brand, Hank still refers to “killing that bottle of Jack” after Jackie – the aforementioned student/stripper – makes a late night visit with two friends and a bottle of Jake Danzel’s in “The Apartment” (Episode 3.08).

In this episode, however, Hank pours his whiskey straight into the cola can for himself and offers the bottle to his jaded student to wash down the disappointing news that the young man may not be such a great writer, after all.

How to Get the Look

Hank’s new boots offer a slight twist on his usual “uniform” and his trademark smoking jacket is less out-of-place in this mahogany-paneled university setting than his usual world of beaches and dive bars.

• Olive brown thin-corded single-breasted 2-button smoking jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Black lightweight cotton shirt with soft collar, plain front, and rolled-up button cuffs
• Dark blue denim jeans with long, thin belt loops and five-pocket layout
• Dark brown oiled leather Timberland slip-on Chelsea boots with brown side gussets and black rubber soles
• Black tube socks
• Black Calvin Klein boxer briefs
• Silver black-ridged ring, worn on the right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, snapped on the left wrist
• Black woven leather braided bracelet, tied on the left wrist

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the show. I think the first two seasons are the best and variations of this look show up in basically every episode, but this particular outfit with the slightly different Chelsea boots only shows up in the third season.

The Quote

The world doesn’t need any more lame vampire fiction.

Pierce Brosnan as Andy Osnard in The Tailor of Panama (2001).

Vitals

Pierce Brosnan as Andy Osnard, sleazy and shrewd MI6 agent

Panama City, Fall 1999

Film: The Tailor of Panama
Release Date: March 30, 2001
Director: John Boorman
Costume Designer: Maeve Paterson

Background

Pierce Brosnan had a reputation for playing smooth, dapper characters like Remington Steele, Thomas Crown, and – of course – James Bond, making it all the more entertaining when he traded in that image to play unapologetic cad Andy Osnard in John Boorman’s 2001 adaptation of John le Carré’s spy novel The Tailor of Panama.

Viewers at the time may have thought “Pierce Brosnan playing a British spy in an exotic setting? Won’t that just be James Bond?” John le Carré readers who were familiar with the book knew the answer was a resounding “Hell, no!”

What’d He Wear?

Andy Osnard first arrives in Harry Pendel’s shop wearing an unstructured sports jacket in a black and cream houndstooth check. This loose-fitting sack coat is heavily padded in the shoulders and hangs off of Brosnan’s frame for a raggy and relaxed appearance, indicating Osnard’s off-the-rack style that provides a clear contrast against Brosnan’s then-tenure as the sophisticated James Bond. (He later wears a tan linen-blend suit that could be considered more of a sartorial success, but still hardly something worthy enough to be found in 007’s closet.)

A lonely Andy Osnard contemplates his drunken, debauched dreams of wealth and power.

Osnard’s jacket has a welted breast pocket with sporty patch pockets on the hips. The cuffs are plain with no buttons or break. There is a single vent in the back. The narrow notch lapels end high on the jacket to accommodate the four light brown urea buttons on the single-breasted front. There is a buttonhole through the left lapel.

Osnard puts Harry Pendel through the rounds of pretense before cutting to the point.

Osnard wears three different shirts with this jacket, always untucked for a lazy appearance that fits the messy, relaxed look of his jacket. The first, worn upon his arrival at Harry’s shop and when out for drinks that night, is a pale yellow short-sleeve shirt in a soft linen-silk blend with a spread collar, front placket, and large breast pocket.

Osnard’s Marlboro Light would likely not be welcome in most modern tailor shops.

Osnard has a purple short-sleeve shirt, likely from the same manufacturer of the yellow shirt, also in a soft linen-silk fabric with a spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and box pleat down the center of his back. He wears this for his plane ride to Panama, dancing with Francesca Deana, and his late meeting with Harry. (As he wears it on the plane, it could technically be considered the first shirt seen with this jacket, mais n’enculons pas des mouches.)

A production photo of Pierce Brosnan as Andy Osnard in The Tailor of Panama.

During some of his late night adventures in espioange, Osnard wears a stylish silky take on a khaki bush shirt with short set-in sleeves, two chest pockets with button-down flaps, and a concealed fly placket. This shirt also appears to be a linen-silk blend.

The twin pockets on Osnard’s khaki shirt give him easy access and storage for his sunglasses and cigarettes – two things no spy should ever be without.

Harry Pendel: And do we dress right or left, sir? Most of my gentlemen favour left these days, don’t think it’s political.
Andy Osnard: Never know where the bloody thing is. Bobs about like a wind-sock.

Due to the full cut of his trousers, it’s no wonder why Andy Osnard’s “thing” bobs around so frequently. Osnard’s trousers are light khaki in a luxurious fabric that is likely silk or another linen-silk blend. Since he always wears his shirts untucked, covering his waistband, it has to be assumed that they have a flat front and belt loops, through which he would wear the same brown leather belt with the gold single-claw buckle that he wore with his tan suit (and which would, here, also match his shoes.) He may wear two pairs of similar trousers, as the pair in Harry’s shop clearly have plain-hemmed bottoms with a full break and the pair he wears in his hotel room almost certainly have cuffs.

Harry Pendel hides his horror at Osnard’s wardrobe choices.

Osnard’s shoes are, in my opinion, the snazziest part of the outfit. They are brown leather monk strap loafers with a plain toe and a large brass buckle on the outside of each shoe. He wears them with light cream dress socks that nicely continue the leg line of his trousers and also provide more comfort in the warm Panamanian climate than dark socks would.

Much nicer than one might expect from Andy Osnard’s footwear!

Osnard wears a gold monogrammed signet ring on his left pinky.

Another drag of his Marlboro Light adequately showcases both his gold ring and his leather watchband.

His wristwatch, as identified by Teeritz, is likely an Omega DeVille Co-Axial from the late ’90s with a round stainless case, white dial, and black leather strap fastening it to Osnard’s left wrist. A surprisingly tasteful choice for this agent, although it’s more likely due to Pierce Brosnan’s role as an Omega ambassador than a reflection of something that Osnard would realistically wear.

A cynical night for Andy Osnard.

Finally, Osnard wears the same pair of gunmetal-framed Fossil sunglasses throughout The Tailor of Panama. They have dark lenses and wide metal arms with black rubber temples.

Osnard takes in the sights of Panama.

How to Get the Look

Though not the most fashionable items, Andy Osnard’s loose and light clothing would be comfortable in Panama’s warm weather, although it likely would have made an experienced tailor like Harry Pendel cringe every time he looked at him.

• Black-and-cream houndstooth check unstructured single-breasted 4-button sportcoat with short notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, plain cuffs, and single vent
• Pale yellow linen-silk short-sleeve shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and center back box pleat
• Light khaki linen-silk flat front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with gold single-claw buckle
• Brown leather monk loafers with large brass buckles
• Light cream dress socks
• Stainless wristwatch with a round white face on a black leather strap (likely an Omega DeVille Co-Axial)
• Gold monogrammed signet ring, worn on left pinky
• Fossil gunmetal-framed sunglasses with dark lenses, wide arms, and black rubber temples

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and read le Carré’s book.

The Quote

There’s two ways we can deal with this one, old girl. Sweat it out for six months, then fall into each other’s arms. “Darling, why didn’t we ever do this before?” Method B, the preferred one… full-on affair, now. Observing tight security all ’round. See how we like it. If we don’t, chuck it in. No one’s the wiser.

Christian Bale and Cara Seymour as Patrick Bateman and Christie, respectively, in American Psycho (2000).

Vitals

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, shallow investment banker and possible serial killer

New York City, Spring 1988

Film: American Psycho
Release Date: April 14, 2000
Director: Mary Harron
Costume Designer: Isis Mussenden

Background

Halloween approaching is a fine time to address a monster in human form like Patrick Bateman who may have been a sharp dresser (for the ’80s) but was undoubtedly a terrible human being (in any era!)

You can tell Bateman is trying his best to be seen as a classy host; he plays Phil Collins, after all! Of course, Bateman is hindered by the fact that no classy evening should ever include the words “don’t just stare at it, eat it!”

What’d He Wear?

In the chapter “Thursday” of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, Patrick Bateman describes his attire:

I’m wearing a six-button double-breasted wool-crepe tuxedo with pleated trousers and a silk grosgrain bow tie, all by Valentino.

A style-hound like Bateman likely picked up his tuxedo after reading about the resurgence of 1930s formalwear, especially the double-breasted dinner jacket, in GQ’s annual formalwear roundup in December 1984. As excerpted by Black Tie Guide: “To be sure, the Thirties remain the inspiration: double-breasted dinner jackets with peaked satin or grosgrain lapels…”

The film American Psycho perfectly brings Bateman’s formalwear to life with a yuppie update of the ’30s double-breasted dinner jacket. The black dinner jacket worn by Christian Bale on screen has a 6-on-2 button double-breasted front and a long, full cut. The full-bellied peak lapels are satin-faced and sweep out wide across his chest, pointing up toward each shoulder. Each lapel has a buttonhole that runs parallel to the slanted gorge.

Bateman methodically frames his evening.

While likely not wool crepe, Bateman’s dinner jacket has a sheen that implies possibly mohair, silk, or a blend. The shoulders are padded and extend very wide. There is a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and ventless back. The buttons on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are all covered in black satin silk.

The matching formal trousers are fully cut to match the excess style of the ’80s. They have double reverse pleats, slightly slanted side pockets, and no back pockets. A satin stripe runs down each side of the trousers down to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

The trouser waistband is plain with no belt loops or adjusters. The suspenders fasten to six buttons inside his waistband: two in the back and two sets of two in the front. The braces themselves are white and wide, divided into three equal-width stripes each separated by a hairline black stripe. Two black rectangular tabs in the front separate the braces from the white fabric double runner ends that hook through the inner right and left buttons of the trouser waistband. A black leather patch in the back center meets the two front straps before they converge. The back section of the suspenders connect to his trouser waistband with a black leather double-button ear in the center.

You’ll never think of “Sussudio” the same way again.

Bateman wears a white formal shirt with a point collar and narrowly-pleated front bib. The four round yellow gold studs down the placket match the larger yellow gold cuff links that fasten each of the shirt’s double cuffs. His butterfly-shaped bow tie is black satin silk, matching his lapel facings.

A shit-eating grin… the natural result from many years of not just staring at it, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Only briefly seen, Bateman’s footwear is the formality-appropriate black patent leather balmorals with black silk dress socks.

Bateman briefly ignores his bathing “guest” to take a phone call.

When venturing outside, Bateman complements his aspired image as a dashing young chauffeured businessman with a beige cashmere scarf draped around his neck.

Patrick Bateman’s “charm” is lost on Christie, one of the few characters who sees him for who he is.

Don’t touch the watch!

In the book, the line was “Don’t touch the Rolex,” although the brand had obvious misgivings about being so blatantly included in the more accessible cinematic adaptation. Still, the line would have been an accurate one as Bale’s Bateman (not be confused with Bale’s Batman) wears a Rolex DateJust in mixed “Rolesor” yellow and white gold  with a 36mm case and gold dial, closed over his left wrist on a two-tone “Jubilee” bracelet.

How to Get the Look

The definitive Me Decade yuppie, Patrick Bateman’s black tie ensemble is accurate to the ’80s with its oversized homage to the ’30s.

• Black mohair double-breasted dinner jacket with satin-faced wide peak lapels, silk-covered 6-on-2 button front, welted breast pocket, jetted straight hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Black mohair reverse-pleated formal trousers with satin side stripes, plain waistband, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White formal dress shirt with point collar, narrow pleated bib (with four gold studs), and double/French cuffs
• Black satin silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Gold cuff links
• White triple-striped suspenders with black leather accents
• Black leather cap-toe balmorals
• Black silk dress socks
• Beige cashmere scarf
• Rolex DateJust in stainless 36mm case with two-tone yellow gold and stainless “Jubilee” bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Do you like Phil Collins?

John Travolta as Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994).

Vitals

John Travolta as Vincent Vega, laidback mob hitman and self-described “Elvis man”

Los Angeles, Summer 1992

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

Background

With Halloween around the corner, I’m revisiting one of my favorite Halloween costumes: Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. It’s a great chance for a couple’s costume, whether your significant other is a Mia or a Jules.

Pulp Fiction‘s colorful, sprawling cast of characters and famously non-linear timeline makes Vincent an even more interesting character when you realize that he is the only one to appear in each segment of the film. The role marked a rejuvenation for John Travolta, whose career had gone stagnant during the ’80s with the only real commercial success coming from Look Who’s Talking. Established and rising actors including Alec Baldwin, Daniel Day-Lewis, James Gandolfini, Andy Garcia, Michael Keaton (aw!), Gary Oldman, Jason Patric, Sean Penn, Tim Roth, and Denzel Washington had all been either interested in or considered for the role, and even Michael Madsen would go on to regret not reprising his Vega brother role when offered.

Vincent Vega was the laidback yin to Jules Winnfield’s fired-up yang. While Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) would intimidate a target with his fire-and-brimstone brand of furious anger, Vincent would merely slump against a wall, puffing one of his hand-rolled cigarettes and debating whether or not to voice a situational complaint of his own. It might have been his easy temperament that led Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) to tap Vincent as the henchman-of-choice to entertain his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) when Marsellus was called out of town.

What’d He Wear?

When he’s on the job, Vincent Vega adopts the look favored by all slick criminals in Quentin Tarantino’s universe: black suit, white shirt, and slim black tie. His partner in crime, Jules Winnfield, pulls it off with aplomb, even adding a collar pin as part of a decision on costume designer Betsy Heimann’s part to signify Jules’ tight-necked role as the “preacher” of the duo.

On the other hand, Vincent is described (by Mia Wallace herself) as “an Elvis man” due to his both his laidback-to-a-fault attitude and his rockabilly-evoking duds. Perhaps as a tribute to Jean-Pierre Melville’s notion that costumes were symbolic suits of armor, Vincent’s off-duty wardrobe is just a personalized take on the same black suit, white shirt, and tie that Marsellus Wallace seems to dictate for all of his henchmen.

In a 2014 phone interview with Fashionista, costume designer Betsy Heimann explained that the black sack coat was courtesy of French designer Agnès B., who had also designed Mia’s black velvet coat. According to Heimann, “Agnès B. was a great friend to us. She came to us through Harvey Keitel, who wore her suit in Reservoir Dogs. I had a relationship with Agnès that continues to this day and so I went to her when we were doing Pulp Fiction. Agnès is a big supporter of independent film and she was very generous to us.”

Vincent V. in Agnès B.

Vincent’s single-breasted coat has notch lapels with a dark chocolate brown leather collar and a non-functioning buttonhole on the left lapel. While there’s little doubt about the leather collar, the rest of the jacket takes on a sheen under certain light that suggests the presence of mohair, perhaps a wool-mohair blend.

Satisfied that the Wallace household’s Scotch passes his smell test, Vincent pours himself a drink.

Vincent’s jacket has a 3-button front closure that he typically leaves open. As was fashionable in the ’90s, it has a ventless back, padded shoulders, and gently roped sleeveheads. Each sleeve ends with 3-button cuffs. The breast pocket is jetted – rather than welted – with a jetted pocket straight on each hip as well.

Vincent Vega makes himself at home in the Wallace residence.

Vincent’s white dress shirt is one of the few items present with both his black suit and this more casual outfit. It is lightweight cotton with a spread collar and 1-button mitred cuffs. There is a large breast pocket on the left with mitred bottom corners. As we see as he lunges the adrenaline shot into Mia’s heart, he wears no undershirt.

Vincent takes a long, thoughtful drag of his cigarette at Jack Rabbit Slim’s.

Vincent notably wears a bolo tie, also known as a shoestring tie. Often associated with Western wear and Native American culture, the bolo tie is the official neckwear of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Betsy Heimann played on these cowboy associations when she placed Vincent in one “because he was a bit of a cowboy,” as she told Kara Rennie of On Screen Fashion.

Vincent’s tie consists of a black braided leather cord strung through a silver ornamental slide piece with a black oval setting; this slide piece is the “bolo” itself. Silver ornamental aglets dangle at each tip of the cord that hangs down onto Vincent’s chest.

A production photo of John Travolta as Vincent Vega.

“I found Vincent’s bolo tie at Kenny’s Western Wear, which is no longer in existence,” Heimann told Emma Hope Allwood of Dazed. “It was this old time Western shop way deep in the Valley and it was this amazing store, and I also got these jeans which were these old-fashioned Levi’s made from polyester.”

The “old-fashioned Levi’s” that Heimann grabbed for Vincent are a pair of faded black jeans, fitted with riveted buttons, belt loops, and a standard five-pocket layout. They are cut straight through the leg. Vincent wears a black leather belt with a gold single-prong buckle.

Vincent swaggers into Jack Rabbit Slim’s, unaware that Mia’s plans will place him front and center for all Buddy Hollys and Marilyn Monroes to see.

When he and Mia are called up to the dance floor at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, Vincent removes his black leather monk strap loafers, electing to dance more comfortably in his black ribbed Gold Toe tube socks, noted as such with their distinctive yellow toes. These cap-toe loafers with their steel buckles and heavy black soles are the same shoes he wore earlier with his black linen suit.

Luckily, Vincent remembered to put his shoes back on after winning the dance contest itself.

Vincent staggers into the Wallace homestead with a vintage brown waterproof raincoat bundled under his arm, spending more time carrying it (or dealing with the side effects of its contents) than he does wearing it. It is single-breasted with five large brown plastic buttons concealed on the front fly. It has side handwarmer pockets, a long single vent, and two well-spaced buttons on each cuff for closure; Vincent keeps the sleeves looser by fastening each cuff’s half-tab on the button closest to it.

Vincent ponders his latest purchase. How will it compare to Amsterdam’s drugs?

Although the image of the Old West duster fits with Vincent’s cowboy persona, Betsy Heimann told Fashionista that the raincoat had originally been envisioned as a piece for Mia, forcing her to work backwards: “I remember liking the idea of Mia wearing that old overcoat while she was dancing through the house… That was born more of the image of Uma wearing it, but how was I going to get there? By putting it on Vincent. It was vintage.”

A production photo of Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace.

Vincent’s watch is a round-cased steel wristwatch with a black dial, secured to his left wrist on a black leather strap.

Mia’s ornately patterned bustier (and the fact that she is wearing one at all) hints at far more complexity below the surface of her seemingly simple white shirt and black trousers… but that’s a whole different outfit and character to analyze!

He famously wears a small yellow gold plain hoop earring in his right ear.

Go Big or Go Home

Vincent sees himself as a simple, laconic cowboy, rolling his own cigarettes from Drum tobacco and swaggering around uncomfortably when in a swanky new environment. Of course, we know he’s far more complex (and impulsive!) than he portrays himself; the real Vincent is the touchy, agitated criminal who accidentally shoots Marvin in the face rather than the Zippo-flicking “Elvis man” whose heroin-induced stagger is misinterpreted as laidback swagger.

In Speeding to the Millennium: Film and Culture 1993-1995, Joseph Natoli outlined Vincent’s cool indifference that defined his post-modern character: “It doesn’t matter one way or another to Vincent. It has no consequence. It doesn’t touch the still center of his being where Vincent’s story is filled with the protocols of survival and maintaining his cool. You might say he has a buffer zone of cool in which emotions and responses are filtered.”

To prepare for the role, John Travolta befriended a real heroin addict who was a friend of Tarantino’s. As Travolta later related to James Lipton, the friend explained: “If you want to get the ‘bottom envelope’ feeling of that, get plastered on tequila and lie down in a hot pool. Then you will have barely touched the feeling of what it might be like to be on heroin.” Travolta was more than happy to comply, parking himself in a hotel hot tub while his wife assisted him by lining up shots of tequila on the railings to help his “research”.

Of course, it’s not Vincent’s heroin use that briefly wins Mia Wallace’s heart. (In fact, his addiction briefly stopped her heart!) His ability to dance, despite extreme reluctance, both charms her and the audience by showing us just how much much lurks beneath the surface of this taciturn, mobbed-up cowboy.

And, by god, learn how to dance!

The master of homage, Quentin Tarantino reportedly copied Vincent and Mia’s dance from Mario Pisu and Barbara Steele’s dance in Fellini’s 8½ (1963). It may have been this scene that locked Travolta into the role, as three of the actor’s major cinematic successes to this point – Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Urban Cowboy – had all found him prominently tearing up various genres of dance floors.

At first, Uma Thurman wasn’t enthusiastic about Tarantino’s use of Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” for the twist contest, but Tarantino – who may have his faults but creative use of music isn’t one of them – just replied: “Trust me, it’s perfect.” Music supervisor Karyn Rachtman also tells a story of Tarantino’s mother on set during this scene: “Quentin’s mother came on the set when we were at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, and she said, ‘Why is Quentin using [‘You Never Can Tell’]? Why did he chose that song? I used to listen to that song all the time when I was pregnant with him.” (The song was released about a year after Tarantino was born, but I’m sure there’s still something to that!)

Music is used perfectly through this sequence with some of the most notable soundtrack cues in all of Pulp Fiction popping up during this segment. One that particularly stands out to me is the film’s portrayal of the “tequila in a hot tub” feeling Vincent must have cruising down the evening streets of L.A. with the top down in his cherry red ’64 Malibu convertible, surf rock eminating from the speakers in the form of The Centurians’ “Bullwinkle Pt. II” off of their 1963 album, Surfers’ Pajama Party.

The Centurians track was one of many surf rock numbers that permeated Pulp Fiction to carry out Tarantino’s vision of “rock and roll spaghetti western music”. When the segment opens, Lance’s wife Jody (Rosanna Arquette, although Pam Grier had originally auditioned) is breaking down her piercings to the tune of “Bustin’ Surfboards” by The Tornadoes. Vincent hears “Bullwinkle Pt. II” on his way to the Wallace house, where Mia has Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” playing on the reel-to-reel, the same stereo that would later underline her nearly fatal overdose to the sounds of Urge Overkill’s “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon”.

Picture-perfect time capsule that it is, Jack Rabbit Slim’s specializes in ’50s deep tracks. No stereotypical Everly Brothers for this joint:

• Gary Shorelle – “Waitin’ in School”
• Ricky Nelson – “Lonesome Town”
• Link Wray – “Ace of Spades”
• Link Wray – “Rumble”
• The Robins – “Since I First Met You”
• Woody Thorne – “Teenagers in Love”

To learn more about the music of Pulp Fiction, check out DJ Pizzo’s 2014 article from Medium.

What to Imbibe

Mia Wallace advises Vincent to help himself to a drink. He investigates the Wallace household’s booze lineup and sniffs out a bottle of “McCleary” blended Scotch, a fictional whiskey brand that also showed up a few years later in Bound. He pours himself a dram to maintain his substance-abusing haze throughout the night.

Don’t waste your time looking for this one at the local bodega, folks.

At Jack Rabbit Slim’s, Vincent eagerly orders himself a vanilla Coke rather than a $5 shake. There are two ways to make your own vanilla Coke, should you be so inclined. The simplest begins with pouring a chilled 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola into a glass then stirring in about a tablespoon full of vanilla extract. If you have more apothecarian instincts (and a lot more time on your hands!), you should check out WikiHow’s stovetop method.

How to Get the Look

Vincent Vega is a true individualist, finding his personal style somewhere between rockabilly and cowboy while winking at the black-suited uniform of Tarantino’s anti-heroes.

• Black single-breasted 3-button sack coat with dark brown leather collar, notch lapels, jetted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White lightweight cotton dress shirt with spread collar, plain front, breast pocket, and 1-button mitred cuffs
• Black leather braided bolo tie with silver ornametal bolo (with black oval setting)
• Black polyester Levi’s jeans with belt loops, five-pocket layout, and rivet buttons
• Black leather belt with gold single-prong buckle
• Black leather cap-toe monk strap loafers
• Black ribbed Gold Toe tube socks
• Brown vintage waterproof cotton raincoat with single-breasted 5-button concealed fly front, slanted handwarmer pockets, set-in sleeves, half-tab button cuffs, and single vent
• Steel wristwatch with round black dial on black leather strap
• Gold mini-hoop earring

If you’ve already got Vincent Vega’s shoulder-length hair, pull it back into a sloppy ponytail.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go home and have a heart attack.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre (2015).

Vitals

Daniel Craig as James Bond, British government agent

Mexico City, November 2015

Film: Spectre
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime

Background

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican public holiday to remember and support the spiritual journey of deceased friends and family. This year, as it did last year when Bond “attended”, the multi-day celebration begins on November 1 and ends tomorrow, November 2.

I’ve received several requests to cover the outfit that James Bond wears during the Día de Muertos celebration in Mexico City, and I would like to also direct readers to the excellent analysis of this suit featured at Matt Spaiser’s site The Suits of James Bond, where Matt also developed an excellent digital reconstruction of the suiting that can’t be missed.

What’d He Wear?

Spectre kicks off the Bond franchise’s third consecutive collaboration with Tom Ford by outfitting Daniel Craig head-to-toe – or at least head-to-ankle – in new Tom Ford duds. This is a more complex take on the blue suit, white shirt, and blue tie look that 007 would later wear when confronting Blofeld in Morocco.

Bond ostensibly removes his black Día de Muertos costume to reveal a blue and black glen check Tom Ford “O’Connor” wool suit with a bold light blue windowpane overcheck, an attractive update of the overchecked glen plaid suiting that was popularized by Edward VII when he held the Prince of Wales title in the 1920s and 1930s. Additional information and photos can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

Daniel Craig’s blue eyes and even the blue “eye” of his weapon’s laser sight are nicely called out by the light blue overcheck of his blue and black Prince of Wales check suit.

The single-breasted jacket has a 3-roll-2 medium stance of blue horn buttons, and Bond keeps the middle button fastened throughout the scene. The narrow notch lapels – with a double-stitched silk buttonhole through the left lapel – roll down to the center button, showing only two buttons when the jacket is closed.

Discarded Day of the Dead costume in hand, Bond abandons his surprised companion.

Bond’s suit jacket is tailored to reflect the tight fit characteristic of Temime’s work in Skyfall and Spectre with a lean chest, suppressed waist, and short length. Since Craig keeps the jacket buttoned, it looks especially uncomfortable during the heavy movement of his stunt scenes when it strongly pulls at his waist, pulling apart the jacket skirts to expose a bright white shirt triangle above the low rise of the trousers.

Bond looks even more visibly uncomfortable than a person would after tumbling off of a crumbling building. Maybe let your torso breathe a bit there, bud. (Also note the Dainite studded soles of his derby shoes.)

The suit jacket has straight and narrow padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads. The sleeves end with functioning 4-button cuffs, and Craig rakishly keeps the last button – positioned with the longest buttonhole – unfastened. There is a single vent in the back.

Bond’s dapper approach to assassination.

The flapped hip pockets slant backward. The gently curved breast pocket is a “barchetta” pocket, an Italian moniker evoking the pocket’s resemblance to a small boat. The barchetta pocket has Neapolitan origins but found its way onto prominent Americans of the early 20th century from Theodore Roosevelt to F. Scott Fitzgerald, as detailed in this elegant tribute from No Man Walks Alone. Bond folds a white linen handkerchief into his pocket.

“Daniel Craig?! He looks like an upset baby.” – Jimmy on You’re the Worst.

The matching suit trousers have a medium-low rise and flat front that gets plenty of screen time due to the many stunt sequences in this scene. The waistband is fitted with a wide extended tab in the front, a short split in the back, and a adjuster on each side that slides a strip of fabric through a small buckle. Since there’s no belt, Bond doesn’t wear his IWB holster.

The side pockets follow the curve of the trouser seam to the front, and the jetted back pockets each close through a button. The trousers are fitted closely through the straight legs down to the cuffed bottoms which break high over his shoes.

Bond’s white cotton poplin dress shirt is also by Tom Ford. It has a point collar, front placket, and back side darts that pull in the shirt to compliment the close-fitting suit.

Perhaps once again forgetting his role as a secret agent, Bond fastens the shirt’s squared double cuffs with a pair of round silver monogrammed Tom Ford cuff links that have “JB” raised in silver over the blue face. Brass models of these 20mm cuff links can be purchased from Amazon.

Bond grapples with a villainous helicopter pilot, flashing both his rakishly unbuttoned suit sleeves and his monogrammed cuff links. Not exactly flying under the radar, 007.

Many outfits in Spectre evoked the limited color palette seen in the Connery era with ties chosen to match or reflect the suit and paired with white dress shirts, such as both blue suits, the black funeral suit, and the brown desert outfit. This outfit follows that system with a blue silk repp tie from Tom Ford.

Craig channels Connery despite making a Moore/Dalton/Brosnan-style escape in a commandeered aircraft. Worlds collide!

Daniel Craig’s Bond began wearing Crockett & Jones shoes in Skyfall and Spectre. In this scene, he wears the Crockett & Jones “Norwich” derby shoes (or bluchers) in black calf leather with five lace eyelets, a straight toe cap, and Dainite studded rubber soles. More information can be found at James Bond Lifestyle or the Crockett & Jones site. Bond somewhat disappointingly wears them with black dress socks as the short break of the trousers would have made this a better opportunity to continue the leg line with dark blue socks; perhaps he didn’t bother to change the socks from his all-black Day of the Dead ensemble.

Situations like this are when one is grateful for a solid, non-slip sole on their shoe like the Dainite rubber soles on Bond’s C&J Norwich derbies.

Daniel Craig has worn exclusively Omega watches during his tenure as James Bond, and his latest dress chronometer gets a fine debut in Spectre‘s opening sequence. The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Master Co-Axial 231.10.42.21.03.003 was described by Omega itself as a “classic yet robust timepiece [that] represents a tribute to Omega’s rich maritime heritage,” making it the perfect choice for Commander Bond. The stainless steel watch has a 41.5mm case, presented on a a stainless steel bracelet. The sun-brushed, lacquered blue dial “recalls the wooden decks of luxury sailboats,” according to Omega, decorated with the Teak Concept pattern and embellished with a date window positioned at 3:00. The watch’s Omega Master Co-Axial calibre 8500 movement, visible through the transparent caseback, is resistant to magnetic fields greater than 15,000 gauss.

You can learn more about this Omega watch and the others in the Bond series at James Bond Lifestyle. Similar watches can be found at Amazon, if you’re in the market for a Bond-style Omega.

After Plan A fails, Bond is forced to develop Plan B: jumping into a helicopter. Luckily, his trusty Omega can withstand it all.

For more about this outfit and its accessories, check out James Bond Lifestyle’s portal. If you want to read more about the Day of the Dead costume that Bond initially wore over this suit, read The Suits of James Bond’s excellent post from yesterday.

How to Get the Look

Daniel Craig’s 007 proves that a limited color palette doesn’t mean boring and that a classic suiting pattern doesn’t mean outdated.

• Blue and black Prince of Wales glen plaid wool suit with light blue windowpane overcheck (Tom Ford “O’Connor”), consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 3-roll-2 button suit jacket with narrow notch lapels, curved “barchetta” breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button functional cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat front medium-low rise trousers with extended front waist tab, slide-buckle side adjusters, curved on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs with short break
• White cotton poplin Tom Ford dress shirt with point collar, front placket, back side darts, and double/French cuffs
• Blue repp silk Tom Ford tie
• Round silver custom Tom Ford cuff links with silver “JB” monogram raised from blue enamel face
• Black calf Crockett & Jones “Norwich” 5-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes with Dainite studded rubber soles
• Black dress socks
• Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Master Co-Axial (231.10.42.21.03.003) stainless steel wristwatch with lacquered blue dial (with 3:00 date window) on stainless steel link bracelet

Iconic Alternatives has a great rundown of affordable options for gentlemen interested in channeling Bond’s made-to-measure Tom Ford look.

The Gun

James Bond arms himself for his unauthorized assassination mission with a Glock 17 fitted into a FAB Defense KPOS Carbine Conversion kit as confirmed on IMFDB. This kit allows the user to take a full-size semi-automatic pistol – preferably a third or fourth generation Glock but the site also describes two allowable SIG Sauer models – and transform it into a PDW (Personal Defense Weapon).

Bond fits his converted Glock with a suppressor and blue laser sight.

Bond takes aim.

More information about the FAB Defense conversion kit can be found at their site.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Bottoms up.

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate

Las Vegas, Spring 1980

Film: Casino
Release Date: November 22, 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Rita Ryack & John A. Dunn

Background

1976 was a rough year for Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal.

Plagued by his history of illegal gambling and mob ties, the bookie who had seemingly found his place managing the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was now under state scrutiny for operating without a license. Despite his criminal ties, Lefty is often remembered now as a visionary in the gambling community.

When Rosenthal died in 2008, gaming analyst Larry Grossman told the Las Vegas Sun that he “was one of the first handicappers to be purely analytical in viewing sports betting… he paved the way for many to follow.” The Sun itself went on to describe that “today every major casino in Las Vegas has sports book salons modeled after the one Rosenthal put in at the old Stardust.” Lefty’s cinematic counterpart, Sam Rothstein, had even realized: “Back home, they would have put me in jail for what I’m doing. Here, they’re giving me awards.” But the awards are long over.

Called out for having operated in a managerial role at the Stardust without a license, Lefty followed the procedure to apply with the Nevada Gaming Commission and came before the control board in January 1976, where he was grilled for two days by attorney Jeff Silver in a series of ugly exchanges. As Silver relayed decades later to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the two men found themselves standing next to each other while relieving themselves, making their figurative pissing contest a reality. Rosenthal addressed Silver: “You’re Jewish, I’m Jewish. Why can’t we just get along?” to which Silver replied with his characteristic quick wit: “I generally don’t talk to gentlemen at restroom urinals.”

The real Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal consults his attorney, future Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, during his gaming license hearings in the mid-1970s.

The exchanges got ugly, as was later reflected in Martin Scorsese’s Casino when Sam “Ace” Rothstein – the cinematic substitute for the real Rosenthal – was not only denied his license but also denied the opportunity to appeal and fight back for one, leading to a very public argument with the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. The chairman, played by Dick Smothers, was based on Harry Reid, currently the U.S. Senate Minority Leader and formerly the NGC chairman from 1977 to 1981. Reid verbally sparring with Rosenthal after the latter’s rehearing was denied formed the basis for this scene in the film.

Reid wasn’t the only party involved who would later achieve greater political fame. Oscar Goodman, who portrays himself in this scene, was Rosenthal’s attorney at the time and would later be elected Mayor of Las Vegas on June 8, 1999, four days shy of Rosenthal’s 70th birthday. Goodman served as mayor for an impressive 12 years, during which time he also served as a spokesperson for Bombay Sapphire gin and was also named the Least Effective Public Official by readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

For more information about this incident in Vegas history, State v. Rosenthal (1977) is posted online.

What’d He Wear?

Ace is forced to tone down his silk pastels for his hearing, taking a conservative approach of earth tones for a day in the political arena where his flashy mob connections have already gotten in the way of his fair shot at a gaming license. Every element of Ace’s outfit incorporates shades of yellow, gold, or brown, unifying his color palette.

Ace wears a tan single-breasted blazer in a soft fabric, likely cashmere given his status and penchant for luxury. The shoulders are wide and well-padded out the roped sleeveheads. The jacket has two flat gold sew-through buttons on the front with a single, slightly larger matching gold button on each cuff. The lapels are the same fishmouth “cran necker” notch lapels that appear on many of his jackets. There are two long vents in the back.

Ace’s jacket has sporty patch pockets on the hips and a welted breast pocket where he wears a brown silk display kerchief puffing out, made by Anto to perfectly match his tie.

Ace assures the gaming commission that he intends to fight their ruling. Oscar Goodman, playing himself, stands behind Robert De Niro’s left arm.

Ace goes a humble step further, eschewing his usual silk shirts in favor of a pale yellow Swiss cotton dress shirt. Anto confirmed the details of this shirt that they made for the film, which incorporates the same long point collar as his usual shirts with a single cuff at the end of each sleeve. Ace fastens his cuffs with a pair of 14-carat yellow gold cuff links that may be set with cubic zirconia or citrine. The patch pocket has a shaped bottom and top-stitched pointed welt effect at the top, emboldened with the “SR” monogram.

Ace’s dark brown silk tie, knotted here in a four-in-hand, was also made by Anto and – as noted – perfectly matches his pocket square.

Ace wears all earth tones, right down to his pale yellow shirt and matching brown silk tie and pocket square, all from Anto.

Ace wears a pair of dark brown trousers, a shade warmer than his brown silk tie, that appear to be the same trousers he wore with his burnt orange jacket a few scenes later. The flat front trousers have a fitted waistband with an extended tab in the front. The legs are straight down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. His trousers have frogmouth front pockets, more similar to those on jeans than on modern dress pants, as best seen when he places his left hand in his pocket during his harangue against the committee who denied his license.

Though barely seen, the brief glimpse of Ace’s feet appear to show him wearing dark brown suede desert boots, likely worn with dark brown silk socks.

Ace does not intend to go quietly.

Ace’s jewelry and accessories are at their most limited and conservative in this scene. Typically a pinky ring wearer, Ace avoids this mob-associated affectation during his hearing, sporting only a yellow gold-banded watch strapped to his right wrist. This may be one of the vintage yellow gold wristwatches from Bueche Girod, Juvena, or Noblia that Robert De Niro wore on screen in Casino.

Of course, once Ace is denied his shot at a license, the proverbial gloves come off and the literal sunglasses go on. He steps out into the hallway, addressing reporters behind the shield of the brown lenses in his large plastic tortoise-framed sunglasses.

The oversized sunglasses, clenched cigarette, and cantankerous demeanor don’t do as much for Ace as he might think.

Casino‘s costume team put plenty of work into ensuring that Robert De Niro’s onscreen wardrobe reflected the real Lefty Rosenthal’s clothing as much as possible. De Niro, noted for his extreme method acting, was probably delighted that Rosenthal had been an Anto client and the shirtmaker still had his original orders on file to replicate exact fabric and details – including those long point collars – for De Niro’s shirts and ties in the movie.

Evidently, this was a look frequently sported by the real Frank Rosenthal, as seen in this production shot from his late ’70s TV show… where his guest is none other than Don Rickles.

Check out Ibraheem Youssef’s poster that illustrates all of Ace’s Casino suits. This outfit is depicted with matching tan trousers and light cream shoes.

How to Get the Look

Nearly twenty years after he had been a guest on the real Frank Rosenthal’s show, Don Rickles appeared in Casino as casino manager Billy Sherbert.

Ace doesn’t sacrifice personal style when it comes to dressing smartly to give the appearance of a serious businessman in a desert community. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop his mouth and his past from getting him into deeper trouble.

• Tan cashmere single-breasted 2-button blazer with fishmouth “cran necker” lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and long double vents
• Dark brown flat front trousers with tab-front waistband, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale yellow Swiss cotton Anto dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, monogrammed breast pocket, and single cuffs
• Dark brown silk Anto necktie
• Gold cuff links
• Dark brown sueded leather desert boots
• Dark brown silk dress socks
• Yellow gold wristwatch with rectangular case, square dial, and flat bracelet

For a final touch of earth tone class, Ace wears a dark brown silk display kerchief puffing from his jacket’s breast pocket.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Bullshit! We all have a past. You have a past, I have a past, and my past is no worse than yours… but you guys think you have the right to pass judgment on me!

Footnote

Although the bulk of Rosenthal’s run-ins and hearings with the Nevada Gaming Commission occurred in 1976 and 1977, the film chose to portray the year as 1980; hence, my listing the setting as 1980 above.

Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood in “Chapter 48” of House of Cards (2016).

Vitals

Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, ruthless and calculating U.S. President

Atlanta, July 2016

Series: House of Cards
Episode: “Chapter 48” (Episode 4.09)
Streaming Date: March 4, 2016
Director: Robin Wright
Costume Designer: Johanna Argan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Tomorrow is Election Day here in the U.S. and hopefully the end of one of the ugliest campaign seasons in modern American politics.

In the political world of House of Cards, voters tomorrow would be choosing between Democratic incumbent Frank Underwood and Republican candidate Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman). In Chapter 48 of the series, Underwood notes about his opponent:

You’re a New York Republican. That’s an attractive fiction, isn’t it?

Chapter 48 spans the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta from Monday, July 25 through Wednesday, July 27. (The actual 2016 DNC was held in Philadelphia, in case you’d forgotten, and was quite dramatic in itself… which I’m sure you hadn’t forgotten.) President Underwood’s team seemingly makes a play for Secretary of State Catherine Durant (Jayne Atkinson) to be chosen as his running mate while secretly working behind the scenes to secure the spot for the First Lady, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright, who also directed this installment.)

One of the episode’s more outstanding scenes finds the unlikely situation of both candidates meeting alone, sifting through the heavy haze of dirty politics permeating the air while channeling their opposition into a discussion of video games.

What’d He Wear?

President Frank Underwood wears a series of great suits during House of Cards‘ fourth season, but one particular stand-out suit is the attractive blue lightweight wool suit that he wears during the early days of the DNC, boldly channeling the color of his party into his wardrobe.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s head costume designer Johanna Argan collaborated with a team of tailors and Hugo Boss’ head pattern maker to build a wardrobe of 45 impressive suits in various colors, patterns, and fabrics through the Hugo Boss made-to-measure program. “The great thing about Boss is they gave me access to their complete fabric library for all their suiting, all their shirting, all their silks to make ties,” Argan explained to THR. “It’s those subtle details that help Kevin step into his character… When you wear something that is made-to-measure, it automatically makes you walk a different way.”

Argan discussed the mechanics of this specific outfit with WWD: “I tend to do a dark navy suit and that burgundy tie when he needs to be taken seriously and he’s trying to provoke some sort of presence and power.” Working behind the scenes at the DNC and ultimately meeting with his opponent is certainly an opportunity for Underwood to evoke power.

Despite his opponent’s taller height, American flag pin, and smugly self-satisfied expression, Underwood looks more presidential in his made-to-measure suit and red power tie.

Argan told GQ that the tailoring team in Hugo Boss’s made-to-measure program gave her plenty of power over the suit details, including the pick-stitched notch lapels of his single-breasted jacket with “the collars of his suit jacket being lowered to lay clean on the back.” The details of the jacket match Underwood’s usual style as well as details of presidential styling that extend back more than five decades in the executive branch’s storied history.

The two-button jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, double vents, and padded shoulders that emphasize his power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Argan even worked with the Boss team to perfect where Underwood’s initials would be stitched into the jacket.

Never revealing his inner demons and tensions, Underwood manages to look calm, cool, and confident in both public and private.

The flat front trousers have a medium-low rise with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms. Through the trouser belt loops, Underwood wears a black leather belt with a long rectangular steel single-prong buckle.

Underwood dishes with Conway in this production photo from “Chapter 48”.

Underwood exerts his power during his meeting with Conway by presenting himself as a comfortable, homespun politician who cares so little for his opponent that he’ll take off his shoes in the middle of their meeting. Of course, his charming “good ol’ boy” act carries the undertones of disrespecting Conway not only by airing out his stinky feet, but also by showing off his brand new and likely expensive shoes. The shoes in question are black leather cap-toe oxfords, worn with black dress socks that Underwood thankfully keeps on his feet.

“Do you mind if I take these off? They’re brand new, and I’m still breakin’ them in.”

Underwood wear a light blue cotton dress shirt with a semi-spread collar, plain front, and rounded double/French cuffs that he fastens with gold cuff links emblazoned with the gold Presidential Seal on a black face. These cuff links can be found at The White House Gift Shop, which offers an array of Presidential accessories from cuff links and pins to bow ties and wristwatches.

Conway may have Agar.io on his Samsung® smartphone (product placement within product placement), but Underwood’s cuff links are a subtle reminder to his opponent that he already has the presidency… and he’s willing to sacrifice a few “little dots” being eaten if it means not giving it up.

“Kevin’s very particular about ties,” Argan told WWD. “He loves a thin tie in real life and I have to tell him, ‘You are the President of the United States. You are not going to wear a thin tie.'” Underwood naturally chooses a deep red silk tie for his power moment at the DNC as red ties have a long, storied connotation as power ties. A recent study, however, expressed that red “power ties” exude dominant aggression more than actual confidence… making it an even more appropriate choice for an unscrupulous, power-hungry politician like Francis Underwood.

Underwood makes the most of his shared “down time” with Conway.

In the wake of the evil but thankfully-ripe-for-parody beast that has been the 2016 presidential debates, Robert Roy Britt updated his 2009 article on LiveScience that delves into the history and importance of red vs. blue power ties on American presidents.

While the color of Underwood’s tie may change based on his situation, the rings on his fingers are more consistent. He proudly wears a yellow gold class ring on the third finger of his right hand, a symbol of his education at The Sentinel, a fictional South Carolina military academy inspired by The Citadel in Charleston. On his opposing hand, he wears a white gold wedding band.

It’s reassuring (or is it?) to know that Frank Underwood needs to start his day with a hot coffee just like the rest of us.

During the fourth season, Frank appears to mostly abandon his habit of wearing a wristwatch, possibly a reflection of his post-shooting mentality that he doesn’t want to focus too heavily on time… or that he’s out of time… or just some commentary on time? Either way, this would have been a sad day for the folks at IWC, for whom Kevin Spacey is an ambassador.

This suit also particularly stands out to be as it reminds me of one of my favorite looks from the James Bond series: the blue mohair suit, light blue shirt, and red silk tie that Roger Moore wore as 007 in The Man with the Golden Gun.

How to Get the Look

Frank Underwood aims for power, confidence, and patriotism with his strong blue and red-driven outfit while vying for the presidency.

• Blue lightweight wool Hugo Boss made-to-measure suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double rear vents
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light blue cotton dress shirt with semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
• Deep red silk tie
• Gold cuff links with U.S. Presidential Seal on black face
• Black leather 5-eyelet cap-toe balmorals/oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Black leather belt with polished steel rectangular single-prong buckle
• Gold “Sentinel” class ring
• Gold plain wedding band
• White cotton crew neck short-sleeve undershirt

Do Yourself a Favor and…

VOTE TOMORROW!

Then, when you’re not sick of politics anymore, check out the all-too-realistic House of Cards on Netflix or pick up the first, second, third, and fourth seasons on DVD.

The Quote

Do you know the main thing that separates a politician from the rest of the species? A politician is the one who would drown a litter of kittens for ten minutes of prime time.

James Mason as Phillip Vandamm in a promotional photo for North by Northwest (1959).

Vitals

James Mason as Phillip Vandamm, urbane spy and secret-trader

Mount Rushmore, Fall 1958

Film: North by Northwest
Release Date: July 28, 1959
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Wardrobe Department: Harry Kress

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

North by Northwest arguably set the tone for spy films in the following decade with its suave and well-suited hero, colorful settings, and elements of dangerous romance. James Mason’s urbane Phillip Vandamm is, in many ways, the archetypal James Bond villain: sinister and deadly but with the ability to be just as charming and debonair as the story’s protagonist.

Vandamm proves to be more sensitive and romantic than one would expect, and James Mason perfectly conveys just how badly Vandamm is stung by Eve’s betrayal. He zips through the Kübler-Ross model in record time, expressing denial (laughing off Leonard’s concerns), anger (punching Leonard), and acceptance (vindictively deciding Eve’s fate “from a great height…over water”) all within seconds of the same scene.

What’d He Wear?

With his dark gray tweed suit, regimental striped tie, and odd waistcoats, Phillip Vandamm looks every bit the dignified English gentleman as he makes his final arrangements to safely leave the country with a Purépecha sculpture full of secret microfilm. In fact, it could be argued that Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) looks more like the traditional “movie spy” in his sleekly tailored gray-blue glen check suit while Vandamm looks more like Q in his comfortable tweeds, regimental tie, and mannered disposition.

With each man decked out in a spiffy gray suit, the Thornhill-Vandamm chess match continues in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria.

The daytime denouement that finds Thornhill taking a blank bullet finds  all three men – Thornhill, Vandamm, and Leonard – outfitted in different variants of the stereotypical “gray flannel suit,” such a trope for businessmen during the era that both a 1955 novel and subsequent 1956 film adaptation called it out. (Interestingly, James Mason’s 8-year-old daughter Portland starred in the film as Gregory Peck’s daughter.) Here, it works as a disguise as the evil Vandamm and Leonard are camouflaged as “the common man” and, thus, an even more dangerous threat. (Leonard often does attempt to echo at least the sartorial sense of his admired boss.)

Hitchcock clearly defines his hero in the nighttime scenes for Thornhill has shed that oh-so-stylish suit that symbolized his less honest ad life, and he is now dressed humbly and casually in off-the-rack duds (Brooks Brothers, but still) that define him as the actual “common man”… a common hero worth rooting for.

Vandamm’s dark gray tweed suit jacket is single-breasted with edge-stitched notch lapels that end high above the three-button front. There is a welted breast pocket and straight hip pockets with slim flaps. Each sleeve ends with spaced two-button non-functioning cuffs.

Any physical attack on Martin Landau should be met with such instant remorse!

A swelled seam down the center of the back ends above the short vent. In addition to the three-button front and the single vent, Vandamm’s suit sack jacket incorporates elements of traditional American tailoring such as the draped, full chest and soft padded shoulders with less structure than the classic English suit shoulder.

The details of Vandamm’s suit jacket are seen inside the Mount Rushmore cafeteria.

The full cut of Vandamm’s suit extends to his flat front trousers. His various waistcoats cover the waistline on screen, but a behind-the-scenes photo reveals belt loops, through which James Mason wears a slim black leather belt. The bottoms are cuffed with a full break.

A production photo of Cary Grant, Eva-Marie Saint, and James Mason on location in South Dakota.

On screen, Vandamm always wears this suit with a contrasting layer between his jacket and shirt, a classic staple in menswear that Gentleman’s Gazette nicely explored in this post about odd vests and waistcoats from December 2013.

For his daytime confrontation with Thornhill in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria, he wears an olive green wool single-breasted waistcoat with notch lapels and flapped hip pockets that slant backward. This vest closes with six silver-toned metal buttons down the front, with the lowest button appropriately left open over the notched bottom.

Vandamm’s green vest complements his tweed suit to provide a down-to-earth appearance of humble sophistication.

At home that evening, Vandamm has swapped out the green waistcoat for an even less threatening look, sporting a beige cardigan vest in a soft wool – possibly cashmere – with five brown-toned urea buttons fastened down to the straight-cut hem. Ribbing is continuous around the collar, down the placket, and around the them. It appears to have no pockets. (I drew the conclusion that it is a vest rather than a long-sleeved cardigan as the sleeves are not seen under the jacket cuffs.)

Vandamm dresses for luxurious comfort before making his final getaway.

Like his adversary, Vandamm wears a white dress shirt with a soft turndown collar, although Vandamm’s collar has a slightly wider spread than Thornhill’s. The shirt has soft double cuffs, through which Vandamm wears ornate gold links.

Vandamm wears a regimental tie of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, noted by its wide dark green and navy blue stripes with a thin yellow stripe separating every other stripe between the bottom of the navy and the top of the green. However, the RHF stripes would follow the British scheme of left shoulder down to right hip; Vandamm’s tie stripes follow the Brooks Brothers-inspired American direction of right-down-to-left.

Leonard takes his duties as a “right-hand man” quite literally.

Although these and other regimental neckties are often showing up on eBay, you can also find them available to purchase at aptly-named sites like Regimental Shop and Scottish Regimental Store. Interestingly, the Royal Highland Fusiliers was only formed on January 20, 1959 (created by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots Fusiliers with the Highland Light Infantry) yet the scenes filmed at Mount Rushmore were shot in mid-September 1958.

Vandamm wears a pair of black leather cap-toe balmoral-type oxford shoes with black socks.

Leonard and Vandamm consider their options.

The tank watch on Vandamm’s left wrist is possibly James Mason’s own timepiece, although I can’t find any conclusive information about the type of watch Mason favored in real life. The North by Northwest watch appears to have a stainless steel squared case, a white square dial, and a black leather strap.

Vandamm holds his MacGuffin.

North by Northwest is set during the fall – specifically late November – when average temperatures in Rapid City, South Dakota fall to an average high of 47 °F and a below-freezing low of 22 °F. The characters still dress a bit warmly for this climate (especially considering Grant’s nighttime scaling of buildings in only his shirt sleeves and trousers!), but Vandamm’s outerwear would certainly be appropriate for a well-layered gentleman making a dignified nighttime getaway.

A dignified getaway, indeed.

Vandamm’s overcoat is black and white herringbone wool with a single-breasted 3-button front. The notch lapels have swelled edges and a buttonhole through the left lapel. The shoulders are well-padded with roping present on the set-in sleeve heads. The three external pockets are a welted breast pocket and a straight flapped pocket on each hip. Each cuff appears to have a very small tab on the edge with an adjuster button.

Vandamm’s last moments of freedom.

The villain’s villain, Vandamm literally tops off his look with a black felt homburg with a black grosgrain ribbon.

Go Big or Go Home

…to a house inspired by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Vandamm’s über modern sense of home decor could be his single redeeming trait… but the house itself didn’t even exist in real life!

Indeed, Hitchcock asked his set designers to create a set resembling Wright’s work. Fallingwater, the modernist cantilevered home that he designed in 1935 for Edgar J. Kaufmann in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania comes to mind.

Given Wright’s fee and the firm prohibition on even temporary buildings constructed on top of Mount Rushmore, Hitchcock tasked his design team – Robert Boyle, Henry Grace, William A. Horning, Frank McKelvey, and Merrill Pye – with creating full-scale sets to be used as the interior, all to be filmed in Culver City. Most of the exteriors were matte paintings with certain areas, like the bedroom wing, partially built into the exterior for more realistic shots looking out or in. As Sandy McLendon explained at Hooked on Houses: “The interiors were masterpieces of deception: nearly nothing was what it appeared. The limestone walls were mostly plaster, real limestone was used in a few places where the camera would be very close. The expanses of window were mostly without glass; glass reflects camera crews and lights.”

Constructing the house used nearly half of the mthan $50,000 spent on the Mount Rushmore sets with the other portion going to Gutzon Borglum’s recreation of the famous monument.

How to Get the Look

Phillip Vandamm’s dignified, professorial attire serves him well, creating a non-threatening and warm appearance while also literally keeping him warm during the chilly fall weather on Mount Rushmore.

• Dark gray tweed full-cut sack suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and short single vent
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Olive green wool single-breasted vest with notch lapels, 6 silver-toned metal buttons, slanted flapped hip pockets, and notched bottom
• White poplin dress shirt with soft semi-spread collar and soft double/French cuffs
• Royal Highland Fusiliers regimental striped tie with wide dark green and navy blue stripes and thin yellow stripes
• Black leather cap-toe balmorals/oxford shoes
• Black dress socks
• Black felt homburg with black grosgrain ribbon
• Black-and-white herringbone wool single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and single vent
• Steel tank watch with white square dial on black leather strap

For homier or more intimate settings, a soft beige cardigan sweater vest would also work in place of the green odd vest.

The Gun

“That wasn’t very sporting, using real bullets,” Vandamm demurely says after a deputy ends Leonard’s threat to Roger and Eva with a well-placed rifle shot. Of course, in Vandamm’s world of deception, it’s the smaller, concealable handguns that are most fatal.

Leonard himself tried to melodramatically prove a point to Vandamm by firing a shot at him from Eve’s pistol, a Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket. Of course, the shot was a blank and Vandamm’s shock is transferred to a pained sense of betrayal by Eve.

Introduced in 1908, as its name suggests, the Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket was Colt’s version of the earlier FN Model 1905 (later redesigned as the “Baby Browning”), also based on a John Browning design and arguably the first subcompact semi-automatic pistol. Chambered for the anemic .25 ACP cartridge, the Model 1908 Vest Pocket carried six rounds in a detachable magazine and differed from the FN model by the addition of an external safety latch that would lock the slide on the left side.

Though not a powerful weapon, the Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket enjoyed a 40-year-long production span until it was phased out in 1948. It certainly looked like a spy’s weapon with its streamlined hammerless aesthetic and easy concealability, and Hitchcock armed many of North by Northwest‘s stylish operatives with one. In addition to Eve Kendall, Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket pistols were carried by Vandamm’s henchmen Valerian and Licht.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

This matter is best disposed of from a great height… over water.

Steve McQueen as Eric “The Kid” Stoner in The Cincinnati Kid (1965).

Vitals

Steve McQueen as Eric “the Kid” Stoner, hotshot poker player

New Orleans, Fall 1936

Film: The Cincinnati Kid
Release Date: October 15, 1965
Director: Norman Jewison
Costume Designer: Donfeld (Donald Lee Feld)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

BAMF Style has received a few requests recently to explore the black jacket worn by Steve McQueen as Eric “The Kid” Stoner, a young up-and-coming poker player looking to establish his reputation in Depression-era New Orleans.

When he first meet The Kid, he is holding a hair in the sort of back-alley poker parlor where every guy’s nickname is Buck and there’s enough rusty razor blades in the bathroom that one won’t be missed if there’s trouble.

What’d He Wear?

For his day-to-day and game-to-game life in the Big Easy, Eric Stoner wears an oversized black hip-length rain jacket that is often mistaken for leather but actually appears to be waxed cotton, a type of cloth treated with paraffin or beeswax-based wax for its waterproofing properties.

The waxed jacket is a curious choice for McQueen’s character. While waxed cotton’s use for waterproof clothing reaches back to at least the mid-late 19th century, the details and styling of The Kid’s jacket strike me as too anachronistic for the late 1930s. Although the image nicely reflects the countercultural attitudes of both Eric Stoner and McQueen himself, there were certainly many outerwear options of the era that could have evoked the desired “bad boy” image.

But he did wear this jacket, so let’s take a closer look at it. The front closes with a very large placket flap with four black-painted metal disc-style buttons that are widely and equally spaced down from the collar down to the bottom hem. Interestingly, the buttons are placed on the “incorrect” side for a man’s jacket; the right-over-left button configuration is much more common (and standard!) on women’s jackets.

The Kid gives himself the full New Orleans experience by walking through a jazz-boosted funeral procession.

The Kid’s jacket has a standing collar with light brown suede lining. Interestingly, in the early days of waxed jackets around the ’20s and ’30s, the only colors for waxed cotton were black or a dark olive; color for the latter was often inconsistent due to varying amounts of copper present in the cupro-ammonia treatment so dark olive waxed jackets were finished with a brown corduroy collar. There is a button on each side of The Kid’s jacket collar and a large two-button throat tab on the left side, designed to pivot over and button across the neck to protect his throat from the elements. (Even in rainy weather, though, The Kid never buttons more than the top button of his coat, ignoring the throat latch tab.)

As seen on the left side of his collar, The Kid’s jacket has a large tab that could be buttoned across his neck when it rains… not that he could be bothered with it, of course.

It would be difficult to find a jacket identical like this one, as many waxed jackets with standing collars like this also have bellows pockets as opposed to only the simple slant-opening handwarmer welt pockets present on the bottom of The Kid’s waxed jacket.

The jacket’s set-in sleeves are most affected by its large size. The jacket is so oversized that the sleeves fall off the shoulder a bit and McQueen cuffs them back over his wrist as they are too long. The cuffs are plain with no buttons or tabs.

The Kid shows a preference for crew neck sweaters and wool trousers with his waxed jacket, often matching each garment’s tone to the other by pairing the cool tones of a navy sweater and gray trousers as well as the warmer earth tones of an orange sweater with brown trousers.

The Kid is first seen wearing this jacket with his navy sweater (left) and later with a rust orange sweater (right).

The navy blue cotton sweater has a ribbed crew neck and ribbing on the cuffs and waist hem. As he does when sporting the sweater with his tweed jacket, The Kid pairs it with dark gray wool single forward-pleated trousers. The trousers have a medium-high rise and slim belt loops that he still wears without a belt, revealing the extended squared waist tab with its concealed hook closure. The legs taper down to plain-hemmed bottoms with on-seam side pockets and no back pockets.

Like so many of us, The Kid finds a respite from danger in the reassuring company of Karl Malden.

The rust orange sweater is slightly nicer, made from a fuzzy wool or possibly even cashmere. He also wears this sweater with the olive corduroy sportcoat when visiting Christian’s family. With the orange sweater, he wears a pair of brown flannel flat front trousers with tapered legs and plain-hemmed bottoms.

With only a lit Lucky Strike cigarette and the low sounds of live New Orleans jazz keeping him company, Eric Stoner contemplates his decisions and his future.

The Kid wears his sole (do you get it please?) footwear, a pair of black leather bluchers.

After bluffing his way into a win with only “a lousy pair”, The Kid is once again forced on the run from a sleazy poker game after a fellow player wrongly accused him of cheating.

How to Get the Look

As Eric “The Kid” Stoner, Steve McQueen channels his personal sense of style into a laidback, streetwise Depression-era rounder.

• Black waxed cotton hip-length rain jacket with brown suede-lined standing collar (with 2-button throat tab), four black-painted button-front, slanted handwarmer pockets, and set-in sleeves (with plain cuffs)
• Navy blue cotton crew-neck sweater with set-in sleeves
• Dark gray wool single forward-pleated trousers with slim belt loops, extended concealed-hook front tab, straight on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather bluchers/derby shoes
• Black socks

To soften the look with earth tones à la McQueen, opt for a muted orange sweater and brown flannel trousers.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I don’t need marked cards to beat you, pal.

Footnote

Steve McQueen was reportedly a waxed jacket wearer in real life, having sported a Barbour waxed jacket with the rest of the American motorcycle team during the 1964 International Six Days Trial in East Germany. One of McQueen’s teammates was Bud Ekins, the stunt driver whom he had previously worked with in The Great Escape and who would later alternate with McQueen behind the wheel of an iconic hunter green 1968 Mustang in Bullitt.

George Clooney as Jack/Edward in The American (2010).

Vitals

George Clooney as Jack (aka “Edward”), weary hitman and gunsmith

Castel del Monte, Abruzzo, Italy, May 2010

Film: The American
Release Date: September 1, 2010
Director: Anton Corbijn
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Many eyes around the world are on America right now, so I’m responding to a recent request to see George Clooney’s sharp suit from the ending of The American, the quiet 2010 drama that featured Clooney as a semi-retired assassin and gunsmith in a small Italian town for the proverbial “one last job”.

What’d He Wear?

George Clooney wore plenty of Ermenegildo Zegna in his role as Jack/Edward in The American, from his dressed-down field jacket to a charcoal wool suit for the climactic finale. An interview with costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb from the Focus Features archives further explores this association:

We went with timeless classics — nothing branded or slick. The only kind of high design was his final suit at the end of the movie. He has to acquire a suit for a procession, and in all these towns that’s where you wear your Sunday finest. We had a lot of big name designers vying for the opportunity to provide this suit, but the only designer I seriously considered was Zegna. Their suits have an understated quality that doesn’t rely on fashion-forwardness. It’s traditional tailoring but very modern and clean. [Jack’s final suit] is not a “look at me” suit — when you put on that suit, you look at the person. But other than getting the tailoring right, it wasn’t designed for him. And because we needed half a dozen suits, we were able to ask [Zegna] to make repeats for us.

A press announcement from the time of the film’s release further describes the suit as “a classical yet contemporary Ermenegildo Zegna two button suit from the ‘Sartoria’ line, made in the crease-resistant ‘Traveller’ fabric of superfine merino wool.” Zegna still produces suits in its lightweight wool Traveller fabric, described on its site as: “the ‘easy’ fabric par excellence, Traveller is made of very flexible and elastic superfine wool. Yarns are high-twisted to ensure a clean appearance and crisp handle. Garments made of Traveller, in fact, are extremely resistant to creasing, for permanent and impeccable aplomb. Traveller is the ideal fabric for making comfortable and innovative garments for men who are always on the move.”

Jack’s Zegna single-breasted suit jacket has pick-stitched notch lapels with high gorges and a buttonhole through the left lapel. It has a slightly curved “barchetta” breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long double vents. A seam runs down the center of the back.

Jack, around Abruzzo.

The Zegna suit jacket naturally incorporates elements of classic Italian tailoring and details, creating a V-shape that is emphasized by wide shoulders and a pulled-in waist.

Jack hurries to tend to a pressing issue.

Jack’s trousers have a medium-low rise and a flat front. Only the straight on-seam side pockets are seen as he never removes his jacket to show the back pockets, if there are any. The bottoms are plain-hemmed with a long, full break over his shoes. He matches the black shoes with a black leather belt with a brushed steel single-prong buckle.

A “bloodied” George Clooney cheekily poses on location while filming The American.

Although the initial announcement stated that Clooney would be wearing “classic leather lace-ups” with the suit, Jack clearly wears a pair of black leather plain-toe slip-on loafers with high vamps and short hidden elastic side goring, also in black. He also wears a pair of black socks.

No mistaking what happened to Jack’s duplicitous underworld contact.

Jack wears a pale gray Egyptian cotton dress shirt, also from Ermenegildo Zegna, with a spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs. He wears it with the collar unbuttoned and no tie.

Sprezzatura in action.

In addition to most of his clothing, Zegna also provided a pair of sunglasses to the production. He wore tortoise Persols earlier, but with his field jacket and this suit, Jack wears a pair of Ermenegildo Zegna SZ3174 aviator-style sunglasses with bronze frames and brown polarized lenses.

Pensive as ever!

As an Omega ambassador, George Clooney wears a sharp Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph in The American with a stainless 42mm case, black calfskin strap, and a black dial accented by three sub-dials at 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00. The model appears to be 3870.50.31, available on Amazon.

Omega: the choice for international assassins. (Also note the slightly curved “barchetta” breast pocket of his suit jacket.)

How to Get the Look

Jack may be the film’s titular American, but he is quite adept at adapting Italian style into his subdued suit.

• Charcoal lightweight “Traveller” wool Ermenegildo Zegna “Sartoria” suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted “barchetta” breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, long double vents
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale gray Egyptian cotton Ermenegildo Zegna dress shirt with spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Black leather belt with brushed steel single-prong buckle
• Black leather plain-toe high-vamp slip-on loafers with hidden elastic side goring
• Black dress socks
• Ermenegildo Zegna SZ3174 bronze-framed aviator sunglasses with brown polarized lenses
• Omega Speedmaster Professional wristwatch on a black calfskin strap

The Gun

Jack’s handgun is the preferred piece of well-suited movie spies, the venerable Walther PPK in a classic blued metal finish. Jack’s PPK was made during the Cold War, as the West German manufacture seen in a close-up reveals, and is chambered for the same 7.65 mm (.32 ACP) cartridge as James Bond preferred for his PPK.

A sharp, tailored Italian suit, an Omega wristwatch, and now a Walther PPK? I wonder if Jack is a 007 fan…

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Footnote

For more information about The American‘s association with Ermenegildo Zegna, read here.