Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark (1964). Photo credit: MGM.
Vitals
Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau, bumbling Sûreté investigator
Paris, Fall 1963
Film: A Shot in the Dark
Release Date: June 23, 1964
Director: Blake Edwards
Costume Designer: Margaret Furse
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
Tomorrow will commemorate 60 years since the release of A Shot in the Dark, the sequel to The Pink Panther which introduced Peter Sellers as the inept Investigator Clouseau. Sellers’ comedic talent elevated Clouseau to a breakout favorite among audiences of The Pink Panther, which was otherwise meant to be a stylish ensemble comedy centered around David Niven’s dashing jewel thief in pursuit of the eponymous diamond.
After observing how Clouseau resonated with audiences, director Blake Edwards and his co-screenwriter William Peter Blatty adapted Henry Kurnitz’s comic mystery play A Shot in the Dark—itself a Broadway adaptation of Marcel Archard’s L’Idiote—to reprise Sellers’ characterization of Inspector Clouseau. Set in Clouseau’s home turf, the story introduced Clouseau’s long-suffering boss Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) and martial-artist manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) who would both reappear in all three subsequent Pink Panther films to be released the following decade.
A Shot in the Dark begins at the country estate of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders) outside of Paris, where we observe the household and staff watching, evading, and romancing each other in the shadows… until a gunshot rings out and the head chauffeur is found dead in the bedroom of the alluring maid Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer), last seen clutching the victim’s own still-smoking Beretta pistol. Enter Inspector Clouseau onto the scene… stepping out of his car and immediately into the Ballon fountain, perfectly introducing the madcap mystery to follow.
What’d He Wear?
The Pink Panther had established Inspector Clouseau’s now-iconic costume of a soft trilby and a trench coat, which he specifically describes as “my Surété Scotland-Yard-type mackintosh.” While the latter remains generally consistent through the films, Clouseau’s headgear alternated from a black leather cap and a dark-gray tweed trilby in The Pink Panther to a brown felt hat in A Shot in the Dark before he firmly returned to tweed with his brown Lock & Co. bucket-like trilbies in the trio of 1970s films.
Esteemed London hatmaker Herbert Johnson crafted the dark-brown felt short-brimmed trilby that Clouseau wears in A Shot in the Dark, styled with a brown scaled leather band.
Clouseau’s beige gabardine trench coat follows the traditional pattern established at the time the coat was developed for British officers prior to World War I as water-resistant alternatives to heavy greatcoats. British luxury outerwear outfitters Aquascutum and Burberry have each separately claimed a hand in the trench coat’s development, and Clouseau pays each their due by wearing both brands across the series—though it’s an Aquascutum coat that he wore for these first two movies produced in the early 1960s. (More on that later!)
The coat’s characteristic double-breasted front is comprised of an 8×4-button arrangement that ends just below the waist, where it is supplemented by a full self-belt that closes through a tall leather-covered single-prong buckle. Rigged with an array of brass D-rings for attaching equipment, this belt is a defining feature of the trench coat, as are the storm flaps designed to repel and reroute rain from seams and openings; Clouseau’s coat has a storm flap over the right shoulder that buttons down onto the chest and a caped storm flap that extends straight across the upper back.
The raglan sleeves are finished with fully belted cuffs and detailed with pointed shoulder straps (epaulets) that button against the neck. The coat has a long single vent, and the hand pockets have button-down flaps to protect the contents from rain.
Noticing the smoke coming from Clouseau’s coat as he enjoys a cigarette in her room, Maria exclaims “your coat!” to which he casually responds, “yes, it is my coat,” before she screams to clarify that it’s on fire. As Clouseau fights his way out of the smoking coat, we see the large-scaled red-and-black windowpane check against the beige lining, suggesting that he’s wearing yet another Aquascutum coat as he had in the first film. Formed in the early 1850s, this company named itself after the Latin term for “watershield” after crafting the first mass-produced waterproof wool, which they used to great effect when crafting British officers’ outerwear during the Crimean War and subsequent conflicts.
When Sellers reprised the character a decade later, he wore Burberry trench coats as informed by the brand’s distinctive beige, black, white, and red house tartan check on the lining, but he evidently wore Aquascutum coats in both of Clouseau’s 1960s-filmed adventures. (Aquascutum themselves had tweeted this in 2016, though the photo depicted Sellers in the ’70s, likely wearing one of the Burberry coats!)
Although Clouseau maintains a closet of conservative navy and gray suits (in addition to his array of disguises), A Shot in the Dark establishes his regular pattern of wearing a brown suit under his trench coat, which would be repeated with his brown flannel suit in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and a rust-colored tweed Norfolk suit in The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976).
In A Shot in the Dark, Clouseau wears a dark-brown self-striped wool suit that looks better than one might expect from such a comical character. Peter Sellers was an early client of celebrated London tailor Douglas Hayward, including during the tailor’s collaboration with Dimi Major at the “Major Howard” firm in Fulham that produced Sellers’ screen-worn suits in the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale, so it’s possible that Hayward had a hand in crafting Clouseau’s suits for A Shot in the Dark.
The suit follows a cut contemporary for the mid-1960s with a short and close-fitting jacket, though it still fits Sellers well as opposed to the shrunken fits popular through the 2010s as a misguided throwback to Mad Men-style menswear. The single-breasted jacket has squared notch lapels and a full three-button front that Clouseau wears with the top two buttons fastened. The ventless jacket also has narrow and soft shoulders, a clean chest, and a lack of front darts that maintains a boxy but trim silhouette. The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, patch-style hip pockets covered with straight-positioned flaps, and three-button cuffs.
The flat-front trousers rise to just bellow Sellers’ natural waist, where he holds them up with a narrow black leather belt that closes through a small silver-toned square single-prong buckle. The side pockets have gently slanted openings, and the legs taper down to plain-hemmed bottoms.
Despite his respect for current fashions, Clouseau shows little respect to Benjamin Ballon’s billiards equipment.
Due to its craftsmanship and the fact that Sellers was a customer in real life, Clouseau’s white cotton shirts were likely made by Frank Foster. Each shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs.
Clouseau maintains tonal consistency with a slim dark brown silk tie which appears to be fashionably striped with low-contrasting and gradating “uphill” stripes in two alternating shades of dark brown, all overlaid by dark-brown vertical streaks.
Clouseau’s sleek slip-on shoes are also consistent with contemporary fashions of the mid-1960s, often sported by the likes of Sean Connery’s then-current characterization of James Bond. Clouseau’s plain-toe loafers are only sparingly seen on screen, but the smooth dark-brown leather uppers have a long vamp and elastic side gussets, similar to low-profile ankle boots. He wears them with dark-brown socks that continue the leg line of his trousers.
Peter Sellers allowed his real-life taste for watches to be transferred to Clouseau as the actor wore his own “Pepsi bezel” Rolex GMT Master in A Shot in the Dark, three years before he would again wear it as gambler Evelyn Tremble in Casino Royale.
Rolex introduced the GMT Master in 1954 in collaboration with Pan Am so that pilots would have a reliable 24-hour timepiece during long-haul flights. In addition to the standard hour, minute, and second hands, the GMT Master boasts a white-wheeled date window (at the 3:00 position) and a dedicated 24-hour hand that allows wearers to instantly see the current time in two time zones, by following the hours inscribed on the 24-hour scale bezel. After five years of the original ref. 6542 in production, Rolex replaced it with the ref. 1675 that substituted the problematic radium Bakelite bezel with screen-printed metal, increased the case size from 38mm to 40mm, improved the automatic movement, and added crown guards. Produced in a variety of metal finishes, dial colors, and bezel combinations, the ref. 1675 was the only GMT Master produced by Rolex until 1980. (You can read much more about this model at GMTMaster1675.com.)
The presence of crown guards indicate that Sellers clearly wears a contemporary ref. 1675 GMT Master, housed in a stainless steel 40mm case with a round black dial under T116 crystal and the iconic “Pepsi bezel”, so named for its blue-and-red metal insert that resembles the popular soda brand’s logo. Though attached to the three-piece Oyster-style link bracelet in Casino Royale, Sellers wears the GMT Master on the five-piece Jubilee-style 6251 link bracelet in A Shot in the Dark.
Sellers’ ref. 1675 Rolex GMT Master with its distinctive “Pepsi” bezel can be seen on his left wrist as he attempts to mend the felt after a bad scratching (in more ways than one).
When investigating the crime scene at the Ballon residence, Clouseau pulls on a pair of brown roughout leather three-point work gloves.
Wearing his still-drying gloves to investigate the initial murder scene, Clouseau inspects the “point-two-five-caliber Beretta” ostensibly dropped by the killer.
How to Get the Look
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Though he’s a comical character, there’s little that’s funny about the way that Inspector Clouseau dresses in A Shot in the Dark, sporting well-made menswear from reputable English outfitters. He blends contemporary fashions with tradition, from his close-fitting brown Douglas Hayward-tailored suit and white Frank Foster shirt to an Aquascutum trench coat and a brown Herbert Johnson trilby that may be the funniest-looking aspect of his outfit (though not as much as the soft tweed bucket hat that the character would wear through the 1970s.)
- Dark-brown self-striped wool suit:
- Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Flat-front tapered-leg trousers with belt loops, slightly slanted side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- White cotton shirt with spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
- Dark-brown silk tie with two-tone gradating uphill stripes
- Black leather belt with silver-toned small squared single-prong buckle
- Dark-brown smooth leather side-gusset loafers
- Dark-brown dress socks
- Dark-brown felt trilby with brown scaled leather band
- Beige gabardine Aquascutum trench coat with broad lapels, 8×4-button double-breasted front, full self-belt (with leather-covered single-prong buckle), raglan sleeves with full-belted cuffs, right-side and back storm flaps, slanted hand pockets (with pointed button-through flaps), and long vent
- Brown roughout leather three-point work gloves
- Rolex GMT Master ref. 1675 pilot’s watch with stainless steel 40mm case, rotating 24-hour blue-and-red “Pepsi bezel”, round black dial with white-wheeled date window (at 3:00 position), and stainless steel Jubilee-style bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
I believe everything and I believe nothing. I suspect everyone and I suspect no one.
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