Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (1994)
Vitals
Brad Pitt as Tristan Ludlow, tough bootlegger and World War I veteran
Montana, Fall 1925
Film: Legends of the Fall
Release Date: December 23, 1994
Director: Edward Zwick
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Legends of the Fall may be a biblical title, but the style is autumnal, set amidst the network of the fictional Ludlow ranch in Montana across the first quarter of the 20th century.
Family patriarch William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) had been a decorated Army colonel before leaving the service in protest of the government’s treatment of Native Americans, raising his sons Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt), and Samuel (Henry Thomas) on their remote ranch, where they learn to be the self-sufficient types that can survive bear confrontations… and if they don’t survive them, at least put up enough of a fight to earn “a good death.”
Portraying the tough but troubled Tristan Ludlow provided a breakthrough opportunity for Pitt, continuing the momentum he’d built in a similar role two years earlier in A River Runs Through It, though Tristan is arguably a more rugged character than Paul Maclean. By the mid-1920s, Tristan had seen and done it all, as a cowboy, soldier, big-game hunter, and now a bootlegger whose rumrunning runs him afoul of his own Volstead-voting brother Alfred and his nemeses, the crooked O’Banion brothers. As blood spills on both sides of the conflict, Tristan fears that those he love most are damned to die before him, only to be saved by the bonds of his family.
(Despite the setting, the bulk of the production had been filmed in Alberta, with Ghost River Wilderness Area standing in for the Ludlow ranch and even the First Nations settlement of Morley standing in for the French battleground of World War I. Director of photographer John Toll won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, the only win of the film’s three Oscar nominations, deservedly awarded for his epic craft.)
What’d He Wear?
Tristan Ludlow defies the traditional image of Prohibition-era bootleggers clad in pinstriped three-piece suits and fedoras by continuing to keep his hair long and sporting his usual western-informed workwear.
For the climactic finale at Ludlow ranch, Legends of the Fall costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott dressed Tristan in a tan thigh-length jacket made of soft lambskin leather. The cut and cloth mirrors contemporary car coats, an increasingly popular style as more men and women were needing functional (and often fashionable) outerwear to combat the elements from open cars.
The screen-worn coat was auctioned by both The Golden Closet and Heritage Auctions, the latter listing describing it as a “1970s-vintage coat… further aged and distressed specifically for Pitt’s use in the the film.” The Golden Closet also chronicles the post-production work by costume designer Richard LaMotte to restore the dry-cleaned coat to its rich yet weathered appearance on screen.
Tristan’s tan lambskin car coat has a shawl collar that gradually tapers to the double-breasted front, arranged in a 6×3 configuration. This coat has slanted pockets over the chest, straight flapped hip pockets, and set-in sleeves finished with a large decorative brown horn sew-through button on each pointed cuff. The ventless back has a center seam bisecting the upper back, perpendicular to the horizontal seam running around the waist. The jacket’s full self-belt pulls through four narrow loops around the waist, though Tristan keeps the belt undone with each end hanging free.
From Tristan’s leather car coat to William’s voluminous furs, iconic outerwear seems to be a signature of the Ludlow family.
Tristan’s shirt is a simple pale-ecru cotton flannel band-collar popover shirt, an era-correct nod to a prevailing workwear of the early 20th century. The shirt’s long five-button placket extends down past Brad Pitt’s natural waist; if it wasn’t for the small portion of fabric visible between the bottom of the placket and where the shirt is tucked into the trouser waistband, it resembles a full button-up shirt. The shirt also has a band-collar, breast pocket, and button cuffs.
Tristan tucks the shirt into his brown moleskin work pants, which have copper rivet buttons positioned around the waistband to be worn with suspenders (braces), and he appears to be wearing his usual brown tooled leather double-hooked suspenders with their silver-toned buckles. These flat-front trousers also have a button-up fly front, set-in front pockets with slit openings positioned straight along the waistband, and plain-hemmed bottoms that cover the high shafts of his weathered dark-brown leather cowboy boots.
Tristan’s khaki felt cowboy hat follows the pinch-front style with a tall crown and dramatic wide, curved brim. He cycles through several different native-designed hatbands, including this narrow band that’s woven in a series of alternating brown and beige left-facing arrows against a black ground, framed by yellowed beige borders along the top and bottom, strung and tied together in the back.
Tristan also sports the well-worn yellow leather work gloves prominently seen earlier when he and his father were hunting a grizzly bear.
The Gun
After William expends both shells from the double-barreled shotgun concealed under his bear coat in Tristan’s defense, Alfred provides supporting—and surprising—firepower with the family’s Winchester Model 1873 lever-action hunting rifle, which he then hands off to Tristan as he embraces his father to make long-overdue amends.
Evidently, trigger discipline is not among the extensive gun handling taught from a young age at Ludlow ranch.
Immortalized as “The Gun That Won the West” by Winchester’s marketing team, the Model 1873 was the company’s first significant new design following its inception seven years earlier with the brass alloy-framed “Yellow Boy” Model 1866.
Designed by Oliver Winchester, the initial Model 1873 was chambered exclusively for the .44-40 Winchester Center Fire (WCF) ammunition, the company’s first centerfire round. It later expanded to include .38-40 WCF and .32-20 WCF offerings as those rounds were developed over the following decade. (A run of nearly 20,000 .22-caliber rimfire Model 1873 rifles were also produced from 1884 through 1904.) Colt also adapted its Single Action Army revolver to accommodate these specific rounds, allowing users to need only one type of ammunition for both their revolver and rifle.
Winchester produced the Model 1873 in three configurations that varied by barrel length—a 24″-barreled sporting rifle, a 20″-barreled carbine, and a limited run of 30″-barreled “musket” rifles—all fed from 15-round tubular under-barrel magazines. More than 720,000 Model 1873 rifles were manufactured from 1873 to 1923, a period during which Winchester introduced a variety of other lever-action rifles, though none achieved the iconic status of the Model ’73.
The longer barrel and capped forearm indicate that the Ludlow family Winchester Model 1873 is the 24″-barreled sporting model.
How to Get the Look
Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (1994)
Tristan Ludlow maintains a distinctive look with a tan leather car coat, collarless off-white shirt, and work pants that can be easily adapted to suit modern sartorial sensibilities with a henley and brown jeans—though I’d recommend getting a trusted second opinion before trying to finish the fit with a cowboy hat.
- Tan lambskin leather thigh-length car coat with tapered shawl collar, 6×3-button double-breasted front, slanted chest pockets, straight flapped set-in hip pockets, vestigial single-button cuffs, full self-belt, and ventless back
- Pale-ecru cotton flannel popover shirt with band-collar, five-button placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
- Brown moleskin flat-front work trousers with copper rivet suspender buttons, straight-slit front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Brown tooled leather suspenders with silver-toned buckles and double hooks
- Dark-brown leather cowboy boots
- Khaki felt pinch-front cowboy hat with narrow black, brown, and beige arrow-patterned band
- Yellow leather work gloves
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
Did I damn everybody around me as well as myself?
The post Legends of the Fall: Brad Pitt’s Tan Leather Car Coat appeared first on BAMF Style.