Arinzé Kene and Rachel Brosnahan in I’m Your Woman (2020)
Vitals
Arinzé Kene as Cal, taciturn and resourceful former thief
Western Pennsylvania, Fall 1979
Film: I’m Your Woman
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Director: Julia Hart
Costume Designer: Natalie O’Brien
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Julia Hart’s under-discussed crime drama I’m Your Woman premiered four years ago this month during the 2020 AFI Fest, followed by its limited theatrical release on December 4th and its streaming release one week later.
As a Pittsburgher, I remember when this was being filmed here in southwestern Pennsylvania through the fall of 2019 and was intrigued by its obvious 1970s setting and the fact that it starred Rachel Brosnahan, whom I recognized and liked from House of Cards and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. When I finally had the opportunity to watch it a year later, I was impressed by its unique spin on a classic noir crime story.
Brosnahan stars as Jean, a mostly idle housewife “somewhere in America” (according to Hart’s screenplay) who is understandably surprised when her criminal husband Eddie (Bill Heck) brings home a baby, whom she names Harry. The mysteries compound when Jean is awakened several nights later by Eddie’s partner-in-crime hands her a bag full of $200,000 and instructs her to go on the run with their quiet accomplice named Cal (Arinzé Kene), who packs Jean, baby Harry, and scant belongings into his blue 1979 Chevrolet Malibu.
Cal checks Jean and Harry into a motel, where he demonstrates his ability to comfort the baby. With no word from Eddie but danger lurking in the shadows, the slapdash family begins a quiet transient getaway of anonymous motels, diners, and thrift stores, until Cal ultimately relocates Jean and Harry into a suburban house rented for them, warning her to avoid contact with even the friendliest neighbors:
No people—people ask questions.
What’d He Wear?
Cal spends the first act on the run with Jean wearing a dark-blue hopsack polyester leisure jacket—a style often named among menswear’s nadirs, even considering the already excessive fashions of the 1970s. While it still may not be to everyone’s taste, I submit that Cal wears his leisure jacket with as much taste as the decade’s trends would allow.
Costume designer Natalie O’Brien described to Abe Friedtanzer for Awards Radar how she considers every aspect of a character when crafting their wardrobe. “It’s so important to know what the characters are using and driving… if Cal is going to be driving a full Cadillac, then maybe I would have put him in a suit or something fancier. But it makes much more sense for the character.”
Four dark-blue plastic sew-through buttons fasten up from the waist to mid-chest, though Cal always wears them open. There’s no top button, and the appropriately sporty camp collar lays flat against the chest. The shoulder epaulets have pointed ends that button down against the neck, and the set-in sleeves are finished with single-button squared cuffs. The two box-pleated chest pockets and two slightly larger box-pleated hip pockets are all covered with shallowly pointed flaps that hang freely with no buttons. These safari-informed epaulets and quartet of pockets add a sense of authority consistent with the professionalism that Cal regularly demonstrates as he takes control of their compounding crises. A western-style pointed yoke reinforces the back, and there are double side vents. The collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps are all finished with light-blue contrasting edge stitching.
Cal and Jean bicker over the hood of his Malibu in the parking lot of The Elbow Room in McKeesport. This Mon Valley staple opened in 1957 but closed in February 2024.
In an interview with Gold Derby, O’Brien elaborated that the rationale to dress Cal in a high-necked sweater was not only driven by the context and contemporary fashions but also Arinzé Kene’s physique. When Kene arrived for the fitting, O’Brien noticed that “he’s ripped! Like he has muscles all over his body. I’m like ‘oh God, we’ve gotta hide this,’ because it doesn’tr eally work for Cal’s character.” As a result, she pulled together “turtlenecks and cable-knit sweaters… nothing that was snug and tight, except for the bottom half,” to retain the traditional 1970s silhouette.
Cal’s beige woolen sweater is textured through the body and raglan sleeves with a trinity stitch (also known as a “blackberry” or “raspberry” stitch), contrasting with the wide-ribbed mock-neck and cuffs. The sweater also has a plain-knitted strip down each side of the front, framing the trinity-stitched center. These align with the two plain-knitted front pleats that curve out from where each armhole meets the bottom seam of each raglan sleeve, then extend down straight to the waistband, which Cal wears tucked into his trousers.
The rust-brown polyester flat-front trousers have a beltless waistband, fastened with an extended front tab that closes through a single button. Tight through the hips and thghs, then flaring out to a fuller fit below the knees down to the plain-hemmed bottoms, thes trousers follow O’Brien’s vision of a ’70s silhouette. They have jetted back pockets, quarter-top side pockets, and a set-in coin pocket positioned below the right-side of the belt line with a small flap that closes through a single rust-colored plastic button which matches the button on the waistband.
Cal’s black leather apron-toe loafers are detailed with a silver bar across the vamp. The medium break of his trouser bottoms show his dark—likely black—socks.
Production photo from I’m Your Woman
Under his sweater, Cal wears a plain white cotton crew-neck short-sleeved undershirt, which both protects him from the potentially itchy wool and also protects the knitwear from absorbing sweat and other body oils. It also provides him with an appropriate sleep shirt that maintains decorum while sharing motel rooms with the married Jean.
Cal’s dress watch is finished in yellow-gold, with slightly rounded corners on the fixed rectangular bezel which encases a squared black dial. This dial has non-numeric gold indices at each hour except for 12 o’clock, which is distinguished by a small diamond. The wristwatch is straped to a matching gold-finished bracelet made of bar links in alternating widths.
I can’t confirm who made Cal’s watch, but I’m almost certain that it’s a quartz-powered Caravelle like this one. New York-based watch company Bulova introduced the stylish yet affordable Caravelle line in 1962.
How to Get the Look
Arinzé Kene as Cal in I’m Your Woman (2020)
Cal’s style reflects a practical yet polished approach to 1970s menswear, with pieces like his dark-blue leisure jacket and textured knitwear balancing the era’s trends with subtle authority.
- Dark-blue hopsack polyester leisure jacket with flat camp collar, epaulets, four-button front, four box-pleated pockets (with shallow-pointed flaps), 1-button squared cuffs, pointed back yoke, and double side vents
- Beige trinity-stitched wool mock-neck sweater with wide-ribbed neck, wide-ribbed cuffs, and curved front pleats
- Rust-brown polyester flat-front trousers with beltless waistband, quarter-top side pockets, set-in right-front coin pocket (with small single-button flap), jetted back pockets, and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black leather apron-toe loafers with silver bar strap detail
- Black socks
- White cotton crew-neck short-sleeved undershirt
- Yellow-gold dress watch with black rectangular dial (with gold non-numeric hour indices and 12 o’clock diamond) on gold bar-link bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
This is the way things have to be.
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