Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)
Vitals
Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, cantankerous boarding school professor
Massachusetts, Christmas Eve 1970
Film: The Holdovers
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Director: Alexander Payne
Costume Designer: Wendy Chuck
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The release of The Holdovers last year filled a long-needed gap in theatrically released holiday canon, offering a fresh yet timeless addition to the roster of rewatchable Christmas movies. Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie is set during Christmas 1970 at the fictional Barton Academy boarding school in New England, where a group of students not going home for the holidays are chaperoned by a skeleton crew of the school’s staff.
After all but one are given the opportunity to leave before Christmas, the remaining student—the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)—remains behind under the watchful lazy eye of resentful classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Paul’s few friends on staff include the cheerful administrator Lydia Crane (Carrie Preston) and the cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is mourning her son’s recent death in Vietnam.
Lydia invites them to spend Christmas Eve at her home, but Paul’s reluctance frustrates both Angus and Mary, who confronts him:
Mr. Hunham, if you are too chickenshit to go to this party, then just say that. But don’t fuck it up for the little asshole! What’s wrong with you? It’s just a party… what are you afraid of?
His confidence boosted by a few extra sprays of Glade under his armpits to subdue his characteristic odor, Paul accompanies Angus and Mary to Lydia’s party, scored by Herb Alpert’s Christmas album—until Mary puts herself in charge of the music, and the Temptations and Artie Shaw take over the soundtrack.
While all three partygoers engage in flirtations with varying degrees of success, Mary’s question about his fear is answered as a promising conversation with his crush Lydia is cut short by the arrival of her “friend” Tom… though Paul may have been out of his emotional depth to begin with when his response to Lydia’s playful peck under the mistletoe was informing her that “Aeneas carried mistletoe with him when he descended into Hades in search of the father.” I guess you can take the teacher out of the ancient civilizations classroom, but you can’t take the ancient civilizations classroom out of the teacher.
What’d He Wear?
Rather than his usual knitwear-focused wardrobe, Paul dresses to impress as much as he can for the party hosted by his faculty crush Lydia, though he sticks to his tried-and-true template of corduroy suits and bow ties.
“I thought of him as professorial—tweed jackets, bow ties, sweater vests, and corduroy. While I didn’t want to go completely into that stereotypical look, how could I not a little? Besides, the yearbooks demonstrated that was exactly the right look for the period,” costume designer Wendy Chuck explained to Focus Features of her vision for Paul’s costumes. “Also, in prepping his costumes, we spent a lot of time making sure his three-piece suits felt like he’d lived in them for the last 10 years.”
Between interviews for Awards Daily and AnOther, Ms. Chuck confirmed that—while Paul’s “everyday” tan corduroy suit came from Brooks Brothers, this darker olive-brown corduroy suit was sourced from J. Press:
David Hemingson, the writer, had attended the schools so he had reference to a company in New York called J. Press where he knew that all his teachers had sourced their clothes. And they are still in existence – they still have the three-piece corduroy suits. So, we were able to go there and get in his head. That’s where Paul’s Christmas party suit comes from… J. Press is still very much a walk-in and walk-out, like with a professorial look kind of shop.
This olive three-piece suit is decidedly dressier than the two-piece suit, lacking the latter’s sportier touches like the patch pockets, elbow patches, and half-belted back on its jacket. Instead, the olive suit jacket is styled more like a traditional lounge suit with its set-in pockets and plain, single-vented back, albeit retaining the Ivy-style 3/2-roll button configuration and the swelled edges along the notch lapels. The breast pocket is welted, the straight hip pockets covered with flaps, and the sleeves are finished with three-button cuffs.
While he typically wears one of his sweater vests with the tan corduroy suit, Paul steps out in the olive corduroy suit’s matching waistcoat (vest), which has a single-breasted, five-button front that he correctly wears with the lowest button undone. The waistcoat has two welted pockets positioned low on the front and a dark satin-finished back with an adjustable strap.
The flat-front trousers have side pockets and two back pockets. Though Paul’s vest covers the waistband, we can discern that he likely holds the trousers up with a dark-brown leather belt as he does with all of his other trousers. The plain-hemmed bottoms break over the tops of his usual utilitarian dark-brown leather apron-toe derby shoes.
In another departure from his usual style that shows the attention he’s putting into making a good impression at the party, Paul leaves his rumpled button-down collar shirts in his closet and wears a light-yellow self-striped shirt that features a point collar, plain button-up front, and barrel cuffs that close through one of two buttons for an adjusted fit over each wrist.
Reaching for another of his trademark bow ties, he knots on a butterfly-shaped silk tie in “Malcolm” tartan plaid. This Christmassy pattern consists of double sets of red stripes and sets of yellow and blue stripes intersecting perpendicularly over a dark-green and navy-blue checked ground.
Between his combed mustache and Glade-refreshed armpits, Paul Hunham is ready to party!
Strapped to his left wrist on a black leather bracelet, Paul’s yellow-gold wristwatch has a round black dial marked with gold non-numeric hour indices.
“For Paul, there were two things that were important to get right—his hat and his jacket,” costume designer Wendy Chuck shared with Focus Features. Indeed, his checked tweed trilby and duffel coat perfectly complement the rest of his outfit. The short-brimmed tweed trilby features a gun club check pattern, with a rust-and-black houndstooth design set against a beige background.
Duffel coats, which are recognized for their integrated hoods and loop-and-toggle front closures (easily operated even with gloved hands), were named after the coarse wool fabric originally produced in the Belgian town of Duffel during the 15th century. Though their roots may trace back to earlier Polish military outerwear, the duffel coat gained popularity in the 1850s when British outfitter John Partridge designed a version that was later adopted by the British military, especially by the Royal Navy, though its famed wearer British Army Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery resulted in its enduring “Monty coat” nickname.
Like many military garments, the duffel coat transitioned into civilian fashion after the war, popularized by companies like Gloverall. It became a staple in northern colleges across both the UK and the U.S. Given that Paul was a lifelong Barton man, it’s likely he acquired his duffel coat sometime between his student years and his early years as a faculty member.
Paul’s dark-gray melton wool duffel coat stays true to the traditional design, featuring a black-lined integrated hood and four black leather toggle-fastened loops up the front. The thigh-length coat also includes a shoulder and back yoke, set-in sleeves with plain cuffs, flapped patch-style hip pockets, and a single vent.
What to Imbibe
Like any good host, Lydia anticipates Paul’s preferred spirit, confirming “Jim Beam for you, right?” as he walks in. This bourbon whiskey received its current name in 1943 after decades branded as “Old Tub”—which may have been a more fitting brand for the schlubby Paul.
Nearly ubiquitous in bars around the world, Jim Beam’s standard 80-proof “White Label” variety was deemed the world’s most popular bourbon in Brad Japhe’s reporting for Forbes, citing the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
How to Get the Look
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers (2023)
Paul Hunham dresses up his “uniform” of corduroy suits and bow ties to make an impression for a friend’s Christmas Eve gathering, sporting a three-piece lounge suit in a darker shade of corduroy and tying on a bow tie patterned in a festive yet classic tartan plaid.
- Olive-brown corduroy cotton three-piece suit:
- Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with two welted pockets
- Flat-front trousers with side pockets, two back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Light-yellow tonal-striped shirt with point collar, plain button-up front, and button barrel cuffs
- Malcolm tartan plaid silk bow tie
- Dark-brown leather apron-toe derby shoes
- Beige gun club check tweed trilby
- Dark-gray melton wool duffel coat with integrated hood, four black leather loop-and-toggles, flapped patch hip pockets, and single vent
- Yellow-gold wristwatch with round black dial and black leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
The world doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s on fire. The rich don’t give a shit. Poor kids are cannon fodder. Integrity’s a punchline. Trust is just a name on a bank.
The post Christmas Eve in The Holdovers: Paul’s Corduroy Three-Piece Suit and Duffel Coat appeared first on BAMF Style.