Maggie Smith in Death on the Nile (1978)
Vitals
Maggie Smith as Miss Bowers, dependable nurse and traveling companion
Egypt, September 1937
Film: Death on the Nile
Release Date: September 29, 1978
Director: John Guillermin
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of prolific English actress Dame Maggie Smith, who died three months ago in September 2024. Born December 28, 1934, Smith was a two-time Academy Award winner for her performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), later endearing herself to modern audiences for her roles in the Harry Potter film series and on Downton Abbey.
BAMF Style readers familiar with my appreciation for Agatha Christie novels and their screen adaptations may not be surprised to learn that I became a fan of hers following her appearances in the lavish Anthony Shaffer-penned adaptations of Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, both of which starred Peter Ustinov as the fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Smith appears among the ensemble cast of Death on the Nile as Miss Bowers, the steadfast yet sharp-tongued personal nurse and traveling companion to the septugenarian socialite Marie Van Schuyler (Bette Davis). A kleptomaniac, Mrs. Van Schuyler so envies the pearls worn by newlywed heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles) that she insists upon taking Miss Bowers on the same Egyptian river cruise as the newlyweds, hoping for an opportunity to swipe Linnet’s necklace.
When Linnet is murdered in her cabin, her missing pearls land Mrs. Van Schuyler on the list of suspects… as well as Miss Bowers, who maintained a personal grudge against the Ridgeway family for having ruined her family’s standing, forcing her into a life of servitude under ungrateful masters like the irascible Mrs. Van Schuyler.
What’d She Wear?
Anthony Powell received his second of three Academy Awards for his costume design, which included Miss Bowers’ menswear-informed wardrobe. While neither the book nor film outwardly speculate on Miss Bowers’ sexuality, she is portrayed with masculine tendencies—if not outwardly queer-coded—as suggested by one of the many barbed exchanges between Miss Bowers and her employer:
Miss Bowers: My mother was a lady!
Mrs. Van Schuyler: A disposition she failed to pass on to you.
While the women all don evening gowns for dinner, Miss Bowers joins the tuxedo-clad gents in her own unique black tie ensemble. Unlike the white tie and tails famously sported by Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, released several years before Death on the Nile was set, Bowers’ evening-wear wouldn’t quite be qualified as cross-dressing as elements like the skirt and shoes reflect that her execution has clearly been adapted for a woman.
In his gray collared sweater incongruously worn with a bright-red woolen tie, Jim Ferguson (Jon Finch) could stand to take a few lessons in how to properly dress for the evening from Miss Bowers. To Finch’s left is the late Olivia Hussey, who died yesterday at age 73.
Miss Bowers’ black dinner jacket has silk-faced notch lapels that roll to a link-button front, a fancy and smart alternative to traditional button closure. On Miss Bowers’ jacket, this consists of a black silk-covered button on the right side of the garment that connects with a short but heavy thread to a similar button on the reverse side, which pulls through the buttonhole on the left for a symmetrical appearance that reduces overlap and supports her more androgynous elegance by avoiding any gendered button direction.
The narrow shoulders are padded with roping at the sleeve-heads, and each sleeve is finished in a wide black silk cuff decorated with three small silk-covered buttons. In addition to the straight jetted hip pockets, the jacket has a welted breast pocket that Miss Bowers dresses with a rotation of black-on-white patterned pocket squares.
Miss Bowers wears a light-cream silk evening shirt with a tall, stiff white wing collar attached to it. The shirt has the requisite front pleats, flanking a placket that Bowers fastens with four round, black-rimmed diamond studs which match the links on her double (French) cuffs. She wears a traditional black silk butterfly-shaped bow tie, which is appropriately a self-tying model as looks best with a wing collar.
Miss Bowers wears a cream-colored waistcoat (vest), cut lower on Smith’s figure than a man’s waistcoat would be worn. There are five black-finished nickel buttons in the traditional right-over-left direction, with the lowest button positioned over a pointed extension that echoes the V-shaped opening. The waistcoat presumably has pockets, as Bowers wears a pocket watch strung “double Albert”-style across the garment, with its chain pulled through a hole next to the second buttonhole.
For those who don’t pay attention to button direction, the most decidedly feminine aspect of Miss Bowers’ black tie ensemble would be her replacing the trousers with a black pleated knee-length skirt. Consistent with the efficient nurse’s sense of practicality, the skirt features hand pockets with vertical openings set-in along the foremost pleat on each side.
Like Poirot, Miss Bowers accompanies her black tie kit with the especially formal black patent leather pumps detailed with black grosgrain ribbons over the toes, though Bowers wears the high-heeled variation typically preferred by women. Her stockings are sheer black silk.
Perhaps for consistency with the “pince-nez” eyeglasses described by Agatha Christie in the source novel, Miss Bowers keeps a thin gold-framed monocle on a tan leather cord around her neck. With this outfit, it hangs to just above the V-shaped opening of her waistcoat.
How to Get the Look
Maggie Smith in Death on the Nile (1978)
- Black single-breasted dinner jacket with silk-faced notch lapels, link-button front closure, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and black silk cuffs with three silk-covered buttons
- Cream silk evening shirt with pleated front, front placket, and double/French cuffs
- White detachable wing collar
- Black-trimmed diamond studs and cuff links
- Black silk butterfly/thistle-shaped bow tie
- Cream single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with hip pockets
- Black pleated knee-length skirt with set-in hand pockets
- Black patent leather high-heeled pumps with black grosgrain bows
- Black sheer silk stockings
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and read Agatha Christie’s original novel.
The post Death on the Nile: Maggie Smith in Menswear-informed Black Tie appeared first on BAMF Style.