Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine in The Limey (1999)
Vitals
Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine, shady rock producer/promoter
Big Sur, California, Fall 1998
Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Steven Soderbergh’s stylish 1999 crime film The Limey follows paroled English career criminal Wilson (Terence Stamp) on a quest for revenge after his daughter’s mysterious death, leading him to her final boyfriend—L.A. rock promoter Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda). As Wilson’s pursuit grows increasingly deadly, Terry high-tails it to his Big Sur beach house, where he holes up with his latest girlfriend Adhara (Amelia Heinle) and a handful of boyguards, including security chief Jim Avery (Barry Newman).
Soderbergh filmed The Limey on location in Big Sur, a picturesque region on California’s Central Coast. Spanish settlers originally named this unexplored coastal expanse “el sur grande” (“the big south”). As more English-speaking inhabitants arrived over the following decades, the name was simplified to the Spanglish “Big Sur”. This name was officially adopted 100 years ago today when the U.S. Postal Service approved a petition to rename the local post office from Arbolado to Big Sur on March 6, 1915.
The winding seaside section of California State Route 1 passing through Big Sur is considered one of the most scenic areas in the world, and I’m looking forward to my first time making this drive a month from today.
What’d He Wear?
Terry’s daily wardrobe in L.A. consisted of what you’d expect from a hot shot music exec, clad in slick suits and dress shirts buttoned to the neck. When he retreats to the more natural and laidback environment at his Big Sur home, Terry adapts his wardrobe accordingly, dressing in relaxed layers and hardy textured fabrics.
His olive-and-cream check over-shirt is woven from bouclé yarn, resulting in its looped texture and irregular slubs. This oversized shirt could qualify for what has come to known as a “shacket” (portmanteau of “shirt-jacket”), transferring the typical design of a shirt onto outerwear. Worn untucked and unbuttoned over his other shirts, this shirt has a sporty spread collar and six large mixed black recessed buttons that fasten up the plain front from waist to neck. Matching buttons close the barrel-style cuffs and the two patch chest pockets with mitred bottom corners.
Jim Avery joins Terry Valentine for a smoke on the latter’s scenic Big Sur patio.
Terry layers the over-shirt over a soft French blue shirt with a breast pocket and button cuffs. Like the shirts he wore back in L.A., this shirt has a point collar often marketed as a “hidden button-down collar,” referring to the small buttons on the body of the shirt that fasten to covered buttonholes on the underside of the collar. The front placket closes with flat smoke plastic 4-hole buttons, though he leaves the top two undone, showing the reinforced crew-neck of his white cotton long-sleeved T-shirt base layer.
Terry’s taupe twill trousers have single reverse-facing pleats, belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. His dark-brown leather belt has a silver-toned single-prong buckle.
One minute, you’re relaxing in your handsome Big Sur retreat… the next, you’re scrambling for your life as bullets pepper the walls around you.
The dark-brown suede uppers of Terry’s apron-toe derby shoes harmonize with the soft, textured fabric of his over-shirt. He wears them with dark-gray ribbed wool socks that are damaged past the point of an easy mend when Terry suffers an open fracture on the beach.
That’s gotta hurt.
During the drive from L.A. up to Big Sur, Terry sports a set of unique wayfarer-style sunglasses with matte yellow acetate frames and dark-brown arms, detailed with the distinctive silver Persol arrow-shaped temples.
Terry always wears a plain gold bracelet on his left wrist and a gold ring with a twisted band and small diamonds on his right ring finger. His yellow-gold tank watch is strapped to his right wrist on a brown edge-stitched calf leather bracelet. This watch has a white dial that follows the rectangular shape of the case, marked with black Roman numeral hour indices and a sub-register at the 6 o’clock position. The classic design recalls the Cartier Tank Cintrée, though Terry’s watch mostly closely resembles a quartz-powered Nautica. (Like this!)
Terry’s watch is best seen with the cream suit and buttoned-up light-blue shirt he wears during his party.
The Gun
Terry himself doesn’t carry a gun, but he picks up his downed security chief Avery’s Colt Commander to defend himself against Wilson’s attack. This scaled-down version of John M. Browning’s iconic 1911 semi-automatic pistol design was developed in response to the U.S. government’s request for a lightweight 9mm alternative to the full-size .45-caliber M1911A1 that would be issued to officers.
When Colt unveiled the Commander in 1950, it was both the first mass-produced American pistol with an aluminum alloy frame as well as Colt’s first pistol chambered for the increasingly popular 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition. In addition to the 9mm variant, Colt also produced Commander variants in .45 ACP (feeding from seven- and eight-round magazines) and .38 Super (feeding from nine-round magazines like the 9mm Commander), as these were both calibers that were also typical in the full-size 1911. The Commander measures seven inches long with a 4¼-inch barrel, compared to the 8½-inch length of the full-size 1911 that boasts a five-inch barrel.
Though several firearms manufacturers have introduced 1911 variants with 4.25-inch barrels since the Commander was conceived, the slide markings on Avery’s pistol identify it as a genuine Colt. Based on the bore diameter, it also appears to be a .45 ACP model.
Two decades after its introduction, Colt debuted the heavier all-steel Colt Combat Commander in 1970, at which time the earlier alloy-framed model was renamed the Colt Lightweight Commander to avoid confusion. As of 2025, Colt continues to produce both Commander models in all three calibers, though only the heavier Combat Commander is available in .38 Super.
How to Get the Look
Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine in The Limey (1999)
Terry Valentine dresses down in cozy yet presentable layers appropriate for his Big Sur retreat, though they’re not quite tactical enough to serve him when his house falls under siege.
- Olive-and-cream bouclé checked over-shirt with spread collar, six-button plain front, two button-through patch pockets, and button cuffs
- French-blue long-sleeved shirt with hidden button-down point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
- White cotton crew-neck long-sleeved T-shirt
- Taupe twill single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Dark-brown leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
- Dark-brown suede apron-toe derby shoes
- Dark-gray ribbed wool socks
- Yellow matte-framed Persol wayfarer-style sunglasses with dark-brown arms
- Gold twisted-band ring with diamond settings
- Gold bangle bracelet
- Gold tank watch with white rectangular dial (with black Roman numeral hour indices and 6:00 sub-register) on brown edge-stitched leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The post The Limey: Peter Fonda’s Layered Shirts at Big Sur appeared first on BAMF Style.