Summertime: Rossano Brazzi’s Glen Plaid Suit

Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi in Summertime (1955)

Vitals

Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi, antique store owner

Venice, Summer 1954

Film: Summertime
Release Date: June 21, 1955
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Rosi Gori (uncredited)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Summertime is here! And by that I mean both the fact that Friday was the summer solstice and that David Lean’s Venetian romance Summertime was released in the United States seventy years ago yesterday on June 21, 1955, nearly a month after its Venice premiere.

Like Lean’s 1940s dramas Brief Encounter and The Passionate Friends, Summertime lushly depicts the intense romance between two strangers—in this case, the American tourist Jane Hudson (Katharine Hepburn) and the dashing local antiques dealer Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), whom she meets during her long-awaited summer vacation to Venice.

Lazing across a few chairs in Piazza San Marco, Renato first observes Jane while she’s filming the square. She’s initially oblivious to his attention, then becomes uncomfortably befuddled by it and hurries out of the area.

What’d He Wear?

“The first time I saw you… you were wearing a yellow tie,” Jane later recalls of Renato’s silk tie, patterned with a repeating medallion print of stylized geometric florals in alternating rows, rendered in navy, brown, and muted blue against a creamy yellow field. He also wears one of his usual white cotton shirts, styled with a spread collar, plain button-up front, and single-button rounded cuffs.

Renato’s suit is a quiet triumph of mid-century Italian tailoring—elegant yet understated, like the man himself. Woven from a fine gray-and-white glen plaid wool that reads as soft light gray from a distance, the cloth catches the Venetian light with subtle texture rather than flash.

The single-breasted jacket follows the traditional Italian silhouette, cut with narrow, softly structured shoulders and Neapolitan spalla camicia sleeve-heads. It’s finished with classic details: a three-button front, gently rolled notch lapels, a ventless back, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, and a trio of decorative cuff buttons.

His matching trousers rise high and clean to Rossano Brazzi’s natural waist, defined by a long rise and held in place with a slim black leather belt. Reverse pleats add structure without bulk, and the legs taper with confident grace toward turn-ups (cuffs) at the bottoms. Though mostly obscured by his posture and camera angles, the trousers likely share the on-seam side pockets and button-through rear pockets as on his other trousers.

At first I believed Renato was wearing simple black calf leather loafers, which would fit his relaxed demeanor in the scene, but a closer look at these apron-toe shoes reveal lace panels that are dramatically cut away along the high vamp, only tapering closer together toward the top for a single row of derby-style lacing. He wears them with plain black cotton lisle socks.

Best seen in other scenes, Renato wears a stainless steel-cased wristwatch with a round white dial and black leather band.

How to Get the Look

Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi in Summertime (1955)

Rossano Brazzi exemplifies the elegance of mid-century Italian tailoring as he dresses sharply in a glen plaid suit and medallion tie to spend a summer evening drinking and flirting in St. Mark’s Square.

Gray-and-white fine glen plaid wool suit:
- Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White cotton shirt with spread collar, plain button-up front, and single-button rounded cuffs
Cream-yellow floral medallion-print silk tie
Black leather belt
Black calf leather apron-toe derby shoes with single-eyelet lacing
Black cotton lisle socks
Stainless steel wristwatch with round white dial and black leather strap