Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)
Vitals
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, impressionable bachelor and bond salesman
Long Island, New York, Summer 1925
Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren
Background
Published 100 years ago this spring, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s generation-defining novel The Great Gatsby has been adapted for the screen several times, though many continue to consider Jack Clayton’s 1974 film the definitive cinematic depiction to date. The story of star-crossed lovers Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) and Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) is observed through the neutral lens of their mutual acquaintance, Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), an Ivy League grad and war veteran from the Midwest clearly modeled after Fitzgerald himself.
The real F. Scott Fitzgerald, clad in three-piece suit, button-down collar shirt, and foulard tie—photographed by Nickolas Muray, circa 1929.
While Fitzgerald’s original narrative was set throughout the summer of 1922, the 1974 film slightly updates the setting to 1925—either in tribute to the novel’s publication year or to allow for the more iconic music and fashions of the mid-’20s. It’s during this summer that Gatsby calls upon his mild-mannered neighbor to facilitate his long-awaited reunion with the now-remarried Daisy.
What’d He Wear?
Theoni V. Aldredge’s Academy Award-winning costume design includes a smart, well-rounded wardrobe for Nick Carraway that includes at least a half-dozen three-piece suits—all aligned with his more modest taste and financial situation when compared to his flashy neighbor—supplemented with knitwear, blazers, and full formal evening dress to suit every occasion.
When hosting the ex-lovers’ reunion at his cottage, Nick wisely avoids the theatrical flair of Gatsby’s “white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie,” as prescribed by Fitzgerald and instead wears a tan suit likely made of wool gabardine, suggested by its smooth finish and subtle sheen. While tightly woven gabardine offers structure and durability, it sacrifices breathability—potentially uncomfortable choice during a sweltering Long Island summer… a discomfort compounded by the emotional heat of facilitating an affair between one’s cousin and one’s enigmatic, obsessive neighbor.
The plain tan suiting provides a neutral canvas for Nick to express more color and personality through his shirt and tie. He still opts for classic shades of blue, though both pieces reveal thoughtful pattern and detail. His pale blue cotton shirt is patterned with a mid-blue mini grid-check and styled with a pinned point collar, a front placket, and single cuffs.
All of the shirt’s hardware is gold-toned—from the flat, double-ended disc-style cuff links to the safety-style pin that secures his collar points behind the four-in-hand knot of his silk foulard tie. More than a vintage flourish, the collar pin serves as both a character note and a period detail for the upright and composed Nick, offering structure and polish while denying the casual luxury of loosening one’s tie. The tie itself is richly printed with a neat pattern of cream-and-taupe paisley medallions set against a dark navy ground.
“Considered by many shirt savants to be the pinnacle of collared carriage, this is not neck trapping to hide behind,” writes Alan Flusser in Dressing the Man. “Unlike the cutaway or button-down, the pinned collar’s stylishness rises or falls in relation to the skill of its execution.”
The tan suit follows Nick’s typical on-screen preferences with a single-breasted jacket, configured with notch lapels that roll over the top of his three buttons for a 3/2-roll that emerged as an Ivy League style staple in early 20th century America. But rather than the boxier sack suits associated with the era’s Ivy tailoring popularized by the likes Brooks Brothers and J. Press, Nick’s suits reflect a continental influence with padded shoulders and front darts shaping the ventless jacket’s silhouette.
The wider lapels and pocket flaps are also consistent with Aldredge’s “’70s-does-’20s” costume design that contributed to The Great Gatsby reviving interest in classic-inspired menswear adapted for the disco era. In addition to the straight flapped hip pockets, the jacket features a welted breast pocket where Nick folds in a beige silk pocket square, trimmed with brown and tan border stripes. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with four cuff-buttons each.
The matching waistcoat (vest) has five buttons up the front, which Nick typically wears appropriately with the lowest button undone. He keeps his gold pocket watch in the right welted pocket, connected to a gold chain strung “single Albert”-style through the third buttonhole. The waistcoat is lined in a cooler tan satin-finished Bemberg that extends over the entire back, where an adjustable strap cinches the fit at the waist.
The double forward-pleated trousers rise appropriately high enough that the beltless waistband is covered by Nick’s waistcoat. They have turn-ups (cuffs), side pockets, and set-in back pockets, with a single-button flap closed over the back-left pocket.
Nick may generally be a more subdued dresser than Gatsby, but he still adds a touch of sporty flash with the brown-and-white leather spectator shoes he wears with cream-colored dress socks. The term “spectator” suits Nick’s role as the mostly silent witness to the simmering love triangle, though these shoes have also been known as “correspondent shoes,” a disparaging nickname rooted in their association with the “third parties” cited as co-respondents in adultery-related divorce cases; ironically, in this affair, the “third party”—Gatsby himself—wears plain white bucks.
How to Get the Look
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)
Costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge designed The Great Gatsby‘s wardrobe to reflect the roaring ’20s but with a contemporary relevance to resonate in the 1970s. Indeed a sharp dresser could still take style queues from Sam Waterston’s Nick Carraway another half-century later during these roaring 2020s, whether that’s pairing a blue mini-checked shirt and foulard tie with a tan gabardine suit or incorporating his smaller but significant details like a collar pin, cuff links, and correspondent shoes.
- Tan gabardine wool suit:
- Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with two welted pockets
- Double forward-pleated front trousers with slanted side pockets, set-in back pockets (with single-button flapped back-right pocket), and turn-ups/cuffs
- Pale-blue (with blue mini-grid check) cotton shirt with pinned collar, front placket, and single cuffs
- Gold safety-style collar pin
- Gold disc cuff links
- Dark-navy with cream-and-taupe paisley-medallion foulard print silk tie
- Brown-and-white leather wingtip spectator oxfords
- Cream cotton lisle socks
- Gold pocket watch on gold “single Albert”-style chain
- Beige silk pocket square with brown-and-tan border stripes
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and read the book.
The post The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s Tan Suit as Nick appeared first on BAMF Style.