Jake Lacy as Shane Patton on The White Lotus (Episode 1.05: “The Lotus-Eaters”)
Vitals
Jake Lacy as Shane Patton, smug and spoiled newlywed
Maui, Hawaii, Summer 2020
Series: The White Lotus
Episode: “The Lotus-Eaters” (Episode 1.05)
Air Date: July 11, 2021
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
While I’m on vacation this week, it feels appropriate to continue covering the Emmy-nominated resort style of The White Lotus, this time turning a sartorial eye onto the hotel’s arguably most troublesome guest: the frat-tastic newlywed Shane Patton.
Jake Lacy had mastered “nice guy” roles from being Jenny Slate’s love interest in Gillian Robespierre’s excellent Obvious Child to portraying Plop New Jim Pete in the final season of The Office, to the degree that Vulture had even ranked them by niceness. For his Emmy-nominated performance as the insufferable super-bro Shane, Lacy plunged a knife into the torso of his old screen persona.
As reinforced by his interview with The AV Club, it’s comforting to know that Jake Lacy sides with audiences as well as Shane’s own increasingly horrified new wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) regarding the despicable depths he’ll follow to “win”. Shane’s petty conflict with hotel manager Armond (Murray Bartlett) began with a booking error that placed the honeymooners in the ocean-view Palm Suite and not the more expensive Pineapple Suite, which sacrifices its view for a plunge pool of questionable size.
“He’s the most entitled victim possible,” Lacy describes Shane in a Vulture profile, written by Jackson McHenry who had also scribed the aforementioned list. “He’s technically correct. He did not get what he paid for. But also, dude, let it go!”
Shane seems to be losing his war with Armond until late one evening when he storms into the office… only to find Armond buried face-first in the derriere of bellboy Dillon (Lukas Gage). Over breakfast with the emotionally neglected Rachel and Shane’s newly arrived mother (Molly Shannon) the next morning, smug Shane can’t remove his shit-eating grin after catching Armond—well, eating shit—the previous night. It’s just the leverage that Shane needed for Armond to finally cave and move the newlywed Pattons into Shane’s prized Pineapple Suite, though no upgrade is enough at this point to sell Rachel on the concept of marriage to a privileged mama’s boy whose idea of emotional depth is to cheerfully proclaim that he’s “actually emo!”
Lacy, Daddario, and Bartlett are among the many members of The White Lotus‘ cast to be nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to the series itself being nominated for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series among its 20 nods.
What’d He Wear?
For at least three years, I’ve been singing the praises of terry cloth loungewear for all who would listen, lounging poolside or on the beach in my toweling shirts from Busbee McQuade, Dandy Del Mar, and OAS while waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. Finally, it feels like terry cloth has been widely embraced by menswear retailers, to the degree that I was even greeted with the sight of of men’s toweling shirts in several colors when I popped into my local Target last week for some pre-trip provisions.
To the credit of the series’ deservedly Emmy-nominated costume designer Alex Bovaird, Shane Patton’s wardrobe consists of the many Polo-branded polos, OCBDs, salmon chino shorts, and seafood belts you’d expect of a classic douche-bro. While I have nothing against the clothes themselves—though I understand why Armond chose that specific sweater for his fecal memento—I was most pleasantly surprised when Shane dressed for breakfast in a toweling shirt that I instantly recognized as the “Cuba Terry Shirt” from the Swedish brand OAS, one of the O.G. brands leading the terry cloth renaissance.
Woven into a looped fabric that can absorb water, terry cloth had long been used for towels and bathrobes before a few enterprising outfitters configured it into men’s leisure tops by the mid-20th century, as worn by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Alain Delon in Plein soleil, Elliott Gould in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and Sean Connery’s James Bond in both Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever.
The OAS Cuba Terry Shirt is made from 100% cotton toweling, knitted into a French terry that’s been optimized for clothing with one side smoother than the other to be worn against the skin. The large-scale, all-over “banana leaf” print covers the shirt in a duo-tone light green leafy pattern. The shirt has a flat camp collar with a deep neckline down to mid-chest, where the first of three pearl-effect two-hole buttons are fastened.
The honeymooning Pattons, with Rachel understandingly looking like a deer in the headlights given that her new husband won’t stop obsessing about getting a better room while ignoring her very real concerns about her life and career… oh, and her mother-in-law unexpectedly crashed their honeymoon. The fact that Shane is still smiling so blissfully tells you all you need to know about him!
The OAS "Banana Leaf" Cuba Terry Shirt can be purchased from:
- Lord & Taylor ($96)
- Manready Mercantile ($120)
- OAS ($120)
- Abercrombie & Fitch Towel Terry Button-Through Polo in "olive" (A&F, $50)
- Dandy Del Mar Gaucho Terry Shirt in "emerald" (Dandy Del Mar, $109)
- Goodfellow & Co. Men's Terry Short-Sleeve Camp Button-Down Shirt in "green" (Target, $22)
- H&M Regular Fit Terry Polo Shirt in "pistachio green" (H&M, $17.99)
- Lucky Brand Towel Terry Short Sleeve Polo in "laurel wreath" (Lucky Brand, $34.75)
- MR. P. Organic Cotton-Terry Polo Shirt in "green" (MR PORTER, $125)
- Todd Snyder Terry Button-Down Polo in "vintage lime" (Todd Snyder, $158)
The fourth and fifth episodes feature Shane going to breakfast wearing a baseball cap representing his alma mater, another character-perfect detail suggesting that he couldn’t even be bothered to take the few extra seconds to style his hair before joining his fellow guests for breakfast in the dining room.
According to McHenry’s Vulture profile, “when Lacy asked if Shane could wear an Ivy League baseball cap, [series creator Mike] White suggested the infamously douchey Cornell.” The university was likely just recovering from years of being associated with Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) on The Office, which also starred Jake Lacy, when The White Lotus presented it as Shane’s school. As reported by Annie Goldsmith for Town & Country, Cornell president Martha Pollack was amused by the inclusion: “Let me just say that that is not the product placement that I would’ve paid for with that character, but it’s just fiction and we’re just kind of laughing it off.”
Cornell’s school colors are the maroon-like Carnelian (Cornell red) and white, as represented on Shane’s Carnelian cotton twill cap with “CORNELL” boldly arched in white raised embroidery across the front, bordered in black that’s echoed by the smaller print “UNIVERSITY” just beneath it. On the left side is a white-embroidered letter “C”, also with a black-embroidered border. As of July 2022, the youth version of this cap is still available from The Cornell Store.
Cornell… ever heard of it?
Shane’s tonneau-shaped wristwatch has been identified as a Franck Muller Conquistador, an appropriately named model given the series’ overall themes of colonialism while also echoing Shane’s own desire for conquest, whether it be of a beautiful trophy wife or the upper hand in a battle of wits (and shits) against a hospitality manager.
Like a few other Franck Muller timepieces, the Conquistador’s dial is detailed with baroque numeric hour markers, adapted in varying sizes to fit around a ringed center within the swelled tonneau-shaped parameters. Shane’s stainless Conquistador has a white dial, worn on a russet-brown crocodile-scaled leather strap. He also wears his gold wedding ring on his left hand.
“Jake Lacy was really into clothes and all about the tiny details,” costume designer Alex Bovaird recalled in conversation with Grazia. “In his fitting, we talked about how we could make his character a bit more boyish. We shortened every pair of shorts to just the right length where you know he is conscious of his body and we tailored all the shirts to make them just a little snug.”
This morning, Shane sits down to breakfast in pale-blue chino cotton flat front shorts with side pockets and an inseam that indeed ends several inches above each knee.
Shane wears his blue and red rubber Havaianas flip flops, crafted with navy footbeds against red soles with red thongs that are detailed with “Havaianas” in white lettering. For dressier occasions like dinner, Shane swaps out these poolside sandals for his brown leather Gucci loafers.
How to Get the Look
Jake Lacy as Shane Patton on The White Lotus (Episode 1.05: “The Lotus-Eaters”)
I was glad to see one of OAS’s distinctively patterned terry cloth shirts on screen, which Shane incorporates into his bro-infused resort wardrobe with his Ivy alma mater cap, expensive watch, and pool-ready flip flops.
- Light green “banana leaf” OAS Cuba Terry toweling cotton shirt with notched camp collar and three-button front
- Pale-blue chino cotton flat front shorts with side pockets
- Navy-and-red rubber Havaianas flip flops
- Cornell University baseball cap in Carnelian (Cornell red) cotton twill with white-embroidered letters
- Franck Muller Conquistador stainless tonneau-shaped wristwatch with white dial and russet-brown croc leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series, streaming on HBO Max.
You can also read more about The White Lotus‘ costume design from these source articles:
- Grazia: “Paradise Lost: The Vision Behind The Costumes On The White Lotus“ by Tanya Mehta
- Vanity Fair: “Caftans, Goyard, and Elvis: Inside The White Lotus’s Costumes” by Matthew Jacobs
- W: “On The White Lotus, Resort Attire Weaves Its Own Tawdry Tale” by Gabe Bergado
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