James Garner as Pete Aron in Grand Prix (1966)

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James Garner as Pete Aron, determined Formula One driver

Monaco, Spring 1966

Film: Grand Prix
Release Date: December 21, 1966
Director: John Frankenheimer
Costume Supervisor: Sydney Guilaroff

Background

The 2020 Monaco Grand Prix was to begin today, which also commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Monaco Grand Prix’s first inclusion in the inaugural FIA World Championship. Unfortunately, the spread of the dangerous coronavirus pandemic resulted in the race being cancelled for the first time since the 1954 Formula One season.

“In my opinion, still the best picture ever made about auto racing,” wrote James Garner in his memoir, The Garner Files, an opinion into which I put a lot of stock given the actor’s real-life passion for racing and his characteristic modest regarding his own cinematic career.

Grand Prix features an all-star international cast against the backdrop of the 1966 F1 season, beginning with an accident during the Monaco Grand Prix that lands English driver Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford) in the hospital and reckless American driver Pete Aron (Garner) in the Mediterranean. Following a brief moment of introspection with tired French champion Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand), Aron debuts his Shelby Mustang GT-350H when he drives to the hospital where he observes Stoddard’s wife Pat (Jessica Walter) hassled by journalists as she leaves her injured husband’s bedside.

While his co-stars—particularly Bedford—struggled with the driving scenes, Garner proved to be a natural talent behind the wheel, aided by two months of tutelage of the celebrated Bob Bondurant, and performed many of the driving stunts himself, including the dangerous sequence during the British Grand Prix when a fuel leak sets his car aflame while flying through Brands Hatch at nearly 130 miles per hour.

“Making Grand Prix was the most fun I’ve ever had on a movie,” wrote Garner. “Hell, it was the most fun I’ve ever had, period! Six months with the best cars and the best drivers on the best circuits in the world… for a guy who’d always loved cars and racing, it was a fantasy come true… It was an honor to be on the same track [as the Grand Prix drivers], and those guys went out of their way to help me. They pointed out the correct line through corners, briefed me on what to do in a spinout, and generally showed me the ropes. Between shots, we did some impromptu racing. We’d do a choreographed shot with five or six cars passing and jockeying, and when we cut we’d all turn around and race back.”

Winner of three Academy Awards—including Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects—Grand Prix inspired Garner’s lifelong passion for motor-sports, which he would celebrate in the 1969 documentary The Racing Scene that chronicled the last of his three years of ownership of the American International Racers team.

What’d He Wear?

Pete Aron’s sporty smart casual outfit is perfectly suitable for a stylish young race car driver in the golden age of F1, anchored by a stone-colored nylon jacket. With its ribbed-knit cotton collar and cuffs, Aron’s zip-front jacket is among the multitude of men’s outerwear inspired by the classic military bomber jacket. The fly fastens to a button at the neck and on the waist hem, similar to the iconic Derby of San Francisco jackets first marketed in 1963 (and recently revived by Victor Suarez), but it lacks the Derby’s signature horizontal yoke, second waist button, and flashy lining. Aron’s jacket has an “umbrella” storm flap across the back and straight side hand pockets.

Aron is nonplussed by his injured fellow racer’s condition in the hospital.

Aron wears the subdued shirt-and-sweater combination of a white cotton oxford shirt with a narrow button-down collar under a black merino wool long-sleeved sweater with a ribbed V-shaped neckline.

Aron watches as his black BRM race car is retrieved from the Mediterranean.

Aron’s charcoal gray flat front slacks are likely the same beltless trousers that he later wears with his burgundy broadcaster’s blazer, styled with slanted front pockets, no back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears black leather loafers and black socks.

Aron descends into the hotel lobby to meet Sarti and a gaggle of international press.

The stone blouson jacket appears again during a brief split-screen vignette following the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, where Stoddard made his winning comeback. A disgruntled Aron, clad in a black polo shirt (with “popped” collar) and taupe trousers, pops a bottle of Veuve Clicquot before handing it off to his mechanics.

While Stoddard receives praise for his Dutch Grand Prix victory, Aron spots a bucket of Veuve.

Aron wears the jacket again while reviewing racing footage with his new racing chief Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune) prior to the British Grand Prix, wearing it semi-zipped over a cream button-down shirt.

Yamura talks Aron through his nonperformance on the track.

Aron’s stone jacket makes its final appearance as he pulls his GT350H into the paddock before the climactic Italian Grand Prix at Monza later that summer, worn over his white racing suit.

The scene also provides a glimpse of Aron’s steel-cased watch, worn over his left wrist on a black leather strap. The white dial and single crown tell us that this isn’t the black-dialed Heuer Carrera 3647N he would wear for much of The Rockford Files a decade later, despite receiving it as a 38th birthday gift around the time Grand Prix was in production. (Read more about Garner’s real-life Carrera 3647N in this well-researched Calibre 11 article from August 2017.)

Pat offers support for her husband Scott: “Hope he beats you by at least ten laps today,” “I’m glad you feel that way,” Pete responds.

The potential perils of F1 racing is underscored by checking in with each racer prior to the Italian Grand Prix by introducing them with a close-up of their ID bracelet, followed by a vignette of their pre-race preparations. Aron wears his stainless ID bracelet on his right wrist, etched with the black-filled text “PETE ARON / BLOOD TYPE B.”

The Car

I wrote more extensively about these famous “Rent-a-Racers” in my first Grand Prix post, but my fascination with this fruitful collaboration between Ford, Shelby, and Hertz compelled me to include it again, particularly as Pete Aron’s 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350H is most prominently seen when he’s at the wheel wearing the outfit featured in this post. Hertz offered these fastback Mustangs during the late 1960s, painted to promote the rental company’s corporate color scheme with gold LeMans racing stripes and rocker stripes on a black body.

Pete watches from the driver’s seat of his GT350H as Pat Stoddard is mobbed by reporters as she leaves her injured husband’s hospital.

Within a year of Ford debuting its now-legendary Mustang for the “1964½” model year, Carroll Shelby embraced the powerful pony car’s potential and adopted its design for his own performance-based marque, introducing the Shelby Mustang GT350 later in 1965. Unlike the Ford Mustang, which balanced performance with relative luxury, Shelby’s GT350 was initially designed solely to be a street machine, though subsequent model years would see the addition of options that increased driver comfort and ease of driving. The GT350 was produced only with the highest performing Mustang engine, the 289 cubic-inch “Windsor” V8 with a larger 4-barrel Holley carburetor, glasspack dual exhaust, and high-riser aluminum intake manifold contributing to the increased power output of 306 horsepower.

By 1966, Shelby’s popular Mustang was being marketed solely as the “Shelby GT350” with “Mustang” dropped from the name. The company entered into a partnership with the Hertz Corporation to offer 1,000 GT350s—with another 800 pushed by Ford—to the company for rental use that would be returned, refurbished, and resold after their rental use… though legend has it that many of these Mustangs were returned to Hertz by weekend racers often with a lesser engine swapped in for the Shelby-modified HiPo 289 and even evidence that roll bars had been welded inside the car.

While most of the GT350H Mustangs were fitted with Ford’s “Cruise-o-Matic” three-speed automatic transmission, the first 85—including the one driven by James Garner in Grand Prix—had the four-speed Borg Warner T-10 manual transmission. These original “Rent-a-Racers” remain particularly desirable for collectors. (Check out full specs for the ’66 GT350H with four-speed manual here.)

1966 Shelby Mustang GT350H

Body Style: 2-door fastback

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 289 cu. in. (4.7 L) Ford “Windsor” K-code V8 with 4-barrel Holley 715 CFM carburetor

Power: 306 bhp (228 kW; 310 PS) @ 6000 RPM

Torque: 329 lb·ft (446 N·m) @ 4200 RPM

Transmission: 4-speed manual

Wheelbase: 108 inches (2743 mm)

Length: 181.6 inches (4613 mm)

Width: 68.2 inches (1732 mm)

Height: 51.2 inches (1300 mm)

The car’s association with Grand Prix emerged when champion race car driver Bob Bondurant agreed to train James Garner, who he described as a “natural” behind the wheel of a fast car. Bondurant was a member of the Shelby American racing team, bringing the team a victory piloting a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964. The following year, Carroll Shelby’s service as Grand Prix‘s “technical consultant” including loaning a 1966 Shelby GT350H (chassis #6S611) to the production for Garner and Bondurant to share while on- and off-screen. Bondurant recalled that “the car drew a crowd everywhere Jim and I drove it. Every time we parked, there were more people around it than any Ferrari.” You can read more about Bondurant and Garner’s experience training for the film and see photos of the actual GT350H, recently restored to show quality, in Matt Stone’s 2015 article for Mustang 360°.

Ford revived the original Hertz concept with an updated Shelby GT-H, introduced during the 2006 New York Auto Show to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original GT350H. This limited run of 500 Mustangs, only available through the Hertz car rental agency, maintained the spirit of the original with its gold-on-black paint scheme and performance upgrades.

How to Get the Look

James Garner as Pete Aron in Grand Prix (1966)

Casual attire is often the most susceptible to dating poorly, but James Garner’s dressed-down layers in Grand Prix remain tasteful and timeless more than a half-century later.

• Stone nylon waist-length bomber-style jacket with ribbed-knit cotton collar and cuffs, zip-front fly with neck and hem buttons, straight side hand pockets, and “umbrella”-style rear storm flap
• White cotton long-sleeved shirt with narrow button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Black wool long-sleeved V-neck sweater
• Charcoal wool flat front trousers with beltless waistband, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather loafers
• Black socks
• Stainless steel identity bracelet (with name and blood type: “Pete Aron | Blood Type B.”)
• Stainless steel wristwatch with white dial on black leather strap (with steel single-prong buckle)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 5.05: “Irregular Around the Margins”)

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James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob boss

Newark, New Jersey, Spring 2004

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Irregular Around the Margins” (Episode 5.05)
Air Date: April 4, 2004
Director: Allen Coulter
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Memorial Day weekend has traditionally been the unofficial start of the summer season with cookouts and amusement park openings, despite the solstice itself still being a month away. (Today also concludes Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, highlighting a topic that anchors to The Sopranos‘ central narrative.)

Many spent time during self-isolation this spring to catch up on classic TV shows, with The Sopranos frequently cited as a show that people were re-watching or discovering for the first time. As we’re hopefully moving away from the weeks and months of social distancing, I want to take a look at one of many summer-friendly looks from the show’s central character, conflicted Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano played by James Gandolfini, who deservedly racked up three Emmy Awards among other accolades for his portrayal. Tony brings a summery sartorial spirit to a moment of isolated indoor frivolity in “Irregular Around the Margins”, the memorable fifth episode of The Sopranos‘ fifth season.

“Whoops,” Tony chuckles as he walks in on Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo) doing a line in the back office of the Crazy Horse, her Newark club. “You want?” she asks. Tony takes a beat before agreeing to join, being sure to lock the door behind him lest someone catch the skip partaking in illicit drugs, and with the girlfriend of a colleague, no less. She technically was supposed to have the day off, hence Tony scheduling a meeting with Phil Leotardo, but she explains that she doesn’t like to be home alone. However, the newly sober Christopher’s absence on a cigarette smuggling mission also frees Adriana up to pursue her chemical highs without his judgment.

On the contrary, she finds a non-judgmental, seemingly carefree friend in Tony, in whom she can confide that she was once scared of him. She reassures him that this fear has subsided, though part of her must know that her secret status as an FBI informant would likely result in Tony—latent attraction to her or not—ordering her execution faster than she could order another White Russian. (“She’s got diarrhea,” Chris had matter-of-factly explained to his crew before they left for North Carolina, an affliction for which she’s chosen White Russian cocktails as an ill-advised form of self-medication.)

Bonding over Christopher’s “constipated owl look” and partaking together in drugs and darts nearly lead to Tony and Adriana consummating what must have been years of a hidden mutual attraction… until they’re thankfully interrupted by the arrival of Phil Leotardo and Joe Peeps. “Without that knock, thought, you just know Tony would have made a move, consequences be damned, because it’s in his nature,” write Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz in The Soprano Sessions. “No matter the danger, the man always gives in to temptation.”

(Interestingly, the last time I wrote about Tony Soprano’s style it was published after a post about James Garner’s style on The Rockford Files. This time, it’s right after a post looking at one of Garner’s looks in Grand Prix. Weird coincidence.)

What’d He Wear?

Tony Soprano had been a fan of printed shirts, including tropical designs, since we met him during The Sopranos‘ first season, though his separation from Carmela during the fifth season finds him seemingly sporting more summery floral shirts than ever. Many of these have been well-chronicled by my friend @TonySopranoStyle on his in-depth Instagram account, including this floral shirt and pleated trousers from “Irregular Around the Margins” which was also included in a June 2008 Christie’s auction of clothing and memorabilia from the show’s production.

Tony’s Aloha-style silk shirt illustrates how a floral print doesn’t necessarily require tropical colors, presented in a relatively muted colorway of black and taupe flowers in a symmetrical panel print of single vertical strips against a beige ground. As described by AlohaFunWear, “an Aloha panel shirt arranges its print—as the name would suggest—in one or more vertical panels. By bringing some organization to their vibrant design, they offer a more sophisticated look for casual office days and Tiki bars while still capturing the spirit of the island.”

The auction listing confirmed the manufacturer as Burma Bibas, a New York City luxury menswear outfitter established in 1926 that specializes in colorful, unique printed silk sport shirts including many that Gandolfini wore across all six seasons of The Sopranos. While made in New York City and thus not an authentic Hawaiian shirt, this floral short-sleeved shirt follows the classic Aloha shirt pattern with its flat camp collar (with a loop) and straight hem with short side vents. The shirt has seven buttons up the plain front and a square, button-through breast pocket cut from material to seamlessly match the floral pattern overlaying it. The shirt’s ample elbow-length short sleeves are consistent with its overall generous fit.

You know that face you make when you’re almost caught doing something you feel guilty about?

Tony neatly coordinates the colors in the shirt’s print with the rest of his outfit, echoing the taupe flowers with his taupe pleated trousers and the black flowers with his shoes and likely his belt as well.

Confirmed by the auction listing to be Slates, a sub-brand of Dockers, Tony’s trousers have double reverse pleats, on-seam side pockets that curve inward toward the top (“quarter top”), jetted back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. His black leather shoes are likely the same apron-toe tassel loafers he wears in the immediately following scene at his therapist’s office.

Tony’s usual assortment of gold jewelry and accessories is anchored by his luxury watch, an 18-karat yellow gold Rolex Day-Date “President” self-winding chronometer. The innovative watch was the first to include both the full day of the week and date, located along the top of the dial and in a 3:00 window, respectively, on Tony’s gold dial. The watch is secured to Tony’s left wrist via the signature three-piece “President”—or “Presidential”—link bracelet that was introduced by Rolex alongside the watch itself in 1956; the heavier bracelet and the polished lugs were used by BAMF Style reader Chris to more definitively identify Tony’s Day-Date as a ref. 18238 (rather than the frequently misidentified ref. 118238.)

On the opposing wrist, Tony wears his 18-karat gold link bracelet with a custom fancy curb link with what @TonySopranoStyle describes as “if a Cuban curbed link chain and an Italian Figaro link chain with a twist had a baby,” fastened with a safety clasp that provides more continuity than a “lobster”-style clasp.

Retrieving the dropped darts, Adriana and Tony share a brief but intense “moment”.

Tony wears his usual gold pinky ring on his right hand with its bypass ruby-and-diamonds, though he has stopped wearing his gold wedding band due to animosity of his separation with Carmela that began at the end of the previous season. He also wears his usual gold St. Jerome medallion on a thin gold necklace.

How to Get the Look

James Gandolfini and Drea de Matteo on The Sopranos (Episode 5.05: “Irregular Around the Margins”)

Tony Soprano brings a beachy vibe to the back room of the Crazy Horse with his earthy-toned panel print Aloha shirt, a subdued alternative to some of the brighter tropical prints he wears by the water.

• Beige (with black and taupe floral panel print) silk short-sleeve Aloha-style camp shirt with loop collar, 7-button plain front, button-through breast pocket, and straight hem with short side vents
• Taupe double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, “quarter top” side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Black leather apron-toe tassel loafers
• Black socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date “President” 18238 chronometer watch in 18-karat yellow gold with champagne-colored dial and “President” link bracelet
• Gold curb-chain link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with bypassing ruby and diamond stones
• Gold wedding ring
• Gold open-link chain necklace with round St. Jerome pendant

To see more of Tony’s fashions from the show, I recommend you follow my friend @TonySopranoStyle on Instagram. If you’re curious about Aloha shirts and styles, you’d be well-served to follow my friend Aloha Spotter’s blog and Instagram account.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series and its excellent literary companion The Sopranos Sessions by TV critics and die-hard fans Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz. While the series itself was removed from Amazon Prime last week, it will be fully available alongside HBO’s full stable of shows once HBO Max launches this Wednesday.

The Quote

You’re not scared of me now… are you?

Clint Eastwood as Blondie, aka “the Man with No Name”, in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

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Clint Eastwood as Blondie, aka “the Man with No Name”, taciturn bounty hunter

New Mexico Territory, Spring 1862

Film: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
(Italian title: Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
Release Date: December 23, 1966
Director: Sergio Leone
Costume Designer: Carlo Simi

Background

Today marks the 90th birthday of screen legend Clint Eastwood, born May 31, 1930, in San Francisco. (Between John Wayne on May 26, James Stewart on May 20, and Gary Cooper on May 7, there must be something about being in born in May that positions an actor for stardom in the Western genre!)

After Eastwood’s initial success on the TV series Rawhide, he traveled to Italy to star in a trio of Westerns directed by Sergio Leone, firmly establishing the significance of the “spaghetti Western”. In A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Eastwood ostensibly played a variation of the same mysterious, laconic gunfighter alternately known as Joe, Manco, or Blondie, respectively, but immortalized in cinema as “the Man with No Name.”

Both A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More are excellent, but the third time was the charm with this final entry in Leone’s unofficial “Dollars trilogy”, proving the art of his craft between screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni’s shared vision with Leone, Carlo Simi’s genre-defining production and costume design, Tonino Delli Colli’s breathtaking cinematography, and Ennio Morricone’s sweeping and often haunting score. On the latter note, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly boasts one of the greatest soundtracks of all time from its famous title track through memorable tracks like “Il Forte (The Strong)”, “Fine Di Una Spia (Fine of a Spy)”, and “Il Triello (The Trio)” to the epic “L’estasi Dell’oro (The Ecstasy of Gold)” that became a standard of Metallica concerts and has even been featured in commercials for entities from Nike and Dolce & Gabbana to L.L. Bean and KFC.

Leone developed an unofficial troupe of cast and crew that followed through the trio, particularly the latter two as A Fistful of Dollars was essentially a Western-set adaptation of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Eastwood led the cast, which always included Mario Brega, Lorenzo Robledo, Aldo Sambrell, and Benito Stefanelli in various roles. Following his layered performance as the flawed but heroic Colonel Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More, Lee Van Cleef returned as a sinister mercenary killer who would be the “bad” to Eastwood’s “good”. Filling the role of “the ugly” was Eli Wallach in a memorably manic performance as the wily bandit Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez, whose larceny kicks off our greed-driven adventure against the backdrop of the New Mexico Campaign during the early months of the American Civil War, reconstructed with the guidance of Matthew Brady’s celebrated wartime photography for added verisimilitude.

Despite lukewarm contemporary reception, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and its spaghetti Western predecessors have gained a remarkable reputation over the years not only as some of the greatest Westerns but, particularly in the case of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, among the best and most influential movies ever made.

What’d He Wear?

One of the earliest requests I received was to write about Clint Eastwood’s “genteel” off-white coat in this movie (and I offer my sincerest apologies to BAMF Style reader Jack for the nearly seven-year delay in getting around to this!), so I’ll keep the focus of this post to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which credits its costumes in the opening titles to Carlo Simi’s design and sourcing from Western Costume Company and Antonelli. As this is a prequel of sorts for the ageless “man with no name”, we see how his wardrobe evolves as he obtains the garments that Clint Eastwood would also wear in those first two movies.

The Frock Coat: Prologue

It isn’t until nearly twenty minutes of screen-time have passed, including that famous first ten-and-a-half minutes that passes without a single word of dialogue, that we first meet the closest thing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly offers to a hero, the laconic gunman that Tuco calls “Blondie”. Despite his taciturn reputation, we hear Blondie before we see him as he threatens three fellow bounty hunters off-camera before stepping, hat-first, into the frame.

Said “plantation hat” appears to be well-traveled, made of natural straw with a very wide brim that curls up at the ends and would provide ample protection from the hot New Mexico sun… leading Tuco to shoot it off of Blondie’s head during the desert death march. The hat has a low telescope-shaped crown, banded with six long strips of tan leather looped intermittently around the base of the crown.

Peering out from under his broad-brimmed straw plantation hat, Blondie sets the terms of his tenuous partnership with Tuco.

Long before adopting his famous poncho, the Man with No Name steps into the frame with his first choice of “badass longcoat”, an olive-tinted beige frock coat with what appear to be hand pockets but are, in fact, long slits cut through the sides for our hero to more efficiently access his holstered Colt. These echo the slanted slits on each side of the chest, which may be actual pockets.

The knee-length coat has a long single vent that extends up to the high, suppressed waist line, decorated on the back with two cloth-covered buttons that match those on the front and the non-functioning three buttons on each cuff.

As Blondie approaches Tuco in their shared introductory scene, note the butt of Blondie’s holstered revolver jutting through the slit in the right side of his frock coat.

In lore of the American west, long coats and dusters are often associated with the world of bandits, bounty hunters, and badge-wearing marshals. A bounty hunter himself, Blondie wears this sandy frock coat as he executes his catch-and-release gambit with Tuco until one close call—missing Tuco’s rope on the first shot as he had threatened to do—has Blondie rethinking his future with the “sawed-off runt”, leaving Tuco alone in the desert with nothing but a rope and plenty of threatening ire against the “filthy, double-crossing bastard” who abandoned him.

Blondie’s worn frock coat, suggested to be as well-traveled as his hat, is double-breasted with eight cloth-covered buttons, configured with parallel columns of four closely spaced buttons on each side of the front, though the top few buttons on each side are covered by the coat’s Ulster-style peak lapels with straight gorges.

Blondie regards his latest bounty, a seething Tuco, before accepting $2,000 for bringing the irate bandit to be hanged.

When a vengeful Tuco sends his spur-jangling gunmen after Blondie, our protagonist is in the midst of cleaning his Colt in a Santa Fe hotel room while General Sipley leads his rebel troops on a loud retreat outside. Sans hat, coat, and gat, this is the most that Blondie has ever been exposed to us yet, so it’s no surprise that he’s caught off-guard—at least off his guard enough to let Tuco get the drop on him after Blondie guns down his three cohorts: “There are two kinds of spurs, my friend. Those that come in by the door, and those that come in by the window.”

Gun in hand, Blondie regards the trio of freshly killed gunmen whose jangling spurs outside his hotel room door alerted him to their presence.

Blondie adds to this outfit with a long black lightweight scarf, tied into a substantial knot in front of his neck with the rest of the scarf hanging free outside his shirt. This is the next piece of his wardrobe that Blondie loses, pulling it off after Tuco forces him through a death march in the intense sun-baked heat of the New Mexico desert.

It’s during this desert death march that we get a better look at Blondie’s shirt, a busy but balanced pattern against a dark blue field. The pattern is arranged against a grid of white dots, each creating the corner of an ostensible square in which each of the two patterns alternate. One of these two patterns is a solid dark blue circle set against a “burst” of white micro-dots; the second pattern is more subtle, consisting of a square turned 45° and made up of two dotted borders, one enclosing the other, with a vertical dotted line through the center, bisecting a white dot directly in the center of this square-within-a-square.

The pattern of the shirt is similar to those increasingly popular with trend-setters of the 1960s, though the old-fashioned cut establishes it as a period-inspired piece. Blondie’s button-up shirt has a squared standing collar with a single-button neck closure, puffy full-fitting sleeves worn off the shoulders with a single-button squared cuff at the end of each, and two box-pleated chest pockets that each button through a pointed flap.

Blondie, moments away from potentially meeting his maker in the middle of the New Mexico desert. At least Tuco let him keep his shirt.

For the greater part of the 20th century, Westerns were more about storytelling than historical accuracy, and many are presented without giving a specific year—or even decade—for the on-screen action, instead relying on the lore of the old west to contextualize its action. Regardless of intended setting, silver screen gunslingers charged into battle with Winchester rifles touted as “the gun that won the west” or Peacemaker Colts drawn from buscadero holsters.

One of the most common costume anachronisms of Westerns are the seeming ubiquity of trousers with modern-style belt loops. While trouser belt loops weren’t unheard of in the 1860s, they were still far from common and it would be another half-century until they would be more integrated on men’s trousers in the years following World War I, gaining greater traction with the lowering of trouser waistlines across the roaring ’20s and Great Depression. For additional history of men’s trouser belt loops in a Western context, read Marshall Trimble’s entry for True West magazine that concludes “cowboys either wore suspenders of had a pair tight enough around the waist they didn’t need a belt to hold them up.”

All that to say, the Man with No Name wears trousers more contemporary to the 1960s production than the 1860s setting in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. His first pair of trousers are brown flat front trousers with a modern low rise and tall belt loops, through which he wears a wide and brown leather belt with some hard-worn damage and patina, fastened through a squared brass single-prong buckle. The two jetted front pockets are gently slanted.

Blondie reholsters his Colt, not yet aware that his greatest danger is silently perched a few feet behind him.

Eastwood wears a gun belt patterned after what he wore in the first two “Dollars” movies, originally made for him by Andy Anderson. (I’ve seen it mentioned that Eastwood wore the same rig on Rawhide, but I haven’t been able to find any documentation positively supporting this theory.) The rig consists of a wide brown roughout leather belt, contrast stitched in beige along the edges and with fancy double loop-and-diamond designs flanking the tapered center strap which closes through a large hammered brass single-prong buckle. The gun belt is detailed with brown leather cartridge loops around the left side onto the back, and the straight side-draw holster itself is attached to the right side of the belt with a belted strap around the center.

Replicas of Eastwood’s famous gun belt are widely available for a range of budgets, including El Paso Saddlery (via OldTradingPost.com), Escort Western Gunleather, Frontier Gunleather, Larry Green Productions, The Last Best West, LondonJacks (via Etsy), and StraightLine (via Amazon and StraightLine).

Eastwood wears the same cowboy boots that he wore as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide, though the color cinematography of Leone’s “Dollars trilogy” allowed viewers to see the rich medium tan color of the roughout cowhide for the first time. These square-toed boots have slanted heels approximately 1¼” or 1½” high.

With Bill Carson dead behind him, Tuco makes an effort to hydrate his enemy-turned-friend Blondie.

Even off of his horse, Blondie appoints his trademark boots with his usual stainless steel spurs, fastened around each boot via slim brown leather belted strap. (StraightLine produces replicas of the Man with No Name’s boots and spurs among its many reproductions of Eastwood’s costume, available via Amazon or the StraightLine site.)

Over the first half of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Blondie wears his trousers tucked into his boots, showing more of the boot shafts than the previous two films .

When a CSA wagon rolling past them interrupts Blondie’s near-execution, Tuco learns from a dying Bill Carson that $200,000 in gold is buried under a grave in Sad Hill Cemetery… though only Blondie gets to learn the name on the grave before Carson expires. In that moment, Blondie transforms from Tuco’s mortal enemy to his most valuable friend. Tuco steals Corporal Carson’s CSA uniform and eye-patch and dresses Blondie in the gray garb of another dead soldier as they set off in search of medical help… and an easy payout.

Hardly the pride of the Confederacy, Blondie and Tuco’s latest gambit lands them among bona fide rebels in a Union prison camp, ruthlessly run by Corporal Wallace (Mario Brega) and the newly ordained Sergeant “Angel Eyes” (Lee Van Cleef).

Building an Iconic Look

“The war’s over for you,” Angel Eyes greets Blondie upon his arrival in the Union prison camp headquarters, tossing him a bundle of civilian clothing as well as his old gun belt and snake-gripped Colt. “Put those clothes on.” And with that, the Good and the Bad set out in search of $200,000 in gold without the Ugly to slow them down.

Blondie begins discarding the pieces of his purloined Confederate uniform as he looks over the bundle of civilian duds lent by Angel Eyes.

We now see the familiar elements of Blondie’s wardrobe coming together like his blue-and-white railroad-striped shirt, its stripe so named for the thin striping similar to the durable pillow-ticked stripe associated with rail conductors’ caps and overalls. This particular pattern and puckering process would be popularized on seersucker cloth, though the striping on Eastwood’s shirt is thinner than that associated associated with traditional seersucker. (StraightLine markets a replica available via Amazon, though work shirts in this stripe are also popular as offered by Key Industries and Liberty Blues.)

Blondie’s striped work shirt has a front placket, single-button barrel cuffs, and a soft spread collar with rounded ends similar to the far more formal “club collar”. Rather than the billowing scarf he had worn with his last outfit, Blondie protects his neck and catches sweat with a black cotton kerchief tied in a taut strip around his neck.

Blondie now finds himself ensconced among Union troops.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly also establishes this bundle as the source of the Man with No Name’s distressed sheepskin vest, a simple one-piece waistcoat that fastens with a single thin leather draw-cord that ties over the stomach. In this case, sheepskin is exactly what you’d expect of the word, with the outer “shell” of Eastwood’s vest being the tan soft leather side of the skin, lined with the fleecy piled wool that’s also seen on the garment’s de facto collar created by the top folding over onto the chest.

“It’s for you.”

Earlier, I mentioned the anachronistic misrepresentation of belt-looped trousers in Westerns, which extends to the dark jeans that Eastwood wore across all three films in the “Dollars trilogy”. Even the earliest jeans, developed following Levi Strauss & Co.’s 1873 patent, share little in common with the modern jeans worn by the Man with No Name with their low rise, straight fit, dual back pockets, and belt loops, a feature which Levi’s wouldn’t offer with their signature 501 “waist overalls” until 1922, and then only as an option to supplement the suspender buttons and cinch-back strap, neither of which appear to be visible on Eastwood’s pants. (The suspender buttons would finally be removed the following decade, and the increasingly unpopular back cinch would remain until World War II.)

While I’m not aware of any verification that Eastwood wore Wrangler jeans in any of these movies, the North Carolina-based denim outfitter capitalized on A Fistful of Dollars‘ popularity during a contemporary U.K. campaign advertising that “He-men wear Wrangler jeans” next to a drawing of the “Man with No Name” in his signature poncho and hat, single-action revolver in hand, and a promo urging its constituents to see the film at their local cinema.

Eastwood had reportedly purchased his screen-worn jeans from a Hollywood Boulevard sporting goods shop before the production of A Fistful of Dollars. The color is a deep indigo, so dark as to almost appear black, with even the stitching dyed to match the rest of the jeans’ cotton twill fabric.

Blondie keeps his gun hand steady and ready while facing down Angel Eyes and Tuco during the film’s famous finale.

Blondie’s belt, gun rig, and boots are the only items from his first outfit to be worn again for the second half of the film which retroactively establishes his character’s look for A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. In this case, he wears the straight legs of his jeans over the top of his boot shafts, breaking just above his spur straps.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly retroactively “introduces” the Man with No Name’s chosen headgear to replace the discarded plantation hat from the first half, a brown felt cowboy hat with an asymmetrical self-bound brim and a distressed telescope crown, accented around the base with a dark brown tooled leather band that tapers to a silver-toned single-prong buckle worn on the left side.

Interestingly, the hat appears to have already withstood the bullet-ridden damage of being shot front and center through the top of the crown by Colonel Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More. Clint had reportedly purchased his from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm prior to A Fistful of Dollars and, while the maker of the original hat isn’t confirmed today, Baron Hats makes a worthy reproduction available in rabbit or beaver felt with a 4 1/8″ pencil-rolled brim and a 4½”-tall crown, and Knudsen Hat Company makes a beaver felt hat with a 3½”-wide brim and 4¼”-tall slightly pinched crown.

One piece from Angel Eyes’ bundle that doesn’t make it past The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a tattered beige lightweight duster which, for good reason, is one of the less celebrated costume pieces of the Man with No Name’s wardrobe. The somewhat oversized knee-length duster has a double-breasted front with parallel columns of five buttons on each side of the front in addition to slanted chest pockets and large hip pockets with flaps tucked in. The broad sueded collar with its unevenly jagged edges extends out to Eastwood’s shoulders, likely not the intended final form but adding to Blondie’s scrappy look. The duster has a single vent, wide waist loops for a long-gone belt, and a bloodied hole in the back of the right sleeve that suggests the previous owner met a grisly end…no doubt making it easier to yield his coat to Angel Eyes or whomever had brought about the man’s demise.

To accommodate the duster’s excessive size, Blondie folds back the cuffs at the end of each sleeve, revealing a beige-on-brown striped lining inside the sleeves that differs from the gray plaid lining inside the body of the coat.

New “enlistees” Blondie and Tuco are given a grand tour of the Union encampment by the drunken captain (Aldo Giuffrè).

Blondie wears the duster until his and Tuco’s afternoon of volunteer service with the Union Army involves them in a dangerous battle and a subsequent bridge demolition. He removes the half-drenched duster to cover a dying rebel soldier, with whom he shares one of his small cigars. After the soldier dies, Blondie spots something next to him that proves to be of considerable interest…

The Poncho

Just before the film’s final act, Blondie completes his sartorial puzzle when he finds what would become his trademark poncho next to the soldier who dies smoking one of his cigars. As written by Olivia Stalker for Polychrome, “his poncho becomes emblematic of a superhero’s cape, and cements his role as the ‘Good’.”

We’re first presented with the memorable hero shot of Blondie wearing the poncho after Tuco, overcome by the ecstasy of gold, is ferociously digging into Arch Stanton’s recently buried grave. To make the job easier, a shovel lands next to him in the dirt. He casts a sideways glance at his benefactor, and we pan up with Tuco from those familiar tan leather boots and dark jeans to find Eastwood standing, confident as ever in his newly acquired poncho as he picks at one of his little cigars.

The olive woven wool poncho is designed with a two-sided border print in the same off-white yarn as used for the design through the rest of the pullover garment, including the dense latticework around the center neck hole. The front and back are finished with a long off-white fringe.

Evidently, the poncho’s original color was sun-aged to what looked more brown on screen, though the original olive green can still be observed on the reverse side, best seen when Eastwood tosses part of the poncho over his shoulder in anticipation of the climactic final gunfight.

With his hat, poncho, and cigar, the Man with No Name completes his image.

Eastwood has taken credit for the renowned poncho, though there are conflicting stories about its origin. According to Clint Collection, he may have picked it up in a Hollywood costume store or in a Spanish shop prior to the production of a A Fistful of Dollars, having stopped in to buy more cigarillos. The latter rings of apocrypha, and some have suggested that it wasn’t even Eastwood but rather Leone and costume designer Carlo Simi who made that fateful visit to a local town store in Spain. Only Eastwood, Leone, or Simi would know for sure, though one part of the poncho’s lore that has been widely confirmed is that the same garment was worn across all three movies without being replaced or cleaned.

Of all the replicas available across the internet, the most official seems to be this 100% wool offering from the appropriately named Clint Collection, which includes plenty in its online listing including a history of the poncho, citing its origination among indigenous dwellers in the Andes region in South America who developed this blanket-like outerwear as protection from rain and wind. GuidesMag has also put considerable work into researching and ranking the seven best replicas of the famous Eastwood poncho.

The Guns

Every gun makes its own tune.

Eastwood had carried a snake-gripped Single Action Army that he brought with him from Rawhide in the first two films of the “Dollars Trilogy” but the Civil War-era setting of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly had the production team arm Blondie with a more period-appropriate sidearm than the Colt “Peacemaker” that was first introduced in 1873.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly kept a classic Colt military revolver in his holster, reverted to a Colt 1851 Navy as was popularly carried by soldiers and officers on both sides of the Civil War. Different variations of the Navy Colt were carried by all three of the titular leads, with Blondie’s revolver retaining the character’s distinctive grips boasting a silver-inlaid coiled rattlesnake on each grip panel.

Blondie: “One, two, three, four, five, six. Six. Perfect number.”
Angel Eyes: “Isn’t three the perfect number?”
Blondie: “Yeah, but I got six more bullets in my gun.”

In the fifteen years after Samuel Colt had changed firearms forever with his introduction of the Colt Paterson folding-trigger percussion revolver, the Connecticut-born inventor found success after success with the massive Walker Colt and the Colt Model 1848 “Dragoon”, both chambered for the dangerously powerful .44 ball, as well as the smaller .31-caliber “Pocket” percussion revolvers, which—despite their nomenclature—are considerably larger and heavier than most full-sized service revolvers produced over the course of the 20th century. To bridge the gap in size and power, Colt introduced this Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber in 1850, with Waterman Ormsby’s engraving of the Second Texas Navy’s victory at the Battle of Campeche etched on the cylinders, added to recognize Colt’s appreciation for the Texas Navy’s early adoption of the Colt Paterson.

As its full designation suggests, the new Navy Colt could be comfortably carried in one’s belt and fired an 80-grain .36-caliber lead ball similar in power to the modern .380 cartridge. Due to its balance of portability and power, not to mention its sturdy reliability, the 1851 Colt Navy became a popular sidearm for reputable gunfighters including “Doc” Holliday and “Wild Bill” Hickok, who famously carried two ivory-gripped Navy Colts butt-first around his waist.

Blondie quickly draws and fires his Navy Colt through a slit in the side “pocket” of his frock coat, dispatching several rival bounty hunters in seconds.

All of these early American revolvers, including the .44-caliber 1860 Army Colt developed just before the Civil War began, was loaded by the then-ubiquitous procedure of pouring gunpowder into each cylinder mouth, pushing in a ball, and affixing a percussion cap to the back of the cylinder; even the most reliable revolvers thus took considerable time and skill to reload. After gunsmith Rollin White left Colt’s employ at the end of 1854, he quickly set to work developing a revolver cylinder that would allow paper cartridges to be loaded from the back of a revolver’s cylinder, similar to the cartridge revolvers popular in Europe at the time. Though elements of his design were unworkable and resulted in only one item built to his specifications (which disastrously malfunctioned), elements of his patent proved useful to Smith & Wesson, who signed their exclusive rights to parts of White’s patent into what would become a 14-year monopoly on breech-loading revolvers like the .32 rimfire Smith & Wesson Model 1.

While other firearms manufacturers violated the patent before its expiration (and were often courted by lawsuits from both White and Smith & Wesson), Colt patiently waited until the April 3, 1869, expiration date and then swiftly incorporated cartridge-firing cylinders into its own established designs via the Richards-Mason conversion process (named after Colt employees Charles Richards and William Mason), converting .36 cap-and-ball Colts to fire a .38 rimfire or centerfire cartridge with the help of a cylinder filler ring and changing out the loading lever for a spring-loaded ejector rod assembly. (For more detail about these conversions, check out College Hill Arsenal.)

Colt soon introduced its own “Open Top” revolver that fired .44 Henry rimfire cartridges, though this was followed by (and all-but forgotten in favor of) the iconic .45-caliber Colt Single Action Army in 1873. The Peacemaker, with its variety of barrel lengths and at least thirty different cartridge options over decades of production, would soon become ubiquitous in the West as well as cultural depictions of it.

The Peacemaker’s compatibility with the “five-in-one” blank cartridges favored in early Hollywood productions made it a mainstay of Western movies and TV productions across the first half of the 20th century, including Rawhide, where Clint Eastwood’s Rowdy Yates carried a 5½”-barreled “Artillery” model Single Action Army with a color case-hardened frame and silver snake-inlaid grip panels, acquired in-universe from a dead outlaw. I believe it was budgetary reasons that resulted in Eastwood bringing his Rawhide revolver and boots to A Fistful of Dollars, but these soon became an established part of the Man with No Name’s image and the same revolver appeared again in For a Few Dollars More.

The Man with No Name loads his snake-gripped Single Action Army in For a Few Dollars More, the only installment of the “Dollars trilogy” where Eastwood also wore this long brown leather lace-up shooting cuff on his right forearm, reportedly inspired by an item that Sergio Leone saw Andy Anderson wearing to accommodate a shrapnel wound from World War II.

Blondie’s Navy Colt in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly still retains the loading gate and the profile of an original percussion version, though it’s clearly been modified to fire cartridges as have the percussion revolvers brandished by all of the film’s leads.

Apropos the Italian production of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, all of the screen-featured firearms were provided by Aldo Uberti, Inc. The experts at IMFDB identified that Eastwood’s screen-used “Colt 1851 Navy” was, in fact, a unique factory cartridge-firing evolution of the original percussion revolver, created by Uberti by “specially machining some raw forgings to become .38 centerfires.”

Blondie cleans his unloaded Navy Colt, which has been anachronistically converted to fire cartridges. (Had it not, Blondie likely would have been cornered and killed by Tuco’s gunmen before managing to reassemble and reload his revolver.)

Much as Blondie’s sidearm is mostly period-accurate, the filmmakers made the same effort to represent authenticity with his long arms. In the early scene where Blondie keeps up his end of the bargain with Tuco by rescuing him from hanging, our protagonist shoulders what appears to be a Henry rifle. This innovative lever-action rifle that could quickly spit out up to sixteen or seventeen .44-caliber rimfire rounds was first fielded by Union troops in 1862 and would soon distinguish itself in combat, surprising Confederate soldiers during to the extent that CSA Colonel John S. Mosby reportedly described the weapon as “that damned Yankee rifle that can be loaded on Sunday and fired all week.” The Henry would notably distinguish itself in Union service at the Second Battle of Collierville, the Battle of Allatoona Pass, and the Battle of Franklin, though the U.S. Army itself would fall to the destructive power of the Henry rifle when in the hands of the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors during the infamous Battle of the Little Bighorn. More than 14,000 rifles would be manufactured by the time production ceased in 1866.

Representing the Henry rifle on screen, the filmmakers armed Blondie with a modified Winchester Model 1866 lever-action rifle, a model nicknamed the “Yellow Boy” for the brassy shine of its alloy receiver.

Note the loading gate on the right side of the brass receiver, indicating that Blondie’s rifle is the anachronistic Winchester Model 1866. You can also see the top of his side-mounted scope as he takes careful aim to cut down Tuco’s rope.

The use of a Yellow Boy would have been anachronistic for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly‘s Civil War setting, so it was made to resemble a Henry by removing the Winchester’s wooden fore-end, though it retains the loading gate which had been added to the right side of the Winchester’s frame as part of Nelson King’s patent designed to improve upon some of the original Henry’s flaws. Both the Henry and the original Winchester Model 1866 were chambered for the rimfire .44 Henry cartridge. The popular Winchester Model 1866 remained in production through 1899, even after Winchester Repeating Arms introduced several variants of its lever-action repeating rifle like “The Gun That Won the West” Model 1873, the Model 1892, and the Model 1895 that would be a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt.

To achieve the startling accuracy required to shoot and break the rope being used to hold Tuco and then pick off his pursuers, Blondie appoints his Henry/Winchester hybrid with a long side-folding scope along the left side of the rifle’s frame.

Blondie and his converted Winchester rifle (with the wooden fore-end removed to resemble a Henry) are now in the service of a doomed outlaw named Shorty. This shot of the left side shows more of the scope.

By the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Blondie again aims a rifle at Tuco while the latter is suspended from a rope, though it is a different model than seen earlier. A recent update to IMFDB suggests that this isn’t an anachronistic Sharps 1874 rifle as previously thought but instead a Spencer repeating rifle with an octagonal barrel, citing Peter J. Hanley’s The Making of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as the source.

The same correction suggests that this was likely meant to be Blondie’s rifle all along, as it’s seen with a scope on his horse during the Rome-filmed scene where Blondie brings Tuco into town and dismounts his horse prior to the Spanish-filmed hanging scene. Per the IMFDB entry, “Some technical difficulty must have caused the crew to abandon this rifle, substituting the bounty hunter’s Model 1866 which later received the scope at the time of the second hanging. Certainly, the Spencer could never have fired with the rapid cadence of the Model 1866.”

The full-length octagonal barrel seen in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly indicates that Blondie’s Spencer is a civilian sporting model, possibly fitted with a barrel made by J. Harder & Sons of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, like this 30″-barreled Spencer (via Rock Island Auction Company). The suggestion of Blondie’s rifle being a Spencer rather than Sharps is supported by the evidence cited a decade earlier in this CASCity.com forum.

The IMFDB writer also states that the placement of Eastwood’s arm during the scene prevents the viewer from recognizing the “breechblock pivot area” that would distinguish the Spencer from the Sharps.

Invented by Christopher Spencer, the Spencer repeating rifle has been described as the world’s first military metallic cartridge repeating rifle, patented in March 1860 just months before the Henry. The weapon was swiftly adopted by the U.S. Navy, then the Army—where the shorter-length carbines were particularly popular among cavalry troops like George Armstrong Custer—though it never replaced the muzzle-loading rifled musket in standard service despite Abraham Lincoln being impressed by a personal demonstration of the Spencer in action. (Interestingly, Lincoln’s eventual killer John Wilkes Booth would be armed with a Spencer carbine when he was finally captured.)

The standard ammunition was the proprietary .56-56 Spencer black powder cartridge, fed from a seven-round magazine, with more than 200,000 rifles and carbines produced over the decade before production ended when the company went out of business in 1869.

Of course, when Blondie needs true firepower that even a state-of-the-art rifle can’t manage, he turns to a strategically placed Civil War-era howitzer, in this case a single-barreled cannon with an octagonal muzzle.

Watch out, Tuco.

What to Imbibe

Unlike many Western heroes, Clint Eastwood’s nameless gunman doesn’t fuel himself on countless shots of anonymous whiskey slapped on the bar by a no-nonsense saloonkeeper but rather his signature cigarillos, smoked from the left corner of his mouth. I’ve seen various brands touted as Eastwood’s on-screen smokes, including Marsh Wheeling Virginians (suggested in an interview with the actor himself) or Toscano-made Parodi Ammezzati cheroots made of fermented Kentucky tobacco, but the answer may be lost to history unless we can get some definitive clarification from Eastwood or a surviving member of the production team.

Smoke ’em if you got ’em. And Blondie’s got plenty.

What is less in question is the fact that Eastwood—already a non-smoker—grew to detest the taste of his small cigars, even though the harsh taste and effects would put him in the proper mood for the role. According to Eli Wallach, Eastwood once quipped to Leone after multiple takes of a shot that featured him smoking: “You’d better get it this time, because I’m going to throw up.” No wonder Eastwood developed a directorial style famous for single takes.

How to Get the Look

Clint Eastwood as Blondie, aka “the Man with No Name”, in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

In addition to the movie itself, Clint Eastwood’s outfit as the poncho-wearing “man with no name” who lets his ubiquitous cigarillo and Colt do his talking for him has become influential and iconic in its own right.

• Blue-and-white railroad-striped cotton shirt with rounded spread collar, front placket, button-through patch chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Black cotton neckerchief
• Tan sheepskin vest with natural piled lining and mid-chest drawcord
• Olive woven wool poncho with white pattern and white fringe
• Dark indigo cotton twill straight-leg jeans with belt loops, five-pocket layout, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather wide belt with squared gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Brown roughout leather gun belt with contrast edge-stitching and loop-and-diamond detail stitching, with tapered front strap (with hammered brass single-prong buckle), cartridge loops, and straight right-side holster (with belted strap)
• Tan roughout cowhide square-toed cowboy boots with straight shaft openings and low slanted heels
• Stainless steel spurs with slim brown leather belted strap
• Brown felt cowboy hat with telescope crown and dark brown tooled leather band (with silver-toned single-prong buckle)

Elements of Blondie’s wardrobe are widely available with replicas of varying qualities offered, whether you’re looking to complete a Western-style outfit or build a Halloween costume like Clint’s own son, Scott Eastwood, memorably did.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie or the whole “Dollars trilogy”.

You can also shop around for your own “man with no name” costume with this helpful guide.

The Quote

You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in The Yakuza (1974)

Vitals

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka, disciplined ex-Yakuza

Tokyo, Spring 1974

Film: The Yakuza
Release Date: December 28, 1974
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Dorothy Jeakins

Background

Fans of ’70s action would no doubt appreciate The Yakuza, Paul Schrader’s debut screenplay, co-written with his brother Leonard Schrader based on Leonard’s own experiences in Japan. A driving factor that compelled the brothers to finish their initial script was the stoic screen presence of Ken Takakura, who appeared in the film as the ex-akuza gangster who now teaches kendo.

Ken takes up his sword as part of his giri with Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum), formerly a U.S. Marine MP who had dated Ken’s sister while serving in Tokyo during the post-WWII occupation of Japan. Loosely defined as a lifelong debt that can never truly be repaid, the giri concept is central to The Yakuza, in which Ken describes it to Harry as “the burden hardest to bear” and refuses to rid himself of his obligation even when Dusty (Richard Jordan) suggests that the nature of his debt is relatively arbitrary.

Having arrived in Japan in search of his associate’s kidnapped daughter, Harry seeks out Ken’s assistance, but the blood they spill rescuing the young woman results in Yakuza contracts placed on both Harry and Ken, a threat that can only be eliminated by Ken killing the powerful gangster Tono (Eiji Okada) with a sword. While Harry arms himself with a .45 and a double-barreled shotgun, Ken takes a katana to appropriately exact his vengeance on the dangerous crime boss.

What’d He Wear?

Every few months, I like to check in on the appearance of a classic “Harrington jacket” in the movies, whether a genuine Baracuta as favored by Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra, or a modern evolution like the Tom Ford jacket worn by Daniel Craig in his sophomore 007 adventure Quantum of Solace.

Despite his adherence to Japan’s longstanding values and culture, Ken Tanaka enthusiastically incorporates iconic western style into his wardrobe, including lounge suits, a tweed sports coat, and even a Levi’s denim trucker jacket in addition to his traditional Japanese garments. For this climactic assault where he carries a classic katana rather than a modern firearm, Ken still dresses in a more western-informed ensemble of a Harrington jacket, black turtleneck, stone chinos, and “Beatle boots”.

Baracuta jacket zipped high and blade bloodied at the tip, Ken prepares for combat.

Ken’s navy weatherproofed cotton jacket is most assuredly an authentic Baracuta G9, based on the style, cut, and the signature Fraser tartan plaid lining seen when the jacket is partially unzipped or being cut away from his body. The jacket has a two-button standing collar with an extended throat closure tab, slanted hand pockets with a single-button flap, and raglan sleeves with ribbed-knit cuffs that match the ribbed knitting around the waist hem. The back is detailed with the classic “umbrella”-style yoke.

More than 80 years after their introduction, Baracuta still offers the G9 in a variety of colors and cloths including the navy cotton/poly blend as worn by Takakura in The Yakuza, available in both G9 Classic (via Amazon and Baracuta) and G9 Archive “Authentic” (via Baracuta) fits.

The Baracuta story dates back to 1930s England, where brothers John and Isaac Miller introduced their innovative windbreaker for golfers—the “G” in G9 refers to golf—with weather-proof styling and a fit designed to stay close to a wearer’s body while allowing a full range of arm movement, whether swinging a golf club or katana.

In addition to featuring great actors and great action, The Yakuza is filled with great turtlenecks. Consistent with his quiet, somber character, Ken Tanaka favors muted jumpers like this black turtleneck as opposed to Harry, whose rollnecks run the gamut from a timeless gray to a golden tan as was quite fashionable mid-’70s. Ken’s black turtleneck appears to be knitted in a fine cloth like merino wool.

Ken’s jacket and turtleneck get cut away from him in the heat of battle, leaving him stripped down to his trousers and boots.

Note the Fraser tartan plaid lining of Ken’s Harrington jacket being cut from his torso as he dispatches another of Tono’s men.

Ken wears light stone-colored flat front chinos with a long rise, slanted front pockets, and a button-through back left pocket, though some production stills appear to depict Ken wearing trousers with two back pockets. The straight-leg trousers are finished with plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears them with a thick dark brown leather belt with a brass-toned single-prong buckle.

Ken wears his usual black leather ankle boots with their inside-zip closure and raised heels similar to the Cuban-heeled “Beatle boots” that were popularized by the Fab Four over the previous decade, though they have a more conventional rounded toe rather than the pointed toe favored by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Ken wears his boots with black socks.

Given what happens to his jacket and turtleneck, Ken wisely forewent wearing his wristwatch as it would have undoubtedly suffered some katana damage or hindered his own swordsmanship.

How to Get the Look

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in The Yakuza (1974)

Even when not facing battle with teams of expert Japanese swordsmen, Ken’s accessible ensemble of navy Harrington jacket, black turtleneck, stone chinos, and ankle boots makes for a timeless and tasteful weekend casual look.

• Navy waterproof cotton Baracuta G9 zip-up blouson-style “Harrington jacket” with two-button standing collar, slanted hand pockets with single-button flaps, ribbed knit cuffs and hem, and red Fraser tartan plaid lining
• Black merino wool turtleneck sweater
• Stone-colored chino cloth flat front trousers with belt loops, front pockets, button-through back left pocket, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt with large curved brass-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather inside-zip ankle boots
• Black socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

The water changes always, but the river…

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.05: “The Runaways”)

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, conflicted ad man

Los Angeles, Spring 1969

Series: Mad Men
Episode: “The Runaways” (Episode 7.05)
Air Date: May 11, 2014
Director: Christopher Manley
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Despite being one of the most popular shows in the streaming service’s stable of non-original content, today marks the last day that Mad Men is available to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. The first part of Mad Men‘s seventh and final season spends time with displaced ad man Don Draper as he travels from coast to coast by plane, juggling his professional aspirations in New York with his slowly stagnating marriage in L.A.

The geographic reversal is interesting, not only in the context of Mad Men but also in the east vs. west trope espoused by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Henry David Thoreau, as we’re used to seeing Don romanticizing California even when professionally soaring through the ranks of Madison Avenue’s advertising world. Now, his position has shifted with decided roots in L.A. via second wife Megan (Jessica Paré) taking up residence in Laurel Canyon to further her acting career while, back in New York, he’s been reduced to a glorified intern at the agency he helped to start… and that’s just in the eyes of those who are comfortable working with him.

It’s telling that Don catches a late broadcast of Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937) during a later visit to the coast, as Don’s own erstwhile Shangri-La has been crumbling as he feels increasingly alien in Megan’s world of hippies, drugs, and free love.

Drink in hand, Don watches as yet another lover shares a demonstrative moment during a drug-fueled Bohemian bacchanal. Familiar territory, but at least he has a co-observer in Amy… and an eventual escape in the unexpected form of a characteristically talkative Harry Crane.

When one of Don’s visits to L.A. coincides with a party for Megan’s friends, it’s even more telling that Don chooses the temporary sanctuary of escape with Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) of all people, finding familiarity in someone from his office, even if the once-unassuming media buyer has transformed himself into a sleazy, pompous blowhard. Solidified by booze, Harry’s sycophancy rises to a new level as he embraces his face-time with Don, revealing more than he was intended to about SC&P courting Philip Morris’ new Commander cigarette brand in a power play that will undoubtedly put Don’s fledgling attempts to restart his career on ice. Don returns to Megan’s pad, refreshed to find that all guests have departed save for one—the flirtatious Amy (Jenny Wade)—who eagerly joins both Don and Megan in bed for a late night romp that, rather than bringing the couple closer together, all but solidifies their estrangement.

Don may have been an active participant in the impromptu ménage à trois, but neither his head nor heart were in it. Instead, he was stuck in a conversation he had with Harry Crane… who would no doubt be honored to know he was on Don’s mind during such a provocative situation. With his most considerable professional rivals, Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin) and Lou Avery (Allan Harvey), angling to bring a new cigarette account into the SC&P fold, Don needs to get back to New York to prove that, in the parlance of Waylon Jennings over the closing song, he’s still the only daddy that’ll walk the line.

What’d He Wear?

After some initially feet-dragging, Don Draper has fully embraced the power of plaid… at least for parties. Megan first forced him into a bold plaid sports coat and tie for a dinner party with the Campbells and Cosgroves during the series’ transformative fifth season, set primarily across the back half of 1966. Over the years to follow, the laconic ad man has recognized how an eye-catching dash of plaid can liven up any occasion with a closet full of plaid jackets in varying patterns and colorways, wearing them all year be the occasion a quiet New Year’s Eve celebration, catching an afternoon movie, or even a late night at the office.

In this case, it’s a Laurel Canyon party in the late spring of 1969. It’s been a tumultuous decade for Americans, shaken up by war, activism, and political assassinations, though Megan Draper’s Hollywood remains a bastion of good vibes, a mere months before even this free love-loving town would be shaken up by the gruesome Cielo Drive murders.

Did Don pack this plaid jacket for the trip or was it stashed with some select clothes he keeps at Megan’s home? Either way, it’s a tactful choice for the party as he knows the latest Mrs. Draper likes him in plaid. I believe “The Runaways” marks the only appearance of this particular cotton sport jacket, patterned in a gray-and-cream tartan plaid with a red windowpane overcheck, subtly coordinating with the red-and-white piping on his black polo.

Don fidgets in discomfort as Megan gyrates with a denim-clad merrymaker.

Aside from its loud plaid pattern and cotton (or cotton-blend) construction, Don’s single-breasted sports coat is cut and styled similarly to the jackets of his business suits and follows the same slightly shorter length contemporary to men’s fashion trends of the late ’60s, accentuated by a rounded front skirt opening. The two buttons are placed a few inches higher than Jon Hamm’s natural waist line, similar to several of Don’s jackets across the series’ latter seasons though it’s less jarring on this casual sport jacket that Don doesn’t wear buttoned over a white shirt and tie.

The notch lapels moderately bridge the narrower lapels popular earlier in the ’60s with the exaggerated widths of the decade to follow, detailed with the subtle and appropriately sporty detail of gently “swelled” edges. The structured shoulders are gently roped at the sleeveheads, and each sleeve is finished with three buttons at the cuff. The single-vented jacket has a welted breast pocket and flapped hip pockets that slant gently toward center when compared to the horizontal axis of Don’s plaid.

“I’m tired.”

Don wisely balances the extravagantly patterned sports coat with more subdued underpinnings in all black. He tucks his black piped-collar polo shirt into his black flat front trousers, held up with a black leather belt that fastens through a steel box-style buckle with rounded edges. The belt leather coordinates with his black derby shoes.

Don prepares himself the first of many libations to sustain himself through a night with Megan’s free-loving friends (feat. Harry Crane).

Don’s black knit polo follows the Ban-Lon trend the originated when Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company developed this unique process for crimping yarn to nylon in 1954, kicking off a two-decade trend of everything from sweaters to swimsuits made from this soft-knit synthetic material. “Ban-Lon” soon became a shorthand for retro-minded knitwear whether produced by the Bancroft process or not and began enjoying a resurgence over the last decade thanks to the Mad Men influence that also re-popularized business suits, skinny ties, and classic cocktail culture.

I can’t confirm if Don’s shirt is actual Ban-Lon or a more natural fiber like merino wool, but it’s a characteristically tasteful item from the Draper wardrobe that follows fashion while still rooting in timeless style by avoiding fad-informed excess. In addition to the squared patch pocket over the breast, the shirt is detailed with edge-stitched raglan sleeves that extend to each elbow, three black plastic sew-through buttons, and a wide collar whose breadth gives visual indication that we’re approaching the ’70s. While many Ban-Lon or similar polo shirts had ribbed waist hems, Don’s is unbanded for a more relaxed fit around the waist.

The body of Don’s shirt is black with the edge of the collar and top of the breast pocket piped in narrow red and white striping for a subtle “dipped” contrast against the dark shirt, just enough to look interesting without clashing against the bold pattern of his sports coat.

As we see when Don undresses for what proves to be a surprisingly eventful night in bed, he doesn’t wear one of his usual undershirts. While the crew-neck top of a white T-shirt would add an unsightly patch above the buttoned portion of his polo, the undershirt would also serve as a protective layer between his skin oils and the material of his knit shirt, which suggests that he may indeed be wearing Ban-Lon, which was celebrated for its easily washable properties especially when compared to a more delicate fabric like merino wool.

Though he foregoes the undershirt, Don still wears his regular white cotton boxer shorts.

Without one of his undershirts, Don throws on his black piped polo shirt with his underwear when joining Megan for some much-needed morning coffee… as observed by Amy, his latest bedmate who is notable for being the first to receive not only the endorsement but the active participation of his current wife.

Through the last three seasons of Mad Men, Don wears an elegant Omega Seamaster DeVille watch with a slim stainless steel 34mm case and black cross-hair dial with a 3:00 date window on a black textured leather strap.

Don’s Omega was among four watches that appeared on the series included in a December 2015 Christie’s auction, where it sold for $11,875. According to the auction listing, “the watches were leased to the show by vintage watch specialist Derek Dier, who has supplied watches to the movie industry, noted musicians, actors, writers, artists, international dignitaries and Fortune 500 CEOs. Mad Men Property Master Ellen Freund worked with Dier to select the watches.” The Christie’s page further describes the watch as: “Signed Omega, Automatic, Seamaster, De Ville, Ref. 166.020, Movement No. 23’943’081, Circa 1960.”

What to Listen to

Before Megan’s “merry band of players” takes over the soundtrack with a take on Sidney Bechet’s “Petite Fleur” (following an ill-received few bars of “Dixie”), the party was scored by “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” by Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Though primarily associated with the Canadian-American jazz-rock fusion band, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” was originally recorded by Brenda Holloway (no relation to Joan), who co-wrote the tune with Berry Gordy Jr., Frank Wilson, and her sister Patrice Holloway. While Holloway’s version peaked at number 39 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the cover recorded by Blood, Sweat & Tears would shoot up to #2 by April 1969, making it indeed one of the most popular songs in America at the time of Megan’s party. Only the Fifth Dimension’s zeitgeist-defining medley “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” would prevent Blood, Sweat & Tears’ energetic track from taking the top spot.

How to Get the Look

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.05: “The Runaways”)

Don Draper has confidently developed his range of dressing from the slick ad men we met in the show’s first few seasons, having rotated a number of plaid sport jackets into his stable that are deftly and appropriately worn for soirees like this Bohemian get-together in 1969 SoCal. There’s a reason Don racked up two placements on GQ‘s rundown of the five best dressed men from this episode!

• Gray-and-cream tartan plaid (with red overcheck) cotton single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Black Ban-Lon knitted short-sleeve polo shirt with wide red-and-white piped collar, three-button top, patch breast pocket with red-and-white piped opening, and elbow-length raglan sleeves
• Black flat front trousers with belt loops, “quarter top” side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with steel rounded-edge square box-type buckle
• Black leather derby shoes
• Black socks
• White cotton boxer shorts
• Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series.

The Quote

I’m doin’ fine.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, washed-up TV actor

Los Angeles, February 1969

Film: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Release Date: July 26, 2019
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips

Background

Years after his glory days on the Western serial Bounty Law, proto-cowboy actor Rick Dalton fears that he’s “a has-been” as he’s relegated to dwindling, often villainous roles in Westerns and crime shows. Each one presents the opportunity to either impress audiences or remind them that he isn’t the star that he once was, so it’s with considerable apprehension—and a killer hangover—that he’s driven to the set of Lancer to film his walk-on role as the sinister Caleb DeCoteau opposite James Stacy (Timothy Olyphant).

“You’re Rick fuckin’ Dalton… and don’t you forget it,” encourages his stunt double and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), calling out from the cockpit of Rick’s Cadillac as the actor makes his wheezing walk onto the set. Rick is met by the gregarious Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond), the Chicago-born actor and director who had indeed directed the Lancer pilot, “The High Riders”. In yet another touch of QT’s revisionist history, this episode aired in September 1968, six months before this movie depicts it being filmed on Sunday, February 9, 1969.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood makes no secret of ensconcing its characters and revisionist history into the actual world of movie and TV production during that era, including Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, James Stacy, and—of course—Sharon Tate. The fictional Rick Dalton was inspired by the careers and personalities of late 1960s contemporaries such as McQueen, Pete Duel, and Burt Reynolds, whose real-life friendship with his stunt double and eventual director Hal Needham would be reflected in Rick’s brotherhood with Cliff Booth.

Burt Reynolds, photographed in London in September 1972 wearing a leather jacket and turtleneck that would have had a place in Rick Dalton’s closet.

As an homage to Reynolds, the actor had actually been cast in the small part of real-life rancher George Spahn, though Reynolds’ death in September 2018 resulted in Bruce Dern taking over the role. While sharing less in common with Rick Dalton, Dern had also been a rising star in the late ’60s who was primarily seen in Westerns and crime shows before his star-making roles in the ’70s including The Cowboys (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), and Family Plot (1976).

What’d He Wear?

Lancer‘s costume designer Rebekka (Courtney Hoffman)—wearing a “Sock it to me” button personally chosen for her by Tarantino—is delighted about dressing Caleb DeCoteau in a fringed Custer jacket befitting Wanamaker’s “1869 meets 1969” vision, though it could be argued that Rick Dalton has already embraced this sartorial direction in his own life. Sure, it may be unfathomable to picture Wyatt Earp riding through Dodge City in an orange leather sports coat, but details like the pointed yokes and decorative embroidery on Rick’s jacket as well as his oversized belt buckle and raised-heel boots point to a Western influence informed by his chosen vocation starring in TV Westerns.

Cut and styled like a traditional lounge jacket, Rick’s orange leather coat has full-bellied notch lapels that roll to well above the two mixed brown urea four-hole sew-through buttons on the front, echoed by the three decorative buttons on the cuff of each sleeve. The jacket has wide shoulders, roped at the sleeveheads.

The only external pockets are two large patch pockets on the hips, each detailed with a Western-style pointed and embroidered yoke that echoes the coordinating pointed yokes on the shoulders, also embroidered in the Western tradition. The back of the jacket is similarly detailed with a double-pointed yoke across the shoulders, which—as on the front—has long vertical seams running the length of the coat from yoke point to hem. The single vent neatly bisects these two seams, set apart by a short horizontal seam that runs between the two vertical seams just above the top of the vent.

Emboldened by his pal Cliff’s words of encouragement, Rick fuckin’ Dalton begins his day on set.

Rick’s trousers are a rich, dark chocolate brown likely made of polyester or a polyester blend consistent with the emerging menswear trends that would more fully take hold during the following decade. These flat front trousers have belt loops where he wears his usual dark brown leather belt, finished with a gold-toned single-prong buckle with a silver extended piece decorated with a gold “R” monogram.

The trousers are just slightly flared at the plain-hemmed bottoms to accommodate Rick’s chosen footwear, a pair of dark brown leather cowboy boots complete with slanted heels and the classic Western “bug and wrinkle” medallion stitching over the pointed toes.

If graphic tees, blue jeans, and moccasin boots are Cliff Booth’s style staples, Rick Dalton could be crowned king of the turtlenecks for his winning back-to-back jumpers worn under leather jackets for the first two days in the film’s narrative. Both colors, the previously seen rust brown and this mustard yellow, are specific to the emergent style of the following decade (though the brown jumper is a mock-neck rather than a full roll-neck.)

Tarantino had cited Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) as one of the contemporary works that inspired Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Paul Mazurky’s 1969 sex comedy, we see both Robert Culp and Elliott Gould—as the titular Bob and Ted, respectively—wearing turtlenecks colored on the mustard spectrum, among other colors, though Culp’s and Gould’s jumpers are more of a brown mustard while Rick Dalton’s bolder knitwear evokes French’s yellow mustard. Likely constructed from merino wool, Rick’s sweater has raglan sleeves with a ribbed-knit roll-neck, cuffs, and hem.

Yellow is evidently the color for Team Rick Dalton on the film’s version of February 9, 1969. Between Cliff Booth in his yellow Aloha shirt and Sam Wanamaker in his yellow cardigan, these major players all wearing the same color as our down-and-out actor will all play a major role in his career revival, beginning with this Lancer pilot episode.

Costume designer Arianne Phillips detailed the background of Rick’s gold jewelry, specifically his double-sided pendant and the chunky ring on his right pinky, in a July 2019 interview with Fawnia Soo Hoo for Fashionista:

That gold pendant was custom-made for our film by a wonderful jewelry designer Stuart England. Stuart makes these wonderful medallions and pendants. I wanted to use his work for a long time in films. I almost did in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I just felt like Rick should have some kind of masculine jewelry and Steve McQueen was famously photographed with a medallion and I always loved that. I always thought it was sexy. So I thought Rick needed one, and Leo and Quentin responded to it. It actually is monogrammed with a little “R” on it.

The lion pinky ring was a collaboration with Chris Call, our property master, Leo and Quentin. It’s just a really cool piece of jewelry that looked right on him.

Phillips also explained to Haleigh Foutch of Collider in a December 2019 interview that the reverse of Rick’s necklace was etched with a Tudor rose-inspired design.

Rick gets a call from Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) that ensures he’ll be able to afford keeping himself in gold jewelry.

As opposed to Cliff Booth’s more distinctive (and slightly anachronistic) “bullhead” Citizen watch on its unique custom bund strap by Red Monkey Designs, Rick Dalton wears a more subdued classic timepiece that has been identified by Esquire Middle East as a Chopard Classic with a 36mm 18-carat yellow gold case, mechanical manual-winding movement, and brown alligator leather strap that closes on a gold-covered steel buckle. The watch has a round white dial with gilded hour markers with Roman numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. (See more of the Chopard Classic collection here.)

Of relative interest to some may be a visual comparison with a similar watch from the era owned by Burt Reynolds, a gold-toned 1960s Timex Electric with a plain white dial on a black leather strap that was auctioned in June 2019 alongside a 1980s quartz Seiko watch.

Rick also wears a pair of light brown plastic-framed sunglasses with pink-tinted lenses, though our hungover hero is hardly seeing the world through rose-colored glasses as he gloomily stumbles out of his Cadillac and toward his fateful day shooting his life-changing Lancer pilot.

What to Imbibe

Tarantino-world is famous for its pantries of fictional products, from the Wolf’s Tooth dog food that Cliff Booth’s pit bull downs voraciously to the Red Apple cigarettes enjoyed by all from Winston Wolf, Mia Wallace, and Butch Coolidge to Esteban Vihaio, John “the Hangman” Ruth, and Cliff himself. (Despite endorsing Red Apples in the commercials that accompany the closing credits, Rick himself seems to enjoy the equally fictional “Capitol W” brand also preferred by Butterfly in Death Proof.)

On the other hand, QT tends to give his characters real-world booze such as Stuntman Mike’s Four Roses or the Rémy Martin that Joe Cabot offers to a recently paroled Vic “Mr. White” Vega in Reservoir Dogs. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood breaks this pattern with the triumphant introduction of Old Chattanooga beer, evidently QT’s Southern-fried spin on contemporary budget brews like Old Milwaukee or Old Style.

The image that launched a thousand memes.

Period-aesthetic advertising developed by Columbia Tristar Marketing in conjunction with the film’s release establishes this “Tennessee lager” to pack a punch at 7.4% ABV, considerably higher than what would have been filling most drinkers’ beer mugs at the time.

How to Get the Look

Leonardo DiCaprio on set and in costume as Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

With more than a dash of his own Western flair, Rick Dalton’s wardrobe embodies the increasingly fashionable autumn color palette of the following decade, a phenomenon comprehensively explored by The Artful Codger on Reddit.

• Orange leather single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, Western-style pointed and embroidered front-and-back shoulder yoking, large patch hip pockets with pointed-and-embroidered yokes, non-functioning 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Mustard yellow merino wool raglan-sleeve turtleneck sweater
• Chocolate brown polyester flat front trousers with belt loops and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather belt with oversized gold single-prong fitting and silver “R”-monogrammed extension
• Dark brown leather cowboy boots with decorative-stitched shafts and “bug and wrinkle”-stitched pointed toes
• Gold “R”-monogrammed/Tudor rose pendant on thin gold necklace
• Gold chunky lion-motif pinky ring
• Chopard Classic 18-carat yellow gold wristwatch with round white dial on brown textured leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Frank Sinatra and Tom Selleck during production of “Laura” (Episode 7.18 of Magnum, P.I.)

Vitals

Frank Sinatra as Michael Doheny, experienced and tough retired New York police sergeant

Hawaii, Spring 1987

Series: Magnum, P.I.
Episode: “Laura” (Episode 7.18)
Air Date: February 25, 1987
Director: Alan J. Levi
Creator: Donald P. Bellisario & Glen Larson
Costume Supervisors: James Gilmore & Charlene Tuch

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Twenty years after he played Tony Rome, Frank Sinatra returned to the world of private eyes in warm locales with his final major acting role, a special appearance in “Laura”, a seventh season episode of Magnum, P.I. The Voice was already over 70 when the episode was produced, but he’s still as charismatic, wiry, and tough as his reputation had preceded him for the better part of a century. On this summertime #SinatraSaturday, let’s take a deeper look at Frank’s final screen role.

“Laura” begins with a brief yuletide prologue New York City, where NYPD detective sergeant Michael Doheny’s retirement dinner is juxtaposed with an ominous scene of an 8-year-old girl playing in the hallway of her apartment building and encountering a sinister pair of red Adidas sneakers. Three months later, we’re back in the series’ familiar environs of sunny Hawaii, where reliable Rick (Larry Manetti) is trying to talk Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) into taking a missing persons job that should net him $10,000 after only two days of work. Magnum suspects it’s too good to be true, and—of course—it is, when their first tip on the trail for the missing Kenneth Geiger is soon waylaid by the gun-wielding ex-Sergeant Doheny, whose Panama hat and Aloha shirt can’t disguise Ol’ Blue Eyes’ distinctive voice as he offers Magnum some “constructive criticism”:

So far, you run a lousy investigation!

Sitting in a jail cell later that day, Doheny suggests to Magnum that they may have gotten “off to a bad start” and hopes to rectify things with the investigator he’s already antagonized. Once Doheny proves his earnestness and expertise and with renewed sense of mutual respect between them—not to mention Rick’s urging—Magnum agrees to help Doheny out in his search for the two vicious killers who had raped, beaten, and murdered the girl from the opening sequence before escaping to Hawaii… who is revealed to be Doheny’s own granddaughter, Laura.

What’d He Wear?

Tom Selleck may be famous for Thomas Magnum’s colorful Hawaiian shirts, but he wears a subdued stone-colored snap-front shirt for the majority of this episode, apropos its darker themes, while special guest star Sinatra steals the sartorial show in his festive Aloha garb.

As one would expect of FS, he makes his first appearance in Hawaii wearing a hat. The rest of his outfit may not differentiate him from the typical ’80s tourist in Hawaii, but Doheny’s classic Panama hat crafted from densely woven toquilla palm straw establishes him as a gent with old-school values. The fedora-styled hat has a narrow black band.

Even on Magnum, P.I., there’s no stopping the Chairman of the Board from sporting a natty hat, adapted to the show’s Hawaiian setting.

Doheny clearly doesn’t buy his tropical shirts at the same place as Magnum, wearing a very unique long-sleeved style that differs from Magnum’s typical Aloha shirts as far as cut, collar, pockets, and almost every other detail.

These shirts have four silver-toned metal buttons up the plain (French placket) front, which squares away at the chest where the shirt opening cuts away to a dramatically wide take on the “Lido collar”. Often associated with resort wear or the leisure class, the permanently open-necked Lido collar was popularized during the interwar years by Hollywood royalty like Gary Cooper, giving rise to the synonymous names “Hollywood collar” and “Cooper collar”. Doheny’s shirts lack that elegant tapered roll associated with the traditional Lido collar and may be best accurately described as a hybrid between a Lido collar and a classic camp (revere) collar.

While we’re playing “Guess that Hawaiian island on Doheny’s shirt?”, Kenneth Geiger is getting away!

Doheny’s first shirt has an indigo ground, covered with an all-over print of white-sketched tropical scenes, occasionally accompanied with Anglicized versions of Hawaiian islands and locations such as Kahoolawe, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Diamondhead Honolulu.

I’ve tried in vain to track down who would have made this distinctive shirt during the 1970s and ’80s timeframe that it would have been produced with no promising leads aside from this royal blue polyester/cotton vintage shirt from Royal Creations (via Etsy) that borrows the concept and color scheme but differs in the detail of the pattern and the layout of the shirt itself.

Cut straight around the hem and meant to be worn untucked, Doheny’s shirts have a narrow split vent on each side. A matching patch pocket on each side of the chest closes with a single button through a pointed flap.

With both shirts, Doheny wears cream-colored flat front slacks that provide a tropically appropriate balance to his vibrant shirts. These trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets, and a straight leg down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears a black leather belt that coordinates with his black leather loafers with their squared plain toe and high vamps. His black socks are likely the same “Gold Toe” black socks as we see folded in the top of his suitcase.

Kenneth Geiger turns out to be a dead end.

That night, Doheny changes into another purple-toned long-sleeved Aloha shirt, similarly styled as his previous shirt but with a lilac ground and a more familiar all-over floral print of purple hibiscus. This shirt also seems to swap out the earlier shirt’s metal buttons for more traditionally Hawaiian brown wood buttons.

As the latest houseguest at Robin’s Nest, Doheny is shown to his new quarters by the estate’s proud majordomo Higgins (John Hillerman).

Doheny wears no visible jewelry or accessories, save for the gold wristwatch he was gifted upon his retirement from the NYPD at the start of the episode, secured to his left wrist via flat, shining gold bracelet with a jewelry clasp. The watch has a gold rectangular case and a minimalist gold rectangular dial with a raised bump at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions.

According to Tom Selleck during a September 2016 segment of Live! with Kelly, Sinatra’s only condition for appearing on Magnum, P.I. was: “Just make sure I get to beat somebody up!” Steven Keats looks like he wouldn’t mind if the Chairman had made a more genteel request.

The Gun

“The gun gets ’em to tell the truth, then they haven’t got time enough to think up a lie,” explains Doheny of his gun-happy techniques. The weapon in question appears to be an early Colt Detective Special, likely Doheny’s backup piece from his NYPD service. The rounded “half-moon” front sight and rounded butt suggests that this may be a “first issue” Detective Special, produced between 1927 and 1946 before the front sight would be ramped and serrated. The Detective Special would undergo far more extensive cosmetic changes in the early ’70s but it remained at its core a reliable and easily concealed revolver packing six rounds of .38 Special ammunition.

Sinatra seems to spend a substantial amount of his screen time giving Steven Keats hell.

Despite his propensity for pulling his gat perhaps more often than a situation requires, Honolulu PD Lieutenant Page (Joe Santos) still arranges for his fellow officer Doheny to receive a permit to legally carry his Detective Special concealed while in Hawaii. (I’m not familiar with the Hawaii firearms ordinances in 1987, but it seems that Doheny would not be so easily extended that courtesy today as a non-resident.

How to Get the Look

Frank Sinatra as Michael Doheny in Magnum, P.I., Episode 7.18: “Laura”

More than three decades after he wore his “loose, flowing sports shirt” as Maggio in From Here to Eternity, Ol’ Blue Eyes proved he was as comfortable as ever in a tropical-printed aloha shirt… just the item anyone would want to have on hand when guest-starring on Magnum, P.I.!

• Purple all-over tropical-printed long-sleeved Aloha shirt with wide “Lido collar”, four-button extended-tab plain front, two matching chest pockets (with button-down pointed flaps), button cuffs, and straight hem with side vents
• Cream-colored flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt
• Black leather squared plain-toe high-vamp loafers
• Black “Gold Toe” socks
• Gold rectangular-cased wristwatch with gold rectangular dial on flat gold jewelry-clasp bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series. Of course, Magnum P.I. is fantastic and fun in its own right, but “Laura” provides a fitting swan song for Sinatra in a role that showcases not only his characteristic toughness but also substantial depth… considerably more dignified and on brand than Orson Welles’ somewhat more ignominious cinematic farewell in The Transformers: The Movie the year prior.

In fact, “Laura” received Magnum, P.I.‘s highest ratings in more than two years, ostensibly saving the show and extending it into another season. While there were plans for Sinatra to return during Magnum, P.I.‘s eighth and final season, the shortened run of episodes due to Tom Selleck’s scheduling conflicts meant there wouldn’t be an opportunity for Ol’ Blue Eyes to make a smooth return to the series and “Laura” remains his final on-screen acting role.

Tom Selleck, Larry Manetti, and Frank Sinatra on set of “Laura” (Magnum, P.I., Episode 7.18). It was reportedly though Manetti that FS first signaled his interest in taking what would be his final acting role.

The Quote

Well, like I always say… anybody can make a mistake.

Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

Vitals

Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke, “doctor of journalism” and alter ego of Hunter S. Thompson

Las Vegas, Spring 1971

Film: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Release Date: May 22, 1998
Director: Terry Gilliam
Costume Designer: Julie Weiss

Background

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold…

…and, with the scream of a bright fireapple red Chevy convertible speeding through the desert scored by Big Brother and the Holding Company’s manic “Combination of the Two”, we’re off and running with Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo on their way to a hallucinogenic weekend romp in Sin City. Johnny Depp’s opening narration as the notorious Dr. Duke transcribes verbatim the opening lines of Hunter S. Thompson’s landmark roman à clef Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The book and film chronicle Thompson’s drug-fueled trip to Las Vegas with his friend, activist attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta, rebranded for the story as the 300-pound Samoan “Doctor Gonzo” who would ultimately be portrayed to chaotic perfection by Benicio Del Toro.

Ralph Steadman’s illustration of Dr. Gonzo and Raoul Duke at the helm of the Great Red Shark.

On the anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson’s birthday on July 18 in the foul year of Our Lord 1937, let’s join Raoul Duke on “a classic affirmation of everything right and true and decent in the national character… a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country—but only for those with true grit.”

What’d He Wear?

Hunter S. Thompson had befriended Johnny Depp several years earlier, so there was little question in the writer’s mind that his friend would be up to the task of portraying him, inviting him to spend four months living in the basement of Thompson’s Owl Farm home in Colorado. In addition to sharing his manuscript and mementos from “the Vegas book,” Thompson also personally shaved Depp’s head to resemble his own and provided assorted articles of clothing and accessories—from that patchwork jacket to his TarGard cigarette holder—to complete Depp’s transformation for the screen.

Both Raoul Duke and his storied attorney Dr. Gonzo are clad in Acapulco shirts for their adventure, having evidently heeded their own advice. “The only way to prepare for a trip like this,” Thompson wrote, “was to dress up like human peacocks and get crazy then screech off across the desert and cover the story.”

“Our vibrations were getting nasty.”
Raoul Duke nervously eyes the hitchhiker in their backseat, making his inaugural convertible ride as Dr. Gonzo steers the trio across the desert. While our two protagonists are clad in their respective Acapulco shirts, the hitchhiker wears a t-shirt with Ralph Steadman’s illustration of Mickey Mouse emblazoned on the front.

Ralph Steadman’s portrait of Hunter S. Thompson with bucket hat, cigarette, Acapulco shirt, and sneakers.

Duke is dressed in a dark brown short-sleeved camp shirt with an all-over yellow floral pattern, outwardly similar to a traditional aloha shirt but made from a soft terry cloth, a pile woven cotton also known as “toweling” for its prevalence in bath towels.

The terrycloth detail is often missed by purveyors offering inexpensive “replicas” of the shirt, ostensibly for Halloween costumes, such as thecostumebase or Largemouth. Terry shirts are indeed seeing a resurgence thanks to the tasteful products of companies like Busbee McQuade, Dandy Del Mar, and Orlebar Brown, though I imagine those seeking to crib that chaotic Gonzo look would need to look to vintage wares. The closest equivalent I’ve seen to a well-made terrycloth shirt with aloha sensibilities are the unique “High Water Hawaiian” shirts by California Cowboy, consisting of cotton-lyocell tropical-printed shells and the brand’s proprietary terrycloth lining. In fact, California Cowboy has cited Thompson’s book and personal style as the inspiration for its “High Water” line. If you want to pay tribute to Duke’s look without following the toweling route or getting a costume-like replica of the shirt, I can personally recommend the “Island Monarchy Yellow” Hawaiian shirt by Aloha Republic, via Aloha Funwear.

In addition to being at its most fashionable during “this doomstruck era of Nixon”, terry toweling shirting would be ideal for the good doctor of journalism as Thompson noted elsewhere in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in that “I tend to sweat heavily in warm climates. My clothes are soaking wet from dawn to dusk.”

While photos of the real HST in this shirt aren’t as easy for me to find as some of him in that famous patchwork jacket, this screen-worn item was undoubtedly one of the man’s own famed Acapulco shirts, and I believe it’s the one reflected in one of of Ralph Steadman’s iconic illustrations of the writer.

Depp wears a dark brown leather studded cuff bracelet on his right wrist, inspired by one the real Thompson had been frequently photographed wearing. The owner of Leatherpunk researched the wristband before developing his own replica and determined that, while Thompson’s black leather cuff closes through two snaps, Depp wore a brown leather bracelet with a single-prong buckle closure. His site currently offers reproductions of both.

On his left wrist, Depp wears a steel watch with a black bezel and black dial, worn on a period-correct black leather rally strap. As opposed to the “skeleton-face Accutron” Bulova that Thompson described in his book, the screen-worn piece has been identified by the users at OmegaForums.net as an Alsta Nautoscaph, the same diver that Richard Dreyfuss wore in Jaws (1975), four years after Thompson’s savage journey to the heart of the American dream.

Ostensibly tasked with covering the fourth annual Mint 400 off-road race as “the absolute cream of the national sporting press,” Duke confirms to a bewildered hitchhiker (Tobey Maguire) picked up somewhere in Bat Country that “we’re on our way to Las Vegas to find the American Dream.”

Duke dresses his dome with a fisherman’s bucket hat in off-white canvas, detailed with green canvas under the full brim.

In yet another extension of the real Thompson’s style, Depp wears gold-framed aviator sunglasses with yellow tinted lenses and the round ring between bridge and top bar suggesting the Ray-Ban Shooter Aviator frames. In addition to what Ray-Ban calls the “vanity bullet hole”, the Shooter aviators are designed with a reinforced acetate “brow bar” (or “sweat bar”) above the top bar as also seen on the Outdoorsman frame, originally designed to keep sweat from clouding a pilot’s vision.

While I don’t believe the yellow tinted lenses are commercially available with the currently offered RB3138 Shooter Aviators (via Amazon or Ray-Ban), there are plenty of budget-friendly alternatives from costume outfitters like Costume Agent (via Amazon) to get that yellow-lensed gonzo look. (On the other end of the budget spectrum, L.A.-based eyewear boutique Jacques Marie Mage announced its Thompson-inspired “Duke” shades last year, limited to a run of just 250 and retailing for $850 each.)

“How long could we maintain? I wondered. How long until one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family; will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so, well, we’ll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere, ’cause it goes without saying that we can’t turn him loose. He’d report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law enforcement agency and they’ll run us down like dogs. Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?”

Duke staggers around the Shark in a pair of light pink chinos that, in characteristic fashion, clash with the rest of his outfit. These flat front trousers are worn sans belt and have side pockets and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms, which hike up high to show his white ribbed tube socks.

Depp also sports Thompson’s favorite kicks, a pair of well-worn Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers with low white canvas uppers, laced with flat white laces through seven silver-toned eyelets, and white rubber outsoles that somehow manage to support him through the “muck” of the Mint Hotel lobby despite his request for golf shoes.

As Dr. Gonzo drives in his wraparound sunglasses alternatively described as being of Spanish, Brazilian, and Danish origin, Raoul Duke kicks back in Thompson’s favorite Chuck Taylor All-Stars to get acquainted with their bright-eyed new companion.

Nearly 50 years since Raoul Duke’s infamous trip and almost 100 years since their introduction to the market, Converse continues to offer its signature basketball shoe (via Amazon and Converse), including the white low-top variety favored by Hunter S. Thompson.

The Car

“As your attorney, I advise you to rent a very fast car with no top,” Dr. Gonzo had advised Raoul Duke in Beverly Hills, and the two thus spend their evening “locating a convertible with adequate horsepower and proper coloring” before aiming the famous Great Red Shark due northeast across the desert.

The actual Red Shark from Thompson’s garage made an appearance as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo’s primary ride from L.A. to Vegas, a bright red 1971 Chevrolet Impala convertible which Depp himself had traded in his own car to drive for months in advance to prepare for the role.

Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo speed northeast in the Great Red Shark.

1971 was the first model year for Chevrolet’s fifth generation of the venerated Impala and would become one of GM’s top-selling models for the decade, with a wheelbase elongated to 121.5 inches.

IMCDB users noted that two different cars were likely used in the movie, one a legitimate 1971 model while another—most clearly seen when Duke is being chased by a police officer played by Gary Busey—has white interior door panels from the 1973-1974 models when the convertible was moved upmarket to the Caprice Classic series. (I believe this later model was the ’73 convertible that Thompson would later be gifted from friends… more on that below!)

The IMCDB users also contend that Duke’s Impala convertible was powered by a top-of-the-line 402 cubic-inch “400 Turbo Jet” V8 mill offering 300 gross horsepower and mated to GM’s three-speed Turbo Hydramatic transmission. According to Pawel Zal’s Automobile Catalog, this could push the Impala to a theoretical top speed of 111 mph, though Thompson recalled hitting speeds closer to 120 in the Great Red Shark:

I always drive properly. A bit fast, perhaps, but always with the consummate skill and a natural feel for the road that even cops recognize.

1971 Chevrolet Impala Convertible

Body Style: 2-door convertible

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 402 cu. in. (6.6 L) Chevrolet 400 V8 with Rochester 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 300 hp (223.5 kW; 304 PS) @ 4800 RPM

Torque: 400 lb·ft (542 N·m) @ 3200 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed GM Turbo Hydramatic THM-400 automatic

Wheelbase: 121.5 inches (3086 mm)

Length: 216.8 inches (5507 mm)

Width: 79.5 inches (2019 mm)

Height: 53.4 inches (1356 mm)

The Chevy becomes an increasing liability for Thompson, who describes “a huge Red Shark just outside the door so full of felonies that I’m afraid to even look at it,” so the book depicts him abandoning it in long-term parking at McCarran International Airport before renting a white Cadillac convertible to known forth with as The Whale, though the luxury of GM’s upmarket stablemate to the Impala couldn’t compare to the Shark’s speed and handling.

Old elephants limp off to the hills to die; old Americans go out to the highway and drive themselves to death with huge cars.

Note the “Impala” badging below the retractable roof.

Two decades after Thompson’s “strange torpedo” in Sin City, his friends would gift him with the ’73 Chevrolet Caprice convertible that would become a familiar sight on the streets of Aspen and would be lent to the production of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. More than a decade after Thompson’s 2005 suicide, his personally owned Red Shark was part of the inaugural exhibit at the Cannabition Cannabis Museum in Las Vegas.

The Gun

In case the idea of speeding across the desert to Las Vegas with a trunk full of drugs wasn’t dangerous enough, Dr. Gonzo brings along what the book describes as “a fat black .357 Magnum,” depicted on screen as a Smith & Wesson Model 19 with a police-length 4″ barrel.

Dr. Gonzo responds to Raoul Duke’s allegation that he’s a narcotics agent.

The novel clarifies the weapon as “one of those snubnosed Colt Pythons with the beveled cylinder”, passing from Dr. Gonzo’s possession to Raoul Duke’s as he learns to his admiration and horror when he first tries to escape Sin City. He considers that it may not be wise to keep the weapon, “but I wasn’t about the throw the bastard away, either. A good .357 is a hard thing to get, these days.”

What to Imbibe

We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… also, a quart of tequila, quart of rum, case of beer, pint of raw ether, two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.

…you know what, I’m going to save myself some legal trouble and implore my readers not to follow Raoul Duke’s dangerous regimen, especially if you’re going to be hitting the road any time soon. The description is, like much of Depp’s narration, nearly verbatim with Thompson’s written word, though the Budweiser prescribed in the novel is generalized to “beer” for the narration (and portrayed by Regent brew on screen) and the described “tequila” is actually a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon. I could dedicate an entire blog, let alone a single post, to Hunter S. Thompson’s famous use of substances so let’s narrow the BAMF Style recommendation to a single concoction here.

“My attorney ordered two cuba libres with beer and mescal on the side,” Thompson writes in the chapter depicting their check-in at the Mint Hotel.

In the Mint Hotel bar, Raoul Duke—in no need of further inebriation—sits by the two Cuba Libres ordered by Dr. Gonzo.

As one may infer from its name, the Cuba Libre (or “Free Cuba”) was developed in Cuba though its exact origins—like many classic cocktails—are less pinpointed. The drink was known to emerge in the early 1900s, following the strong American presence in the island nation during the Spanish-American War and the introduction of Coca-Cola to the Cuban market in 1900. Over the century to follow, the highball became a staple not only in Cuba but spreading its way up through the United States, though an essential ingredient of the true Cuba Libre was often lost along the way as the “rum and Coke” became a popular order in all corners of the continental U.S. Prohibition reportedly eased its popularity, as the strong cola flavor would ideally overpower the lacking taste of bootleg rum when consumers couldn’t easily get their hands on better quality products.

In Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh assures us of the Cuba Libre that “the trick, here, is that this drink is not ‘just a rum and Coke.’ The lime juice changes everything.” Indeed, a simple addition of lime juice—preferably fresh—transforms the drink from what the Washington Post‘s Jason Wilson called “a lazy person’s drink” to a refreshing symbol of revolution.

Haigh’s recipe prescribes two ounces of Cuban rum, the juice of half a lime, topped with Coca-Cola in an iced highball glass and garnished with a lime wedge; Raoul Duke would have certainly favored the oft-referenced Bacardi Añejo for his libations.

A future post focusing on Fear and Loathing will explore the famous “Singapore Slings with mescal on the side” that our heroes were drinking a day earlier in the patio section (“of course”) of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

How to Get the Look

Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

“Setting aside his odd accessories, one of the reasons that Thompson’s style is so appealing is that it is so completely American. Hawaiian shirts, white Chuck Taylor All-Stars, and Ray-Ban Aviators accompanied by guns, cigarettes and liquor bottles,” wrote Brenden Gallagher in his 2017 retrospective “Going Gonzo” for Grailed.

• Brown (with yellow floral pattern) terrycloth “Acapulco shirt” with notched camp collar and notched short sleeves
• Light pink chino cotton flat front trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star low-top basketball sneakers with white canvas uppers and white rubber outsoles
• White ribbed tube socks
• Off-white canvas bucket hat
• Ray-Ban RB3138 Shooter Aviator gold-framed sunglasses with beige sweat bar and yellow-tinted lenses
• Alsta Nautoscaph stainless steel dive watch with black dial and black bezel on black leather rally strap
• Dark brown leather studded bracelet

In a later passage from the novel, Thompson describes his appearance as equivalent to “some crusty drifter who looks like something out of an upper-Michigan hobo jungle”…

I looked pretty bad: wearing old Levis and white Chuck Taylor All-Star basketball sneakers… and my ten-peso Acapulco shirt had long since come apart at the shoulder seams from all that road-wind. My beard was about three days old, bordering on standard wino trim, and my eyes were totally hidden by Sandy Bull’s Saigon-mirror shades.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

As your attorney, I advise you to check out the movie and read Thompson’s book, which Depp himself has described as “a calmer version of what actually happened.”

The Quote

We can’t stop here! This is Bat Country.

Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in A Summer Place (1959)

Vitals

Troy Donahue as Johnny Hunter, college student and “silly sentimentalist”

New England, Spring 1959

Film: A Summer Place
Release Date: November 18, 1959
Director: Delmer Daves
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup

Background

Sixty years after shaking up more genteel audiences with its frank but ultimately tame depictions of adultery and sexuality, A Summer Place may be most widely remembered for its serene theme song. Originally written by Max Steiner, it was Percy Faith’s arrangement of “Theme from A Summer Place” that transformed the instrumental ballad into a #1 hit that took the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking nine consecutive weeks in early 1960.

(Faith later tried to replicate his success with a questionable disco version that I’m sure no one had been asking for, “Summer Place ’76”.)

Adapted from Sloane Wilson’s novel published the previous year, A Summer Place tells the story of two generations of lovers brought together on an island inn off the coast of Maine. Ken Jorgensen (Richard Egan) and Sylvia Hunter (Dorothy McGuire), reunited after 20 years, are forced to face their own reignited feelings for each other as well as the passionate romance growing between his daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) and her son Johnny (Troy Donahue). Somehow, the scandalous affairs manage to garner front-page stories in all the region’s major newspapers from Boston to Buffalo, alienating the children from their parents and bringing them closer together until the good-natured Ken and Sylvia—now married to each other—invite Molly and Johnny to spend spring break at their new beach house.

“Frank Lloyd Wright designed our house,” the typically modest Sylvia proudly shares when Molly arrives. Indeed, the exteriors were filmed at the picturesque Clinton Walker House that Wright designed in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, though the film places it within reasonable driving distance of Maine, so it’s likely meant to be somewhere in New England.

Sandra Dee, Troy Donahue, and a Lacoste-clad Richard Egan at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Clinton Walker House during production of A Summer Place.

Johnny and Molly are reunited on the beach, and Steiner’s familiar theme kicks in as the two declare their love for each other in a secluded cove she had already scouted, though the guilt she feels after a trio of boys tease them has her questioning his motives.

Molly: Are you bad, Johnny? Have you been bad with girls?
Johnny: No… I just don’t know exactly what that word “good” means.

What’d He Wear?

The scenes of Johnny and Molly on the beach take up only a few minutes of screen time, though they seem to make up the bulk of imagery used to promote the film as the sight of Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in their swimsuits and respective cover-ups neatly align with the title A Summer Place… despite the scene in question actually being set during the two teens’ spring break.

To borrow the parlance of the era, it may sound square of Johnny to be wearing a cardigan for his date on the beach, though a glance at the once and future Merle Johnson in his open tennis sweater and short-inseam trunks assures the viewer that this won’t be Fred MacMurray settling in for cookies with his three sons.

Molly and Johnny are reunited on the beach for the first time in several months.

With its navy, white, and crimson red striping around the neck and down the placket on each side of the opening, Johnny’s soft ivory cable-knit cashmere cardigan echoes the traditional tennis sweater (or cricket sweater, as it would be known if Johnny had opted to spend his spring holiday across the pond.) The traditional tennis or cricket sweaters are long-sleeved V-neck pullover jumpers, but cardigans like Johnny’s aren’t uncommon and continue to be made today such as these reimaginings by Brooks Brothers and Todd Snyder.

I’ve put some thought into why Johnny was dressed in this manner so far from the tennis courts and landed on two theories:

1. Johnny’s parents, specifically his more socially conscious father, purchased the garment in the hopes of projecting his ambitions of upward mobility onto his son and present him as the kind of young man who spends his leisure time playing tennis… despite Johnny barely having enough money for a long-distance phone call.
2. The film sides with the younger, more progressive generation but likely recognized that Johnny and Molly may not be instantly sympathetic to older or more conservative audiences, so they coded the young couple as “wholesome” or “all-American” by draping Johnny in a patriotic red, white, and blue for what might be an otherwise scandalous afternoon in the sand. (Though Molly’s terry cloth cover-up is yellow, her red and white-striped bathing suit under it adds credence to this theory.)

With a name like Johnny Hunter, would he even consider wearing anything but red, white, and blue?

The cardigan’s loose cable knitting and softness of what appears to be a cashmere wool construction would have made it quite comfortable on what appears to be a sunny yet breezy day on the beach. The cardigan has six flat mother-of-pearl buttons up the front, initially worn open to showcase the round gold pendant Donahue wears on a thin necklace, though he buttons it up as the day gets later and chillier. The only pocket is a set-in pocket over the left breast, and the waist hem is widely ribbed.

Johnny wears white swim trunks with a short inseam, likely no more than two or three inches, as well as a higher rise up to Donahue’s natural waist, where it closes through an extended waistband with a stacked two-button closure on the right side of the waist. Though a brighter, stark white in color, the trunks echo the sweater with its red, white, and blue stripe tape down the outside of each leg, always with the crimson red stripe toward the front and navy toward the back.

The pleasant crashing of the waves could be ominous as they provide the backdrop for Johnny and Molly plotting their scheme for escaping forced family fun time to share what would be an amorous date night.

Consistent with prevailing styles during the era (as modeled by Sean Connery on the set of Woman of Straw), the sole pocket on these short trunks is a set-in pocket just below the right side of the waistband, closing through a small, rounded single-button flap. Embroidered on the left thigh is the circular logo of an aquatic flamingo, though I can’t identify the brand solely from this; all I can ascertain is that it’s clearly not the famous Jantzen diving girl.

Several modern swimwear outfitters specialize in retro-minded trunks, such as Dandy Del Mar, Retromarine, and Orlebar Brown whose 4.5″-inseam Setter (white with “Bahama blue” side striping) and 6″-inseam Bulldog (white with “rescue red” side striping) are fine updates to Donahue’s look. If OB’s $275 price tag is a little steep, you could sacrifice color-correctness and pick up these double-digit priced A|X Armani Exchange or Hugo Boss trunks, though both are arguably more modern in their approach and execution. Tori Richard also offers red, white, and blue ’60s-inspired trunks with side striping, albeit only in red and navy blue as of July 2020 (via Amazon or Tori Richard.)

Johnny had also worn this cardigan much earlier in A Summer Place, sported open with the tennis-friendly outfit of a lightweight cotton two-button polo shirt and beige flat front slacks when the Jorgensen family first arrived at Pine Island together the previous summer.

Johnny waits with his parents for the Jorgensen family to come ashore at Pine Island.

Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee in A Summer Place (1959)

How to Get the Look

Clad in his red, white, and blue, Troy Donahue looked like the ’50s archetype of the “all-American boy” when reuniting with Sandra Dee on the beach in A Summer Place.

• Ivory cable-knit cashmere tennis/cricket cardigan with navy, white, and crimson-striped placket, six pearlesque sew-through buttons, and set-in breast pocket
• White short-inseam swim trunks with navy, white, and crimson side striping, double-button waistband closure, and right-side pocket (with button-down flap)
• Gold thin necklace with gold pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m just angry at myself for wanting you so much.

Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo on Mad Men (Episode 6.04: “To Have and To Hold”)

Vitals

Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo, maverick advertising agency art director

New York City, Summer 1965 through Spring 1968

Series: Mad Men
Episodes:
– “Chinese Wall” (Episode 4.11), dir. Phil Abraham, aired 10/3/2010
– “A Little Kiss, Part 1” (Episode 5.01), dir. Jennifer Getzinger, aired 3/25/2012
– “Mystery Date” (Episode 5.04), dir. Matt Shakman, aired 4/8/2012
– “Far Away Places” (Episode 5.06), dir. Scott Hornbacher, aired 4/22/2012
– “Lady Lazarus” (Episode 5.08), dir. Phil Abraham, aired 5/6/2012
– “The Phantom” (Episode 5.13), dir. Matthew Weiner, aired 6/10/2012
– “To Have and to Hold” (Episode 6.04), dir. Michael Uppendahl, aired 4/21/2013
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Anyone who has been a regular BAMF Style reader or Instagram follower knows that I have a fascination with these random observances—particularly those food-related ones—that dot the calendar, typically of unconfirmed origins but celebrating everything from root beer floats (August 6) to ranch dressing (March 10, as I once commemorated with Gene Hackman’s ranch suit in Prime Cut.)

Thus, you’ve probably already deduced—with an audible groan, no doubt—that today is National Mustard Day, commemorated the first Saturday in August. During my latest Mad Men rewatch, I was increasingly impressed with the character of Stan Rizzo, who brought a swaggering yin to the debonair yang of the sadly dismissed Sal Romano (Bryan Batt), Sterling Cooper’s previous art director and a sophisticated dresser who will receive his own much-deserved BAMF Style coverage soon.

When Stan was first hired by Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce midway through the show’s fourth season, I recall being initially annoyed by the character’s boastful, frat-tastic energy, particularly as I was still mourning Sal’s departure. Over the series, we watch Stan evolve into a more self-assured artist and professional, who abandons much of his early posturing to embrace his own leonine brand balancing unapologetic confidence with nonchalance and sincerity, aided by Jay R. Ferguson’s charismatic performance that layers more warmth onto the character as time goes on.

What’d He Wear?

Stan’s preference for yellow plaid sport jackets is established during his debut season, first seen in “Chinese Wall” (Episode 4.11) when he makes a clumsy pass at Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) during what he believes to be the agency’s “last days of Rome.” It’s a good color for Stan, appropriately evocative of hot dog condiments given his celebrated work on the Heinz account while also signifying his more forward-thinking approach; while the debonair Sal Romano was rooted in the dapper style of the 1950s, Stan dresses more in anticipation of the colors and casual attitudes of the following decade, comfortably decked out in the autumnal shades and open collars of the ’70s.

While more of a lemon yellow than a rich mustard, this first sports coat has a tan shadow plaid that could argue a resemblance to brown mustard, further accented with a teal windowpane overcheck that coordinates with his fondness for bright blue knitwear. This jacket has narrow notch lapels with sporty welted “swelled edges”, rolling to a two-button front, as well as a welted breast pocket, gently slanted flapped pockets on the hips, spaced two-button cuffs, double vents, and roped sleeveheads.

While he dons his jacket and she applies lipstick to prep for a meeting in “Chinese Wall” (Episode 4.11), Stan allows himself a moment of pettiness at Peggy’s expense.

The jacket is prominently introduced in “Chinese Wall” when he puts it on over his go-to azure blue knitted short-sleeved polo shirt with the long, four-button placket and thin sky blue horizontal stripes.

Stan also wears his favorite khaki slacks from the fourth season, a pair of flat front trousers styled with the usual on-seam side pockets and jetted back pockets with plain-hemmed bottoms. His shoes are black leather moc-toe loafers with a side-buckle strap, worn with black socks.

A sleazier Stan than we recognize from later seasons tries to teach Peggy a relaxation “technique” he reportedly learned from a yogi.

We see Stan’s yellow plaid jacket again at the start of the fifth season in “A Little Kiss, Part 1” (Episode 5.01) when he and Peggy present their famous “bean ballet” to the Heinz executives, worn again with the azure striped short-sleeved polo though with perhaps dressier charcoal flannel flat front trousers. (It’s also in this episode that we get a look at the tag of Stan’s shirt, though it’s hard to discern any more than what appears to be an “M.S.” at the start of the tag.)

Stan and Peggy’s presentation celebrating “the art of supper” falls flat.

“Mystery Date” (Episode 5.04) presents us with Stan at his dressiest, clad not only in a sport jacket and trousers but with a light-colored dress shirt and Draper-esque striped tie to boot! At first glance, you may think he’s called back into service his old reliable yellow plaid jacket but a closer look reveals a richer-toned sports coat, grounded in a more golden-hued mustard yellow than the previous jacket and patterned with a rakishly slubbed varieted self-check that contrasts just enough against the napped cloth. (For all intents and purposes, we’ll call this jacket #2!)

In addition to the different color and pattern, “jacket #2” also varies in its cut and style from its predecessor with narrow “half-clover” notch lapels sans edge swelling, single-button front and single-button cuffs all in a golden amber plastic, and jetted slanted hip pockets that lack flaps. Like the other jacket, this mustard sports coat has a welted breast pocket and double vents.

Their tie stripes may follow the same direction, but SCDP creative chiefs Don and Stan each have otherwise considerably divergent approaches to dressing for the office.

It was this jacket and tie shaking up Stan’s thus-established casual aesthetic that put GQ contributor Andrew Richdale in touch with Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant to discuss what she called “a totally new side of him,” the result of a discussion with Matthew Weiner to reflect a somewhat matured Stan recognizing the importance of their meeting with Butler Footwear. “Matt actually had the great idea of having him take the sports coat off during the meeting,” Bryant explained. “He put it on the back of the chair and then put it back on as he was walking out. I loved that. It highlighted his casual sensibility.”

While he’s willing to adhere to the mandated coat and tie for his meeting, sporting striped neckwear in—what else—mustard, Stan’s casual sensibility prevents him from tying one on (a tie that is) around the office, clad in his shirt sleeves and open neck when consulting with fellow newcomer Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldstein) for a pre-pitch conference in Draper’s office. With a wrinkle that suggests it isn’t as well-cared for as his colorful array of knitwear, Stan’s button-up dress shirt is a pale mint green with spread collar, plain front, button cuffs, and breast pocket for his Chesterfields.

We also see more of Stan’s high-rise trousers, a pair of then-fashionable chocolate brown slacks with a beltless band fitted around his waist with only a single button external closure and “frogmouth”-style front pockets, another burgeoning menswear detail that would become increasingly popular throughout the ’60s and into the ’70s.

The characteristically chaotically dressed Ginsberg illustrates how wearing a tie doesn’t necessarily make a man look more fashionable or formal, as Stan arguably looks more stylish in his simple open-neck shirt and brown trousers.

In “Far Away Places” (Episode 5.06), Stan arrives at the office wearing a tan gabardine windbreaker over his solid royal blue knit polo, though he swaps it out for the previously seen yellow plaid sport jacket (“jacket #1”, if you will) when he and Peggy unsuccessfully rehearse their new Heinz Baked Beans presentation for Don. By this point, we see that Stan tends to keep this jacket slung over the back of his chair in the office, always at the ready should the need to be dressier arise.

The blue shirt has a large collar that extends almost the full length of the short three-button placket. A set-in breast pocket closes with a single button through the welted top, and the short set-in sleeves are banded above the elbows. Stan again wears charcoal trousers, and his brown leather ankle-high motorcycle boots are prominent seen as a disappointed Peggy breaks down their presentation materials.

“Far Away Places” (Episode 5.06)

“Lady Lazarus” (Episode 5.08) provides a swan song for jacket #1, which looks considerably greener against the beige knitwear sported under it; indeed, Janie Bryant had described this garment to GQ as “a bright acid green and yellow plaid sports coat” and those tones have considerably more room to pop agains this neutral ground.

This retro shirt, which would be briefly worn again in the following episode “Dark Shadows” (Episode 5.09), has a tonal grid-textured body and a double olive-striped piping that follows the edges of the wide collar, the long four-button placket, the top of the set-in breast pocket, and the bands around the cuffs and hem.

While I love the retro shirt, “Lady Lazarus” (Episode 5.08) may feature my least favorite pairing with one of Stan’s yellow plaid sport jackets.

When teaming up with Ginzo for the Topaz presentation in “The Phantom” (Episode 5.13), Stan is down to just one yellow plaid sports coat… jacket #2 was our winner! He wears it here again with chocolate brown trousers and one of his favorite shirts, a burgundy quarter-zip long-sleeved pullover seen frequently across the back half of the fifth season.

Not seen under the jacket, this shirt has a large, white-piped collar and a button-adorned breast pocket also detailed with white stitching. (If it is the same shirt, the long black rectangular-framed zip pull seen in other episodes has evidently been removed.) As with most of his polo shirts across the fourth and fifth seasons, Stan makes the somewhat regrettable decision of wearing a white cotton undershirt with a high crew-neck that tends to be visible above the open necks of his polo shirts.

Another day, another presentation… this time for Topaz Hosiery Mills in “The Phantom” (Episode 5.13).

By the sixth season, we’re seeing more mustard in other men’s wardrobes (and even many of the women), particularly among the more forward-thinking characters like Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm) and Harry Crane (Rich Sommer), though Don continues to incorporate the color into his ties. The trail-blazing Stan, however, seems to have already moved on, having adopted a more earthy, sage-green tone to accompany the beard he spent most of 1967 cultivating before he ultimately settles into the hippie-artist aesthetic of beads, bush jackets, corduroy, denim, snaps shirts, and scarves for the series’ final season set across 1969 and 1970.

Stan oversees this handoff of his signature color in “To Have and To Hold” (Episode 6.04), which began with Don and Pete’s covert meeting to get their agency’s foot in the door to take over the prized Heinz ketchup account. Given Stan’s experience with their beans division, he’s enlisted to secretly develop the art for SCDP’s pitch. On the day of the presentation, Stan joins his suited colleagues by taking one of his mustard plaid sport jackets—jacket #2—for one last spin, worn with a tonally coordinated yellow shirt, brown trousers, and striped tie, the burgundy “uphill” stripes alongside the yellow and green perhaps to evoke Heinz’s prized mustard that is tragically under-represented in the ads themselves.

As Stan commiserates over a Budweiser in “To Have and To Hold” (Episode 6.04), we get a look at that textured slubbing on jacket #2.

Stan is proud of his artwork’s minimalist approach—even if he isn’t given the space to utter more than half a sentence during the meeting—until the group greets Peggy and Ted from CGC just outside the door. “It’s a bake-off?” he realizes. “Since when?”

After Peggy and Ted steal the grand prize, a double victory for SCDP’s rival as their infuriated client from the beans division pulls his account, Stan’s mustard jacket gets one final moment to shine as he heads to the can to conduct one more bean ballet.

Ted nurses his Old Spanish, oblivious to Stan “greeting” Peggy on his way to the can.

Throughout the many shades of mustard and increasing pilosity from the fourth through sixth seasons, Stan maintains the same timekeeping device, a steel watch with an oceanic blue gradient dial on a steel bracelet, until this would be replaced by the seventh season. A Reddit user suggested Rado or Seiko as possible manufacturers, though I’ve never seen any confirmed or positive identification of Stan’s wristwatch.

Stan’s aquatic watch dial echoes his favorite shirt color in “A Little Kiss, Part 1” (Episode 5.01).

If you dig Stan’s style and want to read more about it comprehensively, check out this great guide by the blogger of 24 Pinfold Street. You can also read Janie Bryant’s full interview with Andrew Richdale at GQ about Stan’s preference for mustard here.

Of Special Mention…

Never worn with either of his mustard plaid sport jackets, Stan illustrates his loyalty to the color with a few golden-hued knit shirts as well.

The first appears in “The Beautiful Girls” (Episode 4.09) when Peggy’s new pal Joyce Ramsey (Zosia Memet) visits the office to invite her out for drinks that night at P.J. Clarke’s. Misreading the situation, Stan amuses himself by riffing on Petula Clark’s “Downtown” to hint at Joyce’s unveiled sexuality. The short-sleeved polo has a three-button placket and a trio of gradient block stripes on each side, running up from the banded hem to the seam of each raglan sleeve. The collar is fastened through a single button in the back.

Joyce calls Stan’s bluff. He should have just minded his own business!

A season later in “Christmas Waltz” (Episode 5.10), Stan ignores seasonal shades in favor of his then-favorite color with an all-mustard knit long-sleeved polo shirt, detailed with a closely spaced French placket of four cloth-covered buttons and patterned with two tonal-textured horizontal stripes: one across the upper chest and arms and one across the abdomen over the banded hem.

SCDP’s creative stars react to the partners’ announcements about Christmas bonuses and the potential for finally getting an automotive account.

How to Get the Look

Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo on Mad Men (Episode 5.06: “Far Away Places”)

Do Stan Rizzo’s plaid sport jackets cut the mustard? (Sorry, I had to say it.)

• Mustard yellow plaid single-breasted 1- or 2-button sport jacket with narrow notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted hip pockets, 1- or 2-button cuffs, and double vents
• Knit polo shirt
• Charcoal or chocolate brown flat front beltless trousers with frogmouth front pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather ankle-high motorcycle boots
• Black socks
• Steel watch with aqua blue gradient dial on steel bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series. If you prefer streaming, Mad Men is no longer available on Netflix in the U.S. as of June, though it joined the Amazon Prime catalog (albeit with ads) the following month.

The Quote

I’ve got tickets to the bean ballet, and the curtain’s about to go up.

The real John Lewis in 1965 and Stephan James portraying Lewis in Selma (2014)

Vitals

Stephan James as John Lewis, civil rights activist and future congressman

Selma, Alabama, Spring 1965

Film: Selma
Release Date: December 25, 2014
Director: Ava DuVernay
Costume Designer: Ruth E. Carter

Background

On the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, today’s post celebrates the life and legacy of the late John Lewis, the prolific civil rights activist and longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives who had been an instrumental force in the fight for voter and racial equality.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been cited as a direct result of the Selma to Montgomery marches, which opened the eyes of the public to the reality of racial injustice when state and local police—acting on orders from Alabama Governor George Wallace—resorted to extreme violence in response to the nonviolent activists. Ostensibly securing the right for all to exercise the right to vote in the United States, this landmark legislation was a major milestone during the era’s civil rights movement though—even more than a half-century later—we still have considerable progress to make.

Lewis had just turned 25 when he and fellow activist Hosea Williams led more than 500 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where they were assaulted by police with clubs and tear gas and sent scrambling for safety. The events of March 7, 1965, soon to be known as “Bloody Sunday”, physically scarred Lewis for the rest of his life but also cemented his legacy as recounted in Jay Reeves’ AP obituary, which describes Lewis’ unflinching stoicism in the moments before the attack:

Lewis stood motionless with his hands in the pockets of his raincoat, a knapsack on his back.

This image endured through the decades, and even Lewis himself understood the worth of putting considerable effort into tracking down a similar knapsack and coat for the 2015 Comic-Con International in San Diego, where he attended to promote his three-part graphic novel memoir March. After the news of Rep. Lewis’ death last month, many shared photos of the congressman cosplaying as his younger self during these events, walking with hundreds of children and convention attendees in tribute to the famous march that had taken place more than 50 years earlier as detailed in Sandra E. Garcia’s article for The New York Times.

“I had the opportunity to recreate what I wore on March 7, 1965 and march with some amazing young people,” Lewis himself posted on his official Facebook page.

Dressed in a raincoat and knapsack similar to what he had worn during the 1965 Selma march, John Lewis is joined by his policy aide and co-author Andrew Aydin as they lead young Comic-Con attendees around the event. (Photo by Carlos Gonzalez for The New York Times)

Ava DuVernay’s masterful Selma is centered around David Oyelowo’s magnificent performance as Martin Luther King Jr., presenting the famous minister and activist in all of his complexity, a man who balanced sincerity in his beliefs with the shrewdness required to be truly effective. Writing for the Miami Herald, Rene Rodriguez praised the fact that “unlike most biopics about heroic men who shaped our history or helped bring about change… Selma doesn’t feel like freeze-dried hagiography.”

In a section of his blog, Information is Beautiful, that evaluates how faithfully a recently released film “based on a true story” follows known history, David McCandless bestowed Selma with a 100% rating to conclude that all on-screen events are either completely or mostly true to history, while acknowledging the most frequented addressed point of contention that the film may have exaggerated Lyndon Johnson’s opposition to aspects of the movement. As the only movie of the 18 evaluated to carry this perfect score, Selma is noted by the site to “painstakingly recreate events as they happened and takes care to include everybody who was involved.”

Of these many figures involved, Selma also includes activist and minister C.T. Vivian, who also died on July 17, 2020, the same day as his friend John Lewis and just two weeks shy of his own 96th birthday. Portrayed by Corey Reynolds, Rev. Vivian is shown wearing a raincoat as the SCLC members are being introduced in Richie Jean Jackson’s kitchen.

Andrew Young (André Holland) introduces Rev. C.T. Vivian (Corey Reynolds) to Richie Jean Jackson (Niecy Nash).

The film begins with King’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, where he praises the men and women of his movement who are “motivated by dignity and a disdain for hopelessness,” a speech rewritten to some degree by DuVernay as the rights to many of King’s speeches had already been sold by his estate for a separate and yet unproduced biopic. While King may not have said them in this context, the description of a human “motivated by dignity” stuck with me long after I first saw Selma.

What’d He Wear?

A key element to how Selma was able to so faithfully recreate the events and moments behind the passing of the Voting Rights of Act of 1965 was the historically informed costume design by Ruth E. Carter, a talented three-time Oscar-nominated designer who would later win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in recognition of her work on Black Panther (2018). In addition to paying homage to the sophisticated suits and gold Rolex worn by Martin Luther King, Jr., Carter’s costume design also reflects a deep level of attention paid to dressing all to resemble their 1965 counterparts as closely as possible, an endeavor she called out on her Instagram while the film was in production.

This naturally included the enduring image of Hosea Williams and John Lewis leading the vanguard across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, from both men in their raincoats, white shirts, and ties to Bob Mants of SNCC standing directly behind them in his own dark coat and flat cap.

Spider Martin for the Birmingham News photographed Hosea Williams and John Lewis leading their vanguard across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, for the Birmingham News, an event faithfully recreated in Selma.

A reliable raincoat is a must for any man, the ideal protective garment for anyone “expecting the unexpected.” With his simple light-colored raincoat neatly buttoned over suit and tie, Lewis looks poised, professional, and prepared, presenting the image like a man commuting to work who may be expecting inclement weather, ready to go the distance… both geographically and metaphorically.

“Coats were a form of armor,” Carter shared in a 2015 interview with Gina Marinelli for Refinery29. “It was like they knew that they were going to be faced with this brutality. So, not only did they put a coat on because they were going to march 50 miles, but because they could pad underneath to protect themselves. And, if you put your hands in the pockets of your coat while you were marching in the front line, it was a symbol of peaceful protest.”

The cinematic Lewis, portrayed by Stephan James, “debuts” the famous raincoat in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment when Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) is meeting with Malcolm X (Nigél Thatch). In this instance, he wears the coat open over a white open-neck shirt and cream cardigan.

Either coincidence or an “Easter egg” for viewers familiar with how the march would eventually play out, Williams and Lewis stand here in their same raincoats with Lewis on Williams’ left.

The first march attempt was organized locally by James Bevel, Amelia Boynton, and others on March 7, 1965 and soon became infamous as “Bloody Sunday” for the fierce attacks against the demonstrators after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Of the more than 60 marchers who were treated for injuries, Lewis himself suffered a skull fracture and would carry the physical scars from that day for the rest of his life. Across the country, millions of Americans were outraged at the violence captured in news footage and photographs out of Selma, mobilizing support for the activists.

Though horrendously beaten, John Lewis stands tall in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, ready to continue his work.

Lewis’ famous coat for the march appears to be a beige gabardine. The Prussian collar has a throat latch closure with a six-button fly front with an extra button sewn in toward the bottom hem. The sleeves are set-in with a half-tab at each cuff closing through a single button. The coat appears to be unlined, making it a cooler-wearing top layer particularly suitable for a long march through Alabama, with a long single vent in the back and slanted hand pockets.

The real Lewis’ famous backpack seen in detail in this photo by Tom Lankford for the Birmingham News, taken as Lewis, Williams, Bob Mants, and Albert Turner were confronted by Major John Cloud of the Alabama Highway Patrol moments before violence against the demonstrators ensued on March 7, 1965.

Around the time that the film was in production in 2014, Patrick Saunders of The Georgia Voice engaged now-Representative Lewis in a Q&A that concluded with a question about how, of all the marchers, Lewis appeared to be the only one wearing a backpack, to which the congressman provided a detailed response outlining the backpack’s origins and contents:

As a matter of fact I went to the Army surplus store and bought this backpack. I really thought we were going to be successful walking all the way from Selma to Montgomery. And somehow, some way, I thought maybe we would be arrested and we would go to jail, so while in jail I wanted to have something to read. I had two books in the backpack. I wanted to have something to eat—I had one apple and one orange. One apple and one orange wouldn’t last that long. Being in jail, you know I had been arrested and been to jail before, the sad thing about being in jail for two or three days, you need to brush your teeth. So there was toothpaste and a toothbrush in there.

I don’t know what happened to that backpack, I don’t know what happened to the two books. I don’t know what happened to the trench coat. One of the books was by a professor of political science at Harvard and the other book was by Thomas Merton, the monk. I just wished I had them. The Smithsonian and the Library of Congress are always asking me what happened to them and I tell them I really don’t know.

Consistent with historical record, Selma frequently depicts Lewis wearing white shirts with a tab collar, the device that fastens under the tie knot either with a button—or a snap, in Lewis’ case—to promote a neat, dignified appearance (assuming the shirt is fully fastened and the tie correctly knotted.) The tab collar saw a resurgence during the ’60s, likely consistent with the narrower tie widths that would look cleaner with it. For the first two marches, Lewis is shown wearing the same slim dark tie that I’ll go into more detail describing below.

Hosea Williams (Wendell Pierce) and John Lewis approach the state troopers.

For the attempt on March 7, Lewis is depicted wearing dark taupe brown wool trousers with button-through back pockets (with at least one of the buttons torn loose during the attacks on the bridge) and finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs) over his black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes.

In all her attention to detail, Ruth E. Carter seemed to even keep the men’s black shoes consistent with what they wore that day: square-toed, high-vamp loafers for Williams and cap-toe oxfords for Lewis.

Two days later, after the brutality of Bloody Sunday aroused national support for the civil rights movement, King returned to Selma to join Lewis, Williams, and hundreds of clergy and supporters from across the United States for a second attempt across the bridge. This abbreviated march on March 9, 1965, would be dubbed “Turnaround Tuesday” for King’s decision to turn the 2,500 marchers around before crossing the county line.

John Lewis again wears his raincoat with shirt and tie, though his white shirt has a more conventional point collar. He wears the same tie as earlier, which we see more of as he wears the raincoat open to reveal the set of olive, tan, and brown “downhill”-directional stripes across the center.

SNCC leaders James Foreman (Trai Byers) and John Lewis depicted during the March 9, 1965 march. Note Lewis foregoing his usual tab collar as well as his knapsack.

For the March 9 event, Lewis presses into service a dark gray business suit that he had also worn previously at Jimmie Lee Jackson’s funeral and would later wear when marching alongside King into Montgomery. In some light, particularly while King speaks in Montgomery, the suiting presents a subtle sheen which suggests the possibility of a mohair/wool-blended construction as was popular during the ’60s.

The suit has a single-breasted, two-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, and straight flapped hip pockets. The matching flat front trousers have plain-hemmed bottoms.

During the “Turnaround Tuesday” debrief with King, we also see Lewis’ gold-cased wristwatch and what appears to be a gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand. (However, the real John Lewis wouldn’t marry his wife Lillian until 1968, three years after the events depicted on screen.)

The Kings and John Lewis lead the marchers out of Selma on March 21, 1965.

Two weeks after Bloody Sunday and with Judge Frank Minis Johnson having ruled in favor of the demonstrators’ First Amendment rights, more than 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma on Sunday, March 21, 1965, to join King on the 54-mile march along U.S. Route 80 to Montgomery.

While Ruth E. Carter again remained true to what the principals wore that day, including King’s dressed-down off-white fisherman’s cap and light blue sport shirt, she found a deeper significance to why the actual figures had abandoned their more austere suits, coats, and ties for this third crossing of the bridge, explaining to Refinery29 that, “by the time we got to the third march, people and their children were singing, it was jubilant, and the thought was that they were protected. They didn’t necessarily need to wear their armor this time, they were actually going to make the 50 miles.”

Lewis reflects King’s celebratory blue hues, wearing a similarly shaded powder blue wool V-neck sweater over his white shirt and taupe trousers. Note how neatly the actual figures’ wardrobe (as seen in the photo at right) matches Ruth E. Carter’s costume design, with the minor exception of the cinematic Lewis wearing a white tab-collar shirt and tie as opposed to the pale blue button-down seen in real life.

Amelia Boynton (Lorraine Toussaint), Andrew Young, Diane Nash (Tessa Thompson), John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy (Colman Domingo), Martin Luther King, and Coretta Scott King lead the singing marchers out of Selma on Sunday, March 21. On the far right is activist Viola Liuzzo (Tara Ochs), who traveled from Detroit to join the march and would be murdered by the KKK four days later while shuttling her fellow activists to the Montgomery airport after the march had ended.

Upon arriving at the Alabama state capitol building in Montgomery on Thursday, March 25, with now approximately 25,000 supporters for the delivery of King’s famous “How long, not long” speech, the men are dressed back in their usual protest “uniforms” consisting of dark business suits, white shirts, and skinny ties. Lewis returns to his dark gray suit and white tab-collar shirt, this time worn with a solid brown tie and a natty pair of dark brown double monk-strap shoes.

King leads the tens of thousands of marchers into Montgomery on the morning of Thursday, March 25, 1965.

It’s fitting that our last look at John Lewis in Selma shows him standing in business suit, white shirt, and tie, the regulated dress code for the House of Representatives, in which Lewis would represent Georgia’s 5th District for the last 33 years of his life before his death of pancreatic cancer on July 17, 2020.

Selma‘s last look at John Lewis, standing proudly as his movement celebrates a milestone with decades of hard work to follow.

How to Get the Look

Stephan James as John Lewis in Selma (2014)

Selma costume designer Ruth E. Carter put extensive work into making sure each character’s sartorial details aligned with historical record. In the case of John Lewis (Stephan James), this meant dressing him in just the right beige raincoat, white tab-collar shirt, and dark skinny tie for an earnest young man ready to make “good trouble, necessary trouble” in the name of progress.

• Dark gray mohair/wool blend suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets
  • Flat front suit trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with tab collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Black slim tie with olive, tan, and brown “downhill” center stripe set
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve undershirt
• Beige gabardine raincoat with Prussian collar, throat latch, six-button fly front, slanted side pockets, half-tab cuffs, and single vent
• Gold wedding band
• Gold-cased wristwatch with round tan dial on dark leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

From John Lewis’ New York Times op-ed, which he directed to be published on the day of his funeral last Thursday:

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

Robert Redford as Hubbell Gardiner in The Way We Were (1973)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Hubbell Gardiner, privileged college student

Upstate New York, Spring 1937

Film: The Way We Were
Release Date: October 19, 1973
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Design: Dorothy Jeakins & Moss Mabry

Background

Happy birthday, Robert Redford! As the actor celebrates his 84th birthday today, and college students prepare to go back to school under surreal conditions, it feels right to take another look at Redford’s style as Hubbell Gardiner, a popular and privileged scholar athlete at “Wentworth College” (filmed at Union College in Schenectady, New York.)

Redford himself was born August 18, 1936, around the time that Hubbell would have been preparing to return to college for his senior year. Spain had been at war for just over a month while the rest of the world was gearing up for conflict, igniting the passions of radical students like Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand), who splits her time between anti-war activism, creative writing coursework, and slinging Cokes and cheeseburgers at a campus diner. Meanwhile, Hubbell’s WASPy friends can’t be bothered by such trivia as world affairs as they glide between sports and dances with plenty of irreverent jokes along the way.

The ostensible ringleader of his pals, whom screenwriter Arthur Laurents had based on a Cornell undergrad known as “Tony Blue Eyes”, Hubbell hints that there may be more beneath the surface of his easy smile and expensive clothes as he allows his interest to drift from his vapid friends toward the politically motivated Katie. She, in turn, seems to gaze back at Hubbell from the other side of the cafe counter with an interest that blends both loathing and lust, only exacerbated by his carefree teasing while placing his “decadent and disgusting” group’s order…

Hubbell: Two cheeseburgers and four Cokes.
Katie: Onion?
Hubbell: Yeah. In the Cokes.

What’d He Wear?

Appropriate for his social standing, Hubbell Gardiner is one of the most fashionable men on the Wentworth College campus, layering for chillier evenings in a colorful sweater knitted in the Fair Isle tradition, which had been popularized after the trendsetting Prince of Wales (later Edward, Duke of Windsor) began publicly wearing Fair Isle jumpers in the early 1920s.

According to Alan Flusser in Dressing the Man, the Prince’s choice was a tactical one; aware of his reputation as an arbiter of style and “hearing that the Hebrian farmers were in economic trouble, the Duke of Windsor donned one as the captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in Saint Andrews in 1922, catapulting the sweater and the island’s economy into fast-forward.” (Edward himself doesn’t go unmentioned in The Way We Were either as Katie would take the time twice in the same conversation to inform Hubbell of his nuptials to Mrs. Simpson during a later scene.)

Hubbell’s long-sleeved V-neck wool sweater, with its colorful bands knitted in red, yellow, and blue against a stone gray ground, appears to be a genuine example of a sweater knitted in the true Fair Isle technique from the Shetland Islands as opposed to how the term has been colloquially expanded as a marketing shortcut in recent years.

J.J. (Bradford Dillman), Pony (Sally Kirkland), and Carol Ann (Lois Chiles) round out Hubbell’s core group of friends. Both women would later co-star with Redford in their subsequent films; Kirkland would appear as his date Crystal in The Sting (1973) and Chiles would play Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby (1974).

Underneath, Hubbell wears a pale ice-blue cotton sports shirt with a very wide camp collar laid flat over the top of his sweater. Like many classic camp shirts, this has a small loop on the left side of the collar to fasten the neck if needed. This long-sleeved shirt with button cuffs appears to be the same one that he wears under his other collegiate sweater vests.

The College Grad Meets the Leningrad.

Hubbell wears a tan “newsboy” flat cap with an eight-panel top that meets at a covered-cloth button in the center of the crown.

Hubbell’s golden tan corduroy trousers are rooted in the workwear of the era, co-opting the hard-wearing cloth that had been a staple for European sportsmen and laborers for decades. His flat front trousers have unique slanted pockets with button-down flaps, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. Despite belt loops around the waist, he seems to forego a belt.

We don’t see Hubbell’s shoes with this sweater in the restaurant, but we can assume he is either wearing the same white sneakers (and white socks) from his earlier football game or the white bucks that were emerging as a campus staple throughout the 1930s, distinctive for their napped nubuck leather uppers and brick red outsoles.

Hubbell takes a tumble in his corduroy trousers during a casual game of football.

As with most of Robert Redford’s movies made after 1968, he wears the silver etched ring he received as a gift from a Hopi tribe on the third finger of his right hand.

Clad in what appears to be the same shirt but a different sweater, Hubbell nervously gnaws on his pencil as his story, “The All-American Smile”, is praised and read aloud by his writing professor.

While it makes sense that this colorful Fair Isle sweater would have been made or acquired for Redford’s character in The Way We Were, it makes a curious cameo appearance two years later in Three Days of the Condor (1975) where Redford’s CIA researcher Joe Turner is undoubtedly wearing the same sweater in his photo ID card!

Turner wears it in a similar fashion as Hubbell Gardiner, sporting it with an ice-toned button-up shirt with the wide collar points outside the sweater’s collar band, though the shirt in his ID photo appears to be a more contemporary ’70s dress shirt than the elegantly shaped loop-collar shirt from Hubbell’s collegiate days.

In Three Days of the Condor, Joe Turner’s ID for the CIA cover organization “Tentrex Industries” features Redford wearing his sweater from The Way We Were, though his hair has grown out to Condor length.

Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were (1973)

How to Get the Look

A veritable prince of his campus, Hubbell Gardiner follows the fashion set fifteen years earlier by the erstwhile Prince of Wales by layering a classic and colorful Fair Isle sweater, though adding his own rakish panache by sporting it over an open-neck shirt and with sporty corduroy trousers.

• Ice-blue cotton long-sleeve sport shirt with wide camp/loop collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Red, yellow, and blue-on-stone gray wool Fair Isle-knit long-sleeve V-neck sweater
• Golden tan corduroy flat front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets (with button-down flaps), jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White nubuck leather “buck” shoes with brick red outsoles
• White socks
• Tan newsboy cap
• Silver tribal ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Richard Gere as Julian Kaye in American Gigolo (1980)

Vitals

Richard Gere as Julian Kaye, high-price L.A. escort

Malibu, California, Spring 1980

Film: American Gigolo
Release Date: February 8, 1980
Director: Paul Schrader
Costumer: Bernadene C. Mann
Costume Coordinator: Alice Rush
Richard Gere’s Costumes: Giorgio Armani

Background

American Gigolo, which provided Richard Gere with his breakout role as a leading man, numbers among the many movies that felt appropriate to this year’s surreal summer. Set against the backdrop of high fashions and low tides in sun-drenched southern California, the noir-influenced circumstances that follow our hustler protagonist Julian Kaye add an increasingly eerie mood to the proceedings. Of course, being framed for murder and living through a global pandemic are two different sets of circumstances, but both make it hard to enjoy the high life no matter how beautiful one’s surroundings or wardrobe may be.

“The whole movie has a winning sadness about it,” wrote Roger Ebert in his contemporary and complimentary review. “Take away the story’s sensational aspects and what you have is a study in loneliness.”

Looking ahead to Gere’s 71st birthday on Monday, let’s explore one of Julian’s more dressed-down ensembles from a brief, beach-set scene.

What’d He Wear?

After the police have searched and ransacked his home, Julian drops in on his former madam and mentor Anne (Nina van Pallandt) to confide that he thinks he’s being framed for murder. Though he maintains a state-of-the-art wardrobe of sport jackets, suits, and ties, Julian proves that he can just as adeptly put together a fashionable and casual outfit of half-buttoned shirt and slacks for his visit to Anne’s beachside home.

While Giorgio Armani famously provided many of Gere’s costumes, I believe the shirt in this scene is the same Basile shirt spotted earlier when Julian is evaluating his vast wardrobe before a “date”. Specializing in ready-to-wear fashions for men and women, Basile was one of several Italian fashion houses—including Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Versace—that contributed to Milan gaining a foothold on the international fashion map during the 1980s. In fact, Lauren Hutton wore primarily Basile clothing as American Gigolo‘s female lead.

Note Basile’s distinctive tag sewn against the neckband of his purple shirt. The Italian brand’s logo has remained unchained in the 40 years since American Gigolo was released.

Julian’s shirt is a rich dark purple summer-weight fabric, prone to wrinkling with enough near-sheer and near-sheen to suggest linen, silk, or a blend of both in its construction. He wears the shirt have buttoned up the plain “French placket” front, leaving the soft, untethered point collar and dual chest pocket flaps to flutter in the beach wind. Gere wears the shirt’s long sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Julian finds Anne unsympathetic to his cause after he seemingly abandoned her to work for rival Leon.

Some men prefer one style of trouser fronts over another, but Julian’s trousers in American Gigolo range from flat fronts to single and double sets of pleats, alternately facing forward or to the rear. These beige linen trousers, with their flattering rise to the natural waist, are fitted with double forward-facing pleats. In addition to the straight side pockets, there is a button-through pocket over the back right, and the bottoms are finished with plain hems rather than cuffs.

Julian’s tan leather belt with its gold round-ended single-prong buckle coordinates with his shoes while also harmonizing against the tonally similar trouser fabric.

Note that Anne is reading an issue of New West, Clay Felker’s short-lived periodical that premiered in April 1976 as a West Coast-oriented offshoot of New York magazine. Famous for its exposes of Jim Jones and Jerry Brown, the general interest magazine would be redubbed California later in 1980 and would survive for more than a decade before finally ceasing publication in the summer of 1991.

For such a conspicuously branded movie, it may be incongruous that we never see Julian’s gold tank watch clearly enough to positively identify its maker, not helped by his habit of wearing it with the rectangular black dial on the inside of his left wrist.

Some have suggested Cartier and Omega as the likely manufacturers of this luxury wristwatch, though BAMF Style reader Chas pointed out that what appears to be a gold circular “C” on the gold single-prong buckle suggests Concord.

Roots Footwear provided all of the footwear that Gere wore in American Gigolo, including this pair of sandy tan suede lace-up shoes with hard dark brown leather soles.

How to Get the Look

Richard Gere as Julian Kaye in American Gigolo (1980)

Much of what makes Richard Gere’s costuming in American Gigolo significant is how much it augured the prevailing menswear for the ’80s, though certain outfits transcend the era specificity of the “Armani revolution” with sartorial approaches like this simple yet elegant and ultimately timeless shirt and trousers, perfect for a late summer afternoon on the beach be the year 1940, 1980, or 2020.

• Dark purple linen-and-silk long-sleeve shirt with point collar, plain front, and two flapped chest pockets
• Beige linen double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, gently slanted side pockets, button-through back right pocket, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Tan leather belt with rounded gold single-prong buckle
• Sand-colored suede lace-up shoes
• Gold tank watch with a black rectangular dial on smooth black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Things are different… I’m more than what I’m used to be.

Cary Grant as Geoff Carter in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Vitals

Cary Grant as Geoff Carter, regional airline manager and pilot

South America, Spring 1939

Film: Only Angels Have Wings
Release Date: May 15, 1939
Director: Howard Hawks
Costume Designer: Robert Kalloch

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Calling Barranca, calling Barranca…

Set in the fictional “port of call for the South American banana boats”, Only Angels Have Wings begins with the arrival of Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), a Brooklyn musician who soon catches the eye of two American aviators, Joe (Noah Beery Jr.) and Les (Allyn Joslyn). While the daredevil duo gambles for the opportunity to take Bonnie to dinner, Cary Grant makes his swaggering introduction as Geoff Carter, a fellow pilot and manager of a regional mail carrier flying regular routes over the treacherous Andes Mountains.

Despite warnings about the fog, Joe is ordered into the air and—eager to make it back in time for his dinner date with Bonnie—foolishly attempts to land in the inclement conditions, clipping off a wing from his Hamilton monoplane before crashing to the horror of the gathered spectators… aside from Geoff, who remains strictly business: “Mike, get the wagon. Take along a big pair of shears in case you have to cut him out! Les, get the mail.”

Now, look, Dutchy. Joe died flying, didn’t he? Now that was his job… he just wasn’t good enough.

After witnessing the crash, Bonnie is put off by Geoff’s nonchalance but quickly learns to adapt to and embrace the flier’s mindset of fast living, rejoining the mourners for a rambunctious evening of steaks, spirits, and song.

The latter scene is a particular standout, with Bonnie tapping into her profession as an entertainer to “assist” Geoff as he tries to plod through a fellow flier’s request to hear Shelton Brooks’ Tin Pan Alley standard “Some of These Days”, which also happens to be a favorite of yours truly. Jean Arthur is at her most charming as she immediately takes command of the eighty-eight, doles out instructions among the band, and plants herself to tickle the ivories through a brief performance of “Some of These Days”, played to rowdy, toe-tapping exuberance and barely breaking to down a shot of whiskey with Geoff. She caps the concert by smirking at Geoff and flicking her eyes, not even needing to ask “how’d I do?”

Still mourning the young man she had just met, Bonnie catches herself after a few bars of the wartime dirge “Break the News to Mother”, then flips her switch back to party mode with a rousing rendition of “The Peanut Vendor”.

Once the crowd has mostly dispersed around midnight, she indulges herself in a nostalgic solo of “Liebestraum”, which joins “Some of These Days” among my top ten favorite musical compositions of all time. (If only I felt the same about “The Peanut Vendor”, the Bonnie would have been three for three… though there is something satisfying about watching Archie Leach bellow “pea-nuttt!”) Liszt’s masterpiece provides an appropriately doleful backdrop as Geoff, Dutchy, and Sparks sort through Joe’s personal effects, recovered from the crash site.

Following a shared drink and some Hawksian tête-à-tête, Geoff is summoned away for a late flight to make up for the lost Joe’s missed service (for which he sobers up by pouring ice water over his head), but Bonnie has already made up her mind to impulsively skip out on her 4 a.m. boat ticket out of Barranca and remain to pursue a life with the pilot… despite his protestations! Though Hawks was reportedly unimpressed with her performance, Arthur particularly excels as the witty, headstrong Bonnie who—in her smart checked tailored suit, serves as a prototype of the classic Hawksian heroine that would later be embodied by Lauren Bacall’s “Slim” in To Have and Have Not (1944).

This marvelously entertaining and criminally underrated Howard Hawks classic recalled one of my favorite pre-Code movies, Red Dust, starring a young, confident adventurer (Clark Gable) entangled in an enviable love triangle between an outgoing outsider (Jean Harlow) and an adulterous wife (Mary Astor) at a humid French Indochina rubber plantation. In the case of Only Angels Have Wings, we obviously have Grant as the adventurer, stationed at his own remote equatorial outpost as he balances the attentions of Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth, in one of her first major roles as the sultry young wife of his polarizing new pilot “Bat” Kilgallen, aka MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess).

(Yes, Hayworth’s character’s name is Judy, and no, Grant does not say “Judy, Judy, Judy,” in this, though some believe Only Angels Have Wings to be the origin of the famously misattributed quote that became an early example of the Mandela effect in action.)

Some men find themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Others find themselves between Rita Hayworth and Jean Arthur.

During the age where Bessie Coleman, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh became living legends as conquerers of the skies, films centered around pilots (and the beautiful women who loved them) became de rigueur at American cinemas, a trend accelerated by inaugural Oscar winner Wings (1927) and Howard Hughes’ high-budget spectacle Hell’s Angels (1930). As with all fads in film, this also meant a rash of lower-quality fare, including the melodramatic Wings in the Dark (1935) where Grant himself had played a blind pilot opposite Myrna Loy, but leave it to flight enthusiast Hawks to deliver a stellar product like Only Angels Have Wings that balances his technical appreciation for aviation with his unique abilities for storytelling and encouraging the best from his actors and crew.

One of the top-grossing and better reviewed films of 1939, Only Angels Have Wings holds up more than 80 years later as charming, thrilling, and intriguing entertainment from some of the era’s greatest talents while also serving as a cinematic bridge between Howard Hawks’ formative films of the ’30s and the more mature period of his career to follow.

What’d He Wear?

Befitting his persona as a nonchalant nihilist, Geoff Carter affects the look of a high-flying cowboy at his remote outpost, appointing his classic leather flight jacket with a straw planter’s hat and studded gunbelt, a rakish prototype for cinematic adventurers to follow, most significantly Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Indiana Jones.

When we first meet Geoff, raining on Les and Joe’s parade as they flirt with Bonnie, he’s just in his shirt sleeves. The jacket makes its first appearance when his friend Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell) drapes it around his shoulders outside, citing the weather (“kinda cold out here…”)

Geoff and the Kid join fellow spectators as they try to guide Joe back to safety.

At first glance, Geoff’s leather jacket could be assumed to be an A-1, the button-front jacket originally produced for U.S. Army Air Corps pilots in 1927 until it would be superseded by the A-2 jacket four years later and often overshadowed by the iconic A-2 by virtue of the garment’s wartime service and appearance in movies like The Great Escape. However, during the A-1’s heyday, a variant of that original flying jacket was commissioned for U.S. Navy pilots, and would be designated the 37J1.

Few surviving examples of the relatively rare 37J1 exist today, though the known samples suggest that the most frequent hides used for the original jackets were capeskin and goatskin, both in a dark chestnut brown (per Headwind Mfg. Co., which offers its own reproduction of the 37J1 in both leathers.)

The 37J1 retains the overall cut, structure, and styling of the A-1 blouson jacket, including the button-up front and the knitted collar, cuffs, and waistband (save for the front section where two buttons close the jacket at the waist.) The most obvious visual differentiation between the 37J1 and the A-1 are the raised pockets. The A-1 specs included two external patch pockets, the bottoms of which were placed directly above the top edge of the ribbed waistband; the 37J1’s two pockets are placed a few inches higher, with the bottoms on the same horizontal axis as the next button up from the waistband. As with the A-1, each pocket closes with a single button through a pointed flap.

Geoff keeps his flight jacket buttoned up from waistband to collar when wearing it for its express purpose of flying.

Not counting those on the collar, Grant’s screen-worn jacket has six buttons—all threaded through two holes—from neck to waistband, which suggests either a civilian variation or a naval piece by a unique contractor as the typical mil-spec 37J1 had five buttons and two snaps (rather than buttons) to close at the waist.

A defining feature of the A-1 and 37J1 jackets is the knitting on the collar and cuffs, with only the knit cuffs retained for the subsequent A-2. This collar provides another point of differentiation between the A-1 and the 37J1 besides the latter’s higher pockets; while both jackets have two buttons placed on the right side, the tall A-1 collar has two loops to fasten both while the shorter ribbed collar on a 37J1 tapers toward the neck like a later MA-1 bomber jacket collar and seemed to have had a single snap to close at the neck

On the other hand, Grant’s jacket has this somewhat taller, A-1 style collar but with only one loop that would presumably be fastened to whichever button provided the desired fit for the wearer.

Note the unique knitted standing collar of Geoff’s jacket, not necessarily consistent with the double button-looped A-1 or a true naval 37J1 with its tapered, bomber-like collar and snap closure.

You can read more about the A-1’s place in the history of American flight jackets in this fabulously researched and illustrated article by Albert Muzquiz for Heddels. Produced first and in greater numbers, the A-1 is the more famous and widely available of the similar duo, even deemed the “best of the bombers” in Wei Koh’s great rundown for The Rake, while searching for 37J1 jackets yields both leather button-ups like Grant wears as well as khaki cotton zip-up deck jackets (like this from Aviator Mercantile Post) which suggests some confusion in either modern comprehension or contemporary designation as to how the Navy had named its flight jackets during its interwar salad days.

While information and replicas may be hard to come by in 2020, the 37J1 was evidently popular with the dashing pilots of Barranca Airways in 1939, as the ill-fated Joe Souther also wears one when flirting with Bonnie and flying off to disaster.

Much recent information about the 37J1 derives from the surviving garment from the collection of Rear Admiral John Jennings Ballentine, who rose from a pioneering pilot in the early days of U.S. Naval Aviation during World War I to commander of the Sixth Fleet after World War II. His hard-worn flight jacket is detailed over the left breast and on the back with the “Red Dragon” logo of the VT-2B torpedo squadron that then-Lieutenant Commander Ballentine commanded from July 1931 through December 1932.

Geoff Carter’s 37J1-style jacket is similarly marked up on the left breast and under the back yoke, painted with the left side of a Native American’s head and headdress in profile. This is suggested to have been inspired by the squadron insignia of the U.S. Army Air Service’s 103rd Aero Squadron, itself borrowed from the Lafayette Escadrille that produced many of the 103rd’s pilots after that famous French flight unit was disbanded. Five days after the armistice, Lieutenant Colonel Burt M. Atkinson reported that “pilots who served in this squadron have formed the backbone of American Pursuit Aviation on the front.” The 103rd’s insignia was later incorporated as the emblem of the 94th Fighter Squadron (which reconstituted the 103rd after the war) from 1924 through 1942, suggesting a more likely service history for Geoff Carter as Grant himself was not yet 15 years old by the time World War I ended.

Geoff Carter’s fading emblem covering the back of his jacket suggests a connection to the WWI-era 103rd Aero Squadron, which would have been incorporated into 94th Fighter Squadron well before the time Only Angels Have Wings was made.

Geoff exclusively wears long-sleeved shirts detailed with the appropriate military touch of shoulder straps (epaulettes) that are buttoned at the neck. Light in color, these shirts are likely khaki or at least somewhere on the beige-to-tan scale to coordinate with the tones of his trousers. These shirts have very long cuffs with spaced-out two-button closure, spread collars, and front plackets that Grant frequently wears buttoned to the neck as the actor frequently did when not wearing a tie or cravat.

Much as Geoff’s style of shirts never vary, nor do his trousers. He exclusively wears then-fashionable long-rise trousers with a full, voluminous fit aided by the single reverse-facing pleats. I believe I observed at least two pairs of these similarly styled trousers: one likely made from a khaki chino cloth and another pair in a lighter off-white shade that may have included linen in the construction; the earlier linen trousers have pleats placed about an inch back from the front belt loops while the khaki chinos have pleats flush with the first belt loops.

All of Geoff’s trousers have tall belt loops, slanted front pockets, jetted back pockets, and bottoms worn self-cuffed.

Production photo of Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings.

Geoff holds up his trousers with a wide dark leather belt that closes through a large squared single-prong buckle. He straps on an additional belt when arming himself however, buckling on a dark leather gun belt with a surprisingly flashy studded Mexican loop holster for his revolver. He shifts the gun belt’s dulled buckle off to the left with the holster itself worn over the filled cartridge loops that span the breadth of the belt from front to back around the right side. (Scouring the internet revealed a similar gun belt and holster available from The Last Best West, where it can be purchased in cross-draw or strong-draw configurations for either hand.)

Geoff steps outside to help Joe Souther safely navigate his return to Barranca.

Howard Hawks, Cary Grant, and Rita Hayworth during production of Only Angels Have Wings.

Geoff wears dark leather boots with calf-high shafts, similar to cowboy boots but with lower, flat heels. Based on how dark they appear on screen, they may be black or a very dark brown leather.

Many military flying boots of the eras had full zip fastening up the front (i.e. RAF 1930 pattern or these Converse aviator boots), though—while they have seams up the center of each instep—Grant’s plain-toed tall boots appear to be of the pull-on variety like the later 1936 pattern of RAF flying boots, which had a buckle strap to fasten around the top of each shaft.

Far more prominently seen on screen is Geoff’s prominently brimmed straw hat, similar to the palm leaf straw planter’s hats that are familiar headgear in South America, having also been a recognizable sight across the southern United States from the mid-18th century through the Civil War era.

If you’re in the market, Sunbody Hats offers a “Sam Houston” planter’s hat with a round 5¾” telescope crown and exaggerated 5″ pencil curl brim not unlike Grant’s.

Production portrait of Cary Grant in flier’s garb for Only Angels Have Wings.

Of course, up in the air, Geoff swaps out that wide-brimmed planter’s hat for a more suitable leather flight helmet, likely constructed of dark brown leather with a dense fur lining to keep his head warmly insulated at high altitudes.

Geoff’s steel-framed flight goggles have wide, ovular lenses and soft facepads likely made of rubber with chamois leather where it meets the skin for added comfort, a detail of contemporary U.S. military-authorized goggles as manufactured by contractors like American Optical and Charles Fischer.

Serving the double duty of protecting his neck and completing the dashing image of early flight, Geoff ties on what appears to be a classic white parachute silk aviator’s scarf, kept in one of his desk drawers.

He additionally prepares for flight by strapping on a wristwatch with a slim leather band, though we unfortunately don’t get any glances at this timepiece.

During the rainy climactic night, Geoff protects himself with a dark fedora and a dark lightweight raincoat that closes up the front with five unique metal toggle latches.

As with the first time Geoff wears his flight jacket on screen, he doesn’t bother to put his arms through the sleeves of his raincoat, though he still closes the top two fasteners over his chest.

The Gun

“Fliers! I was wondering why you were carrying those guns,” Bonnie exclaims after meeting Les and Joe, who responds: “Do you think we’re a couple of banana cowboys?”

Like his pilots, Geoff keeps a revolver carried in his studded gun belt. Based on the distinctive “diamond” grips when seen in his holster as well as the flat cylinder release and the lug securing its ejector rod, Geoff’s revolver appears to be a blued Smith & Wesson service revolver like the Smith & Wesson Military & Police, a .38 Special service revolver introduced to the market around the turn of the 20th century and later standardized as the “Model 10” when the venerated Massachusetts-based gunmaker began numbering its models in the 1950s.

After being strapped to Geoff’s side for most of the movie, Chekhov’s six-shooter makes its dramatic screen appearance when Bonnie pulls it from Geoff’s holster to prevent him from embarking on a nighttime flight in the middle of a dangerous storm.

Bonnie: “I won’t let you go. You’re not gonna go, Geoff, you’re gonna stay right here. I won’t let you kill yourself.”
Geoff: “You’re gonna do it to keep me from doing it.”

To protest being compared to “all the rest”, Bonnie realizes what she’s done and tosses the heavy revolver onto the table next to her… causing it to fire and launch a .38-caliber round into Geoff’s left shoulder!

A different revolver appears to have been substituted in for this shot, as the weapon now has all the signatures of an early 20th century Colt revolver, such as the distinctive branded medallion on the wooden grips and the non-lugged ejector rod. This revolver is likely a Colt Official Police, introduced in 1927 as a full-framed service revolver in .38 Special designed to challenge Smith & Wesson’s supremacy on the law enforcement market.

I suspect that a Colt Official Police was used for the close-up where Bonnie tosses Geoff’s revolver on the table with near-tragic results!

What to Imbibe

There’s always plenty of whiskey flowing through the headquarters of Barranca Airways, fueling late night parties and even later moments of solitude and introspection, inebriating the hard-living Geoff Carter just enough to maintain the base level of cynicism he needs to distract from the perils of his profession.

During Bonnie’s first night in Barranca, Geoff pulls out another bottle for the two to split and begins pouring: “Say when.” “When are you gonna get some sleep?” she counters. The two continue trading barbs as he tops off her whiskey with just a touch of water, keeping a solid 80 proof shot for himself.

Any ideas regarding the label of the bottle Geoff shares with Bonnie?

Just because it’s past midnight and Geoff has been drinking heavily doesn’t mean he’s going to turn down an opportunity to return to the air and make up for Joe Souther’s missed flight! Once the fog lifts, Geoff quickly sobers up by pouring a pitcher of cold water over his head. (While this makes for an entertaining scene, BAMF Style cannot legally endorse this “get sober fast” method and instead recommends actually drinking plenty of water and getting a full night’s sleep before even thinking about piloting your tin goose.)

A few nights later, Judy is already three sheets to the wind when she’s looking to crack a bottle with Geoff during one of her husband’s dangerous flights. He takes the bottle from her hands and attempts the same cold water trick to sober her up, though lore has it that this was actually devised by Howard Hawks as a diversion when he believed Rita Hayworth wasn’t performing her drunk scenes convincingly enough.

Geoff Carter administers his failproof system for sobering up, first to himself… and then to Judy!

Judy lends Geoff a match.

Even more plentiful than the booze are Geoff’s countless cigarettes, always pulled from his own pack of Lucky Strikes (with the distinctive pre-war green wrappers) but never with his own matches to light them.

Geoff: Got a match?
Bonnie: Say, don’t you ever have any?
Geoff: No… don’t believe in laying in a supply of anything.
Bonnie: Matches, marbles, money, or women, huh?
Geoff: That’s right.
Bonnie: No looking ahead, no tomorrows, just today.
Geoff: That’s right.

The significance of cigarette matches are a Hawksian signature, dating back to Paul Muni’s match and Osgood Perkins’ lighter competing for Karen Morley’s cigarette in Scarface (1932) and Bogie and Bacall’s incendiary match exchanges in To Have and Have Not (1944).

How to Get the Look

Cary Grant as Geoff Carter in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

As the chief “banana cowboy” flying out of his remote outpost in South America, Geoff Carter cultivates a unique look that is part-pistolero, part-pilot, but all-adventure.

• Dark brown capeskin leather 37J1-style naval flight jacket with ribbed knit collar (with button-loop closure), cuffs, and waistband, six-button front, and two mid-torso patch pockets with single-button flaps
• Khaki cotton long-sleeved shirt with spread collar, shoulder straps/epaulettes, front placket, and long two-button cuffs
• Khaki single reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with tall belt loops, slanted front pockets, jetted back pockets, and self-cuffed bottoms
• Wide dark leather belt with large squared single-prong buckle
• Dark leather gun belt with cartridge loops and studded Mexican loop strong-draw holster
• Dark leather calf-high flying boots
• Palm leaf straw wide-brimmed planter’s hat

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, one of my favorites from the classic Hollywood era.

The Quote

Look, Dutchy… what’s the use of feeling bad about something that couldn’t be helped?

Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Note that he dresses his wrist with his Cartier Tank Cintrée rather than the Patek Philippe pocket watch he wears for the actual scene.

Vitals

Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown, millionaire criminal mastermind

Switzerland, June 1968

Film: The Thomas Crown Affair
Release Date: June 19, 1968
Director: Norman Jewison
Costume Designer: Alan Levine
Tailor: Douglas Hayward

Background

I recently had the pleasure to join Pete Brooker and Matt Spaiser (of Bond Suits) on their excellent podcast From Tailors with Love for an entertaining and informative discussion of Steve McQueen’s suits and style in The Thomas Crown Affair. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can follow the fun via iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher, and check out highlights from yours truly’s appearance on the latest episode here.

What’d He Wear?

In all the excitement about talking Tommy Crown with Pete and Matt, I wanted to check in on the one remaining suit from the King of Cool’s on-screen wardrobe that hadn’t yet been featured on BAMF Style.

As opposed to those we discussed on the podcast, Crown’s chalkstripe suit could be argued as one of the character’s more conventional suits in terms of both suiting and styling. Given this, it makes sense that the suit has such little actual screen time, especially when compared to how much it featured in the film’s promotional photography. The context is also significant, as Crown dons this suit when venturing outside “his world” in Boston, relying on it to signify his status while in Switzerland managing the latest ill-gotten additions to his vast wealth.

Tailored by Douglas Hayward, Crown’s business suit is constructed from a dark navy worsted flannel patterned with a medium-spaced white chalkstripe, defined by Alan Flusser in his seminal Dressing the Man as “a stripe of ropelike effect similar to the mark made with a tailor’s chalk,” more substantial than the stripe commonly known as pinstripe. Though I believe this scene in The Thomas Crown Affair is technically set during springtime due to the early June setting, navy chalkstripe worsted suiting is suggested by Flusser to be an ideal fall fabric with this heavier flannel cousin optimal for winter dressing.

On screen, Crown wears this suit with a pale ecru shirt detailed with semi-spread collar and double (French) cuffs, though he wears a similarly detailed shirt in sky blue for the promotional artwork which coordinates with the navy shade in the dark suit. He also wears a dark navy woven silk tie.

Unlike many well-dressed movie characters who stick to a suit template of sorts, Crown enjoys variety in his tailoring, sticking only to the criteria that his suits have three pieces including single-breasted jackets. Beyond that, we see a range of details whether that’s the number of vents or cuff buttons on suit jackets, the structure of his waistcoats, and even whether his trousers have a flat front or are fitted with darts (though we never see him in pleats.)

This suit jacket has notch lapels which just narrowly fit seven stripes across at the widest point, where the lapel meets the collar. The lapels break well above the two-button stance. The wide shoulders give Crown the appearance of power, roped at the sleeveheads and finished at each cuff with two non-functioning buttons, and the back has a single vent in keeping with the American business suit tradition. In addition to the straight flapped hip pockets, the jacket has a welted breast pocket that Crown dresses with a dark navy polka-dotted silk pocket square.

The suit’s matching five-button waistcoat lacks the unique hallmarks of Crown’s other suits as it is single-breasted (as opposed to the double-breasted waistcoat of his navy suit), has a traditional notched bottom (unlike the straight-cut waistcoats of his plaid and solid gray suits), and isn’t rigged with lapels like that of his brown suit. Perhaps to make up for this lack of deficiency in distinctive detailing, Crown again carries his gold Patek Philippe pocket watch, worn with a “double Albert” chain across his waistcoat with his Phi Beta Kappa fraternity fob.

Steve McQueen poses with his character’s luxurious Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow coupe to promote The Thomas Crown Affair.

Crown’s flat front suit trousers are almost certainly fitted with side adjusters on each side of the waistband, cut straight through the legs to the plain-hemmed bottoms. He appears to also be wearing the same distinctive shoes from the opening sequence, the black calf derbies detailed with perforated medallion “wingtip” toes then a long, sleek vamp back to the single row of black lacing high on the instep.

Crown carries a navy gabardine raincoat that he may have been wearing when outside.

Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

How to Get the Look

Thomas Crown leaves his distinctive details and bolder colors at home for a brief business trip to Switzerland, dressing in the traditional business kit of a conservative chalk-striped flannel three-piece suit… though he allows for some personal details like that polka-dot pocket square, the Patek Phillippe pocket watch, and his unique semi-brogue shoes.

• Dark navy chalkstripe flannel three-piece tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, single vent, and 2-button cuffs
  • Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with notched botom
  • Flat front trousers with side adjusters, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale ecru cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
  • Mother-of-pearl cuff links
• Navy woven silk tie
• Black calf leather semi-brogue wingtip derby shoes with single-row lacing
• Dark navy dress socks
• Patek Philippe gold vintage hunter-case pocket watch on thick gold “double Albert” chain with Phi Beta Kappa key fob
• Navy polka-dot silk pocket square

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and subscribe to From Tailors With Love! You’ll get to hear me, Pete, and Matt discuss menswear, movies, McQueen, and more in the latest episode.

Pierce Brosnan as Julian Noble in The Matador (2005)

Vitals

Pierce Brosnan as Julian Noble, tired hedonistic hitman and “magnificent cold moron”

Mexico City, Spring 2004

Film: The Matador
Release Date: December 30, 2005
Director: Richard Shepard
Costume Designer: Catherine Marie Thomas

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After this week’s 00-7th of the month post featured the reigning James Bond wearing a light brown suede zip-up jacket, I wanted to address a different way of approaching that look from Daniel Craig’s predecessor. The Matador starred Pierce Brosnan in one of his first post-Bond roles, inverting his own suave screen image by portraying a chain-smoking, nail-painting assassin “soiling” his way through life. (And thank you to BAMF Style readers Ryan and R.M. for long ago suggesting this film for a post!)

Indeed, the porn-stached and ill-mannered killer Julian Noble shares little in common with 007 aside from his dangerous profession and a penchant for drinking. There seemed to be an ongoing campaign after Brosnan found success as Bond where filmmakers asked themselves “how debauched and despicable can we make Pierce Brosnan’s character while still making it impossible to root against him?” leading to his welcome turns in movies like The Tailor of Panama (2001), After the Sunset (2004), and The Matador (2005), playing crude, cheeky criminals drinking, smoking, and womanizing their way through the tropics.

Julian’s career keeps him on the move, including a job in Mexico City where his handler reminds him that it’s his birthday (evidently born on March 20, Julian Noble shares his special day with Carl Reiner, Fred Rogers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Chester Bennington.) After completing the hit, Julian celebrates by way of progressive drunkenness in his hotel room, but there isn’t enough tequila in Mexico—nor enough lock pickers, disguise artists, or prostitutes in his little black book—to make him feel any less alone as he rings in another year around the globe. Thus, our friendless “facilitator of fatalities” takes his troubles to the hotel bar and one of several margaritas to follow, making the acquaintance of traveling businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a modest and mild-mannered family man who couldn’t be more drifferent than his debauched drinking companion.

One too many genital jokes—including a very ill-timed quip regarding a “fifteen-inch schlong”—sends Danny into quick retreat. Julian makes amends the following day via profuse apologies and tickets to a bullfight, where he unburdens himself by letting a disbelieving Danny in on the secret of his life’s work (“I’m not psychotic, Danny… psychopathic, maybe, but not psychotic!”) and even a demonstration in how he gets the job done:

I’m a big fan of the “gotta pee” theory of assassinations…

What’d He Wear?

We meet Julian Noble as he awakens beside a prostitute in his Denver hotel room, inspired by her colorful toe polish to put off his gruesome task for the day by spending the morning painting his own little piggies. After peeling off a few well-earned Benjamins for the young woman, he collects himself and leaves the room to wire a target’s car to explode.

Julian wears a black ripple-textured “popover” shirt with a long, narrow placket of tiny buttons, as well as black trousers and presumably black belt. Thee all-black underpinnings are typical of movie assassin wardrobes, though Julian Noble quickly illustrates that he’s far from typical by breaking up the look with a burnt orange suede jacket that’s established as one of his signature style pieces.

An explosive introduction to Julian Noble and his work.

As opposed to more subdued rust or tobacco tones of brown suede, the burnt orange is hardly the kind of jacket that would fail to attract attention if our hitman hopes to blend in with the crowd, though we get the sense that “blending in” isn’t exactly Julian Noble’s modus operandi.

A Premiere Props auction listing confirms that the orange goatskin suede jacket, size 44, was made by Hugo Boss.

Like most leathers, suede isn’t typically ideal for layering in warmer weather, though a lighter-weight material like Julian wears could be comfortable in Mexico City’s daily mean temperature around 65°F that the city experiences in March (per Wikipedia). The roomy jacket extends just slightly longer than his waist, no doubt a practical layer should Julian need to carry a sidearm for one of his deadly jobs.

Two kinds of tourists: two wildly different sartorial approaches. Danny’s traditional “American family man” garb may be the more tactful choice for a hitman hoping to avoid detection, but Julian’s swaggering suede-and-stripes may be better for attracting the right kind of attention.

Julian would be further comforted by the ventilated underarms, as four metal grommets under each armpit ease the airflow. These underarm vent sections are set apart by the same contrast top-stitching present on all edges as well as down the sleeves and across the front and back, where they’re used to designate details like horizontal front and back yokes and a placket effect flanking the zip-up front.

Apropos the shirt-jacket (“shacket”) lightness and structure, the jacket has a shirt-style collar that lays flat. The set-in sleeves are undecorated aside from the aforementioned stitching that connects to the back yoke and runs down the length of the sleeve to the plain-finished cuffs, which are similarly contrast-stitched around the openings but otherwise left unadorned by button, snap, or zip. In addition to at least one concealed breast pocket on the inside of the jacket, there are two hand pockets on the outside, contrast-stitched on each side of the vertical opening with small rivets at the top and bottom.

Julian makes his case over Coronas to recruit Danny as an accomplice to assassination. Note the details of Julian’s jacket like that contrasting stitching, the underarm ventilation, and the side pockets.

Julian brings the jacket with him to Mexico, though he abandons the dark shirt and trousers in the Mile-High City and adopts a more colorful, summery wardrobe appropriate for the warmer environs. Details about his striped shirt and trousers have been confirmed by an auction listing on Nate D. Sanders, where both pieces sold for more than $1,000 in May 2013. (The other shirt that Julian wears in Mexico is similarly colored but patterned like snakeskin; this will likely receive its own future post as he doesn’t wear it with the suede jacket.)

Pierce Brosnan’s screen-worn striped Kenneth Cole shirt and pale gray elastic-belted Prada trousers, as auctioned by Nate D. Sanders.

The short-sleeved shirt, made by Kenneth Cole, is patterned in an unbalanced stripe pattern that repeats from wider mottled red and tan stripes, then thinner blue and red stripes, all against a white ground. (The unique stripe can be seen in close-up here.) Though the shirt is a size XL, certain aspects of the fit still look undersized on Brosnan like those mid-bicep short sleeves that secure with a single-button closure around the bands, suggesting more of a fashion-oriented shirt than a classic summer sports shirt.

The shirt has five mixed brown plastic buttons up the plain front, the highest button at mid-chest before breaking away into an open V-neck with a flat two-piece collar that lacks the notch of a classic camp collar (also known as a “resort” or “revere” collar) and lacks the elegant roll of a traditional one-piece “Lido” collar. The shirt also has a breast pocket and a straight hem, meant to be worn untucked as Julian wears it.

Months pass between Julian and Danny’s interactions until the lonely hitman shows up at the Wright family homestead around Christmas, having flown straight from Budapest after learning that his inability to complete the last job has landed him in danger. Though his leather car coat and its supporting layers are appropriate for a Colorado winter, Julian enlists Danny for the proverbial “one last job” that takes the duo to a race track in Tucson.

Back on the job in Tucson, Julian also enlists his suede Hugo Boss jacket into service.

Though it won’t be a very cool yule for his target, Julian appropriately dresses for the holiday season in his brick red knit V-neck sweater, detailed with narrow, reverse-facing pleats down the front center and short raglan sleeves, with ribbed bands above the elbows that mimic the tight ribbing around the neckline. The Premiere Props auction listing for the jacket, shirt, and trousers confirms that this is another Kenneth Cole item, size large.

While the effect of their “team uniform” is somewhat lost with Julian not wearing his jacket here, the newly mustached Danny echoes Julian’s outfit with his own olive bomber-style jacket over a red T-shirt.

Julian’s favorite trousers in warmer cities like Mexico City or Tucson are light stone gray-colored flat front pants by Prada, finished with plain-hemmed bottoms. These have an integrated elastic belt striped in slate, beige, and burgundy, as well as a zip-closed back right pocket in addition to the side pockets.

At least two pairs of these trousers were used during the production, with one pair sized 34 (likely U.S.) auctioned with the Kenneth Cole striped shirt from Mexico City and another pair sized 52 (likely Italian) auctioned with the brick red Kenneth Cole short-sleeved V-neck worn in Tucson.

Our disillusioned and unmotivated hitman slumps down on the job in Tucson, metaphorically (and symbolically) imprisoned by his own depression.

According to IMDB, Pierce Brosnan credited his work with costume designer Cat Thomas as instrumental to building the character of Julian Noble, starting from the ground up when “she found these Italian retro sixties zip up Chelsea boots, and that gave me the walk.”

The zippers that open and close along the inside of each boot upper means they’re not truly made in the Chelsea boot tradition, but these dark burnished burgundy leather cap-toe ankle boots still have a serious retro vibe. Thanks again to Premiere Props, we know that Julian’s boots were made by Gianni Barbato, size 43.5 (roughly 9½ U.S. or 8½ U.K.) with 1¾” raised heels.

These boots are best showcased when Julian makes his memorable strut through the lobby of his Mexican City hotel, otherwise clad only in the short black briefs he wears as underwear, made by Mondo di Marco (per iCollector), size large with barely discernible blue side piping.

Julian Noble, having a normal one.

Though most of the other pieces in Julian’s wardrobe have had their makers identified, his various accessories and jewelry seem to defy confirmed recognition. From place to place, he wears a pair of black acetate-framed sunglasses in a rectangular aviator-style shape with silver arms, suggested in a Superfuture forum to be either Dior Homme or Stussy Flander.

Of all of Julian’s jewelry, the one piece we seem to never see him without is a gold choker-style necklace, consisting of round chain links and an elongated lobster clasp.

Julian’s habit of wearing exclusively open-neck or V-neck shirts ensures that his necklace will always be visible… though striding half-naked through a hotel lobby works to these ends as well.

Julian regularly wears two yellow gold rings, both with black onyx-filled faces. On his right pinky, he wears a wide ring with a ribbed band and cushion-shaped bezel.

On the third finger of his left hand, he wears a distinctive “Oxford oval”-shaped signet ring with a mounted gold figure of what appears to be a voluptuous naked woman with outstretched arms mounted against the ovular black-filled surface… just the sort of affectation that would appeal to our serial womanizer.

Julian’s usual preparation for a long-distance assassination includes removing both of his rings, placing them on a ledge next to his rifle… perhaps a dangerous tactic as these would leave significant evidence behind if he had to abandon his sniper’s nest in a hurry.

After seeing the decade’s work of detective work at the watchuseek forums, I became pretty certain that I wouldn’t be the one to break the news confirming Brosnan’s exact watch in The Matador. Speculation continues to run wide, with Bulova emerging as a likely contender after the Longines Dolcevita theory was seemingly nixed, though others like Audemarks Piguet, Girard Perregaux, Raymond Weil, Seiko, Tissot, Vacheron Constantine, and Versace all became part of the conversation. (The presence of a Citizen banner during the climactic sequence in Tucson may also suggest a product placement deal that meant Julian Noble wore one of these on his wrist?)

Julian’s mixed-metal wristwatch consists of a brushed steel tonneau-shaped case with a polished gold-finished tonneau-shaped fixed bezel, matching the five alternating rows of steel and gold-finished links in the watch’s “rice-grain” bracelet. The black tonneau-shaped dial is detailed with gold hands and gold non-numeric hour markers, the 12:00 hour denoted by overlaid lines that appear to create an “X” which may hold a clue toward the manufacturer.

Arguably the best shot of Julian’s watch in The Matador neglects to also feature his rings, as he’d previously removed those (as he usual does) when preparing to take his shot.

Luckily for us all, BAMF Style readers include some very eagle-eyed watch spotters who may no doubt be able to shed some light on Julian Noble’s mysterious watch!

The Gun

When I first built the IMFDB entry about firearms in The Matador, I had assumed by the shape and stock of Julian’s rifle that he armed himself for these various jobs with a weapon from Accuracy International, the British company formed in 1978 that—as its name implies—specializes in long-range sniper rifles. I was soon informed by a fellow user of the site that the actual rifle is a Remington Model 700 AICS, identifiable by the Model 700’s bolt action and built on the Accuracy International Chassis System (AICS), a configuration that incorporates the distinctive look of AI weaponry with the Remington’s mechanics.

Taking aim in Tucson. Note the opening in the stock through which Julian places his right thumb, a distinctive characteristic of Accuracy International rifles that made its way onto the AICS chassis for this Remington Model 700.

The Model 700 is Remington’s flagship model, offered in a variety of calibers, though the most typical for the Model 700 on the AICS chassis seems to be the rimless 7.62×51 mm NATO military round, which had been introduced in the late 1950s with the American M14 battle rifle and a cousin of the popular .308 Winchester hunting cartridge. The ammunition is fed from a five-round box magazine just ahead of the trigger guard, manually operated by a bolt on the right side.

The chassis system itself seems to typically sell for at least $1,000, as this lineup on OpticsPlanet.com suggests. The polymer frame is available in black, tan, and olive green finishes, and Julian always affixes his rifle system with a scope, suppressor, and bipod for a quiet and accurate shot.

What to Imbibe

If James Bond has been deemed an alcoholic by the Medical Journal of Australia, then Julian Noble would likely be a medical miracle with his substance abuse issues. Over the course of The Matador alone, we see plenty of indulgence. He attempts to drown out his lonely birthday sorrows with considerable amounts of tequila, though it only exacerbates them, as well as a slew of margaritas “con mucho sal” from the hotel bar.

“Margaritas always taste better in Mexico.” Julian comments to Danny, though I’ll leave his follow-up answer a mystery for those who haven’t yet seen the movie.

The next morning, Julian drinks Modelo Especial Mexican beer during his famous strut through the hotel lobby in his underwear, keeping the can in hand as he kicks off his boots and jumps into the pool.

I hope Julian realizes that Modelo isn’t going to taste quite the same after dropping into the pool with it…

Perhaps avoiding hard liquor after embarrassing himself with Danny the previous evening, Julian sticks to cerveza, though plenty of it. He drinks Corona Extra after the bullfight, poured into goblets while out enjoying the afternoon with his new friend and then, later, straight from the bottle when in Danny’s hotel room.

Julian “sobers up” after a long night of drinking by switching to beer?

Back in the states, we saw a fifth of Maker’s Mark bourbon with its distinctive red-waxed neck, kept by the bed in his Denver hotel room where he awakes at the movie’s start.

Julian wakes up with a nearly empty bottle of Maker’s Mark within arm’s reach.

When he isn’t chain-smoking his Camel Light cigarettes, Julian borrows a vice from Brosnan’s Bond by enjoying a Montecristo cigar, identified as the famous Cuban brand’s “White Label” series by its white band that indicates a Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut shade wrapper.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but Julian’s obsessive references to male genitalia may suggest Freud was onto something as the assassin offers one of his Montecristos to his new pal Danny.

How to Get the Look

Pierce Brosnan as Julian Noble in The Matador (2005)

Julian Noble’s daily dress consists of bold yet comfortable fashions that neatly cater to the larger-than-life side of his personality rather than suggesting a hitman hoping to stay under the radar.

• Burnt orange goatskin suede zip-up jacket with shirt-style collar, contrast top-stitching, vertical side pockets, and plain cuffs
  • Hugo Boss
• Rust-and-white multi-striped shirt with wide flat collar, five-button plain front, and short sleeves with button-tab bands
  • Kenneth Cole
• Pale stone-gray flat front trousers with integrated elastic striped belt, side pockets, zip back-right pocket, and plain-hemmed bottoms
  • Prada
• Dark burgundy brown leather cap-toe zip-up ankle boots
  • Gianni Barbato
• Black underwear briefs
  • Mondo di Marco
• Gold round chain-link choker-style necklace
• Gold ribbed pinky ring with black onyx-filled cushion bezel
• Gold “Oxford oval”-shaped signet ring with gold naked woman mounted against black onyx face
• Gold-and-steel tonneau-shaped wristwatch with black dial (with gold non-numeric hour markers and hands) on two-tone “rice-grain” bracelet
• Black acetate-framed rectangular aviator sunglasses with silver arms

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I kill people… doesn’t that seem a wee bit psychopathic to you?

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 6.01: “Members Only”)

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob boss

Newark, New Jersey, Spring 2006

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Members Only” (Episode 6.01)
Air Date: March 12, 2006
Director: Tim Van Patten
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Fans of The Sopranos are eagerly awaiting the release of David Chase’s prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, directed by Alan Taylor and set during the late 1960s. The movie was originally scheduled for release at the end of this week, but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the release until March 2021. While it’s too soon for me to take a full look at the style of The Many Saints of Newark, @tonysopranostyle on Instagram has been comprehensively covering many of the outfits seen on set, including those worn by Jon Bernthal as Tony Soprano’s father “Johnny Boy” Soprano and by Michael Gandolfini as a teenage version of his father’s iconic TV character.

In recognition of what would have been James Gandolfini’s 59th birthday last Friday, today’s #MafiaMonday post explores a pivotal scene from the acclaimed series’ sixth season premiere.

The Sopranos had been cleverly marketed for Tony Soprano’s struggle between two families: his actual family and the crime “family” he leads, a struggle that often came to a head when dealing with his uncle, Corrado “Junior” Soprano (Dominic Chianese), a one-time capo in the family whose dementia has reduced him to a paranoid old man, merely a shell of the proud and quick-witted mobster he had once been. After repeated insults and incidents, Tony typically passes the role of Junior’s caretaker onto his sisters and their beleaguered husbands, but a series of events—and Tony’s own family-driven guilt—pulls him from the helm of his new boat and back to that Belleville abode where an “especially agitated” Junior sits on his unfortunate sofa cushions, his upper lip curling into his mouth without his dentures as he babbles about an enduring threat from a long-dead enemy…

What’d He Wear?

Did you know that George Foreman doesn’t just put his name on lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machines? He also had a line of big-and-tall menswear!

James Gandolfini’s screen-worn George Foreman brand polo shirt from “Members Only”. (Source: Gotta Have Rock and Roll)

While this may not be one of Tony Soprano’s subjectively cooler outfits in the series—not even in the episode, as that honor arguably belongs to his mint-and-black silk Nat Nast bowling shirt—I selected to cover it today for a few reasons:

• It’s featured during one of the most pivotal moments of The Sopranos
• James Gandolfini evidently liked it so much that he chose this shirt as one of the many wardrobe pieces he kept after the series wrapped
• Details are well-documented thanks to auction sites and the extensive research by my friend @tonysopranostyle

My previous Soprano-focused post celebrated the significance of his chevron-patterned polo shirt from the first season. Costume designer Juliet Polcsa had explained to The Independent‘s Christopher Hooton that she worked to avoid dressing James Gandolfini in polo shirts that clung to the actor’s midsection as he gained weight over the series run, but this somewhat oversized shirt from the sixth season premiere was an exception.

This taupe, beige, and black block-striped polo shirt was made by George Foreman as part of the former boxer’s big-and-tall line, sized 3XB according to the 2013 auction listing at Gotta Have Rock and Roll. (Six years later, the shirt was again sold via Heritage Auctions with the “Signature George Foreman” tag having been evidently cut out.) The 2008 Christie’s auction listing of his “bloody” clothes confirm that he wore this over a white ribbed cotton Jockey sleeveless undershirt.

Constructed in a mercerized cotton blend to increase its luster and resistance to washing, this multi-toned shirt is primarily colored in the dark mottled gray found across the back and the elbow-length sleeves, though the front is patterned in stripes of unequal widths that extend, from the right to left, in beige, mottled gray, black, ribbed beige, ribbed gray, and light taupe. The collar matches the mottled gray stripes down the front, piped on the edges in beige and black. The three-button “French placket” at the top matches with the black stripe down the center, though Tony wears the top two buttons undone to reveal a dark gray inner placket.

@tonysopranostyle was able to find a few listings for identical shirts on Poshmark and graciously sent me close-up photos (click here) that better illustrate what the fabric itself looks like.

Tony keeps his look simple below the waist, wearing black single reverse-pleated slacks from his favorite trouser brand, Zanella, likely with a black leather belt that coordinates with his black derby shoes.

Michael Scott may have thought the worst George Foreman-associated kitchen injury would be burning his foot on a lean mean fat grilling machine, but he never met a .38-packing Uncle Junior.

While at the helm of his fishing yacht, Tony wears a black nylon windbreaker personalized with the name of the craft, “Stugots II”, embroidered over the left breast in white thread. The blouson-style jacket has a black-finished front zipper, hand pockets, and elasticized cuffs… and no, despite the name of the episode, it is arguably not a Members Only jacket.

If you don’t know what “stugots” means, just be advised that it wouldn’t be something you want to utter around your Italian grandmother.

Even for this more casual occasion, Tony wears his everyday gold jewelry, including the St. Jerome pendant on a thin necklace that falls out from his shirt as he crawls across Uncle Junior’s floor. On his right hand, Tony wears his usual gold pinky ring with its diamond-and-ruby bypass setting, and he dresses his right wrist in a gold bracelet that @tonysopranostyle describes as resembling “a Cuban curbed link chain and an Italian Figaro link chain with a twist.”

Tony takes stock of his bloody injury.

In addition to the plain gold wedding ring he’s again wearing on his left hand after reconciling with Carmela the previous season, Tony wears his usual Rolex Day-Date “President”, identified as a ref. 18238 in 18-karat yellow gold. The luxury chronometer has a champagne-tinted gold dial with the day of the week across the top and a date window at 3:00, fitted to the unique semi-circular three-piece “President” or “Presidential” link bracelet that was introduced alongside Rolex’s new Day-Date model in 1956. Tony wore this Rolex President in nearly every episode from the second installment, “46 Long”, through the finale.

Luckily, he doesn’t get any blood on the Rolex.

Go Big or Go Home

A little pasta, a little Artie Shaw… Tony is really making the most of his night babysitting a senile Junior until, you know, he isn’t.

A talented clarinetist, Shaw was only 28 years old when he became a sensation with his band’s rendition of the Cole Porter-penned “Begin the Beguine”. The following year, in 1939, Shaw’s band recorded the new standard “Comes Love” with the 22-year-old Helen Forrest providing vocals.

“Who’s down there?” a terrified Junior shouts when Tony calls upstairs that dinner will be ready in ten minutes.

“Artie Shaw! Ten minutes,” Tony sarcastically responds.

“Don’t go anywhere…” utters Junior. Tony—needing to be needed—interprets this response as fear and reminds Junior that he won’t be leaving…

The Gun

… just in time for the muttering old man to dig out his blued steel .38 and, in a fit of dementia, pop off a shot into his nephew’s belly.

“Cazzata, Malanga!”

The weapon that sets the final season of The Sopranos into motion is a Rossi Model 68, confirmed when the live-firing revolver was auctioned by Live Auctioneers in May 2009. (The Golden Closet also includes a non-firing Smith & Wesson Model 36 replica that was used as an on-screen stand-in.)

Amadeo Rossi SA was founded in the Brazilian industrial city of São Leopoldo in 1889, eventually growing to worldwide exportation. In 1978, the Rossi Model 68 was introduced as an evolution of the brand’s earlier Model 27 Pioneer revolver. Cosmetically and operationally similar to the popular Smith & Wesson “Chiefs Special”, the compact Model 68 carries five rounds of .38 Special in its cylinder and was produced by Rossi in Brazil using Smith & Wesson tooling and machinery under license.

How to Get the Look

Same outfit: two ways to wear it. James Gandolfini’s screen-worn clothes from The Sopranos photos sourced from Live Auctioneers (left) and Christie’s (right).

Though perhaps not one of Tony Soprano’s most fashionable outfits, the George Foreman-branded polo shirt and black Zanella trousers he wears when uncle-sitting in “Members Only” illustrate how simple it can be to affect the look of television’s most famous mob boss… though the gold jewelry and Rolex arguably take his look to the next level of luxury.

• Taupe, beige, gray, and black vertical block-striped cotton blend short-sleeved polo shirt with short 3-button top
• Black single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, extended button-closure waist tab, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt
• Black leather derby shoes
• Black socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date “President” 18238 self-winding chronometer watch in 18-karat yellow gold with champagne-colored dial and Presidential link bracelet
• Gold curb-chain link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with bypassing ruby and diamond stones
• Gold wedding ring
• Gold open-link chain necklace with round St. Jerome pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series. Particularly for fans of Gandolfini’s wardrobe and accessories, I suggest you follow my friend @tonysopranostyle on Instagram!

You can also browse the original auction listings below:

• Christie’s (bloody shirt, undershirt, and trousers)
• Gotta Have Rock and Roll (shirt only)
• Heritage Auctions (shirt only)
• Live Auctioneers (shirt and trousers)

The Quote

Fuck it… you wanna get something done, you gotta do it yourself.

Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita (1960)

Vitals

Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, playboy gossip journalist

Rome, Spring 1959

Film: La Dolce Vita
Release Date: February 5, 1960
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
Tailor: Brioni

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The two headlining stars of Fellini’s classic La Dolce Vita would have celebrated their birthdays this week—Marcello Mastroianni tomorrow (September 28, 1924) and Anita Ekberg the following day (September 29, 1931)—and watching these two Libras glide together through the Trevi Fountain at daybreak has become one of the most enduring images of Italian cinema.

“If, as some critics claim, La Dolce Vita is about the death of hope, bone-deep cynicism never looked so damned seductive,” wrote Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza in Four-Star Movies: The 101 Greatest Films of All Time, the book whose lavish photographs and descriptions first introduced me to Fellini’s masterpiece.

Though named in an ode to “the sweet life”, a more apt title might have translated to “Ennui, Italian style” as we follow Mastroianni’s disenchanted journalist Marcello Rubini through a series of surreal, sexy, and ultimately sad episodes that reflect comedy, drama, and romance, perhaps most famously in the segment where Marcello escorts the Swedish bombshell Sylvia (Ekberg) through an increasingly lonely night in Rome that culminates in the centuries-old Fontana di Trevi.

Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita (1960)

Filmed sometime between January and March of 1959 (sources vary), this iconic scene was far from the free-spirited romp depicted on screen. Instead, Mastroianni recalled that his wetsuit still wasn’t adequate protection from the chilly fountain water, so he fortified himself with enough vodka that he was completely smashed by the time he finally stepped into the fountain to take the voluptuous actress into his arms.

What’d He Wear?

Knowing that I wanted to pay tribute to the stylish Marcello Mastroianni for his birth month, I held an Instagram poll asking my readers to vote between his threads in 8½ or La Dolce Vita, both directed by Fellini and winners of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Black and White) in their respective years. Needless to say (if you’ve already read this far), most of you voted to see La Dolce Vita, and thus we’ll proceed with one of Marcello’s most celebrated and frequently worn outfits.

Marcello Mastroianni in color, sporting the black suit, tie, and monk shoes that may have been the same costume from La Dolce Vita.

Otello Martelli’s iconic black and white cinematography neatly coordinates with our protagonist’s wardrobe, which consists almost solely of sleek suits, shirts, and cravats in high-contrasting black and white, whether it’s his debonair dinner suit, his iconoclastic black suit worn at any time of day, or when he inverts his own formula by movie’s end with a white linen suit over a black polo shirt and scarf.

But first… let’s go back to that black lounge suit. Most traditionally minded fashion experts would advise against investing in a black suit, at least not before the basics are introduced, arguing that the only true daytime use for a black suit is a funeral (where somber tones like charcoal gray are already effective) and that most evening occasions calling for black are better served by a tuxedo anyway. Of course, our poet laureate of mid-century Roman nightlife is hardly a traditionalist!

Marcello Rubini’s job is to cover the hottest events in Roman society, needing to be ready at a moment’s notice to follow the day—or night—wherever it may take him, using riding along next to a beautiful blonde until ending up in a mysterious castle or a legendary fountain. It would be presumptuous and impractical for Marcello to dress in a dinner suit 24/7 and instead adopts a more convertible style of “business-wear” that befits the fluid hours and situations where his occupation takes him.

You could argue that Marcello offsets the funereal connotations of a black suit by opting for one in a more fashionable, nontraditional suiting. The cloth shines by day or night, suggesting the likelihood of silk or at least a silk-and-wool blend. As suggested by Eugenia Paulicelli, Grailed, NW Film Center, and The Oregonian, Mastroianni’s suit was almost certainly tailored by Brioni, the legendary and innovative tailoring house that has operated out of the same boutique at Via Barberini 79 in Rome since its inception in 1945.

The single-breasted suit jacket has wide, soft shoulders with medium padding and roped at the sleeveheads with a touch of the con rollino shoulder bump associated with traditional Neapolitan tailoring, building up the shoulders and chest and fitting closer around the mid-section for a sleek, dashing silhouette. The notch lapels gently roll over the top of the three-button front for what has been described as a “3/2.5-roll” stance, and the sleeves are finished with three buttons on each cuff.

The welted breast pocket has a slight curve to it, though it isn’t the most dramatic example of the rounded Italian “barchetta”-style pocket, so named for its resemblance to a small boat. The long double vents and the jetted hip pockets sans pocket flaps are typical of Italian suits from the era.

Wheeling and dealing.

Marcello keeps the jacket fastened and in place throughout his exploits, revealing no more of the trousers than their turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms, though they’re likely styled with pleats and worn with a belt like his other suit trousers.

For Marcello’s evening out with Sylvia, he wears a hairline-striped white shirt detailed with point collar and double (French) cuffs that he dresses with his usual obscenely massive cuff links, in this case a set of large metal discs etched in the centers and so large that they not only collide with the ends of his jacket sleeves but occasionally envelop them.

At the Baths of Caracalla earlier that evening, Marcello shares a dance with Sylvia that wouldn’t be their last embrace of the night.

Marcello wears his usual black knitted silk tie, finished with a flat bottom rather than a pointed blade. He knots the tie with a Windsor knot that looks more subdued due to its coverage by the shirt’s substantial point collar and the tie’s light structure preventing augmentation at the neck. The texture dresses the tie down to the appropriate level for a man who wears his suit and tie not to conform to any office dress code but rather to fit it among the beau monde and bellwethers of Roman nightlife.

Favored by Ian Fleming’s literary James Bond, the versatile black knitted silk tie remains a timeless menswear staple and can be found in a range of prices from purveyors like Drake’s and The Tie Bar.

Marcello wears single-strap monk shoes, again a fine selection for a man whose attire bridges between casual and conventional dress as monks, while technically loafers, are dressier than most slip-ons without being as formal as classic oxfords. These were a favorite of Marcello Mastroianni both on- and off-screen during this time, as seen in his films like Ieri, oggi, domani. Worn with black socks (what else?), Marcello’s black calf cap-toe monks each have a single strap that closes through a silver-toned single-prong on the outside of each instep.

Both actor and character would likely approve of these cap-toe monks in black leather from Leonardo Shoes of Florence, though you can also test your toes with these wares from Allen Edmonds, Clarks, Cole Haan, La Milano, and Stacy Adams. Just be sure to follow Marcello’s example and slip them off before stepping into a body of water, be it the Tyrrhenian Sea or the Trevi Fountain.

After getting a glass of milk for their new feline companion, Marcello returns to Sylvia only to find that she’s gliding through the ice-cold Fontana di Trevi.

Marcello’s sizable cuff links steal any attention his wrists may receive, so his watch slips into anonymity under his left shirt cuff, barely to be glimpsed to show any more detail than what appears to be a round, light-colored dial.

This suit and tie becomes something as a uniform for Marcello, whether he’s covering a sham sighting of the Madonna by local children by day or impulsively following Nico (playing herself) to a mysterious castle party by night. For both of these occasions, he has changed into a more boldly bengal-striped shirt and supplemented his look with his favorite wide-framed tortoise Persol sunglasses, identified by the Turin-based brand’s signature sword-inspired “silver arrow” on the temples.

Mastroianni would further his role as Persol’s unofficial brand ambassador by wearing a pair of PO649 sunglasses in Pietro Germi’s Divorce, Italian Style (Divorzio all’italiana) the following year.

With fiancée Emma (Yvonne Furneaux) on his arm, Marcello cooly hides his skepticism behind a pair of Persols when he’s called out to cover a faux miracle that ends in tragedy.

While covering the “miracle”, Marcello layers for the rainy evening in a dark trench coat with a napped, suede-like shell. Aside from this nontraditional cloth, the knee-length double-breasted jacket appears to be detailed like the classic military trench coat with its double-layered shoulder straps (epaulettes), storm flaps over the back and right shoulder, broad lapels with a double hook over the throat, belted sleeve-ends, and a full belt with D-rings around the back. The coat has an additional tab that wraps around the collar with an extended tab on the left that ostensibly connects under the right collar for added throat protection.

For a gathering of intellectuals hosted by his morose pal Steiner (Alain Cuny), Marcello wears a plain white shirt and a polka-dotted tie, the most significant variation from the suit’s usual striped shirt and knitted tie accompaniments.

Marcello brings Emma to Steiner’s party, where she is advised by the host: “The day you realize you love Marcello more than he loves himself, you’ll be happy.”

Marcello is back in the bengal-striped shirt and dark knitted tie when he receives the depressing news that Steiner has killed his children and himself and is thus tasked with informing Steiner’s wife, a series of events that sends Marcello into orgiastic despair by the film’s end.

The light of day best reveals the details of Marcello’s nighttime-oriented suit, but daylight also exposes the emptiness of his supposed dolce vita to this point.

I don’t believe this is the same suit that Marcello wears with his more medium-toned shirt and tie during the prologue, chapel, and seaside restaurant intermezzo as that suit appears to be made of a heavier and more traditional worsted cloth that doesn’t shine.

How to Get the Look

Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini in La Dolce Vita (1960)

A black suit? In this economy? Few can truly get away with one, especially with such day-to-night frequency as Marcello Mastroianni’s hipper-than-hip society writer in La Dolce Vita, where he wears his silky black continental suit the base of an ostensible uniform with striped shirt, knitted tie, monks, and oversized accessories like cufflinks and shades.

• Black wool/silk Italian-tailored Brioni suit:
  • Single-breasted 3/2.5-roll suit with notch lapels, curved “barchetta” breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, “con rollino” roped shoulders, 3-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White hairline-striped cotton shirt with point collar and double/French cuffs
• Round oversized etched cuff links
• Black knitted silk tie
• Black leather belt with single-prong buckle
• Black leather single-strap monk shoes
• Black socks
• Persol tortoise sunglasses

Curious about if you should wear a black suit? Learn more about them in a cinematic context with an exploration of 007’s black suits by Bond Suits and then follow Primer’s flowchart: Should I buy a black suit? before making your ultimate decision.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, considered one of the greatest of all time.

You can also read more about the style of La Dolce Vita in these well-researched articles by Clothes on Film and The Rake.

The Quote

She’s right, I’ve had it all wrong. We’ve all had it all wrong.

Marcello gets it right by following Sylvia in for a brief romp in Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain.

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “Where’s Johnny?”, the third episode of the fifth season of The Sopranos.

Vitals

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob captain and Army veteran

New Jersey, early 2000s

Series: The Sopranos
Episodes:
– “From Where to Eternity” (Episode 2.09, dir. Henry J. Bronchtein, aired 3/12/2000)
– “Second Opinion” (Episode 3.07, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired 4/8/2001)
– “…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power” (Episode 3.10, dir. Jack Bender, aired 4/29/2001)
– “Army of One” (Episode 3.13, dir. John Patterson, aired 5/20/2001)
– “Mergers and Acquisitions” (Episode 4.08, dir. Dan Attias, aired 11/3/2002)
– “Whoever Did This” (Episode 4.09, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired 11/10/2002)
– “Where’s Johnny?” (Episode 5.03, dir. John Patterson, aired 3/21/2004)
– “The Ride” (Episode 6.09, dir. Alan Taylor, aired 5/7/2006)
– “Made in America” (Episode 6.21, dir. David Chase, aired 6/10/2007)
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

Heh, heh… happy #MafiaMonday, folks. In response to a request I received from a BAMF Style reader, today’s subject would be particularly recognizable for fans of The Sopranos as a sartorial signature from the wardrobe of the singular Paulie Walnuts.

While most of the series’ talented cast has been rightly praised for completely inhabiting their characters, Paulie remains an anomaly for how much of actor Tony Sirico’s own eccentricities, from his biographical details to his peculiar sense of style from head (those famous hair wings) to toe (those white shoes.)

As Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa’s Talking Sopranos podcast begins exploring the landmark series’ third season, entertaining stories continue to emerge about the influence Sirico wielded on how his character would be portrayed. From the beginning, Sirico—who had originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior—was insistent that his character never become “a rat.” As the show progressed, the actor maintained control of the character that was arguably a fictionalized version of himself, warning the writers what would happen if they tried to replace his white loafers with cement shoes.

“Let me tell you something,” Sirico informed writer and director Terence Winter. “If you ever write a script where I die? First, I die. Then, you die.”

What’d He Wear?

Paulie Walnuts may be most remembered for his tracksuits (and rightly so, as he wore literally dozens over the course of the show), but the most frequently seen item from Paulie’s wardrobe was arguably his black leather-and-suede blouson jacket that debuted toward the end of the second season and would be worn sporadically through the rest of The Sopranos‘ run, including an appearance in the series finale.

For such a prominent piece of the show’s wardrobe, it may be surprising that there’s so little documented or known about this jacket… or perhaps it’s less surprising, considering that I suspect it belonged to Sirico in real life and—like many of the actor’s own quirks—was “borrowed” by Paulie Walnuts on screen. Assuming that this was indeed a favorite piece from the Sirico collection explains why it was never worn for any stunt-heavy sequences where it could be potentially ruined by fake blood, dirt, sweat, or snow.

Paulie debuts his favorite leather jacket as he explains the concept of purgatory, “a little detour on the way to paradise” to Christopher: “You add up all your mortal sins and multiply that number by 50. Then you add up all your venial sins and multiply that by 25. You add that together and that’s your sentence. I figure I’m gonna have to do 6,000 years before I get accepted into heaven, and 6,000 years is nothin’ in eternity terms. I can do that standing on my head. It’s like a couple of days here.”

The black leather jacket first appeared in “From Where to Eternity” (Episode 2.09) when Paulie visits Christopher in the hospital, where the harsh florescent lighting showcases the contrast between the smooth-sided leather that makes up most of the body and the black napped suede detailing across the front and around the collar. The large, long-pointed suede collar suggests a disco-era provenance to me, possibly dating back to when Paulie “lived through the ’70s by the skin of my nuts when the Colombos were goin’ at it.”

The additional suede detail include vertical strips down the front from each shoulder seam to the waistband, connected over the chest by a horizontal strip of the same width that intersects with the vertical strips just in front of each armpit. The front zip is also flanked by about an inch of suede on each side so that, when zipped up, it creates the effect of a third suede strip up the center. The jacket has set-in sleeves which fall slightly off Sirico’s shoulders and a squared tab with a single-snap closure.

In “From Where to Eternity”, Paulie wears this jacket zipped up a few inches at the bottom over a charcoal button-up shirt printed in a balanced, all-over zigzag pattern. Based on Sirico’s gestures in the scene and the manner in which he wears the jacket’s cuffs unsnapped and rolled back over each wrist, we can ascertain that the shirt is likely short-sleeved.

One of Paulie’s characteristically less-than-reassuring hospital visits in “From Where to Eternity” (Episode 2.09).

Over the years to follow, Paulie would alternate between favoring button-up shirts or knitwear under the jacket. For each of its third season appearances, he opts for crew-neck sweaters:

• When Paulie leads a panty-sniffing search of the Moltisanti abode in “Second Opinion” (Episode 3.07), his cream-colored sweater is arranged in blocks consisting of five raised bars that alternate between horizontal and vertical orientations.
• Overseeing Christmas preparations at Satriale’s in “…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power” (Episode 3.10), Paulie wears another off-white sweater, this one patterned with an askew “harlequin print” of repeating black diamond shapes with the neutral space between them alternating between pale blue and off-white diamonds. The narrowly ribbed crew neck is off-white to match the sweater body.
• Paulie installs his appreciative at Captain Teeb’s Green Grove retirement community in “Army of One” (Episode 3.13), dressing for the occasion with a black box-patterned sweater under his familiar jacket. Under the high black crew neck, the front of the sweater is organized into a grid with small boxes comprised of four horizontal lines each, the shades of gray alternating by row between light and dark.

I’m not aware of any of the specific brands that made this knitwear, though I know auctioned clothing Sirico wore in the show was made by Italian-originated brands like Massoti and Tuscan.

Paulie wears crew-neck knitwear under his black leather-and-suede jacket in The Sopranos‘ third season episodes “Second Opinion” (Episode 3.07), “…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power” (Episode 3.10), and “Army of One” (Episode 3.13), which also introduces us to his presumed mother Marianucci “Nucci” Gualtieri (Frances Esemplare).

For the jacket’s back-to-back appearances in The Sopranos‘s fourth season, Paulie wore it over light-colored button-up shirts. Interestingly enough, its first appearance is back at Green Grove in “Mergers and Acquisitions” (Episode 4.08) when Paulie wears it over a light cream long-sleeved dress shirt to meet with the facility’s social director. This shirt has a point collar, worn open at the neck, with a breast pocket and button cuffs.

In the following episode, “Whoever Did This” (Episode 4.09), Paulie is unsympathetic to the Cifaretto family’s plight when he arrives at the Bing with his jacket zipped over an ivory long-sleeved shirt with an abstract “bossa nova” print motif, also worn with the top two buttons of the plain “French placket” undone to show his graying chest hair and the top of his undershirt.

Back to button-up shirts for Paulie in the fourth season, as seen in “Mergers and Acquisitions” (Episode 4.08) and “Whoever Did This” (Episode 4.09).

The jacket makes its sole fifth season appearance in “Where’s Johnny?” (Episode 5.03) for a classic moment of Paulie pettiness as he’s cruising through the neighborhood in his champagne-colored Cadillac Eldorado and stops to inflict some damage in a literal turf war between landscaping companies.

Paulie’s back to wearing knitwear under his jacket, this time sporting a baby blue crew-neck sweater split into vertical divisions created by alternating knitting patterns. The wide ribbing on the crew neck is reminiscent of the sweater he wore in “Second Opinion”, suggesting the same manufacturer of both.

Paulie cruises through his mother’s neighborhood in “Where’s Johnny?” (Episode 5.03).

The La Manna vs. Vitro landscaping war gives us our first real look at Paulie wearing this jacket in action. To this point, we’d seen little of the trousers he wears with this jacket, aside from seeing that they tend to be dark. In fact, Paulie often coordinates the shade of his trousers to his shirt. In this case, with his baby blue sweater, he wears navy trousers.

Paulie frequently wears polyester Sansabelt trousers, so named for their ability to be worn sans belt due to their signature elasticized inner waistband that holds the trousers up while offering a clean tuck for the shirts worn with them, though he often wears them with suspenders under his untucked knit shirts. Paulie favors flat front trousers, rigged with Western-style “frogmouth” front pockets and an extended waistband tab that closes through a single button. These trousers also have button-through back pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms… bringing us to his shoes.

Paulie’s white loafers have become legendary in Sopranos lore, finally given their opportunity to shine on screen during a brief vignette in “Remember When” (Episode 6.15) as Paulie packs three of four identical pairs of his signature all-white Vikings loafers before his trip to Florida with Tony. A favorite of Sirico’s in real life (of course), these comfortable-looking slip-on shoes have white leather uppers with a split toe and top-stitching that follows the curve of the front quarters over the insteps. Given his stated distaste for shoelaces, we shouldn’t be surprised that Paulie almost exclusively wears non-laced loafers.

Gary La Manna’s preference for white shoes—albeit sneakers—wasn’t enough to save him from Paulie’s wrath in “Where’s Johnny?”

The jacket makes two appearances in “The Ride” (Episode 6.09), set during the annual Feast of Elzéar of Sabran, for which Paulie is responsible for organizing activities as well as the titular ride. He makes the rounds of the festival wearing this jacket over a beige button-up shirt, grid-patterned with every other square outlined in a higher-contrast brown. The long-sleeved shirt has a structured point collar and mitred barrel cuffs and is worn with a pair of tan Sansabelt trousers resembling these “taupe” Par Mélange pants still available on the Sansabelt website as of October 2020.

By the episode’s end, Paulie has made peace with Nucci (Frances Esemplare), the older woman he had believed to be his beloved “Ma” but was, in fact, his aunt. When he visits her that night to join her in watching “the Lawrence Welk program, channel 55,” he’s wearing the jacket over a slate-gray knit pullover quarter-zip with a white grid and white zipper tape, sported with what looks like more traditional dark gray slacks.

“The Ride” (Episode 6.09)

Paulie briefly wears the jacket again in the series finale, “Made in America” (Episode 6.21), when he returns to the now-closed Bing and briefly recalls his vision of the Virgin Mary on stage in “The Ride”. This final appearance of the jacket marks one of the few times Paulie wears it completely unzipped, revealing the printed shirt he wears tucked into his brown Sansabelt trousers. The ecru shirt is printed with an abstract pattern of sketched gray trapezoids and open-center squares, styled with a point collar, plain “French placket”, and rounded cuffs that he wears buttoned.

“Made in America” (Episode 6.21)

Paulie shares his fellow wiseguys’ preference for white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirts. Emblematic of his Catholic faith and upbringing, he wears a gold textured cross on a gold rope-chain necklace.

Seated in his favorite chair at home, Paulie takes a late-night call in “The Ride” (Episode 6.09).

Another staple of wiseguy accessories are chain-link bracelets, and Paulie is naturally no exception with the heavy yellow gold figaro-link bracelet he wears on his right wrist.

Sirico showcases his classic double-fingered “Paulie Walnuts point” that presses both his index finger and ring-adorned pinkie into service, seen here in “Whoever Did This” (Episode 4.09).

“I’ve been wearing it for 30 years,” Tony Sirico told Ilene Rosenzweig for “Ba-Da-Bing! Thumbs Up for the Pinkie Ring,” a January 2000 article in The New York Times article that published the same night that the second episode of the second season aired in January 2000. “It’s part of my life.”

Mr. Sirico was discussing his pinkie ring, the same one he wears when playing Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos, the HBO mob opera that started its second season last week. “They say Mafia wear pinkie rings, but men of style wear pinkie rings,” Mr. Sirico said. “So long as they’re not gaudy and the man has a nice hand — not too feminine a hand.” Mr. Sirico, who favors what he called a “sexy” black onyx look, said he was unaware that pinkie rings had gone out of style.

In the first two seasons, Paulie wears a gold pinkie ring with mesh-like sides and a round black onyx stone. By the fourth season, he would switch to a smooth-sided ring with the square-shaped onyx setting bordered by mini diamonds. As the show approached its final seasons, Paulie appeared to be wearing yet another ring, similar to the previous one but with just a plain, raised rectangular onyx setting with mitred corners and no diamond ornamentation.

Paulie’s last of several onyx-mounted gold pinkie rings, seen here in “The Ride” (Episode 6.09).

For most of the series, Paulie wore steel Movado Esperanza wristwatches, both in yellow gold and silver-toned stainless finishes. The Movado is a perfect watch for Paulie’s character: distinctive-looking and Italian-sounding (though Swiss in origin) but ultimately inexpensive, at least when compared with the boss’ $10,000 gold Rolex.

Movado, ref. no 0607059, has the marque’s minimalist “museum dial” in matte black with a gold-toned concave dot at 12:00 and gold hands. The case is 39mm yellow gold PVD-finished stainless steel, worn on a matching “free-falling bracelet design with signature open links and push-button deployment clasp,” according to the official website description of the Movado Esperanza.

Paulie flashes his Movado as he raids Gary La Manna’s wallet in “Where’s Johnny?” (Episode 5.03)

Paulie had been wearing his Movado watches as early as the second episode, “46 Long” (Episode 1.02), though he often alternated between his watches over the series’ first two seasons. “From Where to Eternity” (Episode 2.09) features a stainless Movado, though the scene where he debuts this jacket in Christopher’s hospital room shows him wearing a different wristwatch. This timepiece is styled like a flat gold rice-grained bracelet with a flush white square-shaped dial.

As seen here in “From Where to Eternity”, Paulie’s second season accessories included a different ring, occasionally a different watch, and he wasn’t wearing his chain-link bracelet yet.

How to Get the Look

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power”, the tenth episode of the third season of The Sopranos.

More than any other actor on The Sopranos, Tony Sirico brought his real-life peculiarities to the character of Paulie Walnuts, from mannerisms to menswear. Of the latter, one of the foundations of Paulie’s wardrobe was a black leather blouson, distinctively patterned with strips of suede crossing over the front of the jacket to match the wide collar, worn in nearly every season of the show and almost always with his signature beltless trousers and white leather loafers.

• Black leather zip-up blouson jacket with large black suede collar, black suede horizontal and vertical strip detailing, side pockets, and single-snap cuffs
• Crew-neck sweater
• Neutral-toned polyester Sansabelt trousers with fitted waistband, extended single-button front waist tab, “frogmouth” front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White leather split-toe Vikings loafers
• Black socks
• Movado Esperanza 0607059 gold-coated stainless steel watch with black minimalist dial on gold-finished “free-falling” open-link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with black onyx stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series, and follow my friend @tonysopranostyle on Instagram for more looks into the mobbed-up menswear of The Sopranos.

For fans of the show, I always recommend picking up a copy of The Soprano Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall.

The Quote

A lot of things used to be!

The post The Sopranos: Paulie’s Black Leather-and-Suede Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Roger Moore as James Bond in Octopussy (1983)

Vitals

Roger Moore as James Bond, British government agent

India, Spring 1983

Film: Octopussy
Release Date: June 6, 1983
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Born 93 years ago today on October 14, 1927, the great Sir Roger Moore continues to hold the record for the number of films in which he starred as James Bond, playing agent 007 a total of 00-7 times. (Sean Connery also played Bond seven times, though 1983’s Never Say Never Again is considered “unofficial” as it wasn’t made by EON Productions.) In anticipation of Daniel Craig’s final 007 movie No Time to Die—its release yet again delayed for another six months—let’s explore an exciting climactic scene from Sir Roger’s penultimate film as James Bond.

Octopussy significantly expands on Ian Fleming’s short story of the same name, essentially borrowing only the title and some background details and evolving it into a globe-hopping adventure set against the post-détente years of the Cold War as 007 joins forces with the eponymous Octopussy (Maud Adams) against the suave exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) and his megalomaniac ally, Soviet General Orlov (Steven Berkoff).

The plot culminates as Bond and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) arrive via Union Jack-emblazoned hot air balloon to join Octopussy and her cult of all-female jewel smugglers in an assault on Kamal Khan’s Monsoon Palace. After Khan and his henchman Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) kidnap Octopussy, Bond pursues them on horseback, resulting in a thrilling scene as he leaps from pony to plane.

What dedication! Moore’s chemistry with Maud Adams proves to be a major asset at the core of Octopussy, no doubt aided by the two actors’ real-life friendship. Bond ending up with Octopussy would have made for a fine finish to Sir Roger’s tenure in the role, but—alas—the forces that be determined that the world needed to have A View to a Kill. (I am not one of those forces.)

Another aspect that makes Octopussy such an enjoyable installment is its embrace of the fun elements that define the 007 franchise, injecting its eye-pleasing action sequences with copious doses of the familiar James Bond theme, and balancing our hero’s reliance on gadgetry, witticisms, and (most importantly) his own resourcefulness and courage to defeat his over-the-top foe. Octopussy may not be a classic movie among the likes of Casablanca or Citizen Kane, but it’s undoubtedly classic Bond.

Plus, Octopussy also proved to be a suitable cinematic companion to Tiger King when I rewatched it under quarantine. (Wow, that comment already feels dated after just six months!)

What’d He Wear?

As Roger Moore was elegantly tailored throughout his dozen-year duration as James Bond, he may not be remembered for his enduring casual wear, but his outfit for the climactic assault in Octopussy may be Sir Roger’s finest example of timeless, ageless dressing-down that would be just as effective even 40 years later, particularly for a sophisticated agent well into middle age.

A great read about this particular set of threads can be found penned by 007 style expert Matt Spaiser at his definitive blog, Bond Suits, where he explores the outfit in great detail and even finds parallels to the literary Bond imagined by Ian Fleming.

The white cotton shirt was almost certainly made by Moore’s usual shirtmaker, Frank Foster, and is worn with the spread collar open at the neck. Though undoubtedly a fine shirt, one of my few constructive criticisms of the outfit is that the shirt may be too dressy for the context of the scene; there’s no reason for Bond to be wearing a white shirt like he would also be wearing with one of his suits, and even a striped shirt may have been a reasonable alternative. Of course Sir Roger, arguably among the most innately debonair of the actors to portray the agent, can pull it off. (It’s also considerably more practical than Q ballooning into the fray wearing a full suit!)

Q joins Bond to get some firsthand experience regarding “the amount of wear and tear that goes on out there in the field”.

The navy casual jacket from this sequence was among the latest of 007’s duds to be paid tribute by the most recent installment of Orlebar Brown’s 007 Heritage Collection with the release of the “Octopussy Harrington” in midnight blue garment-dyed woven cotton twill. This reimagined blouson, currently available for $525, features most of the details of Moore’s screen-worn jacket, though the cut is an updated slimmer fit with other modifications including a throat-latch and ribbing around the waist hem.

Moore’s navy blue jacket on screen appears to be made from a cotton or cotton-blend cloth that would wear coolly and comfortably in the warm Indian climate. The front zip is covered by a fly from the waist up to the shirt-style collar. A horizontal yoke stretches across the back with four seams that run vertically down to the hem, which is banded around the waist for a blouson-like effect.

The multitude of external pockets resembles the waist-length, multi-pocket garments often marketed as “utility jackets”, with two open-top pockets over the chest and two lower pockets that each close with a single-button flap. The set-in sleeves are finished at the cuffs with pointed tabs that each close through a single dark blue plastic button resembling those that fasten the lower pocket flaps.

Octopussy gives new meaning to the phrase “flight jacket”.

Bond matches his dark navy cotton trousers to the jacket in the grand tradition of Sir Roger’s casual-wear, but it works with this outfit as it adds more of a militaresque bearing rather than dating it like a leisure suit (as in Live and Let Die), a safari suit (seen earlier in Octopussy), or a velour track suit (to come in A View to a Kill.)

The flat front trousers have straight pockets along the side seams, back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms, and Moore wears them with a black leather belt. By this time, Roger had switched from sometimes favoring side adjusters to almost exclusively wearing belts with his trousers, especially more casual slacks like these. I imagine this was a wise transition as I don’t know that I’d trust even the best tailor in the world—and, as Roger was a Douglas Hayward client by this time, that’s saying something!—to craft a pair of trousers that stay up all on their own while I’m jumping from a plane as it’s about to crash!

Comfortably dressed for a crash landing.

If my gripe with the white shirt was related to form, I do take a functional issue with Bond’s choice of footwear during what he knows will be an action-packed assault. As Moore’s time in the role coinciding with a universal inclination toward informality, his Bond was increasingly comfortable in slip-on shoes, whether wearing a blazer or black tie kit. This scene is no exception, as we see Bond slipping from Q’s hot air balloon in a pair of black leather moc-toe Venetian loafers with either black or midnight blue ribbed socks.

Are any of my readers physicists? I’d love to know how realistic it would have been for Bond’s low-vamp loafers to remain on his feet through this entire airborne sequence.

In his infinite wisdom, Roger Moore’s stunt double Norman Howell dressed his feet for the physical demands of leaping from horseback onto an ascending airplane, sporting a pair of lace-up shoes that appear to be all-black sneakers or trainers as evident by their profile and details like the sporty swollen collars. (Moore would wear trainers only once during the Bond series, with the aforementioned black velour FILA tracksuit in A View to a Kill.)

Roger Moore’s stunt double, Norman Howell, wears more stunt-friendly lace-up shoes while riding off to catch his plane.

More than 30 years before the Apple Watch would revolutionize the way people were obsessively looking at their wrists, Seiko already had a vision for the future. The Japanese manufacturer was an unsurprising candidate for this degree of innovation, having already pioneered the world’s first quartz watch (the Astron in 1969) and racing against Casio to develop “computer watches” that would prefigure the modern smartwatch.

While these early computer watches like the Casio Databank and the Seiko Data 2000 may have appealed to the egghead-on-the-go, Seiko was also looking to capture the evidently burgeoning “active couch potato” market and developed the concept of a TV you could watch from your wrist… and thus, the Seiko TV Watch, introduced in October 1982. Based on this timing, it must have been swiftly rushed to the set of Octopussy—which had already been filming for two months—in time for Q to assign 007 with his latest timepiece, though it’s more likely that the screen-used watch was based on a prototype presented earlier in the year. (You can find an example of a commercially sold Seiko TV Watch among the vast collection showcased by 007collector.com and from The Computer Museum.)

The wrist-wearing portion of the steel-cased Seiko TV Watch hardly differs in size from the modern Apple Watch with a display measuring 1.5 inches wide by 2 inches tall, consisting of a single-row digital timekeeper along the top with a 1.2″ liquid crystal display (LCD), responsive only to direct external light. As High Techies‘ excellent write-up of the watch explains, “the brighter the light, the clearer the picture.”

Of course, there’s no watching TV at all without wiring the watch to the Walkman-sized TR02-01 receiver, shipped with the watch and designed to be worn inside the pocket… “assuming one has a convenient pocket,” of course. Q Branch appears to have modified Bond’s TV Watch to not only not require the wired receiver but also to provide an almost theatrical-quality resolution no doubt clearer than the 32-pixel display would provide in even the best light.

Seiko innovated the perfect watch for action heroes who wanted to take a break from chasing the bad guy and catch the latest episode of Benson.

The Gun

Feeling the need for more formidable artillery than his MI6-issued Walther P5, Bond picks up a downed guard’s Sa vz. 58 V rifle and fires it at the onslaught of henchmen as he smoothly rides down a banister in Kamal Khan’s palace, establishing a classic 007 moment… then quickly blasting at what appears to be an ornamental artichoke at the bottom of the banister to avoid serious damage to his thunderballs.

One of my favorite scenes from Roger Moore’s tenure as Bond.

Per its name, the Czech 7,62 mm samopal vzor 58 was indeed introduced in 1958 and designated as a “submachine gun” despite arguably being a rifle. The vz. 58 was produced steadily by the the Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod arms factory in Moravia well into the 1980s with several variants including the vz. 58 V as wielded by Bond, which replaced the fixed stock with a metal folding stock referred to as “kosa” (“scythe”) by Czech soldiers, according to Wikipedia.

Though it shares cosmetic similarities with the iconic Kalashnikov-designed AK-47 assault rifles made famous by the Soviets, the Czech vz. 58 operates on an entirely different short-stroke piston than the long-stroke system of the AK, though both fire the standard Soviet 7.62x39mm ammunition.

Up to this point, Bond had been primarily armed with handguns, rifles, and the occasional submachine gun when taking on the baddies. This was the first time we ever saw Bond use what has been termed an “assault rifle”, foreshadowing Pierce Brosnan’s 007 we would meet in GoldenEye who used commandeered AK-pattern rifles almost more frequently than his own signature PPK!

Roger Moore as James Bond in Octopussy (1983)
Photo sourced from thunderballs.org

How to Get the Look

Simple, functional, and timeless, Roger Moore’s 007 wears some of his finest casual attire when dressing for conflict at the end of Octopussy. That said, Bond’s white shirt and black loafers may be a bit contextually inappropriate, but his navy cotton utility jacket is ideal for the task at hand.

• Navy blue cotton utility jacket with shirt-style collar, zip-up front with covered fly, two chest pockets and two lower pockets (with button-down flaps), and single-button pointed-tab cuffs
• White cotton shirt with spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Navy blue cotton drill flat front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt
• Black leather loafers
• Black ribbed socks
• Seiko TR02-01 Liquid Crystal “TV Watch” with built-in digital timekeeping display and 1.2″ LCD

The cut and cloth of Bond’s navy blouson in these scenes reminds me of a comfortable U.S. Navy-authorized windbreaker I own, made by Creighton in a blend of 65% Dacron polyester and 35% cotton and reportedly issued around the time Octopussy was released.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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