Alain Delon as Jean Laurier in Scorpio (1973)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Jean Laurier, aka “Scorpio”, dangerous freelance assassin, former French paratrooper, and cat lover

Washington, D.C., and Vienna, Spring 1973

Film: Scorpio
Release Date: April 19, 1973
Director: Michael Winner
Wardrobe Master: Philippe Pickford

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 85th birthday to French cinema icon Alain Delon, whose November 8, 1935 birthday makes him a Scorpio and thus a fitting choice for the title role in Michael Winner’s 1973 espionage thriller Scorpio. (Interestingly, Delon was re-teamed with The Leopard co-star Burt Lancaster, whose November 2, 1913 birthday makes him a Scorpio as well!) The astrological overtones sneak into the script as well as a CIA officer suggests to Delon’s character Jean Laurier that his codename “Scorpio” suits him:

We named you well, you’re a perfect Scorpio! You have a penchant for intrigue, violence…

Winner dusted off the dynamic between the young assassin and his aging mentor from The Mechanic for this globe-trotting spy flick, and Delon and Lancaster deliver the goods in these respective roles despite rarely rising above average. I found myself particularly distracted by the questionable spywork by these supposed pros, such as when Lancaster indiscreetly outlines their covert work while strolling with Delon through the crowded Orly Airport, describing Scorpio’s role as a “contract button man” who kills for the CIA while handing their tickets to the Air France clerk and continuing to talk through the latest details behind the “why” of their latest hit as they take their seats on a crowded commercial plane.

Upon arriving in D.C., the weary Cross (Lancaster) returns into the arms of his wife while the swaggering “Scorpio” checks into the the Warren Harding Presidential Suite, where the hardened hitman is delighted to find a cat already in his room. One interesting aspect of Delon’s Scorpio is that he seems to have little interest in actually carrying out his assigned executions, instead using his first days back in Washington to drop in on his sister as well as his girlfriend, taking the latter for a sightseeing date to landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and brunch at the Watergate Hotel. (The Watergate grew to global infamy while the Scorpio production unit was still there on June 17, 1972, when the “White House Plumbers” were caught breaking into the DNC headquarters on the sixth floor of the complex.) Frustrated by the assassin’s inaction, the CIA plants heroin in Scorpio’s room and sends the local fuzz to arrest him.

Despite their chummy attitude on the ride from Paris, we learn that Scorpio had been commissioned to kill Cross back in France rather than allowing him to return stateside, as explained by CIA chief McLeod (John Colicos).

McLeod: You were supposed to kill Cross at the Paris job.
Scorpio: No contract.
McLeod: You took the money?
Scorpio: You left the money.

At first, we may suspect that Scorpio refused to carry out the job out of allegiance to Cross, but he shrewdly negotiates to complete the assignment in exchange for Cross’ old job, an official posting in Beirut. His future with the agency assured, Scorpio proves to have been an attentive pupil, using Cross’ teachings and advice to track him down for termination.

What’d He Wear?

Whether he’s in Washington or Vienna, Scorpio tends to wear his go-to outfit of a black blazer, black Charvet tie, and flared trousers. He’s occasionally seen in other clothing, such as a triangle-motif sweater worn for his introduction in Paris or a dark gray business suit he wears toward the end, but the blazer-anchored outfit is clearly Scorpio’s favorite.

Scorpio dresses for his deadly business in black blazer, tie, and trousers.

From my observation, two different black blazers were used, differing only in the number of buttons on the front and the width of the swelled edges detailed along the lapels. The buttons on both jackets are silver-toned metal recessed shank buttons, with one blazer rigged with two on the front while the other has a full three-button front. At first, I thought perhaps the notch lapel was simply rolling over the top button on the right, but closer examination does reveal that the two blazers used were cut and styled for their respective number of buttons on the front. (For what it’s worth, the two-button blazer has a wider degree of edge swelling while the three-button blazer has narrower swelled edges.)

Regardless of how many are on the front, both blazers have two similar buttons on the cuffs as well as a single back vent and patch pockets on the left breast and hips. (There does appear to be a third black blazer, which has a two-button front with bluff-edged notch lapels and three-button cuffs, seen only briefly as Scorpio boards his TWA flight to Europe.)

Scorpio’s two black blazers: three buttons on the left, two buttons on the right. Note that the lapel roll (and degree of edge swelling) suggests indeed that these are two completely different jackets and not just an instance where the lapel is folding over the top button.

While in Washington, Scorpio wears a pale yellow cotton shirt with a long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs, fitted with back darts that flatter Delon’s athletic physique. He completes the look with the same black Charvet tie that he favors with this blazer.

A yellow shirt to match the decor of his suite, perhaps?

Scorpio wears shark gray flat front trousers with a long rise and a tight fit around the hips, slim through the legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms where they flare out dramatically as was fashionable during the ’70s.

In his tight, pocketless trousers with flared bottoms, Scorpio proves to be a hitman able to keep up with the latest fashion trends.

Appropriate for the amount of black present in the rest of his outfit, Scorpio’s shoes are also black, a shined leather pair of apron-toe slip-ons with a wide-slotted strap similar to an exaggerated penny loafer. He wears these with black socks.

For most of the other scenes, Scorpio wears white shirts with his black blazer, similarly styled with a point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and darted fit. Most of the time, these shirts are plain, solid white cotton, though Delon appears to wear a shirt for the Vienna chase scene that is subtly patterned with a double tonal stripe and a narrower front placket.

Back to business in a plain white shirt.

While Scorpio sometimes wears the white shirt and black tie with his gray trousers, he typically wears them with a pair of black flat front trousers to build the look of a non-matching suit with his black blazer. Typically, most would advise against combining an odd jacket and trousers of the same color and this outfit gives no indication of what I—perhaps misleadingly—shorthand as a “blazer suit”: a two-piece suit with a metal-buttoned jacket. If Delon manages to pull it off at all, it’s because he looks like Alain Delon.

Scorpio usually wears the same black loafers with these black trousers, though we do spy Delon wearing a pair of more stunt-friendly sneakers with dark navy or black uppers during the Vienna chase scene.

Scorpio takes a leap in his black blazer and trousers, prepared for the extra action with his slip-ons swapped out for sneakers.

Unlike the pocketless gray trousers, these black trousers have “frogmouth”-style front pockets and a back right pocket where Scorpio occasionally slips his .45 when not wearing his holster. The bottoms, finished with turn-ups (cuffs), are less dramatically flared.

Scorpio wears a thick alligator-textured belt with a silver-toned rectangular single-prong buckle. The belt itself and the context of the rest of the outfit would imply black, though it does appear to shine a dark burgundy in some light.

The day he tracks down Cross in Austria, Scorpio layers on the de facto noir hero outerwear, a long belted trench coat. Made from a military shade of olive green gabardine (rather than the classic khaki trench Delon famously wore in Le Samouraï), this knee-length coat has a double-breasted front with three rows of two drab plastic four-hole buttons sewn to the coat, with the center row of buttons covered by the broad self-belt tightened through a sliding brass buckle. An additional row of buttons at the top would fasten the lapels over the chest as needed.

Scorpio’s trench coat also has the requisite shoulder straps (epaulettes) and tabs on each cuff that each fasten to one of two buttons to adjust the sleeves’ fit over the wrists. The sleeves are set-in rather than raglan.

A tourist in a trench coat?

A horological enthusiast in real life who even had a self-branded line of wristwatches, Delon likely wears one of his own watches in Scorpio. The hitman’s timepiece appears to be stainless steel with a round off-white dial, worn on a steel five-piece link bracelet.

Note the Charvet tag on the back of Scorpio’s black tie as he expertly field-strips his .45 to clean it.

The Gun

Technically in the employ of the U.S. government, it makes sense that Scorpio would be armed with the venerable service pistol that had served the U.S. military for a half century up to this point, the classic .45-caliber Colt M1911A1 semi-automatic pistol

Scorpio stands out as an anomaly among movies of its era as Delon appears to carry a true .45-caliber 1911 rather than a 9mm copy like the Star Model B, which was often swapped in by contemporary productions like The Wild Bunch (1969), Dillinger (1973), and Three Days of the Condor (1975) as 9x19mm Parabellum blank ammunition cycled more consistently than .45 ACP blanks at the time.

Telltale signs that Delon carries a true 1911 pistol are the .45-caliber bore and the lack of an external extractor on the right side of the frame, which would give away the Star Model B as used in other movies.

Scorpio carries his 1911 in a black leather belt holster, worn on his right side for a strong-side draw. While perhaps more comfortable than an IWB holster would be for a large sidearm like a full-size 1911A1, this would likely be an impractical carry method for a covert assassin hoping to avoid detection as the grips would almost certainly print through his jacket, especially given the tailoring of Delon’s blazer.

The arched mainspring housing characteristic to a 1911A1 (rather than the straight back of the original 1911) is seen as Scorpio wears his holstered .45, as do the classic Colt “diamond grips”.

How to Get the Look

Alain Delon as Jean Laurier in Scorpio (1973)

I’d leave the tricky attempts to pull off a matching blazer and trousers to a true style icon like Alain Delon, instead opting to take some inspo from the safer (and more visually interesting) approach with the yellow shirt and gray trousers… but to each their own.

• Black 2- or 3-button blazer with swelled-edge notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• White or pale yellow cotton shirt with long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Black or gray flat front high-rise trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black alligator-textured leather belt with large steel rectangular single-prong buckle
• Black leather strong-side belt holster, for M1911A1 pistol
• Black leather apron-toe penny loafers
• Black socks
• Stainless steel wristwatch with round off-white dial on steel five-piece link bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. If you’re a fan of Alain Delon, I also recommend following my friend @alaindelonarchive on Instagram for great photos, footage, and stories about this iconic French actor.

The Quote

I don’t play games when the rules are bent.

The post Scorpio: Alain Delon’s Black Blazers appeared first on BAMF Style.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton during production of The Sandpiper (1965)

Vitals

Richard Burton as Dr. Edward Hewitt, boarding school headmaster

Big Sur, California, Spring 1965

Film: The Sandpiper
Release Date: June 23, 1965
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Costume Designer: Irene Sharaff

Background

Today would have been the 95th birthday of Richard Burton, the Welsh actor born November 10, 1925 perhaps best known for his Shakespearean talent and his back-to-back marriages with frequent co-star Elizabeth Taylor.

After engaging in an affair during the course of their first two films, Cleopatra (1963) and The V.I.P.s (1963), Liz and Dick finally tyed the knot—for the first time—on March 15, 1964, shortly before production commenced on their third film together, The Sandpiper. While perhaps not a cinematic masterpiece, The Sandpiper remains one of the few major motion pictures to have been filmed at Big Sur and this famously picturesque portion of central California coastline looks fantastic by day and by night as seen from the beach abode where Laura Reynolds (Taylor) calls home.

Laura’s path entangles with Dr. Edward Hewitt (Burton) via her young son Danny (Morgan Mason), who is sent to attend the Episcopal boarding school where Edward serves as headmaster. Happily—if placidly—married to schoolteacher Claire (Eva Marie Saint), the self-righteous Edward finds himself drawn to the free-spirited Laura, an uncomfortable attraction that only intensifies when he drops in unannounced only to find her posing nude for her sculptor friend Cos (Charles Bronson).

Elizabeth Taylor finds a way to give the picturesque Big Sur coast a run for its money.

Though we the audience know there’s no way Liz and Dick are making it through the movie without, uh, making it, he still fumbles for some small talk to work through the embarrassment of the moment, first about her son and then about the eponymous wounded bird she’s nursing back to health: “The sandpiper appears to be doing very well, I see.”

What’d He Wear?

Tweed has often been described as professorial and, though my own college experiences wouldn’t back up this oft-repeated claim, Dr. Edward Hewitt looks every bit the smartly dressed man of academia in his woolen tweed sport jacket, woven in a wide-scaled brown and black herringbone and finished with tobacco brown suede elbow patches. The single-breasted jacket has fashionably narrow lapels with shallow notches as well as short double vents. The two dark brown mixed buttons on the front are mimicked by the three “kissing” buttons on each cuff. In addition to the welted breast pocket, the jacket has a straight flapped pocket on each hip.

Edward downs some grappa, giving us a good glimpse at those elbow patches as both Lauras—in human and sculpture form—look on.

Edward may look a little more at home in Laura’s bohemian enclave if he had taken a more McQueen-like approach to his tweed, such as layering his sports coat over a dark turtleneck en vogue in central California among everyone from beatniks to Bullitt. That said, Burton still looks contemporary and ultimately timeless in the way he wears his tweed, his “cool factor” only threatened by his reserved demeanor.

During this second visit to Laura’s home, he wears a pale blue cotton poplin shirt with a semi-spread collar and front placket that we saw him buttoning up after a round of golf, though it should be noted that the shirt goes from having button cuffs in the Pebble Beach locker room to double (French) cuffs by the time he gets to Laura’s. His straight slate-blue silk tie nicely coordinates with yet contrasts against the lighter shirt.

Edward’s dark olive brown flat front trousers look similar to those he wore for golf, though these seem to be finished with plain-hemmed bottoms rather than the cuffed bottoms we saw him wear on the links. He also wears a pair of dark brown leather cap-toe derby shoes and dark brown socks.

Later, Edward wears the jacket again when he returns to Laura’s home under the pretense of buying her art, this time wearing a white shirt with French cuffs connected by gold links and a brown silk tie with an olive cast.

Throughout The Sandpiper, Burton wears a gold wristwatch that may be one of his own, possibly even the Patek Philippe automatic watch that Taylor had gifted him during the production of Cleopatra a few years earlier… though a Patek Philippe would be a considerably showy piece for a school headmaster to wear.

How to Get the Look

Richard Burton as Dr. Edward Hewitt in The Sandpiper (1965)

One of my favorite parts of fall fashion is returning tweed to the front of the wardrobe cycle, particularly in earthier shades like Richard Burton’s brown herringbone sports coat worn in The Sandpiper with this cool blue-on-blue shirt and tie combination or his later-seen white shirt and tonally coordinated olive brown tie.

• Brown-and-black wide-scaled herringbone tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with narrow notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, suede elbow-patched sleeves with “kissing” 3-button cuffs, and short double vents
• Pale blue cotton poplin shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Slate-blue silk straight tie
• Dark olive brown flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Dark brown socks
• Patek Philippe yellow gold automatic wristwatch with champagne-colored dial and woven bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie or see a variety of movies that Liz and Dick made together with the Taylor and Burton Film Collection.

The Quote

That’s the miracle of man. He can imagine the awe and terror of an infinite universe and still not be frightened by it. And facing the mystery of time and the implacability of death, he can still laugh, work, create, and love.

The post Richard Burton’s Brown Tweed Jacket in The Sandpiper appeared first on BAMF Style.

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “The Strong, Silent Type”, the tenth episode of the fourth season of The Sopranos.

Vitals

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

New Jersey, Spring 2002 and Fall 2006

Series: The Sopranos
Episodes:
– “The Strong, Silent Type” (Episode 4.10, dir. Alan Taylor, aired 11/17/2002)
– “Moe n’ Joe” (Episode 6.10, dir. Steve Shill, aired 5/14/2006)
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

November 21 was proclaimed World Television Day by the United Nations in 1996, so this Saturday evening feels like a fine opportunity to pop down in your favorite plastic-covered chair to read about one of the greatest TV shows of all time. And, as I discovered far too late in life, there are few outfits more comfortable for such indulgence than a velvet tracksuit.

I feel that I’ve demonstrated several times my appreciation for the once-in-a-lifetime character of Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos, a perfect character for the world of the acclaimed series as well as a role that could have only been played by Tony Sirico, the Brooklyn-born actor and one-time “half a wiseguy” who lent his quirks, mannerisms, style, and even biographical details to the character.

It seems like nearly each new episode of Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa’s “Talking Sopranos” podcast reveals yet another Sirico story, whether he was spraying Binaca in his co-stars’ mouths or microwaving his mail to *checks notes* …neutralize any potential anthrax that terrorists may have sent among his correspondence.

Given Sirico’s reported germaphobic tendencies, he no doubt approved of The Sopranos‘ set decorators providing Paulie with a plastic-covered easy chair just those we may remember from our nonnas’ living rooms. (Why the plastic? The practice reportedly originated in mid-century America among first- and second-generation families—including but certainly not limited to Italian-Americans like my own family members—who sought inexpensive solutions that would extend the longevity of their furniture.)

What’d He Wear?

For as much as I’ve already written about Paulie Walnuts’ distinctive sense of style—an extension of Tony Sirico himself—this marks the first time I’m focusing on one of the dozens of tracksuits that Sirico famously wore on the series. In the spirit of today’s observance, I selected one that not only makes multiple appearances but also seems to be a particular favorite of Paulie’s for quiet evenings at home in front of the tube that find him ultimately distracted by Tony.

The evidence?

1. Paulie introduces this tracksuit while catching a ballgame in “The Strong, Silent Type” (Episode 4.10) under the auspices of his boss’ Napoleon-esque likeness above the mantle behind him.
2. Sitting at home in front of the TV in “Moe n’ Joe” (Episode 6.10), Paulie takes a call from Tony and reveals that he’s secretly been dealing with prostate cancer, proving himself to be an unlikely contender for the “strong, silent type” that Tony so admires… though, in the spirit of another fourth season episode title, there’s little doubt that Paulie watches far too much television!

“Well actually, T, I’ve been dealing with some shit. Cancer, to tell you the truth.”

In both episodes, Paulie wears a black velvet tracksuit with tan and beige trim, made by Falcon Bay Sportswear as described in its Christie’s auction listing from June 2008. Founded in 1998, Falcon Bay is a wholesale outfitter that specializes in men’s casual clothing, particularly budget-friendly offerings and big-and-tall sizes.

The zip-up track jacket has slanted-entry welt hand pockets and elasticized cuffs and hem. The tan-and-beige piping crosses the chest in the front and back as well as extending down each shoulder from the neck to the upper arm, where the piping rings around each sleeve.

The elastic-waisted track pants have the same tan-and-beige piping running down the side seam of each leg, reinforcing the tracksuit’s reputation as “the Bensonhurst tuxedo” as this detail mimics the classic silk tape that runs down the sides of formal trousers.

Paulie wears the track jacket zipped up over his white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt, a wiseguy staple also favored by his colleagues Tony and Christopher, to name a few. Before its was tacked with the unsavory “wife beater” moniker following a 1947 murder case, these undershirts were marketed as the “athletic shirt”—or “A-shirt” for short—after they were pioneered by Jockey in the 1930s.

Even outside his living room, Paulie dresses for comfort in his black velvet tracksuit as seen here in the back room of the Bing in “Moe n’ Joe” (Episode 6.10).

Paulie’s clean white loafers are an essential part of his image (and consistent with his distaste for shoelaces), established early in the show’s run and worn through the last season, prominently featured in “Remember When” (Episode 6.15) as Paulie pulls out a trio of identical pairs to pack for a trip to Florida with Tony. Like so many other aspects of the character, these all-white leather Vikings split-toe slip-ons were reportedly another Sirico favorite that made their way onto the screen. At least in “The Strong, Silent Type”, we see that he wears them with a pair of plain white ribbed crew socks.

Around his neck, Paulie wears a gold rope-chain necklace with a textured cross pendant, symbolic of his Catholic beliefs and upbringing…even if his faith isn’t reflected by his violent behavior. Paulie favors gold jewelry like his friends, and—by the fourth season—he frequently wears a heavy yellow gold figaro-link bracelet on his right wrist.

Velvet tracksuit, gold jewelry, non-laced white loafers, and a plastic-covered chair: Paulie has all the ingredients he needs for a comfortable night in during “The Strong, Silent Type” (Episode 4.10).

Of course, neither the cross or bracelet are nearly as integral to Paulie’s image as his pinky ring, an affectation worn by many in the world of The Sopranos but perhaps most associated with Sirico and his famous three-finger point. Sirico wore his own rings on the series, always gold and detailed with a black onyx stone. “They say Mafia wear pinkie rings, but men of style wear pinkie rings,” Sirico told The New York Times‘ Ilene Rosenzweig for “Ba-Da-Bing! Thumbs Up for the Pinkie Ring,” before the second season aired. “I’ve been wearing it for 30 years… it’s part of my life.”

Like many of his mobbed-up cohorts, Paulie cycled through several wristwatches over the course of the series, primarily rotating between a duo of Movado Esperanza stainless steel watches, one PVD-coated in yellow gold and another in a silver finish. These distinctive watches have Movado’s minimalist “museum dial” in matte black with a gold-toned concave dot at 12:00 and gold hands, held to the wrist by Movado’s signature open-linked “free-falling” bracelet design.

What to Imbibe

Just because Paulie isn’t drinking in these scenes doesn’t mean you can’t mix yourself a well-deserved weekend concoction! Both the name and hedonistic spirit of Paulie’s garb lead me to recommend the Black Velvet, a simple but surprising drink created by gently pouring equal parts stout and sparkling wine in a beer tankard or, for a more refined presentation, a champagne flute.

Perhaps even more appropriate given Paulie’s morose obsession with and fear of death, the Black Velvet was reportedly first made by a bartender at Brooks’, an exclusive London gentlemen’s club, to mourn the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s Prince Consort, in December 1861. In the decades to follow, the Black Velvet shed its funereal connotations and was even the celebratory concoction of choice at Humphrey Bogart’s 1938 wedding to his third wife, Mayo Methot, according to Mark Bailey in Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History… though the Battling Bogarts’ turbulent marriage may suggest that the couple was indeed damned by their decision to toast with a drink developed in mourning.

The Black Velvet also shares a connection to James Bond, as Ian Fleming’s novel Diamonds Are Forever includes a brief mention of the drink when agent 007 offers to treat Bill Tanner to lunch including “dressed crab and a pint of black velvet.”

The 007 connection made the Black Velvet a reasonable candidate for inclusion in Shaken: Drinking with James Bond & Ian Fleming, where the authors tout it as “one of the great many drinks which combine two seemingly incongruous ingredients to great effect” and suggest a three-to-one ratio of chilled champagne to Guinness, perhaps with two teaspoons of rich demerara syrup added.

How to Get the Look

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri in “Moe n’ Joe”, the tenth episode of the sixth season of The Sopranos.

If you don’t already have a comfortable tracksuit, this may be the time to see if Paulie Walnuts’ loungewear of choice will work for you… whether you’re loafing around your house or dressing for comfort after an indulgent Thanksgiving!

• Black velvet tracksuit with tan-and-white piped trim:
  • Zip-up track jacket with set-in sleeves and slanted hand pockets
  • Elastic-waisted pants with side pockets and elasticized bottoms
• White leather split-toe Vikings loafers
• Movado Esperanza 0607059 gold-coated stainless steel watch with black minimalist dial on gold-finished “free-falling” open-link bracelet
• Gold figaro-link chain 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

I must have done good things in my life.

The post The Sopranos: Paulie’s Black Velvet Tracksuit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Alain Delon as Eddie Pedak in Once a Thief (1965)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Eddie Pedak, reformed thief

San Francisco, Spring 1965

Film: Once a Thief
Release Date: September 8, 1965
Director: Ralph Nelson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On the last day of #Noirvember (and Alain Delon’s birthday month) and the first day of this winter’s #CarWeek series, it felt like the perfect time to explore Once a Thief, Ralph Nelson’s moody black-and-white crime drama starring Delon as a reformed criminal-turned-family man.

The jazzy opening credits depict a night at Big Al’s, a smoky den laden with drug pushers and beatniks, including author Zekial Marko, whose novel Scratch a Thief provided the movie’s source material. We follow a young man swaddled in sheepskin as he leaves the club and takes the wheel of a vintage “Model A Ford” roadster, which then becomes his getaway car after a swift but deadly closing-time stickup at a liquor store in Chinatown.

We then learn that the car and coat are a trademark of Eddie Pedak, a reformed armed robber making an honest living as a truck driver with his wife Kristine (Ann-Margret) and their daughter. The arrival of Eddie’s criminal brother Walter (Jack Palance), a syndicate hotshot, brings complications in the form of a proposition for one night’s criminal work—the proverbial “one last job”—which Eddie initially refuses, despite the $50,000 payout.

It turns out that Eddie, who truly is making an honest go at his American dream, was framed for the opening crime by Walter’s double-crossing cohorts to ruin his chances for legitimate employment and lure him back into the fold… a plan that unfortunately works once Eddie’s situation grows more desperate.

Walter and his gang talk Eddie, clad in his signature sheepskin coat, through their plan to rob his former employer.

Once a Thief was the second film Delon starred in that was adapted from a book by Zekial Marko, having appeared two years earlier in Any Number Can Win based on his 1959 novel The Big Grab. Marko actually played a small role in Once a Thief, including one scene with Delon to be filmed inside Los Angeles County Jail. Having been arrested the previous evening on a cannabis charge, Marko was simply moved to the cell lit for the scene to deliver his performance and then returned to his own cell when his acting duties were complete.

What’d He Wear?

Sheepskin coats were indeed having their moment during the 1960s, rising above their functional origins to be established as fashionable outerwear whether worn over a suit or sport jacket as modeled by Rod Taylor in The V.I.P.s or more casually over winter-friendly layers like Robert Redford’s sporty look in Downhill Racer.

Alain Delon models his own shearling sheepskin coat, which appears to be the same one he wore in Once a Thief, though the rest of his costume slightly differs from the shirt and tie he would wear on screen.

In 1964, the year before Delon wore his in Once a Thief, Hardy Amies described sheepskin in ABCs of Men’s Fashion as “the skin of the sheep with the wool left on and dressed as a whole for garment making,” expanding the definition to address the then-trendy sheepskin coat which “will present a suede outside and an attached wool lining inside.” Differing perspectives argue whether shearling is a classification of or synonym for sheepskin, but it feels safe to follow the Orvis definition of “a shearling sheepskin is the skin of a shearling lamb that’s tanned, processed, and dyed with the wool still intact,” while sheepskin may refer to the hide of a sheep of any age.

Though sheepskin garments reportedly date back to the Stone Age, it was the early years of military aviation leading up to World War II that standardized the functional processing of sheepskin outerwear as Allied pilots took to the skies in their Irvin flying jackets or B-3 bomber coats that insulated against decreasing temperatures at increasing altitudes. The naturally water-resistant and moisture-wicking fabric kept pilots and air crews warm and dry while the conditions in and around their unpressurized planes fought to keep them anything but.

These victorious pilots returning home brought with them the image of the hero who stays cool and collected under pressure, wrapped in the rugged yet rakish sheepskin that had been keeping men warm for thousands of years, since the primitive era of hunter-and-gatherer culture.

Particularly during the Victorian era, sheepskin outerwear was indicative of higher social strata as its expensive production ensured only the richest could wear it. By the mid-20th century, the perceived danger associated with the garment due to its wartime usage increased greatly increased the demand, including among consumers who couldn’t practically afford authentic sheepskin. In response, lookalike jackets were developed with a polyester-based “sherpa” lining for a low-cost alternative. Of course, genuine sheepskin remains a far preferred alternative for its lighter-wearing yet more insulated properties.

Clad in their comfortable coats for an evening drive in Eddie’s open Model A roadster, both Eddie and Kris can suspect something is wrong once they notice a car tailing them.

San Francisco’s mild climate, influenced by cool currents from the Pacific, makes sheepskin the ideal cloth for Eddie Pedak’s trademark coat. Its rugged yet respectable association is consistent with Eddie’s persona as an honest “tough guy” and it can be comfortably dressed down with a T-shirt or dressed up with a tie.

Eddie’s sheepskin jacket is styled like the traditional thigh-length car coat, short enough to not get in his way as he climbs in and out of his roadster… or, in a past life, his getaway car. The single-breasted coat has four large wooden (or faux-wood) buttons up the front between the waist and the yoking across the chest. Above that horizontal yoke, the reverse “lining” of the coat presents the piled wooly shearling fur like a set of wide notched lapels. This furry side can also be seen piled around the cuffs at the end of each set-in sleeve. Eddie’s coat has two large patch pockets with gently reverse-slanting openings across the tops.

Eddie Pedak returns home in his sheepskin coat to the unwelcome sight of his young daughter Kathy (Tammy Locked) drawing pictures on the back of his heist plans… while in the company of the police inspector investigating him.

It was grocery store owner Mr. Wing’s description of a young man wearing a “sheepskin coat” that led Inspector Mike Vido (Van Heflin) to suspect Eddie as the killer thief. Once Vido finds a second coat in a second Model A roadster, he informs Eddie, who then confronts Walter’s gang with the knowledge that he’s been framed:

Two guys… one was wearing a sheepskin coat, like mine. They made off in a Model A, like mine. Someone tried to frame me for a murder.

The discovery of a second sheepskin coat inside a second Ford Model A roadster forces Inspector Vido to realize Eddie wasn’t the murderer he’s been so doggedly pursuing.

When we meet Eddie at the start of the film, he’s wearing his sheepskin coat over a dark ribbed short-sleeve T-shirt—almost certainly black—tucked into casual trousers. These flat front trousers rise to Delon’s natural waist, where they’re held up with a dark (again, probably black) textured belt with a well-polished rectangular single-prong buckle.

The trousers have slanted “frogmouth”-style front pockets positioned just below the belt line in addition to jetted back pockets. Likely made from a cotton chino cloth, Delon wears them like some men today would wear jeans, and indeed contemporary promotional art colors these trousers to a denim-like shade of blue.

Eddie is dismayed to find Walter’s band of thieves, including the dark-shaded Sargatanas (John Davis Chandler), in his living room.

For the planning, execution, and fallout from the heist, Eddie wears a two-pocket work shirt in a light blue soft flannel, its color confirmed by on-set photography. The shirt has a front placket, rounded barrel cuffs with a single-button closure, and two chest pockets with a horizontal yoke across the top of each.

Delon had previously worn similar shirts under his “tough guy” leather jacket as a criminal in Any Number Can Win, so this shirt was likely a product of the same manufacturer. In Once a Thief, Eddie’s shirt and black tie serve a purpose so that he can efficiently swap out his sheepskin coat for a police jacket and hat during the heist when he and the sinister Sargatanas double as security guards.

“Would you mind not blasting me while my mother’s in the room?” Inspector Vido requests after a gun-toting Eddie Pedak shows up at his family home.

Eddie wears plain black wool flat front trousers, self-supported around the waist with the “DAKS top” system of button-tab side-adjusters introduced by Simpsons of Piccadilly in the 1930s, best seen here during the climactic finale. They fasten in the front through a hidden double-hook on the square-ended front waist tab. Like his more casual chinos, these trousers have then-fashionable “frogmouth”-style front pockets and jetted back pockets. They fit straight through the legs to high-breaking bottoms that are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

The short trouser break complements Eddie’s footwear, a pair of black leather plain-toe ankle boots with a buckled strap around the top of each two-piece shaft, similar to engineer boots. Not a common style found today, these hybrid ankle/engineer boots are still offered by some retailers like Ferro Aldo (via Amazon), and even those place the buckle lower that on Eddie’s boots. Given the shades of his trousers and boots, Eddie wears black socks.

In case you didn’t read my warning about spoilers above, Eddie finds himself, uh, resting. In the middle of the street. With some ketchup on his shirt after a messy lunch. (Unfortunately, this is the clearest image we get of his trousers and boots.)

Although Eddie has lost his jacket by the end of Once a Thief, Kristine seems to be making up for the loss by continuing to wear her own shearling-inspired coat. Likely made from all wool rather than sheepskin, her burnt orange coat with its contrasting beige lining takes its styling cues from her husband’s trademark outerwear.

A despondent Kristine (Ann-Margret) awaits news regarding her kidnapped daughter and felonious husband.

The Gun

Eddie Pedak’s reluctant recruitment into Walter’s gang has him issued a .38-caliber revolver that he recognizes as his “old gun”, indicating some well-deserved suspicion that his brother’s cronies had used it to frame him for killing Mrs. Wing during the Chinatown grocery heist. The weapon appears to be a blued Smith & Wesson, a pre-Model 10 service revolver in .38 Special with a 6.5-inch barrel.

Prior to Smith & Wesson numbering its revolver series from the 1950s onward, this K-framed duty model was designated the Smith & Wesson Military & Police (M&P) revolver. The M&P was introduced around the start of the 20th century in a variety of law enforcement-used cartridges, though it was Smith & Wesson’s concurrently developed .38 Special that became the most popular load not just for this weapon but for most police revolvers issued throughout the century.

Even after the M&P was standardized as the Smith & Wesson Model 10 in 1957, lengths ranged from a “snub nose” 2 inches up to a substantial 6.5 inches as wielded by Delon as Eddie Pedak, with the 4-inch barrel most popular for service revolvers issued to police and even the military when the U.S. authorized the parkerized “Victory Model” for World War II usage.

Dressed as a security guard, Eddie Pedak’s use of a classic police revolver wouldn’t raise any suspicions… until his fellow guards find themselves staring down its barrel.

After Sargatanas (John Davis Chandler) kidnapped the Pedaks’ daughter Kathy, Eddie tracks him down and fights him. Once Eddie gains the upper hand, he commandeers Sargatanas’ 1911A1 pistol, which is fitted through Once a Thief with a short suppressor. The bore suggests that Sargatanas’ 1911 is a genuine .45-caliber handgun rather than the 9mm copies used in productions around this period.

Sargatanas’ pistol deviates from the classic mil-spec 1911A1 with details like a large ramped front sight and angled cocking serrations on the slide which follow the directional slant of the grips. It’s the latter that particularly perplexes me when trying to identify the maker. Colt, the OG as far as 1911 pistols are concerned, had been producing slanted-groove slides as early as 1957 when the Gold Cup National Match target model was introduced, though these also boasted a skeleton trigger and adjustable notch rear sight while Sargatanas’ 1911 appears to have a standard trigger and subtler fixed rear sight.

Eddie Pedak aims Sargatanas’ own suppressed 1911A1 at him.

A theory introduced but quickly dismissed by IMFDB was that the slanted grooves were consistent with 1911A1 pistols made by Auto-Ordnance, the company that manufactured the “Tommy guns” that made the ’20s roar. While Auto-Ordnance now produces original mil-spec 1911A1 pistols resembling those issued at the start of the 20th century, the company’s first—and arguably less reputable—run of 1911s were differentiated by longer triggers and slanted grooves that followed the direction and slant of the grips. However, according to IMFDB, Auto-Ordnance was not yet manufacturing 1911s in 1965, so the maker of the slanted-groove 1911A1 seen in Once a Thief remains a mystery.

The Car

Eddie Pedak’s 1931 Ford Model A makes him a subject of suspicion after a similar roadster is clearly seen as the getaway car during the deadly grocery store stick-up that opens Once a Thief.

I’d long admired these stylish little cars since Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway rode around Texas in their own “stolen four-cylinder Ford coupé” for part of their lethal crime spree in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). We’re unable to discern the exact color of Eddie’s Model A due to Once a Thief‘s noirish black-and-white photography, but I suspect it may be painted yellow like one of the roadsters driven by Beatty and Dunaway.

Eddie Pedak motors through San Francisco in his open-top Ford Model A, protected against the chill in his sheepskin car coat.

After the transformative Model T was discontinued for the 1927 model year, Ford dusted off the Model A designation that had been previously used on a series of red two-seater runabouts in 1903 and 1904. Plenty had changed in automotive technology in the quarter-century since, and the new generation of Model A cars boasted a water-cooled four-cylinder “L-head” engine that generated 40 horsepower and could reach top speeds around 65 mph. The two-speed planetary transmission that guided the Model T was replaced by a more dynamic three-speed synchronous “crash gearbox” with an added reverse gear.

In another contrast to the original Model A runabouts, the new series was offered in nearly three dozen body styles and trims, including two-door roadsters and cabriolets up to town cars and even pickup trucks and wagons. The apocryphal “any color so long as it’s black” philosophy was discarded in favor of a range of colors.

Introduced nearly 93 years ago to the day on December 2, 1927, the Ford Model A became an instant hit for consumers craving customizable variety at an affordable price. Sales reached one million within a year and a half and two million by the summer of 1929. Nearly five million were manufactured and sold by the time production ended in March 1931, of which more than 450,000 were two-door drop-top roadsters.

These “Standard” and “Deluxe” roadsters were among the most popular of the wide-ranging body styles produced during the Model A’s run, offering high style at a low price tag that remained below $400 throughout the four-year production span. These two-door steel-bodied drop-top coupes with elegant lines also offered a folding rumble seat for additional passenger space.

Kristine and Eddie Pedak arrive back home in their Ford Model A, tagged with California license plates “HYE-765”.

1931 Ford Model A Standard Roadster (Model 40B)

Body Style: 2-door roadster

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

Engine: 200.5 cu. in. (3.3 L) Ford L-head straight-4 with Zenith carburetor

Power: 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS) @ 2200 RPM

Torque: 128 lb·ft (173 N·m) @ 1000 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed sliding-mesh manual

Wheelbase: 103.5 inches (2629 mm)

Length: 152.7 inches (3879 mm)

Width: 55.8 inches (1417 mm)

Height: 68 inches (1727 mm)

You can read more about the history of the Ford Model A roadster at Hemmings or find the source for the above specifications at It Still Runs.

Inspector Vido spots a similar Ford Model A in the SFPD’s impounded property lockup.

How to Get the Look

Alain Delon as Eddie Pedak in Once a Thief (1965)

In Once a Thief, Alain Delon models the versatility of a sheepskin car coat, wearing it casually with a T-shirt or more dressed up over a collared shirt and tie, while always maintaining the image of rugged respectability associated with this light but warm-wearing outerwear.

• Light brown sheepskin shearling four-button coat with beige pile lining, horizontal yokes, set-in sleeves with reverse-showing cuffs, and slanted-opening patch pockets
• Light blue flannel work shirt with point collar, front placket, two chest pockets, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Black tie
• Black wool flat front trousers with button-tab “DAKS top” side adjusters, frogmouth front pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather ankle boots with top buckle-strap
• Black socks
• Wedding ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. I also recommend following my friend @alaindelonarchive on Instagram for more photos, stories, and footage featuring this iconic French actor.

The Quote

I’m a thief, so I’m going out!

The post Once a Thief: Alain Delon’s Sheepskin Coat and Ford Model A appeared first on BAMF Style.

Andy Garcia as Vincent Mancini in The Godfather, Part III (1990)

Vitals

Andy Garcia as Vincent Mancini, hotheaded mob enforcer

New York City, Spring 1979

Film: The Godfather Part III
Release Date: December 25, 1990
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Caddyshack II.
Speed 2: Cruise Control.
Jaws 4: The Revenge.
The Godfather, Part III.

Francis Ford Coppola’s conclusion to the saga of the Corleone family may not be as bad as its fellow reviled franchise continuations, but it was certainly among the more disappointing given the quality and prestige of The Godfather‘s first two installments. Coppola sought to rectify its reputation with Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, a recut and restructured version released this month to coincide with the 30th anniversary of The Godfather, Part III‘s original theatrical release. The limited theatrical run of Coda began on Friday, December 4, and will be scheduled to release to streaming services and home video on Tuesday, December 8.

“In musical term, a coda is sort of like an epilogue, a summing up, and that’s what we intended the movie to be,” explained Coppola. “You’ll see a film which has a different beginning and ending, many scenes throughout have been repositioned, and the picture has been given, I think, a new life.” Coppola and others from the original production—including an effusive Diane Keaton, an introspective Andy Garcia, and an albeit more cautious Al Pacino—have shared that Coda vindicates Coppola and Puzo’s original vision for the third film, restructuring the narrative, shifting the focus, and even lending credibility to Sofia Coppola’s much-criticized performance as Mary, Michael Corleone’s daughter.

Despite its notorious reputation, the original cut of The Godfather, Part III does have its champions, including Siskel and Ebert, Leonard Maltin, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who went so far as to nominate it for seven Oscars including Best Picture. (Given that this was the same year that Dances with Wolves won over Goodfellas, it could be argued that there was something fishy in the Academy’s water that year.)

“It can’t be as rough as everyone says it is, right?” I had tried to assure myself before the first time I watched The Godfather, Part III. After all, I’d heard arguments that it was a misunderstood masterpiece or that it would would fare better as a standalone film once out from the shadow of its acclaimed forebears. I tried to be be open-minded but, even upon subsequent rewatches, The Godfather, Part III never feels like anything greater than prestigious fanfic and certainly not a deserving conclusion to one of the most masterfully presented sagas in American cinema.

One of my favorite parts of The Godfather, Part III is Andy Garcia’s Oscar-nominated performance as Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son who had been retconned into existence after reviewing Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel proves that Lucy Mancini could not have conceived Sonny’s child in the original canon. Still, Garcia delivers on creating a complex character that fulfills Coppola’s stated vision of presenting the signature traits of all five Corleone men: Sonny’s temper, Michael’s ruthlessness, Vito’s cunning, Fredo’s sensitivity, and Tom Hagen’s courageous loyalty.

Granted, I take some issues with believing that a shrewd, cautious leader like Michael would so swiftly bring his hotheaded nephew under his wing—especially just moments after Vincent pulls a Mike Tyson on one of Michael’s most dangerous potential enemies right in his office!—but The Godfather, Part III wouldn’t be what it is without plot absurdities that require the viewer to suspend their disbelief… not only that such a plot would be feasible but also that it came from the minds who delivered the first two films in the canon.

As with its predecessors, The Godfather, Part III begins with a Corleone family celebration, this time in honor of a sexagenarian Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) being named a Commander of the Order of Saint Sebastian for his charitable contributions to the Catholic Church. Vincent crashes the party but is received in open arms by his family, particularly his first cousin Mary. Connie (Talia Shire), Vincent’s strongest advocate and now arguably in much more of a leadership role than we saw in the previous two parts, brokers an opportunity for Vincent to meet with Michael to settle a conflict with Joey Zasa (Joe Mantegna), the smug but dapper don who reigns over the Corleone family’s criminal enterprises.

The meeting proves fortuitous for Vincent, as Mr. Joe Zasa comes away without part of his ear while Vincent’s gains are three-fold: a job opportunity with his powerful uncle, a warm welcome into the family (which Mary hopes to make even warmer), and a willing one night stand in the form of ambitious reporter Grace Hamilton (Bridget Fonda)… who would come to regret her decision when her flirtation with danger results in a knife held to her throat by one of Zasa’s thugs that broke into Vincent’s apartment to murder him.

The happy family… and their pensive archbishop pal.

“Overall, this version feels even more elegiac—a true coda instead of just another part of the same story,” writes Brian Tallerico in his thoughtful review for RogerEbert.com. “The truth is that the first two ‘Godfather’ movies tell a complete story. There’s no need for a third, and that’s why Coppola avoided making it for years, only succumbing to pressure from Paramount after a few notable financial failures in the ’80s… but if you’re someone who defended it or found yourself wondering if it was better than you remembered … well, it’s definitely better now.”

Similar to my first Part III viewing experiences, I’ll watch Coda with an open mind and hope that it lives up to the praise and its—as of this writing—100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, thus providing Michael Corleone with the ending he deserves… and Vincent Mancini with the beginning he deserves.

What’d He Wear?

“I wish you woulda warned me, Con, I woulda worn a better suit,” Vincent Mancini grumbles to his aunt after she promises him an audience with Michael. Indeed, Vincent’s leather-clad look doesn’t go unnoticed when he joins Michael and Joey Zasa, each tailored in their own double-breasted duds, in Michael’s office.

Vincent’s much-discussed jacket is a black leather sports coat with a single-breasted, two-button front. The lapels appear to have been designed with a peak lapel sensibility but with a deep, narrow notch in the “fish mouth” shape similar to the cran necker lapel. The jacket has wide shoulders, a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and four-button cuffs that appear to be finished with narrow “turnback” cuffs.

Vincent doesn’t allow Michael’s passive-aggressive commentary on his wardrobe deter him from standing up for himself during a meeting with Joey Zasa.

“Nice jacket,” comments Mary as Vincent sidles up next to her in the Corleone family picture. Grace evidently agrees, slipping it on later that night when she gets out of his bed to fetch him a glass of water… and bait the two henchmen waiting to kill her latest bedmate.

Who needs a robe when you can just put on a leather jacket? Note the photo of James Caan as Sonny on one of Vincent’s sparse shelves, having been taken during Connie’s wedding in The Godfather.

I concede that Vincent Mancini’s approach to dressing may be consistent with the late ’70s, but there’s something that feels off… as though his clothes weren’t actually made in the ’70s. This isn’t an issue I limit to Vincent’s wardrobe or even to the costumes as a whole, as The Godfather, Part III never seems to inhabit the world of 1979 as its two predecessors had in their respective eras.

Costume designer Milena Canonero, a four-time Academy Award winner and nine-time nominee, seems to favor dressing those in the Corleone orbit in more timeless fashions than the broad collars, lapels, ties, and more that were characteristic of disco-era extremes. Of course, there were some fashion-forward dressers in 1979 who were already embracing the slimmer-featured menswear that would come to define the following decade; one need look no further than Richard Gere, Armani-clad in American Gigolo, to know that. Still, the dearth of any of those key aspects of late ’70s menswear raises a suspicious eye.

You’d like Vincent Mancini, a young hothead at his least refined at the beginning of the story, would be dressed a little more in keeping with the times and trends; a wider shirt collar and tie blade here or more of a flared detail there. Instead, his clothes differ little from the styles and fabrics popular at the time of the film’s production a decade after it was set.

With his leather jacket, Vincent wears a silky burgundy shirt with a point collar, button cuffs, and a unique slim-welted pocket set-in against the left breast. His tie is printed with a bronze-and-gold paisley pattern, covered by black abstract streaks and set against a scarlet red ground.

Vincent flirts with Mary.

Vincent wears black flat front trousers held up by a black leather belt with a silver-toned rectangular single-prong buckle. The bottoms appear to be plain-hemmed, breaking over his black shoes. If I’m not mistaken, his black calf leather shoes are cap-toe oxfords.

Vincent had also entered the party carrying a light brown wool peak-lapel overcoat over his arm, though we never see him with it again after this scene.

Vincent wears a gold wristwatch with a round off-white dial strapped to this left wrist on a dark brown textured leather strap.

Not on the guest list? Vincent won’t take no for an answer.
Note the narrow cuffs turned back on the end of his jacket sleeves.

Throughout The Godfather, Part III, Vincent wears the same array of gold jewelry, including a chain-link ID bracelet with “VINCENT” etched into the nameplate tag on his right wrist, a ring with a flat ovular surface on the third finger of his right hand, and a thin gold necklace with a gold cross that hangs low, buried in Andy Garcia’s chest hair as seen when he wraps on his scarlet silk robe to confront the killers in his apartment.

Vincent’s red silk robe may look debonair, but he’ll resent a few weeks from now when he didn’t notice the dried blood from the intruder whose head he had to blow off.

The knee-length silk dressing gown has a subtle self-polka dot pattern and ties with a sash around his waist.

The Gun

Vincent uses a Beretta Cheetah semi-automatic pistol to great effect against the two killers, presumably having taken it from the thug credited as Mask #2 (Michael Bowen) and eventually used to dispatch both.

Beretta introduced this Series 81 line of compact pistols to the market in 1976, thus it’s not an anachronism to be featured in this scene set in 1979. Cosmetically similar (but not identical) to the larger Beretta 92 series that had been introduced the same year, the alloy-framed Cheetah pistols are blowback-operated and chambered for smaller pistol calibers including .32 ACP, .380 ACP, and .22 LR. The moniker is consistent with Beretta marketing its pistols with feline names like the Bobcat, Cougar, Jaguar, and Tomcat in addition to their numeric designations.

Vincent holds “Mask #2″‘s own Beretta Cheetah on him while negotiating with “Mask #1”.

The rounded trigger guard on Vincent’s pistol suggests that it’s an earlier model (prior to the squared “combat” trigger guards introduced for the F and FS versions), though it lacks the wooden grips found on base models so it’s more likely a B or BB version evolution.

Based on the bore size, I also believe Vincent wields one of the .380 ACP model Cheetahs, which rules out the .32-caliber Models 81 and 82 and the .22-caliber Model 87. Of the remaining .380 ACP pistols, I don’t believe it’s a Model 86 as it lacks the tip-up barrel that loads a round directly into the chamber, nor does it have the longer 4″ barrel of the Model 83. Given how Garcia’s hand closes over the grip, I believe it’s not the Model 84 with its double-stacked 13-round capacity; thus, process of elimination suggests that Vincent uses a Beretta Model 85BB “Cheetah” with a 3.81″ barrel and single-stack magazine carrying eight rounds of .380 ACP.

In this close-up that requires Vincent to actually kill Mask #2, his Cheetah is swapped out for what appears to be a Walther PP pistol, though it’s likely that this was just a non-firing “non-gun” used for the actor’s safety rather than a functioning blank-firing pistol. Like the Cheetah series, the Walther PP is typically chambered in .32 ACP and .380 ACP with limited models also available in .22 LR.

Vincent would later use another similarly-framed Beretta, a .32-caliber Model 70, during the film’s final sequence set at the Sicilian opera. (The Beretta Cheetah had also appeared in the 1983 Scarface remake, in which Al Pacino carried a .32-caliber Model 81 as a more practical supplement to his “little friend”.)

What to Imbibe

Above his headboard, Vincent keeps a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a glass suggesting that he poured some out before his tryst with Grace. This Tennessee whiskey would be on-brand for Vincent as a noted favorite of famous icons reputed for brashness and badassery from Frank Sinatra to Keith Richards. (Vincent probably considers himself an amalgamation of both!)

A more pleasant moment, just minutes earlier. After the double-killing, both Vincent and Grace would have plenty of use for that Jack Daniel’s on his headboard.

How to Get the Look

Andy Garcia as Vincent Mancini in The Godfather, Part III (1990)

Not yet the sophisticated dresser he would become under his uncle Michael’s tutelage, Vincent Mancini crashes a Corleone family celebration in a black leather jacket over a blood red shirt. Points for formality as he at least wears a tie (and in his uncle’s new favorite print), and his minor sartorial controversy isn’t offensive enough to keep him out of the family photograph taken to commemorate the event.

Decades later, Vincent’s leather sports coat and tie would be considerably dressier than many men wear to parties, and this time of year makes his festive holiday red shirt particularly welcome.

• Black leather single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with cran necker lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button narrow-“turnback” cuffs, and ventless back
• Burgundy silky shirt with point collar, set-in breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Bronze-on-red paisley silk tie
• Black wool flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Gold necklace with cross
• Gold wristwatch with off-white round dial on dark brown textured leather strap
• Gold chain-link ID bracelet
• Gold ring with flat ovular surface

Vincent’s bracelet and ring can be most clearly seen as he cooks with Mary while in hiding.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

The Quote

Do I look like a guy who’s gonna lose?

The post The Godfather, Part III: Vincent Mancini’s Leather Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965)

Vitals

Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp, widowed ex-Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy officer

Salzburg, Austria, Spring 1938

Film: The Sound of Music
Release Date: March 2, 1965
Director: Robert Wise
Costume Designer: Dorothy Jeakins

Background

Happy birthday, Christopher Plummer! Born 91 years ago in Toronto, the distinguished actor continues to be a familiar face on screen, most recently as the doomed mystery writer at the center of Knives Out (2019). Plummer’s most recognizable performance remains arguably that of Georg von Trapp, the Austro-Hungarian patriarch whose family of young singers was depicted in The Sound of Music.

Considered one of the best movie musicals of all time, The Sound of Music was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning five including Best Picture and Best Director, and remains one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. While Plummer would hardly consider himself a fan of The Sound of Music even more than five decades later, he and Julie Andrews forged a lifelong friendship after working on the film, and he has at least come to appreciate the somewhat saccharine musical he occasionally denigrated as “The Sound of Mucus”.

The movie and stage musical were adapted from Maria von Trapp’s own memoir of her life with the von Trapp family, though significant liberties were taken in condensing the timeline and characters, simplifying all into a musical romance set amidst the tension leading up to the Anschluss in the spring of 1938. In fact, Maria had met the von Trapps more than a decade earlier when she arrived to tutor one of Georg’s daughters, also named Maria. The widowed 47-year-old Georg and the 22-year-old Maria married in November 27 and would have three more children together (including the youngest born after their escape to the United States), bringing the total number to ten. The von Trapp children already had a degree of musical talent before Maria’s arrival, cultivated further by Catholic priest Franz Wasner—represented on screen to some degree as the musical director Max Detweiler (Richard Haydn)—as they began performing in paid concerts.

What’d He Wear?

The prolific Dorothy Jeakins received one of her 14 Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design in recognition of her work on The Sound of Music, in which she also appeared uncredited as Sister Augusta, one of the nuns at Nonnberg Abbey.

Jeakins fittingly dressed the proud Austrian von Trapp in equestrian-inspired garb that incorporates regional pageantry with its gray suiting and rich green detailing. He’s no stranger to traditional Bavarian dress, including the dark gray-and-green janker he wears for his on-screen introduction and the forest green Tracht jacket for the climactic performance and trek across the mountains, but not all of his clothing is strictly rooted in Tracht. Captain von Trapp frequently “dresses down” in sporty gray suits detailed with equestrian-style flap pockets, a dignified and appropriate style for a courtly ex-military officer spending his days at his elegant country villa.

As I expressed in my earlier post about Telly Savalas’ janker in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, I’m no expert in Bavarian dress. While I hope that I’ve adequately represented the fruits of my research in this post, I would look forward to those with stronger knowledge than mine to share their insights, elaborations, or corrections in the comments.

The Velvet-Trimmed Equestrian-Cut Suit

Trees, lakes, mountains… you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!

Not long after he hires Maria and leaves his seven children in her care, Georg von Trapp returns to his picturesque estate with his high-society pals Baroness Elsa von Schrader (Eleanor Parker) and Max Detweiler, the latter self-admittedly inviting himself along as he “needed a place to stay where the cuisine is superb, the wine cellar unexcelled, and the price—uh—perfect.” He escorts the baroness around his grounds, each taking their turns pitching woo just before Maria and the children pitch themselves into the lake as they paddle over to greet him.

The dapper captain escorts the elegant baroness around his estate.

Though information abounds about the women’s costumes in The Sound of Music, I’ve seen little about Captain von Trapp’s fine attire. While undoubtedly an execution of costume designer Dorothy Jeakins’ vision, I’m thus unsure of who made this fine suits, and the only tailor I’ve read to be associated with Christopher Plummer was Maxwell Vine of Mayfair (as mentioned by Matt Spaiser for Bond Suits.)

Whoever made this suit for von Trapp neatly drew inspiration from the character’s heritage and lifestyle, blending traditional Tracht and equestrian detailing to create an attractive country suit. The sporty cut of von Trapp’s single-breasted jacket, shaped with front darts, is suppressed at Plummer’s waist for an athletic silhouette. Additional equestrian elements include the single vent, the flapped set-in breast pocket, and flapped hacking pockets on the hips, slanted toward the back to allow a rider easier access while on horseback.

The notch lapels have a dark green velvet-finished collar and roll to three neat gilt shank buttons, ornamentations borrowed from Tracht. The suiting itself appears to be a light gray loden, the coarse and durable Tyrolean water-resistant melton wool originally sourced from Austrian mountain sheep and characteristic to classic Bavarian clothing.

The sleeves are finished with wide gauntlet cuffs made from the same forest green velvet as the collar, each cuff detailed with two decorative gilt buttons.

von Trapp’s white cotton shirt has an icy finish, an almost indiscernible pale blue cast. It has a semi-spread collar, front placket, and unique cuffs that appear to be “double-ply” like the classic French cuff but fused to the sleeves like single cuffs. Obviously, these cuffs are worn fastened with links, in this case a set of small, black-surfaced circular cuff links.

His straight tie echoes the colors of his suit, consisting of stone-gray cross-hatching against a dark green ground, albeit in a more muted shade than the velvet detailing on his jacket.

Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews filming The Sound of Music. von Trapp never removes his jacket on screen.

When driving with Max and the Baroness up to his estate, von Trapp wears a hat that follows the Alpine-infused sensibilities as the rest of his outfit. von Trapp’s dark brown felt hat is arguably a Tyrolean hat like his friend Max wears, characterized by the rope-corded band and the short brim, though the brim isn’t quite as closely cropped as the quintessential Tyrolean hat and appears to lack the flourish of brushed feathers.

Given the range of geography included in Alpine, Bavarian, and Tyrolean styles, there doesn’t appear to be one true Tyrolean hat with crown heights, brim widths, and other factors differing based on the wearer’s region.

von Trapp, Max, and the baroness don traveling hats as they ride to the von Trapp villa in the captain’s sleek Mercedes-Benz cabriolet.

von Trapp keeps his jacket buttoned so we see little of the trousers aside from the straight-cut legs made from the same lighter gray loden cloth, finished with slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms that break over his dark brown leather cap-toe derby-laced ankle boots, worn with plain black socks.. Assuming these are styled in the manner of his other trousers, we can assume that they have a flat front.

“What’s gonna happen is going to happen, just make sure it doesn’t happen to you,” Max advises von Trapp regarding the coming annexation by Nazi Germany, met with a firm rebuke from the captain. The rebukes are only just beginning once Maria and the singing children submerge themselves while paddling over to greet Georg, culminating in a showdown where Maria implores that the father be more demonstrative with his love for his children. von Trapp is just about to fire the outspoken governess when he’s moved by the sound of his children’s singing voices; one would thus be correct in saying it’s the sound of, well, music that shifts the captain’s emotions and turns the tide in how he shows attention to his children as well as his growing affection for Maria.

The Gray Mini-Check Suit

We’ve got to get out of Austria and this house… tonight.

When Georg and Maria return home from their honeymoon to a post-Anschluss Salzburg, von Trapp’s first move is to pull down the Nazi flag (“the flag with the black spider,” according to his daughter Gretl) that has been hung from his villa, ripping it apart. The flag wasn’t his only wedding gift from the Third Reich, as he’s also given the request—nay, demand—that he accept a commission in the Kriegsmarine and report for duty the following day. “To refuse them would be fatal for all of us,” von Trapp realizes, “and joining them would be unthinkable.” In response, Georg and Maria plot to spirit their entire family out of German-occupied territory immediately following the children’s inaugural performance at the Salzburg Festival that evening.

von Trapp’s mini-checked sport suit is a significant departure from any traditional Bavarian styles as it looks like it could have been cut by any Western tailor with expertise in country clothing. The lighter-weight wool suiting is patterned with a tic-check that creates the effect of a black vertically oriented grid against a light gray ground.

Like the gray loden suit, the single-breasted suit jacket has flapped pockets, notch lapels, and a three sporty shank buttons on the front, albeit the buttons appear to be gray woven leather rather than metal. In addition to the flapped breast pocket, the hip pockets are flapped and slant backwards, though they follow a gentler slant than the more dramatically angled hacking pockets on his loden suit. Other differing details from the loden suit are short side vents rather than an equestrian single vent, and the cuffs have no ornamentation aside from the two decorative buttons matching those on the front. The flat front trousers were tailored to be worn without a belt.

von Trapp demonstrates his resistance to Nazi rule.

von Trapp wears another plain white cotton shirt that appears to have an icy cast in certain light, made all the more evident by the blue shade of his dark navy knitted tie.

The incorrigible Max unconsciously provides the von Trapps with their exit strategy after enlisting the children to sing at the annual Salzburg Festival.

von Trapp wears a pair of rings throughout The Sound of Music, with a gold band on the third finger of his right hand and a larger pinky ring on his left that has a large, black enamel-filled center.

Now married, Georg and Maria plan the next move to ensure their own safety and that of the seven children.

As depicted in The Sound of Music, the erstwhile naval officer had been sent an “offer” to join the German Navy, but his opposition to Nazi ideology resulted in his turning down the decision and—anticipating arrest or worse reprisals—fled Austria with his family, heading for the United States by way of a train to Italy, rather than over the mountains, as the family held Italian citizenship by nature of von Trapp’s birth in the Austro-Hungarian (now Croatian) city of Zadar, which had become part of the Kingdom of Italy following the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo.

Their musical tour actually brought them back to Salzburg within the year, but the von Trapps were safely back in America by the time war broke out across Europe in September 1939.

Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965)

How to Get the Look

The proud Austrian von Trapp incorporates elements of traditional Bavarian dress with equestrian country attire for the sporty gray flap-pocket suits he wears around his country estate.

• Light gray loden wool Bavarian-inspired suit:
  • Single-breasted equestrian-cut jacket with notch lapels (with forest green velvet collar), three gilt shank buttons, flapped set-in breast pocket, slanted flapped hacking pockets, forest green velvet-finished turnback cuffs (with two ornamental gilt buttons), and single vent
  • Flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Ice-white cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and single cuffs
  • Black-faced round cuff links
• Dark green and stone-gray cross-hatched straight tie
• Dark brown felt short-brimmed Tyrolean hat with dark brown rope-corded band
• Dark brown leather ankle boots
• Black socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. I’m not typically a fan of musicals, but there’s no arguing with The Sound of Music‘s solid anti-Nazi stance.

Take that, Third Reich!

The Quote

To refuse them would be fatal for all of us… and joining them would be unthinkable.

The post The Sound of Music: Christopher Plummer’s Flap-Pocket Country Suits appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 1.05: “5G”).

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, mysterious and award-winning Madison Avenue ad man

Series: Mad Men
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

Background

Only three days left in 2020! The tradition of gents wearing black tie on New Year’s Eve, popularized in movies like the 1960 Rat Pack classic Ocean’s Eleven, seems to have fallen out of favor among the general population as standards of formality have decreased. However, given how excited many will be to see 2020 come to an end may herald a resurgence in dinner jackets and tuxedoes as many celebrate the new year in private.

On #MadMenMonday, we can take a few style tips from the enigmatic Don Draper on assembling a classic black tie ensemble from his half-dozen screen-worn dinner jackets.

Don’s most creative black tie ensemble, a blue silk plaid dinner jacket evidently worn to celebrate the New Year in 1956, is sadly never seen beyond this slide from his Kodak Carousel pitch in the first season finale.

What’d He Wear?

Jon Hamm and January Jones on Mad Men (Episode 1.05: “5G”)

“5G”

Episode: “5G” (Episode 1.05)
Air Date: August 16, 2007
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter

Set in Ossining, New York, Spring 1960

“5G” begins with Don and Betty Draper returning home tipsy from the NYOC Awards, he in black tie and she in an elegant white gown, establishing what would become an enduring Mad Men pattern of Don in black tie portending potential disaster for his personal life. In this case, the initial disaster seems to be no worse than a hangover… until the well-publicized awards dinner brings his half-brother Adam back into his life. Adam’s return could mean Don’s exposure as Army deserter Dick Whitman… but the titular $5,000 payoff instead leads to a slow burn and a tragic end for the vulnerable Adam.

Long before that, Don dresses to celebrate his role as a rising star in the advertising world. His black tie kit follows the trends of 1960, with some elements still rooted in the ’50s, particularly echoing the slimmer continental styles that emerged in mid-decade rather than the fuller-cut fashions of the immediate post-war era.

Don would exclusively wears shawl-collar dinner jackets throughout the ’60s, though the “5G” jacket in 1960 was the only one to feature silk piping rather than full facings. The wide pleats on Don’s shirt bib would be supplanted going forward by narrower pleats.

• Black single-button dinner jacket with piped-edge shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White cotton formal shirt with spread collar and wide-pleated bib (with black studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black narrow “batwing”-style bow tie
• Black pleated silk cummerbund
• Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with wide satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather oxfords
• White folded cotton pocket square

The drunk Drapers. We almost never see them this happy together.

Read the full BAMF Style post.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 2.07: “The Gold Violin”)

Summer White in “The Gold Violin”

Episode: “The Gold Violin” (Episode 2.07)
Air Date: September 7, 2008
Director: Andrew Bernstein

Set in New York City, Summer 1962

Don’s only on-screen variance from his established black tie pattern occurs in the climax of this pivotal second season episode when he and Betty join the Barretts for a summer evening at the famed Stork Club. Having pulled up in his brand-new Cadillac with his beautiful wife on his arm, Don looks every bit the fabled “Mr. Success” in Sinatra’s song of the same name, though his fortune will be short-lived as the obnoxious comedian Jimmy Barrett (Patrick Fischler) all too eagerly divulges to Betty his suspicions regarding Don and his domineering wife Bobbie (Melinda McGraw).

Appropriate for the summer evening, Don arrives in a dashing off-white dinner jacket. From his dinner jacket’s shawl collar to his pleated shirt and straight bow tie, every detail of Don’s outfit is slim and sleek, a trademark of the Camelot years in the early ’60s. Jimmy Barrett dresses similarly and doesn’t look half bad, though I hate giving any credit to the crass comic.

Interestingly, his personal slideshow in “The Carousel” had depicted Don wearing a similar dinner jacket for his marriage to Betty circa 1954. Given the events of “The Gold Violin”, he bookends both the beginning and the end of their marriage wearing the same thing… yes, the two would remain married for another year and a half, but the love was effectively gone after Betty learned about one dalliance too many.

• Ivory single-button dinner jacket with narrow self-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Off-white cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black narrow straight bow tie
• Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather oxfords
• Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique wristwatch with a yellow gold rectangular case on a brown alligator leather strap

The Drapers arrive at the Stork Club.

007 inspo? The inaugural James Bond movie, Dr. No, was still months away from its U.K. premiere, so the fictional secret agent would have had no real impact on Draper’s style. That said, it could be argued that this was Mad Men‘s homage to Sean Connery’s memorable off-white peak-lapeled jacket that he wears as Bond in Goldfinger‘s pre-credits sequence two years later.

Read the full BAMF Style post.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 3.10: “The Color Blue”)

“The Color Blue”

Episode: “The Color Blue” (Episode 3.10)
Air Date: October 18, 2009
Director: Michael Uppendahl

Set in New York City, Fall 1963

More than a year after the fateful night at the Stork Club, the Draper marriage is on life support. Betty has discovered Don’s box of secrets detailing his past life as Dick Whitman and has begun constructing a path to her own future life with Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley). Don is oblivious to it all as he embarks on yet another romantic affair, this time a little too close to home in the form of his daughter’s teacher, Suzanne Farrell (Abigail Spencer).

The ad man beams with pride as he’s honored with yet another award, presented to him by his now-estranged friend and colleague Roger Sterling (John Slattery), though there won’t be a night of drunken canoodling with a giggling Betty to follow.

Don has updated his tuxedo for the ’60s, now wearing a black dinner suit with a subdued diamond self-textured print that only shines under the light of the Draper boudoir as he’s dressing for the event, layering the dinner jacket over his usual underpinnings of narrowly pleated shirt, cummerbund, and suspenders.

• Black diamond-textured single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black narrow “batwing”-style bow tie
• Black pleated silk cummerbund
• Black suspenders
• Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with wide satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White folded cotton pocket square
• Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique wristwatch with a yellow gold rectangular case on a brown alligator leather strap

Don gets an eyeful of Betty before the awards dinner. Note the unique pattern in his suiting.

007 inspo? Draper’s black tie kit generally follows the template that Sean Connery would wear throughout his first four films as James Bond in the early ’60s.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 5.07: “At the Codfish Ball”)

“At the Codfish Ball”

Episode: “At the Codfish Ball” (Episode 5.07)
Air Date: April 29, 2012
Director: Michael Uppendahl

Set in New York City, Fall 1966

Don Draper’s year of loneliness saw little cause for celebration, so his black tie wouldn’t emerge back on screen until the fifth season. Now, relatively happy in his marriage to Megan (Jessica Paré), Don escorts his in-laws and his daughter Sally to an American Cancer Society dinner in his honor. What could go wrong here, you ask? Well, Don wears a tuxedo, so we know something won’t go well!

For starters, Don receives the ironic news that his publicly published anti-smoking letter—the very missive that resulted in this evening of awards—has turned companies like Corning Inc. against him, limiting the ceiling for his success. Poor ten-year-old Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) also encounters “dirty” disappointment after discovering her grandmother-in-law Marie (Julia Ormond) praising at the altar of Roger Sterling.

Echoing the evolving style of the era as he too grows older, Don’s black tie ensemble takes on more timeless proportions with more body to the jacket’s shawl collar and the thistle-shaped bow tie. This particular tuxedo was auctioned by ScreenBid following the end of the series’ run, where it was described as an Arnold Constabile dinner suit with a size 42R jacket.

• Black single-button dinner jacket with satin-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black silk thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
• Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather oxfords
• White folded cotton pocket square
• Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator

Don Draper, American Cancer Society honoree and lifetime smoker.

007 inspo? Don continues the example he wore for “The Color Blue”, which also aligns with how Sean Connery was dressing in black tie through the Bond films of the 1960s.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 6.05: “The Flood”)

“The Flood”

Episode: “The Flood” (Episode 6.05)
Air Date: April 28, 2013
Director: Christopher Manley

Set in New York City, Spring 1968

Two years after his ACS awards dinner, Don has changed little of his approach to black tie as he’s settled into a pattern rooted in timeless styling appropriate for a man at his age and status. The continuance of the ’60s has hardly affected his dress with only a little more girth to his bow tie signaling the wider fashions that would follow in the next decade.

The major difference noted in “The Flood” is seeing an overcoat over Don’s tuxedo for the first time on Mad Men, an appropriate addition given the chilly weather of New York in April. April 4, 1968, that is… the date of Martin Luther King’s assassination. News of the murder understandably brings the Advertising Club of New York’s annual awards banquet to a halt as the attendees are shaken by the tragedy.

• Black single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton formal shirt with point collar and narrow-pleated front (with black studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black silk thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
• Black pleated silk cummerbund
• Black suspenders
• Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather oxfords
• Black wool single-breasted overcoat with notch lapels
• White folded cotton pocket square
• Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator

Draper’s dinner suit, deconstructed. While Megan unwisely phones her father for consolation after Dr. King’s assassination, Don finds more consistent comfort in a roly-poly of Canadian Club.

007 inspo? Bond kept his dinner suit in the closet in You Only Live Twice so, even if the theme song made its way into Mad Men, it would not be influencing any of Don Draper’s evening attire.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.08: “Severance”)

“Severance”

Episode: “Severance” (Episode 7.08)
Air Date: April 5, 2015
Director: Scott Hornbacher

Set in New York City, Spring 1970

Now in complete control of his identity more than we’ve ever seen him, a once-reticent Don now eagerly regales Roger and a trio of young ingenues with the story of his poor upbringing in rural Pennsylvania during the Depression. We don’t know where they’re coming from, but the long night has landed the group in a roach-infested, hole-in-the-wall diner where Don gets intrigued by their mysterious waitress Diana (Elizabeth Reaser).

Don the bachelor has notably adopted a new dinner jacket for the new decade, partying during the spring of 1970 in a single-breasted dinner jacket cut with peak lapels. Though this traditional style dates back to the earliest days of the black tie dress code at the start of the 20th century, Don’s lapels appropriately skew a little wider—matching the wider wings of his butterfly-shaped bow tie—in accordance with the early ’70s trends.

As with their daily dress, Don doesn’t get as caught up in the fads of fashion as his colleague Roger Sterling, now sporting a white walrus mustache in addition to his crushed velvet dinner jacket and frilly shirt. A ScreenBid auction following the series finale has confirmed Don’s dinner jacket as a genuine vintage piece made by Gingiss Formalwear.

• Black single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced peak lapels with welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and single vent
• White cotton formal shirt with point collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
• Black silk large thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
• Black pleated silk cummerbund
• Black suspenders
• Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather oxfords
• Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator

Don shares the story of an unwisely gifted toaster in the Whitman family.

007 inspo? After a decade in shawl-collar dinner jackets, Don finally opts for peak lapels as he looks ahead to the 1970s. This follows the example set by ’60s style icon James Bond, as it wasn’t until George Lazenby’s turn the previous year in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that 007 would wear a dark dinner jacket with peak lapels.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series, and have a happy New Year!

Roger Sterling and Don Draper wish you a very happy New Year.
(Photo taken during production of season 6’s “The Flood” by Frank Ockenfels/AMC)

I also recommend checking out Bryant Draper, the new menswear line from Inherent Clothier in collaboration with Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant. The classic-inspired collection includes timeless pieces to build a traditional black tie ensemble like the Gable Tuxedo and the Fairbanks Tuxedo Shirt, named in tribute to famously fashionable Hollywood icons.

The post Mad Men: Don Draper’s Decade of Black Tie appeared first on BAMF Style.

Frank Sinatra in Marriage on the Rocks (1965)

Vitals

Frank Sinatra as Dan Edwards, workaholic advertising executive

Los Angeles, Fall 1965

Film: Marriage on the Rocks
Release Date: September 24, 1965
Director: Jack Donohue
Costume Designer: Walter Plunkett

Background

Kick back on this chilly #SinatraSaturday with the mid-century comedy that reunited Rat Pack pallies Frank and Dean, the duo’s final on-screen collaboration until Cannonball Run II, twenty years later.

Marriage on the Rocks stars FS as Dan Edwards, a buttoned-up businessman who—thanks to madcap circumstances—ends up swapping lifestyles with his swingin’ pal Ernie… played by who else but Dean Martin?

What’d He Wear?

Befitting his dedication to long hours at the office, Dan Edwards is introduced in a rotation of conservative business suits—I counted five gray suits alone—before his lifestyle shift draws out a more casual at-home wardrobe for his laidback evenings at Casa de Ernie. On this particularly cozy night, he’s brushing off the advances of his daughter’s pal Lisa (Davey Davison) when his brash former mother-in-law Jeannie (Hermione Baddeley) barges in—with bagpipes and kilt—to announce that she’s moving in!

Of all the mid-century crooners, the cardigan crown has been shifted between Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Andy Williams, while Frank Sinatra has understandably been more associated with loosened ties, tilted hats, and sleek suits from Sy Devore. Just like his crooning comrades, however, Ol’ Blue Eyes had long illustrated his reliance on the classic cardigan, seen in publicity shots, album covers, and his movies like Ocean’s Eleven and indeed twice in Marriage on the Rocks. Dan Edwards’ first on-screen cardigan was orange, famously The Voice’s favorite color, and we catch up with the happy bachelor Dan a few scenes later, now comfortably wrapped in a double-breasted olive green cardigan.

Dan “welcomes” his new roommate… and her bagpipes.

The earlier cardigan was a simpler, more traditional style, while Dan’s olive cardigan approaches the unique territory of cardigan/blazer hybrids that found particular favor among Italian-influenced hepcats through thee decades to follow; even the estimable Roger Moore wore a navy cardigan-blazer on The Persuaders! as documented by Matt Spaiser for his comprehensive blog Bond Suits.

Dan’s olive cardigan wouldn’t quite qualify as a cardigan-blazer—the wide-ribbed olive cloth and conventional black plastic sew-through buttons assure that—but it incorporates the elements of a tailored jacket with its notch lapels and the double-breasted wrap, which appears to be a full six-by-three button configuration which could be worn with all three rows of buttons fastened; FS opts to leave the top button undone. The cardigan is further detailed with set-in hip pockets and raglan sleeves with an open gauntlet (but no buttons) at each cuff.

Beneath the cardigan, Dan wears a pale yellow cotton shirt with a button-down collar that serves the purposes of form and function by coordinating with the cardigan’s casual nature while keeping the collar under control.

Dan wears dark gray wool trousers that look like they may have been orphaned from one of his business suits. They appear to have a flat front, though the long rise conceals the waistband under his cardigan’s straight hem. The fit is straight through Sinatra’s legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms that break cleanly over his perhaps overly formal black calf cap-toe oxfords, worn with black socks.

Dan may be taking a break from his workaholic days, but he’s still all business from the waist down… though not in the way that Lisa wishes.

Sinatra wears his usual gold signet ring on his left pinky and a gold tank-style watch with a black leather strap on the same wrist.

How to Get the Look

Frank Sinatra in Marriage on the Rocks (1965)

The fastidious Frank Sinatra’s sense of decorum dictates that, even when dressing down, he’s dressing up, thus his olive cardigan for an intimate evening in still incorporates the sensibilities of a dressier blazer, from its notched lapels to the double-breasted button configuration, all worn with a button-down shirt, gray slacks, and black oxfords.

• Olive green ribbed-knit double-breasted cardigan with narrow-notched lapels, 6×3-button configuration, set-in hip pockets, and raglan sleeves with gauntlet cuffs
• Pale yellow cotton shirt with button-down collar and button cuffs
• Dark gray wool flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Gold signet pinky ring
• Gold tank watch on black leather strap

The cardigan revival of recent years hasn’t neglected those of the double-breasted variety, though they’re arguably harder to come by than their single-breasted or shawl-collared cousins and next to impossible in shades of olive. A cursory search yields double-breasted cardies on both ends of the price spectrum, with Express’ price-reduced cotton cardigan speaking to budget-minded audiences while ISAIA offers luxury in a micron cotton package via The Rake.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

See? You needn’t have pity on me anymore. My mother-in-law’s come to live with me!

The post Marriage on the Rocks: Sinatra’s Double-Breasted Olive Cardigan appeared first on BAMF Style.

Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

Vitals

Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton, charismatic aerospace lab chief

Long Beach, California, Spring 1966

Film: The Glass Bottom Boat
Release Date: June 9, 1966
Director: Frank Tashlin
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan (credited with Doris Day’s costumes only)

Background

In honor of Aussie actor Rod Taylor’s birthday on January 11, 1930, today’s post explores the first movie of his that I’d seen. The Glass Bottom Boat reteamed Taylor with Doris Day after their collaboration the previous year in Do Not Disturb, this time in a Cold War-era romantic comedy where Doris’ PR flack is suspected of being a spy sent by Mother Russia to seduce scientific secrets out of Bruce Templeton, the debonair head of a NASA research facility.

The suspicions and seductions culminate during a party at Templeton’s home, in fact the mid-century estate that had recently been designed and constructed by architect David Lyle Fowler for his mother. (This home at 1261 Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills has since been demolished and replaced with the massive Pritzker estate mansion.)

What’d He Wear?

The subtle creative elements of Bruce Templeton’s black tie kit suggest a man of taste who respects tailoring well enough to add unique personal touches that neither interfere with tradition nor ignore trending fashions.

Perhaps the most noticeable affectation would be the black velvet trim on Bruce’s black dinner jacket, constructed from a material with a touch of shine that suggests a blend of wool and mohair, then a fashionable fabric for men’s tailoring. The collar is covered in black velvet, while the rest of the straight and sharp peak lapels appear to be the same material as the rest of the jacket; had these lapels been faced in silk as on a traditional dinner jacket, this could have clashed with the velvet trim to make the jacket too busy.

The lapels roll to a single black plastic button at the waist, which matches the two buttons on each cuff. Black velvet piping also accents the jetting along the straight hip pockets and around the top and sides of the welted breast pocket, where Bruce wears a triangular-folded scarlet silk pocket square. The nicely tailored ventless jacket has straight, English-style shoulders with light padding and roped sleeveheads.

Bruce Templeton coolly confers with Zack Malloy (Dick Martin).

Bruce’s white cotton dress shirt has a textured front bib split into stripes that alternate between a plain broadcloth finish and a white-on-white birdseye weave. It’s one of these birdseye stripes that runs vertically up the plain “French placket” where the buttonholes are cut, and through which Bruce wears three small black studs. The shirt also has double (French) cuffs and a point collar.

His short black satin bowtie is shaped in the then-fashionable batwing style, characterized by its narrow, almost rectangular, appearance when tied.

Bruce’s flat front formal trousers match his dinner jacket in the same shiny black fabric, detailed with the requisite black silk side striping. He covers the waist with a unique black silk cummerbund that fastens on through an adjustable back strap, though the design has three satin-covered buttons on the front and a gently dipped crest so that, with the dinner jacket on (but unbuttoned), the cummerbund would resemble a formal waistcoat with a low V-shaped opening.

Watching a shirt-sleeved Bruce tie on his narrow bow tie before slipping on his dinner jacket reminded me of a passage in the eighth chapter of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale. #IYKYK

Among the more conventional pieces of Bruce’s black tie ensemble are his black cap-toe oxford shoes, though they appear to be a calf leather rather than dressier patent leather.

Throughout The Glass Bottom Boat, Bruce Templeton wears a slim gold dress watch with a champagne gold dial and flat gold bracelet, indeed an ideal wristwatch style to wear for formal occasions.

Bruce tries to spirit Jennifer Nelson (Doris Day) away from the paranoid conspiracy theories being bounded about by his colleagues.

We also see some interesting black tie looks from Bruce’s friends and fellow revelers. As his fiercely—and comically—loyal pal and colleague Zack Malloy, comedian Dick Martin dresses in the fashion that was then popular by his similarly named entertainer Dean Martin, right down to the informal white button-down collar shirt, butterfly-shaped bow tie, and bright red silk pocket square.

Dick Martin in The Glass Bottom Boat.

The Glass Bottom Boat also nods to its adopted genre with an uncredited cameo by Robert Vaughn, then in the middle of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.‘s four-season run on NBC. The heightened sense that the party is filled with spies and the music cue for Vaughn’s brief appearance suggests that he’s in character as Napoleon Solo, as does his dapper three-piece dinner suit, similar in style—if not exact detail—to one that he had worn on the series, as comprehensively written about by Matt Spaiser for Bond Suits.

In his unfortunate disguise, Homer Cripps (Paul Lynde) may think he’s a master spy, but Napoleon Solo is the real deal.

What to Imbibe

After Jennifer Nelson (Doris Day) overhears Bruce and his colleagues discussing the possibility that she’s a spy, she decides to have some fun with their suspicions, kicking off the evening’s festivities with a drink that Bruce’s housekeeper Anna (Ellen Corby) describes as “Hooch… that’s half-Scotch, half-Bourbon.”

“It sounds delicious,” a steely Jenny replies before downing the glass. I suspect she was incorrect.

How to Get the Look

Rod Taylor as Bruce Templeton in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

A classy guy like Bruce Templeton chooses his dinner suit wisely, incorporating touches of fashionable creativity allowed for the intimacy of a party hosted within his own home while still respecting the tested-and-true black tie traditions.

• Black wool-and-mohair single-button dinner jacket with velvet-collar peak lapels, velvet-trimmed welted breast pocket, velvet-jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and no vents
  • Scarlet red silk pocket square
• White cotton dress shirt with point collar, alternating self-striped bib, and double/French cuffs
  • Black shirt studs
• Black satin silk batwing-style bow tie
• Black silk 3-button cummerbund
• Black wool-and-mohair flat front formal trousers with satin side striping, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxfords
• Black socks
• Thin gold wristwatch with gold dial on flat gold bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

That’s right, pally, you play your games and I’ll play mine.

The post Rod Taylor’s Velvet-Trimmed Dinner Jacket in The Glass Bottom Boat appeared first on BAMF Style.

Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami (2020)

Vitals

Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke, “King of Soul”

Miami, February 25, 1964

Film: One Night in Miami
Release Date: December 25, 2020
Director: Regina King
Costume Designer: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Background

Soul legend Sam Cooke was born 90 years ago today, on January 22, 1931. Although Cooke died young, shot at a Beverly Hills motel just over a month before his 34th birthday, his smooth voice endures as the pioneering “King of Soul” who not only wrote and recorded scores of classic hits but also supported, produced, and influenced some of the most talented musicians of the day.

A week ago today, One Night in Miami was released to stream on Amazon Prime Video, adapted by Kemp Powers from his own one-act play. The night in question is February 25, 1964, the night that Cassius Clay won the world heavyweight boxing championship in a surprise victory over Sonny Liston. Powers brings Clay together to celebrate his victory with Cooke, Malcolm X, and Jim Brown on a night that proves to be pivotal for all four icons.

For Clay, it’s the announcement to his friends—and the public—that he will be joining the Nation of Islam and forthwith known as Muhammad Ali, while his friend and religious mentor Malcolm X considers his own future with the organization. For Brown, it’s a professional crossroads as the 28-year-old NFL star considers a career in front of the camera rather than behind the offensive line. And for Cooke, it’s a reckoning on how he can more strongly use his voice to advance the message of the civil rights movement.

The evening begins as Cooke peels into the parking lot of the Hampton House motel, where Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam sentries are already standing guard. “I’m the first one here? Me and my fast-ass cars…” Cooke comments on his cherry red Ferrari. (Indeed, Cooke was an automotive enthusiast… more on that later!)

“It’s a damn dump,” Cooke comments to himself after exploring Malcolm X’s room, which is significantly less glamorous than Cooke’s own lodgings across town at the famous Fontainebleau. Clay, Brown, and Malcolm X are soon to follow, and Cooke is particularly disheartened when he learns that Malcolm X’s planned post-title celebration will consist not of booze-soaked revelry but of ice-cream fueled reflection.

Of the four men featured in One Night in Miami, only two would live beyond a year after Cassius Clay’s title win, with both Sam Cooke and Malcolm X shot and killed in separate incidents within the year. Muhammad Ali died in June 2016, making Jim Brown the only figure represented in the main cast still alive today.

Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. deliver fantastic performances as the four leads, and the Tony Award-winning Odom showcasing a mastery of Cooke’s inflections and mannerisms as he leads us through some of the King of Soul’s greatest hits including “You Send Me”, “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons”, “Chain Gang”, “Good Times”, and particularly “A Change Is Gonna Come” during One Night in Miami‘s stirring coda. (Some dramatic license is taken to depict that Malcolm X’s urging inspired Cooke to write the latter, though Cooke had already released “A Change Is Gonna Come” as a single almost a month earlier on January 30, 1964.)

To showcase Cooke’s talent for your listening pleasure, I’m compiled his original recordings of the above tracks as well as “Having a Party” (in the spirit of the evening’s intended events) and “Basin Street Blues”, a cover of Spencer Williams’ Dixieland standard that Cooke had recorded just months earlier and is one of my personal favorites from his prolific discography.

What’d He Wear?

The Burgundy Sharkskin Suit

The opening scene depicts Sam Cooke’s low tolerance for ribbing from anyone but close acquaintances, so you know later that Jim Brown must be a close pal when he jests about “that cheap purple suit.”

Of the four leads, Sam is arguably the flashiest dresser in his burgundy suit with a tonal pink shirt and day cravat, standing boldly apart from his pals in their more traditional suits. True to life, Malcolm X was the most conservative dresser in a typical business suit, white shirt, and tie as well as his iconic browline glasses. Jim Brown and Cassius Clay are costumed in a manner bridging the gap between Sam Cooke’s form and Malcolm X’s function, Brown looking stylish in his mod black three-piece suit and button-down collar and Clay fashionable and contemporary in a light brown suit with a windowpane check echoing his teal knitted sports shirt.

Clad in his burgundy sharkskin suit, Sam Cooke literally shines among his more traditionally dressed friends.

Clay, Brown, and Malcolm X wear pieces that could have been found in any man’s closet during the ’60s, but Cooke takes measures to dress in a manner that lets us know he’s somebody who can afford custom-made clothes that make a statement. It’s an interesting contrast, as Cooke is charged by Malcolm X as being the most comfortable among the oppressive establishment, and thus may see the least need to dress to fit in.

Fawnia Soo Hoo for Fashionista cites the movie’s production notes to explain that Cooke was costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck’s favorite character to design, drawing on how the artist appeared on album covers in his father’s collection when she was growing up. “Sam Cooke was the most fashionable of all the four,” Jamison-Tanchuck explains. “The sharkskin suit was just so wonderful and indicative of the ’60s. Leslie wore them well and Leslie just went with it.”

“Cooke was into sharkskin, so we built a two-piece wine-colored suit,” Jamison-Tanchuck elaborated to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Cathy Whitlock. Sharkskin is characterized by its shine, a silky iridescent finish that belies that the base fabric of most sharkskin suits is a soft, smooth worsted wool, woven or warp-knitted in two color threads incorporating fabrics like mohair or rayon, depending on the quality. The subtle shine of Leslie Odom Jr.’s burgundy screen-worn suit suggests tasteful natural fibers as were popular on more sophisticated sharkskin through the mid-20th century rather than the “fast fashion” manmade fibers that cheapened sharkskin’s reputation in the decades to follow. (You can read more about sharkskin from Burton Menswear and Style Girlfriend.)

Cooke’s single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front, positioned neatly to match the top of the trousers at Leslie Odom Jr.’s waist. At 5’7″, Odom is not a particularly tall actor, but his clothing is fit to flatter, suggesting quality tailoring on par with what the real-life clothes horse Cooke would have worn. The double-vented jacket has structured shoulders with roped sleeveheads and four buttons at the cuff of each sleeve. The set-in breast pocket does not have a prominent welt like many traditional suit jackets, and the flapped hip pockets are positioned on a gentle slant toward the back.

As mentioned, Cooke’s trousers rise to Odom’s natural waist line, where they are tailored to fit without requiring belt, braces, or even adjuster tabs. The narrow waistband has an extended tab that fastens through a hidden hook closure positioned to the right. The minimalist trousers lack pleats and appear to have a flat front, though there may also be darts to fit the trousers over the hips.

Consistent with emerging styles of the ’60s, the trousers have the distinctive full-top frogmouth, or Western-style, front pockets which Matt Spaiser of Bond Suits defines as “slightly slanted down across the front, and offset down from the waistband so the pocket is in the middle of the hips rather than on top of the hips.” There are two jetted back pockets, and the trousers fit straight through the legs to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

As the night—and debate—heats up, Cooke and Clay have removed their jackets, and Cooke has even slipped off his silk cravat.

The real Sam Cooke, clad in light open-collar shirt and shiny long-rise trousers, possibly sharkskin.

Cooke tonally coordinates with a pink shirt that softens the visual impact of his bold suit. The shirting has a shine reflective of either a high-twist cotton or possibly silk, with the same cloth covering the buttons up the shirt’s plain “French placket” front.

Though the opening scene depicts Sam Cooke bombing at the Copacabana for his first appearance in March 1958, he would be received with remarkably better success for his return in the summer 1964, which also yielded the spectacular live album Sam Cooke at the Copa. “Immediately after the last show, Jules Podell, the gruff Copa manager, presented Sam with the prized cuff links and bonnet,” wrote Peter Guralnick in his well-researched Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck copied these to create one of the gold sets that Odom wears as Cooke, though I’m not sure if these were the rectangular links worn with his double (French) cuffs in this sequence or the more ornate links he wears for his appearance on The Tonight Show during the finale.

Cooke adds an aristocratic air to his ensemble with a day cravat made from a rich burgundy silk, embroidered with beige star-shaped designs.

Cooke wears a silk day cravat with his open-necked shirt as an elegant and sporty alternative to his companions’ ties.

Cooke continues the color into his shoes with a pair of burgundy cotton lisle socks. Even his black derby shoes are non-traditional, textured with woven leather vamps inside the apron-toe.

Cooke kicks back in Malcolm X’s motel room, strumming a few bars of “Put Me Down Easy” on his six-string Martin to pass the time until his friends arrive.

Cooke balances his flashy look by going light on ornamentation, wearing only a gold signet ring on his left pinky as far as visible jewelry and accessories.

Sam Cooke’s style evolution was chronicled by Peter Guralnick in Dream Boogie, beginning with the singer’s embrace of Ivy-inspired clothes around the time of his first major success in the fall of 1957. “I like the Ivy League look in clothes. I am fashion conscious,” Cooke himself told Amsterdam News in December 1957, a time when Guralnick notes that “he began to cultivate a collegiate look: V-neck sweaters and pleated belt-less pants for casual situations, a growing number of modestly elegant business suits for more formal ones.”

The Silver Copa Suit

One Night in Miami opens during one night… in New York. At the famous Copacabana nightclub, in fact, where Sam Cooke is making his debut appearance, attempting to appeal to the audience demographic by covering Debbie Reynolds’ frothy “Tammy”. No specific date is given on screen, but it was March 1958 when Cooke famously bombed at the Copa.

Odom’s Cooke takes the stage in a shiny suit that would be established as Cooke’s sartorial signature, though this sharkskin cloth actually looks like the skin of a shark in its silvery gray, coordinated to a skinny dupioni silk tie with a tonal dot and stripe pattern in an “uphill” direction that coordinates to the traditional sharkskin weave. He wears a white shirt, as he does for all of his on-screen performances, dressed at the cuffs with a set of white-filled round silver links.

Cooke at the Copa.

Shaped by darts, the silver suit jacket diverges from the otherwise similar burgundy sharkskin suit in its detailing, such as the slimmer lapels with more obtusely angled notches. The lapels roll to two buttons very closely spaced at the waist. The built-up, padded shoulders with no sleevehead roping is more contemporary to the late ’50s, and the sleeves flare at the two-button cuffs. The welted breast pocket is empty, as usual, and the flapped pockets on the hips slant rearward. Cooke’s non-pleated suit trousers are cut to resemble the burgundy suit with their beltless waistband and frogmouth-style pockets.

Cooke’s Performance Green

“Cooke was into sharkskin, so we built a two-piece wine-colored suit and purchased one in jade green from Western Costume as seen in his concerts and on the Johnny Carson show,” Francine Jamison-Tanchuck told The Hollywood Reporter, suggesting that Odom may be wearing the same green suit both for the flashback show in Boston and his closing appearance on The Tonight Show.

For the Boston show Malcolm X recounts, Cooke is dressed in a green suit that takes on a teal cast under the stage lights. It’s cut in his usual style, a two-button single-breasted jacket with notch lapels and double vents, with the traditional layout of a welted breast pocket and straight jetted—rather than flapped—hip pockets. The shoulders are padded with some roping at the sleeveheads, and the two-button sleeves lack the flare present on the silver suit from the Copa. He wears another French-cuffed white shirt but with no tie, laying the open collar flat over the lapels of his suit jacket.

Cooke improvises after the volatile Jackie Wilson attempts to sabotage his Boston show.

One Night in Miami concludes with Sam Cooke’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where he debuts “A Change Is Gonna Come” after singing “Good Times”. (In reality, this performance was February 7, 1964, nearly two weeks before the pivotal night, with Cooke singing “Basin Street Blues” rather than “Good Times”.)

Cooke wears another shimmering green suit, almost identically detailed to what we saw in Boston save for the pocket flaps (though, to be fair, he could have had those tucked into his pockets for the earlier scene.) Sharkskin’s iridescent nature can be deceptive, but I believe we see enough of both suits for me to discern that the Carson show suit is actually a darker green, more olive than jade.

As Cooke did for the actual set, Odom wears a white cotton shirt with semi-spread collar and straight tie, depicted as a sage-colored silk with subtle “downhill” striping. His French cuffs are rigged with a set of substantial gold links, and he appears to be wearing a pair of more conventional black leather cap-toe derby shoes with his thin dress socks, coordinating to the black leather belt he wears with his trousers.

Ed McMahon and Johnny Carson flank Sam Cooke as he prepares to introduce “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

Sam Cooke sports knitwear and tattersall trousers in the studio, circa 1960.

Casual Knitwear and Checked Trousers

Among all of his stylish sharkskin suits, Sam Cooke also gets to take it easy in some natty and comfortable sports wear, seen while serenading his wife Barbara (Nicolette Robinson, Odom’s real-life wife) in their Fontainebleau hotel room the afternoon before the Clay-Liston fight.

Cooke wears a pair of cream tattersall check trousers that look like they could have come from the singer’s actual closet as there are several photos from the early ’60s of the real Sam Cooke sporting similarly checked slacks with blazers, cardigans, and the occasional tie. The One Night in Miami trousers are patterned in a navy-and-gold tattersall check against a cream ground, finished with button-through back pockets and frogmouth front pockets like his other pants.

Cooke lounges in an open-knit short-sleeved shirt with a white slubbed body, detailed with three lime green bands around the torso and matching lime green ribbed waist and sleeve hems. There is a white woven collar and a quarter-zip closure with a silver ring pull. He completes the resort-ready look with a pair of white shoes.

The Car

The real Sam Cooke, perched atop his Jaguar E-Type. Peter Guralnick’s Dream Boogie attributes this photo to Joe McEwen.

Sam Cooke was an automotive enthusiast, cycling through a score of fashionable rides from sports cars to luxurious limousines through the shining years of his career from the late 1950s through the mid-’60s. His years touring with the gospel group The Soul Stirrers had reinforced the importance of a car that could withstand the stresses of traveling the country while also communicating status.

In 1957, the year that Cooke’s debut single “You Send Me” shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts, Cooke obtained the first of a growing fleet of cars, an eggshell-painted Imperial LeBaron complete with dangerous fins and iconic Continental tire mounted on the trunk. The success of “You Send Me” financed Cooke’s dream car, a white ’58 Cadillac convertible with red leather upholstery and gold trim. Within a year, the Cadillac was totaled in a tragic accident that took the life of Cooke’s driver, Eddie Cunningham. After Cunningham’s death and the destruction of his first Cadillac, Cooke’s tours were served by a new Cadillac limousine and a Buick station wagon.

As Cooke’s success continued to grow into the 1960s, so too did his automotive collection as he added a white Corvette, a Jaguar E-Type, and a Maserati purchased from Eddie Fisher. The night he premiered at the Copa in June 1964, Allen Klein gifted Cooke with his updated dream car, a new Rolls-Royce costing $15,000.

In the spring of 1964, Cooke traded the Maserati for the bright red Ferrari that he would famously drive through the last night of his life that December. The actual car was a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso berlinetta sports coupe, though it’s depicted on screen as the even-rarer Ferrari 250 GTO, of which only 36 were produced.

Vanilla ice cream and 7 Up not being enough to satisfy Cooke and Clay’s idea of a celebration, the two head to an all-night liquor store in Sam’s speedy red Ferrari.

Ferrari produced the 250 GT Lusso in limited numbers, with just over 350 manufactured during its production run from 1962 to 1964 and attracting star drivers like Sam Cooke, Steve McQueen, and Brian Wilson. It was powered by a 3.0-liter Tipo 168U V12 engine like the 250 GTO, though the Colombo engine of the 250 GT Lusso produced an output of 240 horsepower against the 250 GTO’s racing-oriented 290-horsepower engine that utilized a dry sump and six Weber carburetors. If the 250 GTO was designed for performance, the 250 GT Lusso was its more civilized cousin (“lusso” being Italian for “luxury”), offering a more spacious interior by positioning the engine in the front.

You can read more about Sam Cooke’s cars at Patrick Smith’s blog and specifically about Cooke’s Ferrari at Concept Carz.

How to Get the Look

Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami (2020)

The flashiest dresser of the One Night in Miami quartet, Sam Cooke balances boldness and taste with his wine-hued sharkskin suit and tonally appropriate accompaniments.

• Burgundy sharkskin wool-and-mohair tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, double vents
  • Flat-front high-rise trousers with fitted waistband, “frogmouth” front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Light pink shirt with spread collar, plain “French placket” front with covered buttons, and double/French cuffs
• Burgundy embroidered silk day cravat
• Black leather derby shoes with apron toe and woven leather vamps
• Burgundy cotton lisle socks
• Gold signet pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

I began the new year by reading Peter Guralnick’s exhaustively researched volume on Cooke, Dream Boogie, and gained an even greater appreciation for the conflicted and charismatic entertainer. Of the events of February 25, 1964, Guralnick wrote:

Dee Dee Sharp, who was performing at the Sir John Hotel and had been seeing Cassius on and off for the last few months, had been planning a post-fight party for him, but Cassius chose to go back to the Hampton House with Malcolm, Sam, and Jim Brown, the football great, who had provided radio commentary for the fight.

They sat in Malcolm’s room with Osman Karriem and various Muslim ministers and supporters, eating vanilla ice cream and offering up thanks to Allah for Cassius’ victory, as an undercover FBI informant took note of this apparent nexus between the Nation of Islam and prominent members of the sports and entertainment industries. Sam was uncharacteristically quiet, taking in the magnificent multiplicity of the moment. To him, Cassius was not just a great entertainer but a kindred soul. He had made beating Liston look easy, and Sam was convinced he would beat him again. Because, armed with an analytic intelligence, he had made him afraid. Jim Brown, an outspoken militant himself, though not a member of the Nation, appeared to veteran black sports reporter Brad Pye Jr. to be more elated over Clay’s achievement than any of his own. “Well, Brown,” said Malcolm with a mixture of seriousness and jocularity, “don’t you think it’s time for this young man to stop spouting off and get serious?”

The Quote

Everybody talks about they want a piece of the pie, well I don’t! I want the goddamn recipe.

The post One Night in Miami: Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke appeared first on BAMF Style.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, calculating Mafia boss

Havana, December 1958, and Lake Tahoe, Spring 1959

Film: The Godfather Part II
Release Date: December 12, 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

When “gangster style” comes to mind, you may think first of the silk suits from Goodfellas or tracksuits of The Sopranos, but Michael Corleone established an aristocratic sense of style as he grew into his leadership role in accordance with his reserved nature.

The Godfather Part II debuts Michael’s penchant for the day cravat, a decorative and sporty scarf-like neckwear. Some use the term “ascot” when referring to a day cravat, though it’s worth pointing out that the ascot tie is a different, more formal type of neckwear worn inside a shirt collar like a traditional tie while the day cravat is worn against the skin, under the shirt itself. (Michael may be a rarity among fictional mafiosi to sport this elegant type of neckwear, but Joe Pantoliano as the vain sociopath Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos illustrates that he wasn’t alone.)

My previous post explored the silk day cravat that Leslie Odom Jr. wore as Sam Cooke in the recent One Night in Miami. Now, on #MafiaMonday, let’s take a look at how Al Pacino wore his cravats to dress up Michael Corleone’s dressed-down looks in The Godfather Part II.

What’d He Wear?

Unlike some movie mobsters—think Robert De Niro’s pastel wardrobe in Casino—Michael Corleone has a practical and utilitarian approach to his clothes that matches his mind for business. Across the events of The Godfather Part II, Michael cycles through a limited closet of quality pieces that make a powerful impression on friends and foe and everybody in between. Indeed, he only appears on screen wearing four different suits, though he wears them with such versatility that it can feel like more: a flashy gray dupioni silk suit for public events like his son’s communion and a meeting in Havana, a sinister black suit when he needs to evoke power (worn with or without waistcoat), a businesslike pinstripe suit for austere occasions like testifying during a Senate hearing, and a summer suit with a subdued check for low-key business dealings in warmer cities like Miami and Havana; it’s with this latter suit that he first see Michael in a day cravat, dressing the suit down with a white knitted polo shirt for Hyman Roth’s birthday party.

A serious man aware of the importance of his appearance, Michael never appears in public wearing anything less dressier than a tailored jacket and collared shirt, anchoring his few “casual” outfits with a tasteful navy blue sports coat that appears to be made from a comfortable wool serge. Not technically a blazer like some odd jackets in this color, this single-breasted jacket avoids the trendy extremes of ’50s fashion with its timeless cut. The notch lapels roll to a two dark blue plastic buttons that resemble the three buttons on each cuff. The welted breast pocket is conventional, but the patch pockets on the hips are sporty enough to discern this jacket from traditional business attire. The single-vented jacket has padded shoulders—with gently roped sleeveheads—that were fashionable in the ’50s but also build up the 5’7″ Al Pacino’s silhouette to look more subtly powerful.

Michael contrasts Fredo’s flashy pink-on-pink with a subdued navy jacket and white shirt, his only affectation being the day cravat that was considerably less out of place in the resort-like atmosphere of 1950s Havana.

We first see Michael’s “off-duty” sports coat in Havana during the days leading up to the fateful New Year’s Eve celebration. An afternoon in his hotel room with only his bodyguard and newly arrived brother Fredo (John Cazale) present calls for something a little less dressy than his usual suit and tie, so he recycles the white short-sleeved shirt from Roth’s birthday party and ties on a dark indigo and gold paisley silk day cravat.

It may be December, but the tropical Caribbean climate still averages around 80°F in Havana so Michael is wise to wear this lighter white shirt, constructed from a breezy knitted cotton. The shirt has a three-button top, worn with only the top button undone to accommodate the day cravat, and a breast pocket. Michael wears light gray wool double forward-pleated trousers and a black leather belt that coordinates with his black leather shoes and socks.

Michael’s casual look in Havana, consisting of a navy odd jacket with white shirt and gray slacks, would be the most neutral ensemble in his trio of dressed-down appearances across The Godfather Part II.

Back in Lake Tahoe, he dresses more warmly for the snowy winter. Again, Michael is meeting with Fredo but his demeanor is as chilly as the snow-covered docks outside as he formally severs ties with the brother who betrayed him.

Michael’s light gray button-up shirt diverges from his polo-style shirts, worn under a dark gray wool sweater with a ribbed-knit V-neck that draws more attention to the shirt’s open point collar and the dark paisley silk day cravat. This manner of dress gives Michael the appearance of a cavalry officer—think Colonel Kilgore from Coppola’s later masterpiece—as he firmly lays out his orders for Fredo to follow.

Resembling a martinet in his high-necked collar and scarf, Michael’s steel tones communicate his cold callousness as he disowns his brother: “Fredo, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother, you’re not a friend. I don’t want to know you or what you do. I don’t want to see you at the hotels, I don’t want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won’t be there. You understand?”

No longer in Havana and certainly not in any mood for lightness, Michael maintains his sartorial sobriety with a pair of charcoal slacks. His black leather shoes appear to be cap-toe oxfords, again worn with uninteresting—but not unexpected—black socks.

Michael sits in his familiar “power position” while Fredo slumps, as good as dead after his not-so-brotherly betrayal.

Finally, Michael manifests his warmest look for the quiet climax as he appropriately dons a blood red shirt while arranging the deaths of his adversaries.

I don’t feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom… just my enemies.

The scarlet-hued long-sleeved shirt looks to have been knitted from a material like Ban-Lon, the trade name for Joseph Bancroft & Sons’ synthetic yarn that revolutionized men’s sportswear in the ’50s and ’60s. The long-collared shirt has three red plastic two-hole buttons, the top worn undone to reveal that indigo-and-“old gold” paisley printed silk day cravat. Again, he wears charcoal trousers with a black leather belt and shoes.

In case Michael’s deep red shirt didn’t already signal that blood was about to be spilled, he spends the scene eating an orange, Coppola’s famous forebear of death in The Godfather series.

Having engineered the deaths of his brother and two of his father’s oldest friends who have since had reason to turn against him, Michael can no longer behind his guise of continuing his evil deeds on behalf of his family, cemented by once again closing the door on his wife for a second—and arguably more decisive—time. With these final acts, Michael also discards the day cravats that had lent him the appearance of respectability. Who’s he trying to fool anymore?

Still in his open-necked red knit shirt and charcoal trousers, Michael layers on a broad-shouldered camelhair double-breasted overcoat and tonal cashmere scarf with fringed ends. These are items typically worn to fight against the cold, but the insouciant way that Michael wears them—coat open, scarf untied—suggests that he’s given up that fight, yielding completely to the coldness in his heart as he allows himself to commit to previously unthinkable acts.

Michael glares at his now ex-wife with disdain, shutting her out of his life as he more definitively severs ties with other acquaintances he’s known his entire life.

Michael would resume wearing day cravats, admittedly more loosely tied and supplemented by the occasional neckerchief, with his dressed-down suits and sport jackets in The Godfather Part III. By then, he’s refocused on reforming his image for the public after rebranding himself as a philanthropist.

The Watch

Throughout The Godfather Part II, Michael wears a yellow gold watch that has been speculatively identified as an Omega Constellation—appropriately of 1950s vintage—with a white dial and shining gold bracelet. Consistent with his personality, he eschews excessive jewelry and accessories, wearing only the plain gold wedding ring that communicates to the rest of the world that he’s a “family man”.

Michael flashes his Omega while lighting a Camel in his Havana hotel room.

What to Imbibe

Michael isn’t a teetotaler, but he limits his drinking to the occasional celebratory concoction or late-night cognac. When he takes Fredo out for an afternoon in Havana, he refreshes himself with a plain club soda while Fredo maintains a steady diet of, uh, “how do you say banana daiquiri?”

“Banana daiquiri,” Michael answers, allowing himself an amused smirk at his brother’s expense.

Admittedly, it would be a surprise to see Michael Corleone drinking a banana daiquiri. Fredo… not such a surprise.

This happy hour staple indeed originated in Cuba, credited to Americans around the time of the Spanish-American War though, as with most cocktails, the true inventor of the daiquiri remains lost to history with mining engineer Jennings Cox and congressman William A. Chanler competing for credit among modern sources. Whoever invented it, the standard daiquiri recipe emerged as a generous amount of white rum shaken with lime juice and sugar before being strained into a chilled cocktail glass.

As rum-based drinks became increasingly fashionable in the United States following World War II and the boom of Tiki culture, Americans discovered their palette for cocktails like the Planter’s Punch, Zombie, and the almighty daiquiri. Mainland mixologists exercised their creativity on the original recipes, though it was reportedly British sea captain George Soule who pioneered the banana daiquiri while exploring St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where he blended local bananas with rum, lime juice, and sugar for a tasty new concoction. (Captain Soule’s story is substantiated by Cruzan, stipulating that it was their rum, of course!)

How to Get the Look

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

A shrewd leader like Michael Corleone is aware of the importance of a neat and tasteful appearance, even in casual situations. He adapts his dressed-down “uniform” of a navy odd jacket, open-neck shirt, and gray trousers to adapt to the temperature (regarding climate and situation) of his surroundings, completing each outfit with a day cravat that adds a subtle touch of affected elegance.

• Navy wool serge single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• White or red knitted polo-type shirt with 3-button top
• Dark indigo and gold paisley silk day cravat
• Gray double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Omega Constellation gold wristwatch with round white dial on gold bracelet
• Gold wedding band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, including the masterpiece sequel The Godfather Part II.

The Quote

If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything… it says you can kill anyone.

The post The Godfather, Part II: Michael Corleone’s Navy Jacket and Cravats appeared first on BAMF Style.

Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Photo sourced from thunderballs.org.

Vitals

Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos, urbane but dangerous heroin smuggler

St. Cyril’s, Greece, Spring 1981

Film: For Your Eyes Only
Release Date: June 24, 1981
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Wardrobe Master: Tiny Nicholls

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of my favorite James Bond movies, For Your Eyes Only, the grounded espionage adventure that brought 007 back down to Earth after Roger Moore’s space-trotting adventure in the polarizing Moonraker.

Subdued and serious, For Your Eyes Only was a departure from the underwater cars and land-going gondolas of Sir Roger’s previous outings, realigning itself with Ian Fleming’s stories after borrowing from the author’s 1960 short story of the same name as well as “Risico”, a story from the same volume that introduced the warring smugglers Columbo and Kristatos, portrayed on screen by Chaim Topol and Julian Glover, respectively.

As in “Risico”, Bond aligns with Columbo after realizing that his initial ally Kristatos is actually his enemy. Glover portrays Aristotle Kristatos with the sinister sophistication that made him a popular villain across ’80s franchise films from The Empire Strikes Back to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

What’d He Wear?

Bond and Columbo join forces with Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) to lead a commando team infiltrating Kristatos’ hideout at St. Cyril’s, an abandoned mountaintop monastery in the Peneas Valley. Unaware of the team scaling the mountain outside, Kristatos eagerly awaits the arrival of General Gogol (Walter Gotell) of the KGB, for whom he had retrieved For Your Eyes Only‘s MacGuffin, an ATAC communicator system purloined from a sunken British spy ship.

Kristatos dresses for his mountainous surroundings in an outdoorsy thigh-length jacket made from a cream padded cotton shell that has a reversible ribbed wool lining in the same color. The jacket was recently auctioned in December 2020, fetching £1,100. The Prop Store auction listing mentions only size markings in the jacket (“GB 42 USA XL”), so we may never know the manufacturer.

Kristatos lays out their next steps under the judgmental eye of Jacoba Brink (Jill Bennett).

The jacket has a full-zip front, up from the gently gathered waist hem to the tall standing collar. The collar can be fastened over the wearer’s throat (like a turtleneck) thanks to a two-button system on the inside of the shell, one button at the funnel-neck and another at the top of the collar that would close around the chin, though Kristatos wears the jacket fully open and unzipped. The jacket has raglan sleeves with ribbed-knit cuffs and hand pockets with a straight vertical zip closure.

A bad day for Kristatos. Note the buttons inside the jacket’s left collar and neck, which would be used to fasten over the throat if Kristatos were wearing it reversed. The buttons correspond to vertical buttonholes “hidden” among the ribbed wool along the inner right side.

Kristatos wears a sporty off-the-rack casual shirt that appears to be made from polyester or a blend of similar artificial fibers as was particularly popular through the 1970s into the ’80s. The all-over print consists of mini white circles that encapsulate a single dark navy dot, all neatly arranged and tightly spaced against a brick-hued brown ground. The shirt has a spread collar, front placket with white plastic buttons, and a breast pocket with the shirtmaker’s logo embroidered in white in the upper right corner. (The logo resembles a flattened “P” with an extended base, and I’m sure some BAMF Style readers may be able to readily identify it with more success than yours truly!)

Kristatos reaches for his last-ditch weapon, an out-the-front (OTF) automatic knife.

Kristatos wears khaki gabardine flat front trousers with wide belt loops for his brown leather belt, detailed with an elongated silver-toned buckle with a rounded end. His russet brown leather plain-toe loafers have raised heels, likely a fashion-influenced choice as, standing 6’2″ tall, Julian Glover was in no need of making himself appear taller to be a convincing villain. These slip-on shoes are sparsely detailed aside from short splits at each side of the upper where black elastic runs under the tongue to ease the wearer when putting them on and when dashing up a stone staircase to escape the clutches of a former comrade-turned-enemy.

Columbo catches up to Kristatos, whose high-heeled loafers don’t give him enough traction to get enough distance from his erstwhile ally.

Kristatos’ only ornamentation is a gold ring on his left pinky finger.

How to Get the Look

Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Kristatos affects a somewhat Alpine casual look while awaiting the KGB at his Grecian mountaintop hideout, comfortably layering a reversible padded jacket over a contemporary sport shirt and slacks. It works.

• Cream padded cotton reversible thigh-length zip-up jacket with tall collar, vertical zip-closure hand pockets, and raglan sleeves with ribbed-knit cuffs
• Brick-brown closely-dotted polyester sport shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Khaki gabardine flat front trousers with wide belt loops and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with curved silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Russet brown leather elastic-instep slip-on shoes
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Gold pinky ring

Jackets like this generally fell out of vogue after the advent of the light-wearing “puffer jacket” in the decades to follow (though down jackets had existed since George Finch debuted his during the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition), though a few quilted jackets closer to Kristatos’ outerwear can still be spotted in the modern marketplace:

• Helmut Lang Men’s Quilted Jacket (MODESENS, $620)
• Loro Piana Voyager Zip-Front Coat (Neiman Marcus, $2,525)
• Topman Considered Stone Padded Puffer Jacket (Topman, $91.67)
• Woolrich Men’s Sierra Stag Down Jacket (Woolrich, $247.50)

Prices and availability as of January 25, 2021.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post For Your Eyes Only: Kristatos’ Cream Padded Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Fabian Forte as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd in A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)

Vitals

Fabian Forte as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Depression-era bank robber

Kansas City, Spring 1930 and 1931

Film: A Bullet for Pretty Boy
Release Date: June 1970
Director: Larry Buchanan (and Maury Dexter, uncredited)
Wardrobe Credit: Ron Scott

Background

After Warner Brothers’ success with Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, American International Pictures (AIP) leapt at the chance to capitalize on the emerging trend of Depression-era crime movies using their own brand of inexpensive, exploitative filmmaking. This wasn’t AIP’s first rodeo in the realm of ’30s public enemies, having earlier produced The Bonnie Parker Story and Machine Gun Kelly, both released in May 1958. Their B-movie output in the decade that followed Bonnie and Clyde ranged from fictional stories like Boxcar Bertha (1972) directed by Martin Scorsese to those loosely based on actual criminals like Bloody Mama (1970) starring Shelley Winters as a caricature of “Ma” Barker (alongside a young Robert De Niro as one of her sons) to Dillinger (1973).

Even before that arguably most famous ’30s bank robber would be played by a grizzled Warren Oates, one-time teen idol Fabian got a shot to rebrand his image by playing Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, the outlaw whose moniker alone lent itself to suit the fresh-faced Mr. Forte.

The real Charles Arthur Floyd was born 117 years ago on February 3, 1904, in Adairsville, Georgia, though his family moved to Oklahoma when Floyd was seven, and it was the Cookson Hills that he would consider home for the 30 years of his life.

A fellow Aquarius, Forte was born only three days (and 39 years) later on February 6, 1943, making him 26—the same age as Floyd was for his first bank robbery—when A Bullet for Pretty Boy was filmed from June to October 1969. A Bullet for Pretty Boy loosely follows the facts of Floyd’s life, albeit exaggerated and certainly simplified for the sake of AIP’s low-budget, short-runtime formula for success that would thrill teens at the drive-ins just before these audiences found the real thrills in their own back seats later that night.

A Bullet for Pretty Boy does little to mask the influence of Bonnie and Clyde, having filmed in many of the same small Texas towns that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway tore through three years earlier and capitalizing on Floyd’s frequent female companionship, in this case his wife Ruby and his girlfriend Juanita “Beulah” Baird, renamed Betty for the movie. Dunaway’s stand-in from Bonnie and Clyde, Morgan Fairchild, even made her wordless on-screen debut as a bank robber’s moll seated behind the wheel of a getaway car. (More trivia: the Texas-born Fairchild turns 71 today, sharing her February 3 birthday with the real “Pretty Boy” Floyd.)

Morgan Fairchild made her on-screen debut in A Bullet for Pretty Boy wearing a Bonnie-approved beret and scarf as popularized by Faye Dunaway three years earlier in the very role Fairchild had stood in for.

At this point, I may have lost some of you who would be asking “okay… but who’s asking to read about this of all movies?” Well… me. I’m interested in the subject and this is my personal blog, so consider this post just another labor of love! I’d always been fascinated by “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s story the most of all Depression-era desperadoes, but I still feel it remains under-represented on screen.

The real Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, in custody circa 1929.

As enforcement of the Hays Code lightened up on its policy of “glorifying” criminals, we began to see more of the Depression-era outlaws returning to the screen by the late 1950s. Following the aforementioned AIP quickies about George “Machine Gun” Kelly and Bonnie Parker (with her companion renamed “Guy Darrow” in The Bonnie Parker Story), J. Edgar Hoover’s signed, sealed, and delivered propaganda The FBI Story (1959) presented a sanitized version of the downfall of each public enemy, including “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s first prominent big screen appearance as one of only three credited performances by an actor named Bob Peterson.

The following year, “Pretty Boy” finally got his own big screen treatment in the low-budget black-and-white movie Pretty Boy Floyd (1960) that starred a pompadoured John Ericson as Floyd with a young Peter Falk and Barry Newman among his criminal cohorts. His life and crimes would be dusted off again for A Bullet for Pretty Boy in 1970, which remains your best bet for a closest-to-the-facts retelling of the Floyd saga. The wave of post-Bonnie and Clyde Depression-set crime productions meant at least three more actors would show up as Floyd through mid-decade, beginning with a charismatic Steve Kanaly in the Dillinger supporting cast, then a fresh-outta-Badlands Martin Sheen in a 1974 made-for-TV movie The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd, and finally a not-so-pretty Bo Hopkins in a TV movie chronicling The Kansas City Massacre (1975).

Yours truly even stepped in to play the part of “Pretty Boy” Floyd in a very amateur, very low-budget biopic that my friends very graciously worked with me to create in my late high school and early college years, though this 2008 production would be soon eclipsed by Channing Tatum‘s brief appearance as the outlaw in Michael Mann’s 2009 period action drama Public Enemies. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite compete with Mr. Tatum.

What’d He Wear?

As low-budget studios AIP and New World Pictures rolled out more Depression-era exploitation films throughout the decade, costume design across many of these productions suffered when it became obvious the leads were merely sporting contemporary three-piece suits and disco-collared shirts rather than anything intended to resemble the nuance of a suit tailored in the ’20s or ’30s. (For example, Tarantino favorite The Lady in Red features Robert Conrad as John Dillinger, though his suit—not to mention haircut—looks more like he’s getting ready for a Merv Griffin appearance than a movie at the Biograph.)

A Bullet for Pretty Boy may have benefited from being part of AIP’s earlier output, filmed in late 1969 before the following decade’s fashion of excess took over and before many of the period-correct suits at their disposal would be bloodied and bullet-holed through dozens of movies to follow. Thus, Fabian Forte is able to echo the real “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s knack for wearing natty suits, all showcasing authentic details from the era.

A standout of Forte’s on-screen wardrobe is a navy worsted three-piece suit that he wears around the start of his new criminal career, considerably more stylish and better-fitting than the taupe striped suit he had worn a few years earlier for his wedding.

It’s now the late spring of 1930, and Floyd has broken out of the Oklahoma state prison (in fact, he had been lawfully released from the Missouri State Prison the previous spring) and has been taking refuge at a Kansas City brothel run by Beryl (Annabelle Weenick), a Mae West-type inspired by the real-life Sadie “Ma” Ash. Beryl’s two younger brothers Wallace (Jeff Alexander) and William (Gene Ross) resent the new man and the attention he’s been getting from Wallace’s sultry wife Betty (Jocelyn Lane). When they see Floyd striding down the stairs in his new navy three-piece suit, William snidely quips: “Thought he was supposed to be a farmer.”

The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels rolling to a two-button front, with a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, single vent, and three-button cuffs. The shoulders have some padding with roping on the sleeveheads that contributes to a ’30s-correct silhouette. Another significant period detail is the double-breasted waistcoat (vest) with its shawl collar that sweeps across the torso to a six-button closure consisting of two columns of three buttons each: one functional, one vestigial. The straight-cut waistcoat bottom appropriately covers the waist line of the suit’s matching flat front trousers which may have belt loops but are worn sans belt.

Wallace: “You keepin’ him for yourself, Beryl?”
Beryl: “I might. He’s pretty enough.”
Wallace: “A great couple. You and ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd.”
Floyd: “Don’t call me that.”

Once her brothers have departed, Beryl informs Floyd that she’s hooked him up with a gang of bank robbers who will help him raise the money he needs to see his family, so he motors into the country to wait for them.

Floyd strips off his jacket and unbuttons the waistcoat, showing more of the shirt and tie he wears with the suit. His shirt is an icy pale blue cotton, styled with a semi-spread collar, plain “French placket” front, breast pocket, and button cuffs. His blue tie is patterned with what looks like fuchsia roses with green stems and yellow springs.

A bank robbery and prison break later, “Pretty Boy” is back in Kansas City by the spring of 1931, having joined with professional outlaw Ned Short (Michael Haynes) and “Preacher” (Adam Roarke) when a fight with Wallace results in both of Beryl’s sleazy brothers planning a trap to collect the $10,000 reward on the fugitive Floyd. Wallace and William believe they’ve got Floyd trapped when they corner him naked in bed with Betty until their prey surprises them by pulling his Thompson out from under the sheets and mowing down the two devious brothers. (The actual events of March 23, 1931, found Floyd narrowly evading a police trap by drawing two .45 pistols and shooting his way out. Upon learning that the Ash brothers had indeed tipped off the police, Floyd and his pal “Billy the Killer” Miller chased down Wallace and William Ash and executed them in a ditch a mile south of Kansas City, Kansas, two days later.)

With the two conniving brothers out of his way for good, Floyd embarks on a Bonnie & Clyde-style bank robbery spree with Ned, Preacher, Betty, and Betty’s sister Helen (Camilla Carr) that even goes so far as to film at the same Farmers & Merchants Bank in Pilot Point, Texas, that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had “held up” two years earlier.

Throughout these adventures, Floyd wears a pair of black-and-white semi-brogue wingtip oxfords. Two-color “spectator shoes” like these were also known as “correspondent shoes” for their association with the disreputable cuckolding parties in divorce cases, known as the “correspondent”. Floyd wears several pairs of spectator shoes in A Bullet for Pretty Boy, including a brown-and-tan pair with his earthier suits and this black-and-white pair with his navy suits, worn with black socks. The uppers of Floyd’s shoes have white leather vamps with black leather wingtip toe boxes, black oxford-style lacing panels that curve down to each outsole, and black extended heel counters.

A barroom brawl begets the final chapter in Floyd’s long-running dispute with the sleazy Ash brothers. Floyd may be our protagonist, but his correspondent shoes reflect his role in breaking up Wallace and Betty’s admittedly toxic relationship.

Just as Floyd coordinates the palette of his shoes with his suits, he also alternates between his hats based on his suits. With more businesslike suits in navy and gray, Floyd wears a dove gray felt fedora with a tonal gray grosgrain ribbon and coordinating grosgrain edge piping.

Floyd oversees a bank job from under the brim of his gray fedora.

The Gun

Unique for the genre, “Pretty Boy” Floyd wields a Thompson submachine gun with far more frequency than any sort of handgun, depicted using it even when pistols would be more practical (or even when it was historically documented that Floyd used a handgun instead.)

We see Floyd introduced to the weapon before his first bank robbery when he’s handed a Thompson M1921AC, the model made famous with monikers like the “Chicago typewriter” and described as “the gun that made the ’20s roar” in a book of the same name by crime historian William J. Helmer. In fact, the first gang that the real “Pretty Boy” Floyd worked with wasn’t quite as well-armed, with Floyd himself reportedly carrying a more modest .32-caliber Smith & Wesson six-shot, swing-out revolver for his inaugural bank robbery in Sylvania, Ohio on February 5, 1930.

That’s not to say that the real Floyd was averse to Thompsons—naturally, a man in his profession welcomed the additional firepower when he could carry it—but he certainly did not carry them exclusively. Instead, he typically relied on the firepower of a twin set of Colt Government 1911A1 pistols, carried on several occasions throughout this four-year crime spree and documented as the two pieces on him when he was killed in October 1934.

Preacher (Adam Roarke) and “Pretty Boy” Floyd carry Thompsons for one of their bank robberies, while Betty appears to be armed solely with her charm and sass.

The Thompson began life when General John J. Thompson envisioned a “trench broom”, a handheld “one-man machine gun” that could replace bolt-action rifles in use during World War I. Though the war ended two days before prototypes of his “Annihilator” could be shipped to Europe, Thompson and his team of designers from Cleveland’s Auto-Ordnance Company continued development of what would enter production as the Thompson M1921. Chambered for the same .45 ACP cartridge used in the M1911 service pistol, this blowback-action submachine gun initially sold for $200 (close to $3,000 in today’s dollars), an amount that included a 20-round box magazine.

Early customers included the United States Marine Corps, U.S. postal inspectors, and the IRA, until Chicago gangsters got their hands on this fast-firing weapon that would compound the blood spilled in the Prohibition-era Beer Wars. Five years after Auto-Ordnance couldn’t figure out how to market its revolutionary submachine gun, business started booming on both sides of the law as law enforcement agencies tried to keep up with the well-armed criminals terrorizing the cities and countryside.

In 1926, Auto-Ordnance added the option of a Cutts compensator, a muzzle brake that would prevent the weapon from rising too dramatically during sustained fire. Thompsons configured with a Cutts were designated M1921AC while the older models were renamed the M1921A.

Floyd looks over the Thompson he’s given in advance of his first bank robbery. Note the Cutts compensator which was introduced with the M1921AC model in 1926.

As the United States geared up for war toward the end of the 1930s, the Thompson was finally authorized for military service, albeit simplified with modifications that included the removal of the distinctive vertical fore-grip in favor of a plainer horizontal hand-guard that first appeared on the M1928A1 and would continue on the M1 and M1A1 eventually designed for wartime use. The high-capacity drum magazines, prone to jamming, were also increasingly discarded in favor of lower-capacity but more reliable box magazines. More than 1.5 million Thompson were produced during World War II, though the weapon would be generally phased out phased out by the Korean War.

What to Imbibe

Floyd and Ned seem to be sharing a bottle of Canadian Club during a confrontation with the Ash brothers. though a country boy like Floyd reportedly enjoyed moonshine and “Choctaw” beer that lent him his nickname, Choc, it’s not unreasonable to assume that, when in the Big City, they drink as the Big City Gangsters do… in this case, the Canadian Club illegally imported from the Great White North during Prohibition.

How to Get the Look

Fabian Forte as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd in A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)

It was reported that the real “Pretty Boy” Floyd was wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt when he was killed in 1934, so it may be intentional or merely coincidence that this navy worsted is Fabian Forte’s primary suit as the Oklahoma-born outlaw in A Bullet for Pretty Boy, though the period-inspired touches take this three-piece suit beyond the usual costume design expected of AIP’s low-budget fare.

• Navy worsted three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Double-breasted 6×3-button waistcoat with shawl collar, welted pockets, and straight-cut bottom
  • Flat front trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Icy pale blue cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, plain “French placket” front, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Blue tie with fuchsia floral print
• Black-and-white leather wingtip oxford-laced spectator shoes
• Black socks
• Dove-gray felt fedora with gray grosgrain band and edges

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, streaming free for Amazon Prime subscribers.

As long as you’re not expecting a masterpiece, the movie isn’t too bad and Forte gives it a good shot, certainly looking the part of a pretty boy if not the “Pretty Boy”… and he certainly does a better job than I did when I made a much, much lower-budget biopic about Floyd with my friends in high school.

The Quote

All I know is, banks still got money.

The post A Bullet for Pretty Boy: Fabian’s Navy Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981)

Vitals

James Caan as Frank, professional jewel thief

Chicago, Spring 1980

Film: Thief
Release Date: March 27, 1981
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Supervisor: Jodie Lynn Tillen

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Michael Mann—born today in 1943—directed (and wrote) his feature-length debut, Thief, a moody neo-noir thriller that would portend his particular brand of stylized crime dramas to follow like Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral, as well as his work on the landmark series Miami Vice. The source material was the 1975 novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar by “Frank Hohimer”, a real-life criminal named John Seybold who served as an on-set technical advisor despite the pending FBI warrants against him.

As the eponymous thief, James Caan’s Frank establishes an early template for the professional criminals that populate Mann’s work, subdued in appearance and demeanor but ruthless against any target getting in the way of his payday…and his freedom.

Fronting his criminal enterprises, Frank owns both a car dealership and the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, a real jazz club in uptown Chicago that opened in 1910 and grew famous for its associations with Prohibition-era figures like Al Capone, “Machine Gun” McGurn, and Texas Guinan. Once Snorky’s tax evasion landed him in federal prison and McGurn paid the piper in a North Milwaukee Avenue bowling alley, entertainment once again became the primary focus of the Green Mill, attracting icons like Billie Holiday and featuring the longest running poetry slam in the United States.

Late night at the Green Mill.

Though things are going well for Frank, our pragmatic professional is smart enough to know to quit while he’s ahead, especially as he hopes to build a life with his new girlfriend Jessie (Tuesday Weld) and adopt a son together. Unfortunately, the powerful Chicago Outfit boss Leo (Robert Prosky) has other ideas for how Frank could be useful to him.

What’d He Wear?

Last week, I put out an Instagram poll to see which of Frank’s leather jackets would be of more interest to readers, and his black flight jacket was the clear winner out of more than 2,500 votes… but the 500 or so received by the dark gray leather blouson ensured that it will see some coverage soon as well!

Frank’s hard-wearing black leather blouson takes inspiration from classic American flight jackets, specifically the iconic A-2 that was worn by U.S. Army pilots during World War II. The jacket has a fly covering the zip closure extending straight up from the ribbed-knit waist hem to the shirt-style collar. The patch hip pockets are covered with a single-snap flap and appear to have handwarmer pockets accessed from behind. The cuffs are finished with a ribbed knitting that echoes the hem.

Frank brings Jessie to see Okla in the hospital. Note the jarring bloody pan and forceps in the foreground.

The shoulders are finished with military-style straps (epaulettes) that are sewn down from the set-in sleeveheads through the center of each shoulder. Ideal for the extensive tactical shooting required during the finale, the “action back” jacket has side pleats that extend down the back from the center of each shoulder strap to an integrated self-belt across the back a few inches above the waist.

The “action back” pleats on Frank’s flight jacket serve him well after a night of… well, action.

Frank’s black leather jacket would be the last of his leather trio to be introduced on screen, first seen when he strides into the Green Mill to confront Leo about the increased police surveillance he’s noticed since he agreed to take on the proverbial “one last job” for him. The bad news keeps on coming for Frank, who brings Jessie to see his former mentor Okla (Willie Nelson), now dying in the hospital shortly after being released from prison.

No doubt one of the silk shirts that he had earlier bragged about to Jessie, Frank wears a light blue self-striped shirt with a covered button-up fly.

Later, once shit hits the fan and Frank explosively erases every element of his life, he storms into Leo’s household with his long-slide .45 blazing and enough loaded magazines at the ready to eradicate the entire Chicago Outfit. He’s dressed solely for function; no need for dressy silk shirts as he instead wears a plain purple cotton crew-neck long-sleeved T-shirt with a narrowly ribbed crew-neck and ribbed cuffs. He keeps the shirt tucked in to avoid any flapping hems getting in the way of his reloads.

Frank’s purple shirt is decidedly ruined after a surprise visit to Leo.

Eschewing the $150 slacks for everyday errands and tactical tasks, Frank wears his usual Lee jeans, constructed from a lighter wash blue denim. He wears them without a belt at the hospital, but he adds a brown leather belt for the finale, better for securing his pistol and spare mags in place while taking on the Outfit.

The hits keep coming as Frank’s .45 appears to have a stovepipe jam. Note that he’s wisely added a belt to his Lee jeans.

With this jacket, Frank always wears black leather boots with raised heels that hint at tall, cowboy-style boot shafts that remain concealed under the legs of his jeans.

Jessie accompanies Frank to the hospital.

Though Frank may not be as flashy as some screen criminals, the experienced jewel thief clearly takes pride in the oft-described “perfect D, flawless… 3.2-carat emerald-cut” diamond mounted in the gold ring that he wears on his left pinky finger. Let’s break down Frank’s ring using the “four Cs”, a system I for which I had to familiarize myself with while shopping for engagement rings last summer!

• Color: The “perfect D” refers to color and, indeed, D is said to be the highest grade of colorless diamonds on a 23-grade scale.
• Cut: Frank doesn’t give us any specific guidance regarding the correctness of the cut (“cut” does not refer to shape, so his “emerald-cut” description doesn’t apply here), but we can imagine that he would prefer an SI (Super Ideal) cut.
• Clarity: Frank twice calls his ring “flawless” which, rather than just being a superfluous description, refers to the clarity on a scale of 11 ratings that ranges from FL (Flawless) at the top end to I (Included) at the low range. To be considered “flawless”, a diamond must appear perfect with no internal flaws or blemishes at 10x magnification.
• Carat: Frank specifies that he wears a 3.2 carat diamond, referring specifically to the weight. It doesn’t refer specifically to size, though it’s reasonable to expect that a 3.2-carat diamond would fall around 9.5×7.5mm for an emerald cut (according to brilliance.com).

Taking just the color, cut, and clarity into consideration, a diamond like this would start at around $10,000 today, a dollar amount that you could realistically expect to be more than tripled for the 3.2-carat size. When I entered Frank’s specifications into a calculator at Washington Diamond, the final total was more than $154,000!

Frank’s expensive ring may be a liability for many, but we can assume this would be the last thing any mugger would see following an attempt to steal it.

Frank struts into the Green Mill wearing a pair of semi-rimmed sunglasses with an amber-finished aviator-style frame and gradient tinted lenses, riveted on each side of the lens where it meets the arm and bridge. He quickly pockets them in this scene, but they can be clearly seen with other outfits, as well as during the brief vignette when he and his partner Barry (Jim Belushi) take their families to the beach.

Even at the beach, poor James Caan is doomed to wearing a sweater. Based on how much he’s squinting, the sunglasses don’t appear to be doing their job.

On his left wrist, Frank wears a solid yellow gold watch with a white square dial on an expanding gold bracelet. When testing out the tool he needs for Leo’s “burn job”, he protects his hands (and his watch) with a pair of slate-gray napped leather work gloves.

Mann would later re-team with costume supervisor Jodie Lynn Tillen to design the costumes across the first season of Miami Vice, setting a standard for enduring ’80s fashion with Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas’ pastels and linen suits.

The Gun

Also to be established as a Michael Mann trademark would be his protagonists’ preference for .45 ACP pistols, such as the SIG-Sauer P220 carried by Robert De Niro in Heat, the Heckler & Koch USP-45 used by Tom Cruise in Collateral, and Johnny Depp’s twin 1911 pistols as John Dillinger in Public Enemies.

The venerable 1911 pattern designed by John Browning in the early 20th century has earned a position of esteem among many serious shooters, and thus Mann outfits Frank with a pair that he pulls from depending on the task ahead. One of the two is a chromed Colt Combat Commander with a shorter 4.25″ barrel that serves him more as a carry piece (though still substantially sized for concealed carry!)

For more tactical work like infiltrating Leo’s mansion and taking on the Chicago Outfit, Frank carries a blued Colt Gold Cup National Match pistol customized for the production by California gunsmith Jim Hoag of Hoag Gun Works.

Frank has his 1911 ready as he infiltrates Leo’s home.

The most instantly recognizable customization to Frank’s 1911 is the “long slide”, extended an extra inch to a full six inches. The users at IMFDB speculated that the base pistol was a Colt Gold Cup National Match by the long vertical cutout on the skeltonized trigger while further detailing Hoag’s customizations to include a squared trigger guard, a Bo-Mar adjustable rear sight, skeletonized hammer, and beavertail grip safety.

In addition to James Caan’s research with actual thieves to prepare for the role, the actor trained extensively with Galen D. “Chuck” Taylor of Arizona’s Gunsite Academy so that he would look convincing while clearing rooms, reloading, and performing techniques such as the double-tap “Mozambique drill” which would become another on-screen signature for Mann’s gunmen. (You can read more about Caan’s training with Taylor at Range365.com.)

Frank loads a fresh magazine into his longslide 1911 when the gun battle continues outside Leo’s home.

How to Get the Look

James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981)

For situations that don’t call for $800 suits or $150 slacks, Frank gets plenty of mileage out of the simple, timeless, and ultimately functional pairing of a black leather flight jacket and Lee jeans… with his less-than-functional expensive gold watch and diamond pinky ring.

• Black leather flight jacket with shirt-style collar, shoulder straps (epaulettes), set-in sleeves with ribbed-knit cuffs, snap-flapped hip pockets with handwarmer pockets, “action back” pleats, and ribbed-knit waist hem
• Light blue self-striped fly-front long-sleeve shirt
• Blue denim Lee jeans
• Brown leather belt with curved gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather cowboy boots
• Gold pinky ring with emerald-cut diamond
• Gold watch with white square dial on gold expanding bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. In addition to being Mann’s directorial debut, it also marked the first feature film appearances for Jim Belushi, Dennis Farina (then a Chicago police officer), William Peterson, and Robert Prosky.

The Quote

My money goes in my pocket.

The post James Caan in Thief: Frank’s Black Leather Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in The Yakuza (1974)

Vitals

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka, disciplined ex-Yakuza

Kyoto, Japan, Spring 1974

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

Background

Today would have been the 90th birthday of Ken Takakura, the Nakama-born actor with a record four Japan Academy Prizes for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. His presence in yakuza films through the 1960s brought him to the attention of screenwriting brothers Leonard and Paul Schrader, who wrote their action drama The Yakuza with Takakura in mind. Robert Aldrich, who had directed Takakura in the actor’s first American film Too Late the Hero (1970) was originally slated to direct him again here until Robert Mitchum was signed on to star and requested to work with a different director.

Mitchum plays retired detective and war veteran Harry Kilmer, sent to Japan to track down the kidnapped daughter of an old friend. To complete the task, Kilmer seeks to cash in on the decades-old debt owed him by former gangster Ken Tanaka (Takakura), now teaching at a kendo school in Kyoto.

I’ll try, but I don’t know how much I can do… I’m no longer Yakuza.

What’d He Wear?

Ken’s departure from the traditional world of the yakuza is signaled by his clothing as he’s dressed from head to toe in denim, his trucker jacket conspicuously branded with the familiar Levi’s “red tab” on the dextral side of the left pocket flap. The cut and details of Ken’s jacket date it to after 1962 when Levi’s introduced the “Type III” 557 (and later, 557XX) jackets to replace the older knife-pleated “Type II”. (You can read more about the history of Levi’s denim jackets at Heddels.)

Constructed from a rich dark indigo blue denim, Ken’s waist-length jacket is detailed with all the hallmarks of the classic Levi’s Type III including six copper rivet buttons up the front with matching buttons to close the cuffs and fasten the adjuster-tabs positioned toward the back of each side of the waist. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that Levi’s would add additional hand pockets to its venerable trucker jacket, so the sole outer pockets on Ken’s jacket are two chest pockets aligned just below the horizontal chest yoke with substantial pointed flaps that each close through a single button.

Ken eyes his old acquaintance over tea.

Given that this is The Yakuza, one of the great turtleneck movies of the ’70s (as illustrated by both Takakura and Mitchum), Ken layers his trucker jacket over a comfortable pale gray turtleneck made from a light cashmere that flatters Takakura’s lean, athletic physique.

Ken’s jeans are nearly a perfect match for his denim jacket, though I propose that he may not be wearing Levi’s but Wrangler jeans given the sharp and high angles we see stitched over the back pockets that resemble the “W” back-stitching on the North Carolina-based clothier’s signature 13WMZ jeans. Ken hold up his jeans with a black leather belt.

In accordance with Japanese customs, Ken doesn’t wear shoes inside, thus he sits opposite Harry with just his black socks on his feet.

Harry follows his friend’s example, honoring Japanese tradition by sitting in his stockinged feet inside.

A leather-clad Ken Takakura with Robert Mitchum on the set of The Yakuza.

Ken Takakura’s denim was also the subject of a Clothes on Film article, in which Christopher Laverty posits that Ken’s black leather jacket, worn for an action-packed sequence to follow, may also be a Levi’s product:

Ken wears similar clothing throughout the film – an East / West smart-casual combo. Of particular note is a black leather jacket seen when he and Kilmer storm a yakuza stronghold about mid-way through the story. Again worn with popped collar, it in fact fits very similar to the Trucker, as in close to the body and almost cropped by modern standards, although this is less noticeable because jeans and trousers were routinely cut much higher back then. This leather jacket could have even been made by Levi as they were producing items in a similar style at the time and shipping them internationally.

Most significant though is what all Ken’s casual ensembles represent: a rejection of his yakuza past, but, and this is most significant of all, not its ideology.

How to Get the Look

Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in The Yakuza (1974)

Ken Tanaka may honor his decades-old oath and promises, but he’s otherwise moved on from the past to embrace a new career and contemporary clothes like his head-to-toe denim by way of a Levi’s trucker jacket and jeans.

• Pale gray cashmere turtleneck
• Indigo blue denim Levi’s “Type III” trucker jacket
• Indigo blue denim jeans
• Black leather belt
• Black socks
• Steel wristwatch

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post The Yakuza: Ken Takakura in Blue Denim appeared first on BAMF Style.

Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming on Prescription: Murder, the TV pilot movie that led to Columbo

Vitals

Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming, smarmy psychiatrist

Los Angeles, Spring 1967

Film: Prescription: Murder
Original Air Date: February 20, 1968
Director: Richard Irving
Costume Designer: Burton Miller

Background

This week in 1968, TV audiences were introduced to an unassuming yet indefatigable homicide detective in a wrinkled raincoat whose humble mannerisms and appearance belied an uncanny ability to bring murderers to justice. Oh, and just one more thing… that detective was named Columbo.

Peter Falk wasn’t the first to play the detective, nor was he even the first choice when Richard Levinson and William Link’s stage play was adapted for TV as Prescription: Murder, the first episode of what would become the long-running series Columbo. Bert Freed had originated the role in a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, to be followed by Thomas Mitchell when Levinson and Link debuted the play Prescription: Murder two years later in San Francisco.

Prescription: Murder establishes many trademark elements of Columbo, including the delayed introduction of the shrewd but shabbily dressed lieutenant himself until after we watch the murderer of the week commit his—or her—crime.

Gene Barry set a standard in Prescription: Murder that the killers foiled by Columbo would follow for decades to come: arrogant, well-dressed, and clever enough to pull together a murder scheme that keeps them above suspicion… from all but Lieutenant Columbo, of course.

Dr. Ray Flemming makes the dangerous mistake of not taking the humble Lieutenant Columbo too seriously, an oversight that he and dozens of other murderers would regret.

We spend a little more time with Dr. Ray Flemming than we typically do with Columbo’s adversaries, and Barry creates a memorable murderer out of the pretentious psychiatrist who murders his wife Carol (Nina Foch) in the hopes of building a life with his younger mistress and former patient, Joan (Katherine Justice).

Barry is debonair and dangerous as the devious Dr. Flemming, though the scenes he shares with Falk illustrate why NBC would have requested a full series featuring the detective, similar to how the first film in The Pink Panther series centered around David Niven’s smooth jewel thief though it was Peter Seller as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau who would become the breakout character at the center of about a half-dozen more films. (Of course, Columbo and Clouseau would occupy opposing ends of the competence spectrum.)

Though Falk looks relatively polished compared to Columbo’s later incarnation on the series proper, his wardrobe is understandably outshined by the dashing doctor. Indeed, this wasn’t Gene Barry’s first time playing a dangerous but well-dressed man, as his portrayal of real-life gunfighter Bat Masterson on the NBC series of the same name even included an episode with a plot driven by Bat visiting his favorite tailor.

I’m grateful to Matt Spaiser, whom we know as the brilliant writer behind Bond Suits, for mentioning Gene Barry’s excellent tailoring to me as a potential BAMF Style focus and sharing with me some additional context that draws a connection to agent 007:

When one of my readers suggested I write about Gene Barry’s wardrobe in the Columbo premiere for my blog, I was excited to be reminded of a wardrobe that could rival any James Bond film’s. My father has often spoken about Barry being one of the most stylish men ever to grace the screen, and there’s nothing he’d rather watch than interplay between Peter Falk and Gene Barry.

Barry’s well-tailored suits in grey, navy, and glen check paired with dark ties loosely recalls Bond’s wardrobe, but Barry does not play a spy. He merely plays a character who shares a name with Bond’s creator and wears a dinner jacket as well as Bond does. Rather than shoehorn Columbo into my blog, I thought it was a perfect fit for BAMF Style.

What’d He Wear?

As Columbo’s only antagonist we encounter during the 1960s, Dr. Flemming avoids some of the fashion excesses that would mar some of his brothers-in-murder across the following decade, and the interesting details he adds to his eight stylish suits are tastefully incorporated rather than being garish distractions.

As you can see, Dr. Flemming spends much of Prescription: Murder talking on the phone, putting on gloves, and enjoying glasses of bourbon. I may follow this post with more in-depth looks at some of his other standout looks, such as that dinner suit and the glen plaid suit when matching wits against Columbo, but I wanted to begin with the fawn-colored suit he wears when committing the actual murder that drives the episode.

This fawn tonal-striped wool suit stands apart from the others with its warmer-hued suiting, certainly earthier than his business suits in their conservative shades of gray and navy. The deviation makes sense when considering that Dr. Flemming was ostensibly dressing for a TWA flight to Acapulco where he and his wife would be enjoying a vacation for their anniversary, and thus he’d be dressed more for travel than business. (Note that for our debonair doctor, decorum still calls for a full suit, tie, and cuff links.) The self-striped light fawn suiting is a shade closer to khaki than taupe, interestingly similar to the color of the rumpled suit Lieutenant Columbo would wear throughout the episode. We get a quick glimpse at the tailor’s label sewn onto the puce satin-finished lining under the right breast, though I’d defer to more eagle-eyed readers to identify from this.

Aside from its color, the fawn suit shares the same characteristics as most of the others, comprised of a single-button jacket and beltless trousers and appointed with a nattily non-white pocket square and mod black loafers. The mid-to-late 1960s saw a brief rise in the fashionability of single-button suit jackets, appropriated from the more formal dinner jacket and dapperly deployed by stylish screen spies from Patrick Macnee’s John Steed to Sean Connery’s 007 as Matt Spaiser explored for Bond Suits. Regarding Barry’s suits specifically, Matt suggested to me the possibility of Hollywood tailor Harry Cherry—who made similar suits for Craig Stevens and Dick Van Dyke during this period—and shared additional background knowledge:

If you couldn’t get out to see the Bond films in the 1960s, tuning into American television was just as reliable to see perfect tailoring. Barry’s clothes epitomize the best of 1960s Beverly Hills style. Single-button jackets were ubiquitous on American television throughout the decade, but the style was a speciality of the exclusive West Coast tailors and was uncommon elsewhere. The single-button style with slanted hip pockets and single cuff buttons has a slightly flashy yet minimalist look that puts the focus on the cut of the suit. And the cut of Barry’s suits could not be more perfect.

The proportions of Dr. Flemming’s suits suggest the quality of his tailoring, the single-button closure perfectly meeting the rise of his trousers for the optimal effect of shirt-and-tie above the button and trousers below it.

A perfectly proportioned suit to carry out an almost-perfect murder.

The suit jacket has balanced notch lapels, straight and soft padded shoulders, and a single vent, the latter detail differentiating this from some of his double-vented but otherwise similarly tailored suits. The shorter length and closer fit—guided by darts—are contemporary with the trending direction of late ’60s tailoring. The sleeveheads are roped, and each sleeve is finished with a single functioning cuff button.

The flapped hip pockets slant gently rearward, and the welted breast pocket is decorated by the addition of a silk pocket square, patterned with a dark navy grid that neatly arranges the kerchief into a series of brown boxes, positioned askew to present as diamonds.

Dr. Flemming echoes the color of his tie with his pocket square, wisely not attempting to match them.

Apropos the earthier tones of his outfit, Dr. Flemming wears a solid brown satin silk tie, held in place just above the blade with a gold tie pin that appears to be shaped like a horse’s head.

Dr. Flemming’s pale yellow cotton shirt softens the overall effect of the outfit more than a plain white shirt. The box-pleated breast pocket and elegantly rolling button-down collar both serve to signal that this may be a more informal shirt appropriate for travel, though the shirt boasts a seemingly incongruous combination of a button-down collar and cuff links, a configuration championed by Cary Grant.

The cuffs appear not to be traditional double (French) cuffs but instead reinforced single cuffs, similar to the classic barrel cuff but with link closures rather than buttons. One of his patient—but ultimately doomed—wife’s last acts while alive is to help Dr. Flemming by fastening his gold rectangular cuff links onto the shirt, commenting that “you’re a brilliant man but not very mechanical,” to which he responds: “That’s what wives are for.”

If only helping her husband with his cuff links could have saved poor Carol’s life…

The flat front suit trousers are self-suspended with a set of slide-through adjusters on each side of the waist. Detailed with gently slanted side pockets and jetted back pockets, the trousers slightly taper toward the plain-hemmed bottoms that break cleanly at the tops of his slip-on shoes.

The short break of his trousers shows Dr. Flemming’s surprisingly uninspired black socks, which echo the black leather of his cap-toe loafers. The shoes appear to have black elastic side gussets which expand to guide his feet into the high-vamp shoes, a surprisingly dressed-down style for the distinguished doctor to wear with all of his suits, including the dinner suit at the episode’s opening.

Shining from his right pinky, Dr. Flemming wears a chunky gold ring with a bulging teal ovular stone. He wears no wedding ring, which wasn’t uncommon for men at this time but may have suggested to poor Carol that her husband’s disinterest in their marriage went dangerously beyond her suspicions of his infidelity.

Dr. Flemming slips on a pair of dove-gray three-point gloves made from a soft sueded leather, fastened with a single gray snap under each wrist.

As a contrast to the reportedly inexpensive watches worn by Lieutenant Columbo, Dr. Flemming wears an elegantly thin all-gold wristwatch with a slim oval dial against a rectangular case. I’ve seen similar-dialed watches from this era by Longines and Patek Phillippe, but those oval dials tend to be elongated vertically rather than horizontally like Dr. Flemming’s watch.

Like his soon-to-be-met nemesis, Dr. Flemming carries a raincoat, though he never wears it and we never see much more than the beige water-resistant shell fabric and the tattersall check lining.

Dr. Flemming and Joan—posing as his already-murdered wife Carol—board a TWA flight to Acapulco to establish his alibi.

How to Get the Look

Gene Barry as Dr. Ray Flemming on Prescription: Murder, the TV pilot movie that led to Columbo

From its first televised installment, Columbo illustrated that fine clothing was never a substitute for failed character. It’s okay to dress like the fashionable Dr. Flemming as long as you act more like Columbo!

• Light fawn self-striped wool suit:
  • Single-button jacket with narrow-notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, single-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat front trousers with slide-buckle side adjusters, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale yellow cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, box-pleated breast pocket, and single cuffs
  • Gold rectangular cuff links
• Brown satin silk tie
• Black leather side-gusset cap-toe loafers
• Black socks
• Dark brown check-patterned silk pocket square
• Dove gray suede three-point gloves
• Gold pinky ring with teal oval stone
• Gold luxury watch with oval-shaped dial on rectangular case

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, included on the first-season DVD and also streaming on Peacock.

I highly recommend Columbophile as a comprehensive and entertaining online resource for fans of the series!

The Quote

People see what they expect to see.

The post Gene Barry’s Fawn Suit as Dr. Ray Flemming in Prescription: Murder appeared first on BAMF Style.

Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in Bugsy (1991)

Vitals

Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, “celebrity” gangster and casino builder

Los Angeles, Spring 1945 and Las Vegas, Fall 1946

Film: Bugsy
Release Date: December 13, 1991
Director: Barry Levinson
Costume Designer: Albert Wolsky

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Everybody deserves a fresh start once in a while.

At least three times while wearing this outfit alone, Warren Beatty’s Bugsy Siegel pontificates on the power of fresh starts. While the real Siegel may not have been quite as forgiving, Beatty plays him with the actor’s characteristic charisma to better communicate to audiences how a violent gangster could have charmed the stars of “golden age” Hollywood.

The real Benjamin Siegel was born 115 years ago today on February 28, 1906, under the sun sign of Pisces that—among other things—has been described as the dreamer of the Zodiac.

“Benny’s always been a dreamer,” his pal Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) offers to fellow mob leaders, and it’s this signature trait that Bugsy leans into, resulting in the ultimate manifestation of our protagonist’s dream as he sinks six million in the mob’s ill-gotten cash into building the Flamingo Hotel and Casino and, in turn, establishing the once-quiet desert berg of Las Vegas into America’s bustling adult playground with the help of his adversary-turned-advisor Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel).

Our constant dreamer also refuses to let his own marriage—or the lack of interest on his new suitee’s part—get in the way of his attempted courtship of the vivacious Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), illustrated early on via a montage set to Johnny Mercer’s “Accentuate the Positive.” This ode to optimism could sum up Siegel’s general approach to life as his constant dismissal of obstacles as “no problem” would surely align with Mercer’s demand that we “eliminate the negative [and] latch on the affirmative.”

Mercer co-wrote the song with Harold Arlen, recording it for Capitol Records with the Pied Pipers and Paul Weston’s orchestra in October 1944. It would become one of the first major hits of 1945, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song as it was featured in the Bing Crosby flick Here Comes the Waves and would be recorded by many popular artists of the day, including Crosby, Kay Kyser, Artie Shaw, and Dinah Washington.

“Accentuate the Positive” endures as one of the most popular post-World War II songs, not just for its enthusiastic sound but also its frequent use in movies—often to juxtapose the image of postwar prosperity with the realities of the era—such as L.A. Confidential and Blast from the Past, the latter incorporating Perry Como’s rendition.

What’d He Wear?

Bugsy represents the real Ben Siegel’s taste for expensive clothes with Warren Beatty’s well-tailored screen wardrobe. Beatty’s Bugsy arrives from New York dressed in businesslike gray double-breasted suits, but he soon adopts a more sporting look for life on the more casual West Coast, pairing colorfully checked sport jackets over silk sport shirts accented with the occasional day cravat or fashionable sunglasses.

One of the more frequently seen items rotated through Bugsy’s wardrobe is a houndstooth sports coat with a softly napped finish that suggests cashmere or a cashmere and wool blend. (If you want to know why this weave is called houndstooth, ask your dog’s dentist; if you want to know why it’s sometimes called pied-a-poule, ask a Gallic gallinaceous podiatrist.)

The base check is a medium-scaled black and cream houndstooth, offset by a scarlet red overcheck that creates a 20-by-20 square; each resulting square is, in turn, bisected by a sage green weft and a cornflower blue warp that adds a subtle complexity.

Think you have a colorful wardrobe? Try wearing a jacket that has five colors in it… and making it work!

Likely acquired from Western Costume Co. like most of Beatty’s costumes in Bugsy, this two-button sport jacket is elegantly cut in accordance with mid-1940s trends, the shoulders straight and padded out to the roped sleeveheads while the body of the jacket is fitted with darts and fitted around the mid-section with a ventless back. The patch pockets on the left breast and hips dress it down further, and the sleeves are finished with three-button cuffs.

Bugsy maintains composure despite his relationship, his desert dreams, and his status in the mob crumbling all around him. “No problem!”

The Los Angeles Look

As Bugsy establishes himself in Hollywood, he also realigns his criminal associations, partnering with the volatile Mickey Cohen rather than the old-school Jack Dragna. His turbulent relationship with Virginia has been settling into something resembling domesticity… at least as domestic as a mobster and his ashtray-flinging moll can get, scarfing down scampi over accusations of assignations with matadors, musicians, and mafiosi.

Bugsy the born-and-bred New Yorker happily leaves the sartorial trappings of the Big Apple behind to embrace life in the land of leisure, appointing his everyday looks with a colorful day cravat worn inside his shirt, perhaps serving the practical purpose of catching the sweat from his neck (and thus preserving his silk shirt collar) while certainly affecting a cunningly continental appearance. With this particular outfit, he wears a burgundy foulard silk cravat patterned in an alternating arrangement of elaborate beige circles and blue squares.

Our “would-be smoothie” doesn’t do his reputation any favors when wearing his foulard silk day cravat for negotiations with Mickey Cohen, but the two force an alliance despite a difference in styles.

Bugsy calls out the sage check present in his jacket by favoring shirts in shades of green, beginning with this rich teal silk sports shirt. The broad collar has a loop extension from the left to connect with a button under the right collar leaf. There are two chest pockets, each covered by a non-buttoning flap with the left flap monogrammed “Ben” in a low-contrast green thread, a subtle reminder that he prefers his given name to the entomological moniker he earned on the streets.

The shirt fastens with large mixed green urea two-hole buttons up the plain “French placket”, and each cuff closes with a single button. Edge-stitching is present along the collar and pocket flaps.

Don’t want to ruin that nice silk shirt by sticking on a name tag? Just have your first name embroidered on the left breast and, voila!, you’ll be ready to go for that next class reunion, convention, etc.

Bugsy’s wool trousers are also a shade of green, albeit a darker forest green. These trousers are detailed with double forward-facing pleats on each side, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs). He wears a dark brown leather belt with a gold-toned enclosed square buckle that appears to be engraved, likely monogrammed.

A casual outfit calls for a casual shoe, so Bugsy leaves those calf leather oxfords in the bottom of his closet and struts around Los Angeles in a pair of rich chocolate brown suede lace-ups—likely derbies—with hard black leather soles, worn with dark brown socks.

What drives me crazy about this scene is that Beatty still has a mouthful of scampi, as he’s still shoveling it in in between kisses with Bening before they collapse onto the floor together. That’s how we know Bugsy’s as bugs as they say he is.

Bugsy arrives in Los Angeles with a pair of monobrowline sunglasses that would be his go-to shades for the first half of the film, styled with tortoise frames and a gold-toned chassis with exposed rims around the bottom of each lens.

Browline eyewear is often associated with retro fashion thanks to its mid-century popularity among everyone from LBJ and Malcolm X to Vince Lombardi and Colonel Sanders. Indeed, the real Bugsy Siegel—who was killed in June 1947—may have lived to see Shuron Ltd. launching the Ronsir in 1947 as the first true browline frame, but it’s not likely that he would have been wearing these glasses two years earlier upon arriving from New York.

Even less likely would be that Bugsy’s yet-to-be-designed browline glasses would have sunglass lenses, as it wasn’t until the ’80s when these would be mass-produced, popularized in the wake of Bruce Willis sporting a pair of tinted Ronsirs on Moonlighting. Ray-Ban capitalized on the situation, introducing sunglass lenses for its Clubmaster (which Tim Roth would bring to the screen in Reservoir Dogs) and the Wayfarer Max, a monobrowline fusion that blended the browline sensibilities with the solid top half of the Wayfarer’s more contiguous frame.

A true fashion plate wears sunglasses that wouldn’t even be designed until 40 years after he’s died.

While one could argue that seeing postwar-era browline glasses in scenes set across 1945 and 1946 is forgivable, Bugsy wearing sunglasses that wouldn’t be developed for another four decades suggests a more substantial anachronism.

A Tie at the Train Station

Bugsy’s romance with Virginia heats up to the degree that he’s resolved to return to New York—on his daughter’s birthday, of all occasions—to ask his wife for a divorce. (Spoiler: it’s going to take a little more time than this!) As he sits with Mickey Cohen at Union Station, Bugsy sartorially signals that he’s headed back east into the cold world of commerce by buttoning the loop-collar on his silk sports shirt up to the neck and tying on a Deco-printed silk tie of irregular gray-and-navy squares bouncing against a scarlet red ground. Like his similar green shirt from the earlier outfit, this eggshell-white silk shirt has two pockets and subtly contrasting edge-stitching.

It’s a transitional look, as Bugsy hasn’t yet returned to the fully wrapped confines of his gray double-breasted suits and dress shirts that he wears in New York, but he’s bringing a more businesslike touch to his colorful West Coast appearance.

With his new ally Mickey Cohen, Bugsy discusses his erstwhile friend Harry Greenberg’s much-publicized decision to turn on the mob.

Bugsy condenses much of the action into a two-year period between early 1945 and Christmas 1946, though the real Siegel had actually arrived in southern California in the late ’30s. The end of World War II informs much of the movie’s chronology, with the frequently seen prop newspapers usually adding support; for instance, the earlier-described scene of Bugsy arguing first with Virginia and then with Jack Dragna has a newspaper clearly dated Friday, March 9, 1945. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it continuity error, the newspaper seen several scenes later as Mickey and Bugsy discuss Harry Greenberg’s betrayal is dated March 30, 1944, almost an entire year before the scene was set.

Buttoned Up in the Mojave Desert

A year later, Bugsy Siegel’s world has considerably changed. He’s finally divorced from the long-suffering Esta, Harry Greenberg is dead, and he’s moved his center of operations from L.A. to Vegas, where he’s overseeing development of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. While Bugsy fusses with the placement of the swimming pool and signage of his desert oasis, Mickey Cohen has a few concerns about how Virginia is managing the millions they’re being lent by the Mafia. He shares his suspicions with Bugsy, who’ll hear nothing of it, even after Virginia resumes her hobby of throwing heavy home decor at his face.

The blazing sun of the Mojave Desert in mid-afternoon has Bugsy removing his jacket as he takes a hands-on approach to hotel management. He wears another green shirt, this time in a light mint shade and uniquely detailed with wide gray nailhead-textured piping along the front edge of the collar, the plain front, and the top of each of the two set-in chest pockets.

Bugsy dismisses Mickey’s well-founded suspicions regarding Virginia.

Bugsy wears the shirt with all four tonal indented plastic four-hole buttons fastened up the front as well as the loop collar that secures the top of the shirt at the neck. The sleeves are finished with a pointed tab that also closes through a single mint-hued button.

Midway through Bugsy, our eponymous gangster debuted a second pair of sunglasses that are more consistent with the time period. Indeed, aviator sunglasses had debuted a decade earlier with American Optical’s development of D-1 flight glasses for the U.S. Army Air Corps, soon superseded by the more comfortable AN6531. At least a half-dozen contractors put out their own AN6531 models through World War II, by which time Bausch & Lomb had already introduced the metal-framed Ray-Ban Aviator for the civilian market as well as the Shooter and Outdoorsman variants with their reinforced brow bars.

Beatty’s screen-worn matte silver-framed aviator sunglasses with unique reinforced brow bar may not be exactly the type that was available in the mid-1940s, but they’re at least consistent with a widely offered style from the era… not to mention that the shape of the lenses suggest a somewhat bug-eyed appearance in accordance with Mr. Siegel’s resented nickname.

Almost, almost…

His dark green wool pleated trousers and dark brown leather belt appear to be the same as when we first saw this outfit in Los Angeles, though his tan suede ankle-high shoes appear to be desert boots, possibly thee same ones he wore with his gingham-checked sports coat when he first “discovered” the future site of the Flamingo in the desert.

…got it! Way to go!

Like the browline glasses earlier, desert boots may be flirting with anachronism as Clarks would formally introduced them to the world at the 1949 Chicago World’s Fair, though Jake Gallagher reported for GQ that Nathan Clark had actually encountered a prototype of this crepe-soled boot eight years earlier when deployed in Burma.

Bugsy’s Jewelry

Before The Sopranos established pinky rings as the preferred affectation of the American gangster, gents wore their rings on their little fingers to signify wealth and class. While Bugsy Siegel was undoubtedly a mobster (ass the below screenshot illustrates), his decision to adorn his left pinky with a gold ring was likely driven more by mid-century attitudes regarding accessories than a wish to signify his involvement in any criminal organization.

On his left wrist, he wears a gold tank watch with a black square dial on a black leather strap.

Bugsy’s gold watch and pinky ring shine as he loads a .38 Special, blood flowing from his eyebrow.

The real Ben Siegel dressed his hands simialrly, including an ornately monogrammed gold signet ring on his pinky and an 18-karat gold Bulova wristwatch.

The Gun

Bugsy is a rarity among the gangster genre in that it features considerably little gunplay; in fact, I pitched it as a romance where the leading character just happens to be associated with the mob when my girlfriend and I were looking for something to watch on movie night. (She liked it!)

That said, Ben Siegel finds his dangerous line of work considerably easier with a rod handy, whether it’s mergers and acquisitions or murders and executions. Like many a movie gangster in this era, he relies on a trusty Colt Detective Special in .38 Special.

Bugsy once again pulls out his Colt Detective Special to intimidate Jack Dragna.

Colt introduced the Detective Special in 1927 alongside the full-size Colt Official Police service revolver, intending the snub-nosed Detective Special to serve as a powerful and easily concealed “belly gun” by plainclothes policemen, as its name implies. Of course, it wasn’t just detectives who needed to conceal their firepower and America’s criminal populace quickly took to the six-round revolver with its two-inch barrel.

The Detective Special certainly wasn’t the first of its kind as easily concealed revolvers date back to derringers and the British Bulldog types as used by Charles Guiteau to assassinate President James Garfield in 1881, but the Detective Special blended the best of every element—concealment, capacity, and caliber—into a reliable, mass-produced package that would be a favored gat among gumshoes and gangsters for decades to follow.

How to Get the Look

Warren Beatty as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in Bugsy (1991)

Far removed from the businesslike world of the New York mob, Bugsy embraces the warmth and leisure of his western hubs in mid-century L.A. and Vegas with green sport shirts and trousers anchored by a colorfully checked houndstooth jacket, suede shoes, and the occasional day cravat.

• Black-and-cream houndstooth (with scarlet-red overcheck and sage-green and cornflower-blue accent checks) wool single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Green silk sports shirt with loop collar, plain “French placket” front, two chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Burgundy foulard silk day cravat
• Forest green wool double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark brown leather belt with monogram-engraved gold square enclosed buckle
• Brown suede lace-up shoes (either dark derbies or tan desert boots)
• Dark brown socks
• Retro-styled sunglasses (either tortoise-framed monobrowlines or matte silver aviators)
• Gold tank watch with black square dial on black leather strap
• Gold pinky ring with dark stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The post Bugsy’s Houndstooth Sports Coat appeared first on BAMF Style.

Steve Carell as Michael Scott on The Office (Episode 2.19: “Michael’s Birthday”)

Vitals

Steve Carell as Michael Scott, paper sales regional manager

Scranton, Pennsylvania, March 2006

Series: The Office
Episode: “Michael’s Birthday” (Episode 2.19)
Air Date: March 30, 2006
Director: Ken Whittingham
Creator: Greg Daniels
Costume Designer: Carey Bennett

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is my b-day and people around here just go crazy for it, I don’t know why. Oh, fun fact: I share my birthday with Eva Longoria. So I’ve a perfect icebreaker if I ever meet Teri Hatcher.

Before Andy Bernard brought his Brooks Brothers-informed sense of style to Dunder Mifflin Scranton, regional manager Michael Scott probably thought himself the branch’s snappiest dresser and particularly chose his 41st birthday as the time to exhibit that. Though this episode aired March 30, 2006, Michael citing that he shares a birthday with Eva Longoria would position the celebration fifteen days earlier on March 15, with Dwight adding the dubiously necessary detail of 11:23 a.m. being “the exact moment [he] emerged from [his] mother’s vaginal canal.”

Jim Halpert’s observations of the day are a little less creepy, sharing that “Michael’s birthday [is] pretty fun to watch, actually. He gets very excited, and then he eats a lot of cake, and then he runs around the office, then he has a sugar crash in the afternoon, then he falls asleep. And that’s when we get our work done.”

Before the work gets done, Michael has a grand celebration in store thanks to the party-planning committee “working 24/7, all day yesterday,” though he’s dismayed when the party is upstaged by Kevin’s anxiety surrounding the results of his skin cancer screening. Not that anyone would have been in the mood to eat eight feet of a bologna, tomato, and ketchup sub anyway.

What’d He Wear?

Through most of The Office‘s run, Michael Scott dresses for each workday in the typical business dress expected of mid-oughts corporate America: gray or navy suits in solid or subdued patterns, likely off-the-rack from Jos. A. Bank or Men’s Wearhouse. Michael’s birthday calls for something a little different.

“That suit is amazing,” Dwight compliments after Michael refuses a birthday hug on the grounds that he’s wearing a new suit.

Thank you very much, it is from Italy- actually, no… Bulgaria. So…

The bold white chalk-stripe of Michael’s wool suit immediately differentiates it from the other navy suits we’ve seen him wearing to work. Looking closer, we see that the single-breasted jacket is rigged with peak lapels, a fashionable alternative to notch lapels that has cycled in and out of fashion every 40-odd years and was just making its trendy comeback by the time Michael debuted his Bulgarian birthday suit.

The two-button jacket has four buttons on each cuff, padded shoulders, and double vents. Even the pockets indicate some trendy detailing, with the jetted breast pocket a noticeable alternative to the traditional welt and jetted hip pockets that gently slant toward the back.

Michael finds his birthday ruined not only by the attention shifting to Kevin’s skin cancer scare but also the mere fact that Toby still works at Dunder Mifflin.

Michael also introduces a new tie that follows costume designer Carey Bennett’s suggestion to The Hollywood Reporter that Michael owns “ties that I believe he thinks are power ties, but, to me, they are hideous… we get them at drug stores and places like that.”

I try to follow a rule that, the harder it is to describe a tie, there’s a lesser likelihood that it should be worn too frequently. Consider Sean Connery’s James Bond and his go-to navy grenadine tie: three words. And then we have this particular cravat. The ground fades between wide horizontal gradient stripes that repeatedly cycle through beige, brown, beige, and blue. Arranged over these gradient stripes are wavy parallel lines alternating between a thin dark brown stripe and a wider brown stripe overlaid with a gold paisley effect.

The French blue cotton shirt may be another off-the-rack item, but the double (French) cuffs differentiate it from Michael’s usual button-cuff shirts, fastened with a set of silver rectangular links, each with a large black rectangle filling the center.

Maybe Michael would have had a better birthday if he opted for the rarely seen “lucky tie” as seen in “The Client” (Episode 2.07).

Michael wears a black leather belt with his suit trousers, which are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) that break over his black calf leather shoes, likely the same split-toe four-eyelet derbies he wears throughout the second season.

All eyes (and arms) on the birthday boy.

Michael braces against the chill of late spring in Scranton in his go-to charcoal woolen topcoat, detailed with an Ulster collar, three-button single-breasted front, set-in sleeves, and flapped side pockets.

In addition to the makeshift yellow paper Livestrong bracelet he crafts to signal his “support” of Kevin, Michael wears his usual Timex Indiglo Perpetual Calendar quartz watch that—despite the “Quality Seyko timepiece” touted by the certificate framed in his office—would be his go-to wristwatch throughout The Office‘s second and third seasons.

Strapped to his left wrist on a black leather bracelet, Michael’s Timex has a squared tonneau-shaped stainless steel 40mm case with a slightly hexagonal black dial, marked under the mineral crystal with silver non-numeric hour markers and white day-date windows in the 3:00 position. Designated T2D611, the watch features Timex’s signature “Indiglo” night light feature and touts water resistance up to 100 meters, should one fall overboard during a motivational booze cruise.

The gregarious Michael offers an attention-sharing olive branch to Kevin by strapping on a homemade Livestrong bracelet.

As someone whose favorite cologne is the Rite Aid smell-alike “Night Swept”, the Timex was an inspired choice for Michael Scott, the underpaid and oblivious mid-level manager. Michael probably assumes that any analog watch ending in “-ex” is just as prestigious as a Rolex, and his Timex of choice is decent-looking enough—and certainly functional, as even the most affordable Timex watches tend to be—that he wouldn’t feel ripped off.

This certainly isn’t a knock at Timex, who are great at what they do: making a range of budget-friendly timepieces that look good and work well enough; after all, I have a few myself! It’s just that it’s all too easy to picture Michael jabbing his left wrist into a conversation with his corporate colleagues in their Omegas, Seikos, and TAG Heuers and tout that his quartz watch set him back a few bucks but, other than the cost of replacing a battery at the mall kiosk every few months, it’s been keeping time just fine.

Though no longer produced, older Timex T2D611 watches can still be found on Amazon, eBay, and other used retailers.

How to Get the Look

Steve Carell as Michael Scott on The Office (Episode 2.19: “Michael’s Birthday”)

Birthdays are a time to celebrate yourself, dressing to mark the occasion. Even if one may not exactly share Michael Scott’s fashion sense, one can admire his going the extra sartorial mile in the spirit of self-celebration and his Bulgarian pinstripe suit, tacky tie, and cuff links are actually the least intrusive of his birthday festivities.

• Dark navy chalk-stripe wool Bulgarian-made suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with peak lapels, jetted breast pocket, slanted jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Trousers with belt loops and turn-ups/cuffs
• French blue cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, plain “French placket” front, and double/French cuffs
  • Silver rectangular cuff links with black rectangle centers
• Beige, brown, and blue horizontal gradient-striped silk tie with wavy brown and gold-paisley overlaid lines
• Black leather belt with silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Black calf leather 4-eyelet split-toe derby shoes
• Black socks
• Charcoal wool-blend single-breasted 3-button topcoat with Ulster-style collar and flapped hip pockets
• Timex Perpetual Calendar T2D611 stainless steel quartz watch with 40mm tonneau-shaped case, black hexagonal square dial (with 3:00 day-date windows), and black leather strap
• Yellow paper “Livestrong” homage bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series, available on Blu-ray and streaming on Peacock.

For any astrologists out there, Michael’s birth details—March 15, 1965, at 11:23 a.m. in Scranton, Pennsylvania—would establish him as a Pisces sun, Virgo moon, and Cancer ascendant. Based on my astrological knowledge, this jibes!

The Quote

You know what, Toby? When the son of the deposed King of Nigeria emails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country, okay?

The post The Office: Michael Scott’s Birthday Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Steve McQueen in The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

Vitals

Steve McQueen as LT Ferguson “Fergie” Howard, enterprising U.S. Navy officer

Venice, Summer 1961

Film: The Honeymoon Machine
Release Date: August 23, 1961
Director: Richard Thorpe
Costume Designer: Helen Rose

Background

To commemorate Steve McQueen’s birthday 91 years ago today, let’s take a look at how the King of Cool incorporated some of his personal style into one of his earliest—and least popular—movies.

Based on Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s 1959 play The Golden Fleecing, The Honeymoon Machine belongs to that unique sub-genre of ’60s farce that made light of Cold War paranoia and seemed to end up with everyone throwing punches (executed suitably in The Glass Bottom Boat, poorly in the 1967 Casino Royale.)

The role of the mischievously ambitious, Nietzsche-quoting naval lieutenant Fergie Howard was originally intended for Cary Grant, however the middle-aged actor was nearing his retirement and turned the job down. Rather than casting another screen vet of Grant’s age and standing, the production went in the opposite direction and brought on Steve McQueen for what would be his third top-billed movie after The Blob (1958) and The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959).

The Honeymoon Machine turned a profit but McQueen considered it a dark mark on his career, reportedly walking out of the first public screening and vowing never to work for MGM again. Don’t worry, Steve… The Great Escape is only two years away!

What’d He Wear?

“We can’t get into the casino in Navy uniform, it’s off-limits,” Fergie comments before teaming up with civilian scientist Jason Eldridge (Jim Hutton) and fellow officer Beau Gilliam (Jack Mullaney) to execute their plan that uses a secret computing system to engineer their own luck at the roulette table. For Fergie and Beau, the plan requires changing into civvies. Both men would end up in suits by that evening, but Fergie takes a more casual approach to his off-duty daytime wear, peeling off his summer whites and pulling on a comfortable powder blue sweater just in time for the ingenue admiral’s daughter Julie Fitch (Brigid Bazlen) to surprise the conniving trio in their suite.

An interloper threatens to ruin a potentially profitable boys’ night out.

Not yet at the levels of superstardom that would allow him to bend his screen costumes to meet his off-screen wardrobe, McQueen still incorporates some elements of his personal style preferences into Fergie’s attire, particularly the soft V-neck sweater that resembles one his photographer pal William Claxton would shoot him wearing several years later during production of Baby, the Rain Must Fall in Texas.

Taken in Texas in 1963, Clax’s black-and-white photo means we can’t discern the light-hued sweater’s color, but it illustrates that the V-neck pullover sweater had just as much a place in the King of Cool’s wardrobe as the famous shawl-collar cardigans he was also known to wear. The casual Bedford cords, once-white sneakers, and Persol sunglasses add a distinctively McQueen touch.

The powder blue sweater from The Honeymoon Machine looks to be made from a soft wool, likely cashmere. As McQueen wears it comfortably sans undershirt (which curiously also does with his uniform tunic), there may even be some manmade fiber blended into the sweater’s construction that would keep it from being too itchy; indeed, acrylic had been a popular alternative to cashmere for nearly two decades at the time of the production, and a well-traveled naval officer would no doubt appreciate acrylic’s washability and defiance to moths… though this fear is more outwardly expressed by the LTJG Gilliam with his multi-mothball suits.

McQueen’s pullover sweater has long set-in sleeves with ribbed ends that he folds back once at each cuff. The narrowly ribbed V-neck dips just low enough that he can effectively wear it without an undershirt without breaking decorum, while still suggesting a more liberated attitude than his suit-and-tie comrades.

This timeless sweater style is still considerably available to find 60 years later, offered among the wares at Bloomingdale’s, Brooks Brothers, Cashmere Heartland, Gobi, Lona Scott, and State Cashmere, among others, as well as affordable cotton alternatives from Amazon Essentials for those whose budget, skin sensitivity, or general preference would exclude cashmere.

Dark gray wool trousers provide a neutral, grounded bottom half against McQueen’s light sweater. These flat front trousers have gently slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets (with a button through the back right), and plain-hemmed bottoms. McQueen holds them up with a plain black leather belt with a silver-toned single-prong buckle.

A tale of two civvies: Beau deconstructed in his mothballed suit, Fergie slipping into a sweater and slacks.

McQueen’s ribbed socks may be a shade darker than his gray slacks, but they otherwise provide near-perfect continuity of the leg line into his penny loafers. Maine-based manufacturer G.H. Bass popularized this style of footwear when it launched the “Weejun” shoe in the mid-1930s, becoming an Ivy staple over the decades to follow. The legend that prep students kept a penny in the diamond-cutout saddle slot gave rise to the term “penny loafer” that many contemporary shoemakers use to market their loafers to this day, including Bass itself with their Bradford model. (Aspiring kings of cool may also look to Bass’ Larson or Whitney weejuns to complete their Ferg-alicious look.)

McQueen wears oxblood leather penny loafers that coordinate and complement—rather than outright matching—his black leather belt, a variation on the “rule” suggesting gents should match their belt and shoe leather. Of course, the casual nature of his outfit—presumably donned primarily to lounge around his hotel suite—would override any strict sartorial expectations, as may the fact that McQueen’s untucked sweater would cover his belt… when he’s not being acrobatically pushed over the room’s furniture, of course.

The shoemaker may be discerned from the bottoms of the hard tan leather soles, though the shoes’ profile and the signature “beef roll” stitching on each side of the saddle straps suggests that McQueen may indeed be wearing genuine Bass Weejuns.

Note LT Howard’s discarded Service Dress White uniform tunic on the bed as he slips into his loafers for the day.

Before he’d strap on iconic timepieces like the Rolex Submariner or the Le Mans-era Heuer Monaco, McQueen wears a stainless steel wristwatch in The Honeymoon Machine, detailed with a white dial (with silver sub-registers at the 9:00 and 3:00 positions) and worn on a unique bracelet that appears to be accented with gold-finished inlays.

Famously a southpaw, McQueen wears his watch on his right wrist, balanced by a wide-surfaced silver signet ring on the third finger of his left hand that may be personalized with an engraved monogram.

Fergie makes a date with Julie.

What to Imbibe

Upon arriving in Venice, Fergie makes an expensive order from room service, requesting “two bottles of Scotch, two bourbon, two vodka, one gin, one vermouth, one cognac.”

Evidently, champagne would also be delivered as he mixes up “a mild concoction of brandy, vodka, and champagne” to toast with Julie at the start of their date that evening, though the intimacy devolves into chaos once their scheme—and liquor collection—envelops more and more people, including the clueless signalman Burford Taylor (Jack Weston).

Fergie, Julie, and the newly engaged Jason and Pam (Paula Prentiss) are joined by the bourbon-swilling Signalman Taylor. Fergie appears to have switched to straight gin on the rocks.

How to Get the Look

This contemporary poster for The Honeymoon Machine depicts Steve McQueen in the white sneakers he wore for the promotional photos rather than the Weejuns seen on screen.

Before changing into his suit for the evening to match his partners-in-crime, Steve McQueen looks characteristically cool, casual, and comfortable in his simple spring-friendly outfit of a powder-blue pullover sweater, gray slacks, and penny loafers.

• Powder-blue cashmere long-sleeve V-neck sweater
• Dark gray wool flat front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with silver single-prong buckle
• Oxblood leather penny loafers
• Dark gray ribbed socks
• Silver monogrammed signet ring
• Steel watch with white dial (with two silver sub-dials) on gold-inlaid steel bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

You know, there was once a great philosopher named Nietzsche who said “live dangerously, it’s the only time you live at all.”

The post The Honeymoon Machine: Steve McQueen’s Blue Sweater appeared first on BAMF Style.

James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981)

Vitals

James Caan as Frank, professional jewel thief

Chicago, Spring 1980

Film: Thief
Release Date: March 27, 1981
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Supervisor: Jodie Lynn Tillen

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Considered by many to be one of the director’s best movies, Michal Mann’s debut Thief was released in theaters 40 years ago today. Thief established many of what would become Mann trademarks, from its “principled” yet ruthless professional character who expertly handles a .45 to the setting city elevated to a secondary character itself, particularly its less glamorous underbelly as photographed at night. (Originally titled Violent Streets, even the one-word title would become a Mann signature as evidenced by his future features Ali, Blackhat, Collateral, Heat, and Manhunter.)

Mann adapted the 1975 novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar by real-life thief John Seybold (writing as “Frank Hohimer”) for his screen debut, retaining the first name of Seybold’s nom de plume for the taciturn thief that would be memorably played by James Caan, who celebrated his 81st birthday yesterday.

After Frank gets stiffed following a big heist, he requests a meeting to demand his cut… leading to a “business” opportunity with Leo, a dangerous yet deceptively avuncular Chicago Outfit boss played by Robert Prosky in his first credit screen role. The meeting may be professionally fortuitous for Frank, but it dents his personal life by making him late for a date with Jessie (Tuesday Weld), the attractive waitress at his favorite diner. The two make amends over late night coffee, during which Frank opens himself up to her by sharing a story of how his mental attitude helped him survive eleven years in prison, resisting brutal inmates and guards while adopting a sense of pragmatic nihilism:

So you know what happens? Nothing. Nothing happens. ’cause I don’t mean nothing to myself. I don’t care about me. I don’t care about nothing. And I know from that day that I survive, because I achieved that mental attitude…

Caan’s acclaimed monologue is considered a high point in Thief, and the actor has stated that he found this particular scene to be a shining moment in his career.

What’d He Wear?

When you think of a leather jacket, what comes to mind? A classic brown goatskin flight jacket or maybe a weathered black horsehide motorcycle jacket… what, no gray?

James Caan’s wardrobe as Frank boasts not one but two gray leather jackets, one a trendy blouson and the other a longer belted coat. Today’s post focuses on the former after the response to my last post about Frank’s black flight jacket signaled there would be continued interest in learning about his style.

Frank generally wears timeless clothing, though this dark gray leather blouson may be his most significant concession to trending fashions of the early ’80s. The hip-length jacket has a convertible standing collar with a button to fasten at the top that can be flattened into narrow but widely notched lapels, finished along the edges with sporty welted stitching. Three low-slung buttons are positioned below the right lapel and the straight-hemmed bottom of the jacket.

Not that the famously square-shouldered Caan needs the boost, but the shoulders are padded with shirring along the seams at the top of each raglan sleeve. The sleeves are finished at the wrists with swelled-edge, squared cuffs that close through two buttons, though Frank typically wears these cuffs undone. A slanted opening is cut into each side for Frank’s hand pockets, and the two set-in chest pockets each have a horizontally positioned brass zipper to close.

I wear $150 slacks! I wear silk shirts! I wear $800 suits! I wear a gold watch, and I wear a perfect D, flawless, 3-carat ring! I change cars like other guys change their fuckin’ shoes! I’m a thief, I been in prison, alright?

Frank uses his expensive wardrobe to justify the complexities of his work. Though his leather jacket and jeans wouldn’t qualify into the $800 suit or $150 trouser categories, the sheen and soft folds of his garnet long-sleeved shirt back up his stated preference for silken cloths. The shirt has a point collar, though Frank keeps the top two buttons of the plain “French placket” front undone, wearing the shirt open over the neck and upper chest. Unlike the jacket, Frank wears the shirt’s barrel cuffs buttoned.

Frank knows the key to a woman’s heart is to show her your Willie Nelson-anchored vision board.

Despite their reputation for quality, “I wear Levi’s jeans!” wouldn’t have been much of a boast if Frank was truly to prove how much he could afford to spend on clothing as a new pair of 501s could be purchased for around ten bucks at the time. Frank wears his blue denim Levi’s sans belt.

Under the surveilling eyes of local law enforcement, Frank and Leo cement their unholy alliance.

Frank wears tan nubuck leather work boots with heavy lugged soles and five or six derby-style eyelets for the flat beige laces.

And now that “perfect D, flawless, 3-carat ring,” which he later specifies is “3.2-carat emerald cut.” An experienced jewel thief, Frank would have exactly the ring he wants, wearing this shiner mounted in a gold pinky ring worn on his left hand. Let’s break down Frank’s ring using the “four Cs”, a system I for which I had to familiarize myself with while shopping for engagement rings last summer!

• Color: The “perfect D” refers to color and, indeed, D is said to be the highest grade of colorless diamonds on a 23-grade scale.
• Cut: Frank doesn’t give us any specific guidance regarding the correctness of the cut (“cut” does not refer to shape, so his “emerald-cut” description doesn’t apply here), but we can imagine that he would prefer an SI (Super Ideal) cut.
• Clarity: Frank twice calls his ring “flawless” which, rather than just being a superfluous description, refers to the clarity on a scale of 11 ratings that ranges from FL (Flawless) at the top end to I (Included) at the low range. To be considered “flawless”, a diamond must appear perfect with no internal flaws or blemishes at 10x magnification.
• Carat: Frank specifies that he wears a 3.2 carat diamond, referring specifically to the weight. It doesn’t refer specifically to size, though it’s reasonable to expect that a 3.2-carat diamond would fall around 9.5×7.5mm for an emerald cut (according to brilliance.com).

Taking just the color, cut, and clarity into consideration, a diamond like this would start at around $10,000 today, a dollar amount that you could realistically expect to be more than tripled for the 3.2-carat size. When I entered Frank’s specifications into a calculator at Washington Diamond, the final total was more than $154,000!

Frank’s yellow gold watch hasn’t been conclusively identified (at least not by any sources I’ve seen), though we see some details in the coffee shop with Jessie when he flashes its flat squared case and the white square dial with black Roman numeral hour markers.

Any thoughts on Frank’s watch?

The nighttime-set opening scene shows Frank leaving the scene of a heist, pulling an almost identical gray leather jacket from the back of his Cadillac and pulling it on over a bright blue cotton raglan-sleeved sweatshirt tucked into his blue Lee jeans. We can tell these are Lees and not Levi’s because of the “Lee”-printed tan leather patch on the back right of the belt line as well as the smaller black branded patch—with “Lee” embroidered in yellow—along the top of the back right pocket.

Though the jacket is only briefly seen worn with this outfit, the promotional photo of Caan wearing it over his blue sweatshirt while leaning against a pillar supporting an L-train on the darkened streets of Chicago has become an enduring image from Thief, even used at the top of this page! (Note the slight differences between that jacket and the one worn in the diner; this earlier-seen jacket has a leather band across the jacket’s center while the diner-worn jacket lacks this band and has zip-closed chest pockets.)

The bold color of Frank’s blue sweatshirt portends the iconic pastels that costume designer Jodie Lynn Tillen would make famous in her next collaboration with Michael Mann, dressing Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas across the first season of Miami Vice.

The Gun

Like all criminal pros in the MCU (Mann Cinematic Universe), Frank relies on the stopping power of the .45 ACP cartridge for his primary sidearm. Depending on the work ahead of him, Frank cycles through a pair of 1911-style semi-automatic pistols. A “longslide” Colt Government 1911 customized by Jim Hoag for the production gets pressed into action for heavier-duty work like infiltrating Leo’s home, while everyday carry calls for the slightly smaller Colt Combat Commander, chrome-finished and—according to IMFDB—customized with an adjustable Bo-Mar rear sight and skeletonized hammer.

The pistol is most clearly seen when Frank pulls it from his jeans to intimidate a bar bouncer (William Peterson, making his screen debut). While not as sizable as a full, 5″-barreled 1911 service pistol, Colt’s downsized Commander variant is still a substantial and heavy pistol for concealed carry, particularly when slung in the waistband of Frank’s jeans rather than in a holster.

Frank keeps his 1911 “cocked and locked” with the hammer cocked and thumb safety engaged, known as “condition one” to firearms experts and the recommended readiness condition for those who carry it as it can be quickly engaged for combat while still requiring two safeties to be disengaged before firing. From a safety perspective, I’m still not wild about Frank foregoing a holster, but he seems to know what he’s doing…

Colt developed the Commander after World War II, in response to the U.S. military’s request for lighter alternative to the M1911A1 that could be issued to officers. The government stipulated that this new pistol should weigh no more than 25 ounces and measure less than seven inches long; for reference, the standard, 8.5″-long M1911A1 weighed 39 ounces. To account for the downsizing, the government stipulated that the pistol be 9×19 mm Parabellum rather than .45 ACP.

Colt modified John Browning’s original 1911 design to address these parameters, using an aluminum alloy frame and shortening the barrel length to 4.25 inches to lessen the weight to 27 ounces. This was evidently close enough, as the design was approved over competition from Fabrique Nationale, Inglis, and Smith & Wesson. The Colt Commander went into government and civilian production in 1950 as the first mass-produced semi-automatic pistol to have an alloy frame as well as Colt’s first 9mm handgun, though variants were offered in the high-pressure .38 Super and powerful .45 ACP from the outset. As the Commander grew steadily more popular, Colt refreshed the weapon in 1970 with an all-steel frame that offered the shooting experience of a full-size 1911 in a Commander-size package. This new model was designated the Colt Combat Commander while the lighter, alloy-framed pistol was renamed the Colt Lightweight Commander.

Despite these lighter options available, Frank still chooses the heavier steel-framed Combat Commander in .45 ACP for his daily carry, only three ounces lighter than a full-size 1911. Dick Williams explains why serious shooters may still opt for the heavier model in his 2018 history of the Commander model for Shooting Illustrated: “Shooting a lighter 1911 with a shorter slide does pose some problems, particularly for relatively inexperienced shooters. For example, when shooting the .45 ACP original lightweight Commander after firing a full-size, all-steel 1911, the 3⁄4-inch shorter slide and 9 ounce lighter gun can’t help but make you notice the increase in felt recoil, even for an experienced shooter.”

How to Get the Look

James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981)

Frank may brag about his ability to spend hundreds of dollars on his suits, slacks, and shirts, but he can also dress fashionably on a budget, wearing a unique gray leather blouson detailed consistent with ’80s trends as well as his function-informed Levi’s jeans and work boots… though the silky wine-colored shirt, gold watch, and diamond pinky ring arguably increase the net value of his ensemble.

• Dark gray leather blouson jacket with convertible notch lapels, low 3-button front, raglan sleeves with two-button cuffs, straight-zip chest pockets, and slanted hand pockets
• Garnet-colored silk long-sleeve shirt with point collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Medium-dark blue denim Levi’s jeans
• Tan nubuck leather derby-laced work boots
• Gold pinky ring with emerald-cut diamond
• Gold watch with white square dial on gold expanding bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I am a straight arrow, I’m a true blue kind of a guy. I been cool. I am now unmarried, so let’s cut the mini-moves and the bullshit and get on with this big romance!

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