Denzel Washington and Lymari Nadal as Frank Lucas and Eva Lucas in American Gangster (2007).
Vitals
Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, heroin kingpin
Harlem, Summer 1971
Film: American Gangster Release Date: November 2, 2007 Director: Ridley Scott Costume Designer: Janty Yates
Background
For BAMF Style, the week leading up to Valentine’s Day always means a Week of Weddings, focusing on how some of the greatest on-screen tough guys dress up for their big day.
American Gangster depicts the rise and fall of heroin trafficker Frank Lucas and his disputed claims of smuggling dope home in the caskets of American servicemen who had died during the Vietnam War. He meets the Puerto Rican beauty queen Eva (her real name was Julianna) at his nightclub, and the two are soon married.
What’d He Wear?
If Casino and American Gangster tell us anything, it’s that gangsters in the early ’70s wore white-on-white ties under black peak-lapel single-breasted suits for their nuptials.
Frank Lucas walks down the aisle in a very distinctive black wool dinner suit with satin accents at nearly every turn. The single-breasted jacket has sharp peak lapels with satin facings. Both the welted breast pocket and the rear-slanted welted hip pockets have satin-faced besoms. To provide some extra celebratory pop to his jacket, Frank has a white boutonnière pinned to his left lapel and a white silk handkerchief – with black edges – folded into his breast pocket.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Lucas greet their friends and family and fellow gangsters.
All of the buttons on Frank’s dinner jacket are flat plastic with a metallic sheen. The jacket is worn closed in the front with a single button, and there are four buttons on each cuff.
The flat front suit trousers have side pockets. They have a large, comfortable fit throughout down to the slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms which have a full break over Frank’s black leather slip-on loafers, a surprisingly informal choice of footwear for such an important day in Frank’s life.
This brief glimpse at Frank’s surprisingly informal shoes also shows off his jacket and shirt cuffs.
In honor of the traditional purity symbolized in most weddings, Frank wears all white beneath his suit. His textured dress shirt has a large spread collar and French cuffs. This appears to be the same shirt he had worn earlier with a brown suit during his arrest.
Frank’s silk necktie is an ivory shade warmer than his white shirt and waistcoat. He ties it with a wide Windsor knot and fastens it into place high on his chest where the vest breaks. His tie pin, like his cuff links, is round and black with silver edges.
Although false-back vests were already popular by the time of Frank’s wedding in the summer of 1971, his white silk paisley-printed waistcoat appears to be the real deal with a high-fastening 6-button single-breasted front and a full back.
When he’s sitting in front of the fire at home after having taken off his jacket, the shoulders appear to have the thin straps indicating a false-backed vest, but the shot of Frank ascending his spiral stairs clearly shows a fully-backed vest.
Go Big or Go Home – Wedding Edition
The Venue
Frank and Eva enjoy a nice service at a Baptist church and Harlem until…
Notable Guests
…that bastard Detective Trupo shows up and ruins everything with his veiled threats.
This production photo makes me wonder if Frank’s suit is actually midnight blue, which would make sense…
Frank’s wedding attire is far more black and white than his dubious morality.
Black wool formal suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with satin-faced peak lapels, satin-faced welt breast pocket, satin-faced slanted welt hip pockets, and 4-button cuffs
Flat front trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
Ivory paisley-printed silk single-breasted 6-button vest with notched bottom
White textured silk shirt with large spread collar and double/French cuffs
Ivory silk necktie, tied in Windsor knot
Silver-edged black round cuff links
Silver-edged black tie pin
Black patent leather plain-toe loafers
Black dress socks
Although not typically one for flashiness, Frank lets himself enjoy the celebratory nature of the day by pinning a white boutonnière to his lapel and folding a black-trimmed white silk display kerchief into his jacket breast pocket.
Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood in “Chapter 33” of House of Cards (2015).
Vitals
Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, ruthless and calculating U.S. President
Gaffney, SC, August 2015
Series:House of Cards Episode: “Chapter 33” (Episode 3.07) Streaming Date: February 27, 2015 Director: John Dahl Costume Designer: Johanna Argan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Week of Weddings comes to an end with a subdued renewal of vows for that coldest of TV couples, Frank and Claire Underwood.
“Chapter 33” is a particularly meditative episode for a show that has found its lead character throw another major character in front of a train. The episode uses the creation and subsequent destruction of a Hindu mandala to tell the story of the unorthodox Underwood marriage. While political murders and extramarital affairs aren’t enough to kill their marriage, the President and his wife find themselves more divided than ever after the events of the previous episode. It’s significant that they return to the original church in Gaffney where their formation was created in order to rejuvenate their relationship, and it’s while talking to Yates in front of their first home together that he can admit:
I can tell you this, though, there would have been no White House without Claire.
Of course, Gaffney was also the place where Frank Underwood was created, and it is here – through the increasingly less biased eyes of biographer Thomas Yates – that he is as removed from his ruthless political self as possible. He is disarmingly introspective and charismatic, pouring out stories and wisdom though it were from a bottle of Bourbon in his office.
What’d He Wear?
As a son of South Carolina, Frank Underwood assumes the role of the ultimate Dixie gentleman for his pilgrimage to his hometown, sporting the Southern summer classic of an off-white linen suit. The actual cream linen suit worn by Underwood was custom-made and tailored for the production by the show’s costume designer Johanna Argan.
The suit’s single-breasted jacket has slim notch lapels – with a buttonhole through the left lapel – that roll to the top of the two-button stance. It has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and double vents.
The wrinkles in Frank’s linen suit evoke the wrinkles in time that take him back to his roots in Gaffney. (This is a stretch. Linen just happens to wrinkle very easily.)
Prior to the vow renewal ceremony, Frank pays a visit to his tailor. The tailor advises, “I want to take the sleeves up a touch,” but Frank refuses. “Oh, I think they’re perfect,” he responds. Of course, the wise tailor was correct as the sleeves – which have roping at the heads and 3-button cuffs at the ends – are certainly too long.
Frank’s suit trousers have a flat front and a medium rise to just below his waist. He often places his hands in the trouser side pockets, and both back pockets are jetted – although only the left one has a button. The trousers have a comfortably large fit, as linen is uncomfortable when too tight, and plain-hemmed bottoms.
Frank takes Yates to his old homestead, where both unravel a secret or two.
The styling and tailoring of the suit are very similar to the blue linen suit that Underwood sports when he returns to the Oval Office in the following episode, “Chapter 34”.
Frank’s plain white cotton dress shirt looks especially stark against Spacey’s warm complexion and the buttery cream linen of the suit. Although white is often unflattering for this combination, it does serve to remind both Yates and the audience that this man exploring his small town roots can’t cover up his dark, sinister self with just a brightly-colored suit.
Frank Underwood shows just how versatile a white shirt can be, looking totally different with off-white linen than with a dark business suit.
The shirt has a front placket and no breast pocket. The collar appears to have concealed buttons that fasten it close to the shirt; at least the right one appears to be fastened while the left one sometimes hangs free. The aforementioned long sleeves of the jacket cover the wrists, but the shirt appears to have plain button cuffs.
Frank’s undershirt is his usual white cotton crew neck short-sleeve t-shirt, which he wears without his dress shirt when visiting his tailor.
Frank follows one of the better-known rules of fashion by matching his belt and shoes; he wears a pair of dark brown leather cap-toe bluchers with brown socks.
Even the President’s watch adheres to the earthtone guidelines of the outfit. Spacey, an IWC ambassador, wears only IWC wristwatches in his role as Frank Underwood, and this watch appears to be a yellow gold IWC Portuguese 7 Day Power Reserve with a white dial and two white sub-dials, worn on a dark brown leather strap. This watch first appeared halfway through the second season when Frank Underwood was still Vice President Frank Underwood.
Frank wears both his class ring and his wedding band, and it’s worth noting that each ring holds regional significance in this episode. His class ring from “The Sentinel” is based on the gem-less, heavy 10-karat gold ring worn by graduates of The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina. The year “1981” was seen inscribed on Frank’s ring when he buried it in “Chapter 18”, eight episodes before receiving a replacement from Claire as a pre-birthday gift. He wears his Sentinel ring on the third finger of his right hand.
On the third finger of his left hand, Frank wears the plain gold wedding band that he first wore when marrying Claire in that same church in Gaffney.
Go Big or Go Home – Wedding Edition
Not quite a wedding since they’re actually renewing their vows (and a lot of good that does), the Underwoods return to the same church in Gaffney, South Carolina where they were originally married 28 years earlier.
Frank Underwood is certainly more at home in a dark political power suit, but he knows he has to play the part of the authentic Southerner when returning to Carolina. Plus, cream linen is very comfortable in the heat of a Dixie summer.
Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double rear vents
Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton dress shirt with concealed-button collar, front placket, and button cuffs
Dark brown leather cap-toe bluchers
Brown dress socks
Dark brown leather belt with polished steel single-claw buckle
IWC Portuguese 7 Day Power Reserve wristwatch with round gold case, white dial with two white sub-dials, and brown leather strap
Gold “Sentinel” class ring
Gold plain wedding band
White cotton crew neck short-sleeve undershirt
Do Yourself a Favor and…
House of Cards was one of the early shows to help establish Netflix as a TV force to be reckoned with, but traditionalists can still pick up the firstImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view., secondImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view., and thirdImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view. seasons on DVD. And keep an eye out for season 4, premiering on Netflix on March 4!
The Quote
Hard work is only worth it in the right conditions.
Footnotes
Appropriately enough for this Presidential post, I’m in Washington D.C. for the weekend with my sister and her husband to see Oh Hello at the Warner Theatre. For anyone who doesn’t know, Oh Hello finds Nick Kroll and John Mulaney reprising their Kroll Show characters as two cantankerous New Yorkers who try much too hard to “prank” their guests with Too Much Tuna.
Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964).
Vitals
Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom, professional mob hitman
Miami, Fall 1963
Film:The Killers Release Date: July 7, 1964 Director: Don Siegel Costume Designer: Helen Colvig
Background
Tomorrow would have been the birthday of Lee Marvin, who was born in New York on February 19, 1924. After his WWII service with the Marine Corps, Marvin spent a few decades acting before lighting up the screen as introspective assassin Charlie Strom in Don Siegel’s adaptation of The Killers. In addition to his first top-billed film role, The Killers also led to Marvin winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor (in addition to his role in Cat Ballou).
The story originated as an Ernest Hemingway short story in 1927 and was first filmed in 1946 with Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and William “Fatman McCabe” Conrad in his first credited role. In a rare instance of an author appreciating the cinematic adaptation of his work, Hemingway was reportedly quite pleased with this now-classic film noir that borrowed his words for the opening act before taking audiences through the totally original story co-penned by Richard Brooks, Anthony Veiller, and John Huston.
In 1964, Don Siegel directed this remake which appropriately brought the two titular assassins – played here by Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager – to the forefront. Siegel and screenwriter Gene L. Coon avoided the issues that plague most remakes by totally revamping the story and characters while maintaining the opening premise and violent tone that hooked readers and viewers for the last four decades. The blog Immortal Ephemera pays tribute to both adaptations and draws out the strength of this newer version:
For me it took the 1964 Don Siegel movie version of The Killers to realize the true genius of Hemingway’s story. That movie is a further step removed from the text, more a movie remake than straight adaptation of the Hemingway story. The Siegel film retains the killers, removes the Nick Adams character, but leaves Lee Marvin’s hitman character to obsess over all that had first puzzled Nick when the story was first published in Scribner’s in 1927.
The Killers begins with its two laconic hitmen, Charlie (Marvin) and Lee (Gulager) striding into a school for the blind, searching for a teacher named Johnny North (John Cassavetes). North receives a warning call, but he calmly waits at his desk as Charlie and Lee swiftly gun him down. The psychotic Lee is satisfied by the large payout coming their way, but Charlie is bothered by North’s acceptance of his fate and determines that there is more to the story.
What’d He Wear?
Charlie Strom’s light gray semi-solid silk two-piece suit immediately differentiates him as an outsider in the bucolic school for the blind in the opening act. In fact, Johnny North probably chose a place like this to hide since any professional killer in a silk suit would draw attention immediately.
Charlie’s silk suit is more fitting when he goes to Miami, but even then his mechanic shop surroundings provide a clear contrast to his urban gangster ensemble.
The single-breasted suit jacket has slim notch lapels that roll down to the two-button front, which Charlie alternates between wearing with either only the top button closed (for sartorial correctness) or only the bottom button closed (to keep his jacket closed while allowing him easier access to his large revolver holstered underneath it.)
Charlie’s jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight hip pockets with slim flaps. The shoulders are padded, and the sleeveheads are roped with two buttons at the end on each cuff. The back has short double side vents.
Since he keeps his jacket closed throughout this brief opening scene, the only confirmed detail about Charlie’s flat front trousers are the cuffed bottoms with their tall turn-ups. At 6’2″, Lee Marvin can get away with taller cuffs on his trousers without sacrificing the appearance of his own height.
Each of Charlie’s suits in the film is differently styled, but the trousers seem to be consistent with on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets with button loops, and belt loops, through which he wears a black belt when wearing black shoes. I think we can reasonably assume that Charlie’s trousers are similar to his others when it comes to some of these details.
Charlie wears a white dress shirt with a spread collar and single-button squared cuffs. When relaxing on the train, he takes off his jacket and tie to reveal a front placket and pointed-bottom breast pocket.
Charlie’s tie typically matches his suit, and his slim silver silk necktie with this outfit is no exception. The tie has a short length, and the pointed tip falls out of his jacket when he leans over with only the bottom button fastened.
Charlie struts down the school hall in black calf leather 2-eyelet derby shoes with cap toes. Rather than matching his socks to his trousers, he wears a pair of black dress socks, likely made of thin silk.
Although Lee has swagger, Charlie is clearly the leader of the two hitmen.
To show his cool indifference for his surroundings, Charlie keeps on both his hat and sunglasses while inside the school.
Even Charlie’s hat indicates his preference for sticking to shades of gray. Both the felt fedora and its wide grosgrain ribbon are darker gray, with a small red feather pinned into the bow on the ribbon’s left side. The fedora’s short brim is snapped down in the front.
Charlie’s sunglasses have thick brown plastic frames with dark green lenses.
Either he’s blatantly indifferent to the school’s sense of decorum or Charlie Strom is nursing one hell of a hangover.
Although not very clearly seen here, Charlie appears to be wearing a stainless non-date Rolex Submariner 5513 with a black dial and black bezel on a stainless link bracelet. It is best seen when wearing his Glen plaid suit to lock Norman Fell into a sweatbox or when wearing his blue suit and firing his suppressed .357 during the gunfight finale.
Unlike other professional killers, Charlie Strom doesn’t care that his sharp clothing draws attention. In fact, he seems to relish looking every bit the intimidating gangster.
Light gray semi-solid silk suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slim-flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and short double rear vents
Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
White dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button cuffs
Silver silk necktie
Black leather 2-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes
Black thin dress socks
Gray felt short-brimmed fedora with wide dark gray grosgrain ribbon
Brown plastic-framed sunglasses with dark green lenses
Rolex Submariner 5513 with stainless case, black dial, and black bezel on stainless link bracelet
The Gun
Charlie’s weapon of choice for the opening hit is the same blued Smith & Wesson Model 27 that he would use during the finale.
Interestingly, the revolver is fitted with a somewhat silly-looking “soup can” suppressor; while movies, TV, and books always like to outfit its professional hitmen with intimidating-looking “silencers”, it’s not often realized that the gas escaping through the cylinder makes a suppressor on a revolver practically useless. (Plus, Strom kills most of his victims in broad daylight with plenty of witnesses… what good would it do to silence the sound?)
Despite the relatively useless suppressor, Charlie’s weapon of choice is far from useless itself. Smith & Wesson first introduced the venerable .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935 for its Registered Magnum model. The .357 Magnum quickly gained a reputation as a powerful and reliable self-defense round, and shooters also appreciated that .38 Special rounds could be fired from a .357 revolver. When Smith & Wesson began numbering its models in the mid-1950s, the large carbon-steel N-frame .357 Magnum was officially designated the Model 27.
The movie’s titular killers, doing what they do best.
Charlie Strom is clearly a fiercely independent, unique brand of assassin. He’s confident striding into a hit, wearing a flashy suit and blowing away his victim in a room full of witnesses, then he takes the time afterward to actually think about what he’s just done. It makes sense that he would carry distinctive weapons like the Model 27 and, as a backup, a Single Action Army holstered to his belt (as we’ll see later). While revolvers and semi-automatic pistols each offer their own relative pros and cons, one major benefit of a revolver to a hitman like Charlie would be the lack of ejected shells (and thus evidence) left on the scene.
For his next violent revenge-crime flick, Point Blank, Lee Marvin would “upgrade” to the large-framed Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie. The Criterion CollectionImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view. offers a dual-pack with the original 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster as well as this 1964 update.
The Quote
I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run… why, all of a sudden, he’d rather die.
Dean Martin as Sam Harmon in Ocean’s Eleven (1960).
Vitals
Dean Martin as Sam Harmon, lounge singer, war veteran, and casino heister
Beverly Hills to Las Vegas, December 1959 through January 1960
Film:Ocean’s Eleven Release Date: August 10, 1960 Director: Lewis Milestone Costume Designer: Howard Shoup Tailor: Sy Devore
Background
The height of the Rat Pack’s heyday was 1960. Frank’s buddy Jack was elected into the White House, Marilyn was still alive, and the whole gang was living it up in Vegas while filming Ocean’s Eleven. The movie began after Peter Lawford heard the story from Gilbert Kay, who had heard it from a gas station attendant. Once Frank Sinatra was on board, there was no doubt that his famous pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. would fill out the rest of the top billing.
It was while filming the movie’s finale, an irony-laden funereal march in front of The Sands, that one of the most iconic of Rat Pack images was captured: the five main performers – Sinatra, Dino, Sammy, Lawford, and Joey Bishop – in front of their names on the Sands’ marquee. Suited up by the legendary Sy Devore, the five men look like they could run the world. And in Las Vegas, they did.
What’d He Wear?
Sam Harmon makes his first appearance in Ocean’s Eleven when he steps off a plane in Beverly Hills wearing a medium gray semi-solid wool suit, tailored especially for him by Sy Devore, the “tailor to the stars” who kept the Rat Pak sharkskin-sharp.
Martin was a regular customer of Devore’s, and a Los Angeles Timesarticle written in the wake of the Ocean’s Eleven remake in 2001 and posted on SyDevore.com states that “Dino’s collar is slightly higher on the neck,” as he preferred.
Given Devore’s expensive-at-the-time price of $285 for a custom-made suit (or $200 for a sport coat and $85 for slacks), it makes sense to see Sam Harmon dressing efficiently throughout the movie, wearing only one suit (this one), two sport jackets, and – since he’s Dean Martin – a sharp dark tuxedo. Dino himself had a very economic sense of style, wearing the same clothes over the course of several years as opposed to his comedic partner Jerry Lewis. Despite Martin’s more debonair reputation, it was Lewis who was referred to in the article as “the biggest Devore clotheshorse in town” due to his sartorial habits of giving away suits at the first sign of soiling and never wearing a pair of socks more than once.
Martin’s gray suitcoat in Ocean’s Eleven is styled and tailored very similarly to his brown and blue striped sport jackets. The single-breasted jacket has a low two-button front and wide, padded shoulders that nicely reflect the relaxed, swinging demeanor of both the character and the actor. It also 3-button cuffs and the short double side vents that were fashionable throughout the early ’60s.
The suit jacket’s two hip pockets and the breast pocket are square patch pockets as seen on his other jackets. A dark red printed silk handkerchief cheekily pokes out from the breast pocket.
Sam’s jaunty, playful swagger would be reasonably snuffed out after the death of a brother-in-arms.
Martin’s flat front suit trousers have slanted side pockets – often for his hands – and plain-hemmed bottoms. He never unbuttons his jacket so additional details remain unseen, but they’re likely styled like his other trousers with belt loops and a jetted right rear pocket that closes with a button.
Dean Martin wears his usual white cotton shirts with button-down collars with every outfit in Ocean’s Eleven without exception, even when clad in his tux. The shirts, which Devore would create for $25 each, also had a front placket and button cuffs. Martin would request the button-down collars on his shirts to rise high on the neck, creating a substantially large collar that would dwarf the tight tie knots.
Both of Sam Harmon’s ties with this outfit are slim patterned silk ties. When first seen at the Beverly Hills airport, Sam wears a gray silk tie printed with repeating clusters of four silver dots connected in the center by a smaller black dot.
Sam establishes his look of slim ties and a big collar.
For the funeral finale in Vegas, Sam wears a more somber tie with wide right-down-to-left stripes that alternate between navy and burgundy. (A continuity error results in a different tie – the burgundy, dark navy, and forest green striped one previously seen swapped in with the brown striped jacket – worn while actually leaving the funeral during the credits. It’s this tie that shows up on the iconic poster seen above.)
Sam’s shoes are black leather plain-toe bluchers, worn with a pair of black silk dress socks.
Both of Dino’s accessories are sported on his left hand: a silver pinky ring and a steel chain-link bracelet.
As the very eloquent Teeritz once stated in a post on his blog, “Much has always been made of Frank Sinatra, his voice, and his legacy and I agree with most of it, but for me, Dino seemed like the one that I would rather have a smoke and a drink with. Even though the hard partying image that he portrayed on stage was a myth. His glass was usually filled with apple juice, not Scotch.”
Although Dean does look here like he just found out that even the prop bottle is only full of apple juice.
Although Sam Harmon grabs a bottle of J&B at Spyros’ house, it’s quite likely that the actual contents consumed were his usual apple juice. J&B Rare is a blend of 42 Scotch whiskies that was developed for the American market and exploded in popularity after the repeal of Prohibition. In addition to being a real-life favorite of Dean Martin’s, J&B was known to be the preferred spirit for Truman Capote, who would order it only by its full name “Justerini and Brooks”, named for the Bologna-born distiller Giacomo Justerini and the company’s eventual buyer Alfred Brooks. It does make sense that Dean Martin’s favorite Scotch would still have such a strong Italian influence…
How to Get the Look
Dean Martin’s Sam Harmon wears his sharp tailored suit in a variety of situations, from being the coolest guy to step off a plane to looking slick even during a funeral march.
Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone as the new Mr. and Mrs. Sam “Ace” Rothstein in Casino (1995).
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, Vegas casino executive and mob associate
Las Vegas, Spring 1974
Film:Casino Release Date: November 22, 1995 Director: Martin Scorsese Costume Design: John A. Dunn & Rita Ryack
Background
Many Americans are rocking green today for St. Patrick’s Day, so BAMF Style is taking a look at an all-green outfit sported by Robert De Niro in Casino, one of his 70 costume changes and part of the movie’s staggering $1 million costume budget.
In the context of the film timeline, De Niro’s “Ace” Rothstein isn’t buying shots of Jameson in a cheaply decorated bar or vomiting in an alleyway while a parade of leprechauns walks by; he’s taking his new wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) to their first new home after their marriage.
What’d He Wear?
Rita Ryack, one of Casino‘s costume designers, stated that the costumes were meant to reflect the chaos in the story, with more chaotic colors appearing as the events on screen unfold. This scene contains one of Ace’s most tranquil moments, so his monochromatic color scheme – while loud – indicates his rare inner peace. De Niro has said elsewhere on screen that “geniuses pick green”; while Ace is indeed a gambling genius, green is also an earthy color that symbolizes balance, stability, and rebirth. The workaholic Ace has found a life balance with his new life partner, and his trust in this beautiful young woman leads to a short-lived period of renewed energy and happiness.
A tale of two Aces: De Niro nails the vanity of a guy like Sam Rothstein who would constantly be checking to see that he looked his best during important moments of his life.
Though constructed from a different suiting, Ace’s light green Western-styled suit shares much of its styling and tailoring points with the ivory polyester suit he would later wear when confronting Ginger and Lester in the diner. The material is shiny, indicating the possibility of mohair or a mohair blend.
The single-breasted jacket has pointed Western-style yokes over each shoulder down onto the chest. The presence of the yokes means no breast pocket; the two flapped hip pockets sit straight on the waist. Both the yokes and the pocket flaps shine as a slightly more vivid shade of green under certain light.
The two buttons on the front of the jacket and the two buttons on the end of each cuff are steel. Edge swelling is present on the notch lapels, yokes, and pocket flaps. The shoulders are padded, and the sleeveheads are roped. Although the suit doesn’t receive much screen time, it appears to have the same “pinch-back” jacket as the ivory suit with a single pleat, half-belt, and single vent in the back.
Ace proudly presents Ginger with millions of dollars of jewelry… then tells her she has to keep it locked in a bank vault out of their home.
Ace’s matching suit trousers are flat front with an extended waistband tab that closes on the right with a concealed hook. They have straight on-seam side pockets and flared, plain-hemmed bottoms.
Ace flips to the other end of the green spectrum with his dark green silk shirt and matching tie. The very distinctive shirt has a large point collar, epaulettes (or “shoulder straps”) that button on the outside of the shoulder rather than against the collar, and two chest pockets that button closed through a mitred-edge flap. The left chest pocket flap is monogrammed with “S.R.” stitched in dark green on the pocket’s left edge.
Ginger tries to talk Ace into keeping at least one of her new jewelry pieces at home, but it would disrupt the nature of their business relationship marriage.
Ace’s shirt also incorporates the familiar “Lapidus cuff”, the unique cuff seen throughout the 1970s that close with a single button on a tab. In addition to many of Robert De Niro’s shirts in Casino, the Lapidus cuff made its way onto several of the Frank Foster shirts worn by Roger Moore during his tenure as James Bond.
Barely seen on screen, Ace wears a pair of olive alligator leather tassel loafers. Although the shoes follow Ace’s green theme for his outfit, he curiously breaks it up with his socks, a pair of thin brown silk dress socks with dark brown stripes.
Ace opts for all silver jewelry and accessories, wearing a flat all-steel watch with a square silver dial on his right wrist and a silver ring on his right pinky. This is the very scene where Ginger is gifted with millions of dollars worth of Bvlgari jewelry from Ace, but there’s still no confirmation if they were behind any of Ace’s bling.
Worth mentioning in any sartorial post about Casino is artist Ibraheem Youssef’s impressive tribute to all of De Niro’s various suits in Casino, found here.
Go Big or Go Home
Dinah Washington’s “Unforgettable” played during their otherwise forgettable marriage proposal, and now – at the end of their engagement – the title track of Dinah’s 1959 album What a Diff’rence a Day Makes! plays as Ace pulls up to their new home in his (anachronistic!) orange 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe.
Although the song was originally published in 1934 as “What a Diff’rence a Day Made“, Dinah’s rendition brings the action to the present tense. Her voice is full of hope and, backed by the inspiring orchestra conducted by arranger Belford Hendricks, the song surely reflects Ace at his happiest.
Of course with an abode like that, Ace’s palpable excitement is understandable. The house, located off the edge of the Las Vegas National Golf Course, belonged to hip hop mogul Suge Knight at the time of filming. A terrific post by David Latta explores the house – located at 3515 Cochise Lane – and some of its history. The 4,862 square-foot house is also listed on Zillow, citing that it was built in 1964 and boasts four bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The real Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and his wife dwelled in a slightly smaller but equally luxurious house only a few miles away, within the private Las Vegas Country Club.
The real Lefty’s home at 972 Vegas Valley Drive is currently for sale*, listed at $750,000 on Zillow. Lefty had the house built new for him and Geri (the real-life Ginger) in 1970, a year after they were married. The 3,266 square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and swank throughout from the bathroom to the pool. The house was evidently re-listed in January 2015.
* as of March 2016
How to Get the Look
Rarely can you gift someone a chinchilla coat and still be the loudest-dressed person in the room, but Ace Rothstein pulls it off with considerable aplomb. If you want to wear all green for St. Patrick’s Day, be wary that this isn’t a suit you’ll want to try to wash vomit out of.
Light green mohair Western-styled suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted pinch-back jacket with edge-stitched notch lapels, 2-button front (steel buttons), flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs (steel buttons), and pleated half-belt back with single rear vent
Flat front trousers with extended waistband tab, straight on-seam side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
Dark green silk dress shirt with large point collar, button-down epaulettes, and 1-button tab “Lapidus cuffs”
Dark green silk necktie
Olive alligator leather tassel loafers
Brown thin silk dress socks with dark stripes
Steel wristwatch with square silver dial and flat bracelet
Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, caddish Cockney car service driver
London, Spring 1962
Film:Alfie Release Date: March 24, 1966 Director: Lewis Gilbert Wardrobe Supervisor: Jean Fairlie Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
April showers in the spring are a fine reason to invest in a new raincoat, and – for all his faults – Alfie Elkins shows off a stylish example as he heads over to Emilio Scala Maternity Hospital to greet the product of his association with Gilda. Alfie is none too pleased with her choice of names:
Malcolm bleeding Alfred? He’ll never forgive you if you give him a name like that!
…but given his lack of involvement in either the child’s life or hers, I wouldn’t exactly believe that he deserves a say in the matter.
What’d He Wear?
Although it’s not raining when Alfie goes to visit his newborn son, it’s certainly a rainy day in the life of a previously unattached bachelor so he struts down Tite Street to the hospital in a distinctive khaki raincoat with brown leather accents.
Michael Caine walks down the street between a red phone booth and a Mini Cooper. Quite possibly one of the most British iamges ever.
Alfie wears the bottom two buttons of his waterproof cotton raincoat fastened, leaving the top button undone. The buttonhole through the left lapel indicates that there may possibly be a fourth button at the top under the collar. The coat has two patch pockets, each with a square-ended flap to close. Each pocket has a smaller square patch pocket overlaid with two brass grommets.
Alfie pays a visit to Gilda and the newly-dubbed Malcolm Alfred.
A pleat runs down the center of the back from the leather yoke down to the half-belted back, where the coat’s long single vent splits. Edge-stitching is present throughout the jacket with reinforced stitching around the bottom hem and on the pockets.
This is about as attentive as Alfie gets as a father.
The beaver-brown leather accents include a long rectangular yoke that runs across the back of both shoulders and round elbow patches on each sleeve.
Underneath, Alfie appears to be wearing the same navy blue mohair blend suit that he had previously bragged about (“a new Terylene and mohair”), tailored for Caine by Douglas Hayward. The single-breasted jacket has slim notch lapels that roll over the top button for a 3-roll-2 effect. The flat front trousers taper through the leg down to the plain-hemmed bottoms.
Alfie wears a pale pink poplin shirt and dark blue slim knit necktie. The long point collar buttons down on the shirt, and the squared cuffs close with a button. A product of the “swinging sixties”, Alfie wears black leather ankle boots that match his slim leather belt.
Fifty years before Frank Underwood was fighting for the Democratic nomination, Alfie Elkins was perfecting the art of breaking the fourth wall.
Alfie’s accessories include a gold pinky ring with a brown oval stone and a stainless watch on his left wrist with a black dial and steel rice-grain bracelet. (I previously guessed the watch to be an Omega Seamaster Automatic.)
Evidently, the coat belonged to Michael Caine in real life if this image from a photo shoot circa 1964-1965 is any indication.
Already got Alfie’s beloved blue mohair suit? Protect it from the elements with a leather-accented raincoat and you’ve got Michael Caine’s hip, swinging, Cockney style down!
Khaki waterproof cotton single-breasted 3-button raincoat with brown leather shoulder/elbow accents, flapped patch pockets, half-belted back, and long single vent
Navy blue mohair blend suit, tailored by Douglas Hayward, consisting of:
Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 3-roll-2 button front, welted breast pocket, rear-slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button functioning cuffs, and single rear vent
Flat front tapered-leg trousers with slim belt loops, on-seam side pockets, jetted rear pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Pale pink cotton poplin shirt with long button-down collar, plain front, and squared button cuffs
Dark blue slim knit necktie with flat bottom
Black narrow leather belt with small gold metal single-claw buckle
Black leather ankle boots
Black dress socks
Stainless wristwatch with a black dial on steel deployable-clasp bracelet
Gold pinky ring with a brown oval setting
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movieImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view..
The Quote
Mind you, she came over quite beautified for a time, especially in the early months. I told her, I says, “Blimey, girl, you ain’t as ugly as I thought.”
Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987).
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Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, unscrupulously successful Wall Street businessman
New York City, Spring 1985
Film:Wall Street Release Date: December 11, 1987 Director: Oliver Stone Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick Tailor: Alan Flusser
Background
BAMF Style is back to business on this Monday morning, taking a suggestion from commentors Jose, Andrey, and Ryan to heed the style – if not the business ethos – of Gordon Gekko, the corporate business raider of Wall Street who managed the task of making Charlie Sheen look like not such a bad guy.
“Greed…is good,” is how Wall Street is often best remembered, paraphrasing the famous speech given by Gekko while also summarizing his drive. Although frequently included in lists of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” (#57 by AFI and #70 by Premiere), it’s perhaps even more unnerving to know that it was inspired by the real words of stock trader Ivan Boesky. In 1986, the year before Wall Street was made, Boesky told the graduating class at the University of California:
Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.
Of course, Boesky became infamous for paying $100 million that year to the SEC to settle insider trading charges, but the damage was done and the dangerous “greed is good” mentality led to a generation redefining capitalism with unrestrained avarice. Two decades later, everyone from Australian PM Kevin Rudd to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone cited the “greed is good” ideology as a direct cause of the 2007 financial crisis. “It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed-is-good ideology,” realized Rudd in a 2008 speech. “We are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st-century children of Gordon Gekko.”
What’d He Wear?
Gray suits have been a businesswear staple for men since the first office was ever built, so it makes sense that the quintessential American business icon, Gordon Gekko, would have several lined up in his stable. An ardent follower of fashion, Gekko would know the impact of his clothes, so he dresses for power when he needs to look it the most. For a meeting at the 21 Club and later during the infamous “greed…is good” speech, Gekko wears the darkest of his gray suits, an intimidating charcoal wool double-breasted suit.
Gekko controls the room during the Teldar Papers shareholder meeting.
With its short fit and 4-on-1 buttoning double-breasted front, Gekko’s ventless suit jacket incorporates elements from the ’80s “power suit” although the shoulders – while padded – aren’t quite as boxy as the most prototypical examples. There is a buttonhole stitched through each of the jacket’s sweeping, wide peak lapels.
During his lunch at 21, an ornately printed silk kerchief in red, blue, and yellow pops from his welted breast pocket.
Gekko always keeps his double-breasted jacket closed, hiding most of the trouser details other than the straight cut through the legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. Based on most of his other trousers, it can be deduced that they likely have double forward pleats, and buckle-strap side adjusters either in lieu or in addition to suspenders.
Designed by Ellen Mirojnick for the film and tailored by the legendary Alan Flusser, the solemnity of Gekko’s charcoal suit allows him to explore more interesting shirt and tie patterns without looking too sartorially brash.
During the space-invading lunch with Bud at the 21 Club, Gekko wears one of his horizontally-striped shirts that received attention from the New York Times in this style section article from August 1988:
According to Alex Kabbaz, the vice president of Custom Shirts by Denhof, which made the horizontally striped shirts that Michael Douglas wore in ”Wall Street,” that film, plus the resurgence of double-breasted suits, has brought an increase in demand. But because they appeal to a small, sophisticated market and because they are difficult to construct, horizontally striped shirts are generally custom-made.
The article cites the history of the horizontally-striped shirt and its flattering pairing with double-breasted suits, indicating that Gekko would know more than the average man about fashion when putting his outfit together. (Although, once again, credit is due to Ellen Mirojnick!) The article further informs readers that Kabbaz made his first horizontally-striped dress shirt in 1983 for novelist Tom Wolfe, already known for his distinctive sartorial preferences.
Gekko’s shirt is white with charcoal stripes in contrasting directions; the collar striping is vertical while the rest of the shirt is horizontally-striped. The shirt has a front placket, double cuffs, and a slim collar with a wide spread. His silk tie has a black ground with bold yellow dots, secured by a tie bar.
Gekko’s charcoal suit is next seen at the Teldar Papers shareholder meeting, where he eventually delivers his “greed…is good” message. Though confident as a businessman, Gekko knows that flash won’t impress the old money types in the room, so he dresses more conservatively with a plain white dress shirt and a dark navy silk tie with white pin dots, held in place with a rakishly-angled gold tie bar that matches his rectangular gold cuff links. Like all of his shirts, this shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and double cuffs.
Gordon Gekko breaks workplace decorum by actually cracking a smile during a meeting.
Gekko wears black leather oxfords and dark – probably black – socks, saving the flash for the parts of his outfit that more people see.
Gold is most associated with opulence, so it’s no surprise to see it all over Gekko’s hands… perhaps as a subliminal message to investors that everything he touches turns to gold.
Though not clearly seen in these scenes, Gekko’s luxury watch is an 18-karat yellow gold Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée with a white square dial on a gold bracelet. On his right wrist, he often wears a thin gold chain-link bracelet. Also on his right hand, he wears a large gold signet ring on his pinky.
Go Big or Go Home
Gordon Gekko’s Machiavellian personality leaves little to be desired, but it was Michael Douglas’s preparation for his role as the ruthless capitalist outlaw that deserves the most attention and accolades. Impressed by the script – and particularly the length of his monologues – Douglas buried himself in research of corporate raiders like T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn. Icahn is supposedly one of many men who Oliver Stone used as a composite for the role, others including art collector Asher Edelman, agent Michael Ovitz, scandalized Wall Street hotshots David Brown, Ivan Boesky, Dennis Levine, and Owen Morrisey, and even Stone himself.
To encourage the greatest performance out of Douglas, Stone took personal measures to enhance the actor’s repressed anger, even to the point of asking Douglas if he was doing drugs because “you look like you haven’t acted before”. According to IMDB, “all of this hard work culminated with the ‘Greed is good’ speech.”
Not only did Douglas’ performance strike an immediate chord with audiences who were either tired or inspired(!) by the insider trading scandals marring Wall Street at the time, but he also won his first acting Academy Award for the role and established himself as a cultural icon in his own right.
How to Get the Look
If you want to look like a successful – if not particularly friendly – ’80s power broker, then Gekko’s got the look for you. Don’t forget to slick back that hair, too.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Charcoal wool suit, tailored by Alan Flusser, consisting of:
Double-breasted 4-on-1 buttoned jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and ventless back
Double forward-pleated trousers with straight leg fit and plain-hemmed bottoms
White solid or dark-horizontally-striped dress shirt with slim spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).
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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary lothario
London, Spring 1963
Film:From Russia With Love Release Date: October 10, 1963 Director: Terence Young Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Bond: Suppose when she meets me in the flesh, I don’t come up to expectations? M: Just see that you do.
Most office meetings don’t involve a boss slyly encouraging an employee to have sex at all costs (at least, nowhere that I’ve worked), but that’s the world of James Bond for you. Bond attends this somewhat salacious briefing while wearing an intersection of Ian Fleming’s vision for James Bond and the classic image established by Terence Young, Anthony Sinclair, and Sean Connery for the early films in the series.
What’d He Wear?
In honor of Ian Fleming’s birthday this coming Saturday, BAMF Style is breaking down the first blue suit worn by Sean Connery’s 007 as Fleming himself typically dressed James Bond in a navy worsted wool suit. The dark navy suit in From Russia With Love also appears to be worsted, possibly in a softer and warmer flannel than the tropical-weight wool often specified for the literary Bond.
Bond accepts his latest mission with considerable enthusiasm.
Anthony Sinclair tailored this “Conduit cut” suit in the same manner of Connery’s other suits for From Russia With Love, which all featured the same tailoring and style points save for differing back vents on the jackets. This film’s elegant and timeless suits are some of my favorites both from the Bond franchise and from movies in general… it’s no wonder that M has little doubt that Bond will be able to complete his, er, mission with Tatiana Romanova.
The single-breasted jacket has a low two-button stance that Sinclair incorporated into his From Russia With Love suits. The lower stance still emphasizes Connery’s tall, lean figure while his athleticism is reflected in the slightly suppressed waist and by Connery’s own naturally broad shoulders as Sinclair depised padding his suit shoulders. Each sleeve ends with 4-button cuffs.
Moneypenny takes Bond to task after M cock-blocks him via intercom.
The front of the jacket is styled with fashionably slim lapels, flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket accented by his usual folded white linen pocket square. The wild card of Sinclair’s From Russia With Love suits is the vent situation; this navy suit has a single vent in the back.
Connery’s trousers have the usual double forward pleats and three-button tab “Daks top” side adjusters found on all of his early Sinclair-tailored pants. The waistband closes with an extended square tab in the front and the legs taper down to the cuffed bottoms. When Bond enters the office, he has his left hand tucked into the trousers’ side pocket.
The jacket and trousers of this suit also make a brief appearance in the preceding scene, slumped over the seats in Bond’s Bentley when he’s forced to cut short his morning of punting with Sylvia Trench.
While Fleming would have dressed his Bond in a white shirt and black knit tie, Connery wears the “uniform” of early Bond – a pale blue Turnbull & Asser poplin shirt and navy grenadine tie. The shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and two-button turnback “cocktail” cuffs. This was clearly a decision influenced more by director Terence Young than Ian Fleming, who preferred the less fashionable short-sleeve shirts with his suits.
The woven grenadine silk tie is tied into a small and tight four-in-hand knot. The navy tie is just a shade lighter than the suit; this would be reversed in You Only Live Twice when Connery’s Bond wears a navy suit and slightly darker navy tie to Osato’s office.
Note the lighter shade of navy in Bond’s tie compared to the rest of his suit.
Bond’s shoes are the same black leather plain-toe bluchers that Connery wears throughout From Russia With Love. The dark dress socks are likely a dark navy to continue the leg line from the trousers.
He doesn’t appear to be wearing a watch in this scene. Instead, his sole accessory is the dark olive Lock & Co. short-brimmed felt trilby that he tosses onto Moneypenny’s hat stand.
Matt Spaiser also wrote a post about this suit on his excellent blog The Suits of James Bond.
Go Big or Go Home
This scene finds James Bond receiving his first actual Q branch-issued gadget, and it’s one of the more accessible and practical ones of the series. As was the case for early Bond, the filmmakers took their cue right from Fleming’s text, which called for a “smart-looking bag” from “the careful handiwork for Swaine and Adeney”. As James Bond Lifestyle investigated, From Russia With Love indeed uses a Swaine Adeney attaché case on screen in the form of a black leather briefcase with red skiver lining, measuring 18″ x 13″ x 4.5″.
Bond is quite intrigued by the wonders of his new attaché case.
As Q describes:
An ordinary black leather case with rounds of ammunition, here and here. If you take the top off, you’ll find the ammunition inside. In the side here, flat throwing knife. Press that button there, and out she comes. Inside the case, you’ll find an AR folding sniper’s rifle, .25 caliber, with an infrared telescopic sight. If you pull out these straps, inside are fifty gold sovereigns in either side. Now, watch very carefully. An ordinary tin of talcum powder. Inside, a tear-gas cartridge. That goes in the case against the side here, like that. It’s magnetized, so it won’t fall. Shut the case. Normally, to open a case like that, you move the catches to the side. If you do, the cartridge will explode… in your face. To stop the cartridge exploding, turn the catches horizontally… then open normally.
If you’ve got £1995 (or about $3500) handy, you can go big or go home with James Bond’s briefcase in your hand; Swaine Adeney Brigg still offers the ARE18DP case on their site. Bond himself is quite impressed:
That’s a nasty little Christmas present.
How to Get the Look
Bond’s all blue outfit in the office blends the visions of both Ian Fleming and Terence Young to give our super spy a sharp and refreshing look.
Dark navy blue worsted wool “Conduit Cut” suit tailored by Anthony Sinclair, consisting of:
Single-breasted suit jacket with a low 2-button stance, slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and a long single rear vent
Double forward-pleated trousers with 3-button tab “Daks top” side adjusters, straight on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
Pale blue poplin long-sleeve Turnbull & Asser dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and 2-button turnback/“cocktail” cuffs
Navy blue grenadine woven silk necktie, worn with a four-in-hand knot
Black leather 3-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes/bluchers
Dark navy dress socks
Olive brown felt Lock & Co. Hatters short-brimmed trilby with a narrow dark brown grosgrain band
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974).
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Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, cold and calculating Mafia boss
Havana, December 1958
Film:The Godfather Part II Release Date: December 12, 1974 Director: Francis Ford Coppola Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
Background
Get into a smooth, summer relaxation mood for this Mafia Monday post that takes a look at Michael Corleone’s style for Hyman Roth’s birthday party in Havana… an appropriately timed post as my dad just returned from a trip to Cuba. (Yes, he brought back some Cohibas!)
What’d He Wear?
For all of his power and prestige, Michael Corleone has a very minimalist wardrobe, designed by the legendary Theadora Van Runkle (Bonnie and Clyde, Bullitt, and The Thomas Crown Affair are all among her repertoire.)
Michael makes good use of his four unique suits in The Godfather Part II, sometimes wearing a three-piece suit without a vest or, as we see in this case, adopting a more luxuriously casual look by swapping out the shirt and tie for a soft polo and a day cravat.
Although it appears a flat tan at the outset, this fully cut two-piece suit consists of a fine tan and cream plain weave glen check with teal blue on the outer check to create a teal windowpane effect throughout.
A close-up of Michael’s suit from an auction site draws out the detail of the glen check pattern.
The single-breasted jacket has a 2-button front that he typically wears open, even when opting for a more formal look with a tie as he does when initially visiting Roth in Miami. The fully-cut suit coat’s padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads and ventless back is typical of the 1950s.
Michael’s suit jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and purely decorative 3-button cuffs. The notch lapels have no buttonholes.
Michael wheels and deals in Hyman Roth’s hotel room.
The flat front trousers have a fashionably high rise and, like the coat, are fully cut down to the cuffed bottoms. Although Michael wears a slim brown leather belt through the trousers’ outer belt loops, the auction photos also reveal that it was fitted with white buttons sewn around the inside waistband to be used for potential suspenders. The trousers close with a concealed hook at the top of a straight zip fly.
The auction close-up reveals the inside of the trousers with the suspender buttons and hook closure.
He may not be the most cosmopolitan fashion plate, but Michael Corleone knows to match his shoes to his belt. He always wears a pair of brown leather cap-toe loafers and warm light brown ribbed socks with this suit.
“I want all of you to enjoy your cake… so, enjoy. “
Both in Havana and Lake Tahoe, Michael makes extensive use of a day cravat worn under a polo shirt’s open collar. As sported by James Bond, Cary Grant, Sidney Reilly, and countless other men on holiday, the day cravat sends a clear signal that the wearer is a fashionable, confident man who is able to afford luxurious leisure. The look was also popular with nattier gangsters like “Bugsy” Siegel.
In Havana, Michael wears a vibrantly printed silk day cravat in abstractly patterned earth tones like gold, bronze, and brown.
A few days shy of Castro taking power, Michael finds himself in the back seat of a car riding through the wild streets of Havana (next to a very loudly-jacketed Johnny Ola.)
Michael wears a white knit cotton short-sleeve polo shirt with a patch pocket over the left breast. The top of the three buttons is worn open to display the day cravat underneath.
Here’s something cool! Apparently, this suit has been auctioned at least twice in the last two decades. It was first included as Lot 173 in Christie’s “A Century of Hollywood” auction on May 24, 2000 and described in that auction as “A two-piece checkered suit worn by Al Pacino in the film, Godfather Part II. The suit was worn prominently in the movie. Inside the pants is a Western Costume Company tag with Al Pacino’s name typed on it.”
Two years ago, it popped up again during the Premiere Props Hollywood auction extravaganza on September 27, 2014 and was expected to fetch $12,000-$14,000:
This is Al Pacino’s actual hero screen worn suit from this amazing Miami sequence. It includes both his jacket and matching pants. Both the pants and the jacket have numerous official “WCC” (Western Costume Company) stamps inside (including the period marking of “1950” on both the coat and pants), as well as the original sewn-in Western Costume Co. Hollywood wardrobe label which has the production number #2703-1, Name: Al Pacino and Waist and Inseam measurements (Waist 32/ Inseam 29) type printed on them. The iconic outfit is in excellent condition. The official labels are sewn into the inside belt seam of the pants, and inside the wallet pocket of the jacket. They were original purchased from Christie’s Auction House, and include both the original Christie tags, plus a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Breanna S. Livie, Vice President of Eastern Costume Company, as well as a Letter of Provenience handwritten by the consigner.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Michael Corleone breathes modern life into the traditional day cravat look by sporting it with a subtly checked summer suit and knit polo.
Tan & cream glen check – with teal windowpane grid effect – two-piece suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, ventless back
Flat front high-rise trousers with belt loops, straight fly, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
White knit cotton short-sleeve polo shirt with 3-button collar and left chest patch pocket
Earth-tone printed silk day cravat
Slim dark brown leather belt with silver-toned rounded single-claw buckle
Brown leather cap-toe loafers
Light brown ribbed socks
Gold wristwatch with round light-colored dial on gold expanding bracelet, left wrist
Brad Pitt as “Rusty” Ryan in Ocean’s Twelve (2004).
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Brad Pitt as Robert “Rusty” Ryan, hotel owner and international thief
Los Angeles and Rome, November 2004
Film:Ocean’s Twelve Release Date: December 10, 2004 Director: Steven Soderbergh Costume Designer: Milena Canonero Pitt’s Costumer: Bruno de Santa
Background
Today’s installment of “Hey, I actually kinda enjoyed that movie!” features the Euro-flavored meat in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy sandwich, Ocean’s Twelve. This blockbuster brought the whole gang back together again, adding nemeses on both sides of the law in the form of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vincent Cassel.
After the theft of more than $160 million from his Vegas casino years earlier, ruthless mogul Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) has spent plenty of time tracking down each team member of “Ocean’s Eleven”… a moniker that several of the team dispute. The last to be tracked down is Rusty Ryan, Danny Ocean’s smooth right hand whom we learn was actually considered the de facto leader by many of the group itself. Three and a half years after abandoning his girlfriend (CZJ) in Rome, Rusty is managing his own L.A. hotel and babysitting the washed-up Hollywood stars who bed down in it: “Jeez, Topher, you didn’t have to go all Frankie Muniz on me.”
Rusty is in the middle of the hedonistic Topher Grace situation when he gets that call from Benedict: “The last time we talked, you hung up on me.” Immediately realizing the significance of this greeting, Rusty gets into Neil McCauley mode as soon as he feels the heat. “You used nasty words,” Rusty responds, reverting to his cool persona and feeling comfort in the knowledge that Benedict isn’t able to see him desperately scrambling out of the building to his car(s). Of course, Rusty starts feeling the literal heat once Benedict triggers a bomb that detonates his favorite car, a ’63 Ford Falcon Futura convertible. Point taken.
What’d He Wear?
Ocean’s Twelve received plenty of criticism after its release, but there’s no denying that the music and suits are just cool, particularly the vestments sported by Brad Pitt’s Rusty Ryan. Milena Canonero was the costume designer on Ocean’s Twelve, and Bruno de Santa is credited as being Pitt’s specific costumer.
Canonero stated in an interview that “Rusty is more vain and more into his clothes. I used lots of satins and shiny material to give a shimmer and slickness to his look, just like lightning,” and explained that all of the characters would dress apropos their personalities three years after obtaining their millions in the first movie.
Even in a jail cell, Rusty shines like a million bucks. (Although that could just be the effect of wearing an Italian suit in an Italian jail…)
For his first scene on screen as well as several scenes later on when the gang is in Rome, Rusty wears a fashionable light gray two-piece suit that appears to be a lightweight silk and wool blend based on the way the suit shines in certain light.
The single-breasted suit jacket has edge-stitched notch lapels with a buttonhole through the left lapel. Both the two buttons on the front and the four buttons on each cuff are light gray plastic. The shoulders are straight with roped sleeveheads, and the long double vents rise to just above the hip pocket line.
Rusty faces off against a litany of villains in Ocean’s Twelve, from the Italian authorities to Topher Grace himself.
Interestingly, the hip pockets are welted rather than jetted or flapped. The breast pocket is also welted. As Rusty makes his desperate exit from the Standard Hotel, we also get a look inside the jacket and see that there are three inside pockets on the left – an upper pocket, a pen pocket, and a lower pocket. There is one inner breast pocket on the right just above the black logo patch.
The low rise trousers have single reverse pleats, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms with a full break. Rusty wears a distinctive tan belt with dark brown accents and a gunmetal rectangular buckle.
Even in one of the most fashionable cities in the world, Rusty manages to stand out.
We get a glimpse of Rusty’s workday attire when we first see him, wearing this suit with a silver silk shirt and tie. The dark silver shirt is one of the satin items that Canonero mentioned. It has a large point collar, breast pocket, and button cuffs.
Rusty’s tie is a much lighter shade of gray with thin diagonal tonal stripes running right-down-to-left. He wears it in a loose four-in-hand-knot that hangs down below the unfastened top button of the shirt.
Rusty dresses down the same suit several scenes later when the gang is in Rome, planning their Fabergé egg heist. Rather than a dress shirt and tie, he wears an ivory gray short-sleeve polo shirt constructed from soft, luxurious knit silk. This fashion-forward shirt has a shallow v-neck rather than buttons. There is a patch pocket on the left breast.
The light silver satin shirt that Rusty wears for “day of” in Rome is similar to the L.A. dress shirt with its satin silk finish, large point collar and front placket. He leaves both the top two white buttons and the buttons on the rounded cuffs undone, although he keeps the gauntlet buttons fastened so the sleeves don’t flop around when he has his jacket off. This shirt has no pocket.
Rusty allows himself a satisfied smirk after pulling off the heist and riding off in a private jet with Catherine Zeta-Jones.
With a suit like this, you wouldn’t expect Rusty to wear a regular old pair of brown oxfords, would you? Instead, he wears a pair of very distinctive tan alligator full strap penny loafers with a pointed square bicycle toe. The soles are dark brown hard leather.
Although the full break of the trouser bottoms often conceals them, Rusty’s dress socks are appropriately light gray to continue the leg line into his shoes.
Rusty’s distinctive loafers are seen while enjoying various degrees of freedom in Rome.
Rusty isn’t one to shy away from accessories, one of the few non-mobsters on BAMF Style that can rock a necklace, ring (or multiple rings!), sunglasses, and watch. Of course, it helps that they’re all boutique items.
Brad Pitt is a well-known Oliver Peoples ambassador, but his eyewear of choice in Ocean’s Twelve has been identified as a pair of Diesel Cobretti sunglasses with “shiny light gold” (oM12) metal frames and brown gradient lenses (DD). The two-tone brown arms are tan in the front and brown for the back portion that rest behind his ears. Although discontinued, Diesel Cobretti sunglasses can still be found at some online retailer sites.
Rusty’s watch is clearly a silver-colored Rolex on a President link bracelet, and some discussion at the Rolex forums evidently deduced that his exact model was a platinum Rolex Day-Date 118366 with a “glacier” ice blue dial, 36mm case, and 24 baguette diamonds on the bezel. If you want your own, you can find one online for about, oh, $58,000.
On Rusty’s right pinky, he wears a silver ring with a flush square diamond.
Rusty enjoys a well-deserved martini on the rocks.
Although their union wasn’t long for this world at the time of Ocean’s Twelve‘s release, Brad Pitt wears a thin silver necklace with a down-scaled replica of his wedding ring from his marriage to Jennifer Aniston. The necklace perfectly follows the shallow V-neck line of the polo shirt that he wears in Rome.
How to Get the Look
Although some of the rest of Ocean’s crew are flamboyant dressers, especially after obtaining their newfound wealth from the first movie, only Rusty manages to consistently balance flashiness with a fashion sense. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Light gray silk two-piece suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, welted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, double vents
Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Silver satin silk dress shirt with large collar, front placket, and rounded button cuffs
Light silver diagonal tonal-striped silk necktie
Tan alligator bicycle toe full strap penny loafers
Light gray dress socks
Diesel Cobretti sunglasses with gold metal frames, brown gradient lenses, and two-tone brown arms
Silver thin-chain necklace with wedding ring replica pendant
Rolex Day-Date 118366 platinum wristwatch with 36mm case, ice blue dial, diamond-studded bezel, and President link bracelet
White gold or platinum Rolex Day-Date wristwatch on link bracelet
Silver pinky ring with flush square diamond
For more of a cool, casual take, lose the tie or even swap out the whole shirt for a casual ivory short-sleeve polo.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie. If you can’t bring yourself to just get the least beloved of the pack, check out the whole trilogy.
The Quote
I thought I’d be dead before I heard the sound that killed me.
Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1978).
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, private investigator
England, September 1977
Film:The Big Sleep Release Date: March 13, 1978 Director: Michael Winner Costume Designer: Ron Beck
Background
Following the recent theme of birthdays – particularly authors’ birthdays – today would have been the 128th birthday of Raymond Chandler, the author of popular hardboiled novels like Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Goodbye, and – perhaps his most famous work – The Big Sleep. It’s arguably impossible to discuss American noir or even modern crime fiction without recognizing Chandler’s influence; he redefined the genre with the character of Philip Marlowe, and his contributions to Billy Wilder’s 1944 film Double Indemnity have cemented its place as archetypical film noir.
I recently finished Tom Williams’ A Mysterious Something in the Light, a biography of Chandler, that included insightful commentary on Chandler’s own perception of his writing, resentful of the formula that he felt limited crime writers like himself and perhaps unaware of just how impactful his own work was in reinventing pulp fiction.
Chandler lived to see The Big Sleep first adapted to screen by Howard Hawks. Although it has become iconic film noir, the 1946 film suffered from studio oversight that wished to focus on the romance between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall rather than the hardboiled source material.
Three decades later, director Michael Winner helmed an adaptation that stayed truer to the complex source material… despite updating the setting from 1940s Los Angeles to 1970s England. Still, the modern film meant reintroducing the more explicit elements of Chandler’s book related to sex and drugs, and lord knows the ’70s couldn’t get enough of either. Robert Mitchum reprised the Marlowe role he had played three years earlier in Farewell, My Lovely, making him the only actor – as of 2016 – to play the role more than once.
What’d He Wear?
The 1978 film adapts Raymond Chandler’s original language straight from the first paragraph of The Big Sleep, a style blogger’s dream as Marlowe describes his clothing that day for his visit to General Sternwood’s residence. Mitchum’s Marlowe describes the scene:
It was about eleven o’clock in the morning. I was wearing my dark blue suit, powder blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean-shaven, and sober. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on ten million pounds.
The only way Mitchum’s narration differs in from the literary Marlowe is flipping the shades of blue; Chandler’s written character describes “my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief.” (Of course, as the book was set in L.A., he is also calling on four million dollars rather than ten million pounds.)
We know Marlowe’s suit is dark blue because Robert Mitchum tells us so, but it appears to be more of a blue-gray constructed from a wool and mohair blend. In 1946’s The Big Sleep adaptation, Humphrey Bogart wore a heavier cloth, likely a dark brown birdseye wool.
Mitchum’s single-breasted suit jacket has a somewhat unflatteringly low two-button front, although the nipped waist counters that by emphasizing Mitchum’s strong build. The shoulders are padded and roped with 3-button cuffs at the end of each sleeve.
The suit jacket’s wide notch lapels – with a buttonhole through the left lapel – leave no doubt regarding the film’s contemporary setting. Another concession to the ’70s are the long double vents which work in Mitchum’s favor given his tall, 6’1″ stance.
The jacket has straight flapped hip pockets on the waist and a welted breast pocket where Marlowe wears the blue silk display kerchief that matches his tie.
Less is seen of the suit’s matching trousers, which have a flat front with belt loops around the natural waist. It has side pockets where Marlowe frequently places his hands, and the bottoms are plain-hemmed.
Marlowe makes a less-than-admirable first impression on Charlotte Sternwood Regan.
Marlowe’s “powder blue” cotton dress shirt has a long-pointed spread collar that was fashionable during the decade. It buttons down a front placket and with a single button on each rounded cuff.
Despite some of the extra width seen on his lapels and collar, Marlowe’s blue silk necktie is still a relatively classic width, tied in a four-in-hand knot. As stated, it indeed matches his blue silk pocket kerchief.
Marlowe’s feet aren’t given much screen time, but his voiceover description appears to be inaccurate as the shoes look more like plain black leather slip-ons rather than brogues as there are no visible laces. The bicycle-toe shoes have a high vamp that differentiates them from more casual loafers.
Despite the potential inaccuracy of the shoes, Marlowe’s socks appear to nicely match the description in both the book and the film narration. They appear to be a thin black wool with blue side striping that is possibly a series of “dark blue clocks”.
General Sternwood (James Stewart) discusses his preference for champagne and brandy with Philip Marlowe.
Robert Mitchum was a fan of the Rolex – specifically the Rolex DateJust – in real life and often wore them in his movies. As Marlowe in The Big Sleep, he wears a stainless DateJust with a silver dial that gets some prominent screen time when looking over the porn he picked up from Arthur Gwynn Geiger’s shop. The watch is worn on an all-steel “Jubilee” bracelet.
This thick, oversized frame appeared to be a very popular style in the 1970s with some examples still found on Etsy or Pinterest.
How to Get the Look
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.It’s nice to see a film adaptation pay tribute to the clothing outlined by an author in the source material, even if there are some departures. Robert Mitchum wears a more subdued version of the suit worn by the literary Philip Marlowe.
Dark blue-gray wool-mohair blend suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Powder blue cotton dress shirt with long-pointed spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
Blue silk necktie
Black leather high-vamp bicycle-toe loafers
Black thin wool dress socks with dark blue clock motif side striping
Rolex DateJust steel-cased wristwatch with silver dial and steel “Jubilee” bracelet
Marlowe is proud of the blue silk display kerchief he wears in his breast pocket to match his tie. He is slightly less proud of the oversized glasses he wears to disguise his appearance during his investigation.
Kirk Douglas as John “Doc” Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).
Vitals
Kirk Douglas as John “Doc” Holliday, hot-tempered gambler, gunslinger, and ex-dentist
Tombstone, AZ, October 1881
Film:Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Release Date: May 30, 1957 Director: John Sturges Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
Today would have been the 165th birthday of Doc Holliday, the erstwhile dentist who shot to Old West superstardom after his involvement with the Earp brothers during the infamous 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, immortalized on film in the appropriately-named Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993).
Although Val Kilmer’s portrayal in Tombstone is often called the definitive Doc Holliday, today’s post will focus on Kirk Douglas’ performance which is arguably the first time that the troubled, tubercular gunfighter was accurately portrayed on screen. Douglas brought an emotional depth to a character that had been relatively mistreated and relegated to a stock character in the preceding four decades of Westerns. Although Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was still an uncomplicated film that relied more on folklore than facts, Douglas’ performance helped develop public consciousness of the bitter gunfighter whose best days were behind him and was well aware that he was living on borrowed time.
What’d He Wear?
Kirk Douglas’ Doc Holliday wears a charcoal dress suit and red brocade vest for many important scenes in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: his on-screen introduction, his knife fight with Ed Bailey, and the titular gunfight itself. The rest of the time, he wears a slightly less formal gray lounge suit – a 1950s costume variation of what a businessman might have worn in the early 1880s. Still, flamboyant Old West gambler that he is, Doc pairs the gray business suit with a similarly-styled brocade vest in green silk.
This gray semi-solid wool suit is styled similarly to his other suit. The single-breasted jacket has slim peak lapels and a high 2-button stance. The lower button is on the natural waistline, which extends around the sides of the jacket (along the top of each wide hip pocket flap) to the decorative two buttons on the back. Each of the two decorative back buttons is fastened at the top of a vent. The jacket also has straight shoulders and spaced 2-button cuffs.
The suit’s matching trousers are cut straight from the long rise to Kirk Douglas’ natural waist down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. They are flat in the front with frogmouth pockets that slant down and out from the belt line. There are no back pockets.
The trouser belt loops are somewhat anachronistic for a business suit, as these weren’t popular on men’s trousers until the 1920s; Doc wears a black leather belt with a squared steel single-claw buckle.
Doc really takes advantage of the local barber shop.
Rather than the dramatic red waistcoat worn with his charcoal suit, Doc always wears a rich green silk brocade vest with this gray suit. It is similarly styled to the earlier vest, with slim shawl lapels and four covered buttons tightly placed below a low-fastening V-shaped opening. The back is lined in black silk with an adjustable strap that closes through a buckle.
Doc wears his gold pocket watch in a welted pocket on the right side. As identified in the previous post (which also provides a great look at the watch itself), Doc wears a yellow gold full hunter Waltham railroad watch on a gold chain.
Other than the differently colored and styled suit and vest, Doc appears to wear everything else exactly the same between the two outfits: the same gray ruffled-front shirt, black string tie, black leather boots, and black gambler’s hat. (When he isn’t wearing the light gray shirt, he sometimes wears a non-ruffled but similarly-styled ecru shirt.)
The light gray shirt has an attached soft turndown spread collar with long points. The ruffled front bib is pleated with mother-of-pearl buttons down the placket. Each squared cuff closes with a single button as well as a button on each gauntlet, which Doc appears to leave unfastened.
The outfit is also dated by its simple black satin string tie, an icon of the Old West that is best known to today’s KFC patrons as Colonel Sanders’ preferred neckwear. As I wrote in an earlier post, Cattle Kate offers these ties for sale for only $14 with the accurate description of “one long piece of silk to tie into a floppy bow… a favorite of gamblers and gentlemen callers everywhere.” Pre-tied examples are available from Gentleman’s Emporium for $22 as the “Western Bow Tie” and, of course, AmazonImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view. for a cool $5.50.
Am I right about his socks in the photo on the right?
Doc appropriately wears an all-black “gambler hat”, a more urban evolution of the low-crowned telescope hat worn by Mexican cowboys in the southwest. The low, round crown prevented hot air from accumulating inside the hat. The telescope hat also featured a wide brim to protect its wearers from the piercing sun; since gamblers spent most of their time inside, the gambler hat featured a smaller, upturned brim like Doc’s.
More comfortable as a “city dude” than many of his contemporaries, Doc channels more modern gun owners by concealing his Remington Model 1875 revolver in a low-slung brown leather shoulder holster under his left armpit, allowing for an easy draw with his right hand. The holster rig appears to be secured to his torso with a thin strap that enters through his left vest pocket and may fasten to his trouser belt.
As a flashy gentleman who takes pride in his somewhat ill-gotten material wealth, Doc wears a gold ring on the third finger of his left hand. The ring has a large oval red coral setting.
How to Get the Look
Though hardly a businessman in the traditional sense, Doc Holliday maintains a look in town that infuses elements of his flamboyant personality with conservative business dress.
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim peak lapels, straight widely-flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and decorative 2-button back with double vents
Flat front high-rise trousers with belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Green silk brocade vest with low V-shaped opening, single-breasted 4-button front, welted hip pockets, and adjustable back strap
Light gray dress shirt with turndown collar, ruffled front placket, pleated bib, and squared button cuffs
Black satin string bow tie
Black leather belt with square steel single-claw buckle
Black calf leather plain-toe boots with tall riding heels
Light gray ribbed socks
Black gambler hat with round crown and black ribbon
Brown leather custom shoulder holster, worn under left arm
Yellow gold Waltham full hunter pocket watch with dust cover, white dial (with Roman numerals and 6:00 sub-dial), and gold chain
Gold ring with large oval red coral setting
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movieImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view..
The Quote
I don’t lose because I have nothing to lose, including my life.
Robert De Niro as Carl Van Loon in Limitless (2011).
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Carl Van Loon, intimidating and volatile finance tycoon
New York City, Spring 2010
Film:Limitless Release Date: March 18, 2011 Director: Neil Burger Costume Designer: Jenny Gering
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Robert De Niro has been making the news lately, whether for his political takes or even a fan having calculated the exact year that the actor “gave up” in his career. (2002, if you’re curious.) Let’s shove all that aside and just wish a happy birthday to this legendary actor, born 73 years ago today in Greenwich Village.
Limitless is one of the few post-2002 movies in his career with a pretty positive Rotten Tomatoes ranking (70%, last I checked) with De Niro sliding back into the role of a force to be reckoned with. A powerful, no-nonsense corporate raider with a keen eye for bullshit, De Niro’s Carl Van Loon is the type that anyone in the finance business would kill to work with. When Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) get his chance, the two sit down for a Gordon Gekko-style lunch meeting that leads to an impromptu assignment that could make or break Eddie’s future in the finance world.
What’d He Wear?
A strong navy suit, crisp white shirt, and red silk tie is considered a classic business outfit. Sticking within the confines of these few colors, Carl Van Loon allows his expression to come out through sartorial details that one can only see when he allows them close enough to see.
For his first meeting with Eddie, Van Loon wears a dark navy blue lightweight wool suit with tonal herringbone stripes. The single-breasted, 2-button suit jacket has wide and sharp peak lapels with a buttonhole through the left lapel. The shoulders are padded and – in tandem with the sharp lapel peaks and roped sleeveheads – create a strong silhouette to provide an atmosphere of intimidation that Van Loon likes for his lunch meetings… or anyone he meets, for that matter.
The jacket has functioning 4-button cuffs, flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket, which catches Eddie’s eye for the subtly luxurious red silk display kerchief carefully folded to poke out.
It’s the little things… like a red silk pocket square that symbolizes the blood you’ll spill if you cross its owner in a business deal.
The low rise suit trousers have a flat front, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. Van Loon wears them with a black coated leather belt that has a gold single-claw buckle.
Van Loon matches his belt to his shoes with a pair of black leather balmorals with long, pointed toes. His dark socks are probably blue to continue the trouser leg line.
Van Loon’s first appearance as he makes his way into the restaurant for his lunch meeting with Eddie.
For his lunch meeting with Eddie, Van Loon wears a solid white cotton dress shirt with a point collar and French cuffs, fastened with gold cluster links. While super-slim cutaway spread collars have been very trendy on men’s shirts for the last few years, Van Loon knows what works best for him and eschews the fads in favor of something more personally flattering.
Van Loon’s first tie appears to be solidly dark red with light specks from a distance, but a closer examination (both from Eddie and the audience) when he sits down reveals a very complex pattern of navy, maroon, and white. This woven silk tie has a series of differing and ornate red shapes that encapsulate a white four-dot series or a four-pointed white “floral” burst, all connected by a loose navy grid. There may be a better description for this pattern, but – if there is – I don’t know it.
Couldn’t ask for a better shot of the tie. You could probably get a better description than the one I provide, though.
Later, during a meeting at his firm, Van Loon wears the same suit (right down to the pocket square) but with a two-tone light blue butcher’s stripe dress shirt. This shirt has a tab collar with a gold collar pin. Over the pin, he wears a silk tie with a similar color scheme to the first; this tie has a repeating pattern of light blue and tan broken squares, each with a dot in the center that exposes the dark red ground of the tie. The tan squares also have an “X” in the same shade of blue as the alternating squares on the tie.
A production still of Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper in Limitless.
While sizing up Van Loon’s attire, Eddie’s eye lingers on the stunning 18-carat white gold Breguet Classique 5197 self-winding watch on Van Loon’s left wrist. Like the rest of his wardrobe, the watch looks elegant in its simplicity but a closer look reveals a complex silvered gold dial layout with staggered Roman numeral markings and a 6:00 date window.
Eddie picks up on the details of Carl Van Loon’s wardrobe and is immediately able to size up his new prospective employer.
One strong aspect of Carl Van Loon’s wardrobe is his brand of individualized fashionability. Single-breasted jackets with peak lapels have been enjoying a resurgence lately, so it’s not surprising to see a slick businessman like Van Loon sporting one tailored for him. Although he doesn’t always defer to trends, he is certainly aware of them. He dresses appropriately for his body type, conforming the trends to suit him as one would expect for a man who can masterfully manipulate most of those around him.
Go Big or Go Home
…and go home in a sleek black Maybach. While more old-school money types may be chauffeured around town in a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Cadillac, or Mercedes-Benz, Van Loon is seen around the city in a rare Maybach 62, a full-size luxury sedan that was one of the first models rolled out under the Maybach marque after the century-old brand was revived by Daimler.
Van Loon’s Maybach glides toward Chinatown to drop off Eddie.
The ultra-premium Maybach would be short-lived, unable to totally recover from the 2008 financial crisis despite (or perhaps due to) it receiving first place in that year’s Luxury Brand Status Index. This provides an interesting parallel to Van Loon’s career, rendered essentially obsolete by the end of the film in the wake of Eddie Morra’s unstoppable success. (Maybach hadn’t even announced that 2013 would be the last year of production until more than six months after Limitless was released, making this an even more intuitive decision than the filmmakers may have even realized!)
How to Get the Look
Carl Van Loon’s suit paints him as a fashionable, confident, and patriotic businessman.
Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946).
Vitals
Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe, archetypal hard-boiled private detective
Los Angeles, Fall 1945
Film: The Big Sleep Release Date: August 23, 1946 Director: Howard Hawks Wardrobe Credit: Leah Rhodes
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is a pretty special day for me, and I’d like to celebrate the woman who is the Bacall to my Bogie by reflecting on The Big Sleep, which was originally released in theaters 70 years ago tomorrow, eight days after its premiere on August 23, 1946.
The Big Sleep was the second of four films starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The had originally met while filming her cinematic debut, To Have and Have Not, which was released on October 11, 1944, the very day after production began on The Big Sleep. (To Have and Have Not is also the first movie that my girlfriend and I watched together!)
At the time, Bogie was still married to his third wife, Mayo Methot, although their union was a disastrous one that was already on the brink by the time the 44-year-old actor met the 19-year-old Lauren Bacall. Director Howard Hawks disapproved of the Bacall-Bogart affair from the start, and he even tried to set her up with Clark Gable to try to dissuade her from pursuing an affair with Bogart. True love prevailed, however, and one of the most famous marriages in Hollywood history officially kicked off on May 21, 1945, four months after production ended on The Big Sleep and three months after Bogart filed for divorce from Methot.
The Bacall-Bogart romance instantly became a cultural phenomenon. Her agent, Charles K. Feldman, conspired with legendary producer Jack L. Warner to use The Big Sleep as an opportunity to cash in on the newlyweds, so several scenes were re-shot to emphasize the romance between Philip Marlowe and Vivian Rutledge, further complicating the plot but cementing their red-hot chemistry on screen under the re-direction of a begrudging Howard Hawks, who made them promise not to get “mushy all the time”.
A scene between Bogie and Bacall was originally set in Marlowe’s office with Vivian wearing a somber black veil (top, 1945 version). After the couple became red-hot in Hollywood, the scene was re-shot as a much more flirtatious and glamorous encounter in a café. (bottom, 1946 version)
Production on the original version of The Big Sleep wrapped on January 12, 1945, but the Bacall-Bogart marriage and the end of World War II meant the innuendo-laden re-shoots didn’t begin until January 2, 1946. (For an in-depth comparison of the original version and the theatrical release, check out this page.)
One example of a prominently changed scene finds Vivian meeting Marlowe to tell him that her father, General Sternwood, wants to officially end the case for which he hired the P.I. The original version has a black veiled Vivian visiting Marlowe in his office, followed by some straightforward and only slightly flirtatious dialogue and Marlowe calling up Eddie Mars for a meeting that evening. In the theatrical version re-shot a year later, Marlowe meets a now glamorously-dressed Vivian in a café, where they each enjoy a Scotch (“mixed” for her, served with plain water for him) and quickly get the same expository dialogue out of the way before laying on the risqué talk about playing horses and who’s in who’s saddle.
Despite Hawks’ reluctance to direct the happy couple, the mood on set was markedly more positive by the time of the 1946 re-shoots. During the original production, Bogart’s inner conflict between his marriage to Methot and his love for Bacall led to Bacall’s hands shaking whenever her character was lighting a cigarette or pouring a drink. The re-shoots were supposedly so much fun that Bacall recalled a memo from Jack L. Warner that said: “Word has reached me that you are having fun on the set. This must stop.”
And fun it must have been, as Bogie and Bacall went on to co-star in two more classics – Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948) – and establishing their place in Hollywood history as one of the greatest couples of all time.
What’d He Wear?
One of the three suits that Humphrey Bogart wears in his lone but iconic outing as Philip Marlowe is a dark chalkstripe woolen flannel two-piece suit with a double-breasted jacket. Marlowe wears this suit for many of his “romantic” moments with Vivian, including the re-shot café scene and the sequence at Eddie Mars’ gambling den.
The dark chalkstripe flannel double-breasted suit appears to have been a real-life preference for Humphrey Bogart during this period, who also sported similar suits in The Roaring Twenties and The Maltese Falcon, among other films. This may even be the exact same suit that he wore in Conflict, filmed and released in 1945 between re-shoots of The Big Sleep. (Both this suit and the Conflict suit have four-on-two button fronts and 3-button cuffs.)
Marlowe questions the Sternwood family’s intentions when Vivian visits his office in the original 1945 release.
Since The Big Sleep was filmed and released in black and white, there’s no way of knowing the original color of the suit unless an official record exists from the production. Contemporary promotional art from the film’s release has colorized the suit to be both navy blue and charcoal gray, both fine options for a soft flannel chalkstripe suit.
Double-breasted jackets were very stylish during the 1940s, although the extra fabric required often meant sales were restricted during the war years. Marlowe wears a four-button suit jacket with two to close. The sharp peak lapels have straight gorges and a buttonhole through the left lapel. The padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads, suppressed waist, and ventless back all follow the era’s fashion while strengthening Bogart’s slight frame to create a strong and suave appearance.
Who exactly was Vivian mourning in this scene? Her father’s blackmailer? The pornographer who had corrupted her sister? The murderous family chauffeur?
The straight hip pockets are jetted without flaps, typical for a double-breasted jacket, and Marlowe wears a white linen display kerchief in his welted breast pocket. This handkerchief has a white silk overcheck for a subtle contrast that adds a touch of luxury.
Clearly, Vivian was no longer mourning during the 1946 re-shoots when her black veil was replaced by a bold lamé jacket.
Since Marlowe keeps his jacket buttoned throughout the theatrical version released in 1946, the trousers are best seen in the original 1945 version when Marlowe is surprised by Vivian at his office. The long rise of his trousers means that Marlowe has to unbutton the jacket to comfortably access the keys that he keeps in his right-hand pocket, attached by a chain to a belt loop on the right side of his fly. This reveals that the trousers have double forward pleats, unlike his other suit pants which have double reverse pleats.
Supposedly, Bogart’s ear-tugging was a real-life nervous tic that he worked into the Marlowe character.
This scene also reveals that Marlowe is wearing the same slim decorative-tooled leather belt with Western style points like the metal tip and the ranger-shaped single-claw buckle. These thin Western-influenced belts were popular among men in the 1940s according to VintageDancer.com; Marlowe’s belt is likely brown leather with a silver-toned buckle like all of the examples shown on VintageDancer.com’s page.
Marlowe also appears to be wearing the same light-colored shirt. Too dark on screen to be pure white, it’s likely ecru, light gray, or possibly even a pale blue to match the suggested color of the suit. It has a long-pointed spread collar and front placket. If styled like his other shirts, the squared cuffs close with a single button as well as a smaller button on the gauntlets.
The light shirt, dark short tie, and Western-style slim leather belt appear to have been preferred by Bogart in real life as well.
The tie may also be the same with its dark color and short length with the wide blade pointing to just above the waistband of the high-rise trousers. Contemporary colorization of this outfit almost always reddens the tie to a maroon or dark brick shade.
Marlowe’s shoes are dark cap-toe oxfords, likely the same black calf leather shoes he wears throughout.
Marlowe meets one of many admirers at Eddie Mars’ Cypress Club.
What would a private eye be without his snap-brim fedora? Marlowe’s Royal Stetson fedora is dark felt, probably gray, with a wide black grosgrain ribbon.
When he ventures out to Eddie Mars’ Cypress Club, Marlowe sports the same glen-check wool knee-length topcoat that he also wore with his dark birdseye suit.
A promotional photo of the same scene above shows off the fine glen check of the topcoat as well as some details of Marlowe’s wristwatch.
This single-breasted coat has a four-button front, a large collar, and a uniquely ventless back. The cuffs are plain with no buttons or straps, keeping the arms from jamming up when he stuffs his hands into the coat’s straight welt side pockets.
Bogie’s real-life preference for a Longines Evidenza wristwatch is well-known in addition to being well-displayed in Casablanca. I don’t believe he was wearing this watch elsewhere in The Big Sleep, although the square-cased watch secured to his left wrist by a brown leather strap in these scenes may indeed be his Longines.
Marlowe flashes his accessories while flirting with Vivian. (Inset: a replica of his famous ring.)
Although there’s still some debate about the watch, Bogart is definitely wearing his own yellow gold ring that has become iconic in its own right. Most likely inherited from his father, Bogart’s ring with its ruby-diamond-ruby setting was almost always spotted on the third finger of his right hand both on and off screen over the last two decades of his life. Replicas are available at The Hollywood Collection, The Hollywood Originals, and AmazonImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view..
What to Imbibe
I could see Vivian Regan’s black head close to it, from across the room where I was leaning against the bar and turning a small glass of bacardi around on the mahogany.
– The Big Sleep, Chapter 22
In Chandler’s novel, Philip Marlowe is enjoying a Bacardi cocktail at Eddie Mars’ Cypress Club in the fictional L.A. suburb of Las Olindas when he spots Vivian Regan across the room. About fifty years after the Bacardi family opened its distillery in 1862, recipes for a pre-dinner cocktail featuring Bacardi rum began appearing across the United States. The concoction of rum, grenadine, and lime spread from New York to California in the years leading up to World War I and, by 1917, publications like Hugo Ensslin’s Recipes for Mixed Drinks were officially naming it the “Bacardi cocktail”.
Essentially a Daiquiri with grenadine instead of simple syrup, the American recipe for a Bacardi hasn’t changed much over the last century. The IBA specifies 4.5 centiliters of white rum, two centiliters of lime juice, and one centiliter of grenadine, all shaken together over ice. The drink is then strained into a cocktail glass, garnished with a lime slice, and served. Given the name, it would make the most sense to use Bacardi brand rum as the main ingredient, and it’s worth noting that Bacardi was the first clear rum introduced to the world.
With its bold chalkstripes and sweeping double-breasted front, this suit is clearly the one Marlowe wears when he wants to make a more romantic impression than his more run-of-the-mill single-breasted business suits would provide.
Dark chalkstripe woolen flannel two-piece suit, consisting of:
Double-breasted 4-on-2-button jacket with sharp peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffed bottoms
Light cotton dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, and squared 1-button cuffs
Dark short necktie with wide bottom
Brown decorative-tooled slim leather belt with small single-claw buckle and metal tip
Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black wool dress socks
Dark gray felt snap-brim Royal Stetson fedora with wide black grosgrain ribbon
Glen check wool single-breasted 4-button topcoat with large collar, straight welted hand pockets, plain cuffs, and ventless back
Square-cased wristwatch on brown leather strap
Gold ring with two rubies and diamond
The Gun
Being a detective, it makes sense that Philip Marlowe’s go-to piece would be a Colt Detective Special, which he keeps in a concealed under-dash compartment in his Plymouth alongside a longer-barreled Colt revolver.
Take the Detective Special, leave the Official Police.
Although he uses a piece of pipe held like a gun in Chandler’s book, the cinematic Marlowe packs a Detective Special when defending Vivian from a paid Mars thug outside the Cypress Club. Easily concealable with its 2″ “snubnose” barrel and packing a powerful punch with six rounds of .38 Special ammunition, the Colt Detective Special was a favorite of both cops and crooks from its introduction in 1927 through today.
A theatrical poster from the time of the film’s release, coloring Bogie’s chalkstripe suit dark blue with a brick red tie.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movieImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view. as well as Raymond Chandler’s 1939 bookImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view..
The Quote
Never mind talking, let me do it.
Footnote
If you’re looking for Las Olindas to visit Eddie Mars’ Cypress Club, good luck. Raymond Chandler invented the place, likely basing it on El Segundo or Manhattan Beach as ScoutingLA.com discovered.
Steve Martin with Rick Moranis in My Blue Heaven (1990). Sadly, this is just a promotional photo and Steve’s rad Ray-Ban sunglasses didn’t make it into this scene.
Vitals
Steve Martin as Vinnie Antonelli (aka Tod Wilkinson), ex-Mafia informant
New York City, Early Winter 1990
Film:My Blue Heaven Release Date: August 17, 1990 Director: Herbert Ross Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Background
This week’s focus on dupioni silk continues with the loud red suit worn by Steve Martin in My Blue Heaven, posted today to celebrate my sister’s birthday as this flick is a family favorite that she and I are constantly quoting to each other.
Although Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill provides himself the living epigraph of living the rest of his life “like a schnook” at the end of Goodfellas, the story really didn’t end there. Loosely based on Hill’s post-mob life in the witness protection program, My Blue Heaven was written by Nora Ephron, who had been inspired by her husband Nicholas Pileggi’s interviews with Hill. Through the interview process, it was discovered that a career criminal like Hill didn’t reform himself immediately (if at all) and was often getting into trouble with authorities – returning to his old criminal ways, maintaining a high profile, and even entering a bigamist marriage under his “new” name – all depicted in My Blue Heaven.
This sequence finds Vinnie Antonelli – the film’s Henry Hill substitute played by Steve Martin – returning to New York to testify in a major mob trial against his old boss. The reserved FBI agent guarding him, Barney Coopersmith (Rick Moranis), expects that the two will be spending the night in at the motel and attempts to satiate Vinnie’s wish for Italian food in the form of macaroni and cheese and salad with Italian dressing. Vinnie, finally back on his home turf after months in suburbia, has other ideas.
What’d He Wear?
As Vinnie and Barney ostensibly begin to settle in for a quiet evening at their motel, Vinnie wears a red dupioni silk suit, styled like many of his others, that was evidently newly acquired that day from his tailor Gaetano. Hardly an outfit for being babysat by a milquetoast FBI agent, Vinnie clearly already has his pre-testimony night of “drinking and girls” on his mind.
Vinnie’s suit has a single-breasted jacket with a low-stance single-button closure. The wide peak lapels have a slightly abbreviated gorge and a buttonhole stitched in the left lapel.
Vinnie talks Barney into enjoying a night on the town.
The jacket has straight, wide, padded shoulders and a ventless back, all very characteristic attributes of stylish suits at the time although it thankfully avoids the excessively baggy, full fit of the era that even James Bond couldn’t avoid in Licence to Kill. The jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight jetted hip pockets. Each sleeve ends with 3-button “kissing” cuffs.
Vinnie’s red silk suit shines with every turn he makes.
The low button stance of the jacket works nicely with the lower rise of the trousers, which have single reverse pleats, straight side pockets, and no back pockets. Vinnie wears a black leather belt with a slim single-claw gold buckle to hold up his trousers.
Barney doesn’t seem to notice that, while he is ordering dismal room service, Vinnie is getting dressed to go out.
Vinnie’s light pink dress shirt nicely compliments the overwhelming quantity of red in the rest of the outfit. The shirt has a spread collar, front placket, and a plain back with no pleats. He further thumbs his nose at anonyminity by wearing a shirt with his distinctive initials – “V.A.” – monogrammed on the left breast pocket.
Vinnie’s silk tie is printed with a lavender paisley pattern.
He wears a pair of well-shined black leather tassel loafers, a more subtle option that downplays the loud suit more than his flashier “everyday” two-tone spectator loafers in black and white would. The trouser leg line is nicely carried into the shoes by a pair of maroon silk dress socks.
Vinnie goes the whole nine yards and sports a pair of socks that perfectly matches his suit.
A man of luxury, Vinnie doesn’t let his new witness protection status get in the way of his jewelry either. His two-tone Rolex DateJust is possibly a 116233 model with a stainless steel 36mm case, 18-karat yellow gold bezel, and a mixed gold and stainless Jubilee bracelet. The white face appears to be the appropriately named “Roman dial”.
Vinnie and Barney get closer than ever while dancing with new pals.
An expensive watch might not signify his criminal background to the nice folks of Fryburg, California, but Vinnie’s gold pinky ring would certainly make him stand out further from the early bird crowd. Nicely calling out the color of his suit, Vinnie’s ring has a brick red-colored, oval-shaped setting.
Go Big or Go Home
Honestly, this scene has lent me some of the best advice for dating (or confidence in general) when Vinnie advises Barney to “look ’em in the eye” when talking to women. Despite his bigamy and his self-admitted preference for women who are “kinda dirty or somethin'”, Vinnie proves to be a reasonably respectful barroom suitor.
In fact, Vinnie hands down many life lessons – possibly part of his new wave of inspiration as he writes his story – including:
How to treat a suit: don’t sit around wearing your pants without the jacket.
Vinnie follows all three of his own rules during his night out with Barney and the charming guidettes.
How to Get the Look
YImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.ou can take the guy out of the Mafia, but you can never take the Mafia out of the guy; Vinnie proves both unwilling and unable to even pretend he’s no longer the type of guy who goes out in a bold red silk suit, flashing his Rolex and pinky ring as he buys rounds of drinks for the bar.
Red dupioni silk tailored suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted 1-button jacket with wide peak lapels, padded shoulders, welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight side pockets, no back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Light pink dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, monogrammed breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
Lavender paisley printed silk tie
Gold elaborate cuff links with a mounted onyx pebble
Black leather belt with rounded-edge gold single-claw buckle
Black leather tassel loafers
Maroon silk dress socks
Rolex DateJust two-tone gold wristwatch with white Roman dial on yellow gold and stainless mixed Jubilee bracelet
Another sartorial focus in this scene would be the two stereotypically-dressed mob assassins who track down Vinnie at the nightclub. They are wearing, as Hannah later unwittingly mocks:
Your honor, are we to believe that this man is in danger? That some cartoon character hitmen in black suits with white-on-white ties armed with guns are going to walk through that door…?
George Clooney as Danny Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven (2001).
Vitals
George Clooney as Danny Ocean, recently paroled casino heister and con man
Las Vegas, Summer 2001
Film:Ocean’s Eleven Release Date: December 7, 2001 Director: Steven Soderbergh Costume Designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Background
The first stop that Danny Ocean and his criminal compadre “Rusty” Ryan make when planning their unprecedented multi-casino heist is to see Reuben Tishkoff, their old-time Vegas money man. They show up at his desert spread each sporting a snazzy gray summer suit, open-neck shirt, and sunglasses, reflecting the image of old-school Vegas cool while talking to the tacky reality of old school Vegas in the form of a gold-bedazzled and brazenly-robed Elliott Gould.
What’d He Wear?
I previously wrote about the distinctive light gray cotton suit that Brad Pitt wears in this scene, and now – by request from Ryan Hall – I’ll be checking out the more traditional gray suit worn by George Clooney.
Danny’s outfit follows his general “uniform” throughout the series of solid, conservative suits with a white or dark open-neck dress shirt. The shine of this timeless gray suit indicates silk or a silk blend with a very subtle, wide-scaled windowpane grid throughout. Looking at the details, it appears to be similarly styled and tailored to the black suit he wears through much of Ocean’s Eleven.
The subtle grid pattern of Danny’s suit is best seen in this production photo of Clooney and Pitt on set.
The single-breasted suit jacket has wide, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads. The breast and hip pockets are patches, dialing down the formality and better contextualizing the suit as a sporty item perfect for the context of a summer afternoon (or morning, as the orange juice may suggest.) The two buttons on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are all light gray plastic.
Possibly also the same dress shirt he wears with his black suit, Danny’s white shirt has a front placket and mitred button cuffs. He wears the top button at the point collar open. Unlike his louder-dressed partner-in-crime, Danny typically only unbuttons the top button and wears his shirt collar inside the jacket; Rusty, on the other hand, often sports his shirt collar disco-style by flattening it over the jacket lapels.
Rusty and Danny provide very contrasting looks, exemplifying the diversity of a gray single-breasted summer suit. Between them, Reuben sits unrivaled in style.
More of Danny’s outfit is seen when he and Rusty get up from the table to leave after veiled comments about previous shared experiences in Belize. The medium-rise trousers appear to have a flat front, side pockets, and cuffed bottoms. His black leather belt has a squared steel single-claw buckle.
Danny matches his belt leather to his shoes, wearing a pair of black leather bluchers that are likely the same pair of 4-eyelet cap-toe derbies that he wore with his tuxedo. His dark socks are probably (and should be) gray, but there is also the possibility that they’re black.
Having baited their money man, Rusty and Danny wait for him to bite.
Danny’s accessories are all functional and subtly fashionable. His gray-lensed, square-framed sunglasses have been theorized online to be Dita Lancier Ps.004 shades, which are framed in lightweight titanium. On his left wrist, he wears his stainless Hamilton Linwood Viewmatch with a polished, round 38 mm case, textured silver dial with 3:00 date window and gold and black hour markers, and 16 mm black crocodile strap that fastens through a steel tang buckle. The only other piece of jewelry is his plain silver wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.
The jacket and shirt both make a brief appearance a few scenes later when the gang is plotting in their Bellagio suite, although Danny appears to be wearing them with a pair of darker gray trousers.
How to Get the Look
Danny Ocean proves that a monochromatic gray color scheme can be more exciting than it sounds in the form of a refreshing and stylish summer suit.
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Molitsanti on The Sopranos (Episode 4.05: “Pie-O-My”)
Vitals
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, drug-addled mob soldier
New Jersey, Fall 2002
Series:The Sopranos Episode: “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05) Air Date: October 13, 2002 Director: Henry J. Bronchtein Creator: David Chase Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa
Background
There are two types of silk suits that mobsters seem to prefer: one can be worn with a tie, and the other is usually worn with sneakers. The latter, also known as a “Bensonhurst tuxedo”, will be featured in today’s Mafia Monday post using an example from – what else? – The Sopranos.
In the show’s fourth season, the ambitious Christopher Moltisanti is plagued with issues ranging from the stress of being a newly “made” man to his increasing reliance on drugs and alcohol. Even forces unknown to him, like his girlfriend Adriana’s forced defection to FBI informant, are bringing him down.
By “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05), Adriana’s guilt is physically manifesting itself to the point where she feels unable to join Christopher for a family dinner with Tony Soprano. She cites the flu, but he isn’t having it. “Couple of drinks, it’ll kill the germs,” suggests Dr. Moltisanti. Adriana remains steadfast, so a frustrated Christopher shoots up some heroin and leaves without her.
What’d He Wear?
Many equate the image of a successful mobster with pristine silk suits and shiny gold pinky rings. While the latter might hold true, Juliet Polcsa and her costume team on The Sopranos knew that many mobsters opted for a “Bensonhurst tuxedo” when it came to everyday dressing. Usually a zip-front tracksuit made from a luxurious fabric like velour, the Bensonhurst tuxedo is what made guys wear when loafing in front of a butcher shop or idling the day away at a no-show job site.
The actual screen-worn tracksuit. (Source: Christie’s)
Christopher Moltisanti was bred to be a mafioso from the day he was born, and he sports track suits in many of his early appearances, almost always in his favorite colors of black and red. By the fourth season, Chris has finally been inducted into the DeMeo crime family and is well on the rise as a made guy. He’s clearly upgraded too, opting for Genelli Silk Wear tracksuits rather than the cheaper but more athletically-oriented Nike and Fila shell suits of his younger days.
The Genelli tracksuit that Christopher wears in “Pie-O-My” (Episode 4.05) was sold for $2,375 by Christie’s in their June 2008 “Pop Culture” auction. The jacket is black and red, with an all-black collar, front panel on both sides of the zipper, and black “stripe” down the back. The elasticized straight hem is also all black, save for where the red border stripe extends all the way to the bottom to separate it from the front panel. Each red portion is a 90-degree angle that extends down the arm and torso with that thin red border stripe following it a few millimeters away.
The jacket zips all the way up the front with a black zipper on black tape. It has a flattened “shirt-style” collar that can still zip all the way to the edge, if necessary. Each raglan sleeve ends with an all-black elasticized cuff. There appears to be a slanted hand pocket on each side.
Christopher’s penchant for red and black tracksuits makes this Genelli piece very fitting.
The pants are all black with an elasticized waistband, plain bottoms, and side pockets.
Pretty much all of the info I can find online about Genelli relates to its popularity among The Sopranos characters, particularly Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri. Genelli seems to appeal more to the, uh, “less-than-active” gentleman who desires the intersection of luxury and comfort that only a silk tracksuit could provide. Christopher would later wear another Genelli tracksuit – this time in light brown – during the show’s sixth season.
Underneath the tracksuit, Christopher’s only shirt is his usual sleeveless white ribbed cotton undershirt, also known as an “A-shirt”. The gold St. Christopher medallion always worn around his neck hangs down just enough to hit the top of the shirt.
Chris wears a pair of white sneakers with white laces, white rubber soles, and a navy-accented tongue. Based on what looks like the British Union Flag flag on the sides, they may be a pair of Reebok running shoes, similar to the current Reebok Classic Leather 101. He wears them with a pair of white tube socks.
Mostly unseen here but certainly his watch of choice throughout the fourth season, Christopher wears a yellow gold Cartier Pasha Grid wristwatch, named for the gold grid that covers the round white dial.
Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy
Orient Express from Istanbul to Italy, Spring 1963
Film:From Russia With Love Release Date: October 10, 1963 Director: Terence Young Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
For the 00-7th of October, I want to focus on a nice fall suit while also marking a milestone for this blog; this post marks the first 007 film where each of James Bond’s on screen outfits has been exhaustively analyzed by BAMF Style! Very appropriate too, given that From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond flick and – perhaps coincidence, perhaps not – also features some of my favorite movie suits. (I’m in good company; Sean Connery has also stated that From Russia With Love is his personal favorite 007 adventure.)
The consulate escape. A thrilling train ride on the Orient Express where ordering red wine with fish leads to a gripping fight to the death in a small compartment. An explosive boat chase. From Russia With Love is by far the most realistic and grounded spy story of the franchise, but it still packs plenty of iconic thrills into its final act.
James Bond escapes onto the Orient Express with Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) after stealing the film’s MacGuffin from her place of employment. They travel as honeymooning couple David and Caroline Somerset, but the subterfuge is short-lived and little needed as 007 confides in MI6 agent “Captain Nash”… in reality a cold-blooded SPECTRE assassin named Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw).
Bond is never totally trusting of “Nash”, but it is Grant’s dinner wine pairing that truly raises Bond’s suspicions and leads to a fight to the death in 007’s cramped train compartment while a drugged Tatiana snoozes next door. Supposedly, this brutal brawl took three weeks to film with both Connery and Shaw performing without the use of stunt doubles. Even this intense action is grounded in reality as Ian Fleming had incorporated his experience at an Interpol Conference in Istanbul with the true story of an American naval attaché that was assassinated by a Communist agent and thrown from the Orient Express in 1950.
Bond is hardly out of the water once he and Tatiana escape from the train… there’s still two more deadly chases to go! The film pays homage to North by Northwest as 007 is forced into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists piloting a helicopter. Bond wasn’t the only one who nearly lost his life, as the helicopter pilot flew far too close to Sean Connery during the scene and director Terence Young was actually trapped when his helicopter crashed over the water. Despite injuries that left Young’s arm in a sling, the director went right back behind the camera to keep on filming.
After escaping fatal forces from land and air, Bond and Tatiana take to the sea where they are again pursued by SPECTRE’s murderous agents. Again, it’s Bond’s quick wits and accurate trigger finger that save him… no gadgets needed.
What’d He Wear?
When Sean Connery took on the role of James Bond for Dr. No, director Terence Young modeled the character’s look after himself and ordered specially tailored Savile Row suits for Connery, supposedly even asking the actor to sleep in one to develop his comfort level in them. Young and Connery developed a de facto uniform for Bond that differed from the blue suits, white shirts, and black knit ties of Ian Fleming’s novels.
By From Russia With Love, Young doubled down on his investment and ordered eight tailored suits (including a dinner suit) to be tailored for Connery by Anthony Sinclair, each for around $2,000. For this climactic sequence in From Russia With Love, Connery is outfitted in his archetypal 007 look of a gray “Conduit Cut” suit with a distinctive pale blue turnback cuff shirt and dark navy grenadine tie from Turnbull & Asser.
Bond settles in for a cordial chat with “Captain Nash”.
Connery wears a dark gray semi-solid pick wool suit, tailored by the legendary Anthony Sinclair. The lightweight suit makes it an ideal stunt suit for the variety of obstacles that Bond faces from the train fight to his various chases over air and water. In addition, the vision of a man running from reckless aircraft while wearing a dirty gray semi-solid suit with a ventless jacket may take the North by Northwest homage another step further.
Whether it’s a cropduster in Indiana or a helicopter on the Scottish cliffs, you always want to be wearing the right gray suit to outrun the aircraft that’s chasing you.
The single-breasted suit jacket features all characteristics of Sinclair’s “Conduit Cut” with its darted, fitted front, natural shoulders, roped sleeveheads, and a low 2-button stance that works in tandem with the slightly suppressed waist to draw attention to Connery’s athletic build. The full chest with its slight drape also allows for Bond to wear his Walther PPK in a shoulder holster without the obvious bulge of a slimmer fitting suit with a cleaner chest.
Bond wears a white linen pocket square neatly folded into the suit jacket’s welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets are jetted with no flaps for a cleaner look that also channels Cary Grant’s North by Northwest suit. Each sleeve has 4-button cuffs. The notch lapels are fashionably narrow for the era while still retaining a timeless width.
Bond bargains for his life with gold sovereigns. Just another day in the life.
Bond’s high rise trousers feature all the elements seen on his other suits. The waistband is beltless with a squared extended waistband in the front that closes through a hidden hook closure, and it is fastened on each side with a 3-button tab “Daks top” side adjuster. There is a slanted pocket on each side and a jetted back pocket on the right where Bond slips his PPK when he doesn’t have time to don his holster. They have double forward pleats with a full fit over the thighs and a tapered leg down to the cuffed bottoms.
Note the usual double forward pleats and beltless waistband of Bond’s Sinclair-tailored trousers.
With almost every suit in From Russia With Love, Bond wears a pale blue poplin dress shirt from Turnbull & Asser with a spread collar, front placket, and distinctive 2-button turnback or “cocktail” cuffs. This shirt appears to be a slightly lighter shade of blue than seen elsewhere in the film.
Tatiana must have been very surprised to open Bond’s suitcase and find a week’s worth of identical shirts. (At least she didn’t try to open his attaché case!)
Bond’s dark navy grenadine tie is another part of his From Russia With Love “uniform” and also from Turnbull & Asser. The slim tie is likely just shy of 3″ wide, narrower than the ties in Dr. No, and is tied in a tight four-in-hand knot.
Bond tries that time-tested technique of bargaining for his life by insulting the man holding him at gunpoint. Ah,
As usual with his gray suits in From Russia With Love, Bond wears a pair of black leather 3-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes – also known as bluchers – with a pair of dark gray socks.
This scene doesn’t feature a “Clark Gable moment” since 007 keeps his shirt on (at least he does on screen!), but shots of Connery without his suit jacket on reveal the outline of a white sleeveless A-shirt as an undershirt.
Over his shirt, Bond opts for his usual tan chamois leather shoulder holster, fixed under his left armpit with a large blue shoulder strap over his left shoulder (connected to a slimmer blue strap that hooks around his right shoulder), giving his right-hand quick access to his trusty Walther PPK in one smooth move.
Bond fastens his holster to the left “Daks top” side adjuster buttons.
Bond: Excuse me, you did say your clock was correct? Consulate clerk: Russian clocks are always-
Bond’s charming antagonism of a stuck-up Russian consulate clerk gives the signal to detonate a hidden tear-gas bomb while also providing an opportunity to show off his stainless Rolex Submariner 6538 wristwatch to the audience. Bond’s watch has a black bezel and black dial and is worn on a black leather strap.
I have a feeling that Bond’s Rolex will tend to be more accurate than whatever Commie mass-produced clock that clerk is talking about.
The glimpse at his watch also briefly shows off the details of Bond’s unworn overcoat, a three-quarter length single-breasted topcoat in black and white herringbone with peak lapels, a fly front, a welted breast pocket, straight shoulders with roped sleeveheads, and a single back vent. Although he never wears it on screen and ditches it while making his escape from the consulate, a behind-the-scenes photo of Connery and director Terence Young shows the actor wearing it to keep warm between takes in Istanbul.
The piece of outerwear that Bond does wear onscreen is his dark olive brown felt trilby that typically spends most of its time having been rakishly tossed onto Moneypenny’s hat rack. James Bond Lifestyle offers plenty of information about Bond’s Lock & Co. Hatters “Sandown” trilby, which is evidently still available from the St. James Street store in London.
Bond does the unthinkable and downs an entire helicopter with a single .22 round. (Granted, he uses it to hit a man inside the helicopter that was holding a grenade but still…)
When Bond and Tania get to their escape boat, Bond adopts the look of a seaman by donning a heavy wool work jacket and peaked cap. The navy Melton wool single-breasted coat structurally and stylistically resembles a traditional British workman’s donkey jacket without that garment’s trademark leather-reinforced shoulders. Bond’s 4-button coat has hip patch pockets on the bottom of the front, a horizontal yoke across the upper back, and a single vent. As more of a worker’s jacket, it’s not intended to be worn over a suit and is just an additional layer that Bond wears for practicality to keep him warm while on the chilly sea.
007 isn’t above playing dress up when he takes to the high seas.
Less practical is Bond’s decision to don a black peaked cap with a gold embroidered anchor and shiny black polished leather visor. Although fitting for the maritime setting and Bond’s commission in the British Royal Navy, it’s not really necessary to wear just because he happens to be on the water. It’s fun though, I guess.
Go Big or Go Home
Red wine with fish… well that should have told me something.
James Bond’s snobbery comes in handy when dining with Tatiana and his supposed MI6 contact, Captain Nash. From Russia With Love is one of of the more authentic portrayals of the “trust no one” world of spies, and 007 is never sure who around him can be trusted. The charismatic Kerim Bey, one of the few contacts he feels he can trust, ultimately proved his loyalty in a brutal fight to the death against poorly-tailored enemy agent Benz. By the time he sits down to dinner with Tania and Nash, Bond is able to veil his paranoia as he isn’t sure whether he can trust either of his dining companions.
Bond and Tatiana are content to enjoy their grilled sole with the appropriate wine, thank you very much!
Grant’s performance as Nash is flawless to a point, adopting a convincing accent and even an irritating, Gatsby-esque term of endearment (“old man”) that serves to make Bond more annoyed than suspicious. But it isn’t Grant’s frequent questions, his demeanor, or even his affectations that betray his duplicity… it’s the fact that he orders goddamn Chianti with his grilled sole.
Before Grant clarifies that he desires “the red kind”, the waiter asks if he means “white Chianti”, which doesn’t exist. Either the waiter was uninformed, or he was being a snob in his own way. (I prefer to think the latter.) Either way, this scene has always freaked me out about ordering the “right” wine when I’m trying to impress someone, whether it’s a date, a boss, a foreign spy, etc.
A Taittinger Blanc de Blanc ad celebrating the 1955 vintage, which is quite likely the very champagne that Bond and Tania would have enjoyed during their 1963 train journey.
What to Imbibe
Since he’s not a treacherous troglodyte like some people – looking at you, Red Grant! – James Bond knows to order white wine with his fish dinner. Earlier in the film, he was relaxing with Sylvia Trench while chilling a bottle of Taittinger Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine on his toe. Since the two were so rudely interrupted by Bond having to go to work, it can be assumed that poor 007 didn’t get to enjoy this premium champagne (although he did get laid, so my heart isn’t exactly bleeding for him.)
Taittinger’s association with James Bond goes back to the very first novel, Casino Royale, when Bond orders a 1945 vintage when dining with Vesper Lynd. The waiter instead suggests that “Blanc de Blanc Brut 1943 of the same marque is without equal” so Bond takes him up on his suggestion and uses the opportunity to mansplain to Vesper that Taittinger may not be as well-known as other champagne brands, but he finds it to be the best. A 1953 version of “you’ve probably never heard of it, but…” Bond is pissed that M’s club doesn’t have any in stock in Moonraker, but the agent gets an opportunity to once again enjoy his favorite champagne a few adventures later in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. To my knowledge, From Russia With Love was the only official film in the EON franchise to feature Taittinger champagne as Bollinger and Dom Pérignon replaced it as the cinematic Bond’s preferred bubbly.
How to Get the Look
007’s gray business suit on the Orient Express is quintessential Connery Bond attire: a sharp, simple, and elegant suit appropriate for both loving and fighting.
Gray semi-solid pick wool “Conduit Cut” suit tailored by Anthony Sinclair, consisting of:
Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, andventless back
Double forward-pleated trousers with 3-button tab “Daks top” side adjusters, straight on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
Pale blue poplin long-sleeve Turnbull & Asser dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and 2-button turnback/”cocktail” cuffs
Dark navy blue grenadine woven silk necktie, worn with a four-in-hand knot
Black leather 3-eyelet plain-toe derby shoes/bluchers
Dark gray dress socks
Olive brown felt Lock & Co. Hatters short-brimmed trilby with a narrow dark brown grosgrain band
Rolex Submariner 6538 wristwatch with stainless case, black bezel, and black dial on black leather strap
Tan chamois leather shoulder holster (RHD) with a blue strap, for the Walther PPK
White linen folded pocket square
For more information about Sean Connery’s suit in these scenes, check out The Suits of James Bond’s blog post.
The Gun
Bond uses both his trademark Walther PPK and the Q-issued Armalite AR-7 survival rifle in these scenes, but the sequence’s most effective and memorable firearm is the signal pistol, a Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III*, that he finds on the captured boat and uses to ignite his discarded fuel drums during the boat chase.
Part of me wishes Bond would have been armed with a blunderbuss here, just to fit the whole theme of him pirating a boat. At least that old WWI-era flare pistol has a few cosmetic similarities.
More information about this single-shot, break open signal pistol can be found at IMFDB.
(If you were hoping to read about Bond’s use of the PPK and AR-7 in From Russia With Love, check out my posts about his charcoal flannel suit and the dark chalkstripe flannel suit he wears for the finale.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie and pick up Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel, which was very faithfully adapted to the screen.
If you like the concept of Sean Connery involved in a killing on the Orient Express, check out 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express, based on Agatha Christie’s brilliant mystery novel. You know I love me some Agatha Christie. (And that will certainly be a subject for a later blog post too!)
Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi on location in Istanbul. Note Connery’s brown loafers and blue socks, evidently the actor’s personal preference when not wearing Bond’s black bluchers.
From Russia With Love made the most of its location budget, featuring Sean Connery in beautiful locales in and around Istanbul. The Russian consulate was a Pinewood Studios soundstage in England decorated right down to a photo of famous Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin, but Bond, Tatiana, and Kerim make their daring escape through the Basilica Cistern, an ancient cathedral-size cistern under Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. Although a great location for dramatic purposes, it’s been noted that the Russian consulate was and still is in Beyoğlu, further away from the cistern than the film would have you believe. (Kerim also mistakenly tells Bond that it was constructed by Emperor Constantine… in reality, it had been commissioned by Justinian in 532 AD.)
The trio emerges into daylight and heads to Istanbul’s Sirkeci Station to board the Orient Express, taking them on a route through Zagreb to Trieste that had curiously been discontinued the previous year. (Sirkeci Station was also used as the location for the Belgrade stop.)
The production had meant to film the final helicopter and boat chases on location in Turkey, but logistical difficulties took the cast and crew to Argyll and Bute in the western region of Sean Connery’s home country, Scotland. Bond evaded the helicopter at Lochgoilhead, boarded the boat with Tania at Lunga House, and finally blew up the boat’s fuel barrels (and Morzeny’s SPECTRE henchmen) in Loch Craignish.
Brad Pitt as Robert “Rusty” Ryan in Ocean’s Eleven (2001).
Vitals
Brad Pitt as Robert “Rusty” Ryan, hustler and casino heister
Las Vegas, Spring 2001
Film:Ocean’s Eleven Release Date: December 7, 2001 Director: Steven Soderbergh Costume Designer: Jeffrey Kurland
Background
Danny Ocean’s crew had a tough night out before their big heist. In a possible management decision snafu, Danny (George Clooney) left the over-eager Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) behind with the Malloy twins (Scott Caan and Casey Affleck) while he, Basher (Don Cheadle), and The Amazing Yen (Shaobo Qin) conduct a break-in. Feeling left out and annoyed by the Malloys, Linus takes the initiative and breaks into the facility on his own… just seconds before the other guys come back out.
The less experienced Linus attracts attention from security guards and barely makes his escape in the van with the rest of the guys, but poor Yen gets his thumb – the thumb he so dearly needs for his lucrative acrobatics the next night – as the gang is forced to make a speedier getaway than they intended. If only Rusty – the de facto leader according to most of the group – had been along, this may have never happened… but the problems don’t end there.
After greeting Danny and a tail-between-his-legs Linus back at the Bellagio a few hours before go time, the crew receives word that Danny has been red-flagged for harassing his ex-wife. Now the bitter and much-maligned Linus is called upon to step into Danny’s well-shined shoes, so Rusty gives him a crash course in grifting that even Henry Gondorff wouldn’t have been fast enough to follow.
Rusty: You look down, they know you’re lying. (as Linus looks up) Up, they know you don’t know the truth. Don’t use seven words when four will do. Don’t shift your weight. Look always at your mark but don’t stare. Look always at your mark, but don’t stare. Be specific but not memorable. Be funny, but don’t make him laugh. He’s got to like you then forget you the moment you’ve left his side. And, for god’s sake, whatever you do, don’t, under any circumstances- Livingston: Rus? Rusty: Yeah? Livingston: Come look at this? Rusty: Sure.
Linus is left with his mouth agape. What the hell should he not do?
Of course, this turns out to mostly be a ruse to encourage Linus to take a bigger role in the heist (and probably also to entertain most of the guys who were in on the joke), but it’s surprising that a group who thinks of everything would leave a chance at $160 million – not to mention their lives – up to the mercurial emotions of an insecure, impulsive pickpocket with something to prove.
What’d He Wear?
Ocean’s Eleven is full of sharp-dressed characters, with Brad Pitt’s Rusty Ryan leading the pack in his distinctive suits and shiny shirts and ties. His outfit on the morning of the heist perfectly exemplifies his sartorial philosophy from the irreplicable lapels of his suit jacket to the iridescent metallic shirt.
This scene is the sole appearance of this dark gray semi-solid suit with a shine that indicates the possibility of a lightweight silk-wool blend suiting. The most distinctive aspect of the suit is the “split-lapel” that resembles a “notchless notch lapel” in structure; the collar has an extended tongue that fills the notch space, giving the overall impression of a split shawl lapel. I had previously only seen this type of lapel on super-trendy double-breasted suits of the early ’70s.
Noir-ish lighting emphasizes Rusty’s unique lapels and highlights his shiny shirt and tie.
Rusty’s single-breasted suit jacket’s unique “split lapels” roll down to a single button closure. The shoulders are wide with subtly roped sleeveheads. The welted breast pocket is visible but other details like the hip pocket and vent situation are not as easily seen; the jacket appears to have straight jetted hip pockets and double vents. The jacket sleeves end with functional 3-button “surgeon’s cuffs” which Rusty wears totally unbuttoned, a rakish decision in concern with his unorthodox open shirt cuffs. Both the single front button and the cuff buttons are all gray plastic.
What this awkward elevator ride really needed was a good loud fart to break the tension. Sadly, even the constantly eating Rusty couldn’t muster anything up.
The suit’s flat front trousers have a fitted waistband with no belt loops that rises low on Pitt’s waist. There is a straight on-seam pocket on each side, two jetted back pockets, and plain hems at the bottom of each comfortably full cut leg.
Remind me to start doing squatsImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Rusty wears a purple cotton shirt, made for Brad Pitt by Anto Beverly Hills, with an iridescent shine that offers varying cyanic shades in different light. The large point collar rises high and tall on Pitt’s neck with a 1.5″ band and 3.5″-long points and dark green detailing lining the inner collar, most visible when he wears the neck open.
The shirt has a plain front, double side pleats on the back, and distinctive square cuffs worn totally open with no button or links to fasten. These 41/8″-wide cuffs offer a cleaner and über-modern version of the look created by some of his other shirts, similar to short French cuffs ironed flat and kept unfastened. Like the collar, the cuffs are lined with dark green detailing. (All fabric and size details were confirmed by Anto.)
Rusty drops some rapid truth bombs on an unprepared Linus.
The gold satin silk tie was likely also made by Anto with a subtle tonal cross-hatch pattern that also adds iridescent qualities to the tie’s silky shine.
This suit also made a brief appearance earlier in Ocean’s Eleven when Danny and Rusty are in L.A. recruiting the members of their team. In that instance, Rusty paired his gold tie and gray suit with a mustard gold dress shirt with a large point collar.
Rusty shares with Danny that he mourned the loss of a fellow thief by dating his wife “for a while.”
The most conventional aspect of Rusty’s outfit are his shoes, which appear to be a pair of black leather square-toed bluchers (or derby shoes) worn with a pair of black dress socks.
Despite the many issues that seem to be plaguing the gang at the last minute, Rusty looks cool, calm, and casual as he addresses each issue.
Rusty wears two different rings in this scene. A thick silver ring with a blue set-in stone adorns the third finger of his right hand while a simpler small silver ring shines from his left pinky.
Rusty wears a silver-colored – likely white gold – wristwatch that appears to have a silver dial and is strapped to his right wrist on a link bracelet.
How to Get the Look
I’d call Rusty Ryan a trendsetter… but he doesn’t seem to want anyone copying his style, tripling down on his unique factor by wearing suits with inimitable lapels and stylishly shiny suits and ties that just couldn’t work for anyone else. (But don’t let that stop you from trying! Rusty’s smooth confidence – not to be confused with arrogance – goes a long way.)
Single-breasted 1-button jacket with distinctive “split lapels”, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, double vents, and functional 3-button cuffs
Flat front low-rise trousers with fitted waistband, straight on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Purple iridescent cotton Anto dress shirt with large point collar, plain front, open squared single cuffs, and dark green detailed collar and cuff lining
Gold cross-hatched satin silk Anto necktie
Black leather square-toed bluchers/derby shoes
Black dress socks
Thick silver ring with blue stone on right ring finger
Silver pinky ring on left hand
White gold wristwatch with silver dial on link bracelet
Screenshots from Red Light District (2005), my 10th grade exploration of the sex-and-drugs culture that permeated the ’70s. I’m the one in the gray striped double-breasted suit with the distinctive “split lapel”.
Footnotes
I tend to plan my posts well in advance (I currently have a loose schedule planned through early spring of 2019!), so it is purely coincidence and not SEO-driven opportunism that the title of this post includes “Brad Pitt” and “split” so soon after his divorce from Angelina Jolie.
Some of you may know about my attempts at amateur filmmaking. In 10th grade, I wrote, directed, and starred in a Blow-meets-Goodfellas mashup (or “ripoff”) titled Red Light District. Red Light District was set mostly in and around Venice Beach stretching from the late ’60s through the mid-’80s. Since I was making it mostly for me and my friends, I was free to use any music that I damn well wanted, so you hear plenty of obnoxious disco grounded by deep cuts from the Stones’ best albums. But I digress…
During one early scene set in 1971, I wore a gray double-breasted suit with a subtle black pinstripe and unique lapels similar to those seen on Brad Pitt’s suit in Ocean’s Eleven. It had been a lucky find from the local Goodwill, tricked out with a high-fastened 6-on-3 double-breasted front, slanted hip pockets, and a loud-as-hell paisley lining of baby blue and old gold printed on an ivory ground. I’ll try to dig this gem up from my closet full of costumes the next time I’m at my parents’ house and get some fresh photos.
Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood in “Chapter 48” of House of Cards (2016).
Vitals
Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, ruthless and calculating U.S. President
Atlanta, July 2016
Series:House of Cards Episode: “Chapter 48” (Episode 4.09) Streaming Date: March 4, 2016 Director: Robin Wright Costume Designer: Johanna Argan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Tomorrow is Election Day here in the U.S. and hopefully the end of one of the ugliest campaign seasons in modern American politics.
In the political world of House of Cards, voters tomorrow would be choosing between Democratic incumbent Frank Underwood and Republican candidate Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman). In Chapter 48 of the series, Underwood notes about his opponent:
You’re a New York Republican. That’s an attractive fiction, isn’t it?
Chapter 48 spans the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta from Monday, July 25 through Wednesday, July 27. (The actual 2016 DNC was held in Philadelphia, in case you’d forgotten, and was quite dramatic in itself… which I’m sure you hadn’t forgotten.) President Underwood’s team seemingly makes a play for Secretary of State Catherine Durant (Jayne Atkinson) to be chosen as his running mate while secretly working behind the scenes to secure the spot for the First Lady, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright, who also directed this installment.)
One of the episode’s more outstanding scenes finds the unlikely situation of both candidates meeting alone, sifting through the heavy haze of dirty politics permeating the air while channeling their opposition into a discussion of video games.
What’d He Wear?
President Frank Underwood wears a series of great suits during House of Cards‘ fourth season, but one particular stand-out suit is the attractive blue lightweight wool suit that he wears during the early days of the DNC, boldly channeling the color of his party into his wardrobe.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show’s head costume designer Johanna Argan collaborated with a team of tailors and Hugo Boss’ head pattern maker to build a wardrobe of 45 impressive suits in various colors, patterns, and fabrics through the Hugo Boss made-to-measure program. “The great thing about Boss is they gave me access to their complete fabric library for all their suiting, all their shirting, all their silks to make ties,” Argan explained to THR. “It’s those subtle details that help Kevin step into his character… When you wear something that is made-to-measure, it automatically makes you walk a different way.”
Argan discussed the mechanics of this specific outfit with WWD: “I tend to do a dark navy suit and that burgundy tie when he needs to be taken seriously and he’s trying to provoke some sort of presence and power.” Working behind the scenes at the DNC and ultimately meeting with his opponent is certainly an opportunity for Underwood to evoke power.
Despite his opponent’s taller height, American flag pin, and smugly self-satisfied expression, Underwood looks more presidential in his made-to-measure suit and red power tie.
Argan told GQ that the tailoring team in Hugo Boss’s made-to-measure program gave her plenty of power over the suit details, including the pick-stitched notch lapels of his single-breasted jacket with “the collars of his suit jacket being lowered to lay clean on the back.” The details of the jacket match Underwood’s usual style as well as details of presidential styling that extend back more than five decades in the executive branch’s storied history.
The two-button jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, double vents, and padded shoulders that emphasize his power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Argan even worked with the Boss team to perfect where Underwood’s initials would be stitched into the jacket.
Never revealing his inner demons and tensions, Underwood manages to look calm, cool, and confident in both public and private.
The flat front trousers have a medium-low rise with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms. Through the trouser belt loops, Underwood wears a black leather belt with a long rectangular steel single-prong buckle.
Underwood dishes with Conway in this production photo from “Chapter 48”.
Underwood exerts his power during his meeting with Conway by presenting himself as a comfortable, homespun politician who cares so little for his opponent that he’ll take off his shoes in the middle of their meeting. Of course, his charming “good ol’ boy” act carries the undertones of disrespecting Conway not only by airing out his stinky feet, but also by showing off his brand new and likely expensive shoes. The shoes in question are black leather cap-toe oxfords, worn with black dress socks that Underwood thankfully keeps on his feet.
“Do you mind if I take these off? They’re brand new, and I’m still breakin’ them in.”
Underwood wear a light blue cotton dress shirt with a semi-spread collar, plain front, and rounded double/French cuffs that he fastens with gold cuff links emblazoned with the gold Presidential Seal on a black face. These cuff links can be found at The White House Gift Shop, which offers an array of Presidential accessories from cuff links and pins to bow ties and wristwatches.
Conway may have Agar.io on his Samsung® smartphone (product placement within product placement), but Underwood’s cuff links are a subtle reminder to his opponent that he already has the presidency… and he’s willing to sacrifice a few “little dots” being eaten if it means not giving it up.
“Kevin’s very particular about ties,” Argan told WWD. “He loves a thin tie in real life and I have to tell him, ‘You are the President of the United States. You are not going to wear a thin tie.'” Underwood naturally chooses a deep red silk tie for his power moment at the DNC as red ties have a long, storied connotation as power ties. A recent study, however, expressed that red “power ties” exude dominant aggression more than actual confidence… making it an even more appropriate choice for an unscrupulous, power-hungry politician like Francis Underwood.
Underwood makes the most of his shared “down time” with Conway.
In the wake of the evil but thankfully-ripe-for-parody beast that has been the 2016 presidential debates, Robert Roy Britt updated his 2009 article on LiveScience that delves into the history and importance of red vs. blue power ties on American presidents.
While the color of Underwood’s tie may change based on his situation, the rings on his fingers are more consistent. He proudly wears a yellow gold class ring on the third finger of his right hand, a symbol of his education at The Sentinel, a fictional South Carolina military academy inspired by The Citadel in Charleston. On his opposing hand, he wears a white gold wedding band.
It’s reassuring (or is it?) to know that Frank Underwood needs to start his day with a hot coffee just like the rest of us.
During the fourth season, Frank appears to mostly abandon his habit of wearing a wristwatch, possibly a reflection of his post-shooting mentality that he doesn’t want to focus too heavily on time… or that he’s out of time… or just some commentary on time? Either way, this would have been a sad day for the folks at IWC, for whom Kevin Spacey is an ambassador.
This suit also particularly stands out to be as it reminds me of one of my favorite looks from the James Bond series: the blue mohair suit, light blue shirt, and red silk tie that Roger Moore wore as 007 in The Man with the Golden Gun.
How to Get the Look
Frank Underwood aims for power, confidence, and patriotism with his strong blue and red-driven outfit while vying for the presidency.
Blue lightweight wool Hugo Boss made-to-measure suit, consisting of:
Single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels, 2-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double rear vents
Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Light blue cotton dress shirt with semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
Deep red silk tie
Gold cuff links with U.S. Presidential Seal on black face
Black leather 5-eyelet cap-toe balmorals/oxfords
Black dress socks
Black leather belt with polished steel rectangular single-prong buckle
Gold “Sentinel” class ring
Gold plain wedding band
White cotton crew neck short-sleeve undershirt
Do Yourself a Favor and…
VOTE TOMORROW!
Then, when you’re not sick of politics anymore, check out the all-too-realistic House of Cards on Netflix or pick up the firstImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view., secondImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view., thirdImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view., and fourth seasons on DVD.
The Quote
Do you know the main thing that separates a politician from the rest of the species? A politician is the one who would drown a litter of kittens for ten minutes of prime time.
Image may be NSFW.
