Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody on the set of Boardwalk Empire while filming “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02).

Vitals

Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody, ambitious war veteran and “half a gangster”

Atlantic City, January 1920

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
* “Boardwalk Empire” (Episode 1.01, aired September 19, 2010, dir. Martin Scorsese)
* “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02, aired September 26, 2010, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Broadway Limited” (Episode 1.03, aired October 3, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Anastasia” (Episode 1.04, aired October 10, 2011, dir. Jeremy Podeswa)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Jimmy Darmody’s death was a shocking loss to fans of Boardwalk Empire, especially in the pre-Game of Thrones “anyone can die” TV landscape.

When I revisited the first episodes to capture screenshots for this post, it was even more heart-wrenching to see the character’s potential and the tortured forces that were effectively dooming Jimmy from the outset… not to mention watching poor little Tommy Darmody, clearly unaware of how the events of the following decade would lead to him firing a bullet into the face of his father’s erstwhile mentor.

The world of Boardwalk Empire rewards ambition among the privileged and ruthless, dooming Jimmy’s scrappy but proud brand of ambition from the outset. Tragedy befalls anyone invested in Jimmy’s success, whether it’s a violent end (Angela, Pearl, and Richard Harrow) or an increasingly sad, unavoidable trajectory (Gillian being institutionalized, Tommy’s determination to kill Nucky, etc.)

On the other hand… Nucky gave up on him early and lived just long enough to retire; Jimmy’s father, the Commodore, dismissed him early and enjoyed a long life of ruthless, irascible corruption before Jimmy ended it; and Al Capone – not unsurprisingly – never stood up for his friend and would outlive the show’s time frame to die at his Florida estate after nearly a decade of retirement.

In the first episode, Jimmy bemoans to Nucky that all he wants is an opportunity. Nucky retorts: “This is America, ain’t it? Who the fuck’s stopping you?” You are, Nucky!

What’d He Wear?

Jimmy’s wardrobe during the early days of Prohibition make sense for his character, a lackey freshly returned from serving three years in the death-ridden trenches of France while his native Atlantic City marches on without him to the beat of hot jazz, uninhibited sex, and boisterous parties… all with no end in sight while Jimmy was seeing men his own age meeting their end face down in the mud.

I wrote in my post about Jimmy’s first “grown-up” outfit, a very popular blue tattersall check suit, that Jimmy’s “muted working class style” in these first episodes reflected a clear contrast against the loud pastels and bold checks of Nucky Thompson’s bespoke wardrobe. Jimmy returned from war more cynical than ever but his ambitions were far from tarnished. He knew the potential that the Volstead Act laid out for guys like him – skilled with a gun with nothing to lose – and was more than eager to make the transition from soldier to gangster. It makes sense that his outfit would reflect the colors and structure of the former occupation.

Two very different men with very different aesthetics.

Jimmy wears two different brown cheviot tweed Norfolk jackets during his duration in Atlantic City over the show’s first three episodes. Originally designed as a loose, belted shooting jacket and named for either the Duke of or county of Norfolk, the Norfolk jacket became a country staple when it was popularized by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in the 1880s. A “Norfolk suit”, which Jimmy Darmody wears, is a moniker for a Norfolk jacket worn with matching tweed trousers.

Atlantic City is about as far as you can get from the English country, further marking Jimmy as an outsider in this new world of flashy printed suits, vibrant silk ties, and two-tone spectator shoes. The significance of Jimmy the soldier wearing a garment originally designed for hunting shouldn’t be overlooked.

Jimmy’s first Norfolk jacket, worn in the pilot episode only, was auctioned by ScreenBid with the matching trousers and vest in January 2015. The brown tweed is mixed with red, orange, tan, and green yarns.

Source: HBO.

This jacket is distinctive for its box pleat strips down the front and back, holding the belt in place. It is single-breasted, as a Norfolk jacket should be, with a high-fastening 4-roll-3 button front. The highest button is covered by the roll of the notch lapels, and the bottom button is on the self-belt located right on Jimmy’s waist. (This may even be a 5-roll-3 button front if there is a top button under the right collar to connect through the left lapel buttonhole!)

Jimmy stakes out the boardwalk in search of Nucky after a daring heist in the first episode.

The box pleats are two strips of tweed fabric that extend down the front from the pointed chest yokes. The back mirrors the front with a double-pointed back yoke featuring box pleat strips that extend down over the belt to the bottom of the jacket. The jacket is entirely detailed with swelled edges, found on the lapels, pockets, yokes, and pleats. The only outer pockets are the traditional bellows pockets on the hips, located just behind the front box pleat strips. The shoulders are padded, the sleeveheads are roped, and each sleeve has 4-button cuffs at the end.

Jimmy cynically inhales an Old Gold cigarette in front of the flag representing the country he fought so bravely for.

In “The Ivory Tower” (1.02) and “Broadway Limited” (1.03), Jimmy wears a more simplified Norfolk jacket in a slightly duller shade of brown with a new vest and trousers to match. Superficially the same with traditional details like a 4-roll-3 single-breasted front, notch lapels, and edge swelling throughout, this jacket’s notable differences are the absence of box pleats, the addition of a breast pocket, and a full belt held in place by waist loops.

This second Norfolk jacket has all of the buttons placed directly on the jacket rather than the belt. This belt hangs freer, held in place only through the three conventional waist loops rather than sewn into place under the box pleat strips. The lack of box pleats also frees up the chest area for a patch pocket over Jimmy’s left breast. The edge swelling appears more pronounced on this jacket as well. One other slight difference: this jacket has 3-button cuffs while the first episode’s jacket had 4-button cuffs.

Jimmy’s second jacket has a non-pleated front with a breast pocket and a simplified belt loop system.

Jimmy’s tweed flat front trousers match his respective jackets and feature era-correct styling from the long rise and button fly to the split “fishmouth” notched back of the waistband with a small button on each of the two notch points for his suspenders. His trousers have on-seam side pockets with swelled edges, button-through jetted back pockets, and straight legs down to the cuffed bottoms.

Home from war, Jimmy is more than happy to shed his jacket and help around the house, whether that means playing with Tommy or showing off the new vacuum cleaner he got as a Christmas gift for Angela.

Though Jimmy abandons most of his old wardrobe after going suit shopping with Al Capone in Chicago, he does keep the snazzy suspenders from his tweed suit, a surprisingly colorful set of braces that may be a nod to the fact that – under the surface – Jimmy has the same criminal aspirations as his flashier mentor. These red argyle suspenders have an alternating pattern of overchecked tan and blue diamonds and hook to the trousers with brown leather fastening straps.

Jimmy lets a hint of color peek out from the drab, mottled tones of his tweed suit and work shirt.

The suit has a matching tweed vest that he wears in the first episode (sans tie) and again in the second, third, and fourth episodes. Since Jimmy wears a different jacket for the following episodes, it’s possible that he was also fitted with a different waistcoat and trousers to match the tweed of this jacket, but all of the styling remains the same: a single-breasted, high-fastening, six-button front with four welt pockets and a notched bottom. The back of the vest is covered in a dark brown lining with an adjustable strap.

Now an associate of the Chicago Outfit, Jimmy joins Al Capone when meeting with Charlie Sheridan and his cohorts for the first time.

When not wearing the suit’s matching waistcoat, Jimmy rocks some sleeveless cardigan sweaters that stand out from the rest of his early wardrobe by incorporating more than one color. His most frequently seen sleeveless cardigan is a high-fastening red knit vest with brown accents on the edges, pocket welts, and entire back in a shade of brown similar to the color of the suit. This cardigan has six buttons up the front with a notched bottom and two low pockets.

Jimmy has an inkling that he’s in the presence of his wife’s lover… little does he know…

Seen only in the first and third episodes, Jimmy wears a similarly styled bulky gray wool knit sleeveless cardigan with taupe trim on the edges, back, and pockets. It has six buttons and a notched bottom similar to the other vest, but this one has four bellows pockets, best seen when Jimmy is making his getaway to Chicago in “Broadway Limited” (1.03).

Although similar in looks to his red cardigan, this gray sweater has four bellows pockets as opposed to the red vest’s simpler two welt pockets.

Jimmy’s drab-colored shirts continue to illustrate the deep divide between he and Nucky. While Nucky prefers boldly patterned and brightly colored well-starched dress shirts with crisp white detachable collars, Jimmy wears plain rough-and-ready work shirts indicative of his lower status in Atlantic City’s hierarchy. His cotton work shirts have a point collar and dark buttons down the front placket. His rounded cuffs close with a single button. Edge stitching is visible throughout.

Jimmy’s primary shirt is a mottled dark blue work shirt, worn in all four of the first episodes and paired with both the red knit cardigan and the suit’s matching tweed vest.

A brooding Jimmy flips through the family photo album.

When sporting his gray knit cardigan vest, Jimmy wears a lighter mottled gray-blue work shirt with white hairline stripes. He wears this in the first episode as well as during his escape to Chicago in “Broadway Limited” (1.03) and “Anastasia” (1.04).

A production photo from “Anastasia” (1.04) showing Al Capone (Stephen Graham) and Jimmy Darmody prepping for their Sheridan meeting.

When he wears a tie, he opts for a dark olive-shaded ties that further nod to his military service, either a plain drab olive green cotton tie or a slightly fancier tie with a Deco-style pattern in olive and black silk.

Although Jimmy eventually swaps in a patterned tie to replace his drab one, the pattern is still subtle enough to not draw too much attention.

Only 22 when he returns to Atlantic City, Jimmy has barely had time to re-establish himself since he was an 18-year-old who ran off from Princeton to join the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, he still wears a flat “newsboy cap” that, as a rabbi would tell Capone, is more indicative of a boy than a man. Jimmy’s cap is brown mixed tweed with the top panels collected with a single covered button on the top and another button attaching the front to the brim.

Sporting his flat cap, Jimmy corners an easily amused Al Capone in the first episode.

One part of Jimmy’s wardrobe that never changes over the show are his black leather ankle-high combat boots with black laces through six eyelets and four upper hooks. We don’t see yet whether or not he keeps his 1918 Mk I trench knife holstered in his left boot.

Jimmy reaches for his discharge papers (and spare cash!) in the middle of the night.

Jimmy’s Norfolk jacket serves a second functional purpose; this warm suit provides enough insulation to prevent him from needing an overcoat. Despite this, he still briefly sports a topcoat while making Greektown collections with Al Capone in Chicago during “Anastasia” (1.04). Jimmy’s black leather raincoat closes with three large plastic buttons widely spaced down the single-breast front. The coat has a half-tab on the cuff of each set-in sleeve that closes with a single button, open slanted handwarmer pockets, and a wide belted back above the long vent.

Jimmy prepares for stormy days ahead after his move to Chicago in “Anastasia” (1.04).

This outfit makes only a brief appearance during Jimmy’s tenure in Chicago, all featured in “Anastasia” (1.04) which includes a few extended scenes of Jimmy in his underwear, finding consolation in the arms of starry-eyed prostitute Pearl (Emily Meade) at the Four Deuces. His undershorts are beige cotton flannel with a notch on each side of the waistband with laces to fasten them around his waist; modern boxer shorts with elasticized waists were still a few years away as they would developed by Everlast founder Jacob Golomb in 1925 to replace the leather-belted trunks worn by pugilists in the ring.

Jimmy and Pearl by day and by night. She rounded out the trio of beautiful and complex women in his orbit whose association with him ultimately led to their tragic ends.

“Anastasia” (1.04) also showcases Jimmy’s undershirt, a short-sleeve henley in a beige cotton flannel to match his undershorts. The henley shirt has three white buttons widely spaced over the placket and white stitching around the shoulder seams where the sleeves are set in. He was earlier seen wearing a similarly-styled but longer-sleeved henley in “Boardwalk Empire” (1.01).

How to Get the Look

Jimmy bridges his transition from military to mob in simple but practical tweed duds that both serve his purposes and reflect his modest position in life. The Norfolk jacket, developed for shooting purposes, is a perfect fit for a man who lives by the gun.

“The Ivory Tower” (1.02), depicting a simpler Norfolk jacket than the box-pleated one worn in the first episode.

• Brown cheviot tweed single-breasted Norfolk jacket with notch lapels, high-fastening 4-roll-3 button front, full belt with box-pleated front and back, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
• Red knit sleeveless cardigan sweater with brown back and trim, brown pocket welt detailing, and single-breasted 6-button front with notched bottom
• Brown cheviot tweed high-rise flat front straight-leg trousers with button fly, 2-button “fishmouth” notched back, straight/on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark blue-gray cotton work shirt with point collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Dark olive and black-patterned necktie
• Red argyle suspenders with brown leather hooks
• Brown mixed tweed flat “newsboy cap”
• Black leather combat boots with 6 black-laced eyelets and 4 upper hooks
• Black ankle holster for trench knife
• Beige cotton flannel henley shirt with 3-button placket and short set-in sleeves (with white-stitched shoulder seams)
• Beige cotton flannel undershorts with side laces
• Black leather knee-length raincoat with single-breasted 3-button front, slanted handwarmer pockets, 1-button half-tab cuffs, and belted back with long single vent

By the time he buys his first “gangster suit” in “Anastasia” (1.04), his choice is made and his life begins following an inevitable path.

The Gun

Although Jimmy would later notably arm himself with the popular .32-caliber Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol, the only sidearm that he has during these early days in Atlantic City is a blued Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” revolver that he retrieves from atop a cabinet in his home before leaving town in “Broadway Limited” (1.03). It may be a memento from the war, as Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” revolvers were indeed fielded in small numbers by U.S. Army troops during World War I.

Jimmy grabs his revolver before heading off to Chicago. The fixed front sight looks like it has a notch rather than the S&W Military & Police’s simpler half-moon sight.

Originally known as the “Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector”, this revolver has been continuously produced by Smith & Wesson since 1899. It received its current designation – the Smith & Wesson Model 10 – when the company began numbering its models in the late 1950s. It is every bit the classic service revolver with its six-shot swing-out cylinder, fixed sights, and venerable .38 Special chambering.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the whole series. This outfit is seen in various incarnations throughout first three first season episodes.

The Quote

Look, you can’t be half a gangster, Nucky. Not anymore.

George Lazenby and Diana Rigg as James Bond and Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

Vitals

George Lazenby as James Bond, British secret agent posing as heraldry expert Sir Hilary Bray

Swiss Alps, Christmas Eve 1969

Film: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Release Date: December 18, 1969
Director: Peter R. Hunt
Tailor: Dimi Major
Costume Designer: Marjory Cornelius

Background

For the 00-7th of December, I’m reflecting on James Bond’s first Christmas season on-screen, which he spends in the Swiss Alps under the guise of Sir Hilary Bray (a different Hilary than the Hillary that has been so frequently in the news… although one could technically call his outfit here a “pantsuit” as well.)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service sends James Bond in search of his long-time rival, megalomaniac Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas). In his inaugural and ultimately lone outing as 007, George Lazenby’s Bond spends a major portion of the film disguised as Sir Hilary Bray, a brilliant but banal “sable basilisk” from the College of Arms in London.

Bond adopts Sir Hilary Bray’s professorial manner of dressing and non-threatening demeanor in an attempt to downplay his true identity as a debonair womanizer that would surely give him away as 007. As Blofeld himself notes after he discovers Bond’s deception: “Respectable baronets from the College of Heralds do not seduce female patients in clinics.”

Indeed, Bond spent far too much effort investing in his props – his outfit, his glasses, and his battered brown suitcase to replace the Gucci one seen earlier in his office – and not enough in adapting his behavior.

Sir Hilary Bray’s (George Baker) delight about “getting lost in the churches of Brittany” considerably contrasts from Bond’s idea of fun.

What’d He Wear?

To effectively pose as Sir Hilary Bray, James Bond evidently borrowed or copied every stitch of the man’s clothing as seen in the scene where the two first meet. The centerpiece is a brown tweed wool three-piece suit patterned with cream mini checks and a brick red windowpane overcheck. Since the focus of the Bond films is always to ensure that 007 is looking his best (Octopussy notwithstanding), it was tailored to fit and flatter Lazenby by his tailor Dimi Major.

Lazenby on the Piz Gloria set.

The single-breasted 2-button suit jacket incorporates many elements of country styling with only its short length preventing it from being a true hacking jacket. Many hacking jacket details like the rear-slanting flapped hip pockets and the long single back vent blend with other details noticeable on the suits that Major tailored for Lazenby such as softly padded shoulders with natural sleeveheads. The notch lapels are slightly wider than those on Bond’s suit jackets earlier in the decade. There is also a welted breast pocket and 3-button cuffs.

As Sir Hilary Bray, 007 checks out his new Piz Gloria digs.

An extra layer of tweedy warmth comes from the suit’s matching waistcoat. The vest has four welted pockets and six buttons to close, with the lowest button left open over the notched bottom.

A documentary filmed during the production shows Lazenby, in shirt sleeves with a loosened tie, fooling around with a SIG SG 510 battle rifle prop.

Sneaking around to his various sexual assignations on Christmas Eve (now there’s a phrase), Bond ditches the jacket, vest, and tie and slips on a light brown cardigan with the suit trousers for a more relaxed look.

Despite their many publicity photos together, Lazenby never actually wore this outfit while sharing screen time with Diana Rigg.

The double forward-pleated trousers maintain many of the same styling details as those worn by Sean Connery earlier in the series, although Lazenby’s trousers have a lower rise. The waistband has an extended tab in the front to close with two-button “Daks top” adjusters on the right and left sides. The only pockets are the short-lived slanted pockets on each side. The fit through the leg is slim and tapered down to the cuffed bottoms with a short break.

Bond effectively pairs a check shirt with his check suit by wearing a shirt with a larger scaled tattersall check than the tick-checking of his suiting. The tattersall pattern consists of an intersecting gold, navy, and green grid over an ecru ground. The shirt itself is brushed cotton twill and styled similarly to his other shirts in the movie with a spread collar, plain front, and 1-button cuffs. An attractive shirt, for sure, but decidedly less luxurious or flashy than Bond’s usual attire and thus very fitting for his assumed identity as Sir Hilary Bray.

Doubling down on his disguise, Bond’s slim dark navy repp tie features a large gold embroidered coat of arms emblazoned directly below the narrow Windsor knot. This crest, embroidered in gold with red detailing, appears to consist of two lions (or dragons) supporting a coronet and shield with a motto scroll along the bottom.

Bond regards Irma Bunt with an appropriately blank expression.

Bond’s brown leather wingtip derby brogues are very appropriate for the outfit with their perforated medallion toes and rubber soles. He wears them with black socks, although brown socks would be a better choice to continue the leg line (especially given the high trouser break.)

Not exactly snow shoes, 007…

007 leaves no detail unaddressed; even the coat and hat were borrowed from those seen hanging in Sir Hilary’s office during his brief visit. He lands at Piz Gloria sporting an old-fashioned brown tweed Ulster coat with a cape attached to the tall collar and swelled edges throughout. The knee-length Ulster coat’s single-breasted front has five brown horn buttons, although Lazenby leaves the top two – including the one at the collar – open.

The cape drapes down the front and back, ending just above the line of the fifth (and lowest) button in the front and enveloping the top of the single vent in the back. Unlike a Sherlock Holmes-style Inverness cape, the Ulster coat has sleeves; in Bond’s case, these are set-in sleeves that each end with a single button on the cuff. The hip pockets slant slight toward the back and are closed with a flap.

Bond re-dons his Ulster coat for a morning of curling activities with the girls of Piz Gloria.

Sean Connery’s Bond had always worn trilbies for business, suavely tossing them onto Moneypenny’s rack – er, hat rack – upon entering M’s office. Lazenby’s Bond performs the same ritual, but the only trilby he actually wears is the brown tweed short-brimmed hat that forms part of his disguise as Sir Hilary Bray. A faint red windowpane contributes to the subtle plaid texture of the trilby, which has a pinched crown and a narrow self-band.

As Sir Hilary Bray isn’t much of a sportsman, Bond is forced to take a dive while curling… not a thing many people can say about themselves.

Bond does his best to fight the bitter cold atop Piz Gloria (as well as to look like a man very sensitive to the cold) by donning a scarf and gloves, all following the same brown-centric earth tones of his suit, shoes, outerwear, and shirt. His light brown scarf is soft and woolen, possibly cashmere.

Bond’s leather gloves are less luxurious in a dull take on “old gold” that lands somewhere in the “brown mustard” color camp. Despite their color, his gloves certainly serve him better than the makeshift gloves that later come from ripping out the lining of his trouser pockets.

Irma Bunt “greets” Bond as he arrives in Switzerland.

“It takes more than a few props to turn 007 into a Herald,” observes Blofeld as he breaks the pair of eyeglasses that Bond wore in his Bray disguise. The glasses, which offer a scholarly appearance reminiscent of Aldous Huxley, are round with thin tortoiseshell frames.

The more subtle of Bond’s “props” is a gold ring, worn on his left pinky, with a large black stone setting.

Bond’s “props” are on display as he takes a puff from Sir Hilary’s pipe.

The most 007-ish of his “props” is a stainless steel Rolex Chronograph, also known as as a “Pre-Daytona”, ref. 6238. The watch has a silver dial with three sub-dials and is worn on a steel link bracelet.

Bond flashes his Rolex while opening one of his battered brown leather suitcases.

This watch could be considered part of Bond’s disguise since 007 wears a black dial Rolex Submariner throughout the rest of the film. However, Sir Hilary wears a flat gold dress watch on his wrist in addition to a pocket watch on a gold chain during their meeting… with nary a Rolex in sight.

According to James Bond Lifestyle, this Rolex – serial number 1206613 – was purchased by EON Productions at Bucherer Interlaken on October 23, 1968, for Lazenby to wear on screen as 007. It was supposedly redesigned as a compass with the red seconds hand doubling as the compass hand. After production wrapped, the wardrobe department sold the watch among many other costumes and accessories. It has been sold and auctioned several times over the last few decades, most recently by Artcurial in July 2016.

To read more about this outfit, Matt Spaiser analyzed the suit and coat on his blog, The Suits of James Bond.

How to Get the Look

James Bond dresses more like Sir Hilary Bray than 007, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Evidently, Sir Hilary knows a thing or two about putting together a timeless tweedy outfit to keep any gentleman warm during a chilly winter day.

• Brown checked tweed suit with a brick red windowpane:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long single vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest with notched bottom and four welted pockets
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with 2-button side-tab “Daks top” waist adjusters, extended front closure tab, slanted side pockets, no rear pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Ecru tattersall check cotton twill shirt with spread collar, plain front, and 1-button cuffs
• Slim dark navy repp tie with gold embroidered coat of arms
• Brown leather perforated medallion-toe wingtip derby brogues
• Black dress socks
• Brown tweed knee-length Ulster coat with cape attached to tall collar, single-breasted 5-button front, slanted flapped hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and single back vent
• Light brown soft woolen scarf
• Mustard brown leather gloves
• Rolex Chronograph 6238 stainless watch with a silver dial and steel link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with large black stone setting
• Round tortoise-framed eyeglasses

Iconic Alternatives has a great rundown of affordable options to channel elements of this, such as his Rolex watch, and many other 007 outfits.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Yes… we live in a world of avarice and deceit.

Mickey Rourke as “Boogie” in Diner (1982).

Vitals

Mickey Rourke as Robert “Boogie” Sheftell, part-time law student, hair stylist, and degenerate gambler

Baltimore, Christmas 1959

Film: Diner
Release Date: March 5, 1982
Director: Barry Levinson
Costume Designer: Gloria Gresham

Background

This Car Week segment ends with a holiday-focused look at the ’57 Chevy driven by Mickey Rourke in Diner.

Praised by an astute IMDB reviewer as “a thinking man’s version of American Graffiti,” Diner follows a group of high school buddies reconnecting in their Baltimore hometown during the last week of 1959. The Christmas backdrop contributes heavily to the nostalgia of the final days of the decade preceding the tumultuous ’60s as each friend realizes the different directions that his life is taking.

Diner is a very entertaining exploration of the significance of immaturity and growth, propelled by witty dialogue and dynamic characters played by then-rising stars Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, TIm Daly, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, and Daniel Stern.

The diner itself that the gang frequents was the Fell’s Point Diner, originally located at West Rogers Avenue and Reisterstown Road in Woodmere, a neighborhood northwest of both Baltimore and the historic Fell’s Point waterfront neighborhood from which the diner takes its name.

What’d He Wear?

Boogie has arguably the most unique wardrobe of his group of friends with era-defining threads like a dark leather bomber jacket, brown tanker jacket, and gray atomic fleck sport coat that establish him as the group’s de facto “bad boy”. As Barry Levinson’s original screenplay noted:

Boogie is something of a "Dandy," flashier in dress than others in his crowd.

Boogie’s first on-screen outfit, worn for a Christmas dance and the following hours spent at the diner, is centered around a maroon birdseye wool single-breasted sport jacket. The distinctive pattern is a large-scaled birdseye weave created by dark maroon yarns woven over the lighter tan yarn. Smaller-scaled birdseye weaves often appear solid from a distance, but the large scale weave of Boogie’s jacket adds an interesting texture.

Yes, Mickey Rourke once looked like this. It was a long time ago.

The maroon birdseye jacket has moderately slim notch lapels that roll down to the two-button front. The styling is typical for a late ’50s jacket with padded shoulders, single back vent, and two buttons spaced out on each cuff. The straight jetted hip pockets may have flaps that often just tuck into the jacket (and a devil-may-care type like Boogie wouldn’t give a damn either way), but he makes the most of his breast pocket by puffing out a red printed silk display kerchief with tan stripes.

Boogie’s conspiratorial attitude may be a natural byproduct of his frequent conspiring. Just a theory.

With his frequent gambling and consorting with shifty loan sharks with names like Tank (whoa!) and Bagel (oh…), Boogie is the closest to being a gangster within his group of friends, and he certainly dresses the part with his dark monochrome jacket and shirt, contrasted by a lighter-colored tie. His button-down dress shirt is solid maroon with white mother-of-pearl buttons up the front placket, buttoning down the slim collar points, and on each cuff.

Boogie’s tan silk tie has a pink-ish hue (or a rosy glow, as some would say). It nicely calls out the jacket and shirt with stripes of maroon diamonds that alternate with beige and black diamonds.

Fenwick may be fading after a night of drinking and diner-ing, but Boogie is still going strong the next morning.

Boogie wears very dark brown flat front trousers, supported by a small gold square buckle. The bottoms are slightly flared and finished with turn-ups.

Boogie’s shoes call back the complexity of his jacket and tie. Seen most clearly in a dark nighttime scene, they appear to be tan basket weave spectator oxfords with a contrasting burgundy brown leather apron/moc-toe and closed, balmoral-style facing with four eyelets for burgundy laces. His dark socks are likely a dark shade of brown to continue the leg line from trouser into shoe.

Boogie admires the realistic effects from Fenwick’s bottle of Heinz. (I think he actually uses Campbell’s brand of ketchup, but Pittsburghers like me can’t abide anything but Heinz.)

As Diner is set during a long, chilly December evening in Baltimore, Boogie supplements his outfit with an overcoat, scarf, and – occasionally – brown leather lined gloves. His single-breasted topcoat is dark brown wool and falls to above his knees. The slim notch lapels roll to the top of a three-button front, which he typically leaves open, with a long single vent in the back. The hip pockets are flapped and there appear to be two buttons on each cuff.

Possibly the yield from a lucky gambling streak or an investment designed to attract female attention, Boogie drapes a luxurious ivory scarf around his neck. The scarf is possibly cashmere or pashmina and has short fraying on the edges.

If Fenwick was actually hurt, is Boogie the type of friend that would sacrifice his luxurious scarf to help his bloody pal?

Throughout Diner, Boogie consistently wears a thin gold necklace chain with a gold ring pendant. It is clearly part of his outfit, even worn underneath the buttoned-down collar of his shirt. No mention of this jewelry was made in the original screenplay, and the closest thing I could find online was a reference to Rourke wearing a custom-made pendant to commemorate the life of his recently deceased 17-year-old chihuahua, Roki, in 2009.

Any idea what’s up with that ring?

Boogie wears his pinky ring more conventionally by actually sporting it on his finger. It is a thick gold ring with a small round red stone, worn on his left pinky. Also on his left hand, he wears a gold identity bracelet around his wrist.

Or this ring, for that matter.

Go Big or Go Home

Eddie: When you’re making out, which do you prefer, Sinatra or Mathis?
Boogie: Presley.

Given his taste in music and the time of year, the perfect album to bring out your inner Boogie is the aptly titled Elvis’ Christmas Album, released in October 1957 and just in time for a musically brilliant Christmas season that also saw the release of A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra (which would be Eddie’s clear favorite). America agrees with Boogie, however, as Elvis’ Christmas Album remains the best-selling holiday album in the U.S. even sixty years after its release with more than 10 million copies sold.

Elvis’ Christmas Album leads with the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller-penned blues number “Santa Claus Is Back in Town,” also memorably used to introduce Geena Davis’ character in The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Other Christmas tunes that feature in Diner are a double dose of Chuck Berry’s 1958 holiday favorites: the energetic rock hit “Run Rudolph Run” and the bluesier “Merry Christmas Baby”. When driving Modell (Paul Reiser) after the Christmas dance, Boogie keeps the rockabilly flowing in his car with Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

How to Get the Look

Boogie dresses to impress and finds a way to incorporate the traditional reddish tones of the holidays into a distinctive outfit that says so much about him and his place in the ’50s.

• Maroon birdseye wool single-breasted 2-button sport coat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Maroon shirt with slim button-down collar, front placket, and 1-button cuffs
• Tan silk tie with printed maroon, beige, and black diamond-patterned stripes
• Dark brown wool flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark brown leather belt with small square gold buckle
• Burgundy brown leather & tan basket weave 4-eyelet moc-toe spectator oxfords
• Dark brown dress socks
• Dark brown wool single-breasted 3-button topcoat with flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Ivory cashmere (or pashmina) wool scarf with frayed edges
• Gold chain-link ID bracelet, worn on left wrist
• Gold cluster pinky ring with small round red stone, worn on left pinky
• Gold ring, worn on a very thin gold necklace

An extra dose of holiday red comes from the bright red silk display kerchief poking out of Boogie’s breast pocket.

The Car

The script called for a “cherry and white DeSoto,” but when Diner made it to the big screen, Boogie’s ride was a classic black 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air four-door sedan. One of the most instantly recognizable in a decade full of iconic automobiles, the Bel Air was considered one of Chevy’s iconic pack of “Tri-Fives” produced from 1955-1957. A ’57 Bel Air was previously featured on BAMF Style when taking a look at the black two-door convertible that James Bond commandeered from an ineffective assassin in Dr. No.

Boogie’s Bel Air during one of his many late nights.

Chevrolet had first introduced the Bel Air model in 1949, but four-door sedans didn’t appear with the moniker until 1953, two years before the iconic second generation redesign that GM knowingly marketed as the “Hot One,” well aware of the external appeal of the Italian-styled grille and the internal draw of its innovative V8 engines.

Prior to the 1955 redesign, the last Chevrolet to be fitted with a V8 engine was the 1917 Series D, although the 36 horsepower produced by that car’s engine could hardly be considered competition for even a V8-powered car in the 1930s. Two-door models like the sport coupes and convertibles are the most sought after of the “Tri-Five” Bel Airs, but four-door options included a station wagon, the pillarless sport sedan, and the hardtop sedan (model #2403) that Boogie drove in Diner.

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

Body Style: 4-door pillared hardtop sedan

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

Engine: 283 cubic inch (4.6 L) “Turbo Fire” V8 with Rochester twin-barrel carburetor

Power: 185 hp (138 kW; 188 PS) @ 4600 rpm

Torque: 275 lb·ft (373 N·m) @ 2400 rpm

Transmission: 2-speed Powerglide automatic

Wheelbase: 115 inches (2921 mm)

Length: 200 inches (5080 mm)

Width: 73.9 inches (1877 mm)

Height: 59.9 inches (1521 mm)

Boogie’s car, fitted with vintage Maryland license plates FX-41-89, is recognizable as an automatic transmission car when the column shifter is seen stuck in Park during several scenes where the car is supposedly “driving”. It’s likely the two-speed Powerglide transmission, but the three-speed Turboglide constant torque transmission was also a popular automatic option, introduced in 1957.

Fenwick and Boogie pull up beside Jane Chisholm. (Like the trail.)

According to a commenter, “VinnyDaQ”, at CarsForSell.org, the car was originally meant to be a yellow taxi in the film but the producers were so impressed by the condition of the ’57 Bel Air that they used it as Boogie’s car, swapping out the scripted DeSoto.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie… and offer to give Paul Reiser a ride home even if he doesn’t come out and ask for it.

The Quote

If you don’t have good dreams, you got nightmares.

Mahershala Ali as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes on Luke Cage (Episode 1.06: “Suckas Need Bodyguards”)

Vitals

Mahershala Ali as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, mob boss and nightclub owner

Harlem, November 2015

Series: Luke Cage
Episodes:  “Suckas Need Bodyguards” (Episode 1.06) & “Manifest” (Episode 1.07)
Streaming Date: September 30, 2016
Directors: Sam Miller (Episode 1.06) & Andy Goddard (Episode 1.07)
Costume Designer: Stephanie Maslansky
Key Tailor: Cherie Cunningham

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The chilly weather here in the Northern Hemisphere as we look toward the official start of winter this week is a fine time to explore options for layering against the cold. 

Crime boss Cottonmouth Stokes’ “last stand” on Luke Cage finds him bundling up for a cold Harlem morning in the sixth episode, “Suckas Need Bodyguards”, when confronting the corrupt Detective Scarfe by the water. From then, he’s thrust into a spiral that ultimately results in him getting his deserved comeuppance… not for Scarfe’s murder but for the more-relevant-than-ever issue of victim blaming.

Part of Cottonmouth’s watchability comes from Mahershala Ali’s impressive gift for humanizing the character, as he explained in an October 2016 interview with Vulture. Cottonmouth may be ruthless, greedy, and vicious, but there’s no doubting his sharp style mixed with the charismatic sense of evil affability that the excellent Mahershala Ali brings to the role. I had always liked Ali on House of Cards (in fact, my first House of Cards post featured him rather than the main character… which I guess I have a habit of doing when it comes to Ali), and I’m glad to see that Luke Cage and Moonlight have both contributed to getting him on the map during 2016.

What’d He Wear?

As Cottonmouth finds himself looking at more dangerous times ahead, he leaves his bold checks and shiny silks in the closet and dresses in a more understated navy three-piece tailored suit, likely lightweight wool.

Single-breasted jackets with peak lapels have enjoyed a resurgence every 40 years or so, from their initial popularity in the 1930s to their brief return in the ’70s to their more slimmed down revival in this decade. Luke Cage takes many cues from the 1970s so it’s fitting that the gangland antagonist’s suits would evoke that era (without directly replicating it.)

Westworld wasn’t the only show this year to make significant use of a symbolic piano…

Cottonmouth’s two-button suit jacket has padded shoulders that add additional strength to his silhouette. The jacket also has long double vents, 4-button cuffs, and straight flapped hip pockets. In both episodes, Cottonmouth wears a patterned navy display kerchief, folded into a neat pocket square in his jacket’s breast pocket for a subtle touch of luxury.

Like the jacket, Cottonmouth’s matching suit vest is shaped by darts down the front. Each dart stops at the lower welted pocket on each side. The waistcoat is single-breasted with five buttons well-spaced down the front with the lowest button left open over the notched bottom.

Cottonmouth masters the art of projecting carefree success even when his world is closing in around him.

The matching flat front trousers likely have buckle side-tab adjusters like his other suit trousers, fitting comfortably around Mahershala Ali’s waist without the need for suspenders or a bulging belt. Only the slanted side pockets are seen on screen, but they likely have jetted back pockets that close through a button like his other trousers as well. These have a straight fit down to each trouser leg’s plain-hemmed bottom.

I really hope you took my earlier spoiler alert seriously if you haven’t seen the show yet!

In both episodes, Cottonmouth wears a pale blue broadcloth cotton dress shirt with a cutaway spread collar to accommodate the large Windsor knots of his silk foulard neckties. The shirt also has semi-rounded cuffs that each close with a single white button.

Both episodes also find Cottonmouth wearing a silk tie with a dark ground and lighter foulard pattern, always with the tie fastened in place with a silver crest-shaped tie pin at his chest. In an interview with Forbes, costume designer Stephanie Maslansky said that “[Cottonmouth] always has a subtle piece of green, somewhere, little things that reference that snake-like aspect to his character.” Both of these episodes incorporate that green into his tie.

The first tie, in “Suckas Need Bodyguards” and the beginning of “Manifest” has a dark navy ground with repeating boxes in purple and green, each with a small tan dot in the center.

The green and purple in Cottonmouth’s tie are just enough to shake up the monochromatism of his all-blue outfit.

After he is released from the police station in “Manifest”, Cottonmouth returns to Harlem’s Paradise wearing the same suit and shirt but with a changed tie and pocket square. In this tie, his snake-like green has evolved from the subtle boxes of his last tie to being the entire ground color of the tie, broken only by a series of small blue-inside-gray dots. It may look to be the same tie at the outset, but the venom has spread and he’s in full snake mode by the time Mariah confronts him in his office…

Cottonmouth chugs some single malt Scotch after his release from police custody. (More about this below!)

Cottonmouth appears to be wearing dark brown shoes during his fight with Detective Scarfe in “Suckas Need Bodyguards”, but “Manifest” shows him lounging in his office at Harlem’s Paradise and clearly wearing a pair of black calf 3-eyelet bluchers with a cap toe. His socks are a dark shade of blue to nicely carry the leg line of his navy suit into his shoes.

That cockiness is definitely gonna come back to haunt you, Cottonmouth…

Both episodes find Cottonmouth adding an extra layer against the cold late fall weather with a stylish charcoal-on-navy plaid Ulster coat in heavy woolen tweed. Though it falls short of his knees, the overcoat looks long and luxurious on Mahershala Ali’s lean 6’2″ frame.

Cottonmouth and Detective Scarfe exchange words… and fists.

Cottonmouth’s overcoat has all of the elements of a true Ulster coat, including the large and distinctive “Ulster collar” and a double-breasted front with a 6×2 configuration of dark brown horn sew-through buttons. There is a welted breast pocket and flapped patch pockets on the hips. The back has an inverted box pleat in the center and an adjustable half-belt with a button on each side. Each set-in sleeve ends with a wide turnback gauntlet cuff.

It’s amazing how much Cottonmouth’s confidence shifts after he realizes he may be exposed.

Cottonmouth wears a very stylish wristwatch in polished stainless steel, secured to his left wrist on a black leather strap. The white-bordered blue “tuxedo dial” reminded me of the Omega DeVille Hour Vision, but I’m still not sure. (If Mahershala Ali was on Twitter, I would ask him; it’s where Frank Whaley confirmed that Detective Scarfe wore a Rolex Daytona!)

One of Cottonmouth’s many moments of reflection.

On his right pinky, Cottonmouth wears a silver ring with a set-in round blue stone.

Cottonmouth mournfully plays his Fender Rhodes electric piano, reflecting on his talents as a youth.

After wearing plain silver studs in his ears in “Suckas Need Bodyguards”, Cottonmouth swaps in his emerald-set earrings for the final acts of “Manifest” that find him at his snakiest. In the Forbes interview, Maslansky explained that “the beautiful earrings he wears, they have emeralds in the center. He always has a subtle piece of green, somewhere, little things that reference that snake-like aspect to his character.

What to Imbibe

If it wasn’t such a damn good and memorable episode in its own right, “Manifest” (episode 1.07) could also be referred to as “the Scotch episode” of Luke Cage for the ubiquitous significance of drams in key scenes.

Following his release from custody, Cottonmouth returns to his office where he pours himself a dram of The Glenlivet 18-Year-Old single malt Scotch, drinking it neat. Mariah Dillard also “enjoys” a glass of Glenlivet 18 after a rough day of fielding reporters, and the character-defining flashback to Cottonmouth and Mariah’s youth finds “Pistol Pete” frequently imbibing Johnnie Walker Black Label.

Although his office bar features at least five or six different vodkas, it’s trusty Glenlivet that Cottonmouth turns to in his time of need.

How to Get the Look

Cottonmouth defines his image as a successful gangster by never allowing himself to be seen in anything less than a tailored three-piece suit and silk tie, always with a touch of green and occasionally layering against the cold with a classic Ulster coat.

• Navy blue lightweight wool tailored suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with slim peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Single-breasted 5-button vest with lower welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat front straight-leg trousers with buckle side-tab adjusters, slanted side pockets, jetted button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale blue broadcloth cotton dress shirt with cutaway spread collar and 1-button semi-rounded cuffs
• Dark silk foulard tie (…Cottonmouth would incorporate green here!)
• Silver crest-shaped tie pin
• Black calf leather cap-toe 3-eyelet derby shoes/bluchers
• Navy blue dress socks
• Charcoal-on-navy plaid flannel wool Ulster overcoat
• Polished stainless steel wristwatch with round blue-and-white dial on black leather strap
• Silver pinky ring with round blue set-in stone
• Emerald-set silver earrings

The Gun

Cottonmouth keeps the weapon he used during his first murder, a Smith & Wesson Model 64 with white pearl grips, in a small box in his office. The Model 64 is the stainless variant of Smith & Wesson’s venerable Model 10 “Military & Police” revolver in .38 Special. The Model 64 was introduced in 1981,  so it certainly would’ve been available by the time Mama Mabel first placed it in his hands sometime in the ’80s. Cottonmouth’s Model 64 has a 3″ barrel, evident by the ejector rod matches the length of the barrel.

Cottonmouth ignores the rules of both gun safety and good luck when he aims his Smith & Wesson Model 64 at the mirror in “Manifest”.

Cottonmouth’s Smith & Wesson Model 64 makes a reappearance in the final episode during Mariah’s takeover.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Luke Cage on Netflix!

The Quote

There is honor amongst thieves, but you ain’t no thief.

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990)

Vitals

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, New York mob associate and ex-con

Queens, NY, December 1978

Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

Background

Following the record-breaking Lufthansa heist on December 11, 1978, Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) hosted a few of his nearest, dearest, and soon-to-be-deadest Mafia pals over to Robert’s Lounge for some Christmas cheer.

Robert’s Lounge was a real-life mob hangout in South Ozone Park, Queens, only a few miles away from the Lufthansa terminal at JFK International Airport (formerly Idlewild) from which Jimmy’s crew had just stolen more than $5.8 million in cash and jewels. Robert’s Lounge hosted both the planning and the celebration of the crime.

Jimmy may have appreciated taunting law enforcement by celebrating the heist’s success in a location so close to its execution, but he certainly does not appreciate the guys bringing around their new Cadillacs and fur coats to give probable cause… unfortunately for these gangsters, Jimmy also used the basement of Robert’s Lounge to dispose of several of their corpses.

Although likely meant to be set at Robert’s Lounge, the Christmas sequence among others was filmed at Neir’s. Originally opened as “The Blue Pump Room” in Queens in 1829, Neir’s Tavern is the oldest operating bar in New York City, beating out McSorley’s by 25 years as documented by the Daily Mail.

What’d He Wear?

Christmas Party

Henry and Karen’s arrival at Jimmy’s Christmas party isn’t ostentatious enough to earn Jimmy’s ire, unlike Johnny Roastbeef and Frankie Carbone. After greeting a temporarily jubilant Jimmy, Henry takes off his winter outwear, a tan gabardine overcoat and a white silk scarf with long fringe. The double-breasted coat has sweeping peak lapels with six brown urea buttons on the front (with two to button) and three on each cuff.

Things certainly look jolly from the outset…

Never one to shy away from loud colors, Henry wears a rust red velvet blazer in a color befitting the season. The jacket is single-breasted with large notch lapels and swelled edges. The hip pockets slant slightly toward the back with wide flaps, and there is a welted breast pocket. The sleeveheads are slightly roped, and there is a single back vent.

Why wouldn’t Henry be grinning ear-to-ear after getting a gift like that?

For an added touch of festivity, the two buttons on the front and the two smaller buttons on each cuff are red plastic sew-through buttons with gold edges.

You know it’s a good Christmas party when no one can stop hugging each other.

Henry’s dress shirt is light ecru silk with an extra-long point collar that works with his lapel width, flared trouser bottoms, and hairs to make him quite the fashionable man in 1978. The shirt has a front placket, single-button cuffs, and “HH” monogrammed on the left breast.

Henry seems to be enjoying himself, but Jimmy’s expression would stop me dead in my tracks.

The texture of Henry’s wide black tie looks duller than silk, suggesting cotton twill.

Jimmy and Henry look understandably disappointed. To be honest, is there really any other expression when looking at a man named Johnny Roastbeef?

Best seen when the Hills are celebrating their Christmas at home, Henry wears dark brown flat front trousers with a long rise and a self-belt like many of his other pants in Goodfellas. They appear to have side pockets and jetted back pockets. The plain-hemmed bottoms flare out slightly, though not to the extent that some trendy trousers in the ’70s did…

Henry also sports a pair of dark brown leather tassel loafers with brown silk dress socks that contribute to the domination of earth tones in the outfit. Henry seemed to prefer loafers – whether with horsebits, tassels, or penny slots – to the degree that I don’t believe we ever see him wear any laced dress shoes as an adult.

The Hills enjoy a quiet Christmas at home.

Henry wears his usual jewelry with a ring on each hand – a gold pinky ring on his right hand and his thin plain gold wedding band on his left. He doubles up on his right wrist for the party, wearing both a flat all-gold wristwatch and a yellow gold ID bracelet.

It seems like a fun party and all, but Henry and Karen are wise to pull an Irish goodbye once Jimmy and Morrie start their “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” karaoke duet.

Christmas at Home

For Christmas at home with the wife and kids, Henry takes a more casual approach by ditching the jacket and tie but wearing a similarly styled shirt in pale pink poplin with a white contrast collar and cuffs… and yes, it’s the same extra-long point collar as on his other shirts. He wears the top few buttons worn open to reveal his usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt beneath it… as well as his gold necklace with both the Catholic cross and Star of David to represent his religious affiliations.

To truly get into the spirit of the holidays, you should always try to match your shirt to your Christmas tree. Way to go, Hendry!

Although more casual in his dress, he ups his watch game by sporting a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date wristwatch with a champagne dial and gold “President” link bracelet.

Go Big or Go Home

Henry Hill knows the perfect gift for both Christmas and and Hanukkah when he hands Karen (Lorraine Bracco) a fat stack of cash… now that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.

A gold Rolex would also make for a fine Christmas gift… *cough cough*

Naturally, Scorsese digs out the perfect Christmas music for the background of Goodfellas‘ holiday scenes, subtly decreasing in energy from frantic and fun when everyone is riding on the high of the Lufthansa heist to slow and somber just before the wave of murders.

His arms outstretched for the biggest of hugs (awh!), Jimmy greets Henry at Robert’s Lounge while The Ronettes’ rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” plays, from the masterful 1963 holiday album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.

Once Jimmy has sufficiently berated enough mobsters, another terrific track kicks in – Darlene Love singing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, an energetic ballad of loneliness from the same great album. Originally, this song was also supposed to be a Ronettes contribution to the album but Love was brought in when Ronnie Spector was unable to deliver the “emotion and sheer vocal power” that Rolling Stone noted when ranking the song highest on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs.

Finally, the Christmas sequence ends with Henry handing off his very thoughtful gifts to Karen to the tune of The Drifters’ “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. Originally appearing in the 1945 film of the same name (which Michael Corleone took Kay to see in The Godfather!) during a Christmas pageant, “The Bells of St. Mary’s” is actually not directly a Christmas song with more explicit lyrical suggestions of fall than winter or the holidays.

Nonetheless, the song has become a tradition on holiday albums with The Drifters recording it as the B-side to their doo wop “White Christmas” single in 1954, a track that itself appeared in both Home Alone and The Santa Clause.

What to Imbibe

This drink here is better than sex, babe.

Stacks Edwards (Samuel L. Jackson) is briefly shown pouring shots of green liqueur into glasses full of white wine to impress his date. This is almost definitely a reference to the drink that Nicholas Pileggi mentions Henry’s crew enjoying before Henry was sent off to prison six years earlier: “At eleven o’clock, Henry and his pals were at the bar at Maxwell’s drinking Screaming Eagles – shot glasses of white Chartreuse dropped into large goblets of chilled champagne.”

I have yet to take Stacks up on his dubiously bold claim about this drink, but I’d say it’s at least worth a try.

Other than the context, the only major difference from page-to-screen is Stacks’ choice of using the stronger (110 proof) and more colorful green Chartreuse rather than yellow, which is milder and sweeter at 80 proof. (Pileggi refers to “white” Chartreuse when he likely means the yellow version; production of White Chartreuse ended in 1900, more than seven decades before any of these scenes are set.)

How to Get the Look

Henry injects some late ’70s festivity into his holiday party attire, sporting some subtle earth tones with his decidedly-less-subtle rust-colored velvet blazer.

Not exactly the life of the party…

• Rust red velvet single-breasted 2-button blazer with welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, single vent, and gold-trimmed red plastic sew-through buttons
• Ecru silk dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, monogrammed chest, and single-button cuffs
• Black cotton twill tie
• Dark brown flat front trousers with self-belt, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown leather tassel loafers
• Dark brown silk dress socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Tan gabardine double-breasted overcoat with wide peak lapels, 6×2-button front, 3-button cuffs, long single vent
• White silk scarf with frayed edges
• Rolex Day-Date yellow gold wristwatch with champagne dial and gold link “President” bracelet
• Yellow gold ID chain-link bracelet
• Pinky ring, worn on right pinky
• Plain gold wedding band, worn on left ring finger
• Yellow gold necklace with Catholic cross and Star of David

For an extra pop of color, swap out the ecru shirt for a pale pink shirt with a large white contrast collar and cuffs!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie. And, if you’re throwing your own Goodfellas style holiday bash, grab a copy of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector to play in the background.

The Quote

Morrie, relax, okay? It’s Christmas.

James Stewart (as George Bailey) with Donna Reed (as Mary Bailey) and Karolyn Grimes (as Zuzu) in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Vitals

James Stewart as George Bailey, banker and depressed family man

Bedford Falls, NY, Christmas Eve 1945

Film: It’s a Wonderful Life
Release Date: December 20, 1946
Director: Frank Capra
Costume Designer: Edward Stevenson

Background

Jimmy Stewart and director Frank Capra have both called It’s a Wonderful Life the favorite film of each of their prolific careers. Stewart cites George Bailey as his favorite character that he’s played, and Capra would annually screen the film for his own family each Christmas.

First released 60 years ago this week, the film earned mixed reviews and was ultimately considered a financial disappointment, earning only $3.3 million during its initial box office run against its considerably expensive $3.7 million budget. (It also earned the ire of the FBI for its “Communist tricks” of “represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture,” but that’s a whole different story.)

The rights to It’s a Wonderful Life swapped hands several time during the following decades, but a clerical error prevented the renewal of the copyright in 1974 and led to the film becoming a perennial television mainstay. Just like George Bailey himself, It’s a Wonderful Life received a second chance at life and has grown to become a holiday favorite and ranked by AFI in 2006 as the #1 Most Inspirational Movie of All Time.

I’ve made it a personal tradition to go with family to see It’s a Wonderful Life each December as the Regent Square Theater in Pittsburgh, just a few minutes from my apartment, hosts an annual public screening where the only cost of admission is a non-perishable food item to be donated to someone in need. This is the best way to take in the movie, laughing, crying, or just feeling with the rest of the audience. As someone who suffers from depression, I always leave the theater feeling refreshed, fulfilled, and appreciative… plus my ears perk up more than usual at the sound of bells ringing!

What’d He Wear?

After following George Bailey through his life, It’s a Wonderful Life catches up with him on Christmas Eve 1945. He has placed aside his wanderlust and big dreams to take over his family business and raise a family in the small town of Bedford Falls. He has reasons to be disgruntled, but he’s in high spirits as he waltzes into the office of the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan that morning, mouth clamped on a pipe, Christmas wreath over his arm, and proudly proclaiming the news of the homecoming of his war hero brother, Harry.

Set on a snowy holiday morning in upstate New York (though filmed during a toasty June and July in Encino!), George bundles up with a heavy tweed tan single-breasted overcoat and brown fedora. His heavy three-button coat has swelled edges on the notch lapels, single-button pointed cuff tabs, and flapped patch pockets. He will eventually leaves his coat and wide-brimmed felt hat at the office… a regrettable decision given how much he ends up digging in the snow but probably one that Jimmy Stewart greatly appreciated when filming during the hot California summer.

All smiles at the office! If only one of these Baileys had been trusted with that $8,000 instead…

George’s scarf is a dark woven herringbone wool with long fringe. It was colorized to navy blue, just a shade darker than the thicker stripes of his repp tie. George is still wearing the scarf when he gets word of the missing $8,000, so he wears it when he goes off to find it but ends up leaving his coat and hat in the office.

I think that there’s some significance to the fact that George’s jacket is only buttoned early in this scene, but I’ll talk about that later!

Underneath his wintry outer layers, George is still warmly dressed for a winter day in a nice countrified suit for a humble small-town banker. The heavy wool suit is constructed from a large-scaled birdseye tweed, likely brown and tan yarn. Tweed suits are a favorite for George Bailey and strengthen the perception of his character as a homespun “everyman”; he wore a three-piece tweed suit for Harry’s first homecoming after his surprise wedding and another sportier tweed suit for both his own wedding and tempestuous “job interview” with Mr. Potter.

Fully cut in the popular style of the early 1940s, the birdseye tweed suit looks good on Stewart’s tall, lean 6’3″ frame and a closer look at the material explains where the “birdseye” appellation is derived.

The heavy single-breasted jacket has a three-button front that George wears open for most of his onscreen trials and tribulations, exposing his ragged tie and contributing to the appearance of a man who is falling apart.

George’s suit jacket has thick notch lapels with a buttonhole through the left lapel. The shoulders are well-padded, there are three buttons on the end of each cuff, and the back is ventless. Sporty details like the patch pockets on the left chest and hips would not be found on a business suit and hint that, like his beloved father, George is no businessman (which certainly makes him very popular to his lendees!)

The depressed family man

The trousers appropriately match the full cut of the jacket, rising high on Stewart’s waist with double reverse pleats and cut straight through the legs down to the cuffed bottoms.

George Bailey’s bad day just keeps getting worse…

George’s suit trousers have a straight pocket on each side seam and two jetted pockets in the back. Just below the belt line is a small coin pocket for “Zuzu’s petals!” The belt itself appears to be a medium brown leather with tan edge stitching and a plain, polished steel, single-prong squared buckle.

Don’t lose those, George!

George wears a light cotton dress shirt, colorized to a pale blue-gray, with widely-spaced thin white stripes. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, plain front, and the same distinctive two-button cuffs – with the lowest button very close to the edge of the rounded cuff – that James Stewart had on many of his shirts in the 1940s.

I know the feeling!

George’s striped repp tie is revealed to be fraying on the bottom, a nice detail of his situation that goes unnoticed when covered by his buttoned jacket; significantly, the fraying tie is most concealed earlier in the day, when he appears happy.

The tie has been colorized to a navy blue ground with thick red stripes, each bordered by a thin white stripe on the top and bottom, crossing down from the left shoulder to the right hip. Navy and red is a classic color configuration for this type of striped tie, but it also may be a modern wink to Jimmy Stewart’s all-American reputation (despite the British direction of the stripes!)

George Bailey is still a long way off from feeling like “the richest man in town.”

If George had known he’d have been running through so much snow, he probably would’ve chosen more substantial footwear than the dark leather cap-toe oxfords and thin black dress socks that he wears for the day. The shoes are almost definitely brown to match his belt and the outfit’s earth tones.

Jimmy Stewart playing with the “chemical snow” behind-the-scenes of It’s a Wonderful Life, captured by Life photographer Martha Holmes who visited the Encino set in the summer 1946.

Although his footwear was a miss, George wisely layered for the bitter cold Bedford Falls winter with a set of tan heathered cotton flannel long johns, consisting of a long-sleeve three-button henley shirt and long underpants with three widely spaced buttons on the fly.

George may have been embarrassed to be seen in his underwear, but luckily Clarence again saved the day by rocking a much more embarrassing ensemble that he gleefully recalls that “passed away in!”

George wears a simple tank watch, colorized to look brass or gold and secured to his left wrist on a plain brown leather strap.

What to Imbibe

I was just thinking of a flaming rum punch… no, it’s not cold enough for that, not nearly cold enough. Wait a minute, wait a minute! Mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves. Off with you, me lad, and be lively!

An order like Clarence’s would probably yield funny looks anywhere… at least anywhere that isn’t Brooklyn. As appetizing as Clarence’s libations of choice may sound, George ends up roping him into ordering a double bourbon – neat. In this case, Nick (Sheldon Leonard!) serves the guys a shot of King Black Label, an old Brown-Forman brand of blended Kentucky whiskey manufactured through the mid-20th century.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

King is no longer available, but Brown-Forman currently owns Early Times, Jack Daniel’s, Old Forester, and Woodford Reserve in addition to a host of Canadian and Scotch whiskies. Several old King labels, including the 86 proof “Black Label” seen in It’s a Wonderful Life, can be found at this site.

How to Get the Look

Jimmy Stewart’s heavy tweed country suit in It’s a Wonderful Life is the perfect outfit for a modest family man dressing for a cold Christmas Eve.

• Brown-and-tan birdseye tweed wool two-piece suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 3-button suit jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double reverse-pleated high-rise trousers with belt loops, straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale blue-gray cotton dress shirt with thin white stripes, semi-spread collar, plain front, and 2-button rounded cuffs
• Navy-and-red striped repp tie with thin white stripes
• Brown leather belt with polished steel square single-prong buckle
• Dark brown cap-toe balmorals/oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Tan heathered cotton flannel 3-button long-sleeve henley undershirt
• Tan heathered cotton flannel long underpants with 3-button fly
• Tan heavy tweed single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, flapped patch hip pockets, pointed 1-button tab cuffs, and long single vent
• Dark navy woven herringbone wool scarf with long fringe
• Brown felt wide-brimmed fedora with brown grosgrain ribbon
• Gold tank wristwatch on brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

… and, if you can, find the great Saturday Night Live sketch from 1986 that added a “lost ending” finding George Bailey (played here by Dana Carvey) leading the rest of Bedford Falls on a revenge mission to beat the hell out of Mr. Potter.

The Quote

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old building and loan!

Footnote

And remember Clarence’s parting message…

No one is a failure who has friends!

Happy holidays to all BAMF Style readers!

Robert Redford as Nathan Muir in Spy Game (2001)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Nathan Muir, experienced CIA case officer

Berlin, Winter 1977

Film: Spy Game
Release Date: November 21, 2001
Director: Tony Scott
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Redford’s Costumer: David Page

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

When Nathan Muir is being questioned by the CIA about his history with Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), one particular incident that receives attention is Operation Rodeo, best remembered by Muir as “the Cathcart affair” for the involvement of embassy mole Anne Cathcart (Charlotte Rampling).

Vivaldi’s “Spring” concerto from The Four Seasons, performed by Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra, cuts in as the film flashes back again to Berlin in 1977. Muir is in black tie with a glass of single malt in his hand, accompanying his “cousin” (Andrea Osvárt) to a party where the two encounter the enigmatic Ms. Cathcart.

Cathcart: That Scotch is older than she is…
Muir: Am I supposed to feel bad about that?

What’d He Wear?

While Tom Bishop is out with an East German informant speeding through the back streets of Berlin in his beaten-up Škoda, Muir is hobnobbing with the elite of the spying community at a black tie gathering that would’ve surely made 007 salivate. His black wool dinner jacket has satin-faced peak lapels that are fashionably wide for the late ’70s and roll to the single-button closure. Both the single front button and the three buttons on each cuff are covered in black silk.

Muir, his “cousin”, and Anne Cathcart.

Muir completes his tuxedo with a pair of black wool formal trousers with a satin stripe on the side of each leg and plain-hemmed bottoms. A pleated black silk cummerbund covers his waist.

An urgent call!

Robert Redford is a frequent customer of Anto Beverly Hills, so it was Anto that provided his tuxedo shirt in Spy Game. The white formal shirt is Swiss cotton with a long point collar and five 3/4″ pleats on each side of the front placket. The small, gold-trimmed black shirt studs match the larger rounded square cuff links in each of the shirt’s double (French) cuffs.

Underneath, Muir wears a white cotton crew-neck short-sleeved t-shirt as an undershirt.

Muir also wears a black satin bow tie, self-tied with a butterfly shape.

Muir ventures out onto a Berlin rooftop early that morning for a covert meeting with Bishop following the failed extraction of Schmidt and the successful unveiling of Cathcart the mole. To combat the morning chill, Muir dons a black wool car coat with styling details borrowed from a traditional pea coat like the wide Ulster collar, hand pockets, and double-breasted front (consisting of six widely-spaced buttons, with three to button). The coat has roped sleeveheads and a short fit that ends at his hips.

The rooftop scenes also reveal Muir’s footwear with his black tie ensemble. He wears black patent leather oxfords, the most formal shoe option after the opera pump, and black dress socks.

Redford on a roof.

Muir wears the same accessories on his right hand as he does throughout Spy Game. His stainless steel wristwatch is a Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 watch with a white dial on a stainless link bracelet. The ring on his third finger is the silver ring that Robert Redford received as a gift from Hopi Indians in 1966 and wears in most of his films. He also appears to have a gold wedding ring on his left hand.

Muir isn’t used to orders not being obeyed.

The gold-framed aviator-style eyeglasses that Muir wears are consistent with his specs seen in most of the film’s 1970s-set scenes; after that, he switches to a pair of Oliver Peoples glasses.

How to Get the Look

Nathan Muir fashionably incorporates 1970s trends into an ultimately timeless tuxedo for a night of espionage and intrigue.

Andrea Osvárt and Robert Redford.

• Black wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and silk-covered 3-button cuffs
• Black wool formal trousers with black satin side stripes and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White Swiss cotton formal shirt with long point collar, 3/4″-pleated front, gold-trimmed black studs down front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Black satin butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
• Black dress socks
• White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve t-shirt
• Black wool double-breasted 6×3-button car coat with Ulster collar and hand pockets
• Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 wristwatch with stainless 41mm case, white dial, and stainless link bracelet, worn on right wrist
• Silver Hopi Indian ring with black imprint, worn on right ring finger
• Gold wedding band, worn on left ring finger
• Gold square-framed “aviator” eyeglasses

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

It’s no kid’s game, either, but a whole other game… and it’s serious, and it’s dangerous, and it’s not one you want to lose.

Robert Redford as Jack Weil in Havana (1990)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Jack Weil, smooth, cynical gambler and U.S. Navy veteran

Havana, December 1958

Film: Havana
Release Date: December 14, 1990
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack

Background

The new year is a time of resolutions, but instead of dropping a few hundred quid on a gym membership that will be used three times until it’s finally dropped in March, invest those dollars in a perfectly tailored dinner jacket… then resolve to find the occasion in 2017 to wear it. Whether it’s to class up a night out or just to feel confident at the grocery store, you’ll be glad you made the investment!

To illustrate the impression a great dinner jacket can make, BAMF Style is delivering a double dose of Robert Redford’s formalwear leading up to the new year. (Thursday’s post analyzed his black tie ensemble in Spy Game.) In this sequence from Havana, Jack Weil (Redford) dresses to the nines for an evening meeting with Meyer Lansky (Mark Rydell) and Joe Volpi (Alan Arkin) at one of Lansky’s casinos.

It isn’t New Year’s Eve yet, but it’s getting close…

What’d He Wear?

Jack sports a ivory wool shawl-collared dinner jacket, perfect for a warm evening soiree in Havana and evocative of Humphrey Bogart‘s classic double-breasted jacket in Casablanca.

A Christmas tree in the background isn’t going to make meeting with Meyer Lansky any less tense.

The shawl lapels are self-faced save for the strip of white satin piping along the edge. The top and sides of the welted breast pocket are also piped in white satin, further embellished by an ivory silk display kerchief poking out of the pocket. The jetted pockets are straight, and there appear to be two buttons on each cuff that match the single ivory plastic button on the front.

The details of Weil’s dinner jacket set him apart as more of an individualist than Joe Volpi.

He wears a black or midnight blue pleated silk cummerbund that remains visible above the low button stance of his jacket. Cummerbunds are the most popular waist covering for warm-weather formalwear as it keeps its wearer cooler than a waistcoat would.

The ventless dinner jacket is fully cut as was fashionable in the late 1950s with wide padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.

Weil and Volpi hit the streets.

Redford once again wears an Anto Beverly Hills shirt, and Anto confirmed that this white formal shirt has five 3/4″ pleats on each side of the placket, just like his Swiss cotton tuxedo shirt in Spy Game. Also similar to his Spy Game shirt is the long point collar, the three gold-trimmed round black studs visible above the waist, and the double (French) cuffs for his gold cuff links.

Weil’s buddy takes on a much more tragic black tie ensemble.

The slim butterfly-shaped bow tie is either black or midnight blue silk.

Jack wears a pair of reverse-pleated dark wool formal trousers, either in black or midnight blue with a black satin stripe down the side of each leg. His high-rise trousers also have plain-hemmed bottoms and side pockets where he often places his hands.

Weil wears a pair of black patent leather oxfords with black dress socks.

Weil’s accessories remain the same throughout Havana with an ornate gold signet ring on his right pinky and a gold wristwatch on his right wrist. The watch has a round yellow gold case with a gold dial and a flat gold bracelet.

Weil ends his night looking cooler than ever.

Interestingly, this is one of the few times that Redford does not wear his usual silver Hopi-gifted ring.

Go Big or Go Home

This scene features Bobby Darin’s 1959 classic “Beyond the Sea”, but for your festive New Year’s Eve celebration, you’ll definitely want Darin’s bittersweet “Christmas Auld Lang Syne” from his 1960 album The 25th Day of December, available on Amazon.

How to Get the Look

As always, Robert Redford makes dressing well look effortless.

• Ivory wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with satin-piped shawl collar, satin-piped breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White Swiss cotton formal shirt with long point collar, 3/4″-pleated front, gold-trimmed black studs down front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Black slim silk bow tie
• Gold cuff links
• Black silk cummerbund
• Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with black satin side stripes, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
• Black dress socks
• Gold wristwatch with round gold dial on flat bracelet
• Gold signet pinky ring

For an extra subtle touch, Weil wears a white silk display kerchief in his jacket breast pocket.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie…

…and have a happy, healthy, and safe new year!

(Yes, I know this gif is from Sneakers. That post will be coming someday.)

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale (2006)

Vitals

Daniel Craig as James Bond, British government agent

Prague, Winter 2006

Film: Casino Royale
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming

Background

For the first 00-7th of the new year, I want to recall the first on screen appearance of Daniel Craig’s James Bond.

Casino Royale begins like no official Bond film has before it – in black-and-white! A much older man (Malcolm Sinclair) – clearly a spy but certainly not Bond – covertly boards an office elevator during a snowy evening in Prague. As the man steps into his darkened office, we immediately learn that his name is Dryden and that he’s been betraying M by selling secrets… thanks to James Bond, sitting in the shadows.

A seasoned MI6 pro, Dryden subtly opens his drawer to reveal his own pistol while easing in behind his desk.

Dryden: If the theatrics are supposed to scare me, you have the wrong man, Bond. If M was so sure that I was bent, she’d have sent a 00. Benefits of being section chief, I’d know if anyone had been promoted to 00 status, wouldn’t I? Your file shows no kills, and it takes…
Bond: Two.

This is straight from Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel, where Bond described his first two kills – a Japanese spy and a Norwegian double agent – that led to him receiving 00 status.

Dryden whips up his pistol (a 9mm Star Ultrastar, if you’re curious) and bids farewell to Bond – “Shame… we barely got to know each other…” – but the pistol clicks empty. Holding back a wink and a smile, Bond raises the Star’s magazine:

I know where you keep your gun. Suppose that’s something.

Dryden resigns himself to his fate and determines that he will die with dignity, helping Bond through the moral entanglement that comes with a 00’s second kill. Of course, this is a new Bond and not one that concerns himself with his own feelings after beating a man to death in a dirty bathroom.

Dryden: Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn’t worry. The second is-
Bond: (shoots him) Yes… considerably

What’d He Wear?

Our introduction to 007 in Casino Royale uses his costume to firmly establish both the character’s brash and tough youthfulness while evoking his naval background with a timeless navy pea coat layered over a cardigan and t-shirt. This is the first time we see James Bond wearing a traditional pea coat, although certainly not the last as the enduringly popular Billy Reid coat from Skyfall proved.

This pea coat is classic in every sense from its dark navy blue wool melton construction to its double-breasted layout. The eight front buttons are dark horn rather than the traditional anchor-decorated plastic, and the wide Ulster collar has a small metal throat latch that goes unused as Bond wears the front of the jacket totally open.

Though his non-00 status doesn’t quite intimidate Dryden, Bond’s dark layers add a menacing and mysterious appearance.

Although the finished film is presented in grayscale, promotional photos inform the colors of the garments worn on screen. The heavy ribbed knit cardigan that Bond wears under his pea coat is charcoal with a tall standing collar that would have made him the toast of Transylvania. The cardigan has five large black plastic buttons – each reinforced on a stitched square – up the placket from the ribbed hem to the neck of his ribbed collar, which is left open to flap over his pea collar. The sleeves are cuffed back over his wrists, best seen when he raises his pistol to shoot.

More details can be seen in a photo posted by user Kittlemeier on a AJB007.co.uk forum where he identified the garment as one also worn by Daniel Craig in real life. The heavy ribbing on the collar, hem, and cuffs are seen well in this photo, as well as the square stitching that reinforces the buttons. The sweater also has set-in sleeves and two patch pockets on the hip with ribbed open tips that each slant slightly back.

Craig later wears another dark cardigan ensemble when standing on his hotel balcony with Mathis, and I imagine that oufit uses the same base layer of dark gray t-shirt, gray trousers, and black shoes under a different cardigan. The fitted cotton t-shirt is likely the same dark gray t-shirt seen in this scene, and it is almost certainly one of the many Sunspel shirts that Craig wore in Casino Royale.

A full-color promotional photo showcases the colors of Bond’s assassination attire.

Bond likely also wore the same lower half of this outfit when “visiting” M in her London flat. If so, his wool flat front trousers are a black-and-white glen urquhart check with a subtle light blue plaid overcheck. I surmised in my earlier post that these trousers may be from Ted Baker. He doesn’t appear to be wearing his Vega IWB holster clipped to his belt – and, in fact, may not be wearing a belt at all – since he places his entire Walther P99 (suppressor attached!) inside his jacket before leaving Dryden’s office.

The bottoms of the trousers are finished with cuffs with a short, high break that shows off his black socks and black leather shoes, likely the same black calf John Lobb “Romsey” two-eyelet chukkas that he wears in M’s flat.

Bond’s “theatrics” of a confrontation from the shadows may not scare Dryden initially, but the guy sure starts shitting his pants when he realizes his gun isn’t loaded.

Bond’s watch remains unseen under the sleeves of his jacket and cardigan, but he is likely wearing the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 that he wore in all of his early Casino Royale scenes… unless it was given to him after this as a “Congrats-on-your-second-kill-to-become-a-oo” gift.

How to Get the Look

Daniel Craig’s 007 injects youth into an outfit centered around the stylish but centuries-old pea coat.

• Dark navy blue wool melton double-breasted 8-button pea coat with wide Ulster collar and side pockets
• Charcoal ribbed knit cardigan sweater with tall standing collar, 5-button front, and slanted-open patch pockets
• Dark gray fitted cotton t-shirt
• Black-and-white glen urquhart check (with light blue plaid overcheck) wool flat front trousers with on-seam side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black calf John Lobb “Romsey” two-eyelet chukka boots
• Black socks
• Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Big Size” 2900.50.91 with stainless steel case and black dial/bezel on a large black rubber strap

The Gun

Casino Royale rebooted the 007 franchise by going back to the very first novel as roots, but we don’t find James Bond carrying his traditional Walther PPK (or, thankfully, the anemic .25-caliber Beretta that Fleming had originally given him in Casino Royale.)

Instead, Craig’s Bond maintains his armament as established by Pierce Brosnan in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies – a Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol, chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum. Given the context of the scene, a covert assassination in an office building, Bond’s use of a suppressor is certainly appropriate.

“Yes… considerably.” Bond decocks his P99 after shooting Dryden.

Although the P99 is technically his primary weapon throughout Casino Royale, he does appear to be using a Walther PPK during the intercut sequence that shows him killing Dryden’s contact, the traitorous Fisher. Craig’s Bond would adopt the PPK as his sidearm of choice, without explanation, in the next film, Quantum of Solace.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

M doesn’t mind you earning a little money on the side, Dryden. She’d just prefer it if it wasn’t selling secrets.

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in the third season premiere of Peaky Blinders.

Vitals

Cillian Murphy as Thomas “Tommy” Shelby, cunning Peaky Blinders gang leader and jaded WWI veteran

Birmingham, England, February 1924

Series: Peaky Blinders
Episode: Episode 3.01
Air Date: May 5, 2016
Director: Tim Mielants
Creator: Steven Knight
Costume Designer: Alexandra Caulfield

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today’s Week of Weddings post focuses on the sadly short-lived union of Tommy Shelby and Grace Burgess that kicked off the third season of Peaky Blinders.

This is the second Peaky Blinders wedding to be featured on BAMF Style after the first season nuptials of John Shelby and Esme Lee. While that first wedding was considerably spontaneous (at least for the groom), this union had been in the fire since Tommy and Grace first laid eyes on each other across the Garrison in 1919. Five years and one dead Irish investigator later, the two are finally tying the knot.

Grace’s family is comprised of several members of the “King’s Irish” cavalrymen that nearly abandoned the Peaky Blinders on the battlefield a decade earlier, so Tommy is forced to lay down some relatively unorthodox rules for a wedding:

No cocaine. No sport. No telling fortunes. No racing. No fucking sucking petrol out of their fucking cars… But the main thing is, you bunch of fuckers, despite the provocation from the cavalry, no fighting!

As Michael Hogan from The Telegraph reported: “Sex, drugs and ragtime: welcome to a fairytale wedding, Shelby-style.”

What’d He Wear?

Tommy’s blue wedding suit is the first of Cillian Murphy’s on-screen outfits from new costume designer Alexandra Caulfield, who took over for the third season of Peaky Blinders. This outfit is a comparative anomaly for Tommy Shelby with its bold blue suiting, solid white shirt, and two-tone dress boots.

Luckily for the horse, Tommy and Grace forewent tying “Just Married” cans to the back of their carriage.

Tommy’s wedding is the only appearance of his navy flannel three-piece suit, signifying its relatively significant place among his grayer garments. The short-fitting jacket is single-breasted with a two-button front, slightly flared skirt, and a single vent in the back. The jacket has straight, jetted hip pockets and a welted breast pocket where Tommy wears a white display kerchief poking out; likely linen, as that would be the most era-appropriate choice. Each sleeve ends with three-button “kissing” cuffs.

Tommy enjoys a brief post-nuptial smoke.

Tommy’s peak lapels have a short gorge and point up toward the roped sleeveheads at the end of each padded shoulder. Single-breasted jackets with peak lapels grew increasingly popular during the 1920s, enjoyed a revival during the 1970s, and are undergoing another resurgence today in a slightly slimmer form.

To commemorate the day, Tommy fastens a white boutonnière through left lapel.

A very stoic groom.

Waistcoats are an essential part of the Peaky Blinders’ look, and, as the gang’s leader, Tommy wears exclusively three-piece suits with matching single-breasted vests. This waistcoat has four welted pockets and six buttons down the front, with the lowest button correctly worn unbuttoned over the notched bottom. The satin-lined back is a rich navy to match the suiting with an adjustable strap along the bottom.

In addition to a new costume designer, the third season of Peaky Blinders also means a new style of pocket watch for Tommy. He wears a yellow gold “half-hunter” pocket watch, which gets better exposure in the following episode, on a gold single Albert chain attached to a burgundy-faced fob. The watch is worn in the lower left pocket of his waistcoat.

Tommy is overflowing with intensity on what should be “the happiest day of his life”.

Pleated trousers also grew in popularity as “the Roaring Twenties” continued, and the double forward pleats on Tommy’s trousers would have been quite fashionable in 1924. They have straight side pockets, no back pockets, and the bottoms are plain-hemmed.

The appropriately high rise of the trousers hides the waistband under the waistcoat. As a belt would create an unfortunate “bunching” effect under the vest, Tommy correctly wears a pair of suspenders (braces) to hold up his trousers. They are a wide dark navy fabric that nicely matches his suit – although that’s certainly not a requirement for suspenders – with silver clasps.

Coitus interruptus.

Tossing aside his previous penchant for striped shirts, Tommy wears a white cotton collarless dress shirt with a plain front and squared double (French) cuffs, fastened by a set of etched gold octagonal cuff links. Tommy retains his habit of wearing sleeve garters and sports a set of gold-toned garters just above the elbow on each shirt sleeve.

Although the shirt’s white collar is detachable, it is of the same slim and widely spread style that is very popular (albeit attached) on fashionable men’s dress shirts today. Tommy’s collar attaches through studs on the front and back of the shirt collar band.

Yet another cigarette!

Detachable collars on men’s shirts were popular through the 1920s. As laundering became easier and cheaper and as less situations called for crisp white shirts, attached collars became standard and attained the nearly universal popularity that they have today.

Tommy keeps his colors simple with a navy blue knit silk tie that nearly matches his suiting. It is held into place with a long, slim silver-textured tie bar that he clips to the tie and shirt just above the opening of the waistcoat. A waistcoat essentially reduces the tie bar’s utility to decoration, marking one of the few instances when Tommy – or any Peaky Blinder, for that matter – puts form before function.

Tommy’s shirt collar appears to have a considerably narrower spread during his harangue in the kitchen.

Form again becomes the order of the day as Tommy sets aside his tried-and-true hobnail work boots for a nattier pair of brown two-tone oxford dress boots. These boots appear to have darker brown leather vamps with a tan suede upper quarter. The toe is capped and the lacing is closed, like a balmoral or oxford dress shoe, with brown laces. Tommy wears dark socks, possibly black.

Tommy wears his fancy boots when he isn’t expecting the need to kick the shit out of anyone to arise.

The “blinding” razor sewn into his peak isn’t visible, but Tommy proudly wears the peaked flat cap that gives his gang its name. Tommy’s charcoal wool cap has a paneled top with a button in the center, signifying it as a “newsboy” cap rather than just a flat cap.

Tommy’s black leather gloves add an extra layer of protection on his chilly wedding day, especially after he gallantly offers his overcoat to Grace.

Tommy gallantly offers his coat to Grace.

The aforementioned overcoat is a black heavy wool Chesterfield that extends down to his knees. It has a wide, full-bellied peak lapels with a long gorge and a black velvet collar, a feature found on many Chesterfields as a worn or dirty collar is easier to replace when it’s velvet rather than trying to find matching wool.

Tommy’s single-breasted Chesterfield coat has a covered front fly, but he leaves all three buttons open, likely giving him better access to his holstered Webley revolver. The shoulders are padded and roped with three buttons at each cuff. The coat has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and a flapped ticket pocket on the right.

Tommy looks like a deer in the headlights during the official wedding photo (left) and literally stands in front of the headlights later that night (right).

With the pomp and circumstance of the day behind him, Tommy retreats to his bedroom for a few private moments with Grace, stripping down to only his beige cotton underpants, which have double forward pleats in the front and back with a double-ended tab on the back waistband. Each end of the tab is pointed with a large tan plastic button.

Very era-correct underwear!

The events of the day also mean a new piece of jewelry for Tommy, who begins wearing a gold wedding ring on the third finger of his left hand, no longer sporting either of the previous rings that he had worn on his right hand.

Probably not the best day to test Tommy’s temper…

Go Big or Go Home – Wedding Edition

The Venue

Church has always been a part of the Shelbys’ life, from the very first episode when Tommy tracks down Polly in a pew to tell her about the arms deal to the following episode when Inspector Campbell does the same. Tommy himself seems to regard churches as no more than just another place to take off his hat, and his religious cynicism is no doubt fueled during his dealings with the corrupt Father John Hughes (Paddy Considine) throughout the third season.

Steve Harvey would certainly be intimidated by this take on Family Feud.

After the church wedding, the Shelbys invite their guests to Tommy’s new estate, Arrow House, in Warwickshire. According to Hogan’s piece in The Telegraph: “The filming location is Grade II-listed Cheshire house Arley Hall, home to Viscount Ashbrook. Production designers took inspiration from Citizen Kane, The Shining and American photographer Saul Leiter.”

The Refreshments

Like any proper Peaky party, there’s no shortage of champagne, whiskey, and wine.

Toasting badassery.

Notable Guests

Here come the fucking cavalry. Late as usual.

Neither the Peaky Blinders nor the British Army cavalrymen are particularly thrilled to be connected as family through the marriage of Tommy and Grace, but the Shelby clan takes its disgust a step further by disobeying Tommy’s commands and fighting, “playing the snow”, and almost definitely sucking the gas from the officers’ cars.

With family like this, who needs enemies…?

“The Russians have made contact,” heralds the arrival of Anton Kaledin, the ill-fated Russian who provides a problematic code name when seeking out Tommy on his wedding day to make good on an arms dealer. The short-lived Kaledin wouldn’t live to see the couple’s honeymoon, but another new guest – charming portrait painter Ruben Oliver – seems to have a romantic eye for Aunt Polly.

The Music

The soundtrack has very little music you’d expect to hear in 1924 but plenty music that you’d expect to hear on Peaky Blinders. If you’re looking to recreate the moment for yourself:

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Breathless”
• Arctic Monkeys – “Dangerous Animals”
• Mearl – “Creases”
• Radiohead – “You and Whose Army?”

How to Get the Look

Tommy’s wedding may have been set in 1924, but his timeless three-piece navy suit and accessories would still be fashionable nearly a century later.

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby and Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby.

• Navy blue flannel suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button “kissing” cuffs, and single back vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button vest/waistcoat with four welted pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
  • Double forward-pleated high-rise trousers with straight side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton collarless dress shirt with plain front and double/French cuffs
  • Detachable white spread collar
  • Etched gold octagonal cuff links
• Navy blue knit silk tie
  • Silver-textured tie bar
• Wide dark navy fabric suspenders/braces with silver clasps
• Brown two-tone oxford cap-toe dress boots
• Black socks
• Beige cotton double forward-pleated underpants with buttoned waist tabs
• Charcoal wool newsboy cap
• Black leather gloves
• Black heavy wool single-breasted Chesterfield overcoat with black velvet collar, wide peak lapels, covered 3-button fly front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and single back vent
• Gold wedding ring
• Gold “half-hunter” pocket watch on yellow gold chain with burgundy-faced fob

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out Peaky Blinders on Netflix or pick up the third season to own.

The Quote

Those bastards out there are our family now… No cocaine, no sucking petrol out their fucking cars, and no fucking fighting!

Cary Grant as Nickie Ferrante in An Affair to Remember (1957)

Vitals

Cary Grant as Nicolò “Nickie” Ferrante, socialite playboy

Onboard the SS Constitution in the Mediterranean, December 1956

Film: An Affair to Remember
Release Date: July 2, 1957
Director: Leo McCarey
Executive Wardrobe Designer: Charles Le Maire

Background

Valentine’s Day being on a Tuesday this year is no excuse for not pulling out the stops to impress that special someone. The romantic holiday calls for a double dose of Cary Grant, known for his debonair demeanor both on and off screen.

Following a reader request from Gleb received last October, BAMF Style is taking a look at the distinctive and sophisticated tuxedo that Grant wears while romancing Deborah Kerr aboard the SS Constitution in 1957’s An Affair to Remember.

What’d He Wear?

Given that the film lent its title to a number of tuxedo rental shops, it’s only fitting that An Affair to Remember would feature Cary Grant in one of his most debonair black tie ensembles. Grant’s character, Nickie Ferrante, dresses for dinner in a midnight blue worsted dinner jacket with a distinctive single-link button closure. The link-front design had fallen relatively out of vogue by World War II, mostly popular during the waning years of the Edwardian era as the dinner jacket itself was eclipsing the formal tailcoat in men’s eveningwear though it remained a natty alternative through the early decades of the 20th century.

Nickie and Terry trade barbs in her stateroom.

Grant’s dinner jacket has sharply pointed peak lapels with satin facings and buttonholes. The long, wide lapels extend down to the low stance of the link-button front, working in tandem with Grant’s tall 6’2″ frame to create a luxurious V shape that follows the flattering fifties cut of the dinner jacket, widest at the padded shoulders and suppressed through the waist for a strong silhouette.

Grant wears a distinctive matching midnight waistcoat with a low V-shaped opening and a large single-button closure. The full back appears to be covered in midnight satin, glimpsed at certain angles when Grant shifts around in Kerr’s stateroom. The waistcoat nicely complements the low button stance of his dinner jacket.

Although smoking is a frequent motif in An Affair to Remember, it was while filming this movie that Cary Grant eventually dropped his sixty-a-day cigarette habit that he had developed since he was 7 years old. (Yes, 7!)

The trousers are midnight blue worsted to match the dinner jacket with a satin side stripe down each leg and side pockets – likely cut just behind those stripes – where Grant often places his hands, even when sitting. The bottoms are appropriately plain-hemmed with no cuffs.

Clever framing with Grant and Kerr in the middle, flanked by the “angel on her shoulder” (her fiance’s photo) on the left and the “devil on her shoulder” (her bed, albeit a single one) on the right.

The white formal shirt has a long-pointed semi-spread soft collar, a favorite of Grant’s, and a plain front where he wears two diamond studs visible above the waistcoat. The squared double (French) cuffs are fastened with a set of silver-trimmed mother-of-pearl chain-style links. The midnight blue satin silk bow tie is butterfly-shaped and, naturally, self-tied rather than adjustable or pre-tied.

The chain-style links are two-sided, visible on both sides of his wrist as Cary Grant here appears to be mansplaining either elevator mechanics or appropriate serving methods to Deborah Kerr.

The most appropriate shoe for black tie is the formal oxford (balmoral), and Grant here wears a pair of square-toed black leather oxfords with black silk socks.

The Cary Grant fan club awaits him as he descends the deck stairs.

Nickie’s wristwatch is likely the same gold Cartier tank watch that Grant preferred to wear in real life.

Never call him late for dinner.

For a rainy evening at the opera, Nickie Ferrante opts for practicality over formality, wearing a black waterproof raincoat with a short Prussian collar, fly front, and set-in sleeves. He leaves only the top button of his raincoat undone, revealing a white cashmere scarf tied in an ascot-style overhand knot. Once his cab pulls away, he dons a black felt homburg with a black grosgrain band.

Back in New York, a little rain must fall.

What to Imbibe

Nickie Ferrante glides into the lounge of the SS Constitution and at first orders a champagne cocktail before recalling his earlier conversation with Terry McKay.

Nickie: Don’t you think life should be gay and bright a bubbly like champagne?
Terry: I like pink champagne.
Nickie: Yes, that’s the kind I mean – pink champagne. Now is there any reason why from now on, this trip shouldn’t be pink champagne?

Although Terry had nixed his romantic advances by pointing to her fiance, Nickie’s spirits haven’t been soured and he amends his order to a glass of pink champagne before asking the bartender where he can pick up cigarettes. When he returns with his fresh pack of Chesterfields, Nickie is just as surprised as Terry to find that they have both been served glasses of pink champagne, placed inches away from each other on the bar.

So much for keeping a low profile…

The pink champagne served in the 1950s at the time of An Affair to Remember would have typically been the sweet sparkling variety that was developed in response to drinkers who wanted an alternative to dry Brut champagnes. Since then, dry variations of rosé champagne have been developed by adding a touch of still Pinot Noir to sparkling cuvée or the less common saignée method of bleeding the clear juice after limited black grape skin contact.

How to Get the Look

There are few looks as iconic as Cary Grant in a tuxedo and he looks ever bit the gentleman as Nickie Ferrante during his romantic transatlantic crossing.

• Midnight blue worsted wool single-breasted link-front dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, satin-covered 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Midnight blue single-button formal waistcoat with full satin-covered back
• Midnight blue worsted pleated formal trousers with satin side stripe, straight side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White formal shirt with long-pointed semi-spread soft collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
  • Diamond shirt studs
  • Silver-trimmed mother-of-pearl cuff links
• Midnight blue satin silk butterfly-shaped self-tied bow tie
• Black leather square-toed oxfords/balmorals
• Black silk dress socks
• Cartier Tank yellow gold wristwatch with square white dial and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

I’ll just take my ego for a walk.

Robert Redford as Jack Weil in Havana (1990)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Jack Weil, smooth, cynical gambler and U.S. Navy veteran

Havana, December 1958

Film: Havana
Release Date: December 14, 1990
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack

Background

Blue is one of my favorite colors to wear for spring, and Robert Redford wore a bold turquoise blue suit for a memorable sequence in Havana shortly after Redford’s character Jack Weil arrives in the titular city.

The time is December 1958, and anyone with any clue about Cuban history could tell you that that is a hell of a time to find yourself in Havana. Of course, our smooth hero doesn’t have a care in the world. He came down for a high-stakes poker game and the hopes of getting laid…hopes that were dashed after his traveling companion Roberta (Lena Olin) rejected his indecent proposal (see what I did there?) by mentioning her husband.

Instead, Jack finds himself in the company of two vivacious American tourists, Diane (Betsy Brantley) and Patty (Lise Cutter), who are more than happy to follow his lead into some of the city’s nooks and crannies. Of course, the Casablanca-esque plot thickens when Jack again encounters Roberta and meets her husband, revolutionary leader Dr. Arturo Duran (Raúl Juliá).

What’d He Wear?

Jack Weil wears a sporty and bold turquoise blue flannel suit for a night out in Havana, custom made for Robert Redofrd and provided by Western Costume Company of Hollywood.

The single-breasted suit jacket nicely fits Redford with its era-appropriate full cut and padded, roped shoulders that also seem to be a personal preference for Redford’s on-screen tailoring. The narrow notch lapels roll down to the low two-button stance, so low that the tie often flops over the buttoned jacket.

Both the buttons on the front and the two smaller buttons on each cuff are black urea. The ventless jacket has patch pockets on the hips and left breast.

Merry Christmas?

The trousers have belt loops, placed about a half-inch down from the top of the waist, where Weil wears a slim black leather belt with a small gold box-frame buckle.

The single reverse pleats are placed at the first belt loop out from each side of the fly. The trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets, and are finished with cuffed bottoms.

Jack Weil’s walk of pride as he escorts Diane and Patty through the streets of Havana before finding their way back to the cozy confines of his hotel room.

Redford’s pale pink cotton long-sleeve dress shirt was created by Anto Beverly Hills (with a “Nat Wise of London” label) with a large and distinctively shaped spread collar. The shirt has a front placket, breast pocket, and single-button barrel cuffs.

LiveAuctioneers featured one of the shirts worn by Redford on screen, sold for $300 in June 2013.

Redford’s proved many times that real men wear pink…and his romp with Patty and Diane later that evening should certainly prove that the boldness of wearing a traditionally “non-masculine” color will go a long way toward impressing women.

Weil’s burgundy silk tie is painted with a large yellow-and-blue gray leaf motif, repeating four times between the knot and the wide blade.

The tie may be the most dated element of Jack’s ensemble.

Weil dresses for his night out by wearing the snappy black-and-white leather spectator shoes that introduced his character in the opening scene. The two-tone oxford brogues have a black perforated wingtip toe cap, black outside counter on the heel, black eyelet tabs, and black laces with a white vamp and quarter. As he did with their first appearance, Weil appears to wear his black-and-white shoes with black socks.

Spectator shoes add a nice pop that make an outfit more interesting and, in this case, dial down the formality to keep Jack Weil looking snappy for an evening out on the town.

Redford swaps out his usual silver ring for an ornate gold signet ring, worn on his right pinky. The pinky ring better fits Weil’s gambler persona and likely would have clashed with Redford’s silver ring, received as a gift from Hopi Indians in 1966 and worn in most of his films since then.

Weil wears an all-yellow gold watch, strapped to his right wrist on a flat gold bracelet.

Jack lights up with his new friends.

This entire screen-worn outfit – from the suit and shirt to the tie and shoes – is offered at The Golden Closet for $2,500, as of March 2017.

What to Imbibe

Jack Weil and his reporter pal Julio Ramos (Tony Plana) begin the evening at “Hemingway’s favorite bar,” according to Julio, and appropriately commemorate the occasion with one of Papa’s preferred cocktails: a classic daiquiri.

After making the acquaintance of Diane and Patty, Jack asks the two young women if they “want to try anything” (oh, geez) before picking up a round of mojitos for the group.

I’d also avoid eye contact with any bartender after ordering a mojito.

Jack is wise to suggest this cocktail for the group, particularly in their “when in Havana…” mindset. The mojito was also reportedly a favorite drink of Ernest Hemingway, particularly when imbibing at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, and Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond would also enjoy one while kicking back on a warm Cuban afternoon in Die Another Day.

Mojitos have a reputation for being the drink of choice for people looking to torture their bartender, so learn what goes into making one yourself before putting some poor barkeep through the works. According to the IBA, you’ll need:

• 4 parts Cuban white rum
• 3 parts fresh lime juice
• 6 sprigs of mint
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• soda water

Start by muddling the mint with the lime juice and sugar in a Collins glass, then add a splash of soda water and fill the glass with crushed or cracked ice. Pour in the rum – preferably Cuban rum, of course – and top off the whole concoction with soda water and a final mint sprig for garnish. For an extra taste of Havana, cut the sweetness with a dash or two of Angostura bitters and enjoy on a warm summer evening.

Beware… Jeffrey Morgenthaler wisely warns against downing ten mojitos in one sitting, as tempting as it may sound. For more mojito-drinking tips, check out Morgenthaler’s The Dos and Don’ts of Mojitos.

How to Get the Look

Redford’s suit from Havana, as featured at The Golden Closet.

Jack Weil’s costumes in Havana perfectly illustrate an eye for costume…this is exactly the outfit I would expect to see a confident gambler wearing for a tropical night of bar-hopping in the late 1950s.

• Turquoise blue flannel suit, consisting of:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with narrow notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Pale pink cotton dress shirt with large shaped spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button cuffs
• Burgundy silk tie with painted leaf motif
• Black leather belt with gold rectangular closed buckle
• Black & white leather 5-eyelet wingtip oxford spectator brogues
• Black dress socks
• Gold wristwatch with round gold dial on flat bracelet
• Gold signet pinky ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Robert Redford as Jack Weil in Havana (1990)

Vitals

Robert Redford as Jack Weil, smooth, cynical gambler and U.S. Navy veteran

Havana, December 1958

Film: Havana
Release Date: December 14, 1990
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack

Background

Gambling is Jack Weil’s raison d’être. Having arrived in Havana on Christmas Day 1958 to make the most of the city’s poker scene, Weil never anticipated getting caught up in the throes of the Cuban Revolution… unless it would get him laid or make him an extra buck.

Of course, his chance meeting with Roberta Duran (Lena Olin) made both possibilities an enticing reason to help the cause.

Janet Maslin nicely describes Jack Weil’s ethical turning point in her otherwise lukewarm contemporary review for the New York Times:

After Bobby and her husband disappear during a military raid, Jack finds himself playing cards with their captors, perhaps even their killers… There is, in this authentically high stakes game, an irony and forboding that give the film a welcome toughness. “These people want to bring down everything you’re here for!” exclaims one of Jack’s new poker-playing acquaintances, speaking aptly of the imminent revolution.

What’d He Wear?

A sporty lightweight suit is a must for a slick gambler looking to make his mark in a Havana poker game, and Jack Weil is nattily dressed for just that occasion in this tan gabardine suit, styled and tailored similarly to the turquoise suit worn earlier for a night out on the town.

While the turquoise suit ensemble consisted of bold, colorful pastels, this outfit makes use of creamy and brown earth tones from head to toe.

For being such a legendary gambler, Jack’s “poker face” leaves something to be desired.

Redford’s tan gabardine suit from the film, here featured with a navy cotton dress shirt worn with a different outfit in an earlier scene.

Jack’s tan suit gets plenty of wear, primarily for a high stakes, high class poker game in Joe Volpi’s hotel suite. As described by The Golden Closet:

The two piece custom made tan suit has a notch lapel, three patch pockets, two button front closure, and pleated pant with cuff.

Internal Western Costume jacket label with ” 2208-1, Robert Redford, Chest 41, Sleeve 17 1/2, 2A, #1″.

Internal Western Costume pant label with “2208-1, Robert Redford, Waist 32, Inseam 32 1/2, 3A”. Costume tag attached with “1, R.R. Jack, Chg #2, Chg #6”

The sporty patch pockets on the left breast and hips drop the suit’s formality down a level. The back is ventless and there are three buttons at the cuff of each sleeve.

Jack Weil, VIP.

The single-breasted jacket’s low two-button stance is appropriate for the film’s 1950s setting and creates a flattering “V” effect that is accentuated by the wide, padded shoulders that appear on most of Redford’s tailored clothing in his movies.

The lapels have a narrow semi-notch rather than the traditional equilateral notch.

Unshaven and rumpled but still unruffled.

Per the era’s fashions, the trousers have double reverse pleats, cuffed bottoms, and a high enough rise to perfectly meet the jacket at the buttoning point on Redford’s natural waist. Straight pockets are cut along each side seam, and the back pockets are jetted (with a button through the back left pocket.) The bottoms are cuffed.

The trousers’ slim belt loops are positioned about a half-inch down from the top. Jack wears a 1″-wide dark brown leather belt with a gold rectangular box-out buckle.

Production photo of Lena Olin and Robert Redford in Havana with Jack’s snazzy silver Caddy convertible behind them.

Robert Redford, a regular customer of Anto Beverly Hills dating back to the start of his career, wore an array of custom shirts in Havana made by Anto (with a tag from “Nat Wise of London”.)

For his hotel suite poker game, Jack sports a dark chocolate brown cotton shirt with the shaped “Mr. B.” spread collar that Anto used on all of his Havana dress shirts. The fitted shirt has no darts or pleats in the back and closes up the front with large white buttons on a placket. The shirt has a single breast pocket and single-button cuffs, although Jack often unfastens them to roll up his sleeves when not wearing his jacket.

A poker game may call for a coat and tie, but Jack’s solitaire round has a more liberal dress code.

Printed ties were quite fashionable in the 1950s, and a flashy gambler like Jack would have quite a few in his collection, always perfectly coordinated to the colors of his outfits. (Think the blue and gray Deco-patterned tie in the opening sequence or the red floral motif tie with his turquoise suit…)

In this sequence, Jack wears a cream printed silk tie covered in abstract brown brush strokes, at times evocative of an animal print or tiger stripe. He wears the tie in a four-in-hand knot, often loosening up when a situation doesn’t call for total formality.

As Redford learned in The Sting, high stakes poker games require a tie… of course, they never say just what that tie should or shouldn’t look like, allowing Jack Weil the freedom to dangle a piece of silk-printed ’50s decadence around his neck.

Jack would also wear this suit for a long night of revelry in a Havana casino, dressed down in a navy rayon short-sleeve sport shirt and the same black belt, black socks, and black-and-white spectator shoes from the opening scene. This combination of suit and shirt is currently available at The Golden Closet, where it is currently on sale for $1,950.

According to The Golden Closet, the shirt is tagged internally with “Venice Custom Shirts” and dated for November 1989. It has a flat camp collar, large breast pocket, and plain front with seven large blue plastic buttons. The fit is comfortably large with the short sleeves ending half-heartedly cuffed at his elbows.

This suit’s first appearance is technically during Jack’s burlesque night out before the big game. The two inset Polaroid photos, ostensibly taken by the film’s costumer, are sourced from The Golden Closet.

NB: The other navy shirt featured with this suit on The Golden Closet is a long-sleeve cotton dress shirt made by Anto in the same style as the brown shirt. It was never worn with this suit on screen; instead, it was featured with a blue dupioni silk jacket and deco-printed tie during the opening scenes.

Jack Weil is the sort of guy who would have two-tone shoes for every occasion. In fact, it is a shot of his black and white spectator shoes that introduce us to the character during a shipboard poker game at the outset of the film. The hotel suite poker game marks the first appearance of his brown duotone spectator shoes from Bragano, a pair of derby-style brogues in dark brown leather and light brown canvas with medallion punched wingtips and dark brown laces through five eyelets.

His socks are obviously dark, but the costumer tag available at The Golden Closet confirms that they too are brown, the next-best option if he wasn’t going to wear tan socks that would continue the trouser leg line.

Big shot that he is, Jack Weil exudes confidence as he struts into Joe Volpi’s private poker game, accompanied by Joe (Alan Arkin) himself.

He would later wear the same shoes with his cream linen jacket, light blue shirt, and brown trousers.

Jack’s jewelry is all gold, reflective of his gambler image and – in this case – well-coordinated with his earth toned outfit. He wears a gold signet ring on his right pinky and, also on his right wrist, he wears a yellow gold wristwatch with a round gold dial and flat gold bracelet.

Flashing the gold.

Go Big or Go Home

Hosting a poker night soon? Class it up with a playlist reminiscent of Jack Weil’s Havana.

Because when you think poker, you think Sinatra, right?

1. Frank Sinatra – “Let’s Get Away From It All” (YouTube)
2. Frank Sinatra – “London By Night” (YouTube)
3. Fats Domino – “One Night” (YouTube)
4. Dean Martin – “Memories are Made of This” (YouTube)

Frank Sinatra is Jack’s background music of choice for lonely nights in, first seen listening to “Let’s Get Away From It All”.

Sinatra originally recorded this tune when with Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra but re-recorded the 1957 version heard in the film for Sinatra’s concept album Come Fly With Me!, the same album that yielded “London By Night,” which he listens to during a round of solitaire at the Duran residence.

The high stakes poker game in Joe Volpi’s hotel is scored by Dean Martin’s playful 1955 hit “Memories are Made of This”. Interestingly, the song was adapted into the “Honvágy-dal” (“The Song of Homesickness”) after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and Ida Boros’ recording became an unofficial anthem for refugees and protesters around the world, an interesting parallel to the political situation in Havana.

For a more boisterous late-night poker game in a burlesque bar, Jack is serenaded by the appropriately titled “One Night (of Sin)” by Fats Domino. Though “One Night” had found commercial success in the late ’50s, first by Smiley Lewis then by Elvis Presley, Fats’ version wasn’t recorded until 1961, making it a slight anachronism for this scene set in 1958.

How to Get the Look

Jack Weil looks cool and ready in his tan gabardine suit as he joins his high stakes pals for the big game that drew him to Cuba in the first place.

• Tan gabardine wool sport suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with narrow semi-notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark chocolate brown cotton dress shirt with large shaped spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button cuffs
• Brown-on-cream abstract brush-printed silk tie
• Dark brown leather belt with gold rectangular closed buckle
• Brown two-tone leather/canvas five-eyelet derby-style wingtip spectator brogues
• Dark brown dress socks
• Gold wristwatch with round gold dial on flat bracelet
• Gold signet pinky ring

Your best bet for a brush stroke tie? Finding a vintage piece on eBay. (There’s also this, um, interesting tie that often comes up in “brush stroke tie” searches.)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

Sean Connery as Colonel John Arbuthnot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Vitals

Sean Connery as Colonel John Arbuthnot, British Indian Army commanding officer

Istanbul, December 1935

Film: Murder on the Orient Express
Release Date: November 24, 1974
Director: Sidney Lumet
Costume Designer: Tony Walton

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy birthday, Sean Connery, born August 25, 1930!

After playing James Bond in six films over the course of a decade, Connery was more than tired of the demanding role that had made him a star, and he began seeking work in different projects. One of his first films after putting 007 behind him (for the second time) was as part of the ensemble cast of Murder on the Orient Express, a 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic 1934 mystery novel.

Though the 1974 film has been well regarded by critics, audiences, and – perhaps most importantly – by Christie herself, a fourth adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express was recently announced with Kenneth Branagh in the iconic lead role of detective Hercule Poirot. This latest adaptation, scheduled for release in November 2017, thankfully retains its period setting but re-imagines Connery’s ex-military character as a doctor, played by the talented Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton fame.

What’d He Wear?

The “old school” Colonel Arbuthnot looks every bit the traditional British sportsman in the plaid flannel half-Norfolk jacket and tweed “plus fours” that he wears for his introduction in Murder on the Orient Express. Though this outfit may be better suited for the country, it isn’t the first time Sean Connery played a character wearing plaid suiting on the Bosphorus ferry.

The jacket’s brown-and-tan plaid pattern is formed with sets of woven twill stripes alternating between tan and brown over a dark sand birdseye ground, crossing vertically and horizontally to create a large-scaled plaid check. Each set of nine stripes – five tan, four brown – are bordered by a thin light blue stripe on each side. The horizontal stripes are more muted than the vertical stripes.

Colonel Arbuthnot’s plaid on display while embracing Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave).

Colonel Arbuthnot’s full-belted jacket includes many elements of a classic Norfolk jacket, though it lacks the “action back” pleats and the pleated strips on the front and back, thus making the “half-Norfolk” appellation more appropriate in this context. (For an example of a full Norfolk suit with a belt and pleat strips, see Jimmy Darmody’s tweed suit from the first episodes of Boardwalk Empire here.)

Unlike the dark herringbone tweed half-Norfolk jacket that Connery wore in the pre-credits sequence of Diamonds are Forever (featured in last Saturday’s post), this half-Norfolk jacket has two pockets on the chest in lieu of front pleat strips. All four of the jacket’s front pockets are inverted box pleat patch pockets with pointed button-down flaps.

The single-breasted jacket has wide lapels with large notches, a likely indication that this jacket was made for the production rather than a vintage piece from the 1930s. It has four horn buttons on the front with a smaller button on the front of the full belt. The spaced two buttons on each cuff are also made of horn. The jacket has a long single vent in the back that extends up to the belt.

Arbuthnot’s bag identifies him as an officer of the “12th Gurkha Rifles” which, according to my research, never existed.

Colonel Arbuthnot balances his loud jacket with a solid white cotton shirt. Connery presents a dignified image of military correctness in the shirt’s point collar, held with a gold collar bar under his tie knot. The shirt also has double (French) cuffs, likely fastened with gold cuff links as he would later wear with his houndstooth three-piece suit.

Arbuthnot’s striped repp tie is likely the Gurkha Brigade regimental tie, befitting Arbuthnot’s service as an officer with the fictional “12th Gurkha Rifles”. The design consists of three thin black, red, and black stripes crossing from the left shoulder down to the right hip on a forest green ground. Gurkha Brigade ties are available for £55 from Benson & Clegg (link) and Ben Silver for $128.

Colonel Arbuthnot eagerly greets Mary Debenham after boarding the ferry.

Sean Connery and Vanessa Redgrave on set in Istanbul during production of Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

The Norfolk jacket may have a long heritage dating back to at least the 1860s, but it remains a timeless if traditional-leaning piece of men’s countrywear. On the other hand, Colonel Arbuthnot’s brown tweed “plus fours” considerably age the outfit.

“Plus fours” were named for the four additional inches that they extend below the knee, allowing its wearer greater movement for athletic pursuits. Not as old-fashioned (or juvenile) as knickerbockers, the slightly longer plus fours continue to enjoy some popularity by traditionally dressed golfers, bicyclists, and André 3000, though their heyday was arguably the mid-1920s after the Prince of Wales introduced them to the United States.

Ten years before Murder on the Orient Express was made, Connery’s James Bond played a round of golf against the titular plus fours-wearing villain in Goldfinger. As Auric Goldfinger, the large and corpulent Gert Fröbe looked comical in his old fashioned getup of a brown tweed plus fours suit that fit Ian Fleming’s description in the eighth chapter of the source novel: “It was as if Goldfinger had gone to his tailor and said, ‘Dress me for golf – you know, like they wear in Scotland.'”

The defining characteristic of all knickerbockers, including plus fours, are the short bottoms which are worn tightened up the calf to allow the loose trouser fabric to blouse out over the knees. In the case of plus fours, these would be worn four inches below the knee; I’m sure you can deduce on your own where “plus twos” or “plus eights” are worn.

Hosiery can make or break the plus fours effect, but Connery correctly wears a pair of tight dark brown ribbed socks that provide the desired look. Connery also wears the same brown leather five-eyelet wingtip oxford brogues that he wears throughout the film.

Dismissing Poirot as “obviously a frog” (but he’s Belgian!), Colonel Arbuthnot escorts Mary inside.

The obvious headgear for such a country-inspired outfit would be a brown tweed flat cap which Colonel Arbuthnot wears until gallantly removing it when he finds himself in Mary Debenham’s presence.

Boarding the ferry, Arbuthnot also removes the mustard-colored leather work gloves that he had worn when carrying his bags.

Sean Connery on location in Istanbul during filming of Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

How to Get the Look

Colonel Arbuthnot infuses his traditional country outfit with old-fashioned sensibilities for his Bosphorus crossing.

• Brown-and-tan large-scale plaid (with blue overcheck) flannel half-Norfolk jacket with wide notch lapels, four horn buttons, four inverted box-pleat patch pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, full belt with button, and long back vent
• White dress shirt with gold-pinned round collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Gurkha Brigade regimental striped tie with black and red stripes on forest green ground
• Brown tweed “plus fours” breeches with side pockets
• Brown leather cap-toe 5-eyelet wingtip oxford brogues
• Brown dress socks
• Brown tweed flat cap
• Mustard leather work gloves

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie and book.

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 9: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.”)

Vitals

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr, charming studio wunderkind

Hollywood, August 1936 through February 1937

Series: The Last Tycoon
Episodes:
– “Pilot” (Episode 1, dir. Billy Ray)
– “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (Episode 5, dir. Gwyneth Horder-Payton)
– “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6, dir. Stacie Passon)
– “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 9, dir. Billy Ray)
Streaming Date: July 28, 2017
Developed By: Billy Ray
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Amazon recently announced the disappointing news that they are discontinuing production of The Last Tycoon, the second of its F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired series to meet that fate following the cancellation of Z: The Beginning of Everything days earlier.

In its brief, nine-episode life, The Last Tycoon was true to its “golden age of Hollywood” roots with an emphasis on style rather than substance… but oh what style it was, and with strong performances to booth with Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer, Lily Collins, Rosemarie Dewitt, and others rounding out the talented cast of characters.

The series also made the most of its dazzling period costumes, the creation of master costume designer Janie Bryant of Mad Men fame; an entire blog alone could be dedicated to the snappy menswear worn by Bomer, Grammer, and Enzo Cilenti.

Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel about wunderkind studio executive Monroe Stahr’s affairs and ambitions in 1930s Hollywood formed the basis for the series, but developer Billy Ray was clearly building a more elaborate world for his complex characters when the series was axed.

In addition to revisiting the novel, series star Matt Bomer told Vanity Fair in a June 2016 interview that he spent time researching Irving Thalberg, the MGM producer whose youth, ability, and congenital heart disease inspired Fitzgerald’s character. “The character was largely based on Mr. Thalberg, because Mr. Fitzgerald used to work for him,” explained Bomer. “He wrote underneath him at the studio system for a brief period and was really inspired by this man who had a complete understanding of the system and how that operated, and the fact that he was this young wunderkind, this genius at what he did.”

What’d He Wear?

The Last Tycoon‘s dashing titular lead, Monroe Stahr, trots out a debonair black tie ensemble in four of the series’ nine episodes, worn to a number of Hollywood parties whether to celebrate a professional achievement, the holiday season, or his own marriage engagement.

The elegant executive at his own engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

Monroe Stahr’s classic evening kit leaves nary a detail ignored, reflecting the growing popularity of double-breasted dinner jackets during the 1930s especially among the young and stylish like Monroe and his Hollywood set.

“It’s so fun to make suits during this period, I love it,” explained Janie Bryant to Fashionista during a July 2017 interview. “It’s all about those wide shoulder, nipped waist, double-breasted jackets. Wide leg trousers. It’s about everything being wide and big. It’s very different from Mad Men minimalist and everything skinny.”

Bomer was more than enthusiastic to wear the period-perfect clothes designed by Bryant. “Oh, I think Janie Bryant is a genius. I mean, I think she changed menswear almost single-handedly with what she did on Mad Men. Everything she chose, I just trust her implicity,” he told Vanity Fair. “I liked getting to do the double-breasted… the very specific tailoring done at that time was different for me and unique and definitely informs the way you move as a character in a way that I found really helpful.”

It was the Duke of Windsor – then the Prince of Wales – who brought double-breasted dinner jackets into fashion during the 1930s. As Black Tie Guide reports, the jacket had been “previously considered too informal for evening wear due to its lack of an accompanying waistcoat,” but this soon-to-be-called “semi-formal” approach caught on with wearers who followed the Prince’s example of wearing it with “a soft-front pleated evening shirt featuring attached turndown collar and French cuffs rather than the traditional starched front shirt with detachable wing collar and single cuffs.” Monroe Stahr follows the Prince’s template to a T, though his addition of a waistcoat would have satiated the critics that remained concerned with the lack of such a garment.

Monroe Stahr’s black wool double-breasted dinner jacket has the classic six-on-two button front with the six front buttons and the three buttons on each cuff all covered in black silk. The jacket’s wide peak lapels have straight gorges and black grosgrain silk facings rather than the shinier satin lapels that “were increasingly associated with ready-to-wear apparel.” (Source: Black Tie Guide).

Left: A party in “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (episode 5) calls for a white boutonnière.
Right: Monroe cuts a dashing figure on the evening of his engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

For extra special occasions, Monroe wears the traditional white carnation pinned to his left lapel as a festive boutonnière, but he always wears a white pocket square – usually linen – in the jacket’s welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets have a flap, a holdout from earlier decades that would be phased out on the best quality dinner jackets by the end of the 1930s.

The ventless jacket is tailored for a close, flattering fit with padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.

An exhausted Monroe Stahr stands in his black tie kit, sans the actual tie, among hospital holiday decorations in “A Brady-American Christmas” (episode 6).

Even during the more formal pre-WWII era, waist coverings – especially waistcoats – were considered unnecessary with a double-breasted dinner jacket given that garment’s full wrap around the wearer’s torso. For Monroe Stahr, however, dressing to the nines means leaving no stone unturned and that means wearing a black wool single-breasted waistcoat to match his dinner jacket and formal trousers. The waistcoat (or vest, if you must) has three buttons on the front, covered in black silk, with a notched bottom and two welted pockets.

Monroe’s era-correct waistcoat gets some welcome exposure after rising from a nap in “A Brady American Christmas” (episode 6)… while his white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt gets some indecorous exposure.

The full back is also covered in black satin with a strap to adjust the fit. Traditional full-backed waistcoats were still the norm in 1936 America, though Esquire noted that the backless design sported by the Prince of Wales was now the preferred style in London and was gaining popularity in the U.S. (Source: Black Tie Guide)

Matt Bomer and co-star Dominique McElligott on set of The Last Tycoon. (Source: Janie Bryant’s Instagram)

Though Paul Muni wore a traditional white waistcoat under his black double-breasted dinner jacket in 1932’s Scarface, Esquire was reporting in its inaugural issue the following autumn that “the white waistcoat has at last been allowed to rejoin its lawful but long estranged mate, the tailcoat, and the new dinner jackets are matched with a waistcoat of the jacket material, with dull grosgrain lapel facing.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)

As Esquire‘s inaugural issue hit newsstands in the autumn of 1933, the concept of a formal waistcoat matching the color and cloth of a gentleman’s tuxedo would have been de rigeur three years later as the fictional Monroe Stahr makes the Hollywood rounds in an all-black three-piece dinner suit.

The distinctive “drooping” shawl collar of Monroe’s waistcoat would have also been quite fashionable. Introduced in 1921 according to Black Tie Guide, this unique wide-based lapel was a common sight during the ’30s. BTG also posted a portion of this Heller catalog from 1936 that includes several examples of dress waistcoats with lapels not unlike Monroe’s. Surviving vintage models also abound today such as this four-button waistcoat dated to 1938.

The black grosgrain silk facing of Monroe’s distinctive waistcoat lapel appropriately matches his dinner jacket lapel facings, his bow tie, court shoe bows, and the grosgrain side braid of his trousers for a cleanly coordinated and consistent look.

The black wool trousers rise high enough for the waistband to be correctly concealed under Monroe’s waistcoat. The full cut trousers have forward pleats, slightly slanted “quarter top” side pockets that follow the line of the grosgrain-braided side seam as it curves gently forward at the waist, and plain-hemmed bottoms (as cuffs are a no-no for formal trousers bottoms.)

Even workaholic film producers deserve some rest. No need to look so guilty, Monroe!

Monroe wears black suspenders (or braces), the most traditional option for holding up trousers when wearing black tie. The suspenders’ gold adjusters are seen poking out the sides of his waistcoat armholes at the shoulders.

When dressed in black tie, Monroe exclusively wears white cotton “semi-formal” shirts with soft-pleated fronts and double (French) cuffs, following the most fashionable trends of the mid 1930s. As the series is set over the fall of 1936 and into the spring of 1937, it’s appropriate to note that Esquire reported in November 1937 that the once traditional wing collar had been virtually replaced by the turndown collar as the “standard for informal wear.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)

For the most part, Monroe’s white dinner shirts echo the styling of his business dress shirts with a fashionably long point collar. The 1/2″-pleated front of the shirt is elegantly accented with round gold-rimmed diamond studs. His sleeves are shirred at the wrist with four closely-spaced pleats, and the squared double cuffs are fastened with plain gold cuff links.

Monroe’s white “semi-formal” shirt in various states of dress in “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6).

Monroe deviates from his usual semi-formal shirts in the fifth episode only. In “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”, he again wears a white cotton dinner shirt with a turndown collar and pleated front, but both the semi-spread collar (not a point collar) and the pleats on this shirt are considerably narrower.

Left: Monroe’s standard point collar and wide-pleated dress shirt, seen here in episode 6: “A Brady-American Christmas.”
Right: A formal shirt with a semi-spread collar and narrow pleats, worn only in episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik.”

Monroe’s standard semi-formal neckwear is a black silk butterfly-shaped (or thistle-shaped) bow tie made from the same duller grosgrain silk as his lapel facings, reflecting a level of coordination that was becoming increasingly accepted and expected by the mid-1930s.

Monroe’s piercing glare is as sharp as his collar point in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).

Butterfly and semi-butterfly bow ties were most common for men during this era, but the diamond-pointed bow tie that Monroe wears in the first episode would have also been acceptable.

Monroe Stahr wears a less common, but still acceptable, pointed-end bow tie in the first episode of The Last Tycoon.

Despite the lessened formality of his double-breasted dinner jacket and soft-fronted, turndown collar shirt, Monroe Stahr appears to be wearing the most formal footwear option: black patent leather pumps.

The men’s dress pump traces its origins back to the Regency period when gentlemen would swap out their daytime boots for buckle-fastened pumps. It was naturally the influence of Beau Brummell that led to the silver steel buckle being replaced by the more genteel square grosgrain bow has distinguished the opera pump in essentially the same form for nearly 200 years.

Monroe’s pumps appear to have a slightly higher vamp, pushing them closer to the look of a wholecut oxford with flat silk ribbon laces, a mid-1930s fad that bridged the formality gap between the ceremonious dress pump and the more functional oxford. (You can read more about this short-lived shoe at Black Tie Guide.)

Monroe also sports his opera pumps when wearing his formal dress white tie and tails in the first and last episodes of the season, a context where opera pumps are more frequently seen than with the less formal black tie.

No matter what the context, Monroe always wears a gold signet ring on his right pinky. Though the etched “S.” most assuredly stands for his professional surname of Stahr, it could also designate his birth surname of Sternberg.

Monroe begins the series wearing a yellow gold wristwatch with a tonneau-shaped white dial and gold bracelet, a standard men’s dress watch of the era. By the end of the fourth episode, he’s received two brand new wristwatches as birthday gifts*; the first is a gold tank watch from Louis B. Mayer (Saul Rubinek) followed by a steel round-cased watch, a gift from Monroe’s own boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) in his attempt to “one-up” the legendary Mayer. It is this steel watch with its minimalist white dial and black leather strap that Monroe wears for the duration of the season.

* The episodes featuring Monroe’s birthday are set in early-to-mid September, making him the second consecutive Virgo character to be featured on BAMF Style after Monday’s post about Tony Soprano.

How to Get the Look

Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”).
Note the shirt’s semi-spread collar and narrow pleats as opposed to the point-collared shirt with wider pleats that he wore in other episodes.

Monroe Stahr exemplifies the perfect balance of fashion-forward formalwear and honoring black tie tradition with his tailored three-piece double-breasted dinner suit.

• Black wool double-breasted dinner jacket with grosgrain-faced peak lapels, 6-on-2 silk-covered buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Black wool formal waistcoat with wide “drooped” grosgrain-faced shawl collar, three black silk-covered buttons, notched bottom, two welted pockets, and black satin-covered full back with adjustable strap
• Black wool formal pleated trousers with grosgrain side braid, “quarter top” on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with long point collar, wide pleated bib, front placket, and squared double/French cuffs
  • Gold-trimmed round diamond studs
  • Gold cuff links
• Black grosgrain silk thistle-shaped bow tie
• Black suspenders with gold adjusters
• Black patent leather opera pumps/court shoes with square black grosgrain bows
• Black dress socks
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt/A-shirt
• Gold monogrammed signet ring, right pinky
• Steel wristwatch with round case and white dial on black leather strap

Monroe always wears a white linen display kerchief in his jacket’s breast pocket and, for extra special events, a white boutonnière in his left lapel.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check it out on Amazon Video.

Footnotes

Series star Matt Bomer is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, located just two miles from my home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

If you’re interested in the history of formalwear, check out Black Tie Guide’s comprehensive history of vintage black tie. To learn more specifically about the pre-WWII Depression era depicted in The Last Tycoon, Black Tie Guide’s also got you covered.

Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the first episode of Boardwalk Empire.

Vitals

Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, corrupt Atlantic City politician and bootlegger

Atlantic City, January 1920

Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
– “Boardwalk Empire” (Episode 1.01, dir. Martin Scorsese, aired September 19, 2010)
– “The Ivory Tower” (Episode 1.02, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired September 26, 2010)
– “Broadway Limited” (Episode 1.03, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired October 3, 2010)
– “Hold Me in Paradise” (Episode 1.08, dir. Brian Kirk, aired November 7, 2010)
– “A Return to Normalcy” (Episode 1.12, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired December 5, 2010)
– “What Does the Bee Do?” (Episode 2.04, dir. Tim Van Patten, aired October 16, 2011)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn
Tailor: Martin Greenfield

Background

This week, I’m taking a look at outfits worn by BAMFs in the first episodes of some of my favorite TV shows. #MafiaMonday is a great excuse to start with Boardwalk Empire, particularly the suit worn by Steve Buscemi as Atlantic County treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the opening credits of the series’ five-season run… as well as a few early episodes.

What’d He Wear?

As seen in the credits…

The Boardwalk Empire opening credits sequence shows a clear recognition of costume design as an essential storytelling device. A series of shots of Steve Buscemi standing on a beach while liquor bottles wash up on his feet would have had a much different effect had he been dressed in his ’70s-toned layered turtleneck and topcoat à la Fargo or the mismatched black suit jacket and jeans as “Mr. Pink” in Reservoir Dogs.

Instead, we immediately meet Nucky Thompson the living legend, resplendent in a period-perfect charcoal striped three-piece suit, colorful shirt and tie with a distinctive contrast collar, a dark homburg reminiscent of The Godfather, sharp spectator shoes that are evidently immune to the effects of standing in the surf… and a red carnation, the gregariously dapper embellishment borrowed from Nucky’s real-life counterpart Enoch Johnson.

Nucky’s suit blends elements of traditional business suiting – charcoal material, pinstripes, and chalkstripes – for a distinctive look that differentiates him from the world of establishment politics and business while also avoiding the overt gangster connotations of a bolder white chalkstripe. Indeed, Nucky plays the middle like a fiddle (for the first few seasons, at least), viewed by the Atlantic City public as a generous civil servant while those in his circle know him better as the corrupt “half a gangster” just as capable of coordinating the importation of bootleg whiskey as he is of offering vocal support for the Women’s Temperance League.

The dark charcoal worsted suit, tailored by Martin Greenfield of Brooklyn, is patterned with a series of stripes alternating between a single-thread pinstripe and a wider four-thread stripe.

Three months after the final Boardwalk Empire episode aired, ScreenBid hosted an auction of many of the show’s props and costumes including the “iconic three piece suit from the opening credits,” which was made custom for Steve Buscemi but described as sized approximately 38 regular. The auction listing included several exclusive photos of the suit, including a view of the little-seen gold satin-finished lining with its faint red striping and Deco-style cricles.

Source: ScreenBid.

The long double-breasted suit jacket has straight shoulders and squared front quarters that flare out below the high button stance to resemble the “shapeless” American sack suit characteristic of early 20th century American menswear, particularly when worn unbuttoned as Nucky tends to wear it. The wide lapels have straight gorges. There is a long single vent in the back.

Nucky’s suit jacket has four-button cuffs with a “turnback cuff”, a dandyish detail evoking the Edwardian era that Nucky wore on all of his early suits. The jacket has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets on the sides as well as a flapped ticket pocket, placed high above the waist on the right side to align with the lower row of buttons.

Episode 1.03: “Broadway Limited”

The double-breasted front has four buttons in a square formation, highly placed above Nucky’s natural waist in two rows of two buttons. The suit jacket buttons are best seen on the sole occasion that Nucky wears his jacket fully buttoned during his press conference in “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12).

Perhaps to indicate the solemnity of his announcement, Nucky wears his jacket closed for the one and only time in “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12).

The suit’s matching waistcoat (vest) has six buttons that fasten high on Buscemi’s chest with the lowest button left open over the notched bottom. It has four welted pockets.

The roaring twenties was the twilight of the gentleman’s pocket watch, which would gradually be eclipsed by the wristwatch over the course of the decade. Nucky wears his gold Elgin open-face pocket watch in his lower left vest pocket throughout the first season, connected on a 18″ gold chain to an ornate fob described by ScreenBid as “a trio of gold cubes with tiny ruby chips.”

The plain white dial has Arabic numerals with the “ELGIN” brand name clearly visible in the eighth episode, “Hold Me in Paradise,” when Nucky is in Chicago. (The ScreenBid auction confirmed that the same Elgin watch was used for the opening credits.) Nucky’s watch has a winding stem at 12:00 and a white sub-dial counting down the seconds at 6:00, a typical layout for open-face watches.

A few minutes past 4:30 a.m. and Nucky’s still working.

Similar watches are available online such as this pristine Elgin Grade 303 railroad watch from 1924, available from Etsy for only $99.

Nucky’s flat front suit trousers have a long rise, properly concealing the waistband under his waistcoat. They are most likely fitted to be worn with suspenders (braces), consistent with Nucky’ other suits and three-piece suit decorum, particularly in the early 20th century. They are cut straight through the leg down to the bottoms, finished with wide cuffs (turn-ups).

In the opening credits, Nucky wears a pair of black and tan calf leather wingtip oxford brogues. These spectator shoes, handcrafted in Italy for Forzieri, have a black wingtip, black lace panels for the six-eyelet black laces, black back heel quarters, and brown perforated broguing across the tan vamp.

Typically, one wouldn’t wear shoes of this quality so close to the salty ocean water, but Nucky’s kicks seem strangely immune to effects of the surf.

As of September 2017, Forzieri is still offering these Italian handcrafted spectator shoes for $660 and proudly marketing them as the shoe from “the opening credits of Boardwalk Empire.” Though Forzieri has only existed for the last quarter of a century, these duo-toned brogues are certainly reflective of the spirit of men’s footwear during the Jazz Age.

Jumping up from his feet to the top of his head, Nucky wears a homburg – the preferred headgear of that era’s most powerful men – in a villainous shade of black felt with a wide black grosgrain ribbon and grosgrain edges along the curled brim. Thanks to the ScreenBid listing, we know the hat was crafted by Dobbs, a New York millinery founded in 1908.

Nucky is perplexed by his meeting with the obnoxious George Baxter in “The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02).

You can find a selection of Boardwalk Empire hats available from Fashionable Hats, which also includes a helpful style guide for gents looking to top off their look à la Nucky Thompson, Al Capone, or Jimmy Darmody. Fashionable Hats offers a Stetson homburg in black genuine fur felt for less than $200 that will leave you feeling like the king of the boardwalk.

Dress shirts with attached collars were still novel in 1920, having only been patented the previous year by the Phillips-Jones Corporation (now Phillips-Van Heusen) as the “self-folding collar”. Men of Nucky’s status wore shirts with starched white detachable collars that could be easily removed and vigorously cleaned more frequently than the shirts themselves.

Just before the show’s September 2010 premiere, costume designer John Dunn spoke to Esquire about the signature “keyhole-cut” collar he developed for Nucky:

We did have a particular collar specifically designed for Nucky, though: a period collar that has a little keyhole cutout in the center — when you close the collar with the collar bar, there was then a little hole that the necktie would come out of. No one else was allowed to wear that.

Dunn’s particular collar is established in the opening credits and would adorn Nucky’s neck for the show’s first three seasons. Eagle-eyed fans have noted its similarity to the “Tyfold” collar introduced to the American market in 1903 by Cluett Peabody and Co., the same company that developed the attached-collar Arrow shirt in the late 1920s.

Colorful dresser that he is, Nucky is seen in the credits wearing his white “keyhole-cut” collar with a lavender shirt subtly patterned with circles that echo the bolder purple silk tie with “maroon floral medallions,” as described by the ScreenBid auction (which also confirms the tie’s manufacturer as “John Kocis”.)

Left: Steve Buscemi, seen in the Boardwalk Empire opening credits.
Right: The suit jacket, shirt, collar, and tie worn in the credits sequence (Source: ScreenBid.)

Nucky Thompson’s cuff links worn during the opening credits, sourced from ScreenBid.

The self-shirted double (French) cuffs of Nucky’s shirts in the pilot episode were all fastened by a set of octagonal vintage silver-toned cuff links with an onyx ring around a clear stone on each link’s face.

Episode by episode…

When we first meet Nucky Thompson in the pilot episode “Boardwalk Empire”, he is about to address the Women’s Temperance League in the same suit as we saw in the credits but with a radically different shirt and tie.

His yellow dress shirt is patterned with wide white stripes that are bordered on each side and split down the center with three thin blue stripes, creating the effect of light blue stripes from a distance. His white “keyhole-cut” detachable collar also makes its debut, pinned with his usual gold collar bar.

Nucky wears a bright blue-on-blue pindot plaid silk tie with Deco-inspired sets of two white-bordered squares placed haphazardly over the surface of the tie. The left square is gradient-filled in yellow, but the right square is transparent, revealing the blue pattern of the tie’s ground.

“Boardwalk Empire” (episode 1.01): Nucky addresses the Women’s Temperance League in a yellow striped shirt and blue square-patterned silk tie.

The following episode, “The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02), finds Nucky making the rounds of Atlantic City, first running into the obnoxious George Baxter (Allen Lewis Rickman) on the boardwalk before checking in with the imperious Commodore (Dabney Coleman) at his palatial home.

Nucky again sports a light yellow shirt, this time solid yellow rather than striped. Instead, it’s his tie that’s striped in a series of varying navy blue, mustard yellow, and brick red stripes following the European “uphill” direction of left-down-to-right.

“The Ivory Tower” (episode 1.02): Nucky grimaces during a meeting with the Commodore, wearing a solid yellow shirt with a multi-striped tie.

In both the pilot and “The Ivory Tower,” Nucky wears a knee-length camelhair overcoat with wide Ulster-style lapels and a high six-on-three-button double-breasted front. The coat has padded shoulders, swelled edges, a vertical welt pocket on each side, and a wide cuff at the end of each sleeve. In the back, an inverted box pleat on the upper back aligns with the long single vent that extends up to the half-belt.

“The Ivory Tower” also features Nucky’s new footwear, a pair of tan leather oxfords worn with burgundy dress socks. Evidently, the black-and-tan spectator shoes featured in the credits didn’t survive his trip to the beach…

Nucky spends some time in this Ritz Hotel office in “Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03), where he is visited by his erstwhile mentee, the troubled Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt). Jimmy’s humble tweed Norfolk suit is the yin to Nucky’s elegant yang.

Nucky appears to be wearing the lavender circle-printed shirt from the opening credits, now paired with a similar multi-striped tie from the previous episode but in an opposing stripe direction.

“Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03): Nucky wears a lavender shirt with a multi-striped tie for a day at the office.

That evening in the same episode, Nucky pays a visit to his ally Albert “Chalky” White (Michael K. Williams), dressing for the evening chill in a countrified brown heavy tweed wool top coat with a plaid pattern consisting of blue, beige, red, and black checks. The coat’s double-breasted front echoes the suit jacket beneath it with its peak lapels and “square” four-on-two button formation, also worn totally open. The coat has an inverted box pleat patch pocket with a flap on the left breast and large flapped patch pockets on the hips, below the lower row of buttons. The shoulders are padded and roped at the sleeveheads with a full cuff at the end of each sleeve. The back is accented with a Western-style pointed yoke and a half-belt.

Nucky’s brown plaid overcoat was also auctioned by ScreenBid, giving us a better look than the dark glimpses we get in “Broadway Limited” (episode 1.03).

Nucky’s opening credits suit reappears five episodes later in “Hold Me in Paradise” (episode 1.08) when Nucky is in Chicago for the Republican National Convention. He is dining with Republican Senator Walter Edge (Geoff Pierson) when he receives news of a robbery back in Atlantic City.

Nucky once again sports a solid yellow shirt for his dinner with Senator Edge, now worn with an “old gold” jacquard silk tie with an ornate floral pattern with cornflower blue center dots.

The outfit is evidently a hit as he also wears it for a press conference denouncing the D’Alessio brothers in the season finale, “A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12). In both of these later season appearances, he also seems to be wearing black oxford shoes.

“A Return to Normalcy” (episode 1.12): Nucky comes out strong against the D’Alessio brothers during a presser in which he wears a yellow shirt and yellow patterned silk tie.

This suit makes its final appearance in “What Does the Bee Do?” (episode 2.04) as a naughty Nucky is entertaining politicians, prostitutes, and prize-fighters when Jack Dempsey drops in on Mayor Ed Bader’s birthday party. (The real Ed Bader was born on June 8, 1874, but this episode is supposedly set before Memorial Day, sometime in the spring of 1921.)

New season, new shirt. Nucky wears a pale blue striped shirt with self-shirted double (French) cuffs and his usual detachable white keyhole collar. His tie is dark purple paisley silk.

“What Does the Bee Do?” (episode 2.04): Evidently it’s been a long night, as Nucky’s hair is a bit tousled but his pale blue striped shirt, white keyhole collar, and purple paisley silk tie remain perfectly in place.

Nucky would continue to wear charcoal striped suits through the run of the series, including a very similarly patterned single-breasted suit with double-breasted waistcoat throughout the third season, but this episode – ‘what does the bee do?’ – was the final in-show appearance of the suit that greeted boardwalk empire viewers in the credits each week.

The Music

Boardwalk Empire made great use of the burgeoning popular music of the early 1920s from vintage recordings of Tin Pan Alley hits to modern interpretations featuring the studious arrangements of Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra often accompanied by stars of today like Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Liza Minnelli, Patti Smith, and Regina Spektor.

The opening credits were a different story, using “Straight Up and Down” by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, an energetic track inspired by 1960s rock roots.

This 2011 interview in The Hollywood Reporter explains creator Terence Winter’s decision:

“I wanted unexpected,” Boardwalk creator and executive producer Terence Winter tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t want to do some Charleston, which didn’t really kick in until 1924 anyway, and everything I heard from the period had people doing the Charleston.”

While experimenting with the opening, Winter says he paired the footage of Buscemi looking out to the horizon with several different pieces of music, including Brian Jonestown’s “Straight Up and Down.” “I had been a fan of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, so we tried it, and I said to the editor, that really works for me.”

Even with so much attention paid to period details such as wardrobe and props, the fact that the theme employs a contemporary song using instruments not yet invented during the prohibition era, when Boardwalk Empire takes place, doesn’t bother Winter one bit. “It’s a show set in 1920 seen through a different perspective, not a literal look at the 1920s,” he explains. “Some people find it jarring to see 1920s clothes and hear contemporary music. I look at it as, it’s a 90-second intro and then you have all the ’20s you want.”

Can’t argue with that.

How to Get the Look

Nucky Thompson’s look is established in the credits and early episodes of Boardwalk Empire as a man who made his success at the crossroads of crooked business and crooked politics.

• Charcoal brown-striped worsted wool three-piece custom “sack suit”:
  • Double-breasted 4×2 “square”-buttoned long jacket with straight-gorge peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, flapped ticket pocket, 4-button “turnback” cuffs, and long single vent
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat/vest with four welted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat front high-rise trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, straight leg, and wide turn-ups/cuffs
• Yellow or lavender dress shirt with front placket and double/French cuffs
  • White detachable “keyhole”-cut collar
  • Silver-toned octagonal cuff links with black onyx face
• Patterned tie with color echoing the shirt
• Black and tan leather wingtip oxford brogues
• Burgundy dress socks
• Black felt homburg with wide black grosgrain ribbon
• Gold-filled Elgin open-face pocket watch with white dial (with Arabic numerals and 6:00 sub-dial) and 18″ gold chain with ruby-studded triple-cube fob

On a chilly day, Nucky adds the extra layer of a double-breasted coat, either in luxurious camel or a rugged countrified brown plaid tweed.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the whole series, but start with the first season.

The Quote

First rule of politics, kiddo: never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Lee Marvin as Henry “Rico” Fardan in The Professionals (1966)

Vitals

Lee Marvin as Henry “Rico” Fardan, tough mercenary

Texas, January 1917

Film: The Professionals
Release Date: November 2, 1966
Director: Richard Brooks
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Martell

Background

Written, produced, and directed by prolific auteur Richard Brooks, The Professionals depicts a band of mercenaries hired by rancher baron Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) to rescue his wife. Though it is often overlooked in the shadow of its “bigger” contemporaries like The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy of spaghetti westerns, The Professionals was Columbia Pictures’ biggest hit of 1966.

Lee Marvin starred as Henry “Rico” Fardan, a cynical weapons specialist whose experience fighting under Pancho Villa’s command makes him invaluable to the team pursuing one of Villa’s former revolutionaries who supposedly kidnapped Grant’s wife Maria (Claudia Cardinale). The cast also includes Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode as Marvin’s fellow “professionals” and Jack Palance as their target. The film received three Academy Award nominations; Brooks was nominated for his screenplay and direction with a third well-deserved nod going to Conrad Hall’s impressive cinematography, which captured the film’s beautiful locations across the desert valleys of the southwest United States.

Marvin’s rugged wardrobe in this film has been frequently requested by BAMF Style readers, and his timeless brown shawl-collar cardigan is just as stylish today as it was a hundred years ago when the film was set.

What’d He Wear?

Rico rides up in a red 1915 Ford Model T Runabout to meet some of his fellow “professionals” on Grant’s train. (“Yeah, me too, Lizzie,” he says to the sputtering car as he gets out to meet Mr. Grant.) He wears a brown heavy knit shawl-collar cardigan with a high-fastening front of five well-spaced brown plastic buttons.

The cardigan has set-in sleeves and no pockets. The cuffs and waist hem are set apart by triple rings perpendicular to the vertical ribbing present on the rest of the sweater.

Rico’s heavy sweater isn’t the first item you’d pack for a trip to the Texas desert, but Lee Marvin wears it well.

Rico’s pale blue poplin shirt is a bit anachronistic as attached-collar dress shirts wouldn’t be standardized and popularized until about a decade later, but the more modern shirt does give the outfit a greater degree of contemporary relevance. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and buttoned barrel cuffs that don’t bunch up under the sweater sleeves like double cuffs would.

Rico also wears a solid black cotton tie in a simple four-in-hand knot. The tie is worn so that the blade ends a few inches above the trouser waist line.

Strong mise en scène: The front page of the St. Louis Herald newspaper on the wall announces Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata entering Mexico City in December 1914.

Rico’s gray twill flat front trousers have a low rise for the era, cut straight through the legs for a classic and correct military look that was also contemporary with 1960s fashions at the time the film was made. They have frogmouth front pockets and likely plain-hemmed bottoms with a high break.

“Yeah, me too, Lizzie.”

Unlike his light brown corded trousers that he would later wear for the band’s expedition into Mexico, these trousers do not appear to be worn with a belt. Instead, Rico only wears a brown leather edge-stitched gun belt with a woven holster to carry  his long-barreled Colt revolver.

Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster) takes a drink as Rico’s holstered revolver juts out from the back of his sweater.

Rico’s headgear may be the only element of his wardrobe that wouldn’t fit in as well with a contemporary outfit, but his decision to wear a “campaign cover” informs his character’s military pedigree and establishes a leadership role. This type of headgear was common among U.S. Army infantrymen engaged in the 1916 expedition against Pancho Villa; given Rico’s history, this is no doubt where he acquired his hat.

Rico’s campaign hat, contemporary to U.S. military issue during the film’s World War I-era setting, is drab-colored soft wool felt with a flat brim and the tall “Montana Peak” four-pinched crown with a ventilating grommet on each of the four sides.

His campaign cover has a plain tan cord around the base of the crown against a brown grosgrain hat band. It does not appear to be the gold braided campaign cord reserved for U.S. Army general officers, nor does it resemble the golden-and-black cord of commissioned officers. A dark brown leather buckled strap fastens the hat around the back of his head.

Bill hears some wise words from Rico, his de facto “commanding officer” on this mercenary mission.

Rico’s footwear is barely seen, but he is likely wearing the same tan leather cap-toe work boots that he sports throughout. These open-laced boots have twelve eyelets up the shafts, fastening to well above each ankle, as seen in this watermarked set image featuring Lee Marvin sitting with Woody Strode and a can of Coors.

How to Get the Look

Lee Marvin in a lobby card from The Professionals (1966)

Lee Marvin adds dashes of military ruggedness to a classic shawl-collar cardigan with his campaign hat, tie, and boots, creating an image of strong, serious, and stylish leadership.

• Brown heavy ribbed knit shawl-collar cardigan with five-button front
• Pale blue cotton poplin shirt with semi-spread point collar, front placket, breast pocket, button cuffs
• Black cotton tie
• Gray cavalry twill flat front trousers with frogmouth front pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather edge-stitched gun belt with tall steel single-prong buckle and holster
• Tan leather 12-eyelet cap-toe work boots
• Olive drab “campaign cover” with four-pinched “Montana peaked” crown, gold campaign cord, and dark brown leather buckled back strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the movie.

The Quote

Bill Dolworth: Well, I’ll be damned.
Henry “Rico” Fardan: Most of us are.

Max von Sydow as Joubert in Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Vitals

Max von Sydow as G. Joubert, French Alsatian contract assassin

Chevy Chase, Maryland, Christmas 1975

Film: Three Days of the Condor
Release Date: September 24, 1975
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Unlike BAMF Style holiday favorites Die Hard, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, or The Thin Man, Three Days of the Condor doesn’t directly address its Christmas setting, instead letting the otherwise cheery atmosphere, decor, and music be infiltrated by the increasing paranoia of its leading character, CIA researcher Joe Turner (Robert Redford), forced on the run after a massacre at his office.

Engineered by CIA Deputy Director Leonard Atwood (Addison Powell)’s secret intra-agency faction, the massacre was carried out under the supervision of Joubert, an enigmatic contract killer who takes it upon himself to finish the job after a timing snafu allows Turner, alias “Condor”, to escape.

Following the titular three days of Turner’s time on the run, the erstwhile researcher finds himself face to face with Joubert over in Atwood’s suburban residence… although the confrontation turns an unexpected turn in Condor’s favor. Joubert, his latest job completed, now takes an avuncular approach with his former target, genuinely and professionally curious as to how the novice managed to evade his deadly skill for so long.

Joubert even goes so far as to offer Turner a ride back to New York, though he can’t help but to issue a warning to his one-time prey:

You have not much future there… It will happen this way: you may be walking, maybe the first sunny day of the spring, and a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know – maybe even trust – will get out of the car, and he will smile a becoming smile… but he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift.

Exhausted with his prospect, Turner asks Joubert what he should do. The hitman reflects before suggesting his own line of work, offering a twistedly tranquil perspective on political assassination and a look into his own psyche, perhaps reflective of the cynicism that defined the early 1970s zeitgeist.

Joubert: Well, the fact is, what I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay.
Turner: I would find it… tiring.
Joubert: Oh, no, it’s quite restful. It’s almost peaceful. No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause. There’s only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.

What’d He Wear?

The one constant of Joubert’s wardrobe throughout Three Days of the Condor is a brown velvet trilby with a textured tan-on-burgundy band. The hat evokes the look of a traditional Bavarian Tyrolean hat, nodding to Joubert’s own vaguely Teutonic origins.

Joubert also wears a pair of large square-framed tortoise glasses that would aid the “precision” that he so values.

“Pardon?”

When Joubert treks to Chevy Chase and confronts Turner at gunpoint, he wears a winter-appropriate black-and-cream houndstooth check wool topcoat with a broad Ulster collar.

The single-breasted knee-length coat has three buttons down the front, slanted welt pockets along the sides for his hands, and a single back vent that extends to his waist. The set-in sleeves are belted a few inches in from each cuff with straps that each adjust through a buckle.

Promotional photo of Max von Sydow and Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Barely seen is the odd jacket that Joubert wears under his coat, a light brown single-breasted jacket with slim notch lapels and square-cut lower quarters.

It may be the same jacket with notch lapels and a welted breast pocket that Joubert wore under his trench coat earlier in the film (seen best in a behind-the-scenes photograph), but this would be difficult to confirm.

Two spies in winter: the experienced Joubert and the novice “Condor”.

Joubert evidently likes to stay dressed and ready for action even when technically off-duty, spending his down time in his hotel room in the same shirt, sweater, and trousers that he would later wear with sport jacket, topcoat, and tie when tracking Condor to Atwood’s house.

The beige knit sweater has a soft v-neck and set-in sleeves with ribbed cuffs. There is a small hole, similar to a cigarette burn, visible just above the cuff on the left sleeve, suggesting that Joubert has probably spent many a Gitanes-fueled stakeout wearing this sweater.

Joubert’s “Audubon Society” is pretty clever, given that he was caught off-guard.

Joubert’s shirt is ecru melange cotton or a cotton-polyester blend with a long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs. When not wearing a tie, he leaves the top button undone and lets the collar rest on the outside of the sweater.

When he is wearing a tie, he sports a hunter green wool knit tie; the color is both indicative of his profession and a touch of Christmas festivity during the holidays.

Joubert’s earthy tones of beige, brown, and green coordinate well with the rustic decor of Atwood’s home office.

Joubert wears charcoal twill slacks with straight pockets along the side seams and two back pockets that close with a single-buttoning flap.

We don’t see Joubert’s shoes in this scene, but he is likely not wearing the same snuff suede desert boots as he wore with his trench coat in New York City. We do, however, get a good look at his smooth dark brown lambskin gloves.

“For that day…”

Joubert also wears an all-gold watch with round case and dial and a mesh-like bracelet on his left wrist.

How to Get the Look

Joubert’s wardrobe is hardly the stuff of the archetypal government assassin (think Jason Bourne in all black), and his check topcoat, wool tie, layered jumper and jacket, and trilby would have been very suitable for a sensible middle-aged man to wear in that context… much like Condor’s pea coat and jeans would be for him.

Max von Sydow and Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor (1975)

• Black-and-cream houndstooth check wool single-breasted topcoat with Ulster collar, three-button front, slanted welt hand pockets, belted cuffs, and single back vent
• Light brown single-breasted jacket with notch lapels and welted breast pocket
• Ecru melange shirt with long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Hunter green wool knit tie
• Beige knit v-neck sweater
• Charcoal twill flat front trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, button-flapped back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown velvet trilby with textured tan-on-burgundy band
• Tortoise square-framed glasses
• Dark brown lambskin leather gloves
• Gold wristwatch with gold-mesh bracelet

The Gun

Turner and Atwood are interrupted by the startling sight of Joubert, standing in the doorway with a small but deadly pistol drawn. The gun is an Astra Constable, a Spanish-made semi-automatic compact pistol that strongly resembles the venerable Walther PPK.

Like the Walther, the Astra Constable is offered in .32 ACP, .380 ACP, and .22 LR; Joubert’s pistol in particular seems to be chambered for .22 LR based on the “.22 LR” stamp visible on the barrel.

Astra began production of the Constable in 1969, offering the same calibers as the Walther PPK and a similar blowback operation with a traditional double-action trigger. The pistol made its first major cinematic appearance in Three Days of the Condor, according to IMFDB, but would also be seen in Goodfellas and Taxi Driver (where it was mistakenly referred to as a “.380 Walther”) before production ceased in 1992.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. The scene of Turner and Joubert walking out to the latter’s car is a particular favorite of mine.

The Quote

I don’t interest myself in “why”. I think more often in terms of “when”, sometimes “where”… always “how much”.

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

Vitals

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace, Broadway crooner, World War II veteran, and “a lonely and miserable man”

Florida, December 1954

Film: White Christmas
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head

Background

Happy holidays! This Christmas Eve felt like an appropriate time to focus on White Christmas, the most successful film of 1954 and one of the most beloved holiday classics.

Every year around the holidays, my mom and I set aside an evening for “Bing and Booze”, mixing cocktails and watching White Christmas while wrapping presents for friends and family.

Ten years after Private Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) saved Captain Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) from a falling wall at the German front during World War II, Wallace and Davis have risen to the top of the entertainment world. Following the final performance of their latest hit “Playing Around” before Christmas break, the partners find themselves spending their last two hours in Florida checking out the Haynes sisters’ double musical act as a favor “for a pal in the army.”

Luckily for Bob and Phil, “Freckle-Face Haynes, the dog-faced boy” had two sisters that fared considerably better than he in the looks department. Phil and Judy (Vera-Ellen) are immediately taken with each other, but Bob and Betty (Rosemary Clooney) are a touch more combative and cynical. Ever the schemer, Phil ropes Bob into performing the Haynes sisters’ signature act, “Sisters”, to allow the two women enough time to escape their irked landlord and the local sheriff.

According to Clooney, the sequence of Bob and Phil performing “Sisters” was not in the original script but emerged when director Michael Curtiz was amused by the actors clowning around on set and decided to film it. The final take used in the film shows Bing Crosby unable to control his laughter while performing the duet with Danny Kaye.

Finally, Bob and Phil find themselves on their train to New York… though Phil has “misplaced” their tickets and urges a befuddled and beleaguered Bob to continue on to Vermont. Bob quickly learns that the mischievous Phil gifted the tickets to the Haynes sisters, who are indeed traveling to the “very Vermonty” destination of Pine Tree, Vermont, which “should be beautiful this time of year, all that snow.”

And, speaking of…

Bob: Miss Haynes, if you’re ever under a falling building and somebody runs up and offers to pick you up and carry you to safety, don’t think, don’t pause, don’t hesitate for a moment, just spit in his eye.
Betty: What did that mean?
Bob: It means we’re going to Vermont.

What’d He Wear?

White Christmas wasn’t Bing’s first time in costumes designed by the legendary Edith Head. “Having done costuming for a number of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s Road pictures prior to White Christmas, [Head] knew exactly how to make Crosby’s character shine,” notes Jeff Saporito for ScreenPrism.

Indeed, Crosby’s character shines off the screen from the start with a powder blue jacket that vividly echoes Bing’s eyes. The suiting consists of a subtle mini-check with thin blue widely-spaced over-stripes on a powder blue ground.

The powder blue jacket calls out Bing’s vibrant blue eyes.

Bing Crosby’s odd jackets (i.e. non-suit jackets) in White Christmas all have a 3/2-roll front as the wide notch lapels roll over the top button, leaving two exposed, of which Bing correctly fastens only the top-showing center button. All buttons, including the three buttons on each cuff, are a mixed light blue.

Phil sells Bob on yet another scheme.

A common characteristic of all of Bing’s White Christmas jackets (including his suit coats) is the presence of a narrowly flapped ticket pocket positioned just above the right-side hip pocket. Both hip pockets are flapped, and the jacket also has a  breast pocket where Bob/Bing wears a white pocket square folded to show a single point above the welted opening. The jacket also has double vents.

A conflicted Bob has to quickly balance his annoyance with Phil with his quiet delight that the Haynes sisters are indeed on the same train.

In real life, Bing Crosby was a client of H. Huntsman, the legendary Savile Row tailor that has cut for celebrities from entertainers to royalty over its 170+ years in existence. I’m not sure if this or any of his White Christmas costumes were tailored by Huntsman, however.

Following the last Wallace and Davis show of the year, Bob Wallace removes his costume in their dressing room and buttons up a white shirt with an era-appropriate large semi-spread collar, plain front, and double (French) cuffs already fastened with a set of blue glass cuff links.

Note the reflection of the blue glass cuff links on the varnished table of the train’s “drafty old” club car.

Aside from a brown pinstripe suit, almost all of Bing’s wardrobe in White Christmas incorporates some element of red, whether it’s a red shirt, red socks, or – as we see here – a predominantly red tie.

This ketchup-and-mustard, er, crimson-and-gold tie consists of sets of crimson red and mustard gold stripes, each set bordered by a black stripe, running “downhill” from right-down-to-left on a crimson red ground. Bing holds this tastefully wide tie in place with a slim gold tie bar.

Bob is reasonably frustrated by Phil’s blatant matchmaking efforts.

Bob dresses in a pair of dark chocolate brown wool trousers with triple reverse pleats, providing an extremely full fit that was not uncommon during the pleat-happy postwar years. The trousers have cuffed bottoms, straight pockets along the sides, and no back pockets. The trouser fit adjusts around the waistband with a half-belt in the front that adjusts through a gold-toned buckle.

Bob dresses for an evening out with Phil and the mysterious Haynes sisters.

When Wallace and Davis take to the Novello’s stage for an encore performance of “Sisters”, Bob has his trouser legs rolled up to show off his gams, although he appears to be wearing a different pair of dark gray trousers with one or two less pleats to them.

The “Sisters” sequence also gives us a better look at Bob’s shoes, a pair of black leather cap-toe oxfords worn with gray cotton lisle socks held up with brown garters.

“After you dressed me up like a dame…”

Bing Crosby bestows White Christmas audiences with a look at his white underwear, a cotton undershirt with a wide crew neck and reinforced short sleeve hems and a pair of white cotton briefs briefly glimpsed while changing his trousers after the show.

Fans curious to see Bing’s tighty-whiteys will just have to watch the movie.

Bing Crosby wears his own wristwatch in White Christmas, a plain gold-toned watch on a tooled brown leather curved strap with a gold single-prong buckle. The watch appears in several other Crosby flicks of the ’50s such as High Society, where he also wears it with the timepiece on the inside of his wrist; though this could be explained as a holdout from Captain Wallace’s service in the U.S. Army, it’s one of the many real-life Bing Crosby traits that the actor brought to his performance.

Bing’s wristwatch can be glimpsed on his left wrist as he raises his glass for a much-needed sip of water.

When boarding the train to New York Vermont, Bob wears a short-brimmed gray felt fedora with a wide black grosgrain band.

As Phil evidently left his cash in his “snood”, Bob is forced to dish out the $97.24 for train tickets.

The fellas hardly had time to pack with the sheriff banging on the sisters’ dressing room door, but Bob’s got a pile of coats and jackets under his arm, some of which eventually appear during the duo’s duration in Vermont.

How to Get the Look

The real Bing Crosby was a natty dresser throughout his half-century career, and he brings his gift for sartorial flair to the Edith Head-designed costumes of White Christmas, particularly this colorful ensemble for a holiday evening out in Florida.

• Powder blue subtly checked single-breasted 3-roll-2-button jacket with welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and double vents
  • White linen pocket square
• White shirt with large semi-spread collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
  • Blue glass cuff links in gold settings
• Crimson red tie with mustard gold R-down-L stripe series
  • Slim gold tie bar
• Dark chocolate brown wool triple reverse-pleated trousers with self-belt, straight/on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Gray cotton lisle socks
• Brown sock garters
• White cotton boat-neck undershirt with hemmed short sleeves
• White cotton briefs
• Gold wristwatch on tooled brown leather curved strap
• Gray felt short-brimmed fedora with black grosgrain band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and have a very happy holiday season!

WHITE CHRISTMAS

The Quote

You wouldn’t do this to me… after you dressed me up like a dame.

William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934)… with Skippy as Asta!

Vitals

William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective

New York City, Christmas 1933

Film: The Thin Man
Release Date: May 25, 1934
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree

Background

Suffice it to say that Nick and Nora Charles had quite a Christmas. Following a drunken holiday party, the sleepy couple was interrupted by the gat-wielding Joe Morelli (Edward Brophy), a fast-talking “get me, see?”-type of gangster whose quick trigger finger is no match for Nick Charles’ quick wit.

A few hours later, Nick spends Christmas morning recovering and in a perpetual daze possibly due to his recent flesh wound, the magic of the holidays, or – most likely – a large quantity of Scotch in his system.

The Charles couple enjoys their Christmas gifts from each other: Nora in her mink coat from Nick, Nick playing with his air pistol from Nora.

What’d He Wear?

The casual nature of these scenes means Nick Charles steps out of his tailored suits and dinner jackets in favor of comfortable – but still classy – loungewear.

The first of Nick’s loungewear ensembles is the silky white two-piece pajama suit he wears on Christmas Eve when confronted by Joe Morelli in his room.

The thigh-length pajama top has a one-piece camp collar with a small button at the neck that Nick leaves open, with three larger sew-through buttons down the very wide front placket. In addition to the three buttons, the pajama top has a belted waist that ties in the front. In addition to the two patch pockets below the belt, the pajama top has a breast pocket monogrammed with “NC”.

It would seem that a true gentleman has at least one pair of monogrammed pajamas.

The plain pajama bottoms are loose with a straight fit through the legs to the plain-hemmed bottoms. The lightweight material reveals a pair of white boxer shorts worn under the pants.

“What’s that man doing in my drawers?”

This first set of white pajamas is evidently bloodied – and likely ruined – after Nick is shot in the tabloids, and he has changed into a pair of similarly styled bengal-striped cotton pajamas for a lazy Christmas morning with Nora, worn under a heavy brocade-patterned dressing gown.

These pajamas share some consistent styling with the solid white pair, notably the belted, three-button pajama top and the monogrammed breast pocket, although this pajama top seems to have a slightly longer collar and cuffs on the trouser bottoms and at the ends of the long sleeves.

These pajamas also make an appearance during the final scene as Nick and Nora ride back to California on the train.

Nick’s first dressing gown is the heavier of the two he wears in The Thin Man, and it extends down past his knees to nearly his ankles as was common for men’s dressing gowns in the 1930s.

The print is a large, regal diamond-centered brocade pattern that repeats throughout the robe on a medium-colored ground. The robe has wide shawl lapels in a medium tone with little contrast against the rest of the robe (at least in the film’s black-and-white state) and matches the turnback cuffs at the end of each sleeve. The same patterned fabric as the rest of the robe is used for the belted sash, but the top and bottom of the sash are trimmed in the same medium-colored fabric as the collar and cuffs.

Lounging around on a lazy Christmas morning.

Nick wears a pair of open-heel slippers with hard leather soles and light-colored wool uppers that have a dark leather strip at the openings.

Nick takes aim at a rogue Christmas ornament.

At the end of the film on the train to California, as well as in much of The Thin Man‘s promotional photography, Nick wears a different silk robe with a more abstract “zigzag” jacquard pattern and a contrasting dark shawl collar that matches the sash, cuffs, and trim along the top of the breast pocket and hip pockets.

California, here they come.

Contemporary posters and promotional artwork for The Thin Man feature Nick in a long mint green robe with a black shawl collar, likely meant to be this latter garment, but an alternative coloration can be found on some lobby cards from the time of the film’s release that put Nick in a red duo-tone patterned dressing gown.

This 1934 lobby card illustrates Nick and Nora in shades of red and green: traditional Christmas colors that would have been appropriate for the film’s holiday setting.

What to Imbibe

After being awakened by Nora in the middle of the night, Nick Charles had already been planning on a much-needed highball to help him get back to sleep. However, a surprise visit from an armed Joe Morelli and his quick trigger finger meant a slight flesh wound for Nick… and an even greater need for the erstwhile detective’s favorite medicine.

Nick Charles skips counting sheep and goes straight to chemical sleep aids.

Nick: Aw, baby, it’s only a scratch.
Nora: Want a drink?
Nick: What do you think?

Haig & Haig Dimple Pinch blended whisky, the preferred Scotch of Walter White and the literary James Bond, is Nick and Nora’s nightcap of choice, kept in their room with a convenient siphon of soda water, as needed.

Of course, a GSW is no joke so Nick doesn’t bother with the water – or a glass – when he grabs the bottle to speed along his recovery.

The upmarket cousin of Haig’s Gold Label (featured in The Spy Who Came In From the Cold), Dimple was bottled in a distinctive “pinch” receptacle that gave the American variant its name. Both the British “Dimple” and the American “Dimple Pinch” are created from a blend of 15-year-old whiskies, though the latter expression is slightly stronger at 43% ABV (86 proof) than its 40% ABV British cousin.

Unfortunately for any of you witty sleuths out there, Haig discontinued Dimple and Dimple Pinch decades ago, and even the company itself stocks only bottles from the 1940s through the 1960s in its online shop.

William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934). Interestingly, this is actually the set that would be used as Julia Wolf’s apartment in the film.

How to Get the Look

Nick Charles is a snappy dresser even when he has nowhere to be… and a smart selection of pajama suits and dressing gowns is exactly what a debonair gent should be prepared to don for that laidback morning of holiday celebrating… or convalescing.

• Patterned ankle-length dressing gown with belted sash and solid-colored shawl lapels and matching turnback cuffs
• Bengal-striped cotton three-button pajama top with monogrammed breast pocket, patch hip pockets, belted sash, and cuffs
• Bengal-striped cotton pajama pants with turn-ups/cuffs
• Wool open-heel slippers with dark leather strip across the vamp

The Gun

Nick Charles spends most of Christmas morning playing with his gift from Nora, a long-barreled air pistol with a smooth walnut grip.

Supposedly, the scene as written didn’t feature the shots of Nick clowning around with his gift, but the decision was quickly made after the filmmakers were entertained by William Powell’s antics as he picked up an air gun and began sniping away at the ornaments being placed on set by the art department.

Target practice.

This distinctive-looking, spring-operated air gun has been identified by IMFDB as a 1870 Swiss Tell 1 Air Pistol, though available details are scarce anywhere beyond that. The little I have been able to find, thanks to the Blue Book of Gun Values, explains that Oskar Will formed the Venuswaffenwerk manufacturing company in Zella, Germany, in 1844. Venuswaffenwerk manufactured air guns for more than a century, ceasing production in the late 1950s.

The scene displays a very charming side to Nick’s easygoing personality, though Nora’s subtle annoyance at his decor destruction may well have paralleled the sentiments of the art department folks who had worked hard to decorate the Charles’ apartment for the holidays.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the entire film series.

The Quote

Nora: I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids.
Nick: It’s not true. He didn’t come anywhere near my tabloids.