James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 6.12: “Kaisha”)

Vitals

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, New Jersey mob boss

North Caldwell, New Jersey, Christmas 2006

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Kaisha” (Episode 6.12)
Air Date: June 4, 2006
Director: Alan Taylor
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

On #SopranosSunday with Christmas just a few days away, let’s check in with everyone’s favorite mob family for the second and final holiday-set episode of The Sopranos‘ epic run.

I’m a sucker for Christmas scenes, and I always appreciate “holiday adjacent” movies like The Thin Man, Three Days of the Condor, The Godfather, Goodfellas, and—of course—Die Hard that add a certain mysticism by setting some or all of the action at Christmas, a time of wonderment and hope but often not without melancholy. Although we only spend the last five minutes of the episode in the midst of true yule celebrations, “Kaisha” is framed by family holidays, beginning with the bombing of Phil Leotardo’s New York restaurant just before Thanksgiving and continuing over the weeks to follow throughout the holiday season as the all-too-human characters of Soprano-world navigate the stressful spectrum that ranges from loveliness to an abundance of loved ones.

The third season’s “…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power” had leaned more heavily into sprinkling in some broader Christmas humor, whether with the scenes of a mobster in a Santa suit greeting neighborhood kids, Tony and Furio sporting Santa hats as they argue about who was to be the designated driver, or the remix of “The Little Drummer Boy” playing in a strip club as the guys down shots of rum.

As the finale of the penultimate season, “Kaisha” is a more introspective episode that sets up The Sopranos‘ masterful final run through the end of the series, though we do get some delightfully crude Chrimbo commentary from the always reliable Paulie Walnuts, fondly recalling the time that “Heh, I fucked a girl wearin’ a Santa hat once. It was too distracting. I kept losin’ my hard on.”

The Soprano family Christmas celebration takes over the first floor of the McMansion at 633 Stag Trail Road (actually 14 Aspen Drive), drifting from the family room where Bobby’s bored kids flip between A Christmas Carol and Casablanca on Tony’s TV, through the kitchen where the women are preparing the holiday feast, to the living room where Bobby Bacala (Steven R. Schirripa) excitedly recalls his youth when WABC would “track” Santa Claus via Air Force radar.

Despite the promises of peace in the new year after Tony’s heart-to-damaged heart chat with Phil Leotardo, there’s personal tension in the air, notably between Tony and his erstwhile protégé Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) as the latter has begun a clandestine relationship with Julianna Skiff (Julianna Margolis), a sharp real estate agent who had just rejected Tony’s own advances. The personal tensions are only exacerbated when Tony’s youngest, AJ (Robert Iler), arrives with his new girlfriend Blanca (Dania Ramirez) and her young son Hector.

An artificially effusive Carmela (Edie Falco) puts on her usual welcoming smile, but anyone who’s overheard her at a church luncheon knows the other shoe’s about to drop, and she takes the first opportunity alone with Tony to bemoan that “she’s ten years older than him and she’s Puerto Rican,” to which Tony responds, “Dominican… maybe.” Knowing Carmela’s soft spot, he adds, “…’least she’s Catholic.”

In their insightful essay about the episode in The Sopranos Sessions, Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall note that:

This newly responsible version of their son proves to be a monkey’s paw situation to Tony and especially Carmela, who wanted AJ to start taking life seriously, but doesn’t approve of the root cause of the change…

In that way, AJ’s situation isn’t that different from that of Tony’s unofficial other son Christopher, who is also struggling to get better, while being dumped on for the methods he uses along the way. The wiseguys all mock Christopher’s twelve-step activities, which only leaves him more isolated and more inclined to seek the comfort of someone like Julianna, while the more Tony and Carmela look down on Blanca and Hector, the more likely AJ seems to prefer their company to those of his parents.

Aside from Meadow, who phones in her yuletide greetings from California, the holidays bring everyone together and the growing Soprano/DeAngelis/Moltisanti/Baccalieri clan takes their positions on couches and carpet in front of the immaculately decorated tree in the Soprano living room, sitting as silent as the night Frank Sinatra describes on the soundtrack. It’s the last on-screen Christmas that the Soprano family would share and—for at least three heads of household in the room—quite possibly the last Christmas they’d be alive to spend with their families. Blanca breaks the ice by telling Carmela, “You have a gorgeous home,” to which the dutiful homemaker automatically responds with “Thanks,” before truly hearing what was said, observing her surroundings, and acknowledging earnestly: “We do.”

The series gives us this one final moment of peace with the Soprano family, with Meadow conspicuously absent (perhaps foreshadowing her absence in the series’ famous final scene), and the soundtrack fades from Ol’ Blue Eyes to a reprise of “Moonlight Mile”, the appropriately reflective ballad by The Rolling Stones that framed the beginning and end of the episode. While clearly not a Christmas song, this closing track from the Stones’ 1971 masterpiece album Sticky Fingers is worthy of a listen any time of the year, whether you’re indulging in nostalgia for the past, living in the present, or looking ahead to an uncertain future.

What’d He Wear?

“Tell her I kept my promise, I’m wearin’ yer present from Paris,” Tony asks Carmela to inform Meadow during her Christmas call. It’s never made clear whether Carmela—a woman of questionable taste—had meant the black Basque-style beret to be a heartfelt holiday present or a gag gift, but kudos to Tony for embracing the spirit of the season of giving and wearing the hat, if somewhat begrudgingly, for a portion of the family’s holiday celebration.

The news of his rival Phil’s heart attack is the best Christmas gift that Tony could have asked for, and even an uncharacteristic beret can’t dampen his spirits… though his nephew dating the woman who rejected his own advances threatens to curb his yuletide cheer.

Tony wears a fashion-forward dark striped shirt for Christmas dinner, patterned with burgundy and taupe stripes over a dark brown ground, with each “stripe” actually consisting of a thick stripe bordered on each side by a thinner one of the same color. (The unique shirt reminds me of one that I had also acquired in 2006, wearing it to a spring dance when I was a high school junior and again two years later during my grandmother’s annual outing to see The Nutcracker… a yuletide context à la Tony.)

The shirt has a then-trendy two-button spread collar and three buttons on each mitred cuff, a unique touch that suggests a shirtmaker inspired by Turnbull & Asser‘s signature three-button squared barrel cuff, though the mitred corners of Tony’s shirt cuffs add length to the sleeves that are most flatteringly balanced by a larger-framed man like James Gandolfini. The buttons on the collar, cuffs, and up the plain (French) front are all off-white plastic, fastened through white-stitched buttonholes that accentuate the contrast against the rest of the dark shirt.

Tony and Carmela confer on AJ’s new situation.

If the muted burgundy stripes on his shirt are Tony’s “holiday red”, he supplies the complementary green with his olive-colored slacks. He wears these trousers with a dark brown leather belt with a polished steel single-prong buckle, covering the extended waistband tab with its single-button pointed tab.

These double reverse-pleated trousers have slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

The family watches as Hector excitedly runs toward the Christmas tree.

Tony wears a pair of cap-toe oxford shoes in a mid-brown shade of calf leather, similar to what Tony-approved shoemaker Allen Edmonds calls “dark chili” on similar shoes like its Park Avenue Cap-Toe Oxford (also available on Amazon.) Tony’s dark socks appear to be a maroon cotton lisle, a subtle nod to the festive colors associated with the season.

Even for a quiet evening at home, Tony Soprano doesn’t miss an item of his usual complement of gold jewelry including St. Jerome pendant and rings, though the wide coverage of his three-button shirt cuffs all but hides the gold chain-link bracelet on his right wrist. On the opposing wrist, Tony wears his usual Rolex Day-Date “President”, the yellow gold chronometer that had adorned his wrist since the show’s second episode. The Rolex “President” or “Presidential” dates back to the 1950s when a gold Day-Date with this distinctive link bracelet was gifted to Dwight Eisenhower, and it has been associated with several American heads of state in the decades to follow from Tony’s own beau idéal JFK to LBJ.

Tony Soprano wears a ref. 18238 Rolex Day-Date, differentiated from the oft-misidentified 118238 by its polished lugs and heavier bracelet (thank you, BAMF Style reader Chris!) The 18-karat yellow gold watch has a champagne-colored gold dial with a long display for the day of the week across the top and a date window at 3:00.

THE SOPRANOS / KAISHA

If you’re looking for a last-minute gift but aren’t looking to drop the five to ten thousand dollars a used Rolex President would set you back, may I suggest one of these gold-plated steel alternatives from Seiko? The quartz Seiko SGF206 is strapped to a Jubilee-like bracelet while the automatic Seiko SNKK52 has a bracelet that more closely resembles the President while the dial itself is considerably different. As of December 2019, each watch is less than $150.

A bottle of The Glenlivet, 12 Years Old, as it was labeled and sold in the mid-2000s around the time “Kaisha” was produced.

What to Imbibe

When Christopher isn’t hogging “all the ice” for his Coca-Cola, Tony pours himself a dram of 12-year-old Glenlivet single malt Scotch… neat, of course.

Over the course of the series, Tony’s Scotch preference evolves with his status, from bottom-shelf Cutty Sark in the first season when he’s a capo under Uncle Junior, with J&B bridging the gap as he is increasingly seen enjoying Johnnie Walker Black Label, a more exclusive blend, from “Nobody Knows Anything” (Episode 1.11) through the final season of the series. Beginning at the end of the third season, we begin to see more single malts among his office collection and in his glass, specifically 12-year-old Glenfiddich, Macallan, and—of course—Glenlivet.

What to Listen to

Who else? Frank Sinatra provides the backdrop for the last on-screen Soprano family Christmas, beginning with the last of three versions of “The Christmas Waltz” that Ol’ Blue Eyes would record over his prolific career. In her AV Club review of the Mad Men episode “Christmas Waltz”, Emily VanDerWerff nicely summed up the song for The AV Club as “one of those carols that hasn’t been over-recorded but is just familiar enough to be recognizable to just about anybody who hears it” with a “lovely, wistful quality” echoed not only by the Mad Men episode she was reviewing but also the finale of “Kaisha” as The Sopranos closed its penultimate season.

The wintry waltz was conceived on a hot summer day in 1954 when songwriters extraordinaire Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne were contacted with the demand that Sinatra wanted a Christmas song. Sinatra, whose comeback star was explosively rising on the heels of his recent Academy Award win and his string of successful concept albums for Capitol, was not a man to be refused at the time, even when Cahn insisted to Styne that it would be next to impossible to compete with the massive success of “White Christmas”.

Frank took to the studio on August 23, 1954, to record his first version of “The Christmas Waltz”, arranged by Nelson Riddle, which would be released as the B-side to his own rendition of “White Christmas”. Three years later, Gordon Jenkins arranged a new version featuring Sinatra and the Ralph Brewster Singers for Frank’s Christmas album for Capitol, the seminal A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra. (The album’s closing track, “Silent Night”, can also be heard in this episode.)

More than a decade later, it was another warm August day when Frank gathered in the studio to record “The Christmas Waltz”, now joined by the Jimmy Joyce Singers and his three kids—Frank Jr., Nancy, and Tina—all lending their talents to the appropriately titled album The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas that would be released the following year with “The Christmas Waltz” as the penultimate track.

While it may not have the ubiquitous staying power of Bing Crosby’s signature ballad, “The Christmas Waltz” is at least a longtime holiday favorite of mine and often the first song I play to kick off my Christmas season on November 1st (yes, I’m one of those people.)

How to Get the Look

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 6.12: “Kaisha”)

Tony Soprano would never be the sort of man to emblazon himself in a bright red and green on Christmas, though he does nod to holiday colors with the muted burgundy stripe in his shirt and his olive trousers for a stylishly understated and comfortable ensemble that even an ill-informed beret can’t tank.

• Dark brown (with burgundy and taupe alternating stripe sets) shirt with spread collar, 2-button neck, plain front, and 3-button mitred cuffs
• Olive double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark brown leather belt with polished steel squared single-prong buckle
• Brown calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark maroon dress socks
• Black wool Basque-style beret
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Rolex Day-Date “President” 18238 chronometer watch in 18-karat yellow gold with champagne-colored dial and “President” link bracelet
• Gold open-link chain bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with ruby and diamond stones
• Gold wedding ring
• Gold open-link chain necklace with round St. Jerome pendant

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series, and follow my friend @TonySopranoStyle on Instagram!

Looking for the perfect last-minute gift for the mob boss or proud patriarch in your life? Carmela Soprano seems to endorse the black beret, but you don’t need to travel all the way to Europe and the cold stones of Paris… for less than $10, you can get one on Amazon Prime that can be at your doorstep by Christmas Eve!

The Quote

Merry Christmas, baby.

Bing Crosby is joined by an exuberant Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)

Vitals

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace, U.S. Army captain and popular entertainer

European Theater, Christmas Eve 1944

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

Background

Merry Christmas Eve! The prologue of perennial holiday cinema classic White Christmas begins exactly 75 years ago today, Christmas Eve 1944, as the title card tells us…

Private First Class Phil Davis is proudly assisting Captain Bob Wallace, evidently a known entertainer on par with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, or—um—Bing Crosby, as they host a “yuletide clambake” for the men of the fictitious 151st Division, providing the type of entertainment that Davis boasts would cost $6.60 or even $8.80 stateside. The guest of honor, the division’s beloved commanding officer Major General Tom Waverly (Dean Jagger) is late to arrive, but he makes his way up to the stage just in time for the “slam bang finish” after Bing’s sentimental and definitive rendition of the title song, “White Christmas”.

“Crosby sings it to soldiers in the opening World War II sequence, as he had done for real a decade earlier, and the camera pans across the men listening and yearning for home, many with their eyes closed,” wrote Jeremy Arnold in Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season. “The set looks artificial, like a conjured memory impression, showing the point to be not realism but the nostalgia that the song and setting evoke.”

The events of the evening unite Wallace and Davis together for life after the jittery young private saves the crooning captain’s life by pushing him out of harm’s way as a brick wall nearly falls into them during the aerial attack. The next day, on Christmas, Captain Wallace dons a camouflage neckerchief as he visits Phil in the infirmary… and a legendary partnership is born!

In reality, Christmas Eve 1944 was just over a week after the German military launched a surprise offensive that began a month of brutal winter combat which would become immortalized as the “Battle of the Bulge” and would deliver a pyrrhic victory for the Allies as the largest and bloodiest single battle bought by the United States during World War II and the third deadliest campaign in American military history.

What’d He Wear?

Bob and Phil don seasonally festive garb over their fatigues in the form of the red jacket and requisite stocking cap from a makeshift Santa suit, consistent with the enduring Santa Claus image popularized by Thomas Nast at Harper’s Weekly and Haddon Sundblom’s Coca-Cola advertising.

Apropos his in-universe rank and status, Bob sports what appears to be the better of the two garments, a crimson pullover tunic with a shirred horizontal front yoke and a button-up placket that extends from the neck down to the waist, decorated with two large white “buttons” on the front that match the piled fleece-like trim and tassel of his nightcap. While Phil’s red pullover V-neck tunic is unadorned at the shoulders, Bob’s are decorated with two white fuzzy lines on each, perhaps indicating where he’d otherwise be wearing the double-bar insignia of a U.S. Army captain if he was sporting his service uniform.

PFC Davis and Captain Wallace kick off a decade-long partnership by entertaining the troops on Christmas Eve. While Bob may have the better costume, Phil deserves a few points for going the extra mile by piling white fur trim into the tops of his combat boots. Both performers also strap their ammo belts over their respective Santa suits.

At the conclusion of the instrumental dance number that opens the film, the performers ditch the Santa outfits worn over their combat uniforms and Bob takes center stage in his field jacket, jeep cap, and the ammo belt that been fastened over the waist of his Santa suit.

Captain Wallace wears a standard issue M-1943 field jacket in olive drab, the U.S. Army’s designation for the dull shade of green used for combat fatigues from World War II through the 1980s. At the outset of the war, GI fatigues were made from olive drab #3 (OD3) cloth until olive drab #7 (OD7) was introduced in 1944. The field jacket remains one of the most recognizable aspects of the iconic M-1943 uniform pattern, also referred to as the M1943 or M43, the Army’s attempt at a standardized combat uniform that could serve all functional areas in all climates by constructing its pieces from a light-wearing but wind-resistant cotton sateen cloth.

The length of the jacket was extended from the M-1941 field jacket onto the thighs, with the earlier garment’s single slash pocket on each side replaced by four reinforced bellows pockets, each covered with a pointed flap that closes through a hidden button. There are two pockets stacked on each side with one above and one below the cinched waist, adjusted by an inside drawcord. The field jacket has a convertible revere collar that can be buttoned to the neck or worn open at the neck and laid flat like the lapels of a suit jacket or sports coat. Below the neck, the jacket fastens with six drab plastic sew-through buttons covered by a front fly. The jacket also has epaulettes (shoulder straps) and the set-in sleeves are finished with button cuffs that can be closed on one of two buttons.

Due in part to their practicality, field jackets have transcended their military origins to become popular among civilians, with both the M-1943 and the more current M-1965 in frequent demand. Countless designers, fashion houses, and retailers have crafted their own approach to this venerable military outerwear, but the best-wearing examples prove to be original mil-spec or surplus jackets followed by relatively accurate reproductions such as these M43 jackets offered by Amazon, At the Front., and WWII Impressions.

♫ I’m dreaming of a field jacket / Just like the ones troops used to wear… ♫

Buttoned to the neck under his field jacket, Bob wears the olive brown woolen flannel service shirt in the M-1937 pattern. The M37 field shirt was designed with a structured convertible collar that could be worn open at the neck sans tie or buttoned up and worn with a tie. Given the informality of the context, Bob would have no need for a tie but buttons his shirt all the way to the neck likely for warmth. Pinned to his right collar leaf, he wears the twin silver bars denoting his rank of Captain, while the left collar leaf is adorned with the golden crossed rifles indicating his branch of service in the infantry.

Bob never removes his jacket to show more of the shirt, but we can assume that it has the two flapped patch pockets on the chest and button cuffs that were standard across the M37 shirts. At the Front offers several reproductions including the WWII M37 Wool Shirt, the cotton US Flannel Shirt, and the WWII US Army Officer Wool Shirt (and the cotton alternative US Officer Flannel Shirt), both of the latter with epaulettes added.

The skirt of Bob’s field jacket covers much of the identifying details of his trousers, but we can be relatively sure that he’s not wearing the same herringbone twill (HBT) combat pants as PFC Davis wears, as Bob’s trousers lack the telltale bellows pockets on each thigh that are seen on Phil’s OD7 pants. Bob likely wears the cotton field trousers that were introduced with the M-1943 uniform which, unlike the HBT pants, have side pockets and welted back pockets. In addition to the belt loops for officers like Bob to wear their standard-issue khaki cotton web belts with gold-finished buckles (differentiated from blackened metal enlisted belts), the M-1943 field trousers had adjustable tabs on each side to cinch the fit around the waist by fastening the short tab to one of two buttons. (As with many other items in Bob’s uniform, you can read more about these pants and order a pair for yourself at At the Front or WWII Impressions.)

Bob wears well-shined russet brown leather derby-laced shoes, likely the “low quarter” service shoes that officers typically wore with service or dress uniforms. They are perhaps too formal to accompany the field jacket and jeep cap, a combination that would call for service boots like the rubber-soled cordovan Type II ankle boots that were introduced shortly before the U.S. entered World War II, replacing the earlier leather-soled versions. 1944 was the year that the Army authorized replacing the Type II Service Shoes with “roughout” reverse upper shoes and boots as Phil appears to be wearing, but Bob sticks with the earlier polished grain service shoes that lend him a nattier stage presence for his Christmas Eve clambake.

For the most part, Bob seems to be wearing these shoes with the issued olive drab socks… but one quick glimpse—a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment—shows a flash of red between the bottoms of his trousers and the low tops of his shoes as Phil saves his life from the falling wall, suggesting that Bing Crosby was already wearing the colorful hosiery that Bob Wallace would so proudly wear during his civilian life a decade later.

In addition to the bright red socks, Bob appears to now be wearing burgundy calf oxfords rather than the derby-laced service shoes of the previous scene.

Despite their gap in ranks, both Captain Wallace and PFC Davis wear ribbed knit “Jeep caps” for their Christmas Eve show. Officially designated the “Cap, wool knit, M1941”, these brown caps—officially made from olive drab #3 (OD3) wool—were introduced by the U.S. Army in February 1942 and meant to be an intermediate layer that provided padding underneath heavy “steel pot” helmets with a six-stitch “starfish pattern” atop the hats to coordinate with the webbed helmet linings.

Jeep caps became popular headgear on their own as soldiers would sport them without their helmets (think “Radar” on M*A*S*H), much to the particular consternation of General George S. Patton. Patton, who was borderline obsessive about his and his subordinates’ appearance in uniforms, so despised the unpolished look of jeep caps that he would personally remove them from the heads of soldiers and imposed fines on their wearers. The punctilious general must have been considerably relieved when the jeep cap was phased out of service in favor of the more structured field cap that was issued with the M-1943 uniform.

Davis and Wallace can be grateful that the fictional General Waverly was considerably more accepting of jeep caps than the very real General Patton.

First over their Santa jackets and then over their field jackets, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis wear the wide web cotton M-1936 pistol belt with three rows of grommets equally spaced around the belt with a brass hook closure in the front. While Phil appears to be wearing the khaki version, Bob’s duller-colored pistol belt is likely the olive drab #3 with its gunmetal-finished hardware that started to appear around 1943, according to At the Front. Neither man actually wears a pistol holstered on the belt, instead they wear the two standard flapped canvas pouches. On the right front side of Bob’s belt, he wears a long olive drab M-1924 first aid pouch with “U.S.” stamped in black (though this is worn in the center of his back when strapped over his Santa jacket); directly to the left of the front buckle, he wears a double pouch ostensibly to carry two magazines for his unseen M1911A1 pistol.

Luckily for Wallace and Davis, they grab their M1 helmets just as they wrap up the performance with the rousing “Old Man” number, and they thus have their helmets in hand when the enemy shelling at the conclusion of the song sends everyone strapping on their helmets and running for cover. Both men wear their helmets over the jeep caps, fulfilling the intended purpose of the latter. Bob has his rank insignia painted in white on the front of the olive drab steel helmet.

Wallace and Davis’ helmets undoubtedly prevented them from getting even more wounded after the famous falling wall incident that indebted Bob to Phil for life.

The next day, Captain Wallace visits the infirmary to check on Davis after the private saved his life. He wears essentially the same attire, his field jacket still scuffed from the previous day, but sports his garrison cap (also known as a “side cap” or “field service cap” to the English) with the twin silver bars for his rank of Captain affixed to the left side. The cap is made from the same dark olive drab wool serge as Army service uniforms of the era that have a brown cast.

The most notable addition to Bob’s wardrobe, and one that has not gone unnoticed by the White Christmas-watching Twitterverse (as first called out by @ElisaBecze in 2011 and again mentioned by @DanSchkade last November), is the silk scarf that Bing wears tied around his neck like a day cravat, patterned in a multi-green camouflage. While almost certainly not a standard issue part of the M-1943 uniform, Bing’s camo silk scarf was mentioned as one of the reasons “why White Christmas is awesome” in the Life of Ando blog, published just a few days before Christmas 2009, and—as of December 2019—there’s an entire Twitter account (otherwise unrelated to the movie or actor) called Bing Crosby’s Camo Ascot.

Bob reviews the duet that Phil intends for them to perform together.

The long sleeves of Bob’s field jacket fully cover his wrists throughout these scenes, so we can’t tell if he’s wearing the same gold wristwatch on a curved brown tooled leather strap that Bing would wear throughout White Christmas as well as some of his other movies throughout the period.

Bing Crosby as Captain Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

Captain Wallace’s Festive Fatigues

Combined with the green of his combat uniform, Bob’s red Santa suit jacket and stocking cap makes the outfit both festive and seasonally appropriate for his Christmas Eve revue!

• Olive drab (OD7) cotton M-1943 field jacket with 6-button covered-fly front, four bellows pockets with covered-button pointed flaps, cinched waist with inside drawcord, and adjustable button cuffs
• Brown wool flannel M-1937 uniform shirt with convertible collar, front placket, two button-down flapped chest patch pockets, and button cuffs
  • Silver double-bar Captain (O-3) collar device pinned to right collar
  • Golden crossed rifles infantry insignia pinned to left collar
• Olive drab (OD7) cotton flat front M-1943 field trousers with belt loops and adjustable button tabs, side pockets, welted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Khaki (OD9) M-1937 cotton web trouser belt with brass knurled-bar buckle
• Olive drab M-1936 cotton web pistol belt with brass hook-and-closure, carrying:
  • Olive drab canvas M-1924 first aid pouch
  • Khaki canvas double magazine pouch (“Pocket, Magazine, Web, M-1923”) for two M1911 magazines, worn on left side
• Brown ribbed knit wool M-1941 “Jeep cap”
• Dark cordovan brown leather cap-toe derby-laced ankle boots (“Service Shoes, Type II”)
• Olive drab wool socks
• Green camouflage silk scarf

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and I hope that all who celebrate have a very Merry Christmas!

The Quote

Okay, dynamite, we’ll give it a whirl, huh?

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Vitals

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster, resentful profligate heir and 82nd Airborne veteran

Las Vegas, New Year’s Eve 1959

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: August 10, 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

“I made a cardinal rule never to answer the telephone during the month of December,” the urbane Jimmy Foster tells a masseuse deep at work in fixing his back in a Phoenix hotel suite he shares with his wartime pal. “One December, every time I picked up the phone, they’d send me out in the snow to play with my little friends,” he elaborates. “That was at the Bulge.”

Arguably the most famous film featuring the infamous Rat Pack, Ocean’s Eleven starred Frank Sinatra and his celebrated pallies Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford among a group of eleven veterans from the 82nd Airborne who gather in Las Vegas after Christmas “to liberate millions of dollars” from five major casinos as Sin City rings in the new year.

Santa Claus takes Jimmy Foster to task for his holiday crimes.

Lawford had first heard the idea for the plot from director Gilbert Kay, in turn relaying a story he hard heard from a gas station attendant. The actor then bought the rights to what would become Ocean’s Eleven in 1958, originally envisioning William Holden for the lead, until he shared the story with his new pal Frank Sinatra who would take the leading role of Danny Ocean. The Vegas setting was ideal for Sinatra and his cronies, allowing them to work in the early morning, sleep into the afternoon, perform one or two shows each evening at their respective casinos, then show up on set again ready to work until sunrise.

What’d He Wear?

While Peter Lawford hasn’t achieved the immortal fame of his talented fellow Rat Packers like Frank, Dean, and Sammy, the London-born actor was a stylish fashion plate who showcased a fine sense of dress both on and off screen. Unlike the principals in Ocean’s Eleven, Lawford’s Jimmy Foster rarely wears a suit or odd jacket more than once, the sole exception being a dark gray business suit with a single-breasted, notch-lapel jacket that he wears both in Phoenix and while reconnoitering the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

For the night of the heist itself, Lawford wears arguably the dressiest suit from Jimmy Foster’s wardrobe, a dark navy blue lounge suit with a single-breasted, peak-lapel jacket, likely tailored for Lawford by the Rat Pack’s usual tailor Sy Devore, though Lawford was also a Chipp customer around the same time. Al Castiel III reported for Town & Country in 2017 that Chipp was responsible for Lawford’s clothes on the NBC series The Thin Man, which aired its final episode in June 1959, six months before the release of Never So Few (1959) firmly established Lawford as a member of the Rat Pack.

Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford sport dark lounge suits edged out in formality only by the dinner suit, though Dean Martin dresses down his famous tux by wearing it with one of his usual button-down collar shirts.

Lawford’s single-breasted suit jacket is one of two that he wears rigged with peak lapels in Ocean’s Eleven, reviving a style that emerged in popularity during the roaring ’20s into the 1930s “golden age of menswear”. Per the trending taste of 1960, Lawford’s lapels are of a moderate width, styled with a straight gorge and a collar almost as wide as the lower section of the lapel. The lapels roll to a low two-button stance. A lavender paisley silk pocket square dresses the welted breast pocket of the jacket, which also boasts straight flapped hip pockets, spaced two-button cuffs, and a single vent.

His white cotton shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with a set of flat gold rectangular links.

Danny and Jimmy spot something awry after a nearly perfect caper.

Lawford wears a sleek slate gray satin silk “skinny” tie, arranged with a half-Windsor knot filling the tie space.

The medium rise of Lawford’s trousers is complimented by the lower button stance of his jacket, lengthening the actor’s torso to create more of a laidback “lounge lizard” effect. The double forward-pleated trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. As we see during Jimmy’s massage during the opening scene, the trousers have buckle-tab side adjusters on the waistband and side pockets, though no back pockets.

When we meet Jimmy lounging under a masseuse’s hardworking hands in a Phoenix hotel suite, he appears to be wearing the same trousers that are part of this stylish suit.

While Jimmy wears a pair of comfortable tan ribbed socks when relaxing in his hotel suite for his massage, he appears to wear black socks when out in Vegas for New Year’s Eve, more tonally appropriate with the full suit and his well-shined black leather oxfords.

Classic Vegas cool.

Jimmy’s jewelry includes a gold necklace worn on a thin gold chain and a gold ring on his left pinkie, an affectation shared by fellow Rat Packers Frank and Dean. Peter Lawford wears two different wristwatches in Ocean’s Eleven, the first being a slim all-gold wristwatch with a round case, champagne gold dial, and a black leather strap.

Later, Jimmy spends his nights in Las Vegas wearing a gold tank watch with a white square dial, also worn on his left wrist via black leather strap.

Jimmy Foster’s tank watch is best seen as he’s emptying the safe at the Flamingo on New Year’s Eve.

The maker of this latter watch isn’t easily discerned by what’s seen on screen, though Lawford’s third wife Deborah Gould recalled that, upon first meeting their actor three weeks before their July 1976 wedding, he commented to her that “You can’t be all that bad. You’re dressed in black, you have a gold Quaalude, and you have a Cartier tank watch.”

What to Imbibe

While the interesting-sounding drink unfortunately never featured on screen in Ocean’s Eleven, some Googling informs us that Peter Lawford supposedly enjoyed the Preview cocktail in real life, talking several Vegas bartenders through the process of making them.

According to Cocktailians and Chuck Taggart at Gumbo Pages, begin by swirling a quarter teaspoon of pastis—preferably Ricard though Pernod and Herbsaint are also acceptable—around the inside of a chilled cocktail glass to coat it, then pouring out the excess. Next, shake 1.5 ounces of gin and an ounce of Cointreau with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and, once chilled, strain it into the pastis-coated and still-chilled cocktail glass with “a long, curly twist of orange peel” to garnish.

A serious-looking Jimmy Foster appears to be drinking a highball. One can only imagine the fun he’d be having if there was a Preview cocktail before him instead!

How to Get the Look

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Peter Lawford’s dark blue lounge suit, just a shade lighter than midnight blue, is a tasteful alternative to a dinner suit, particularly when appointed for evening wear with a white shirt and a solid yet subdued tie. In an era where even the most well-made tuxedo often looks out of place, an evening-friendly suit like this can’t fail for a New Year’s Eve celebration.

• Midnight blue tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with buckle-tab side adjusters, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold flat rectangular cuff links
• Dark slate gray satin silk tie
• Black leather cap-toe oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Thin gold necklace
• Gold pinky ring
• Gold wristwatch on black leather strap
• Lavender paisley silk pocket square

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and also look into picking up Lawford’s personal copy of the script!

William Holden as LT Harry Brubaker in The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

Vitals

William Holden as LT Harry Brubaker, bitter U.S. Navy Reserve aviator

Off the Korean coast, November 1952

Film: The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Release Date: December 1954
Director: Mark Robson
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Mid-century flight must be my subconscious theme heading into the new year given my last few posts about Frank Sinatra’s jet-setting style and then Sean Connery’s charcoal traveling suit in Goldfinger. Let’s at least move forward from the fuselage to the cockpit where William Holden sits at the controls of his Grumman F9F-2 Panther in The Bridges at Toko-Ri as military aviator LT Harry Brubaker, flying for the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

January 1911 was a landmark month for the U.S. Navy’s fledgling aviation program. On January 27, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss flew the first seaplane from the water at San Diego Bay and, the next day, Curtiss’ student LT Theodore G. Ellyson became “Naval Aviator No. 1” when he took off in a Curtiss “grass cutter” plane.

More than 40 years after these pioneering flights, this heritage of naval aviation was featured front and center in The Bridges at Toko-Ri, produced in close cooperation with the U.S. Navy. Well-received by critics and audiences alike, the film was awarded the Academy Award for Best Special Effects given its impressive aerial sequences and battle scenes, some effectively intercut with actual combat footage. The experience must have been particularly personal for William Holden, not only due to his own wartime service for the U.S. Army Air Forces but also because his younger brother, Robert W. “Bobbie” Beedle, was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in January 1944. It may have been this personal connection to naval aviation that led to Holden’s insistence that, were he to appear in the film, it would retain the downbeat ending of James Michener’s source novel without adding a “Hollywood” happy ending.

Holden stars as LT Harry Brubaker, a civilian attorney and Naval Reserve aviator called to return to active duty during the Korean War, flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther (replacing the McConnell F2H Banshee fighter-bombers flown by Brubaker’s squadron in Michener’s novel.) The Panther was one of the Navy’s first successful carrier-based jet fighters with nearly 1,400 produced between the aircraft’s first flight in November 1947 and their withdrawal from front-line service in 1956. In a display of his dedication to portraying the role realistically, Holden reportedly learned how to taxi a fighter on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The Grumman F9F Panther received plenty of screen time in The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

We catch up with the reservist during the opening scene at sea when LT Brubaker is forced to ditch his battle-damaged Panther in the water and escape to be recovered by Chief Petty Officer Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney) and Airman Nestor Gamidge (Earl Holliman) of Task Force 77, the main battle group of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet. The incident has Brubaker questioning his life, wondering why he allowed himself to be pulled back into service once he had settled down after World War II, establishing a law practice and beginning a family with his wife, Nancy (Grace Kelly). Despite Rear Admiral Tarrant (Frederic March) offering Brubaker the avuncular admonishment that “war is no place for women,” Brubaker arranges for his wife and children to meet him in Japan, where his ship delivers him three days later for a week of liberty with his family.

When Brubaker’s ship departs, he leaves his family behind and is forced to face the reality of the dangerous mission ahead of him: bombing the heavily defended bridges at Toko-Ri in North Korea.

What’d He Wear?

The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a visual treat for fans of classic naval aircraft and the iconic leather flight jackets that have dressed American pilots for nearly a century.

William Holden as LT Harry Brubaker in The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

Leather flight jackets trace their origins back to the early days of American aviation during World War I when military pilots began wearing heavy-duty leather jackets with high necks, wind flaps, and fur trim to keep them warm while seated in the often unenclosed cockpits of early aircraft. The practice was standardized with the formation of the Aviation Clothing Board in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered the war, kickstarting an era of flight jacket optimization that led to the development of some of the most iconic and enduring men’s outerwear. American stuntman and parachute pioneer Leslie Irvin introduced the sheepskin “Irvin flying jacket” that would dress the Royal Air Force for decades to follow, while the U.S. Army Air Forces introduced its own A-1 flight jacket with a knit collar and cuffs, button-flapped pockets, and a button-up front. In 1931, it was succeeded by the famous A-2 jacket with its shirt-style collar, zip front, epaulets, and snap-flapped pockets.

Throughout the 1930s, naval aviators had increasingly worn fur-collared leather jackets that the U.S. Navy would designate as the M-422 in 1940 (re-designated the M-422A the following year with the addition of a pencil slot to the left pocket), essentially a precursor to the cowhide G-1 that would be introduced in 1947 and immortalized four decades later by Tom Cruise in Top Gun. General Henry “Hap” Arnold was so impressed with the Navy’s jacket that he ordered production of the A-2 discontinued in 1943 and issued a slightly trimmer version of the M-422A to U.S. Army Air Forces officers, redesignated the AN-J-3 (Army Navy Jacket 3).

You can read more about the differences between the M422-A, G-1, and AN-J-3 in this forum at Vintage Leather Jackets.

Although the G-1 was a newer jacket at the time of the Korean War, the more expert eyes in another forum at Vintage Leather Jackets have identified LT Brubaker’s blouson as the older M-422A, possibly retained from his previous wartime service and pressed back into action when he returned to active duty.

Constructed from tough pebbled goatskin in dark brown, the M-422A is detailed with a dark mouton fur collar with a throat closure latch, “action back” shoulder pleats and a half-belted back, and knitted cuffs and hem. Button-up flight jackets were already antiquated by the time that the M-422A was developed and standardized, so the jacket closes with a brass Talon zipper reinforced with a half tab behind it. The jacket retains the patch hip pockets found on other flight jackets, mitred in the lower corners and closed with scalloped single-button flaps. Aero Leathers currently makes M422-A jackets based on the original specifications.

LT Brubaker gathers his thoughts on the bow of USS Oriskany, the carrier depicted on his right sleeve patch.

LT Brubaker is attached to the real-life Fighter Squadron 192 “Golden Dragons” (now VFA-192) aboard USS Oriskany, both represented by patches on his M422-A flight jacket. Activated in March 1945, VF-192 was indeed deployed in Korea from March to November 1952 (though aboard USS Princeton rather than Oriskany), flying Vought F4U Corsair fighters though some F9F-2 Panthers had filtered through the squadron the previous year.

The USS Oriskany patch, a large yellow-bordered circle that depicts the Essex-class carrier at sea, is worn on his upper right arm. On the right side of his chest, Brubaker wears the distinctive “Golden Dragons” patch. Reproductions of both the Oriskany and the “Golden Dragons” patches are available from Gibson & Barnes.

Each aviator’s issued flight jacket has a russet leather name tag on the left breast, bordered in gold with the gold aviator wings printed above each officer’s name, rank, and branch. In LT Brubaker’s case, his name tag reads:

HARRY BRUBAKER
LT                 USNR

On his upper left arm, LT Brubaker wears the shield-shaped patch of Carrier Air Group 19, originally commissioned in August 1943 during World War II. As with his other patches, a reproduction of this too is available from Gibson & Barnes.

CDR Wayne Lee (Charles McGraw) joins LT Brubaker in his own flight jacket with a mouton fur collar, though Lee only wears the Carrier Air Group 19 patch (as seen here on Brubaker’s left sleeve).

The rest of LT Brubaker’s uniform that he wears with his flight jacket adheres to the Aviation Winter Working Uniform regulations, casually known as “Aviation Greens”. (You can read more about the history of this U.S. Navy dress code at United States Military Uniforms of World War II, Naval History and Heritage Command, and the U.S. Naval Institute’s Naval History Blog.)

During the early days of naval aviation before World War I, American fliers borrowed items from Marine Corps uniforms and adapted them for more sky-friendly apparel than the blues and whites their Navy brethren wore at sea. Starting in the fall of 1917 with the expansions of the Navy’s air arm, the Marines’ forestry green tunic and trousers were briefly authorized as a winter uniform until 1922 when it was discontinued in favor of all U.S. Navy service members dressed in the same manner, regardless of their roles. The decision was reversed only three years later when the aviation greens were again authorized, this time as a winter working uniform based on the existing khaki summer uniform, remaining in service for nearly a century until the unpopular decision to discontinue aviation greens in the late 2000s.

Brubaker wears the khaki-colored wool shirt authorized as part of the winter service working uniform, detailed with a large point collar, front placket, button cuffs, and two patch pockets on the chest that each close with a single-button flap. Above the left pocket, he wears the gold winged foul anchor badge of a U.S. Naval Aviator.

In the years leading up to World War II, naval aviators increasingly favored their leather flight jackets over the official forestry green uniform coat. However, the officers’ rank insignia were only presented on the coat sleeves and shirt shoulder boards, which would remain covered by flight jackets. So that a wearer’s rank could be easily discerned, the Navy did away with the stiff shirt shoulder boards and authorized shirt collar devices. Brubaker’s rank of lieutenant carries the U.S. pay grade of O-3, consistent with the captain rank in the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps; thus, LT Brubaker’s collar insignia is the same twin silver bars worn to signify those ranks.

LT Brubaker occasionally wears his regulation black necktie, likely made of wool or a synthetic blend, though the fact that he wears his flight jacket rather than the green uniform tunic matching his trousers makes the tie less necessary to complete his working uniform. It may be the same black necktie that Harry also wears with his blue service dress uniform.

LT Brubaker adds a dash of formality by wearing his black tie for the pre-raid briefing.

LT Brubaker wears a pair of flat front trousers that appear on screen to be a taupe brown but are likely the “forestry green” wool elastique fabric used to construct the popular Aviation Winter Working Uniform described throughout this post. Correctly worn with a khaki web belt, these trousers have belt loops around the waist with double sets of loops in the front. The side pockets are gently slanted, and the left of the two jetted back pockets buttons through a loop tab. The bottoms are plain-hemmed.

While U.S. Navy surface officers had long been wearing black leather shoes, in part to hide the soot that accumulates aboard ship, naval aviators have a long tradition of differentiating themselves with brown shoes. This practice originated during the pre-World War I era as fliers sought footwear less prone to revealing dust picked up from the airfields and was made official on November 13, 1913, when the Navy Bureau officially approved brown shoes with brown high-top leggings as part of the aviation officer’s uniform for the next six decades. As with other popular parts of naval dress over the 20th century, the brown shoes were briefly discontinued only to be revived with considerable fanfare. (You can read more about the naval air arm’s brown shoes at The Brown Shoes Project, an initiative dedicated to telling the stories of American naval aviators across the mid-century era from the Korean War and Vietnam through the latter years of the Cold War.)

LT Brubaker thus wears russet brown leather derbies which appear to have five lace eyelets and a plain toe. He wears tan cotton lisle socks, one of the two prescribed colors with this uniform code alongside a darker brown.

Two different caps were prescribed with the Aviation Winter Working Uniform, a peaked officer’s cap with a forestry green cloth cover and the optional soft garrison cap prescribed for overseas assignments that was authorized for private purchase. Also known as a side cap, flight cap (appropriately enough), or field service cap (in the UK, the folding garrison cap first dressed the heads of American service members when it was issued to Army “doughboys” and Marines fighting in France during World War I. It wasn’t until a quarter-century later, during World War II, that the Navy followed suit, first authorizing the garrison cap for aviators before expanding to all officers and chief petty officers. You can read much more about WWII garrison caps worn by U.S. Navy service members here.

Apropos the rest of his uniform, LT Brubaker wears a garrison cap in forestry green wool elastique. His O-3 silver bars are pinned to the right side of the front, overlapping the “envelope” flap. Officers and chiefs were prescribed to wear service insignia on the left side; for officers, a miniature version of the shield insignia found on the front of the peaked caps and, for chiefs, a smaller version of the gold fouled anchor with “U.S.N.” in silver. Aviators wore a smaller version of the gold wings badge, though Brubaker seems to be wearing the standard officers’ shield insignia despite wearing an “aviation green” cap.

LT Brubaker keeps his jewelry minimal and essential, wearing only a square-cased gold watch on a gold bracelet on his left wrist as well as his gold wedding band.

For his aerial missions, LT Brubaker wears a green nylon flight suit with a yellow Mark 2 survival vest, brown roughout combat boots, black gloves, and brown leather shoulder holster like those issued to Navy flight crews at the time.

The Mark 2 pneumatic life vest is made of rubberized fabric with rubber air bladders and plenty of pouches and pockets. Strapped to the right side of his chest is a CO2 gas canister while the left side is populated with his brown leather knife scabbard, black rubber inflation tube, and black whistle. You can view a yellow Mark 2 life vest similar to Holden’s screen-worn garment at the Air & Space Museum site.

To read more about flight equipment worn by U.S. Naval Aviators during this era, click here.

Also of note…

While not worn by William Holden as LT Brubaker, a natty pair of chocolate brown suede two-eyelet chukka boots appear in The Bridges at Toko-Ri, worn by one of the unnamed seamen who helps secure Brubaker into the cockpit of his Panther before he takes off on his final mission.

The Gun

“Gun?” asks Commander Wayne Lee, upon realizing that Harry will need to ditch his plane. “I’ve got one…not that I’ve ever used it,” admits Harry. As the Grumman F9F-2 Panther grinds to a crash landing in the Korean countryside, Harry leaps from the smoldering plane with his revolver in hand, evidently pulled from the brown leather shoulder holster issued to U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation personnel for just this purpose.

The revolver appears to be a Smith & Wesson “Military & Police”, the .38 Special revolver that would soon be designated the Model 10 when Smith & Wesson began numbering its revolvers later in the 1950s.

In a patriotic show of support, Smith & Wesson redesignated these .38 Hand Ejectors during World War II as the “Victory Model”, and Military & Police revolvers manufactured from 1942 through 1944 had serial numbers that began with a “V” prefix. Aside from a few early examples, the Victory Model was finished in a “sandblasted” matte blue steel with smooth walnut stocks. The Victory Model was otherwise similar to the Military & Police/Model 10 with its traditional double/single action mechanism and six-shot cylinder.

More than half a million Smith & Wesson Victory Models chambered in the British .38/200 caliber were shipped to allies like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa via the Lend-Lease program, though the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps issued more than 350,000 .38 Special Victory Models to its own air crews as their standard issue sidearms.

At the time, the John Browning-designed M1911 and M1911A1 semi-automatic pistols had been serving as the official service sidearm across all U.S. military branches for decades, and the increasingly antiquated revolvers were gradually phased out. By the time the Beretta M9 pistol was fully integrated during the 1990s, only a few Victory Models remained in service, fielded by the occasional USN security personnel.

Though Brubaker’s revolver is almost definitely a Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector, it’s likely the civilian and law enforcement “Military & Police” (Model 10) rather than the “Victory Model” produced during WWII for the U.S. Navy among other military forces.

After CPO Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney) has his helicopter shot down during an attempt to rescue the trapped Brubaker, he joins Harry in the ditch and arms them each with an M1 Carbine he grabbed from the downed Sikorsky.

“You know how to fire a carbine, sir?” Forney asks. “Just release the safety there and squeeze the trigger, it fires automatically.” Brubaker responds: “I’m a lawyer from Denver, Colorado, Mike. I probably can’t hit a thing.”

Brubaker and Forney take cover, M1 carbines in hand.

Despite Brubaker’s hesitations, Forney is correct that the lightweight M1 carbine would have been relatively simple to use. Following the adoption of the full-length M1 Garand as the U.S. military’s standard service rifle in the 1930s, the need for a lighter carbine arose to equip support troops, sending American arms manufacturers scrambling to compete to develop a weapon before the inevitable war to follow. Winchester emerged as leader of the pack, seeking to integrate the innovative short-stroke gas piston system developed by their latest hire, David Marshall Williams.

A North Carolina bootlegger and convicted killer, Williams had recently completed a prison sentence for the murder of Alfred Jackson Pike, a 63-year-old deputy sheriff who had been part of a raid on one of Williams’ stills. Williams’ mechanical abilities hadn’t gone unnoticed while in stir and, shockingly, the man who would be known as “Carbine” Williams (thanks to a 1952 film of the same name starring Jimmy Stewart) began wiling away his remaining sentence by designing semi-automatic firearms, including four different rifles that he built… while in prison!

Having already impressed Colt Manufacturing Company, Remington Arms, and the U.S. War Department in the decade since his release, Williams was swiftly hired by Winchester on the advice of Major General Julian Hatcher of the U.S. Ordnance Department. The mercurial ex-convict was dismayed at the quick pace at which Winchester worked, but the rifle that would be eventually be designated United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1 was ready for submission and quickly adopted into service by the fall of 1941, just months before the United States officially entered World War II after the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

The proprietary .30 Carbine round, essentially a rimless .32 Winchester Self-Loading cartridge, was developed specifically for the M1 carbine and was loaded from 15-round box magazines. Less powerful than the M1 Garand’s .30-06 Springfield round but more powerful than the Thompson’s .45 ACP round, the .30 Carbine proved to be an effective intermediate weapon, practical for combat within 100 to 200 yards, though troops specifically engaged in the Pacific theater complained of the weapon’s relatively decreased stopping power.

With more than six million manufactured, the cost-effective M1 carbine was the most produced small arm for the U.S. military during World War II, surpassing the 5.4 million M1 rifles and 1.3 million “Tommy guns” produced. In addition to Winchester, manufacturers ranged from General Motors’ Inland division and IBM to the Underwood typewriter company.

Though the M2 carbine was more commonly fielded during the Korean War, Brubaker and Forney use M1 carbines during their last stand.

In response to the automatic weapons fielded by enemy troops, particularly the German Sturmgewehr 44 rifle, the U.S. Ordnance Department returned to their original vision for a selective-fire carbine and introduced the new M2 carbine as well as 30-round magazines. The M2 carbine was late to World War II, first issued to American troops in April 1945, but it had generally replaced the submachine gun in U.S. service by the time of the Korean War.

In Korea, the M2 carbine received a lesser reception than its predecessor, with troops reporting that the carbine was prone to jamming in cold weather, hardly accurate at greater than 50 yards, and that the automatic fire was difficult to control. Still, the lightweight weapon with its high-capacity magazine was satisfactory for night patrols, and the M1 and M2 carbines remained in increasingly limited service throughout the Vietnam War.

William Holden as LT Harry Brubaker in The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

LT Brubaker’s Flight Jacket Working Uniform

Before there was Maverick, there was Brubaker… though William Holden’s ace Navy pilot in The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a little more by-the-book, sporting the iconic flight jacket per regulations over his khaki shirt, black tie, and “aviation green” trousers.

• Dark brown pebbled goatskin leather M-422A flight jacket with mouton fur collar, zip front, patch hip pockets with scalloped single-button flaps, knit cuffs and hem, and bi-swing “action back” with half-belted back
• Khaki wool service uniform shirt with point collar, front placket, two chest pockets (with single-button flaps), and button cuffs
  • O-3 (LT) double silver bar collar devices
• Black wool necktie
• Forestry green winter service working uniform flat front wool elastique trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Khaki cotton web belt with brass knurled-bar box buckle
• Russet brown leather plain-toe 5-eyelet “low quarter” derby shoes
• Tan cotton lisle socks
• Forestry green wool elastique garrison cap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Wrong war in the wrong place, and that’s the one you’re stuck with.

Jason Statham as Nick Wild in Wild Card (2015)

Vitals

Jason Statham as Nick Wild, bodyguard-for-hire

Las Vegas, Christmas 2013

Film: Wild Card
Release Date: January 14, 2015
Director: Simon West
Costume Designer: Lizz Wolf

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following a request I received via my Instagram account last November, today’s post explores the Jason Statham action thriller Wild Card, coincidentally released five years ago today. The movie was a remake of the 1986 movie Heat starring Burt Reynolds and adapted by William Goldman from his own novel, not to be confused with Michael Mann’s heist epic released nine years later.

Despite Wild Card‘s less than stellar reviews and box office returns, it was an interesting experience, watching a familiar and eclectic cast through a movie that took a surprisingly understated approach for an era where action movies tend to rely on excessive CGI and explosive value, weaving through various genres and plot directions with our taciturn protagonist. Wild Card also inverts the expectations of its Sin City setting, eschewing the flashy and famous Strip in favor of the seedier downtown Las Vegas where our nearly over-the-hill tough guy would no doubt feel more at home. A movie set in Mafia-controlled Las Vegas is hardly a new concept, but Wild Card offers a new, subdued twist on this familiar trope, more in the spirit of Wayne Kramer’s The Cooler than Scorsese’s Casino. (Okay, so there’s not much subdued about Statham jamming a diner knife through a thug’s open mouth, but… bear with me.)

Statham stars as Nick Wild, the film’s reinvention of Reynolds’ Nick Escalante from Heat (though Statham is still billed as Nick Escalante in certain places), who makes ends meet by “chaperoning” gamblers like the self-admitted wimp Cyrus Kinnick (Michael Angarano) to support his own gambling addiction. After picking up Cyrus from Caesars Palace, Nick drives his new client around town in his gold ’69 Ford Torino GT to the tune of “Please Come Home for Christmas”. Sensing that the inexperienced Cyrus is intimidated by casinos on the Strip, Nick takes them downtown to the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, where he sarcastically jokes to his blackjack-dealing friend Cassandra (Hope Davis) that:

This is the highlight of my career. I’m protecting a Fiji drinker who bets $10 on a single roll of the dice.

In the back of Nick’s mind is the argument he had with his friend, an escort named Holly (Dominik García-Lorido) who had been brutally raped the previous night and had asked Nick for his help in tracking down her attacker. After wrestling with his conscience, Nick dons a Santa hat and heads up Fremont Street to confront the man, psychotic gangster Danny DeMarco (Milo Ventimiglia, pre-This is Us) in his suite at the Golden Nugget. Nick subdues Danny and his two goons, calling Holly to come visit her attacker with a pair of garden shears. She gets not only her vengeance but $50,000 that she splits with Nick to the extremely on-the-nose music queue of Barrett Strong’s Motown classic “Money (That’s What I Want)”.

The next day, his share of the fifty grand burning a hole in his pocket, Nick returns to the Golden Gate and plants himself at Cassandra’s blackjack table, where he eventually racks up the $500,000—$506,000, he clarifies—that he needed to leave Las Vegas… a wish that became imperative after his role in Danny’s humiliation and emasculation the previous night. The half-million will buy him five years of freedom, sailing through Corsica, but the gambling addict in Nick can’t resist the chance to turn his guaranteed five years of freedom into enough “fuck-you money” that he’ll never need to return to Vegas. “You’re not supposed to like Vegas,” he advises Cyrus. “It’s just this creeping virus people get sometimes.”

As you may have expected, the “one last score” tactic fails miserably, leaving Nick completely broke… until deus ex machina sweeps in via a grateful Cyrus offering him millions of dollars in exchange for lessons in bravery. Nick scoffs at the offer and returns to the bar, where two of Danny’s thugs are on hand and ready to test Nick’s own bravery. Fed up, Nick not only wallops the two henchmen but the scores to follow, juxtaposed by The Drifters’ doo-wop rendition of “White Christmas” on the soundtrack.

What’d He Wear?

Aware that he needs to provide an intimidating presence for his nighttime role as a bodyguard to Las Vegas’ most vulnerable gamblers, Nick Wild hangs up the earthy corduroy car coat he wears during the day in favor of a black leather blazer, the very type of jacket celebrated by GQ‘s Megan Gustashaw in February 2018 for making its “slow, impossible comeback” thanks to HBO’s The Deuce and stars like Daniel Craig, Jeff Goldblum, and Zayn Malik. Gustashaw hypothesizes that the swagger required to wear a leather blazer with the expected panache makes it difficult to pull off and thus not as timeless as staples like Harrington jackets or pea coats. Leather blazers can also suggest a connection to organized crime, as exemplified by Ray Liotta’s brown jacket in Goodfellas and the black leather blazer sported by James Gandolfini across four seasons of The Sopranos.

Though it may be more accurate to describe these as sport jackets than blazers, leather outerwear with lapels and lounge jacket-inspired styling have been colloquialized and marketed as “leather blazers”, for better or worse, over the last few decades. Indeed, Statham’s screen-worn jacket shares the general characteristics and cut of an unstructured blazer or sports coat… it just happens to be made from black pebbled leather.

The jacket’s notch lapels roll to a two-button front. The back is detailed with a gently pointed yoke, similar to a classic Western ranch jacket, with a seam splitting the center of the back down to the half-belt around the waist.

Catty-corner from Binion’s, Holly splits her share of Danny’s 50 grand with Nick. The Western-like yoke and details of Nick’s leather jacket are fitting with the old-school country vibe promoted by Binion’s.

The jacket has three patch pockets on the outside: one breast pocket with a rounded bottom and two larger pockets on the hips. Aside from the leather material, the sleeves are the most notable deviation from traditional lounge jacket styling, finished not with buttons but with zippers on the inside of each cuff that extend about six inches up the forearm.

Nick tries his luck at blackjack.

Due to its cyclical popularity, leather blazers and sport jackets aren’t as ubiquitous as the flight jacket or moto jacket, but establishes leather retailers like Overland and Wilsons Leather each offering notch-lapel jackets as of January 2020. For the more frugal shopper, there are wider selections on Amazon—from lesser-known brands like BGSD, Decrum, Leather Hubb, or REED—all in the sub-$200 range.

If you’re truly looking for a Wild Card-inspired look, you’ll need to continue your search to find a jacket detailed with the prominent broken stitch along the edges and seams of Statham’s screen-worn jacket, from the lapels and pockets to the sleeves and back. Replicas of Nick Wild’s jacket are a mainstay on sites like FilmsJackets.com, J4Jacket.com, and Sky-Seller.com, though I can’t speak toward the quality of these outlets.

For his first night “chaperoning” Cyrus and confronting Danny DeMarco, Nick wears a faded black geometric-printed shirt, patterned in a complex but neat taupe lattice that creates a series of alternating octagons and squares, the latter filled in cream with a black center square. The shirt has a point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs.

Nick returns to the Golden Gate casino the following night wearing what appears to be a normal gray button-up shirt… until he removes his jacket and reveals unique suede detailing to resemble the effect of a shoulder holster. The “holster” is an elephant gray suede patch of fabric that curves around the left shoulder and extends across the top of the back to the right shoulder, where it hooks under the arm with a slim gray strap, complete with an adjustable sliding buckle. The rest of the shirt is considerably more ordinary with a point collar, a front placket with smoke gray plastic buttons, and two-button squared cuffs.

Nick’s “shoulder holster shirt” is a questionable item to be wearing in a security-heavy place like a Las Vegas casino, though it perhaps symbolizes that Nick enters the Golden Gate that night armed with both $25,000 and enough luck to turn it into $500,000.

Nick wears a pair of dark blue denim jeans with belt loops, the traditional five-pocket layout, and a slim leg that bunches at the shin around the top of each boot, an unsightly occurrence that could have been avoided by opting for a fuller fit or a boot cut, though this was less fashionable in the mid-2010s than the slimmer fit. He wears a dark brown leather belt with a large single-prong buckle and dark brown alligator boots with buckled side straps like the classic engineer boots worn by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

On a thin silver necklace around his neck, Nick wears a large silver pendant that often falls out over the unbuttoned top of his shirt, particularly during the scene in Danny DeMarco’s suite. The pendant appears to be adorned with a cross overlaying an upward-facing arrow, flanked on each side by an angel’s wing.

So what if the holidays are over? Nick brings the yuletide festivities to Danny DeMarco’s suite by donning a non-threatening Santa hat.

Nick wears a chunky two-toned ring on the middle finger of his right hand. The etched gold band is supported by large silver-toned shoulders that add girth to the ring, flaring out under the setting of the large dark stone.

What to Imbibe

Nick Wild has no patience for Cyrus’ standing orders of Fiji water (or Cyrus’ logic that the square bottles keep them from falling off the table), instead fueling his nights in the casino with double vodka on the rocks, presented with a lemon twist and poured from a square-shaped bottle with a red Russian label.

I’m unfamiliar with the bottle, and I’m unsure if it’s a real brand or a fictional stand-in provided by the props team… but I do know that Cyrus would at least likely approve of the bottle’s roll-free square base.

Jason Statham as Nick Wild in Wild Card (2015)

How to Get the Look

Nick Wild patrols Las Vegas in an indubitably distinctive outfit from his uniquely detailed leather jacket and shirts to his ornate jewelry and eye-catching boots, perhaps a surprisingly fussy (or at least affected) look for a mob-connected tough guy.

• Black leather sport jacket with broken edge stitching, notch lapels, single-breasted 2-button front, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, zip-up cuffs, and half-belted ventless back
• Black geometric-patterned long-sleeved shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Dark blue denim slim-leg jeans
• Dark brown leather belt with large rectangular steel single-prong buckle
• Dark brown alligator engineer boots with buckle straps
• Silver-toned “angel wings” pendant on thin silver necklace
• Etched gold and silver ring with dark stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

God, what a thing when luck comes callin’.

Rock Hudson as CDR Jim Ferraday in Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Vitals

Rock Hudson as James “Jim” Ferraday, U.S. Navy Commander and nuclear submarine captain

The North Pole, Spring 1968

Film: Ice Station Zebra
Release Date: October 23, 1968
Director: John Sturges

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Despite its lukewarm critical reception at its release, Ice Station Zebra was not only among star Rock Hudson’s favorites of his own films, but it also includes among its fans director John Carpenter (who admits it’s somewhat of a guilty pleasure) and Howard Hughes. During the reclusive tycoon’s years hidden away in his penthouse at the Desert Inn hotel, Hughes would supposedly demand that the local Las Vegas TV station that he owned play the movie on loop, eventually owning a private print that he reportedly watched around 150 times on a continuous loop. “We all knew when Hughes was in town,” wrote Paul Anka in his autobiography My Way. “You’d get back to your room, turn on the TV at 2 a.m., and the movie Ice Station Zebra would be playing. At 5 a.m., it would start all over again. It was on almost every night. Hughes loved that movie.”

The object of Hughes’ obsession was based on a 1963 novel by Alistair MacLean, the Scottish author also behind classic military adventures like The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare that were also adapted into movies during the ’60s. Inspired by a few real-life Cold War incidents, the novel was adapted into a screenplay by MacLean as well as Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, and W.R. Burnett, with a few diversions from and additions to MacLean’s source novel, including the renaming of the leading character from Commander Swanson to Commander Ferraday.

The movie begins as Admiral Garvey (Lloyd Nolan) summons Commander Ferraday to his room for Scotch and a discussion of Drift Ice Station Zebra, which Ferraday recalls is a “British civilian weather station up at the North Pole… they’re in some sort of trouble up there” before he is swiftly ordered up to rescue the survivors… though the rescue is merely a subterfuge for the true, “vitally important” purpose of Ferraday’s expedition. Commander Ferraday is quickly placed at the helm of Tigerfish, a nuclear submarine which boards a platoon of Marines as well as the mysterious British agent “Mr. Jones” (Patrick McGoohan), “some sort of sneaky bastard involved in some sort of low skullduggery,” on Jones’ own admission. Along the way, they pick up the reserved USMC Captain Anders (Jim Brown) and the gregarious Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), “the damndest anti-Russian Russian you ever met,” according to Jones, both of whom are evidently to play a crucial role in the increasingly treacherous—and mysterious—mission.

Rock Hudson in Commander Ferraday’s khaki working uniform, complete with silver O-5 oak leaf collar devices and navy ballcap with “scrambled eggs” on the brim.

What’d He Wear?

After sporting a stylish tweed sports coat, striped tie, and trench coat for his evening meeting with Admiral Garvey, Ferraday spends the first half of Ice Station Zebra appropriately clad in a rotation of U.S. Navy working uniforms, primarily his khaki service shirt and trousers with a blue work jacket and N1 deck jacket, almost always with his blue “scrambled eggs” baseball cap, khaki web belt, and the well-shined black shoes of a naval surface officer.

It isn’t until the second half when Ferraday dresses for his wintry mission in the durable outerwear that led to Ice Station Zebra‘s unique position as “the all-time most parka-friendly film” according to Josh Sims in Icons of Men’s Style.

After surfacing Tigerfish through the ice where Ice Station Zebra was supposed to be, Ferraday briefly dons what appears to be a Navy-issue parka in olive drab when surveying the area. He then consults with Jones (himself dressed in some noteworthy fur winter gear), Vaslov, and Paul Zabrinczski (Ron Masak) to build the team that will be making the trek to get Jones to the station and rescue whatever survivors they find… all while suspecting a saboteur in their midst.

Vaslov, Ferraday, and Jones consider their next step upon breaking through the ice.

Ferraday and his team dress warmly for their mission, with Ferraday himself swapping out the olive parka for a heavier duty blue waterproof nylon parka and matching pants.

Though parkas had been authorized by the U.S. military for two decades by the time of Ice Station Zebra, the unique pullover parkas worn by Ferraday and some of his men (albeit in orange) seem to exist outside the established N-3B, B-9, M-48, M-51, and M-65 systems, all of which had a full front closure and were mostly issued only in shades of army green or the occasional white. In fact, a strong case could be made to define Ferraday’s hooded outerwear as an anorak—albeit with some parka-inspired sensibilities—due to its pullover nature and drawstring-cinched waist.

The parka patrol.

That said, there were stocks of a pullover garment designated “Parka, field, cotton, O.D.” authorized in 1943 for the U.S. Army in conditions of wind, rain, or snow, and suggested to be worn over a pile parka. Like Ferraday’s parka, it has a wide trapezoidal four-button “placket” section at the top as well as a large handwarmer pocket across the chest, accessed by a slanted flap on each side that closes though a single button. (For an example, see this rare piece available for sale from Overlooked Military Surplus or this M-1943 on WorthPoint.) There was also an experimental attempt around 1950 for the U.S. Army to develop the M-50 pullover parka and matching pants, though the top closure had graduated to snaps and the two pockets were moved below the waist. (See this M-50 set from U.S. Militaria Forum.)

Assuming that Ferraday’s garment was at least inspired by the M-1943 cotton poplin “pullover parka”, we’ll stick with that nomenclature when describing his blue nylon jacket. The hood is lined in woolen pile and trimmed with soft fur, and it can be tightened with a long blue drawstring that extends down to mid-chest. As I described, there is also a long trapezoidal “placket”-like panel that tapers down from around the neck with three rows of buttonholes that each fastens to a large plastic button, with an additional button on the top row with a slanted buttonhole to ensure extra insulation at the top as seen on the M-1943 parka. The set-in sleeves close at the cuffs with a single-button semi-tab.

Despite the differing color and material, Ferraday’s pullover parka shares much in common with the quarter century-old M-1943 Army pattern.

The popularity of winter sportswear has evolved the anorak and pullover parka into lighter weight territory more appropriate for sweating on the slopes rather than military-grade insulation for Arctic operations, generally rigged with zippers rather than buttons with nary a pile layer or fur trim to be found, as evident by these Adidas and Charles River Apparel examples.

While the colors are a darker, more muted navy, and the buttons extend all the way down to the waist, these sherpa-lined parkas from J. Crew Mercantile and Tommy Hilfiger at least reflect the spirit of CDR Ferraday’s M-43-inspired garment.

For additional warmth in the initial snowstorm, Ferraday wears a blue ribbed knit wool neck gaiter, also known as a half-balaclava, which covers all parts of his face south of the eye goggles from his nose down. These are still popular winter accessories, though typically in more modern construction like manmade fleece or merino wool.

Ferraday wears blue nylon pants that match his jacket, likely a pair of weather-resistant salopettes. Salopettes are essentially ski trousers with a high-bibbed waist that is either pre-fitted with suspenders (braces) or can be worn with them. If the trousers from the Army’s experimental M-50 set are any indication, these would have a zip fly and a drawstring waist with pairs of loops on each side to connect to heavy-duty suspenders.

The salopettes likely have leg ties or straps under each foot, to be worn inside his boots. Ferraday wears black heavy-duty snow boots with black laces tied through silver-toned D-ring eyelets.

“Now let’s see if we can catch ourselves a submarine,” quips Ferraday.

When he’s not in the heavy snow storm, Ferraday removes his heavy blue mittens, likely made from the same waterproof nylon shell as his parka and pants, and briefly wears them hooked via a long cord to the right button under the handwarmer pocket flap.

Underneath, he wears a pair of black leather gloves that are ribbed across the top of the fingers and hands and elasticized around the wrists for a warm, secure fit.

Ferraday finds a Russian detonator that he wisely—and slyly—pockets for future use.

Ferraday wears a pair of large gray ski goggles with a one-piece yellow plastic lens and an elasticized strap that secures them to his head. Based on the shape, style, and the two studs in the center above the nose, I suggest that these were made by H.L. Bouton Company of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Bouton was a popular mid-century company that sold both protective eyewear for both civilian and military usage. WorthPoint currently has Bouton ski goggles from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s available to view, with the latter most resembling Rock Hudson’s screen-worn eyewear.

We don’t see much of what Ferraday wears under his parka aside from the top of what appears to be a high-necked olive green henley shirt layered over a white cotton henley.

The full coverage of Ferraday’s Arctic gear covers his hands, but I would be remiss not to mention the wristwatch that Rock Hudson wears throughout Ice Station Zebra, a “reverse panda” steel chronograph with three white registers on a black dial. A closer look reveals a blue-and-red “Pepsi” bezel, the lack of numeric markers (including at 12:00), and a dark navy-and-gray striped nylon strap. This particular watch had been the subject of discussion at a few forums like The Military Watch Resource and Omega Forums, where users had seemingly narrowed the choices down to a Breitling Avi 765 Co Pilot or the more likely Heuer Autovia, specifically ref. 2446.

I’m inclined to agree with the latter suggestion, specifically adding that Hudson appears to be wearing a Heuer Autovia ref. 2446 made to resemble a GMT with a blue-and-red Pepsi bezel although the telltale white “GMT” lettering does not appear to be on the dial. (Check out a vintage Heuer Autavia 2446 GMT “First Execution” at Watch Pool 24, which describes the timepiece as a “Holy Grail” with only 10 of these first run still in existence today.)

Earlier in Ice Station Zebra, Ferraday gets to know as much as he can from the cagey “Mr. Jones”.

On the third finger of his left hand, CDR Ferraday wears a gold ring with a blue stone, resembling a class ring. I’m not sure if the character’s educational history was addressed in the novel, but it’s possible that this is meant to be his class ring from the United States Naval Academy.

What to Imbibe

“I’m a bourbon man myself, but when in Scotland…” Admiral Garvey utters in one of the film’s early scenes as he offers a dram of Haig Dimple to Ferraday. Marketed in the U.S. as “Haig & Haig Dimple Pinch”, this blended Scotch took the latter part of its name from the unique three-sided bottles with their dimpled sides that had been used from the 1890s.

Haig Dimple is a heavier, more expensive alternative to Haig Gold Label. The Gold Label variety can be found in contemporary espionage-themed movies like Our Man in Havana, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and The Sea Wolves, while the distinctive-looking Dimple featured in many of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels and short stories as well as movies and TV shows like Across the Pacfic, The Godfather, Laura, Mad Men, The Thin Man and After the Thin Man, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad, where Bryan Cranston’s Walter White asks for it by name in the series’ penultimate episode.

In Ice Station Zebra, Garvey pours his whisky into a copita glass, a short-stemmed glass often reserved for sherry or tasting whisky.

While Garvey drinks his over ice, Ferraday drinks his Dimple Pinch neat.

Given the film’s setting, Scotch whisky seems to be the great equalizer and Ferraday sneaks a small bottle of Ballantine’s Finest to Jones per his request, despite his understanding that consumption of liquor is forbidden on U.S. Navy submarines.

After a troubling near-disaster aboard Tigerfish, Jones turns to the solace of coffee… laced with plenty of Ballantine’s Finest.

I recently waxed poetic about the history and legacy of Ballantine’s Scotch in a post about Dean Martin’s red sports jacket in the second Matt Helm, Murderers’ Row, if you’d like to check it out.

The Gun

As an American military officer, it should be no surprise that CDR Ferraday arms himself with a Colt M1911A1, the venerable .45-caliber semi-automatic service pistol that had served the U.S. military since its initial development as the Model of 1911. The U.S. Army was the first to adopt it, with the Navy and Marine Corps following with formal adoption of the weapon in 1913.

The 1911-armed Ferraday and his M16-wielding Marines confront the Soviet force who meets them at Ice Station Zebra.

As he never needs to fire it on screen, the production team appears to have used a genuine .45-caliber M1911A1 and not a 9mm copy or a Spanish-made Star Model B as was often practiced in contemporary productions that didn’t want to gamble with trying to cycle then-unreliable .45 ACP blanks.

Perhaps for easier access or to keep it warm in the extreme cold, Ferraday foregoes a holster and pockets his M1911A1 in the handwarmer of his parka.

Ferraday keeps his pistol and detonator drawn… his finger dangerously close to the trigger on the former.

How to Get the Look

Rock Hudson as CDR Jim Ferraday in Ice Station Zebra (1968). Note the mittens hanging from his side.

Rock Hudson’s naval commander in Ice Station Zebra dresses for his Arctic adventure in a blue pullover parka (and matching salopettes) seemingly adapted from the 1943 pattern of U.S. military winter-wear that predated the more famous “snorkel” or “fishtail” styles to follow, accompanied by goggles, face mask, gloves, and heavy boots that don’t leave an inch of his skin unprotected until the snow storm passes.

• Blue waterproof nylon M-1943-style pullover parka with fur-trimmed and pile-lined hood, three-button top closure, handwarmer chest pockets with two slanted and single-button flapped openings, drawstring-cinched waist, and single-button semi-tab cuffs
• Olive green long-sleeve henley shirt
• White cotton henley undershirt
• Blue waterproof nylon salopettes
• Blue ribbed-knit wool half-balaclava/neck gaiter
• Black snow boots with silver-toned D-ring lace eyelets
• Gray plastic Bouton-style ski goggles with yellow one-piece lens and gray elasticized strap
• Black ribbed leather gloves with elasticized wrists
• Heuer Autavia 2446 GMT steel chronograph watch with blue-and-red “Pepsi” bezel, “reverse panda” black dial with three white registers, and dark navy-and-gray striped nylon strap
• Gold class ring with blue stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

We operate on a first name basis. My first name is “Captain.”

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Vitals

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, obsessive-compulsive Belgian detective

Orient Express, Winter 1934

Film: Murder on the Orient Express
Release Date: November 10, 2017
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Costume Designer: Alexandra Byrne

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Readers who have seen my posts focused on adaptations of And Then There Were None, Death on the Nile, and Evil Under the Sun are likely aware that I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie’s mystery fiction since I was 10 years old. Thus, it’s a continued thrill to find her works thriving as studios on both sides of the pond continue to churn out lavish adaptations of her work a full century after she introduced the world to Hercule Poirot with the publication of her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920. In particular, David Suchet has been performing yeoman’s work as the quintessential Poirot across 70 episodes of an ITV-produced drama series that successfully—and relatively faithfully—adapted every novel and story that prominently featured Christie’s master detective.

In the spirit of contemporary BBC adaptations like The ABC Murders, And Then There Were None, Ordeal by Innocence, and The Pale Horse, Kenneth Branagh helmed what’s now the fourth adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, arguably Christie’s best-known novel famous for its then-groundbreaking solution. The novel was first brought to the screen in 1974 with Albert Finney as the eccentric but undoubtedly brilliant Poirot among an international cast that included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, and Richard Widmark as the deservedly doomed American gangster Ratchett. Unlike previous adaptations, this Oscar-nominated hit received Christie’s rare of stamp of approval, though her sole protest lay with Finney’s facial hair:

It was well made except for one mistake. It was Albert Finney, as my detective Hercule Poirot. I wrote that he had the finest mustache in England—and he didn’t in the film. I thought that a pity—why shouldn’t he?

Evidently, Branagh sought to rectify this misstep by literally doubling down on Poirot’s famous whiskers, thanks to hair and makeup designer Carol Hemming.

“Three days free of care, concern, or crime,” promises Poirot’s libertine friend Bouc (Tom Bateman) when the detective agrees to travel back to London via the Orient Express. Unfortunately, the lawful bliss of Poirot’s luxurious journey is interrupted by the violent murder of a shady, gun-toting art dealer after the train has been stalled by a snow drift. Poirot hopes to let the local police handle it, but Bouc—fearing the police’s potentially racially prejudiced approach regarding the train’s diverse set of international passengers—insists that Poirot engage his “little gray cells” to solve the crime.

What’d He Wear?

Deviating from some of the fussier-dressed Hercule Poirot of previous adaptations, costume designer Alexandra Byrne took more inspiration from the character’s service history. “In working with Ken he was very keen for Poirot to have a military background,” Byrne shared for a March 2018 Zoomer article. “We felt that gave Poirot a kind of vanity through decision and through precision, replacing peacock vanity.”

This precision also implied a man with a limited yet tasteful wardrobe that he wore with care. In a Vanity Fair article that describes Poirot’s “slightly OCD, perfectionist streak veering slightly into the world of the luxurious,” Byrne also adds some context to Poirot’s screen closet:

“For an Englishman of the period”—or a Belgian living in the U.K., like Poirot—“the most important thing was that you were true to your class; you did not dress outside it. Poirot was a police inspector. He would have been making a good living, but he would have been upper-middle class, not upper class, and so would dress accordingly.”

“Men had two suits: their best suit and a worn-out suit as their leisure wear,” Byrne explained for The Hollywood Reporter. “I looked to the practicality of how men would dress on a train, what they would wear to keep warm.”

Hercule Poirot gives new meaning to what one wears when on a train.
Kenneth Branagh walked atop an actual train for this viscerally stunning scene with the support of a safety wire doing little to assuage his fear during the experience.

To ensure that all of the characters’ clothing delivered period sensibilities with a touch of modern relevance, Byrne and her team made nearly all of the costumes from scratch… thus, it was likely a blessing for the Oscar-winning designer that the majority of the action was set in a confined space with just over a dozen characters. On the other hand, this intimacy meant spending more time with these characters with more extended camera time focused on their costumes. Thus, Byrne enlisted Scottish mill Brydon Thompson to create period-perfect cloth for Poirot’s suits. “It was much heavier 18-ounce wool than is used in menswear tailoring now,” Byrne explained to Zoomer. “Today it’s a thick fluffy suiting, whereas in the 1930s, it was a much tighter, drier weave.”

Aside from the black dinner suit he wears when boarding the Orient Express after his interrupted dinner, Branagh’s Poirot wears only two lounge suits over the course of the movie: a charcoal plaid suit during the Jerusalem-set prologue and a dark navy herringbone flannel suit for the duration of his three days on the train.

This production photo of Kenneth Branagh aboard the set Orient Express showcases the fine texture of his crime-solving suit.

Both of Poirot’s lounge suits are tailored and styled similarly, consistent with Byrne’s direction of a man comfortable in uniform. The suits consist of single-breasted, two-button jackets with peak lapels, double-breasted waistcoats, and pleated trousers, an elegant and period-evoking formula.

The trend of a single-breasted jacket rigged with the traditionally double-breasted peak lapel has ebbed and flowed through the seas of menswear over the last century, first emerging during the 1920s as a natural evolution of the increasingly popular peak-lapel dinner jacket. “By rigging a single-breasted jacket with a double-breasted rever, this lapel treatment virtually neutralized the double-breasted edge in forrmality,” wrote Alan Flusser in Dressing the Man. Branagh’s peak lapels are wide and full-bellied, per 1930s trends, with slanted gorges that “point” the edges of the lapels toward each roped shoulder. Together, the emphasized shoulders, suppressed waist, and flared skirt build an athletic silhouette that establishes Branagh’s Poirot as more of a man of action than his fussier, epicurean predecessors.

Backed by his friend Bouc, Poirot shares news of Ratchett’s murder with the assembly of stranded passengers including the Norfolk jacketed Hardman (Willem Dafoe) to his left.

Poirot’s ventless jacket also has four-button cuffs, straight flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket where he wears a white cotton handkerchief folded into a neat triangular point, the slightly more rakish alternative to the businesslike “TV fold” while considering less daring than the puffy flourish that dandier dressers like Fred Astaire opted for with their typically colorful pocket hanks.

He consistently wears his suit jackets open to show the matching double-breasted waistcoat that sweeps across his torso, an elegant alternative to single-breasted waistcoats that suggests an added touch of formality. The waistcoat has wide peak lapels and eight dark navy recessed plastic buttons, matching those on the front and cuffs of Poirot’s suit jacket, arranged in four rows of two buttons each. Poirot wears his silver-toned pocket watch in the left welted pocket, connected to a dark braided cord with a bolt ring that hooks just aside the second fastening button.

Poirot confronts conductor Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari) with a conductor’s uniform—missing a button—found in his compartment, consistent with the description Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman) provided of a suspicious man aboard the train around the time of the murder.

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Byrne edified The Hollywood Reporter on how her approach to the details of Poirot’s suits reflected which side of the pond he called home. “There are many differences between American, English, and European tailoring in the ’30s. Trouser pleats on American trousers were set turned out, and English turned in.”

Branagh’s suit trousers as Poirot have double sets of forward-facing pleats that add generous but not excessively baggy space around his hips and through the legs to the bottoms finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

The long rise appropriately keeps the waistband covered by the waistcoat, ideal for three-piece suits but particularly so when the waistcoats are cut straight across the bottom; should the trousers fall too low, it wouldn’t be a small triangle of shirt showing but instead the even more sartorially offensive effect of the entire circumference of shirt visible between waistcoat bottom and trouser top.

I haven’t been able to ascertain if Poirot’s trousers are fitted with side-adjusters or a perfect tailored waistband or worn with suspenders (braces), though I suspect the latter. (Decorum during the era would have relegated suspenders to the role of an undergarment, which a proper gentleman like Poirot would strive to keep covered from the public.)

With his lounge suits, Poirot exclusively wears striped shirts with detached white point collars. Though shirts with detached collars as Poirot wears are all but extinct in the realm of accessible, ready-to-wear men’s clothing, the style lives on with “Winchester shirts” offering white collars—and occasionally cuffs—contrasting against different colored, striped, or patterned shirt bodies, popularized during the yuppie years of 1980s businesswear popularized by movies like Wall Street (1987) and American Psycho (2000).

On the first day of his Orient Express journey, Poirot wears a pale blue shirt with wide white stripes that are tri-split by two narrow gray stripes, worn as usual with his clean, stiff white point collar. His silk tie is the first in a trio of patterned silk neckwear he would wear with this suit, in this case a series of gray interlocking rings creating an “uphill”-direction stripe effect.

Poirot dismisses Ratchett’s offer. Not only is Poirot an investigator rather than a bodyguard, but he has no interest in protecting a shady criminal.

The next morning, Poirot awakens to discover that his neighbor, Ratchett (Johnny Depp) as bhas been murdered in his compartment. He soon takes charge of the investigation wearing a white shirt with bold, widely spaced striping in a brick red that—given the context—could be suggestive of the blood spilled in the case. (Is this an interpretive stretch on my part? Wouldn’t be the first time, if so…)

Poirot wears a gray woven silk tie patterned in rows of long black rhomboids that alternate between being horizontally and vertically oriented and are all detailed with a white dot in the center.

“He was obsessed with symmetry so the tie knot had to be symmetrical and carefully frame that huge mustache,” Byrne explained of Poirot to Grazia Magazine.

On the action-packed third day of the case, Poirot wears a bengal-striped shirt in slate blue and white, which we see to have self-shirted single cuffs worn with his standard silver-toned oval cuff links. His tie looks similar to what he wore the previous day, though the pattern appears to be a gray-on-gray diamond-shaped weave with small navy squares.

“Ken was very keen that the knot on the tie was immaculate and identical, part of a dressing routine,” Byrne shared of Branagh’s neckwear to Zoomer. “For example in the fight sequences when he loses a collar stud… [that’s] something that would be as distressing and invasive to Poirot as somebody having their front teeth knocked in!”

After a brief gunfight—a relative rarity in an Agatha Christie work—the left part of Poirot’s shirt collar has become detached from the gold collar stud and his tie is loosened. With his disheveled hair and haphazardly draped engineer’s coat, this is not how the Belgian typically likes to present himself, though the bullet wound in his arm may be of even greater distress at the moment.

Though Poirot’s shoes get some prominent—and memorable—screen time during the opening sequence in Jerusalem, we see just enough of them while on the Orient Express to recognize that he’s likely wearing the same black calf cap-toe oxfords with a perforated toe cap and brouging.

It’s not unreasonable to assume that Poirot has given his shoes a thorough cleaning since their fecal misadventures in Jerusalem.

The first topcoat that Poirot wears with this suit isn’t one of his own, nor is it one he would likely be wearing in any circumstances other than needing to hastily don a layer after taking a bullet to the arm. The dark navy waxed engineer’s coat has an Ulster collar with a throat latch, a single-breasted front, and set-in sleeves that are cuffed at the ends with a single button in the corner of each cuff.

“The idea of that came very much from Ken,” Byrne explained to Nathalie Atkinson for Zoomer, who was prompted to ask given Byrne’s experience dressing some of the “caped crusaders” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “He wanted Poirot to be disheveled for the first time and the cloak that he picks up is actually one of the crew’s cloaks—a waxed cotton protective cloak for one of the engineers on the train. He just wanted something over his shoulders in a way that Poirot doesn’t normally wear clothes.”

Caped crusader or disheveled detective?

Finally, when the time comes for Poirot to leave the train early to attend to a murder on the Nile (hmm…), he dons his own coat… and you can tell. The sharply tailored charcoal wool double-breasted Chesterfield has peak lapels with a long collar densely faced in astrakhan fur, which is derived from the pelts of the now-endangered Karakul sheep that are native to Central Asia. Despite its value and luxurious connotations, Sir Hardy Amies dismissed astrakhan in his 1964 tome ABCs of Men’s Fashion as merely something that “used to be used only on the collars of the overcoats of passé actor-managers.”

The structured coat’s sleeveheads are more heavily roped than the suit jacket beneath it. The coat has swelled edges on the lapels, semi-cuffed sleeve-ends, and on the pockets, including the welted breast pocket and the large hip pocket flaps. The back is half-belted at Branagh’s natural waist with a long single vent that extends up to just a few inches short of the half-belt.

Exit Poirot.

He appropriately dresses for the wintry outside air with black leather gloves and his black felt Lords hat, essentially a homburg with the differentiation of a pinched crown.

Between the astrakhan fur coat collar and his own double mustache, Poirot would be nicely insulated when stepping outside on a cold day.

Curious to learn more about the costume design in Murder on the Orient Express? Check out the links below, many featuring firsthand interviews with costume designer Alexandra Byrne!

• “How the Murder on the Orient Express Costume Designer Outfitted Daisy Ridley and Michelle Pfeiffer in Authentic ’30s Clothing” (Fawnia Soo Hoo for Fashionista, November 10, 2017)
• “Behind the Seams” (Divya Bala for GRAZIA)
• “How the Orient Express Costume Designer Used Detective Clues to Style the Cast” (Cathy Whitlock for The Hollywood Reporter, November 2, 2017)
• “How Costumes Reveal Character in Oscar Contenders Murder on the Orient Express and Mudbound“ (Bill Desowitz for IndieWire, November 22, 2017)
• “Costume Designer Alexandra Byrne Creates Sinful Style in Murder on the Orient Express“ (Susannah Edelbaum for “The Credits” by Motion Picture Association, November 10, 2017)
• “Check Out the Fashion Parade Onboard Murder on the Orient Express“ (Paulette Cohn for Parade, February 23, 2018)
• “Dressed to Kill: Inside the Lavish Costumes of Murder on the Orient Express“ (Valentina Valenti for Vanity Fair, November 8, 2017)
• “Fashion On The Orient Express: Part Two of Our Journey” (Nathalie Atkinson for Zoomer, March 1, 2018)

You can also find photos of this exact costume, including one with Byrne beside it, at Tanya Foster‘s recap of her experience aboard the Orient Express to promote the film.

What to Imbibe

I am of an age where I know what I like and what I do not like. What I like, I enjoy enormously. What I dislike, I cannot abide.

Poirot is speaking more generally about his dismissive distaste for conversing with Ratchett, but he could also be summing up the character’s own finely curated taste. I believe the prominent inclusion of Veuve Clicquot champagne was the result of product placement, but it’s certainly not out of character for the epicurean detective to appreciate the coupe he is offered by Bouc.

Poured a glass of Veuve Clicquot by his friend Bouc, Poirot raises a glass while enjoying his journey on the Orient Express.

The Veuve Clicquot story begins in 1772 when textile merchant Philippe Clicquot established a wine business that would eventually expand with the arranged marriage between his son François and Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the 21-year-old daughter of fellow textile merchant Nicolas Ponsardin. In the years following the 1798 wedding, Clicquot’s champagne business began to grow and he eventually handed over the reins to his son, though François would die of typhoid in October 1805 when he was 30, only four years after gaining control of the company.

Distraught by François’s death, the retired Philippe decided to liquidate the company but François’s widow was determined to manage itself and presented a proposal to Philippe, who accepted. The widow Clicquot (or “veuve Clicquot” in French, hence the modern name) thus became the first female champagne producer as she led the booming company into the 19th century with the launch of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin on July 21, 1810. The business was threatened in its early years by naval blockades aimed to prevent foreign sales, particularly to Russia, but Barbe-Nicole’s persistence not only ensured that her business would survive the war but it would play a vital role in establishing champagne as the preferred drink of the upper class.

The Gun

Hercule Poirot was never the sort of detective to regularly carry a gun, though the arms himself for the climax of Murder on the Orient Express with a Colt Police Positive Special that he took from “Gerhard” Hardman (Willem Dafoe), going so far as to identify that Hardman had not spent 30 years as a Pinkerton detective as he claims but instead had once been a police officer who had undoubtedly been connected to the Armstrong case at the center of Ratchett’s murder.

Poirot draws Hardman’s revolver on the assembled passengers. Note the length of the cylinder, which indicates the likelihood of Hardman’s revolver being a Colt Police Positive Special chambered in the more powerful .38 Special than the weaker rounds in a Colt Police Positive.

While the scene of Poirot seeing through Hardman’s cover by identifying his gun adds a degree of Sherlock Holmes-ian detection, it’s ultimately a fallacy much like the scene in GoldenEye where Russian gangster Zukovsky recognizes James Bond by his Walther PPK, stating that “only three men I know use such a gun… and I believe I’ve killed two of them.” A badass boast for sure but hardly creditable given that the decades-old weapon is one of the most popular among European militaries and police as well as civilians around the world. The same logic applies when Poirot observes of Hardman: “Your gun—the checkered grip, the blued finish—produced for the Police Positive edition. 1927 issue.”

To Poirot, this is evidence that Hardman could not have been a Pinkerton detective for “thirty years” leading up to the current date of 1934 as he’s armed with a revolver manufactured only for policemen seven years earlier. Poirot isn’t wrong that the details of Hardman’s Police Positive are consistent with the generation of Colt revolvers produced for the 1927 issue and marketed toward law enforcement, but it’s ridiculous to suggest that someone could only have one of these revolvers seven years later if he had been a policeman at the time, particularly for a police-adjacent function like a Pinkerton detective!

Had Poirot gone to the movies anytime over the few years leading up to the events of Murder on the Orient Express, he would have noticed gangster portrayed by Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and Paul Muni carrying Colt police-issued revolvers as well… how confused he would have been!

How to Get the Look

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

While I can’t help you with that mustache… Kenneth Branagh’s suits as Hercule Poirot successfully executed the costume vision of a man whose sartorial approach is driven more by military-like precision and perfection rather than “peacocking”. The luxurious period-popular styling of the single-breasted, peak-lapel jacket, double-breasted waistcoat, and pleated trousers may draw attention, but Poirot’s subdued suitings like this dark navy Scottish wool indicates refined sophistication rather than the attention-grabbing unorthodoxy for its own sake.

• Navy herringbone 18-ounce woolen flannel three-piece tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with full-bellied peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double-breasted 8×4-button waistcoat with peak lapels, welted pockets, and straight-cut bottom
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Striped cotton shirt with detachable white point collar and self-cuffs
  • Silver oval cuff links
• Gray silk tie with repeating pattern
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark navy dress socks
• Charcoal heavy wool double-breasted Chesterfield coat with astrakhan fur-collared peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, semi-cuffed sleeve-ends, and half-belted back with long single vent
• Black leather gloves
• Black felt Lords hat with black grosgrain ribbon

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie (as well as the 1974 version) and read the book.

The Quote

I do not approve of murder, my friend. Every day, we meet people the world would be better without, yet we do not kill them. We must be better than the beasts.

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

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Johnny Depp as George Jung, ambitious pot dealer

Chicago, Winter 1972

Film: Blow
Release Date: April 6, 2001
Director: Ted Demme
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

In the centuries since pea jackets were first established by military mariners battling the cold, these short and warm coats have emerged as a winter staple for men and women around the world. While many maintain the original template, such as the 1940s Schott in 32-ounce melton wool that was handed down to me from my grandfather, the pea coat’s ubiquity has also inspired more fashion-forward variations like the leather-trimmed, peak-lapel Billy Reid coat that Daniel Craig wore in his third 007 outing Skyfall or this Disco-era jacket briefly worn by Johnny Depp in Blow.

Adapted from Bruce Porter’s 1993 book of the same title, Blow recounts the rise and fall of real-life American drug smuggler George Jung. Before he was reportedly earning millions each day smuggling cocaine for the Medellín cartel, “Boston George” was a high school dropout who’d been kicked out of the Marine Corps and moved from the suburbs of Beantown to the sunny eden of Manhattan Beach at the end of the swinging sixties. While there, Jung engineered a profitable smuggling operation that started with shipping marijuana to college campuses back east via stewardess’ unchecked suitcases and ended with stolen planes flying hundreds of pounds of pot out of Puerto Vallarta.

While Jung’s criminal career was indeed sidetracked when he was arrested in Chicago with 660 pounds of marijuana as depicted in Blow, the movie does not show the smuggler’s first significant legal trouble when he spent three months in a Mexican prison after the Federales busted him at an airstrip in the late summer of 1970. The three month stay began when the swaggering Jung was brought down to size by a strip search, a few electric shocks from a cattle prod to his thus-exposed gonads, and a 24-hour internment crunched into a wooden box with his head forced between his knees. Having adjusted his attitude toward his arresting officers after this introduction to the penal system, Jung evidently worked out a settlement to pay $50,000 for his eventual release following a three-month sentence.

And thus we get to the fall of 1972, when the real-life Jung was arrested in the Chicago Playboy Club with the aforementioned 660 pounds of marijuana and charged with intent to sell. Depp’s Jung expects no consequences for the violation and quotes Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie during his indictment, to which the stupefied judge (Dorothy Lyman) replies, “Gosh, you know, your concepts are really interesting, Mr. Jung… unfortunately for you, the line you crossed was real and the plants you brought with you were illegal, so your bail is $20,000,” before she bangs her gavel, leaving a gobsmacked Jung speechless before he’s ushered out.

While it may seem purely made up for the movies, this is one incident in Blow that is almost verbatim from how Porter presented it in his biography of George Jung. Evidently, his lawyers had worked out a deal with the U.S. attorney and all that Jung would need to do would be to give a repentant speech, apologizing for his mistake and concisely outlining his plan to clean up his life after the brief, agreed-upon sentence.

“George didn’t tell his lawyer, but he had a feeling when he entered the courtroom and saw the federal judge sitting up there that he wasn’t going to do the speech they’d agreed on,” Porter writes, recalling Jung’s lifelong struggle with authority figures, in this case presiding judge James Austin. “What he actually told the judge was: ‘Your Honor, I realize I broke the law, but I want to tell you in all honesty that I don’t feel it’s a crime. I think it’s foolishness to sentence a man to prison, for what? For crossing an imaginary line with a bunch of plants?’ George found himself expressing other general thoughts as well. He mentioned the Vietnam War, and something about how none of the real criminals in the world ever end up behind bars, a little distillation from the oral philosophy of Bob Dylan. You say that I’m an outlaw, you say that I’m a thief. Well, where’s the Christmas dinner for the people on relief?”

Austin’s bemused smile at first convinced Jung that his diatribe may have actually convinced the judge, who was evidently impressed by Jung’s “interesting concept”… though the scene then played out as it would on cinema as Austin reminded Jung that the line was not imaginary, the plants were indeed illegal, and thus the man standing before him had, in fact, committed a crime. Austin then added insult to injury by tacking an additional year onto the initial three-year sentence that the attorneys had worked out, recommending Jung to serve four years at the Danbury federal prison in southwestern Connecticut, unknowingly doing more to further Jung’s criminal career than to hamper it, as Depp’s Jung would narrate:

Danbury wasn’t a prison, it was a crime school. I went in with a bachelor of marijuana and came out with a doctorate of cocaine.

What’d He Wear?

They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing. Depp’s George Jung wisely bundles up for the Chicago cold in a navy wool coat clearly modeled after traditional pea coats and reefer jackets. The coat has broad lapels with deep notches, detailed with double-stitched edges

George’s grandstanding for the court receives a more lukewarm reception than he expected.

George’s jacket has a total of six buttons, organized in two parallel columns of three dark blue plastic sew-through buttons each decorated in what appears to be the classic naval anchor motif. In addition to the set-in hip pockets with flaps appropriately wide for the 1970s, the set-in sleeves are also finished with the unique detail of three buttons on each cuff, more typical to a suit or sport jacket than a pea coat.

Though some more traditionally inspired pea coats have lower external pockets with flaps, they almost always supplement open handwarmer pockets, which are the quintessential pea coat pocket. Additionally, pea coats almost never have buttons adorning the sleeve; if anything, cuffs are finished with the outerwear-friendly semi-tab that closes through a button like these pea jackets from Amazon Essentials or Match.

Layering for the chilly Chicago climate as opposed to the warm and sunny Puerto Vallarta paradise he calls home, George wears an ivory turtleneck under his pea coat. While the roll-neck and set-in sleeves are stitched in what looks like a classic vertical rib stitch, the body of George’s sweater is stitched from a more complex series of long, vertical crossed ribs to create an interlocking lattice-like effect.

Something tells me George would have to sweep that hair out of his face for the CPD to have a truly effective mugshot in their records.

The brief scene only shows glimpses of Jung’s wardrobe below the waist, though we can see he’s wearing dark navy flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms that flare out just enough to avoid “bell bottom” territory while also draping over most of his black leather square-toed boots.

Jung is met by this then-girlfriend Barbara (Franka Potente) after posting bail.

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

How to Get the Look

Though stranded in a Chicago courtroom rather than taking on the high seas, Johnny Depp’s portrayal of George Jung in Blow takes sartorial inspiration from centuries-old maritime garb with a trendy twist as he makes his nonsensical pleas for freedom.

• Navy wool pea coat with broad lapels, 6×3-button double-breasted front, wide-flapped hip pockets, and 3-button cuffs
• Ivory interlocking lattice-knit wool turtleneck
• Dark navy flat front trousers with flared, plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather square-toed boots

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read the book too!

The Quote

Well, in all honesty, I don’t feel that what I’ve done is a crime. And I think it’s illogical and irresponsible for you to sentence me to prison. Because, when you think about it, what did I really do? I crossed an imaginary line with a bunch of plants. I mean, you say I’m an outlaw, you say I’m a thief, but where’s the Christmas dinner for the people on relief? Huh? You say you’re looking for someone who’s never weak but always strong, to gather flowers constantly whether you are right or wrong, someone to open each and every door, but it ain’t me, babe, huh? No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe. It ain’t me you’re looking for, babe. You follow?

Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo (2012)

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Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez, CIA covert operations officer

Tehran, Iran, January 1980

Film: Argo
Release Date: October 12, 2012
Director: Ben Affleck
Costume Designer: Jacqueline West

Background

A month ago on my Instagram page, I posted about Ben Affleck’s tweedy look in Argo to coincide with the 40th anniversary of what became known as the “Canadian Caper”, the successful 1980 rescue of six American diplomats who had been taking refuge with Canadian diplomatic personnel after the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The six diplomats—Bob Anders, Cora and Mark Lijek, Henry Lee Schatz, and Joe and Kathleen Stafford—had managed to escape after militants first stormed the embassy on November 4, 1979, evading the 444 days of captivity that befell more than 50 Americans who were detained in what would become known as the “Iran hostage crisis”. The escapees initially received help from the British embassy but deemed their situation too risky due to the militants’ raids of diplomatic compounds. Eventually, the sextet found a safer, longer-term solution sheltered at the homes of Canadian immigration officer John Sheardown and Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor.

Taylor first contacted the Canadian government, who expressed support for the sanctuary and instigated a plan to create six Canadian passports for the Americans to safely fly out of Iran. The joint Canadian-American operation also required the participation of the CIA, particularly the efforts of Antonio “Tony” Mendez, a decorated agent and expert in disguises and exfiltration.

Antonio “Tony” Mendez (1940-2019), as he appeared in a 2013 documentary after the film’s release shed light on his role in the “Canadian Caper”.

The 2012 film Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, focused on the CIA’s role in assisting the six, taking some criticism for underplaying the part that Canada played in not only taking great risks to shelter the “houseguests” but also to arrange for their exfiltration. Of the depiction, Jimmy Carter—who had been the U.S. president at the time of the incident—even stated in a contemporary interview that “90% of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian… the movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA and, with that exception, the movie is very good.”

Despite the redirected focus, I found Argo to be a sharp, suspenseful, surprisingly funny, and more realistic look at covert operations than we’re used to seeing from Hollywood, earning accolades like Roger Ebert’s final “favorite movie of the year” title and the Academy Award for Best Picture.

“The only way out of that city is the airport,” Affleck’s Mendez informs his CIA superiors when outlining his exfil plan. “You build new cover identities for them, you send in a Moses, he takes ’em out on a commercial flight.” As in real life, Mendez serves as the ‘Moses’, working with Oscar-winning prosthetics pro John Chambers (John Goodman) and veteran producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to convincingly establish the sextet’s new identities as a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a fictional science fiction epic called Argo.

“Don’t fuck up, the whole country is watching you… they just don’t know it,” advises Mendez’s boss Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston), who adds after escorting Mendez to the airport: “I’m required to remidn you that, if you’re detained, the agency will not claim you.” Mendez deadpans in response: “Shoulda brought some books to read in prison,” to which O’Donnell adds a touch of gallows humor: “Nah… they’ll kill you long before prison.”

Mendez seems considerably more optimistic once he’s in the airport, calling Chambers to inform him: “We got a green light. Keep the office running ’til you hear otherwise.” Via Istanbul, Mendez eventually lands in Tehran, where Ken Taylor (Victor Garber) introduces him to the six diplomats he’ll be expediently training in their cover stories, while Mendez shares his own cover name: “Hi. My name’s Kevin Harkins, and I’m gonna get you home.”

One of my favorite sequences features the group preparing for the next morning’s exfiltration with drinking and music, specifically Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks”, a track that Affleck has admitted he was “desperate” to include in the movie. While the band agreed to the track’s inclusion, they did have one stipulation: the scene as shot showed Bob Anders (Tate Donovan) placing the needle at the start of the album rather than its proper place as the last song on the record’s second side. Appreciative of the band’s attention to detail, Affleck was reportedly more than happy to direct the required reshoot.

What’d He Wear?

When costuming Ben Affleck to play Tony Mendez, costume designer Jacqueline West sought to dress him in clothing similar to what the actual agent wore during his mission. According to Ewen MacAskill for The Guardian, the real Mendez’s wife Jonna—also a former CIA officer—was “appalled” to learn that her husband had still had those old clothes from more than 30 years earlier in the garage.

“Tony sent me the actual clothes he wore during the exfiltration,” West explained in an exclusive interview with Clothes on Film about her work in Argo. “The jacket was herringbone tweed Brooks Brothers… Bless their hearts, Brooks Brothers had all their initial patterns from the 1970s and they made all those jackets and suits for Ben.”

The article in The Guardian states that Mendez had worn his Harris tweed jacket with slacks and cordovan wingtip shoes, essentially a de facto uniform for CIA agents of the era. “That was our uniform,” Mendez explained. “The jackets were representative of our group. Those of us in the CIA who did overseas work, work in the field. If you were in the field during the Blitz, you wore a trench coat. If you were tracking Ivan [the Soviet Union and its allies], you had Harris tweed.”

The concept of a rugged CIA operative in the 1970s clad in tweed, knitwear, and denim recalls Robert Redford’s iconic look in Three Days of the Condor, and West has stated that she used the famous 1975 thriller to convince Affleck that the herringbone would be effective on screen. But would an outfit appropriate for Christmastime in New York translate to a mission to Iran?

We know it’s a cold January in Tehran as Affleck’s Mendez had indicated the visible snow on the ground, seen in an Iranian newspaper, to quickly quash an idea that the six diplomats could use the cover as crop inspectors. Thus, the durable Harris tweed would be a comfortable top layer for Mendez to wear with his jeans, heavy boots, and a rotation of casual open-neck shirts. Jacket lapels aside, the approach is among the more timeless outfits in Argo, particularly when compared to the excessively fashionable sportswear worn by some of the disguised diplomats.

Jacket #1: Brown-and-Black Herringbone Tweed

Based on my initial recollections of the movie, I was fully prepared to write about Affleck’s herringbone tweed jacket until, upon rewatching, I discovered that he wears no less than three different herringbone tweed jackets! All three are similarly cut, styled, and patterned with slight variations in color, the “warmest”  being the brown-and-black herringbone jacket worn for Mendez’s initial flight from Washington, D.C. to Istanbul.

Mendez’s light blue oxford cloth cotton shirt with its button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs is an Ivy staple and likely another Brooks Brothers piece.

Mendez checks in with a British agent in Istanbul before continuing on to Tehran. Like a famous fictional spy who preceded him, Mendez chose Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia mosque for the rendezvous.

While he would continue to wear the dark jeans, brown belt, and brown boots for the rest of his mission, the brown-and-black tweed jacket and blue OCBD would not be seen again once Mendez leaves Istanbul.

Jacket #2: Gray-and-Black Herringbone Tweed

From his flight in to Tehran to his departure two days later, Mendez wears a gray-and-black herringbone jacket that gets the most screen-time of his trio of herringbone Harris tweed. All three jackets are single-breasted with broad notch lapels that, likely 4″ wide with swelled edges, are the most dated aspects of the outfit but would have looked out of place during the era if they had been more moderate in width.

The jackets have a welted breast pocket, straight hip pockets, and a long vent. The two buttons on the front and the four on each cuff are black woven leather.

Mendez gets an unwelcome phone call on the eve of his planned exfil.

Mendez’s first shirt with this jacket—worn for his arrival in Tehran and subsequently meeting the six diplomats—is a navy-and-red plaid with a thin white windowpane grid-check. This flannel shirt has a front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs.

Mendez flies into Tehran wearing a comfortable and colorful plaid flannel shirt under his tweed jacket.

Later, Mendez joins the six houseguests on “scouting” trip to convince the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance that their covers are legitimate, followed by a long evening to test and solidify their knowledge of their cover stories before facing airport security.

Apropos the full day of work, Mendez wears a classic work shirt in a rich blue chambray with a long point collar, front placket, and single-button cuffs, all fastening with cream-colored plastic two-hole buttons. The shirt has two patch pockets on the chest, one with a button-down flap on the right side and a button-through pocket on the left side.

A classic work shirt for a full day’s work.

One of the most frequently seen of Mendez’s shirts is an off-white cotton dress shirt with closely spaced hairline stripes that alternate between faded blue and faded salmon. In addition to wearing the shirt with neckties at CIA headquarters, he also wears the shirt twice while in the field. It has a long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs.

Note the faded stripes that are barely discernible from a distance.

The hairline-striped shirt is most prominently seen during the climactic airport sequence as Mendez escorts the six diplomats onto their Swissair flight out of Iran. He layers a navy wool long-sleeved sweater over his shirt for the flight, allowing the long point collar to fall outside the sweater’s V-neck opening.

Tony and the six diplomats try to conceal their anxiety as the ticket agent encounters trouble finding their flight reservations.

Jacket #3: Black-and-White Herringbone Tweed

After the successful exfil of the six diplomats, Mendez dresses up his third and final-seen herringbone tweed jacket for the office with a tie and trousers rather than his more casual mission-wear of open-neck shirt and jeans. He wears the same hairline-striped shirt that he wore under his sweater during the departure flight but with a navy tie patterned with ornate magenta dotted-edge squares that each enclose a yellow four-pointed star.

Mendez sticks to his tweed when back at CIA headquarters after a job well done.

He wears the same brown leather belt but, rather than jeans, a pair of dark gray flat front slacks and cordovan wingtip derbies, no doubt reflecting the office “uniform” that Mendez referenced in the article in The Guardian.

Everything Else

Other than the trousers he wears when he has returned to CIA headquarters, Mendez almost exclusively wears dark blue jeans with his herringbone tweed jackets, a casual but texturally coordinating choice that harmonizes the rough and “fuzzy” finish of the woolen Harris tweed with famously durable denim.

Mendez wears a thick brown leather belt with a rectangular brass single-prong buckle and a thick brass keeper.

Mendez runs through the diplomats’ new cover identities with them one last time before their fateful flight in the morning.

The Nevada-born Mendez is shown wearing brown cowboy boots with decoratively stitched soles for many early scenes in his operation, though he changes into somewhat more practical brown lace-up hiking boots for much of his time in Tehran.

Mendez turns to the bottle after receiving some bad news.

A frequent Rolex wearer in real life and other movies, Ben Affleck sports a Rolex Sea-Dweller in Argo, which some eagle-eyed viewers have identified as the ref. 116660 Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA, a model not introduced until 2008. While that anachronistic model may have been worn in some scenes (like this!), many of the Tehran sequences appear to feature a period-correct Rolex diver, stainless with a black rotating bezel, black dial with a 3:00 date function, and a steel “Oyster”-style link bracelet.

Note the differences between the period-correct Rolex with its 40mm case (left) and the bulkier modern Rolex Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA with its 44mm case (right).

In 1966, Rolex introduced the first Submariner with a date function, the ref. 1680, signifying the timepiece’s transition from a functional diver’s tool to a more broadly marketed status symbol. The following year marked the introduction of the Rolex Sea-Dweller (ref. 1665), essentially a heavier duty Submariner Date with a thicker case and crystal though its date window it lacked the “cyclops” magnifier.

Both Deployant and Ben Affleck’s Watch Collection (at swisswatchexpo.com) has identified the period-correct Rolex to be a Submariner Date. However, the screen-worn watch appears to lack the “cyclops” magnifier that was present on the ref. 1680. While I’m inclined to defer to these experts, I have a suspicion that the older Rolex featured on screen might thus be a Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 rather than a Submariner Date… though I welcome any discussion or clarification from those in the know!

What to Imbibe

Damned with the knowledge that the CIA called off the mission (a fictional element added for additional dramatic tension), Mendez quietly lets the six “houseguests” gradually get into a drunken, hopeful bliss to the scratchy sounds of Led Zeppelin. “We were having a lot to drink,” Cora Lijek recalls with a smirk in a modern documentary. “I think we were excited about the departure… and nervous as well.”

Mendez sneaks out a bottle of Macallan single malt Scotch whisky from the Canadian ambassador’s stash for himself and spends the rest of his sleepless night consulting the bottle back in his hotel room.

The Macallan bottle in Argo appears to have a period-correct logo that doesn’t reflect the whisky’s age, instead following the word “MACALLAN” with the scripted words “Pure Highland Malt Scotch Whisky”.

Cora recalled that it wasn’t their pre-flight drinks were hardly the end of their imbibing: “Once we got out of Iranian airspace, Tony ordered Bloody Marys for us and it tasted great.”

“One of the best Bloody Marys I have ever had!” added Bob Anders, the senior member of the group, while Kathy Stafford also remembered “that cocktail over Turkish airspace was delightful, it was wonderful!”

How to Get the Look

Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo (2012)

While Ben Affleck’s outfit in Argo may call Three Days of the Condor to mind, costume designer Jacqueline West was primarily influenced by the tweed Brooks Brothers jacket that the real Tony Mendez wore on his CIA mission to Tehran in the winter of 1980, sported with Condor-approved jeans, brown leather boots, and a classic dive watch.

• Gray-and-black herringbone Harris tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long single vent
• White hairline-striped cotton shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Navy knit V-neck long-sleeve sweater
• Dark blue denim jeans
• Brown leather belt with brass rectangular single-prong buckle and brass keeper
• Brown leather hiking boots
• Rolex steel dive watch with black bezel, black dial (with 3:00 date function), and steel Oyster-style link bracelet

You can read more about West’s costume design and Harris tweed in Argo here:

• “Argo: Interview with Costume Designer Jacqueline West” by Lord Christopher Laverty for Clothes on Film, February 2013
• “CIA agents look better in Harris tweed: how Argo revived a Scottish classic” by Ewen MacAskill for The Guardian, April 2013

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. I also recommend reading the real Mendez’s book, The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA.

Reading was evidently a popular pastime for the six diplomats in hiding. Lee Schatz recalled that John Sheardown was “a voracious reader so he had a great collection of books”, and Kathy Stafford added that the personal libraries available to her likely assisted in the escape. “I’m sure that one of the reasons I was able to go through the airport without being nervous was because I read every John LeCarre book they had,” Stafford explained in a 2013 interview. “I realized from his books that, if you act like you know what you’re doing, then other people will think you know what you’re doing and they’ll think… fine.”

The Quote

Ar-go fuck yourself.

Ted Danson as Sam Malone on Cheers (Episode 2.10: “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Call You Back”)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, BAMF Style readers! What could be a more appropriate focus on this green-bedecked holiday than focusing on one of the most famous movie and TV bartenders rocking a green shirt?

Vitals

Ted Danson as Sam Malone, bartender and former baseball star

Boston, Early Winter 1983

Series: Cheers
Episode: “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Call You Back” (Episode 2.10)
Air Date: December 8, 1983
Director: James Burrows
Created by: Glen Charles, Les Charles, and James Burrows
Costume Designer: Robert L. Tanella

WARNING! Spoilers ahead! 

Background

Diane: This is the way I describe our reIationship. It’s more than “like”. Beyond fondness. Verging on deep affection. There’s a vitaI physicaI component, bordering on the passionate. However, it has not reached the IeveI at which we wiII abandon reservations about a compIete commitment. That’s how I see things.
Sam: (a beat) Ditto.

The hot-and-cold relationship between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) on Cheers set the precedent for many sitcom pairings to follow, a seemingly incompatible romantic coupling that fluctuates frequently throughout the series. The sexual tension between the bartender and the perpetual grad student reached a boiling point in the first season finale when the two agreed to make a go at it (“Diane and I decided we’re going to start messing around,” Sam announced to the bar in the following episode), though the couple can barely make it a few weeks without questioning everything.

Earlier in the episode, Sam gratefully⁠—but unconsciously⁠—declared “I love you!” to Diane after she gifted him hard-to-get tickets to a fight. After walking back his declaration, Sam and Diane agreed to take a week “off” from their relationship to determine exactly why they’re together. On the final night of the challenge, Sam has been out partying with Coach, Carla, Norm, Cliff, and Alan (Alan?), idling away their time at a strip club and playing all-night poker, only for Diane to visit Sam right at midnight to excitedly exchange each other’s thoughts about the meaning of their relationship… though, of course, Sam’s got nothing and is forced to stall until he proves unable to come through in the clutch.

“Honey…I have no idea why we’re together,” Sam admits, also laying bare the show successfully taking one of a sitcom’s greatest and most uncelebrated risks: pursuing the possibility that its two romantic leads may not actually be “meant” to be together. In my opinion, this gives Cheers a degree of emotional realism that elevates it above other sitcoms. While Ross and Rachel probably should not be together, Friends was still firmly rooting for its two characters while Cheers⁠—even early on in the Sam and Diane pairing⁠—recognizes the very valid factors that might make these two characters too fundamentally different to be in a healthy romantic relationship.

Meredith Blake nicely called this out in The AV Club‘s retrospective review of the episode:”Given the over-familiarity of the accidental ‘I love you’ premise, the open-ended, meandering quality of this episode surprised me somewhat. I expected a neat third-act resolution in which Sam unequivocally declared his love for Diane, but instead we get an episode that embraces narrative and romantic ambiguity. I tend to think of ’80s television as being obvious and formulaic in a way that quote-unquote good shows can’t get away with today, but Cheers really challenges this impression.”

Cheers co-creator James Burrows told The New York Times after Shelley Long left the show in 1987 that “the three of us have been with Sam and Diane a long time, and we’re a little tired of their shenanigans,” to which Les Charles added “a little bored and amazed America was so passionate about them.” A lesser show may have used Shelley Long’s return in the series finale to tie a neat, happy bow on Sam and Diane’s on-again/off-again dynamic, but anyone who has seen the final episode knows that the series took a more mature, realistic, and ultimately more satisfying direction.

What’d He Wear?

This particular shirt from Sam’s expansive wardrobe makes only a brief appearance, but it made an impression on me for its color, fabric, and flattering cut. He would later wear a red version of the same shirt under a blue puffer vest in the following episode, “Just Three Friends” (Episode 2.11).

Sam’s long-sleeved shirt is a rich forest green shade of pinwale corduroy, also known as “needlecord”, with a point collar, front placket, and two chest pockets. The shirt is detailed with mixed tan urea buttons that pop from the shirt’s placket, pocket flaps, and cuffs for an eye-catching contrast that also neatly coordinates with the rest of his outfit’s earthy tones.

Sam finds himself at a loss for words trying to validate his relationship with Diane.

Sam wears beige flat front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms, side pockets, jetted back pockets (with a button through the left pocket only), and a coin pocket just below the right side of his belt line with a single-button flap. His surcingle belt is a prep style staple, consisting here of a khaki web body with a brown center stripe, fitted with brown leather ends that close through a long rectangular gunmetal single-prong buckle.

Mayday Malone where he’s most comfortable: behind the bar and talking to friends.

Boat shoes are Sam Malone’s preferred footwear when manning the bar at Cheers, consistent with his nautical enthusiasm while also serving the practical purpose of providing the barman with traction when working the potentially slippery floors behind the counter. Also known as deck shoes, these iconic shoes were developed in 1935 by New England renaissance man Paul A. Sperry. Sperry had noticed the relative ease with which dogs were able to traverse icy surfaces without slipping and used that to create the siped soles of what would become the famous Sperry Top-Sider, so named for ability to keep sailors stably afoot while walking the exposed “top side” decks above a boat’s waterline.

Sam wears a variety of boat shoes over Cheers‘ eleven-season run in colors ranging from dark shades of navy and black to multiple shades in the brown spectrum including a rich tobacco nubuck and, as seen here in “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Call You Back”, a drab khaki with a matching lace system and white outsoles. Complementing this classic prep staple, Sam wears argyle socks in tan-and-dark cocoa brown with burgundy overcheck.

Sam finds himself on the floor during one of many heated “what are we?” arguments with Diane, partly out of exasperation and partly because she pushed him.

This episode marked the first appearance of Sam Malone’s all-black wristwatch with its dark gunmetal case, black dial with white hands and hour markers, and black strap, differing from the mostly field watches on khaki and brown bands that he had worn for the season and a half leading up to this.

Danson would wear this watch for the duration of the season, aside from the twelfth and thirteenth episodes, until swapping it out for a gold dress watch on a tan strap for the third season.

Discarded as soon as they enter the bar and seen only in a wide shot, Sam wore a tan suede shirt-jacket with a point collar, seven black-finished snaps up the front, two patch pockets on the chest that each close with a straight, single-snap flap, and barrel cuffs with a single-snap closure and a second snap to close the gauntlet. The suede provides a fine textural complement to the needlecord shirt he wears under it.

So did Sam just close the bar when he was out gallivanting with its staff and regulars? That hardly seems like the most economical decision…

This suede “shacket” would show up on a few more occasions over the following season, including the episodes “Coach in Love, Part 2” (Episode 3.07) and “Teacher’s Pet” (Episode 3.16).

How to Get the Look

Ted Danson and Shelley Long on Cheers (Episode 2.10: “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Call You Back”)

Given Cheers‘ extended production over the uneven sartorial years of the 1980s into the early ’90s, Sam Malone was hardly a consistent style icon, but simple outfits like this St. Patrick’s Day-friendly garb that pun an interesting spin on his preppy template stand out against the abundance of bright plaid flannel shirts, gaudily patterned sweaters, and shirts with excessive pockets and redundant flaps that would make their way into Mayday’s wardrobe later in the series’ run.

• Forest green pinwale corduroy cotton long-sleeve shirt with point collar, front placket, two chest pockets (with single-button pointed flaps), and button cuffs
• Tan suede shirt-jacket with point collar, seven-snap placket, chest pockets with single-snap flaps, and single-snap cuffs
• Beige flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, right-side coin pocket (with single-button flap), jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Khaki-and-brown stripe webbed surcingle belt with brown leather fittings and long rectangular gunmetal single-prong buckle
• Khaki napped leather two-eyelet boat shoes with khaki lacing system and white outsoles with siped bottoms
• Tan-and-brown argyle socks with burgundy overcheck
• Gunmetal wristwatch with black dial (with white hands and hour markers) on black strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the entire series, currently streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix while also available on DVD.

The Quote

Just goes to show you, you could still have a good time without drinking as long as you’re surrounded by naked broads shakin’ their wallies in your face.

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

Vitals

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

New York City and Washington, D.C., Winter 1975

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

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.

Happy Spring to my BAMF Style readers in the Northern Hemisphere! Among the many screen credits of the late Max von Sydow, who died at the age of 90 earlier this month, was the taciturn professional assassin known as G. Joubert in the ’70s espionage thriller Three Days of the Condor.

While Joubert had offered the above informed warning to Joe Turner (Robert Redford) on a wintry morning in Maryland, his “first sunny day of the spring” description has become memorable in its own right, inspiring homages and spoofed deliveries from the like of Newman on Seinfeld.

Joubert’s movements and precision indicate his experience as a cunning, calculating contract killer, rarely impressed by the humans whose deaths he engineers en masse until he encounters the wily CIA researcher Turner, codenamed “Condor”, whose very inexperience makes him a fortunate yet unwitting foil to the seemingly unstoppable Joubert:

Condor is an amateur. He’s lost, unpredictable, perhaps even sentimental. He could fool a professional. Not deliberately, but precisely because he is lost, doesn’t know what to do.

What’d He Wear?

Joubert’s light taupe gabardine trench coat is a fashionable evolution of the Burberrys that protected British officers during World War I, re-designed with form over function having excised the functioning shoulder straps, D-rings, and storm flaps that delivered a practical purpose for military wearers but not minimalist assassins roaming the streets of New York City decades later.

The first we see of Joubert, he is walking away from the camera on a rainy morning in Manhattan, adequately protected with an umbrella and trench coat.

Joubert’s knee-length coat has the classic double-breasted front with six brown nut two-hole buttons arranged in a “keystone” of three rows of two, tapering down from a widely spaced top row to a more closely spaced bottom row around the belt line, just below the full belt that closes through a buckle. The coat also has broad, widely notched lapels with triple-stitched edges that he wears turned up in the back, slanted hand pockets on the sides below the belt line, and a long single vent that extends up to about a half-foot short of the belt in the back.

The set-in sleeves have a triangular semi-tab on each cuff that closes through a single button, and the shoulders are detailed with faux shoulder straps that are fused to the cloth beneath them unlike functional straps on military garments that would be used to attach epaulettes and rank insignia shoulder boards.

In solitude as his fellow hitmen storm the rest of the American Historical Literary Society, Joubert allows himself a rare moment without his signature specs on.

Joubert’s base layer with this outfit is a lightweight rust-colored ribbed-knit turtleneck.

Behind the scenes, Robert Redford and Max von Sydow call a truce from their characters’ deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Joubert’s habit of keeping his trench coat buttoned up throughout his mission covers much of the layers beneath it, but we see enough of his intermediate layer to know that he’s wearing a light brown thin-waled corduroy sports coat, single-breasted with slim notch lapels and a welted breast pocket. (The behind-the-scenes shot of von Sydow conversing with Redford on set, at right, shows considerably more of the jacket than we ever see on screen.)

This may or may not be the same jacket that is again only briefly glimpsed under his winter-friendly houndstooth coat, but we know that Joubert wears his same signature hat and eyewear no matter what the rest of his outfit is.

Joubert’s brown velvet trilby has a narrow textured tan-on-rust band, evoking the look of a traditional Bavarian Tyrolean hat that nods to the character’s own vaguely Teutonic origins.

He also wears large tortoise square-framed glasses with thick lenses that create a disorienting barrier between the assassin and the audience, making it all the more significant when he removes them for a powerful conversation during the film’s final act, showing us that the seemingly unstoppable hitman is a human after all.

Joubert’s straight-leg trousers are a dark, cool shade of brown, tonally appropriate for the rest of this earthy-colored outfit. The plain-hemmed bottoms break cleanly over his snuff brown suede two-eyelet desert boots, worn with tan socks.

Unless properly treated, suede boots may not be the wisest choice for a rainy day like this, but they’re still a comfortable, stylish, and appropriate complement to this smart casual outfit.

In an interesting inversion of genre tropes, Joubert doesn’t signify his preparation to kill by donning a pair of sinister black leather gloves; rather, he sports a pair of short burgundy lambskin three-point gloves.

Joubert breaks the ice with Condor when he steadily bends down and, with his already gloved hand, picks up an errant black glove from the floor of the elevator they share. “Yours?” he asks, before delicately placing the glove on the handrai.

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

CONDOR

The Gun

The first firearm we see Joubert wield is the distinctive Mauser C96, colloquially known as the “Broomhandle Mauser” for its unique rounded wooden grip said to resemble the handle of a broom. Per its official designation, the Mauser C96 was introduced in 1896 and would be produced for the next four decades until it was superseded by more modern weaponry as Germany amped up its arms production leading up to World War II.

Without additions like the shoulder stock or extended magazine, the typical C96 weighed about two and a half pounds and measured just over a foot long with its five-and-a-half inch barrel, comparable in mass to the M1911 service pistol but considerably heavier than World War II-era German sidearms like the venerable Luger or James Bond’s preferred Walther PPK, both weighing in at less than two pounds and between six and nine inches long, respectively.

Aside from the run of “red 9” pistols developed for the Imperial German Army, the Mauser C96 was chambered for the proprietary 7.63x25mm ammunition, an effective round though limited only to use in the C96 and unique other weapons of the era.

Joubert takes aim with his Mauser C96, fitted with scope and shoulder stock.

So why would a sophisticated assassin like Joubert be using a heavy, hard-to-conceal handgun that hadn’t been made in nearly half a century?

Aside from Joubert’s suggested shared heritage with the Mauser, the weapon’s long barrel and ability to be fitted with a mounted scope and shoulder stock—as he uses it—allows him the longer-range functionality of a rifle in the more compact packaging of a handgun. True, Joubert wouldn’t necessarily be able to snipe a target if needed, but he would have a more precise longer-range shot potentially accurate up to 200 yards as opposed to the compact Walther PPK’s effective range of, say, up to about 75 yards in the hands of an expert.

While it may take up more space than a PPK or its ilk, the Mauser C96 would give Joubert greater flexibility for finding scenarios to take out his valuable target while still likely fitting into one of the oversized pockets of his trench coat.

Despite Joubert’s thoughtful choice of weaponry, the wily Condor still manages to avoid being taken out during a risky visit to his late pal Sam Barber’s apartment complex.

How to Get the Look

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

Three Days of the Condor is set just before Christmas, but Joubert’s trench coat, trilby, and turtleneck for walking the rainy streets of New York and Washington would be just as suitable for a dressed-down stroll on a spring day with April showers expected.

• Light taupe gabardine trench coat with widely notched lapels, keystone-formation 6-button double-breasted front, full belt with buckle, faux shoulder straps, set-in sleeves with single-button triangular semi-tab cuffs, and long single vent
• Rust-colored ribbed-knit turtleneck
• Light brown pinwale corduroy single-breasted sport jacket with notch lapels and welted breast pocket
• Charcoal twill flat front trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets, button-flapped back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Snuff brown suede two-eyelet desert boots
• Tan socks
• Brown velvet trilby with textured tan-on-rust band
• Tortoise square-framed glasses
• Burgundy lambskin three-point leather gloves
• Gold wristwatch with gold-mesh bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Kids… probably the same everywhere.

Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski in Defiance (2008)

Vitals

Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Polish resistance leader

Belarus, August 1941 through April 1942

Film: Defiance
Release Date: December 31, 2008
Director: Edward Zwick
Costume Designer: Jenny Beavan

Background

Daniel Craig’s fifth and final movie as James Bond, No Time to Die, was originally scheduled for release in the U.K. today. Last month, MGM and Eon Productions announced that they were pushing the release to November in response to concerns related to the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. While the postponement may have defied the wishes of Bond fans (see where I’m going with this?), there’s still plenty of Craig’s filmography out there to stream, including the 2008 war film Defiance.

Based on the true exploits of a Polish resistance group during World War II, Defiance wastes no time in establishing the different personalities of the four Bielski Brothers: pragmatic Tuvia (Daniel Craig) who emerges as a natural leader, tough Zus (Liev Schrieber) who is always ready for a fight, sensitive Asael (Jamie Bell) for whom family unity is most important, and the quiet youngster Aron (George MacKay) who withdraws after witnessing the deaths of his parents and family at the hands of the brutal Nazi Einsatzgruppen. (In reality, Asael was older than he was portrayed and was also the first to take up arms as opposed to his more mild-mannered depiction in Defiance.)

Encountering other Jewish refugees and families in exile, the partisans work together to survive while arming themselves to fight for vengeance and defend their lives as they grow to more than 1,200 strong, organizing what would become known as the Bielski Otriad.

Director and co-screenwriter Edward Zwick and screenwriter Clayton Frohman were inspired by Nechama Tec’s 1993 book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, adding more combat scenes including a climactic tank battle that differed from the reality of the survival-oriented group. While scenes like that may have been invented for the screen, much of Defiance was filmed on location in Lithuania, just across the Belarusian border and reportedly about 100 miles away from where the actual Bielski Otriad had camped.

What’d He Wear?

As we follow Tuvia Bielski for nearly a year in the forest, the Otriad leader would need to be dressed in layers rugged and reliable enough to protect him through months of rain, snow, dirt, and combat without the possibility of changing while also serving as relatively effective camouflage.

“In this film, the characters live with nothing, so their costumes have to show how they cope with that,” costume designer Jenny Beavan offered in a December 2008 Variety interview, where it was explained that her team created six of each of the main actors’ costumes for Defiance. “You have to have a certain amount done up front, but things evolve during the course of shooting because you become inspired by something, so we were still tweaking everything until it was just right.”

At least two of the leather jackets Beavan designed for Daniel Craig to wear as Tuvia Bielski were on display at the Heritage Museum & Gardens in Sandwich. Museum curator Jennifer Madden explained to 90.9 WBUR’s Erin Trahan that Beavan’s process included “aging” the jackets with dye and cheese graters to create the look of a garment that withstands constant battles with German troops, seasonal precipitation, and life in the woods.

Thanks to BAMF Style reader Simon, I learned that Stuart Belton made Craig’s screen-worn leather jackets in Defiance.

Tuvia’s brown leather jacket is styled like a classic car coat, hip-length and with a large enough fit to be worn over a lounge jacket. The coat has a large, point collar and a brass zipper that zips up from the waist, leaving a few inches of skirt below to aid Tuvia’s movements when he needs to move quickly. The zipper rises up to an inch shy of the top of the coat.

A horizontal yoke extends across the front and back, aligned toward the bottom of each armhole, with short pleats extending down from each of the back yokes for a touch of added mobility. An inch down from the front yoke, on each side of the chest, is a set-in pocket with a jetted opening and brass zip closure. There are also patch pockets lower on the hips with narrow straight flaps but no evident buttons, snaps, or zips to fasten. The set-in sleeves are reinforced at the ends with a seam that rings around each cuff under a rounded-end semi-strap that closes through a single mixed dark brown sew-through button.

Tuvia confers with his brother Zus.

There are many replicas offered for sale across the internet, though I’d place my faith in the screen-inspired tribute offered by Magnoli Clothiers in goatskin, lambskin, and cowhide, as well as a “pre-distressed” finish for the kind of patina one would see after months in the woods.

From the beginning of the movie, Tuvia wears a thick dark brown leather belt that serves as his de facto gun belt, typically worn over his outermost layer though he initially wears it over his jacket and under his leather coat when only armed with the French Charmelot-Delvigne revolver that he shoves into the belt. The thick belt has a large gunmetal double-prong buckle.

After obtaining an old French revolver from their neighbor, Tuvia wears it tucked into his belt, worn under his leather coat but over his lounge jacket.

As the Bielski Otriad gets more tightly organized and better armed, Tuvia supplements his belt with a dark leather strap that crosses over his right shoulder like a Sam Browne rig, connecting onto his waist belt with wide leather loops. This narrower strap has a gold-toned single-prong buckle, contrasting with the dulled silver gunmetal buckle of his waist belt.

The addition of the diagonal cross strap gives Tuvia better support for adding a holster, magazine pouches, and a vertical knife sheath onto his belt. The German-issued black hardshell leather holster has a wide flap with a narrow strap that passes through through a metal loop to retain his Walther P38 in place as well as a forward-positioned slot for an extra magazine. Worn on the back left of his belt is a three-cell magazine pouch, made of “field gray” (feldgrau) canvas with black retention straps to carry three of the long, straight box magazines for his MP40.

Same belt, different day… and on this particular day, Tuvia has already supplemented his usual belt with a cross strap, holster, magazine pouch, and sheathed knife.

Under his coat, Tuvia wears a fraying olive drab cotton unstructured jacket that’s styled and cut like a ventless, single-breasted lounge jacket with its notch lapels, three-button front, patch breast pocket, and hip pockets. Unlike a suit or sport jacket, the ends of the jacket’s sleeves are plain with no buttons or vents, and Tuvia frequently cuffs back the end of each sleeve.

The color and cut of Tuvia’s jacket, as well as his habit of wearing all three buttons fastened, suggests a militaresque appearance apropos his role as commander of the Bielski Otriad, even if it isn’t a true military garment.

Tuvia’s pullover shirt is slate-gray with tonal blue striping, made of a lightweight cotton that has taken to pilling over many months in hard service as the Otriad leader’s only shirt. The shirt’s set-in sleeves are shirred at the shoulders and fastened with button cuffs that he unbuttons and rolls up to his forearms when working around the camp.

The shirt four buttons widely spaced down the plain-front bib, worn with the lowest three buttons fastened and open at the neck, where the top of his pale ecru slubbed long-sleeve henley undershirt occasionally peeks through. The slate-gray pullover shirt has a soft point collar that becomes unpresentably wrinkled, though keeping a pressed collar is understandably among the highest of Tuvia Bielski’s priorities.

Tuvia spends his months in the woods wearing corduroy breeches, a smart choice for comfort and durability. The cloth is a fine gauge corduroy known as “pinwale” or “needlecord” (best observed in this closeup), colored in an olive gray cloth not unlike the drab “field gray” or feldgrau of the era’s German uniforms.

Tuvia’s high-rise breeches have single foward-facing pleats, side pockets, and an additional coin pocket on the right side, though there are no back pockets. In addition to a pointed-end “cinch-back” strap, these trousers are held up by a set of green, taupe, and burgundy striped suspenders (braces) with silver-toned adjusters and brown leather hooks that connect to buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband.

The bottoms of Tuvia’s breeches are tucked into plain black leather riding boots with hard leather soles. The calf-high shafts have straight openings around the top and are unadorned with straps or buckles, similar in style to the German-issued M1939 Marschstiefel (“marching boots”), infamously monikered “jackboots”, and the long leather boots worn by the Soviet Red Army.

MP40 in hand, Tuvia takes cover behind a tree while battling the Germans.

As the weather grows cooler approaching winter, Tuvia dresses for a scouting mission in an olive military side cap and charcoal woolen scarf. Tuvia may have considered the possibility of encountering the Soviets during the mission as his khaki side cap is similar to the khaki pilotka summer cap issued by the Red Army, albeit without the distinctive Red Star badge that was pinned to the front. (These days, you can even find Soviet pilotkas on Amazon!)

The sidecap makes only this brief appearance around the time of the Bielski Otriad’s first encounter with the local Soviet troops, but Tuvia would continue wearing the charcoal scarf through winter.

Otherwise, Tuvia typically dresses his head in a dark olive tweed flat cap, similar to the Greek fisherman’s caps that had crept their way inland to become popular workwear, particularly among the Russian Jewish community as famously worn by Topol as Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof (1971).

Tuvia catches Lilka’s eye through the falling snow during Asael’s wedding.

As the snowy winter of December 1941 extends into 1942, Tuvia adds the additional layer of a light fawn-colored topcoat made of tattered wool with a piled fur-lined collar that Zus had initially liberated from a local farmer who collaborates with the Germans. Wearing it through most of the winter, Tuvia also lends it to Lilka (Alexa Davalos) with his Walther P38 for her first food mission; she returns it to him in time for him to use as a blanket as he recovers from his winter sickness, and subsequent scenes depict both Tuvia and Lilka sharing the coat until the spring.

The long coat has a high-fastening double-breasted front with two columns of five buttons each, fastening through a fly front that provides a clean appearance when the coat is buttoned. The wide collar is fur-lined, providing extra warmth and protection when the coat is buttoned and the collar turned up against Tuvia’s neck and face. The coat also has hand pockets and a short back belt with a button on each rounded end that suppresses the fit around the waist. The set-in sleeves have no buttons, straps, or buckles at the ends, only a seam that rings around the cuff about six inches back from the end of each sleeve. Tuvia also wears dark brown knitted fingerless gloves throughout the winter.

Bundled up against the cold winter.

When the snow thaws and winter gives way to spring, Tuvia hangs up his heavier topcoat and opts for a long dark brown leather pilot’s flying jacket that extends below his knees, another piece similar to items worn by the Soviet Army that may subconsciously code him as an ally when he returns to their camp to request assistance.

The double-breasted coat has four rows of two buttons, with the top row at the neck spaced a little higher than the three rows on the chest, belt line, and hips. Tuvia wears the coat’s large point collar turned up, revealing a throat latch buttoned onto the right collar leaf that would ostensibly be fastened to the left leaf to close the coat over his neck if needed. The coat also has slanted hand pockets and raglan sleeves with plain cuffs.

Tuvia wears double-layered leather coats for his return to the snowy Soviet camp.

With the arrival of spring, Tuvia has no need for his additional layers and abandons both topcoats as well as the heavy scarf, instead catching his sweat with a black-and-gray striped wool neckerchief that he wears under his shirt like a day cravat.

Tuvia faces the group’s next obstacle to freedom.

Tuvia wears a vintage wristwatch with a sterling silver cushion case on a brown edge-stitched leather strap. The watch has a round tan radium dial with black-outlined Arabic numeral hour markers and a sub-section register at 6:00. My friend Aldous, an eagle-eyed pro with whom I often consult with on the subject of wristwatches, suggests that the watch was likely manufactured no later than the mid-1920s due to the design of its dial, luminous “cathedral” hands, and the fixed wire lugs that were increasingly less common after the advent of the now-ubiquitous spring bar.

Cushion-cased watches were widely popular around the world during this era, making identification of Craig’s screen-worn watch more difficult. Some on Quora and WatchUSeek have suggested that, as he would as James Bond and in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Daniel Craig wears an Omega, though of 1940s vintage to fit with the film’s timeframe, though I doubt these theories as the details of the watch don’t resemble any period Omegas I’m familiar with. Aldous pointed out to me that the quality of the metal does not suggest a higher-end watchmaker like Longines or Omega but rather a more run-of-the-mill Swiss watch like a Cyma.

In fact, I recommend tracking down vintage Cyma cushion-cased watches from the 1920s if you want to cop Daniel’s horological style from Defiance as there are quite a few on the market not unlike his screen-worn piece. (For example, this 1927-dated Cyma via Etsy.)

The Guns

“One pistol is nothing, we need rifles, machine guns,” observes Zus as the three oldest brothers formulate their first plan of vengeance. “Machine guns? What’s next, you’re gonna take on the whole German Army?” asks Tuvia, foreshadowing that—by the end of the story—that’s exactly what the brothers are prepared to do. But first, they’ll need that “one pistol.”

The handgun in question is actually a Chamelot-Delvigne Modèle 1873 revolver, designated the modèle 1873 in French military service. The MAS 1873 had already been relatively obsolete by World War II, though it had a reputation for reliability and remained in use in limited numbers by French service, namely among reserve units, police officers, and resistance fighters.

After the Franco-Prussian War resulted in a German victory, the French recognized a serious need to upgrade their weaponry. Belgian gunsmith J. Chamelot and French inventor Henri-Gustave Delvigne collaborated to develop what would become the first double-action revolver issued to the French Army. Per its designation, the Chamelot-Delvigne revolver was produced by the French state manufacturer Manufacture d’armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS) from 1873 until 1887. The Modèle 1873 with its bare metal finish was offered to non-commissioned officers while the newly developed Modèle 1874 “Revolver d’Officier” with its darker blued finish and fluted cylinder was issued to officers, though most French commissioned officers reportedly preferred swords to sidearms as personal defense weapons through World War I.

By that time, Chamelot-Delvigne revolver production had long ceased with more than 330,000 of the Army Modèle 1873 and 1874 revolvers produced as well as a slightly more powerful Navy model. The standard issue French sidearm had already been upgraded to the Modèle 1892 “Lebel” revolver, which fired the smaller 8mm French Ordinance round that, while smaller than the Modèle 1873’s 11mm round, was nearly equivalent in power.

Tuvia borrows his MAS 1873 from a neighbor, the sympathetic farmer Kościk (Jacek Korman), who only has four rounds of the revolver’s proprietary 11mm French Ordnance black powder ammunition. A rimmed cartridge measuring approximately 11×17 mm R, this round was relatively anemic for a weapon of its size, equivalent in velocity and power to the .32 ACP compact pistol round (an improvement over the earlier-issued ammunition, which was closer to the underpowered .25 ACP.) Still, it’s wielded to deadly effect in James Bond’s, er, Tuvia Bielski’s hands when he exacts vengeance on his parents’ deaths by executing the cruel Schutzmannschaft (Auxiliary Police) chief who was responsible for their deaths.

“Only four bullets,” Tuvia explains to Zus, who responds: “Then we’ll have to make them count.”
Note Daniel Craig’s correct trigger finger discipline.

As the brothers gain access to better arms and ammunition, mostly of German or Russian issue, Tuvia has no further need for his underpowered and obsolete French revolver and begins carrying a Walther P38 as his preferred sidearm.

The Wehrmacht had adopted the P38 as its issued service pistol in 1940, two years after the first design had been completed and effectively replacing the iconic but aging Luger. The Walther P38 was innovative for its time as the first locked-breech pistol with a double-action trigger (similar to that on Walther’s blowback-action PPK), a necessity mandated by the P38’s more powerful 9x19mm ammunition. Despite some experimental or limited runs in other calibers, the 9x19mm Parabellum round was essentially standard for the P38, feeding from an eight-round box magazine. Although its locked breech was part of the initial P38 design, the Heer requested that this original design be modified from its hidden hammer to an external hammer, resulting in the two-year delay before production could get underway.

Germany produced Walther P38 pistols throughout the duration of the war, ending in 1945 after the Allied victory. A dozen years later, the West German Bundeswehr requested that the P38 re-enter production, which it did in June 1957. These postwar P38 pistols, and the P1 variant that began production in 1963, can be differentiated by their slightly lighter aluminum frames as opposed to the steel frames of WWII-production P38 pistols.

Tuvia doles out intra-camp punishment with his Walther P38.

In addition to carrying a German service pistol, Tuvia keeps a captured German MP40 submachine gun as his primary assault weapon. Designated Maschinenpistole 40 in German military service, this submachine gun was often nicknamed the “Schmeisser” by Allied soldiers in reference to Hugo Schmeisser, the German weapons designer whose MP18 became the first submachine gun to be used in combat; however, Schmeisser had nothing to do with the direct development of the MP40, which had been designed by Heinrich Vollmer.

Fed from a 32-round, double-stack box magazine, the MP40 fired 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition at a rate of between 500 and 550 rounds per minute. The MP40 could only fire fully automatic with no options for single shots or a three-round burst as found on modern submachine guns, though this relatively low rate of fire (compared to the M1A1 Thompson firing up to 800 rounds per minute) allowed for steady shots in the hands of a skilled shooter.

More than one million MP40 submachine guns were produced at Erma Werke over the course of the war, primarily carried by infantrymen and paratroopers, the latter particularly benefiting from the weapon’s innovative front-folding stock. Unlike the Walther P38, MP40 production was not resumed after the war.

Daniel Craig correctly keeps his finger off the trigger and grips the MP40 by its handguard rather than by the magazine itself, often incorrectly depicted as a foregrip when, in fact, gripping the MP40’s magazine while firing would frequently cause feeding malfunctions.

During the climactic final battle, Tuvia overpowers a group fo German soldiers manning an MG34 machine gun and commandeers the weapon himself. This air-cooled machine gun, designated Maschinengewehr 34 in German service, predated World War II and was considered the first “general purpose” machine gun upon its introduction in 1934. The MG34 was another design from Heinrich Vollmer, the Württemberg-born weapons developer also responsible for the aforementioned MP40.

Chambered in the same rimless 7.92x57mm Mauser rifle round that had been fired by German service rifles for three decades, the recoil-operated MG34 was first issued to units in 1936, entering wider service in January 1939 as Germany prepared for war. With its high rate of fire, relative lightness, and versatility, the MG34 was a popular weapon across all German military branches and battlefronts. The complexity of its production led to the development of the cheaper and faster-firing MG42, though both machine guns remained in production and service through the war’s end.

Tuvia takes over the MG34.

What to Imbibe

The brothers Bielski generally limit most of their drinking toward the beginning of the movie, passing a bottle of Altenburger Schwarzgebrannter, a German herbal liqueur.

Zus hands Tuvia a bottle to drown his sorrows after an unpleasant task.

I’m not sure if this particular spirit would have been around during World War II as the Altenburger distillery site explains that the liquor factory itself didn’t open until 1948.

I’ll admit I was unfamiliar with this spirit before watching Defiance, but the Altenburger site provides additional context as well as this forum where a user describes it as “a bitter herb liqueur from Altenburg in Thuringia. One usually drinks one shot glass full after a rich meal.”

How to Get the Look

Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski in Defiance (2008). From a photo by Karen Ballard.

Even Daniel Craig himself seems to have taken some style inspiration from his costume as Tuvia Bielski, as observed by Eve Buckland for the Daily Mail.

• Brown worn leather hip-length combat car coat with large point collar, waist-to-neck brass zip closure, horizontal front and back yoke, two  zip-closure jetted set-in chest pockets, two patch hip pockets (with flaps), and set-in sleeves with single-button straps
• Olive cotton unstructured single-breasted 3-button jacket with patch breast pocket, hip pockets, plain cuffs, and ventless back
• Slate-gray tonal striped lightweight cotton pullover shirt with point collar, four-button bib, and button cuffs
• Green, taupe, and burgundy striped suspenders with silver-toned adjusters and brown leather connector hooks
• Olive gray pinwale corduroy high-rise breeches with single forward-facing pleats, side pocket, right-side coin pocket, and cinch-back strap
• Dark brown leather Sam Browne belt with dulled gunmetal double-prong buckle
  • Narrow dark brown leather cross strap (with gold-toned single-prong buckle)
  • Black leather Walther P38 belt holster with flap
  • Three-cell MP40 magazine pouches
  • Knife sheath
• Black leather calf-high riding boots with hard leather soles
• Dark olive tweed flat mariner’s cap
• Charcoal woolen scarf
• Vintage silver cushion-cased watch with tan dial (with Arabic numeral hour markers and 6:00 sub-dial) on brown edge-stitched leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

If we should die trying to live, then at least we die like human beings.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 4.13: “Tomorrowland”)

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Madison Avenue ad man

Anaheim, California, October 1965

Series: Mad Men
Episode: “Tomorrowland” (Episode 4.13)
Air Date: October 17, 2010
Director: Matthew Weiner
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

During my latest Mad Men rewatch while on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, I found myself so intrigued by the fourth season finale that I watched the episode back-to-back. For a show set so far into the past, it’s amazing how effective Mad Men can be at stirring a viewer’s enthusiasm for the future.

When this episode first aired in October 2010, I was beginning my senior year of college, as unsure about what my future would look like as it I was when I had first moved into my crowded dorm room three years earlier. I had no clear picture of what my “Tomorrowland” would look like, whether I’d manage to land a fulfilling job, a healthy romantic life, or even whether the ever-present specter of dark suicidal urges would cut both of those prospects from being fulfilled. I’d been watching a season of Don Draper weaving from rock-bottom lows to promising highs, and the once self-destructive ad man’s future looked brighter than ever as he ended the season with all signs pointing to a favorable future.

This trajectory began during a business trip-turned-family vacation to Disneyland, for which Don brings along his secretary Megan (Jessica Paré), who has already developed a respectful relationship with the Draper children… and a casually carnal relationship with their father. Megan’s presence with the family seems strictly professional, serving in the role of babysitter after Don’s ex-wife Betty (January Jones) had impulsively fired the children’s long-time nanny Carla (Deborah Lacey) and left Don in desperate need for someone to watch the kids while he conducts business.

The episode even seems to tease chemistry between Don and Megan’s college “frenemy” Camille, a blonde in the tradition of former Draper paramours Betty, Bethany Van Nuys, and even Dr. Faye Miller (on a purely aesthetic basis), but the show averts our expectations that Don would continue his pursuit of meaningless sex by revealing that it’s Megan he visits later that Saturday night, following his heart… not to say that other organs may not have still had a say.

Matthew Weiner was never casual with his episode titles and, while “Tomorrowland” carries the obvious associations with the futuristic section of Disneyland that will no doubt be on the Draper family’s agenda, it suggests Don designing the architecture of his own Tomorrowland. After nearly two years of depressive drinking and drifting, he’s finally found what could be the key to his elusive happiness… and, of course, he found it in California, the seaside state that has long represented his fondness for fresh beginnings.

What’d He Wear?

After rewatching the series earlier this year, I knew I would want to feature one of Don Draper’s dressed-down looks from “Tomorrowland” for a summertime #MadMenMonday post, so I posted an Instagram poll: should I write about this blue duotone shirt or his gun club check sport jacket and tie? More than half of the nearly 600 respondents voted for this shirt (and I thank you for choosing the less complicated outfit to describe!)

At first, I assumed this was the plaid sports shirt we had seen Don wearing during the solar eclipse in “Seven Twenty Three” (Episode 3.07) and again while journaling in “The Summer Man” (Episode 4.08), but the “Tomorrowland” notably lacks the high-contrasting brown checks.

This shirt is patterned in a large-scaled mottled blue two-tone check, alternating between a low-contrast teal and turquoise with a yellow windowpane grid separating these colors from each other. The short-sleeved shirt has a sporty collar that serves as a unique blend of a traditional camp collar and the elegantly rounded roll of a “Lido collar”. The shirt fastens with five flat clear plastic two-hole buttons up the front, with the top button located about two inches down from the neck; Don wears the button open, likely by design as the shirt may look awkward when fully buttoned. Don’s shirt is also detailed with a set-in pocket over the left breast.

An Army man, Don would be comfortable in the durable chino cloth trousers now colloqualized as “khakis”, so he continues lounging in his hotel room in a pair of beige chino cotton flat front trousers which he has self-cuffed at the bottoms. Though the trousers have belt loops, Don understandably foregoes a belt.

Le Carré and High Life for a lonely night in the hotel. Note the apparent continuity error where Don isn’t wearing his Rolex, though it would appear on his left wrist in the subsequent shot.

In addition to the pockets along the side seams, these trousers have jetted back pockets, and he folds the Disneyland brochure into the back right pocket to support his weak excuse of visiting Megan’s room to go over their plan for visiting the park the following day. (“Do you think I should be involved in such high-level decisions?” she sarcastically responds.)

Don puts on a pair of dark cordovan leather tassel loafers, ostensibly worn without socks, when he visits Megan’s room.

Megan brings Don out onto her balcony to “enjoy the view”.

After two years of wearing a gold Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso dress watch that had been personalized with an inscription from his now ex-wife, Don understandably abandoned that watch sometime after his separation from Betty and began wearing a Rolex Explorer, perhaps signaling that the newly single Don Draper would spend much of the fourth season exploring himself (I know it’s a stretch, but let me have this one!) The choice to rig Don with a Rolex also aligns him with James Bond, who would have been a major cultural icon by Mad Men‘s fourth season as Sean Connery had already played the globe-trotting 007 in three films, wearing a Rolex Submariner on his wrist for all three. (Bond’s literary creator, Ian Fleming, actually preferred a Rolex Explorer.)

Don wears a stainless steel Rolex Explorer I with the classic 36mm case that had been standard for much of the watch’s run since it was first introduced for Sir Edmund Hillary’s Mount Everest expedition in 1953. Worn on a steel Oyster-style link bracelet, the watch has a black dial with a luminous reverse triangle at 12 o’clock and the reference’s characteristic 3-6-9 Arabic numerals.

Don plans out a day at Disneyland with his kids Sally (Kiernan Shipka), Bobby (Jared Gilmore), and Gene, though an isolated night in a hotel room may be closer to the reality for many family vacations in 2020.

Rolex Explorer, ref. 1016, circa 1969 (Source: Hodinkee)

Some have argued that, while not impossible that Don Draper would have had this watch in 1965, it would have been highly unlikely for the typical American businessman—especially a more conservative “man in the gray flannel suit” type—to wear this kind of sports watch every day with everything from suits to sport shirts. (And, indeed, some have argued that it’s a more recent model that would be anachronistic anyway.)

In my mind, I’ve formed two possibilities:

1. Don, an avid reader, noticed Ian Fleming’s description of Bond’s “heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual on an expanding metal bracelet” in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and decided that he had found the watch he needed for the next phase of his life.
2. During the early months of his newly single life in 1964, Don’s romantic entanglement with an international stewardess found him in Switzerland where the latest Explorer caught his eye from the Rolex boutique window.

Should the latter have been the case, it would make sense that he would abandon the watch when settling into his new life with a new woman for the seasons to follow.

What to Imbibe

Don Draper may be famous for reviving the Old Fashioned in pop culture (unless you’re one of those Wisconsinites who has been enjoying brandy and Sprite this whole time), but the erstwhile Dick Whitman almost just as frequently drank beer, whether fueling himself while building a playhouse for his daughter, journaling his summer of rejuvenation, or washing down an intriguing John le Carré paperback while trying not to think about the intriguing French-Canadian beauty in the adjacent room.

For moments like the latter, Don turns to the preeminent “champagne of beers”, Miller High Life.

Champagne of beers or not, Don realizes he’s more than willing to let his newly purchased sixer go untouched if Megan has already returned from Whisky a Go Go.

High Life has remained the flagship of the Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Company since its conception in 1903. The high levels of carbonation in this 4.6% ABV pilsner created an abundance of bubbles that led to its original appellation of “the Champagne of Bottle Beers” before taking its catchier, shortened modern form.

Though Don is seen drinking all of the “big three” flagship American brews across Mad Men‘s seven-season run, it’s Miller High Life in both bottle and can form that he enjoys with the greatest frequency, beginning with “Flight 1” (Episode 2.02) and ending with this lonely night in the

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 4.13: “Tomorrowland”)

How to Get the Look

“Tomorrowland” illustrates a comfortable and accessible way to emulate Don Draper’s timeless style without needing to keep your cuff links in place as his casual muted plaid sport shirt and ageless khakis suit him just as well for a night with family, lounging in solitude, or a romantic rendezvous.

• Teal-and-turquoise large-scale check (with yellow windowpane grid) short-sleeved sport shirt with Lido/camp hybrid collar, plain front, and set-in breast pocket
• Beige chino cotton flat front trousers with belt loops, zip fly, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and self-cuffed bottoms
• Dark cordovan leather tassel loafers
• Rolex Explorer I with a stainless 36mm case, black dial, and stainless Oyster-styler link bracelet

While short-sleeved men’s shirts, specifically camp shirts, seem to be abundant from major retailers in summer 2020, your best bet for a shirt like this would still be to explore vintage outfitters like Rusty Zipper, where this Draper-style sport shirt is currently offered for $40.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the fourth season.

The Quote

I want to know if I can knock on this door again tomorrow night or if this is just what it is.

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Vitals

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster, resentful profligate heir and 82nd Airborne veteran

Las Vegas, New Year’s Eve 1959

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: August 10, 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup
Tailor: Sy Devore

Background

“I made a cardinal rule never to answer the telephone during the month of December,” the urbane Jimmy Foster tells a masseuse deep at work in fixing his back in a Phoenix hotel suite he shares with his wartime pal. “One December, every time I picked up the phone, they’d send me out in the snow to play with my little friends,” he elaborates. “That was at the Bulge.”

Arguably the most famous film featuring the infamous Rat Pack, Ocean’s Eleven starred Frank Sinatra and his celebrated pallies Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford among a group of eleven veterans from the 82nd Airborne who gather in Las Vegas after Christmas “to liberate millions of dollars” from five major casinos as Sin City rings in the new year.

Santa Claus takes Jimmy Foster to task for his holiday crimes.

Lawford had first heard the idea for the plot from director Gilbert Kay, in turn relaying a story he hard heard from a gas station attendant. The actor then bought the rights to what would become Ocean’s Eleven in 1958, originally envisioning William Holden for the lead, until he shared the story with his new pal Frank Sinatra who would take the leading role of Danny Ocean. The Vegas setting was ideal for Sinatra and his cronies, allowing them to work in the early morning, sleep into the afternoon, perform one or two shows each evening at their respective casinos, then show up on set again ready to work until sunrise.

What’d He Wear?

While Peter Lawford hasn’t achieved the immortal fame of his talented fellow Rat Packers like Frank, Dean, and Sammy, the London-born actor was a stylish fashion plate who showcased a fine sense of dress both on and off screen. Unlike the principals in Ocean’s Eleven, Lawford’s Jimmy Foster rarely wears a suit or odd jacket more than once, the sole exception being a dark gray business suit with a single-breasted, notch-lapel jacket that he wears both in Phoenix and while reconnoitering the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

For the night of the heist itself, Lawford wears arguably the dressiest suit from Jimmy Foster’s wardrobe, a dark navy blue lounge suit with a single-breasted, peak-lapel jacket, likely tailored for Lawford by the Rat Pack’s usual tailor Sy Devore, though Lawford was also a Chipp customer around the same time. Al Castiel III reported for Town & Country in 2017 that Chipp was responsible for Lawford’s clothes on the NBC series The Thin Man, which aired its final episode in June 1959, six months before the release of Never So Few (1959) firmly established Lawford as a member of the Rat Pack.

Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford sport dark lounge suits edged out in formality only by the dinner suit, though Dean Martin dresses down his famous tux by wearing it with one of his usual button-down collar shirts.

Lawford’s single-breasted suit jacket is one of two that he wears rigged with peak lapels in Ocean’s Eleven, reviving a style that emerged in popularity during the roaring ’20s into the 1930s “golden age of menswear”. Per the trending taste of 1960, Lawford’s lapels are of a moderate width, styled with a straight gorge and a collar almost as wide as the lower section of the lapel. The lapels roll to a low two-button stance. A lavender paisley silk pocket square dresses the welted breast pocket of the jacket, which also boasts straight flapped hip pockets, spaced two-button cuffs, and a single vent.

His white cotton shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with a set of flat gold rectangular links.

Danny and Jimmy spot something awry after a nearly perfect caper.

Lawford wears a sleek slate gray satin silk “skinny” tie, arranged with a half-Windsor knot filling the tie space.

The medium rise of Lawford’s trousers is complimented by the lower button stance of his jacket, lengthening the actor’s torso to create more of a laidback “lounge lizard” effect. The double forward-pleated trousers are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. As we see during Jimmy’s massage during the opening scene, the trousers have buckle-tab side adjusters on the waistband and side pockets, though no back pockets.

When we meet Jimmy lounging under a masseuse’s hardworking hands in a Phoenix hotel suite, he appears to be wearing the same trousers that are part of this stylish suit.

While Jimmy wears a pair of comfortable tan ribbed socks when relaxing in his hotel suite for his massage, he appears to wear black socks when out in Vegas for New Year’s Eve, more tonally appropriate with the full suit and his well-shined black leather oxfords.

Classic Vegas cool.

Jimmy’s jewelry includes a gold necklace worn on a thin gold chain and a gold ring on his left pinkie, an affectation shared by fellow Rat Packers Frank and Dean. Peter Lawford wears two different wristwatches in Ocean’s Eleven, the first being a slim all-gold wristwatch with a round case, champagne gold dial, and a black leather strap.

Later, Jimmy spends his nights in Las Vegas wearing a gold tank watch with a white square dial, also worn on his left wrist via black leather strap.

Jimmy Foster’s tank watch is best seen as he’s emptying the safe at the Flamingo on New Year’s Eve.

The maker of this latter watch isn’t easily discerned by what’s seen on screen, though Lawford’s third wife Deborah Gould recalled that, upon first meeting their actor three weeks before their July 1976 wedding, he commented to her that “You can’t be all that bad. You’re dressed in black, you have a gold Quaalude, and you have a Cartier tank watch.”

What to Imbibe

While the interesting-sounding drink unfortunately never featured on screen in Ocean’s Eleven, some Googling informs us that Peter Lawford supposedly enjoyed the Preview cocktail in real life, talking several Vegas bartenders through the process of making them.

According to Cocktailians and Chuck Taggart at Gumbo Pages, begin by swirling a quarter teaspoon of pastis—preferably Ricard though Pernod and Herbsaint are also acceptable—around the inside of a chilled cocktail glass to coat it, then pouring out the excess. Next, shake 1.5 ounces of gin and an ounce of Cointreau with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and, once chilled, strain it into the pastis-coated and still-chilled cocktail glass with “a long, curly twist of orange peel” to garnish.

A serious-looking Jimmy Foster appears to be drinking a highball. One can only imagine the fun he’d be having if there was a Preview cocktail before him instead!

How to Get the Look

Peter Lawford as Jimmy Foster in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Peter Lawford’s dark blue lounge suit, just a shade lighter than midnight blue, is a tasteful alternative to a dinner suit, particularly when appointed for evening wear with a white shirt and a solid yet subdued tie. In an era where even the most well-made tuxedo often looks out of place, an evening-friendly suit like this can’t fail for a New Year’s Eve celebration.

• Midnight blue tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with buckle-tab side adjusters, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold flat rectangular cuff links
• Dark slate gray satin silk tie
• Black leather cap-toe oxfords
• Black dress socks
• Thin gold necklace
• Gold pinky ring
• Gold wristwatch on black leather strap
• Lavender paisley silk pocket square

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and also look into picking up Lawford’s personal copy of the script!

Walter Matthau as Zachary Garber in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Vitals

Walter Matthau as Zachary Garber, New York City Transit Authority police lieutenant

New York City, December 1973

Film: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Release Date: October 2, 1974
Director: Joseph Sargent
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Walter Matthau, perhaps best known to today’s audiences for his roles opposite Jack Lemmon such as The Odd Couple and the Grumpy Old Men movies, though the New York-born actor’s rich filmography expands a range of genres from westerns and war movies to comedies and crime capers. One of my favorites falls into the latter category, the action thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

Released one day after Matthau’s 54th birthday, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three stars the actor as a scrappy New York City Transit Authority police lieutenant whose bad day gets considerably worse once  a well-armed team led by the calculating ex-mercenary Bernard Ryder, aka “Mr. Blue”, (Robert Shaw) hijacks a subway. No longer capable of sustaining “a normal woik week,” Lieutenant Garber enlists the help of his pal, fellow lieutenant Rico Patrone (Jerry Stiller).

Patrone: What’s up, Z?
Garber: You won’t believe it.
Patrone: You know me, I’ll believe anything.
Garber: A train has been hijacked.
Patrone: I don’t believe it.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is one of my favorite “New York movies”, alongside Sweet Smell of Success, Annie Hall, and Manhattan, bolstered by the Lower East Side-born Matthau’s performance as the believably beleaguered transit cop trying to maintain the lives—and sanity—of all involved. At one tense moment, Garber can’t help but to advise the chief thief:

Listen, fella, I hope you take this in the right spirit but after this is over, you should seek out psychiatric help.

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone had two decades of experience dressing some of most iconic characters on both sides of the law with credits including On the Waterfront (1954), The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Between dressing Al Pacino in silk suits and filed jackets, Johnstone found the time to put together a delightfully chaotic and surprisingly accessible ensemble for Walter Matthau’s haggard transit lieutenant Zachary Garber, which has been the subject of several requests from readers including Blake, Guido, and H.F.

The New York City Transit Authority may be a bustling hub of computers and communications systems, but its staff could hardly be mistaken for NASA engineers in their array of stout and slackened ties, rumpled knitwear, and shirts in every hue. There are some exceptions who prefer more traditional business dress—most notably Lieutenant Patrone and the visiting delegation from Japan—but Garber’s autumnal palette fits with the overall NYCTA office “uniform”. That said, Garber shows a keener eye for dressing, opting for a tasteful and timeless tweed jacket and at least attempting to keep his tie knotted to the neck.

Lieutenant Garber takes a considerably different approach to dressing than the Japanese businessmen he’s tasked with touring around.

Garber’s woolen tweed sports coat is woven in a tan and cream herringbone, so named for the broken twill weave’s resemblance to a fish skeleton. The weave on Garber’s jacket isn’t the traditional herringbone; instead, each “column” of herringbone-style chevrons alternates with a column of the same threads, birdseye-woven.

Despite tweed’s origins in the British Isles, Garber wears an appropriately American unstructured cut with soft, natural shoulders, similar to the sack coats popularized by U.S. outfitters like Brooks Brothers from the turn of the century onward.

The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll over the top of three mixed plastic sew-through buttons for what is known as a 3/2 roll with two matching buttons at the end of each cuff. The lapels, the welt over the breast pocket, and the hip pocket flaps are detailed with sporty “swelled” edges. Though the mid-1970s was a time of excess for most menswear, Garber’s jacket is cut and styled in a manner that transcends its decade, with traditional detailing, moderate widths of lapels and pocket flaps, and only a somewhat longer-than-usual single rear vent betraying its temporal provenance.

“It’s a testament to the power of Matthau as an actor that his garishly appalling shirt and tie do not distract from his performance,” tweeted director and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie during a rewatch of the movie in January 2020. Indeed, while Garber’s tweed sport jacket would have a deserved place in any gentleman’s closet, the same cannot be said for that colorful shirt and tie. That’s not to say that the look is altogether tasteless—in fact, I’d argue that Matthau wears both quite well—but neither are necessarily menswear essentials and instead are reflective of Garber’s charmingly colorful personality.

The shirt is a small-scaled tartan plaid in red, yellow, and teal blue, likely off-the-rack with the decade’s favorite collar, long-pointed with substantial tie space to accommodate a decent-sized knot. The shirt has a breast pocket and white plastic buttons that contrast against the colorful shirting on the front placket and closing each cuff.

Garber’s particular police duties tend to require more aspirin than ammunition.

A shirt like that considerably limits one’s tie choices to solid colors, and choosing one that coordinates without clashing. Bright and unorthodox though it may be, Garber’s golden tie may be the best way to go, calling out the yellow check from the shirt while contrasting enough to not get lost in the busy shirt.

Garber wears plain brown flat front trousers with side pockets, jetted back pockets (without buttons), and plain-hemmed bottoms. He also wears a wide dark brown leather belt through the trousers’ loops, closing through a squared, gold-toned single-prong buckle.

Note the black label stitched on the back of Garber’s yellow tie.

Brown shoes are a safe bet with an outfit like this, and Garber appears to dress for the office in a pair of chestnut brown calf cap-toe oxford semi-brogues, worn with black socks. In an interesting continuity error, his brown shoes appear to have a more prominent moc-toe by the time he’s down in the subway, a switch likely made to avoid Matthau needing to wear office shoes in this dirtier setting.

The swap is forgivable; he still wears brown lace-ups, and the subway scene is so darkly lit that it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it catch… especially considering that this thriller was made considerably before audiences had high-resolution home video where they could pause and notice that Walter Matthau has now wearing different shoes.

“Don’t worry miss, there’ll be an ambulance along in no time,” Garber reassures the long-haired (but decidedly male) undercover officer who lays injured on the subway tracks.

Garber wears a plain gold-toned wristwatch with a round, light-colored dial on a dark brown leather strap that closes through a gold single-prong buckle.

When the events of the day lure Garber from his office, he puts on his khaki gabardine raincoat. December in New York City may call for something heavier for most people, but Garber’s classic bal-type raincoat is a versatile, weather-ready top layer that can be comfortably worn over his already-heavy tweed jacket. The raglan-sleeved coat has slanted side pockets with single-button closure and small semi-tabs that button on each cuff for an adjusted fit. The front closes up a five-button covered fly.

Lieutenants Garber and Patrone (the latter in full uniform) follow up on a list of disgruntled subway employees.

Hat and gloves are also necessities for winter in the Big Apple, both supplementing the coat for extra warmth and protection when Garber heads outside. His lined three-point gloves are caramel brown leather.

While a fedora or even a more structured trilby worn with his raincoat may have affected an image reminiscent of a film noir anti-hero, Garber opts instead for a genteel tweed trilby. (Not unlike Carl Reiner’s topper in Ocean’s Thirteen, which would be gently derided by Ellen Barkin’s character as “the Doctor Doolittle hat.”) Garber’s soft, unstructured trilby is constructed from twin threads not unlike his sport jacket, though a darker olive brown is mixed with cream, woven in a nailhead pattern with a self-band.

Apropos his detective style, Lieutenant Garber’s hat and coat evokes Sherlock Holmes rather than Philip Marlowe.

The Gun

One gets the sense that Lieutenant Garber’s day-to-day work doesn’t call for much use from his service handgun, though the unprecedented circumstances that lead him down into the subway tunnels call for an appearance from Smith & Wesson Model 10 snub-nosed revolver.

.38 in hand, Garber confronts the mysterious “Mr. Blue”.

Smith & Wesson introduced what would become the go-to police cartridge of the 20th century, the .38 Special, in tandem with its “Military & Police” revolver just before the dawn of the 20th century. By the 1970s, .38 Special six-shooters from Smith & Wesson and Colt dominated the American law enforcement market, with the latest evolution of the six-shot Military & Police revolver now designated the Smith & Wesson Model 10 after the manufacturer had started numbering its models in the ’50s.

Indeed, it was Colt who had foreseen the need for an easily concealable .38 Special nearly a half-century earlier when the Colt Detective Special was marketed in 1927. Smith & Wesson responded a generation later with the smaller-framed Model 36 “Chiefs Special”, though the increased concealment came at the cost with the cylinder reduced to five rather than six shots. For Smith & Wesson fans who wanted the full compliment of six .38 Special rounds, the Model 10 was also available with a “snub-nosed” two-inch barrel as opposed to the 4″-barreled variant that was frequently issued to uniformed officers across the 20th century. (In fact, I believe the 2″-barreled Smith & Wesson .38 was first offered around 1915, though it wouldn’t be as effectively marketed as a “belly gun” as the later Detective Special.)

What’d He Wear?

Walter Matthau as Zachary Garber in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

In his excellent review for Cinephelia & Beyond, Tim Pelan describes Zachary Garber as “a clothing colorblind Colombo.” This thoughtful shorthand describes Garber’s approaches to both dressing and detecting, though I believe Matthau’s character earns some points for colorful originality (and effective coordination) anchored by his tasteful tweed sports coat.

• Tan and cream herringbone-and-birdseye woolen tweed single-breasted 3/2-roll sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and long single vent
• Red, yellow, and teal mini-plaid cotton shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and squared button cuffs
• Yellow tie
• Brown flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark brown belt with squared gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Brown calf cap-toe oxford semi-brogues
• Black socks
• Khaki gabardine bal-type raincoat with covered 5-button fly front, slanted side pockets, single vent, and raglan sleeves (with semi-tab cuffs)
• Caramel brown lined leather three-point gloves
• Olive-brown and cream nailhead tweed unstructured trilby
• Gold-toned wristwatch with light dial on dark brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Gesundheit.

The post Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three appeared first on BAMF Style.

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

Vitals

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

New Jersey, early 2000s

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

Background

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

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

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

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

What’d He Wear?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The Ride” (Episode 6.09)

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

“Made in America” (Episode 6.21)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Get the Look

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

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

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

Do Yourself a Favor and…

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

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

The Quote

A lot of things used to be!

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

Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Vitals

Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, aka Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp, megalomaniac terrorist

Piz Gloria, Switzerland, December 1969

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

Background

‘Twas Christmastime at Piz Gloria, when all through the clinic
Not a creature was stirring, not even the agent from MI6.

The Angels of Death were snuggled in bed with care
in hopes that Sir Hilary’s bezants soon would be there.

As of 2020, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service remains the only James Bond movie prominently set during yuletide, as 007 (George Lazenby) disguises himself as genealogist Sir Hilary Bray in order to get close to SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), under the pretense of investigating Blofeld’s claim to the title of Count Balthazar de Bleuchamp.

On the 00-7th of December, let’s see how one of Bond’s most iconic nemeses dresses for the holidays.

What’d He Wear?

Apropos his Alpine environs and his ambitious claim to Bavarian aristocracy, Blofeld tactfully dresses to make Sir Hilary Bray’s acquaintance, sporting several pieces of traditional German clothing (Tracht) including a traditional Trachten jacket known as a janker.

I’m admittedly no expert in traditional German dress, and I did my best to educate myself in order to adequately analyze how Blofeld dresses at Piz Gloria. My perspective is thus that of a novice in this area, and I welcome any who are more knowledgable to share those insights—or corrections!—in the comments.

Having buttoned up his janker, Blofeld rises to meet his genealogically informed guest, allowing the man he believes to be Sir Hilary Bray to take in the full splendor of his wearing traditional Bavarian dress.

The details of these classic Bavarian tunics share some superficial similarities with the Nehru jacket, a garment that has enjoyed a long pedigree among villains in the Bond series from the eponymous villain in Dr. No through Spectre, in which Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld wears one in navy velvet. Indeed, it seems that the higher a Bond antagonist’s ambition, the higher a chance of seeing him wear a mandarin collar by movie’s end.

This standing collar is a defining characteristic of the Bavarian janker, typically either made from a contrasting cloth or accented with decorative stitching.

Blofeld’s brown wool serge janker is detailed with the latter, a red helix-like pattern embroidered around the short collar that would be mimicked above and below the two jetted pockets over the chest. (The red trim adds a nice holiday-themed touch, though it could just be the sartorial romantic in me looking for festivity in a megalomaniac’s wardrobe.)

These pockets are another classic characteristic of the janker, with either one or two on the chest that can be as minimalist as a set-in jetted pocket or detailed with a flap and button.

Depending on the length of a janker, there may also be a pair of pockets at the hip level. Blofeld’s suit jacket-length janker indeed has a jetted hip pocket aligned with the lowest button on the front, though these appear to lack the red embroidered detailing of the chest pockets.

Production photo of Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, sourced from thunderballs.org.

Janker buttons are typically made from a decorative horn or metal. Blofeld’s five silver crested shank buttons up the front of his janker resemble those on a traditional blazer with two smaller vestigial buttons placed close together on each cuff. He leaves the top button, matched to a slanted buttonhole, unbuttoned for much of his conversation with Sir Hilary.

If not made from authentic mountain sheep-sourced loden, jankers are constructed from heavier woven wool suited to the Alpine climate such as woolen flannel or tweed, though Blofeld’s janker appears to be made from a napped wool serge.

You can read more about jankers, Trachten jackets, Styrian jackets, and other Bavarian attire from High Latitude Style, Robert W. Stolz, and Ludwig & Therese. The latter is a Munich outfitter of traditional Bavarian clothing including an olive wool “Nikodemus” Trachten jacket that shares a few stylistic similarities with Blofeld’s screen-worn garment.

Blofeld buttons up his janker to complete the look of the rightful Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp.

When Blofeld peels off his white lab coat upon entering his office, we see that even his scarlet red loden vest (or waistcoat) is styled to coordinate with his janker with its short mandarin collar and silver-toned metal buttons. Appropriately, this is another piece of traditional German clothing, characterized by its deep, rounded neckline connected at the top with a decorative chain just below the collar. Blofeld’s vest has four “swallow” welt pockets, each named for the drooped opening that resembles the shape of a passerine bird in flight.

These vests are widely marketed in Germany and, via the internet, around the world, from sites like Frankenmuth Bavarian Specialties, Trachten-Quelle, and Ernst Licht, though Blofeld’s waistcoat more closely resembles what the latter markets as the “Prien vest” than the “Miesbacher vest”.

Blofeld wears a white cotton shirt by Frank Fosterwith a point collar and single-button barrel cuffs. His dark brown knitted silk tie adds both textural and tonal coordination with the rest of the outfit until his buttoned-up janker covers up most of what he wears under it.

Blofeld’s waistcoat is cut and styled in the Miesbacher tradition, but it lacks the contrasting piping.

We only get a brief look at Blofeld’s dark trousers and boots as he enters the office, the rest of his outfit concealed by a lab coat. A behind-the-scenes photo suggests that the trousers are a brown woolen serge to match his Trachten jacket, with enough seen on-screen to tell us that they are likely flat front trousers held up with suspenders and finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

The silhouette of the boots indicates non-laced ankle boots in dark leather, possibly the same brown suede ankle boots he would wear the following day on Christmas Eve.

Disguised in Highland dress as Sir Hilary Bray, Bond is soon no longer to be the only one clad in ancestral wear… though the glimpses he gets of Blofeld’s trousers and boots under his lab coat fail to suggest the Bavarian outfit he would build once in “Sir Hilary”‘s presence.

How to Get the Look

Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Photo sourced from thunderballs.org.

When in the Alps… dress in the classic Alpine style! At first glance, Blofeld appears to be channeling his fellow Bond villains in theeir Mao suits and Nehru jackets, but a closer look reveals that he indeed wears traditional Tracht like his decoratively stitched janker over a loden waistcoat.

• Brown wool serge Trachten janker with red-embroidered mandarin collar, five crested silver shank buttons, two jetted chest pockets (with red-embroidered detailing), two jetted hip pockets, and vestigial 2-button cuffs
• White cotton shirt with point collar and 1-button cuffs
• Dark brown knitted silk tie
• Scarlet red loden wool Miesbacher Trachten vest with short mandarin collar, decorative chain across the neckline, five-button front, and four welted “swallow” pockets
• Brown wool serge flat front trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• Dark suspenders
• Dark brown suede ankle boots

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, one of my favorites from the Bond franchise and a particularly suitable watch for 2020 with its themes of viruses and vaccines.

The Quote

The methods of the great pioneers have often puzzled conventional minds.

The post Telly Savalas as Blofeld: Trachten Clothes at Christmas appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sammy Davis Jr. in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Vitals

Sammy Davis Jr. as Josh Howard, casino heister, sanitation worker, and World War II veteran

Las Vegas, January 1960

Film: Ocean’s Eleven
Release Date: August 10, 1960
Director: Lewis Milestone
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup
Tailor: Sy Devore

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Sammy Davis Jr. was born 95 years ago today in Harlem. Nicknamed “Mr. Show Business” in recognition of his vast talents, Davis had gotten an early start to performing when he joined his father and uncle to create the Will Mastin Trio, named after his uncle. Following his service in World War II, Davis cultivated his career as a singer, dancer, actor, and comedian.

Davis’ natural talent, stage presence, and quick wit brought him into the orbit of pallies Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who were forming the seeds of what would become immortalized as the Rat Pack. (Sinatra wisely followed Davis’ suggestion that the group not call themselves “the Clan”, instead referring to themselves as “the Summit.”)

1960 was the high watermark for the Summit, when they pulled together an ensemble cast to make Ocean’s 11, a stylish heist film set in Las Vegas. The story originated from a gas station attendant talking to director Gilbert Kay, who shared the plot with Peter Lawford, who—in turn—bought the rights and eventually pulled Sinatra into the production. “Forget the the movie, let’s pull the job!” Ol’ Blue Eyes had reportedly joked after learning the plot.

The Rat Pack in front of the Sands, February 1960. (Michael Ochs Archive)

The action is set on New Year’s Eve, where the Rat Packers and their cronies have planned the simultaneous robbery of five iconic casinos at the stroke of midnight. Unlike the modern remake directed by Steven Soderbergh, there’s little technical savvy needed to pull the job aside from a scientific understanding of how long it takes to sing “Auld Lang Syne” and the ability to cut power to several blocks of Sin City… which is where Davis factors in as Josh Howard, the team’s reliable demolitions expert.

Davis bookends the movie’s famous finale, which finds the ex-paratroopers saying goodbye to one of their number who was felled by a heart attack during the heist… and eventually mourning the millions they had liberated from the five casinos as well. The final shot follows Danny Ocean and his eleven—er, now ten—ex-commandos as they somberly walk up the Strip past the historic Sands Hotel and Casino.

The production of this scene was further immortalized in one of the few posed photos of the five core members of the Rat Pack—Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford, and Joey Bishop—standing in front of the Sands marque bearing their names as it appeared on screen.

What’d He Wear?

The sobriety of the closing funeral brings Danny Ocean’s team together in suits for the only time as the planning and execution of the heists allowed for everything from comfortable knitwear to fashionable evening wear and even odd functional disguise in between. For the most part, the men dress in conservative single-breasted suits with the sole exception of Sammy Davis Jr., who rakishly breaks code in the sole double-breasted jacket of the group.

The cool dark brown subtly striped silk suit, shining under the bright Mojave Desert sunlight, was no doubt made for Davis by Sy Devore, legendary “tailor to the stars” who served the Rat Pack among other Hollywood luminaries of the era. Though Sy himself died during the latter years of the Rat Pack’s swingin’ sixties heyday, his Studio City shop continues to offer its customers a range of cutting-edge fashion with timeless sensibilities.

The trim suit was tailored to flatter Davis’ short and lean physique, the double-breasted jacket styled with sharp peak lapels that roll down to a single button at the bottom of three rows of two buttons each in a top-heavy trapezoidal formation in widths apart that taper down the front. By rigging Davis’ suit jacket with a lower-fastening 6×1 button formation rather than the more traditional 6×2, Devore neatly created a longer lapel line that flatters the 5’5″ entertainer.

Sammy takes rakish to a new level by pairing his ultra-loosened tie to a still-buttoned double-breasted jacket.

Sammy Davis Jr. on the set of Ocean’s Eleven.

Devore tailored the jacket with wide, padded shoulders with roped sleeveheads that also build up Davis’ chest. The ventless jacket has straight flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket, though Davis is the only one of the central Rat Packers to forego a pocket square. Each sleeve is finished with three buttons at the cuff.

The suit’s matching flat front trousers rise to Davis’ natural waist, which is just above the buttoning point of his jacket though this coordinates nicely with the double-breasted wrap to avoid the top of the trousers becoming visible with his jacket closed.

The trousers have a hidden hook-and-eye closure above the fly and slanted Western-style “frogmouth” pockets on the front. A lack of belt loops suggests the possibility of side adjuster tabs, though a talented tailor like Sy Devore would have cut the trousers to fit Davis without the need for additional support. The plain-hemmed bottoms break cleanly over the tops of his brown leather cap-toe oxfords. His dark brown socks continue the leg line of his trousers into the shoes, detailed only with thin tan double stripes along the sides.

Davis wears a white cotton shirt with a large and shapely button-down collar, also the favored collar of his fellow “rat” Dean Martin. His dark brown silk tie is just a shade warmer than the suit, tied in a small and tight four-in-hand and worn with the blade tucked into the waistband of his trousers.

With a single glance, Danny breaks the news to Josh that their efforts have been all for nought. Note how their attire reflects their personalities here, the more fastidious Danny in fussier pinned collar and French cuffs while the laidback Josh wears a more casual button-down collar with button cuffs.

As with many stars, a number of watches have been attributed to Sammy Davis Jr. over the years. The entertainer had a taste for unique watches, almost exclusively in yellow gold, ranging from his Cartier Pasha moon phase quartz watch (a gift from Frank) to a series of watches branded with his own name and even a custom Jamie West watch with a photo of Davis and his wife Altovise emblazoned on the dial.

Josh’s more subtle yellow gold wristwatch in Ocean’s 11 doesn’t appear to be anything quite so extravagant, but it was undoubtedly Davis’ personal timepiece seen for this scene.

Perhaps it was after glimpsing Davis’ subdued wristwatch in this scene that FS decided his pal Sammy needed an eye-catching Pasha de Cartier.

Sammy Davis Jr. in Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

How to Get the Look

Ever the individualist, Sammy Davis. Jr.’s style stands apart from his Rat Pack colleagues, eschewing the businesslike gray single-breasted in favor of a flashier brown double-breasted, cut to flatter his unique physique by the rightfully legendary Sy Devore.

• Dark brown subtly striped silk tailored suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×1-button suit with sharp peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Flat front trousers with side adjusters, “frogmouth” front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton shirt with large button-down collar and 1-button squared cuffs
• Dark brown straight tie
• Brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark brown socks with tan side stripes
• Gold wristwatch on expanding bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Gallery

The post Sammy Davis Jr.’s Brown Suit in Ocean’s 11 appeared first on BAMF Style.

If you’ve been following BAMF Style for a few years, you know I like to take a break from the enviable style of Grant, McQueen, Poitier, and their ilk to tackle a problem many of us have faced: how to dress for the office Christmas party. Given that corporate America’s closets tend to have more in common with Michael Scott than with Steve McQueen, the American version of The Office rose to the occasion to address the phenomenon of ill-fitting sweaters and ill-advised ties that seems to plague my fellow cubicle-dwellers as they don their gay apparel for the holiday season.

2020 being the year that it’s been, many staff parties have been relegated to holiday happy hours via Zoom or Teams where there will likely be a better chance of catching glimpse of a co-worker’s sweatpants than Christmas ties. For this year’s ranking of Dunder Mifflin duds, it thus feels more appropriate to settle in for Michael Scott’s vision of a more intimate holiday gathering… which also hosts its fair share of snowball scenes that would no doubt result in severe HR violations.

“Classy Christmas” aired ten years ago, the second of three episodes to be directed by Rainn Wilson. It also marked Michael Scott’s final Christmas celebration at Dunder Mifflin Scranton before Steve Carell left the series at the end of the seventh season.

Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms, John Krasinski, Leslie David Baker, and Steve Carell in “Classy Christmas”, the seventh season holiday episode of The Office.

Series: The Office
Episode: “Classy Christmas” (Episode 7.11/7.12)
Air Date: December 9, 2010
Director: Rainn Wilson
Creator: Greg Daniels
Costume Designer: Alysia Raycraft

“Before we kick off the party, I just want to remind everyone that an office party is just that… a party,” Pam Beesly announces. “It’s not an excuse to get really drunk or confront someone or have a cathartic experience of any kind.”

Of course, this being Dunder Mifflin Scranton, there’s no way any celebration would pass free of drama, and it could be argued that Pam’s own husband Jim begins the “Classy Christmas” spiral into chaos when he launches a snowball in the face of his co-worker Dwight Schrute… who admittedly deserved it.

For whatever is going on between Jim and Dwight, it’s naturally Michael Scott that escalates the holiday drama when he learns that not only will his HR nemesis Toby Flenderson be out of the office on jury duty but Toby will be temporarily replaced by Holly Flax, for whom Michael had fallen in love two seasons earlier. Enthusiastic about Holly’s return, Michael postpones the party—which had been on the verge of starting—to be retooled as the eponymous “Classy Christmas” experience.

Thus, the double-sized “Classy Christmas” offers us back-to-back looks at how the Dunder Mifflin Scranton staff dresses for their corporate celebration, ranking the gents’ takes below based on their appropriate levels of seasonal festivity, office decorum, and overall fashionability.

Round 1

12. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson)

I feel good today!

Having been promoted from the warehouse to work on the same floor as the sales and support staff, Darryl quickly sees that a little more sartorial effort will be expected from him to keep up with the Dunder Mifflin Scranton holiday celebrations. Given that his former colleagues had chided him just for tucking in his shirt after his promotion in “St. Patrick’s Day” (Episode 6.19), Darryl soon sees that Christmas at Dunder Mifflin will require more than just an ecru off-the-rack cotton/poly shirt worn unbuttoned at the top to show his neutral-colored undershirt.

Let’s cut Darryl a little slack as it’s his first Dunder Mifflin Scranton Christmas party since he’s been promoted from the warehouse.

11. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner)

That would be impressive if anyone knew what a comptroller was!

Arguably the most corpulent of Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s employees, poor Kev doesn’t do himself any favors in this large scarlet red sweater that manages to envelop his entire torso and essentially transforms him into a genetically enlarged cherry. Not a bad sweater on its own, this is merely an example of a man not dressing to flatter his body type.

It looks like we spy one of his usual J. Garcia “painted” silk ties with a festive red and green print, but the high V-neck covers it too much. Kevin could have better served his tie—and his midsection—by opting for a classic cardigan, perhaps even a shawl-collar cardigan, that would have added complexity and brought a degree of Andy Williams-inspired austerity.

At least the Santa hat adds some vertical dimension to Kevin’s outfit… though one could also argue that it’s merely the stem this giant cherry needed.

10. Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton)

Aside from his surprising turns in the second- and third-season Christmas parties, Creed tends to sabotage what could be an otherwise passable look with obnoxious ties too wild to be festive. In the first part of “Classy Christmas”, Creed stays primarily in the background, emerging only to incorrectly speculate on Holly Flax’s race and temperament. How to even describe the tie, which appears to be scattered with a large-scale print of computers alternating among red and yellow ornaments against a forest green ground, tied in a Windsor knot.

Creed reels at the Hello Kitty laptop sleeves that Kelly chose as corporate’s Christmas gift to its employees.

9. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)

Oh, my god… it’s the first snowfall of Christmas! Is that just so magical for you, little girl? Can you not wait to have a hot chocolate and cuddle up with Papa and tell him about all your Christmas dreams?

You know what, Dwight? You may be an obnoxious boor in this episode who takes a dangerous prank much too far, but you get some points for trying with your go-to holiday kit of a red-and-green striped bow tie and Santa-printed suspenders, revived from “Secret Santa” but toned down without the elf hat and ears. Granted, there’s still no sense of coordination, the belt and braces are redundant, and it’s *deep sigh* another mustard short-sleeved shirt worn with a suit… but it’s still a festive—if ultimately failed—spin on Dwight’s typically dour duds.

Clad in red-and-green bow tie and suspenders among his usually earthy garb, Dwight makes a deal Jim will live to regret.

8. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski)

Well, it’s not a snowball, ’cause it’s only a dusting. Right?

I once resented Jim’s lack of creativity when dressing for the office—and, in particular, office Christmas parties—but, by “Classy Christmas”, the case could be made that he’s now overcompensating. No longer the laidback, scrappy, and single salesman who rotated between three worn-in OCBDs and just as many subdued ties, Jim the married assistant manager (and new dad!) has upgraded to conservative business suits and off-the-rack shirts with non-buttoning collars. Welcome changes, for sure, and he even indicates some holiday cheer in the previous season’s “Secret Santa” when he marks the occasion in a bright red tie that’s conspicuously different from his everyday attire.

A season later, and Jim now shows up at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch in his typical navy suit and white shirt, but his dark blue tie is printed with a wintry motif of snow falling down onto a hapless snowman at the blade. Is Jim now buying his ties from the same place as his once-resented superior Michael Scott?

Michael leaving seems to inspire some sartorial introspection, as Jim tones it down a touch with his penguin-printed red tie in the following season’s “Christmas Wishes” before eschewing holiday-themed neckwear altogether for the final season’s “Dwight Christmas”… but there’s still another classy Christmas party to go before we get to that!

Jim, about to launch the snowball heard ’round the office.

7. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein)

Well, that’s hurtful talk and, uh, we’ve talked about that…

“The horrible red-headed sad sack” sticks to his established holiday tradition of a classic-patterned sports coat (this time, a light brown windowpane check) over a neutral shirt (this time, cream) and a silk holiday tie in a neatly arranged pattern (this time, rows of dancing penguins against a red ground). It’s never a particularly offensive look, and given the unabating disappointment in Toby’s personal life, it’s nice to see the banal HR rep embracing some Christmas cheer with his tie that accompanies otherwise tasteful business attire.

Toby makes an announcement that will change Michael’s life.

6. Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker)

Pam got the sugar-free cookies I like, I’m doin’ fine!

Similar to Dwight, it’s refreshing to see seasonal style on someone like Stanley who shows little enthusiasm for… well, much at all. We first saw Stanley in a Christmas sweater the previous season in “Secret Santa”, possibly a gift from his ex-wife Teri… or his girlfriend Cynthia.

The crossword-addicted salesman may have been ranked higher if he’d just selected a different tie with his outfit (or gone tieless!) as I feel like the yellow-on-green polka dots clash too much with the established navy, cream, and red in his sport jacket and alpine-patterned sweater.

Stanley illustrates that he doesn’t need to be dressing for Florida to wear festive patterns.

5. Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods)

Kelly, I thought we agreed on fleece blankets.

Given how easy Gabe makes himself to hate, I’m surprised I don’t reserve more ire for his excessively patterned Christmas tie. Gabe may not be ready for Pitti Uomo anytime soon, but he displays some basic comprehension of coordination and fit. Aware of that attention-grabbing red tie, he keeps the rest of his outfit muted, wearing a subdued green shirt that brings out the holly in his tie. The conservative dark gray suit flatters the lanky Gabe’s 6’4″ frame with its three-button jacket and, like the shirt, refuses to compete with the tie for attention aside from a Santa pin on Gabe’s lapel that thematically unites.

While not the prize-winner for the ideal “Classy Christmas” aesthetic, Gabe’s first look in the episode

Gabe offers up a pathetic wave to Erin, whom he is still surprising dating by this point.

4. Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak)

He’s rubbing his neck!

By the seventh season, Ryan Howard’s short-lived style phases have evolved to a quasi-hipster phase anchored by his rectangular glasses with thick black frames. Surprisingly, he doesn’t incorporate this into his holiday attire for the first party in “Classy Christmas”, dressing in a manner but subdued and stylish in his lavender plain-fronted shirt with a narrow dark forest green tie bar-striped in burgundy.

Ryan excitedly decodes Toby’s not-too-subtle hints about the subject of his jury duty case.

3. Michael Scott (Steve Carell)

What every boss wants is a wonderful Christmas with no drama.

Though he’s actually dressed in a Santa suit (or at least the trousers and suspenders) for the first part of the episode, let’s enter his “street clothes” he requests from Erin in the latter act of the episode. This may be Michael’s strongest contender to date with his narrow-striped navy suit, plain white shirt, and a grid-motif silk tie with enough burgundy for a staid wink at yuletide frivolity without a dancing Santa or snowman cheapening the look.

“I am dead inside.”

2. Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez)

Here’s a question nobody’s asking: Is this worth it?

One of the consistently better-dressed members of The Office cast, Oscar dresses for the initial celebration in “Classy Christmas” in a rich fuschia sateen shirt and coordinated paisley tie. It’s the sort of ensemble you might find on the shelves at Macy’s, perhaps with a Geoffrey Beene or Van Heusen label, but the Dunder Mifflin Scranton employees have relatively few outfitters at their immediate disposal beyond the tenants at Steamtown Mall. Even a nicer dresser like Oscar isn’t going to blow his underwhelming salary on custom-made shirts or clothes from high-end outfitters.

Note that Oscar is using the custom mug Kelly made for him during her off-screen America’s Got Talent party earlier in the season.

1. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)

All good, Santa!

Remember what I just said about Dunder Mifflin employees not putting too much value in high-end clothing? Enter Andy Bernard, the exception to prove the rule ever since he brought his Brooks Brothers-informed steeze to Scranton from Stamford. Andy’s first attempts to look the part for the corporate Christmas party in “A Benihana Christmas” failed to impress, though it’s worth remembering that said festivities fell right at the same time as the sycophantic Ivy grad was still trying to worm his way into Michael Scott’s good graces… and he had just the flashy tie to do it.

Four years later, Andy has come into his own, dressing more for his own preferences and truly able to put together a decent holiday party outfit that combines his personal sense of preppy style with seasonal color. Andy’s look is centered by a festive red waistcoat with gold buttons that serves as a statement piece, grabbing all the needed attention from the navy jacket, subdued graph-check shirt, and a navy tie with a woven motif of Santa playing golf, the sort of thing that might have been more obnoxious if it were more in-your-face but perfectly suited to the Nard Dog.

Andy’s holiday cheer is evidently no put-on, as he can’t restrain his obvious enthusiasm during the day.

Round 2

“Holly’s coming back, and this is the most important Christmas part of my life,” announces Michael, “…so back to work!”

Michael doesn’t have much patience for Gabe’s suggestion that “I’m not sure the temporary replacement of an HR rep really warrants a party,” so the Dunder Mifflin Scranton employees’ expected celebration is postponed to give Michael enough time to round up the food, furnishings, and fashions that will live up to his theme of a “cool” Christmas. One can only imagine the pride he felt when Holly observed upon her return:

It looks beautiful in here, it’s super classy… it’s like a party for limousine drivers.

12. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)

I have no feeling in my fingers or penis… but I think it was worth it.

Perhaps cynical after he took a snowball to the face while dressed in his favorite Christmas bow tie and suspenders, or maybe just dressing for business now that he’s dedicated to the task of terrorizing Jim Halpert with snow, Dwight ignores the “Classy Christmas” direction in favor of one of his usual mustard short-sleeved shirts anchoring a brown suit and tie. Not a festive color to be seen… at least not until he surprises Jim dressed in Pam’s red cardigan and holding a bowl full of snowballs, a sight that no amount of powder to the eyes can unsee.

Change from first round ranking: -3

Dwight establishes that there are no limits to how far he’ll go to settle the score with Jim.

11. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner)

I don’t wanna get dirty. There might be girls at the party.

Kevin just can’t catch a break. He’s left his sweater at home for the “classy” Christmas, but he isn’t faring much better by just tying on a holiday-themed tie with his dark brown suit and double-striped shirt with little coordination aside from the likely unintentional semi-match of the brown suiting with the reindeer trailing Santa as he skis down the snowy slope on Kevin’s tie.

Change from first round ranking: unchanged. Kevin eleven.

Kevin leaves his sweater at home for the classy Christmas party.

10. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson)

Pick a damn tree already!

That’s the spirit, Darryl! In addition to the red satin-striped silk tie, Darryl’s slate gray shirt has a sateen cast that brings a celebratory edge. Some fit issues linger, particularly with those lower-rise trousers, but it’s nice to see Darryl putting in some effort as he brings his daughter to the office party.

Change from first round ranking: +2

Darryl introduces his nine-year-old daughter Jada (Taylar Hollomon) to “Santa Bond”.

9. Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton)

Creed fares a little better for the second round of “Classy Christmas”, and—once Jim’s snowball breaks the window—his addition of a gray scarf adds a surprisingly dashing wintry touch. I take no issue with his navy suit or the royal blue shirt, but I’m not wild about the, well, wild tie. Patterned with snowmen angled in every direction against a blue ground that at least harmonizes with the rest of his outfit, Creed’s chaotic tie foreshadows the famous Dwight vs. Jim parking lot showdown—or snowdown, if you will.

Change from first round ranking: +1

Creed picks out his own holiday treat as Jada hands out snacks from the vending machine.

8. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski)

Okay, I’m sorry, why are we discounting this whole “Woody came to life” thing so quickly?

Did Michael’s favorite tie retailer offer Jim a BOGO deal? The “Classy Christmas” dictum doesn’t affect Jim’s newfound penchant for novelty ties, though at least this one offers a cheap chuckle with its scene of Santa’s legs stuck in a chimney while snow continues falling on him against a midnight sky. Worn with Jim’s otherwise tasteful winter outfit of a dark gray pinstripe flannel suit and pale slate shirt, I consider this a slight improvement over Jim’s Round 1 look (as I guess I a least have a soft spot for smirk-worthy novelty ties), but his co-workers’ improvements overshadow his and Big Tuna stays at #8.

Change from first round ranking: unchanged

Jim finds himself repeatedly victimized by a snowball-hurling prank. One wonders if the pre-Christmas tie Jim would have better dealt with this new stress imposed by his nemesis.

7. Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods)

Yet another opportunity where a blanket would have come in handy…

We see little of Gabe’s look under the raincoat and scarf he has to put on after Jim’s snowball breaks the window, but he evidently took Michael’s “Classy Christmas” memo to heart and put away his tackier tie in favor of one more subdued with a small-scaled Christmas tree motif.

Change from first round ranking: -2

Even the mockumentary’s interviewers were evidently surprised that Gabe and Erin were still dating by this point.

6. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein)

I know people are only this excited to talk to me because of the trial, but… they talk to me for a while, and maybe people realize I have something to say.

Isn’t it great to see Toby looking so much lighter and happier when he’s even temporarily freed from the confines of daily life at Dunder Mifflin! He returns for the office party in a dark green holiday sweater with a cream-and-red stitched wintry pattern, layered over the same olive mini-checked button-down that he had worn with a jacket and tie during Meredith’s impromptu (and ill-advised) intervention in “Moroccan Christmas” (Episode 5.11).

If you work somewhere that doesn’t require ties and you’re not afraid to sport what some may deride as “an ugly Christmas sweater”, an outfit like this adds some coziness when gathering around the communal punch bowl… once communal anything is a thing again.

Change from first round ranking: +1

Toby outlines his plan for making more friends around the office.

Exactly one year earlier, Cheyenne Jackson wore the same sweater—albeit in navy—as Danny Baker in “Secret Santa”, fellow NBC sitcom 30 Rock‘s fourth-season Christmas episode.

5. Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak)

Who’s in charge of making drinks around here? Is there a bartender…?

Like Darryl, Ryan merely livens up his daily dress with a red tie, but the improved fit of the admittedly image-obsessed Ryan’s clothes gives him a considerable edge. The red tie, detailed with a small tonal pattern, adds flavor to his businesslike charcoal pinstripe three-piece suit, which he dresses down by removing the jacket, loosening his collar and tie knot, and rolling up his shirt sleeves. As much as Ryan may have evolved into the pretentious guy-you’d-love-to-punch by now, his outfit neatly bridges the desired corporate-meets-classy Christmas party line.

Change from first round ranking: +3

Ryan offers Pam some patronizing feedback—veiled as constructive criticism—about her thoughtful handdrawn Christmas gift for Jim.

4. Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez)

Why would someone hug you?

Oscar’s good at dressing for a party! He pulls together another winner for the classier portion of “Classy Christmas”, wearing another colorful sateen shirt and paisley tie combination, this time with a rich indigo shirt coordinated with a dark navy tie patterned in a bright green paisley that adds a seasonal festivity. Once the broken conference room window calls for extra layers, Oscar pulls on not only his dark brown windowpane sports coat but also a Barbour-style waxed jacket.

Change from first round ranking: -2

Oscar keeps a well-informed conclusion to himself about Angela’s date after catching his eye wandering to Ryan’s tight trousers.

3. Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker)

I have been trying to get on jury duty every single year since I was 18 years old. To get to go sit in an air-conditioned room downtown, judging people, while my lunch is paid for? That is the life…

Stanley improves his holiday look for the second party by opting for nearly all solid patterns that offer less potential for clashing, layering a camelhair sports jacket over an olive sweater with a bright red tie and neutral light gray shirt. The fortuitous broken window allows Stanley to tie the look together with a navy tartan scarf with white, tan, and red in the plaid that pulls out the other colors in his outfit.

Change from first round ranking: +2

Never one for excessive intraoffice fraternization, Stanley and his martini enjoy the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Christmas party in relative solitude.

2. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)

I don’t have kids or anything, but if my grandmother ever dies, I’m going to kill myself.

Andy, still dressing to impress! It’s a little preppier than before, and it may be a little… much… for some people’s taste, but the erstwhile Ivy Leaguer Andy (“Cornell… ever heard of it?”) still arguably the most fashionable man at Dunder Mifflin Scranton.

The Nard Dog revives his second-prize style from “Secret Santa” of a light brown corduroy sports jacket, cornflower blue shirt, and bow tie though he swaps out the cream sweater for a considerably more festive waistcoat patterned in dazzling Royal Stewart tartan plaid, a holiday favorite for its prominent red and green. Based on the fact that it’s similarly cut and styled with its five gold blazer-style buttons, now positioned to button through the right side (like a women’s garment), we can reasonably assume this is the same red waistcoat from his earlier outfit, worn reversed.

Change from first round ranking: -1

Andy offers up his ‘brid—Toyota Prius Hybrid, that is—on Pam’s tree-finding mission, until realizing the irony of the car’s inability to fit a tree (despite saving trees on a daily basis) means needing to recruit his “hookup with a pickup.”

1. Michael Scott (Steve Carell)

The name’s Bond, Santa Bond. I’ll have an egg nog, shaken not stirred… classic Brosnan.

Would I actually wear this to the office? Chances are… slim. That said, the effort and consistency in Michael Scott’s “sophisticated take” on Santa as well as the fact that he finally left his tacky tie at home after wearing it for three consecutive on-screen Christmas parties give Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s proud regional manager the top spot.

Looking to make a smooth impression on his lost love Holly, Michael wears a lush scarlet velvet smoking jacket with black silk shawl collar, cuffs, and pocket jetting. The trim coordinates with his black sateen shirt and black pants, which we see have the authentic silk side stripe of formal tuxedo trousers as he has Angela hemming the bottoms before Holly’s arrival. Michael even appears to have revived “Date Mike”‘s Kangol cap from the previous season, providing for what becomes the foundation of a velour Santa hat.

Everybody loves Santa, everybody can’t get enough of the jolly old man. But that is a myth, because you know what? He is not necessarily a big fat guy with a beard! He’s not necessarily an old guy! No one knows what the real Santa Claus, gah—god!

As I mentioned, Michael’s “Classy Christmas” getup may not be right for the typical office holiday party—depending on your workplace, of course—but in 2020? Embrace the decadence.

Change from first round ranking: +2

Michael chalks his Sean Connery impression up as “classic Brosnan” while preparing to have a Holly jolly Christmas, if you will.

Happy holidays, BAMF Style readers!

I hope all of you, particularly fans of The Office, enjoyed this exploration into another classic holiday episode.

Whether you’re a fan to The Office or finally just want to see what all the fuss is about, do yourself a favor and check it out on Netflix through the end of the year or on Peacock, beginning in January 2021. (If you don’t want to keep up with the streaming shifts, you can always pick up the series—or gift it to your favorite Dunder Mifflin super-fan—on Blu-ray or DVD!

The post The Office: Classy Christmas – Ranking Holiday Looks appeared first on BAMF Style.

Robert De Niro flanked by co-star Stephanie Kurtzuba and director Martin Scorsese on the set of The Irishman (2019)

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, tough Mafia enforcer

Philadelphia, Christmas 1960

Film: The Irishman
Release Date: November 1, 2019
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Design: Sandy Powell & Christopher Peterson

Background

Last year’s holiday season, there was plenty of buzz around The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s latest mob epic which had been released to Netflix following a brief limited theatrical run. At 209 minutes, The Irishman clocked in as Scorsese’s longest movie to date, following real-life enforcer Frank Sheeran (Robert de Niro) through his connections to the mob via Philadelphia boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and his friendship with outspoken labor leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

Everything seems to change for the boys after the Kennedy administration puts the mob in the government’s crosshairs, but they get one final moment of peace at Christmas 1960, just less than a month before JFK would take office. Frank and Russell gather with their families for an intimate holiday celebration where the only real tension is Frank’s 11-year-old daughter Peggy withholding her affection for the Bufalino patriarch, refusing to see him as a benevolent “Uncle Russell” despite his Christmas gift of skates lined with a C-note.

On #MafiaMonday with just a week until Christmas, let’s look a little deeper at Frank Sheeran’s seasonal style during this brief holiday scene.

What’d He Wear?

“These guys don’t dress to be noticed — you know, the peacock variety of those gangster guys,” costume designer Sandy Powell explained to Indiewire of The Irishman‘s low-key protagonists. We’re used to seeing a little more flash from the gangsters of Scorseseworld, whether its silk suits and alligator shoes in Goodfellas or the colorful wardrobe of pastel silk sport jackets worn by Robert De Niro in Casino.

Even in the more toned-down world of The Irishman, Christmas calls for a little extra sartorial pizzazz, especially given everyone’s good fortunes and promising futures at the dawn of the ’60s. Frank Sheeran tends to let his clothing speak an octave louder than his voice (while his guns speak louder still), so it’s hardly surprising when he dresses for the holidays in a single-breasted blazer made from a dark, subdued burgundy wool. The narrow notch lapels are finished with sporty swelled edges, rolling to two silver-toned shank buttons that echo three buttons on each cuff. The jacket has low-slung flapped pockets on the hips and a welted breast pocket he leaves empty, saving the ornamentation for his busy neckwear.

Frank’s narrow tie is likely an authentic vintage piece, patterned in a gray-on-black geometric paisley print that covers the neck of the tie, bordered by a trio of gold stripes crossing “downhill” from right-to-left. Below the gold stripes at the blade and above the gold stripes from the knot through the tail, the tie is patterned in the same paisley but in a tonal burgundy-on-burgundy that coordinates with his blazer. Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson pointed out in a Vanity Fair featurette that Frank was intentionally dressed in a narrower tie, more contemporary with the era and a direct contrast to the bolder, ’50s-style tie that the older Russell wears with his Christmas cardigan.

Frank Sheeran, dressed for the holidays.

New York shirtmaker Geneva Custom Shirts made many of the shirts worn by the principal cast in The Irishman, so Frank’s pale pink cotton shirt with its puckered self-stripe is likely no exception. The shirt has a point collar, front placket, and rounded cuffs that close through a single button. Under his left cuff, he wears a gold tank watch with a rose gold rectangular face and textured black leather strap, identified by BAMF Style readers Cedric and Aldous as a 1940s-era Bulova President.

One of Frank’s Christmas presents from the Bufalinos is a new gold-finished watch which appears to have an expanding band, though he keeps his Bulova tank watch on for the duration of the short scene.

From the waist down, Frank wears a conservative kit that would work just as effectively with a blazer in the traditional navy wool and neatly harmonizes with the top half of his outfit. He wears dark gray wool pleated trousers with a slim black leather belt that closes through a ridged silver-toned single-prong buckle. He coordinates the belt to his shoes, a pair of black calf cap-toe derbies worn with uninspired black socks we see under the cuffed bottoms of his trousers.

A behind-the-scenes shot of Joe Pesci, Kathrine Narducci, Lucy Gallina, India Ennenga, and Robert De Niro filming the Bufalino family Christmas in The Irishman. Pesci’s colorful cardigan was the subject of a blog post during last year’s holiday season.

Frank only wears this blazer on screen at Christmas, but several scenes set in the early 1970s feature him in another burgundy blazer, updated for the times with broader lapels and sportier details like swelled edges and a flapped breast pocket.

How to Get the Look

Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran in The Irishman (2019)

Assumed to be around 40 years old in this scene (yes, I know), Frank Sheeran was intentionally dressed to be more contemporary than the older Russell Bufalino, styled in the slimmer lapels and tie widths that would be fashionable in the early years of the decade to follow. Frank also doesn’t shy away from incorporating some dignified festivity with a burgundy blazer and busily patterned retro tie.

• Dark burgundy wool single-breasted blazer with narrow notch lapels, 2 silver-toned shank buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets,
• Pale pink puckered self-striped cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Gray-on-black geometric paisley-printed vintage tie with burgundy blade and tail separated by thin gold triple “downhill” stripes
• Dark gray wool reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops and turn-ups/cuffs
• Slim black leather belt with ridged silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black calf leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Blakc socks
• Bulova President vintage yellow gold tank watch with rose gold rectangular face (with gold hour markers and 6:00 sub-dial) on textured black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, currently streaming on Netflix and recently released via the Criterion Collection.

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