Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1978)

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Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, American private investigator

London, September 1977

Film: The Big Sleep
Release Date: March 13, 1978
Director: Michael Winner
Costume Designer: Ron Beck

Background

Philip Marlowe is a bold dresser. We learn that from the opening paragraph of Raymond Chandler’s inaugural novel, The Big Sleep, with the description of the detective’s powder blue suit, dark blue underpinnings, and socks with clocks. The rest of the United States may have adopted a somber approach to dressing during the years of the Depression, but Marlowe is an L.A. private eye. He’s gotta turn heads.

Decades after the novel’s publication and Bogie and Bacall sizzled in its first cinematic adaptation, the story was once again slated for the silver screen. This time, there was no Motion Picture Production Code to contend with, and audiences would be exposed to all of the sex, drugs, and nudity that Chandler had intended. It sounds like a straight adaptation but for the fact that the story was updated to the contemporary setting of late 1970s London.

With the change of setting comes a natural change of style. The original setting for Chandler’s novel and Howard Hawks’ film fell during the two decade “golden age” of both Hollywood and menswear. Flash forward to the 1970s as polyester leisure suits, dramatic disco shirt collars, and bell-bottomed trousers abound… hardly a golden age. Luckily, Philip Marlowe can adapt.

What’d He Wear?

Philip Marlowe’s complex case leads him to a swanky gambling den run by racketeer Eddie Mars (Oliver Reed). Perhaps subtly reflecting the increasing chaos of the story, Marlowe dons a bold multi-striped jacket in blue, gray, and black. Of course, the stripe pattern is hardly as simple as it sounds.

In the spirit of thoroughness, the repeating stripe sequence extends from left to right as: a thin blue stripe, a wide black stripe, a thin gray stripe, a wide black stripe, a thin blue stripe, a wide black stripe, a thin blue stripe, a wide gray stripe, a thin black stripe, a wide gray stripe, a double set of hairline black stripes, and a wide gray stripe.

Marlowe takes a moment to process exactly what it is he chose to wear this evening.

The single-breasted sport jacket is styled like Marlowe’s other tailored jackets in the film with broad notch lapels that roll to a low two-button stance with the buttoning point neatly meeting the tie blade and the trouser waistband at Mitchum’s waist.

The jacket has natural shoulders, a long single back vent, and a darted front that interferes with the busy stripe pattern but suppresses the waist to create a flatteringly imposing, athletic silhouette for the 6’1″ Mitchum despite the 60-year-old actor’s increasing midsection.

Marlowe’s jacket concedes to the fashion trends of the ’70s in many respects, including the wide flaps on the slanted hip pockets and ticket pocket. He provides an interesting contrast against the cool steel tones of the jacket by wearing a scarlet red silk display kerchief in the welted breast pocket.

The red connects to yet another chaotic choice in this fascinatingly interesting outfit: the tie. The brick red ground is covered with a field of taupe flecks and striped with double rows of gradient-shaded four-leaf clovers that streak across the tie like constellations in the stars, following the appropriately British “uphill” direction of right-up-to-left. (For a closer look at the tie, check out this behind-the-scenes photo.)

With such a busy jacket and tie, only a solid white shirt could serve as the grand neutralizer to keep this outfit from venturing into the clownish. Luckily, celebrated London shirtmaker Frank Foster was called into service for Mitchum’s cotton poplin shirt with its tall semi-spread collar with long points, front placket, and single-button rounded cuffs.

Just when the outfit can’t handle another pattern, Marlowe gives it a rest with a pair of solid wool trousers in charcoal blue with a full fit that extends down to the plain-hemmed bottoms that flare out just enough to thankfully avoid bell-bottom territory. As proven by a behind-the-scenes photo where Mitchum has removed the jacket, these trousers have thick belt loops for his black leather belt with its polished squared single-prong buckle.

Marlowe wears the same shoes that appear in other scenes, a pair of black leather high-vamp slip-ons with broguing detail including the distinctive wingtips. His dark cotton lisle dress socks are probably black.

Mars vs. Marlowe.

Barely seen in this sequence is the stainless Rolex DateJust with a silver dial and steel Jubilee bracelet that likely belonged to Robert Mitchum in real life, having previously appeared in his films like The Yakuza (1975).

Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1978)

How to Get the Look

Robert Mitchum’s Marlowe takes a bold approach to dressing for a night out, clashing patterns and colors with unapologetic glory.

• Blue, gray, and black multi-striped single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets with right-side ticket pocket, 4-button cuffs, and long single vent
• White cotton poplin shirt with tall semi-spread collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Brick red tie with beige flecks and “uphill” stripes of four-leaf clover double rows
• Charcoal blue flat front trousers with wide belt loops, slanted side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with polished single-prong buckle
• Black leather high-vamp wingtip slip-on loafers
• Black cotton lisle dress socks
• Rolex DateJust steel-cased wristwatch with silver dial and steel “Jubilee” bracelet

You may want to be careful trying to pull off this look, either by keeping the base layer and swapping in a plain gray jacket or replacing the neckwear with a subtle or solid navy or even black tie.

The Gun

The Walther PPK appears to be the sidearm of choice for the British gangsters in Eddie Mars’ organized crime operation, as Mars himself had drawn a nickel PPK – with the slide curiously locked back – on Marlowe upon their first meeting.

Later, Marlowe leaves Mars’ club with Charlotte Sternwood (Sarah Miles) on his arm only to be confronted by Lanny (Dudley Sutton), one of Mars’ men who has his own blued PPK.

Leaving a casino with a woman and a Walther PPK in hand… straight out of James Bond. The jacket? Not so much.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Chandler’s 1939 novel.

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo (1958)

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James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, former San Francisco detective

San Francisco, Fall 1957

Film: Vertigo
Release Date: May 9, 1958
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the 60th anniversary of the release of Vertigo, Hitchcock’s noir-esque thriller and the last of his collaborations with James Stewart. Hitch blamed Jim for the film’s lack of success at the box office, but history would give Jim the last laugh as a 2012 reevaluation for BFI’s Sight & Sound led to a poll of critics choosing Vertigo as the greatest film of all time, beating out long-standing #1 choice Citizen Kane.

What’d He Wear?

As former San Francisco detective John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo, James Stewart wears a rotating selection of business suits in shades of blue, gray, and brown. The suits are all generally cut the same – single-breasted, three-button jackets with notch lapels and pleated trousers with turn-ups – with variations in the suiting and style: three are flannel while two are serge, three have ventless jackets while the other two have short vents, and two of the suits have sporty patch pocket jackets as well.

With the exception of the somber death inquest, this bold royal blue serge suit serves as Scottie’s go-to “going out” suit for evenings at Ernie’s, whether he’s on a date or just drinking stag.

The single-breasted suit jacket has substantial notch lapels that roll to a three-button front. The shoulders are wide, balancing James Stewart’s lean physique, with a then-fashionable ventless back and three buttons at the end of the sleeves. This and the gray flannel suit he wears when rescuing Madeleine (Kim Novak) from the Fort Point bay are Scottie’s two suits with patch pockets on the jackets.

Three-button jackets are typically recommended for taller men, providing the perfect balance for a taller man like the 6’3″ James Stewart.

Pleated pants were back on the rise during the 1950s, and Scottie’s suit is no exception… and, speaking of rise, these trousers have a long rise that may be considered high by today’s standards but is perfectly proportional with the suit and Jimmy Stewart’s height, as the trouser waistband meets the jacket’s middle button right at the buttoning point.

Scottie wears his trousers with a slim textured belt that appears to be dark navy leather, even though traditional black leather would be more consistent with the character. The belt has a long, thin steel single-prong buckle.

Under the wide turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottom of his trousers legs, Scottie also appears to be wearing his usual cordovan wingtip derby brogues with a pair of dark navy socks.

Scottie strides into Ernie’s yet again.

Despite his colorful suits, sport jackets, and sweaters, Scottie never diverges from his usual white cotton poplin dress shirts with two-button rounded cuffs, though there is some variance as to his choice to wear a collar bar.

Up to the point of Madeleine’s death (I warned you about spoilers!), he always wears a collar bar with his shirts and ties. For this suit’s first major appearance, at the inquest following her death, he begins wearing his shirts without collar bars. It’s a subtle difference, but it must be a meaningful one as he again resumes his practice of wearing a collar bar in his shirt after making Judy’s acquaintance and growing obsessed with turning her into Madeleine.

At Madeleine’s death inquest, Scottie maintains a generally monochromatic look with a tie that appears to be blue cross-checks on a lighter cornflower blue ground. Perhaps symbolic of his distracted state of mind, he foregoes his usual collar bar and wears the tie’s tail slightly longer than the blade… a custom that has been co-opted by modern practitioners of sprezzatura.

Keeping things appropriately low-key and monochromatic for a death inquest.

Later, we see Scottie at Ernie’s, where he wears a solid crimson red tie.

Red, white, and blue for a solitary night of drinking.

After meeting Judy, Scottie returns with her to Ernie’s in the hopes of recreating his experiences with Madeleine. He even returns to wearing a collar bar as well as this striped tie that he had worn earlier. This silk tie is striped in red and alternating shades and thicknesses of gray in the “downhill” American direction of right shoulder-down-to-left hip. Scottie wears this tie with both a silver collar pin and a silver tie bar.

Keeping an eye on Madeleine, perched at the bar at Ernie’s. This was technically the first appearance of the suit, though it only made a single-shot appearance. He later wears the exact same thing in the same setting.

A brief vignette of Scottie dancing with Judy, prior to her Madeleine makeover, shows him wearing what appears to be a dark navy tie with thin, widely spaced white stripes in the same “downhill” direction.

“Enjoying” a dance with Judy, wearing a little-seen striped tie.

Scottie wears a subtle gold dress watch, secured to his left wrist on a black leather strap.

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo (1958)

How to Get the Look

James Stewart’s Scottie Ferguson showcases how dressing boldly can still be tasteful and traditional with this vivid blue serge suit, one of several suits that he rotates through over the course of Vertigo.

• Royal blue serge suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White poplin dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 2-button rounded cuffs
• Slim black leather belt
• Cordovan leather wingtip oxford brogues
• Dark navy socks
• Gold wristwatch with round case, black-ringed white dial, and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 6: “Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses”)

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Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd British agent and anti-Bolshevik

St. Petersburg, Russia, October 1910, and
London, November 1918

Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episodes:
– “Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses” (Episode 6), dir. Jim Goddard, aired 10/5/1983
– “After Moscow”(Episode 9), dir. Martin Campbell, aired 10/26/1983
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller

Background

Reilly: Ace of Spies fictionalizes the exploits of Russian-born spy Sidney Reilly, often cited as a real-life basis for Ian Fleming’s James Bond. While the showrunners must have been cognizant of the need to place their suave British secret agent in a tuxedo, the series’ narrative also coincided with the rise of the dinner jacket over the first quarter of the 20th century.

These waning years of the Edwardian era ushered in a relaxed dress code for men, evident through the rise of the lounge suit over the frock coat by day and the dinner jacket eclipsing full evening dress by night.

“Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses”, the’ sixth episode, concludes a two-parter highlighting Reilly’s activities in pre-revolution St. Petersburg. The year is 1910, and Reilly – ever the opportunist – seizes the moment to enrich himself while serving his country against a dangerous backdrop of battleships, mistresses, and trigger-happy Russians. The beginning of the two-parter found Reilly attending a formal ball in full white tie, but his more private evening escapades are conducted in a black notch-lapel dinner jacket.

The notch-lapel dinner jacket makes its next appearance in the aptly titled ninth episode “After Moscow”, set in November 1918 following Reilly’s return from a Russia plunged into violent revolution. The signing of the armistice to end World War I calls for a party, where comrades like the fiery Boris Savinkov join Reilly and his courtesan companion Alexandra the Plugger (Lindsay Duncan) to celebrate… and to plot the overthrow of Lenin’s Bolshevik government in Russia.

No one can say Sidney Reilly didn’t know how to throw a party.

The notch-lapel dinner jacket is a style that has sadly descended primarily into the domain of rental tuxedoes rather than continuing the tradition of its classic origins. Even modern style icons like George Clooney seem to have fallen prey to the “rental-style” dinner jacket with its standard notch lapel and two- or three-button front… essentially no more than a black suit jacket with silk accents. It’s this type of jacket that will be doling out by the dozens this weekend as American high schoolers head to prom. (I was one of said students 11 years ago this month when I wore a two-button notch-lapel rental jacket that was surely the pride of my local Tuxedo Junction.)

Despite the reasonable distaste that sartorial purists have for the notch-lapel dinner jacket, it’s worth noting that the “step-collar” has been an alternative option on dinner jackets since their genesis at the turn of the 20th century with shifting tides of popularity in the 1920s and 1960s (by no less than Sean Connery’s James Bond!) until it was standardized in the following decades as the cheap, easy-to-make, rental option with its multiple buttons and unspectacular fit.

What do you think? Do sartorial experts need to reclaim the potential elegance of a classic notch-lapel dinner jacket or should it remain in the domain of less tasteful tux-for-hire shops?

What’d He Wear?

When Sidney Reilly makes his first appearance in a dinner jacket, it is for dinner in a St. Petersburg restaurant with his friend and lawyer. In 1910, when this scene is set, the dinner jacket was making headway thanks to the loosened restrictions of Edwardian culture. The relative newness of the black tie dress code meant details like lapels, buttons, and proper accoutrements were in constant flux. The notch lapel, or “step collar,” struggled to find a place among early dinner jackets with a flash of popularity during the roaring twenties before it essentially vanished in 1930, not reappearing until the need for a less formal dinner jacket emerged during the relaxation of men’s dress codes in the ’60s.

Reilly’s black wool dinner jacket is single-breasted with a single-button closure. The notch lapels have black silk facings and a buttonhole through the left lapel, though he wears no accoutrement other than a white pocket square in his welted breast pocket.

Reilly sports a black wool notch-lapel dinner jacket for an evidently serious dinner with his friend and lawyer, Sasha Gramaticoff. The white pocket square only appears in “Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses” (Episode 6).

The size, shape, and low gorge of the notch lapels denote it as a garment more contemporary to the 1980s than its Edwardian setting. However, the dinner jacket is finished with otherwise timeless details like straight jetted hip pockets, three-button cuffs, and a ventless back. Both the single button on the front and the three buttons on the cuffs are covered in black silk to echo the lapel facings.

The sleeveheads are roped and the jacket is tailored with a shaped fit, consistent with the fitted profile that was popular throughout the 1910s.

Reilly the gentleman.

For this first appearance of black tie in “Dreadnoughts and Crosses”, Reilly wears a very straight and slim black bow tie shaped with such lack of curvature that it resembles merely a black neck band if one squints. This style of straight neckwear can be found on many photos of men sporting both black tie and white tie ensembles during this era.

Reilly’s waistcoat in 1910 Russia during “Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses” is white brocade silk with a low, V-shaped opening only slightly higher than the buttoning point of the dinner jacket. The full-bellied shawl collar rolls to the top of a single-breasted front with three self-covered buttons.

“Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses” (Episode 6). To the victor belong the spoils… and the cognac.

By 1918, World War I had so relaxed sartorial conventions that the full evening dress of white tie and tails was now relegated solely to the most formal events, promoting the dinner jacket to a gentleman’s standard eveningwear.

Though it’s now unfortunately a common practice at weddings and proms today, removing one’s dinner jacket in polite company was still a condemned practice 100 years ago. Luckily for Reilly, he’s in the less-than-polite company of his anti-Bolshevik associates (and Bolshevik assassin Adamson) when he slides out of his jacket for an impromptu conference in his kitchen.

The exposure reveals more of Reilly’s shirt and new black waistcoat in the scene. His white formal shirt has a stiff, detachable collar with short wings, two small silver-trimmed black-faced studs in the starched front bib, and squared single cuffs worn with plain, rounded-corner cuff links. Naturally, his bow tie is black but in a slightly curvier butterfly (thistle) shape. (Unfortunately, it’s a pre-tied bow tie with visible clasps.)

“After Moscow” (Episode 9). Reilly holds court in his kitchen.

Reilly’s black waistcoat is a significant departure both from his white waistcoat in the earlier Russia-set scenes as well as actual fashions of the era. According to the august Black Tie Guide, dinner jackets were more commonly worn with black waistcoats before World War I and white waistcoats became the norm after the war. The reasoning can be linked to the shifting dress codes. As black tie became the de facto formal evening wear option, the formality of the white waistcoat was borrowed from the white tie dress code to increase the tuxedo’s prestige without sacrificing its comfort.

Like its predecessor, the black formal single-breasted waistcoat has a low V-shaped opening, though a narrower shawl collar. The full back is finished in black satin with an adjustable strap to cinch the fit around his waist.

Reilly doesn’t break any new ground with his black formal trousers with side pockets positioned along the black silk side stripes. The bottoms are plain-hemmed in accordance with standard black tie style.

Reilly’s shoes are black patent leather oxford shoes, worn with black dress socks.

Savinkov and Reilly at the end of the night. Savinkov has loosened his tie but retained his jacket; Reilly’s bow tie remains in tact, though he had discarded his dinner jacket earlier in the evening.

Prior to World War I, men generally preferred traditional pocket watches while wristwatches remained within the female-oriented fashion domain. World War I changed the timekeeping game for gents, as officers and enlisted men returning from the front retained the efficiency of wearing easily synchronized timepieces on their wrists.

The Cartier Tank watch, Louis Cartier’s seminal wristwatch, sealed the pocket watch’s fate. With a design inspired by the new Renault tanks, the square-cased Cartier Tank entered full production following the war and soon became the watch of choice for men of elegance and sophistication like Rudolph Valentino, Fred Astaire, Duke Ellington, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant.

Cartier’s watch wouldn’t have been available to Sidney Reilly yet in 1918, but Sam Neill’s character certainly wears a gold tank watch with a white square dial on a dark leather strap.

Reilly’s formal outerwear is only seen with this jacket during the 1910 sequence in Russia during “Dreadnoughts and Doublecrosses”, where he appears to be wearing a black wool Chesterfield coat with a single-breasted, three-button covered fly front and notch lapels with black silk facings. He completes the look with a black homburg and a white dress scarf, likely cashmere.

What to Imbibe

What else but champagne for a celebration? Especially for something as momentous as the armistice, Reilly breaks out the Moët for a party at his swank London pad.

Reilly tops off glasses for his spymaster chief Mansfield Smith-Cumming (Norman Rodway) and fellow agent R.H. Bruce Lockhart (Ian Charleson). The real Lockhart is often credited with keeping Reilly’s legend alive through the mostly fictionalized biography Reilly: Ace of Spies that formed the basis for this miniseries.

One hundred years after Reilly was popping bottles at his armistice party, Moët & Chandon remains a popular and prestigious champagne, producing approximately 28,000,000 bottles annually.

The French winery’s origins can be traced back to 1743, midway during Louis XV’s reign which saw an increased demand for sparkling wine. Wine trader Claude Moët smelled the potential and became the first vintner in the Champagne wine region to exclusively produce sparkling wine, becoming one of the few wine merchants accredited to serve the royal court. Its best-selling variety, featured here in Reilly: Ace of Spies among many other TV shows and films, is the dry and deep Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial.

How to Get the Look

Like any dashing British secret agent should, Sidney Reilly (Sam Neill) finds ample opportunities to dine, drink, and entertain while wearing impeccable black tie, including this notch-lapel dinner jacket worn with classic elements like a detachable wing collar shirt and shawl-collar waistcoat.

Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 9: “After Moscow”)

• Black wool single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White (or black) single-breasted formal waistcoat with shawl collar and low, V-shaped opening
• Black wool pleated formal trousers with silk side braiding, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White formal shirt with detachable short-wing collar, starched front, and single cuffs
  • Black shirt studs with silver trim
  • Plain cuff links with rounded corners
• Black bow tie
• Black patent leather oxford shoes
• Black dress socks
• Black wool single-breasted Chesterfield coat with silk-faced notch lapels and three-button covered-fly front
• Black homburg
• White cashmere dress scarf
• Gold tank watch with white square dial on dark leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

Cheers!

The Quote

I’ve run rings around you, Basil.

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

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Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist and sophisticated sociopath

Italy, Late Summer 1959

Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley, Purple Noon put French actor Alain Delon on the international map. Only 24 years old when Purple Noon was released, Delon earned the endorsement of Ms. Highsmith herself for his performance as the smooth and wily young con artist whose petty crimes and deceptions graduate to multiple murders over the course of the film.

“It’s insidious, the way Highsmith seduces us into identifying with him and sharing his selfishness,” Roger Ebert wrote of both the novel and this cinematic adaptation in his 1996 review. “Ripley believes that getting his own way is worth whatever price anyone else might have to pay. We all have a little of that in us.”

Purple Noon is an aesthetic treat from Henri Decaë’s lush cinematography to the stylish costumes of Bella Clément, for whom Purple Noon remains her sole credit and whose possible relation to director René Clément remains a mystery to me. One particular item receives significant on-screen attention: Philippe Greenleaf’s boldly striped regatta blazer that betokens Tom Ripley’s wish to become him.

What’d He Wear?

Today, the most universal description of a blazer would be a jacket tailored like a suit coat but with a more casual cut, with ornamental buttons and made from a durable yet formal fabric like wool. Navy remains the most traditional color, though it’s not uncommon to see correctly described blazers in shades of gray, red, green, and brown.

In 2013, Brooks Brothers introduced its wool-and-cotton Red, White, and Navy Stripe Regatta Blazer as part of The Great Gatsby Collection, itself inspired by 1920s nostalgia.

Unfortunately, contemporary nomenclature has complicated the term for menswear enthusiasts, shrouding the once-specific garment terminology in the muck and mire of modern shortcuts that classify any odd jacket under the “blazer” umbrella. Strip away the decades of uninformed labeling and Macy’s marketing tactics, and you’re left with a vibrantly colored – and often boldly striped – jacket.

Like many menswear staples, the blazer’s origins can be traced to the sea. In post-Regency era England, the gentlemen of Oxford and Cambridge rowing clubs sported bright club jackets that took the venerable appellation of “blazers” based on their bold hue. In particular, the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St. John’s College is frequently cited as a major influence for its seminal red flannel blazers.

Over the 19th century, the terminology evolved to include the variety of boldly colored and striped jackets favored by nautical sportsmen to the point that “by the 1890s, all flannel, loose-fitting casual jackets (which were at the time generally brightly colored) began being known as blazers,” according to Town & Country Magazine. The blazer crossing the Atlantic at the dawn of the 20th century saw the rise of a more subdued style, the navy single-breasted blazer that remains a classic American staple to this day.

More than a century after their genesis, the original garment found popularity among English mods and bands of the British Invasion who often sported striped boating blazers or piped-collar rowing jackets for their performances. It was just before this resurgence in the 1960s that a striped boating blazer appeared in Purple Noon, first seen as Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) eagerly tears through the closet of his wealthy pal, Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet).

Philippe is not so amused by Tom trying on his clothes, although the fashion plate Philippe may be more offended by the clashing stripes of the jacket with the tie that Tom chose to wear with it.

A few murders and many deceptions later, Tom inexplicably dons the same garment when he returns to Phillippe’s home to frame the deceased man for the murder of their mutual pal Freddie. Of his newly expanded wardrobe, he couldn’t have picked a more conspicuous outfit while trying to lay low.

Philippe’s striped regatta blazer is actually subdued when compared to some of the stripes seen on early examples. Contrasting with the blazer’s navy ground is a pattern of bold red stripes, each shadowed along the right side with a slimmer “old gold” yellow stripe.

The single-breasted blazer has substantial notch lapels that roll to three flat gold shank buttons with two matching buttons on each cuff.. Tom wears the blazer with the center button fastened, correctly meeting the trouser waist line.

The blazer is always a little big on Tom as it was ostensibly made for Philippe’s broader, more athletic frame, most evident when looking at the shoulders. Per the film’s Italian setting, this regatta blazer shows indications of Neapolitan tailoring including a distinctive “Neapolitan shoulder” treatment. This con rollino (or “with roll”) shoulder is unpadded with excess fabric rolled around the sleevehead to create a pronounced bump similar to the roped sleevehead. (You can read more about Neapolitan tailoring, including the con rollino and spalla camicia shoulder styles, in Sonya Glyn Nicholson’s article for Parisian Gentleman.)

After Tom’s lack of success sporting the blazer with his own blue button-down collar shirt and Philippe’s striped tie, he wisely opts for a more dressed-down approach for his nighttime return to Mongibello and the forging of Philippe’s suicide note.

Tom’s white cotton pique shirt has a soft, one-piece spread collar worn open at the neck with a plain button-up front and rounded cuffs that each close with a button.

Note the unique unpadded shoulders with sleeveheads rolled to create the effect of roping, a signature of the Neapolitan “con rollino” technique.

Both the shirt and the trousers were previously worn during Tom’s trip to Naples with Marge, with which he wore the blazer-style three-button jacket from his light gray linen suit. These gray wool flat front trousers have a medium-high rise and a straight fit through the legs to the plain-hemmed bottoms. The blazer covers the slanted side pockets with buttoning flaps and the set-in back pockets also with buttoning pointed flaps.

Tom wears a black leather belt that coordinates with his black leather loafers, worn sans socks.

Tom packs light for his return trip to Mongibello.

Despite assuming Philippe Greenleaf’s identity and much of his clothing, Tom Ripley sticks with the same wristwatch he’s been wearing since the beginning, a plain steel timepiece with a round silver dial on a dull dark navy strap.

Tom puts the finishing touches on his crooked handiwork.

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

How to Get the Look

You have to respect Tom Ripley’s sartorial savvy, even if there’s little else about him deserving of respect. He chooses a classically inspired striped boating blazer from his late buddy’s wardrobe… though he also chooses an unusual time to sport this attention-getting piece.

• Navy and yellow/red-striped single-breasted regatta blazer with notch lapels, three gold buttons, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, Neapolitan con rollino shoulders, and double vents
• White cotton pique casual shirt with soft spread collar, plain button-up front, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Gray wool flat front trousers with medium-high rise, belt loops, button-flap slanted side pockets, pointed button-flap set-in back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt with square steel single-prong buckle
• Black leather loafers
• Steel watch with round silver dial on navy-blue strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of these distinctive boating, rowing, and regatta blazers, delve into Jack Carlson’s extensively researched and exquisitely illustrated volume Rowing Blazers, published in 2014.

Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

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Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown, millionaire criminal mastermind

Boston, June 1968

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Thomas Crown Affair, Norman Jewison’s stylish 1968 thriller starring Steve McQueen as the titular mastermind who finds himself in a passionate cat-and-mouse game opposite a glamorous insurance investigator played by Faye Dunaway.

Steve McQueen sports Thomas Crown’s navy suits all over Boston, proudly wearing them for his adventures by land, sea, and air…

What’d He Wear?

Along with a dark gray suit, the solid navy blue suit is considered a menswear essential that belongs in every gentleman’s closet. Naturally, the colorful and expansive wardrobe of Thomas Crown contains at least two solid navy suits, tailored by master cutter Douglas Hayward and subtly detailed with the hallmarks of Mr. Crown’s unconventional style.

Suit #1 – Dark Navy on Beacon Hill

By Land…

A charity art auction in the St. James Ballroom of the Eben Jordan Mansion in Beacon Hill sets the scene for Crown’s reunion with Vicki Anderson, the stunning insurance investigator who reveals in no uncertain terms that he is the target of her current investigation.

Crown strolls into the auction wearing a dark navy worsted three-piece suit. The single-breasted jacket is cut similarly to his others with slim notch lapels that roll to a two-button front, roped sleeveheads, and long double vents. The jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets on line with the second button of the jacket, and three-button cuffs.

Thomas Crown’s appreciation for Vicki’s sharp red Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder is no joke, as Steve McQueen indeed fell in love with the car during production and later bought one.

The waistcoats of his suits are Thomas Crown’s sartorial playground, and he wears a range of styles with his single-breasted waistcoats such as the straight-cut bottom of his gray plaid suit‘s vest and his dark gray wool suit‘s vest or the slim lapels on his brown suit‘s vest. However, this navy suit breaks the mold with its double-breasted waistcoat with its low, narrow V-shaped opening sans lapels, four-on-two button closure, and slim-welted pockets.

Returning from the waistcoat of his aforementioned gray plaid suit is Crown’s elegant gold Patek Philippe pocket watch, worn “double Albert” style on a thick gold chain with a gold Phi Beta Kappa fraternity key fob.

Crown spies Vicki across the room, suddenly finding a much more compelling subject for his interest.

Crown sticks to his blue-themed color palette with his shirt and tie, wearing a pale blue-and-white striped cotton shirt and navy satin silk tie. The shirt’s narrow spread collar is pinned under the tie’s four-in-hand knot with a silver collar bar.

Note the navy printed silk pocket square that echoes – rather than matches – his solid navy tie.

The distinctive black high-vamp semi-brogue single-eyelet derby shoes with the perforated cap toes make a reappearance with this suit, worn with dark socks that are either navy or black.

Production photo of Steve McQueen on location on Beacon Street, 1968.

After Crown outbids Vicki on a set of lithographs and pours her a glass of Moët & Chandon champagne, she reveals her professional interest in him… and evidently agrees to a date, inadvertently revealing her personal interest as well.

Suit #2 – Navy for a Nighttime Harbor Date

By Sea…

The next scene follows Crown and Vicki as they sit down for a portside date at Anthony’s Pier 4 on Boston Harbor. As this scene immediately follows the previous one and McQueen again wears a navy three-piece suit with a low-slung double-breasted waistcoat sans lapels, it makes sense to assume that this is the same suit, albeit worn with a different shirt and tie as well as different shoes, having swapped out the businesslike black shoes for a pair of brown derby shoes.

Thomas and Vicki’s Seaport District date.

However, when Crown raises his glass to take a drink, he reveals a single ornamental button on his jacket cuff as opposed to the three-button cuffs of his earlier suit jacket. Is it an entirely different suit? A different jacket? The same jacket but refinished with single-button cuffs replacing the three-button cuffs? We may never know… but one thing is certain: we never really need to know.

Does Crown think a red, white, and blue ensemble will subconsciously convince Vicki that he’s an upstanding, law-abiding, all-American?

Crown wears a soft cream shirt that reflects a silky finish under the restaurant’s outdoor lighting. The shirt has a spread collar, sans pin, and double cuffs that he fastens with his favorite mother-of-pearl cuff links with the blue dot in the center. Crown wears a solid crimson red tie, fastened with a four-in-hand knot. As with the navy tie of his earlier navy suit, his red printed silk pocket square coordinates with his tie without going the tacky route of perfectly matching it.

Crown also swapped out his gold pocket watch for his gold Cartier Tank Americaine wristwatch with a long white rectangular dial and black Roman numeral markers, worn on a black textured leather strap.

Suit #3 – A Final Getaway

By Air…

The film’s concluding scene shows Crown in the air, leaving Vicki behind after yet another heist. We don’t see below his shoulders, but he appears to be wearing one of these navy suits (if I had to guess, I would say the one with single-button cuffs) with a colorful rose pink shirt and navy-and-purple striped tie.

Crown has also dusted off his preferred accessories of a tortoise-framed Persol 714 blue-lensed sunglasses, silver collar pin, and the gold Cartier Tank Americaine, his go-to when wearing a wristwatch with his suits.

A “clean” getaway?

Want to add an element of confusion…or the possibility of a third suit? A production photo shows Crown wearing this pink shirt and striped tie in his office with a navy suit… though the navy suit has a single-breasted waistcoat.

Another navy suit?

How to Get the Look

Steve McQueen on the set of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Thomas Crown takes an essential menswear staple – the solid navy suit – and makes it his own with a uniquely detailed matching waistcoat and his signature accessories and style.

• Navy worsted three-piece tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, double vents, and 1- or 3-button cuffs
  • Double-breasted 4-on-2-button waistcoat with slim-welted hip pockets and straight-cut bottom
  • Darted-front trousers with side adjusters, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale blue-and-white striped cotton shirt with pinned spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Silver collar bar
  • Mother-of-pearl cuff links
• Navy satin silk tie
• Black leather perforated-cap toe semi-brogue single-eyelet derby shoes
• Dark navy dress socks
• Patek Philippe gold vintage hunter-case pocket watch on thick gold chain with Phi Beta Kappa key fob
• Dark navy printed silk pocket square

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

What a funny, dirty little mind.

Sean Connery and Lana Wood in the seventh James Bond film, Diamonds are Forever (1971), filmed and set in Las Vegas.

Vitals

Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent

Las Vegas, Spring 1971

Film: Diamonds are Forever
Release Date: December 17, 1971
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair

Background

It’s Friday the 13th! Considered an unlucky day by some, this summer occurrence feels like just the right time to follow James Bond as he tests his own luck in a Las Vegas casino in Diamonds are Forever, the 1971 film that convinced Sean Connery to portray the British secret agent one more time.

Luck appears to be initially on 007’s side as he wins $50,000 at craps and makes the acquaintance of the voluptuous Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood).

Unfortunately, his luck runs out by the time he and Plenty arrive inside the doorway of his hotel room, where four black-suited thugs corner him with guns drawn and defenestrate his scantily clad “fulsome friend” directly into the Tropicana’s swimming pool.

Once he’s assured that Plenty is alive and well after the gangster’s “exceptionally fine shot” into the pool, Bond prepares for battle… but the gunmen ease out of the room. Entering his bedroom with his trusty Walther PPK drawn, he finds diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) waiting for him in his bed.

Presumably, I’m the condemned man and obviously you’re the hearty breakfast, right?

Lucky for Bond, “the evening may not be a total loss after all.”

What’d He Wear?

Although it had only been a decade since the Rat Pack’s infamous Las Vegas summit that popularized their tuxedoed persona, Sean Connery’s James Bond is already a walking anachronism when he steps out onto the casino floor in his white dinner jacket. Never mind that the look is relatively timeless for an elegant warm-weather locale, the average gambler in early ’70s Sin City simply didn’t dress like Frank, Dean, or Sammy… though the latter does make a brief appearance in a scene that was ultimately deleted from the final film.

“They ain’t never gonna get a cake big enough to put him on top of,” jokes Sammy Davis Jr. upon seeing Connery in his off-white dinner jacket as Bond.

Though it lacks the red boutonnière, this outfit is arguably an early ’70s update of Connery’s iconic summer formal wear in Goldfinger that consisted of an off-white peak-lapel dinner jacket, white-on-white striped shirt with French cuffs, black bow tie, and midnight blue formal trousers.

Bond’s white dinner jacket for the Whyte House hotel and casino may be overdressing, but there’s no denying that he stands out among the sea of garish polyester jackets and Ban-Lon sport shirts.

The Ban-Lon boys stare on dumbfounded as 007 out-classes them all.

As described by Bond sartorial expert Matt Spaiser at The Suits of James Bond, Connery’s ivory single-breasted dinner jacket is cut like his other Anthony Sinclair tailored jackets in Diamonds are Forever with a clean chest and natural shoulders with roped sleeveheads. The self-faced peak lapels with their high gorges are a traditional and tasteful width, rolling down to a single mother-of-pearl four-hole sew-through button. The four buttons on each cuff are downsized but otherwise identical.

Timeless cut aside, the dinner jacket takes some styling cues from contemporary trends. The double vents in the back are likely about 12″ long to match his other tailored jackets in the film. The slanted hip pockets with wide flaps are an unorthodox alternative to traditional straight, jetted pockets, possibly a concession to the era as well as a tailoring technique to draw attention away from Sean Connery’s increasing midsection.

Bond reholsters his PPK, likely to avoid an accidental discharge, upon finding Tiffany in his hotel room.

Although Roger Moore would wear a double-breasted white dinner jacket just three years later in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Diamonds are Forever marks the last appearance of the classic single-breasted white dinner jacket for more than a decade until the final two films of Sir Roger’s tenure. It would then be another thirty years until 007 pulled a white dinner jacket from his closet when Daniel Craig sported his Tom Ford “Windsor” jacket in Spectre (2015).

Connery wears a white self-striped formal shirt from Turnbull & Asser with a spread collar, pleated front, and mother-of-pearl buttons down the front placket. The double (French) cuffs are fastened with a set of gold-trimmed black onyx oval links.

Bond’s black silk bow tie is a large butterfly/thistle shape, consistent with early ’70s trends. The medium width of the jacket lapels works in tandem with the bow tie to ensure that one doesn’t dwarf the other.

Bond, unimpressed with Shady Tree’s schmaltzy burlesque comedy. No wonder his reaction to the comic’s death is basically to shrug and go play craps.

Aside from his off-screen strip-down prior to his assignation with Tiffany, Sean Connery wears the dinner jacket’s single button fastened throughout the scene. However, behind-the-scenes shots of Connery on location show a little more of his midnight blue trousers with their medium rise, side pockets, and flat front.

Sean Connery on location in Las Vegas with some of the local talent. Photo by Terry O’Neill, 1971.

Bond wears no cummerbund, waistcoat, suspenders, or braces, instead likely relying on his usual “Daks top” button-tab side adjusters. His formal trousers have a black silk stripe down the side of each leg of his trousers down to the plain-hemmed bottoms.

Bond ducks into Shady Tree’s dressing room and finds his most promising lead dead so he… goes and plays craps? I’m not sure much of this movie was supposed to make sense anyway, right?

Bond wears black patent leather cap-toe derby shoes and thin black silk dress socks. You can see more of Bond’s outfit, including his midnight blue formal trousers and black derbies, in this NSFW photo also by Terry O’Neill.

Not that it matters for this particular setting, but derby shoes are less formal than oxfords, which are considered to be the most acceptable lace-up with black tie.

Bond’s patent leather derby shoes shine in the dark just before they are shrouded by Plenty’s discarded dress.

A Little Nothing He’s Almost Wearing…

Once Bond finds Tiffany Case in his bed, he judges from her attitude and attire that he’ll need to strip down in order to be properly attired himself for what she has in mind.

Bond nonchalantly takes off his black tie kit, hanging the off-white dinner jacket, white shirt, and black tie on a hanger before settling into bed with Tiffany. He’s supposed to be naked, but modesty ruled the day and Sean Connery was evidently given a pair of short, beige-colored briefs intended to match his skin tone.

The condemned man prepares for his hearty breakfast. Note the low briefs, colored to match Sean Connery’s skin tone.

Terry O’Neill Gallery

Go Big or Go Home

I’ll take the full odds on the ten, 200 on the hard way, the limit on all the numbers, 250 on the eleven. Thank you very much.

“Say, you played this game before,” observes the sharp-witted Plenty O’Toole, who thought she spotted an easy mark with the obvious big spender in his out-of-place dinner jacket until Bond shocked her with his knowledge of how to properly bet on craps. His $50,000 payday, his $5,000 “tip” for her, and the way he “handles those cubes like a monkey handles coconuts” is evidently all that Plenty needs before we next see her undressing in his arms in his hotel room.

Plenty receives a well-earned $5,000 after the grueling task of merely standing next to James Bond for a few seconds.

As it turns out, Bond and Plenty did make an attempt at a date before retiring to his room for the night. One of several deleted scenes from this sequence finds the two at a restaurant, serenaded by a topless woman floating through a pool, playing the harp. A waiter has just poured Bond a glass of white wine, but the epicurean agent can’t hide his displeasure.

Bond’s snobbery hits an all-time high as he literally (or as close to “literally” as this idiom can get) turns his nose up at an inadequate white wine that he is poured during his date with Plenty O’Toole.

“Uh-uh… no good,” Bond utters. The disappointed waiter retreats with the bottle, much to Plenty’s amazement.

Plenty: Hey, I didn’t think you could really do that! I bet they charge you for it.
Bond: I was under the impression you were paying.
Plenty: Well, it was still a very classy thing to do!

Plenty laughs, but Bond responds with only a smirk.

Plenty: Hey, listen, you’re not a knight or anything like that, are you?
Bond: No, I’m afraid not. A mere commoner.
Plenty: Don’t feel bad. It doesn’t make any difference to me, I’m a Democrat!

After recognizing the topless harpist (“Hi Myrna!”), Plenty decides to end their date early so that she may thank him “properly… for being so great and everything.”

Myrna floats up behind Bond during his date with Plenty.

In short… whether it’s playing craps or tasting wines, know what you’re doing and you won’t fail to impress.

How to Get the Look

Sean Connery as James Bond in Diamonds are Forever (1971)

James Bond’s breaks from sartorial convention in this black tie ensemble would likely be more acceptable in a casual locale like Las Vegas rather than the gambling palaces of London, France, or Monaco… especially now that Sin City is the domain of elderly tourists in their wolf t-shirts and fanny packs.

• Ivory single-button dinner jacket with self-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long double vents
• White self-striped formal shirt with spread collar, pleated front, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold-trimmed black onyx oval cuff links
• Black silk wide butterfly-shaped bow tie
• Midnight blue formal flat front trousers with side pockets, satin stripe side-braiding, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black patent leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Black thin silk dress socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m afraid you’ve caught me with more than my hands up.

Footnote

Interestingly, Tiffany Case and Plenty O’Toole’s rivalry for James Bond’s affections extended beyond the 007 universe as both Jill St. John and Lana Wood were romantically involved with Sean Connery during the making of Diamonds are Forever. According to IMDB, this and the mysterious drowning death of Lana’s sister Natalie Wood fueled a decades-long feud between the two actresses.

Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises (1957)

Vitals

Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes, expatriate journalist and wounded World War I ambulance driver

Pamplona, Spain, July 1922

Film: The Sun Also Rises
Release Date: August 23, 1957
Director: Henry King
Costume Designer: Howard Shoup

Background

Today is my shared birthday with Ernest Hemingway, so I’m celebrating with a look at a cinematic adaptation of my favorite of Papa’s novels, The Sun Also Rises, which he had started writing on his 26th birthday, July 21, 1925.

After movie rights to the novel passed through many sets of hands for three decades, 20th Century Fox finally produced the film in 1957 with Tyrone Power as Hemingway surrogate Jake Barnes. While visually appealing, Henry King’s The Sun Also Rises is an ultimately underwhelming effort that Hemingway himself had described as “pretty disappointing and that’s being gracious.”

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who had independently financed the film himself as something of a passion project, was frustrated with the author’s rather public criticism as he stated that Hemingway was kept in the loop at every stage of the production. However, it was Zanuck who went against not just Hemingway but also stars Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner by curiously casting future movie mogul Robert Evans in the role of dashing young bullfighter Pedro Romero. (Zanuck’s declaration “The kid stays in the picture” would lend itself to the title of Evans’ 1994 autobiography.)

A highlight is Ava Gardner, who can’t help but to be a highlight in everything that she was in. It’s fitting that Ava is a standout of the film as Hemingway had insisted on her casting, perhaps impressed by her au naturel dips into his personal swimming pool. However, Gardner’s casting meant delaying production from September 1956 to February 1957, thus moving it from the then-snowy Spain to sunny Mexico; ironically enough, the fact that the film had to be filmed in Mexico was yet another of Hemingway’s chief complaints with the finished product.

In fact, the only thing that Hemingway claimed to have really liked about the film was the performance of Errol Flynn… a curious “coincidence” as the hearty, macho, and indeed mustachioed Flynn is far closer to Hemingway in resemblance and temperament than the author’s on-screen surrogate played by Tyrone Power. I can’t say that I blame Papa, as I think I would have far preferred watching a film that was just Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert drunkenly palling around Spain.

The real Ernest Hemingway (with mustache and beret), joined by Harold Loeb, Lady Duff Twysden, Hadley Richardson, Ogden Stewart, and Pat Guthrie for a July 1925 trip to Pamplona for the Festival of San Fermín that inspired him to begin writing The Sun Also Rises that same month.

And it is here, in Spain, that we catch up with the central characters of The Sun Also Rises after a day of taking in the bullfights during the San Fermín festival in Pamplona. Jake Barnes, Brett (Gardner), her Scottish fiancé Mike Campbell (Flynn), and Jake’s pals Bill Gorton (Albert) and Robert Cohn (Mel Ferrar) find themselves out to dinner at their Pamplona hotel… though jealous and Spanish brandy lead to a long night that results in fisticuffs!

What’d He Wear?

Jake Barnes wears a light gray semi-solid summer sport suit, the ideal outfit for bridging the gap between casual and classy as needed in early 1920s Pamplona. The single-breasted suit jacket has peak lapels with a buttonhole on the left side, rolling to a three-button front that he wears with only the center button fastened.

The two flapped set-in chest pockets that slant gently inward provide an element of sportiness to the suit, echoing the straight flapped pockets on the hips. The ventless jacket has padded shoulders with gently roped sleeveheads and two-button cuffs at the end of each sleeve.

Each of Lady Brett’s dinner companions can be well described by their expressions as they escort her to the restaurant: the melancholy and moody Robert Cohn, the pleasantly bewildered Bill Gorton, the drunken Mike Campbell, and the eager-to-please Jake Barnes.

The suit trousers have a medium-high rise with double forward pleats and slim belt loops, where he wears a dark brown leather belt with a small gold single-prong buckle. The trousers have straight pockets along the side seams, a jetted button-through pocket on the back right, and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Jake’s brown suede boots appear to be a standard pair of ankle-high chukka boots, a classic if somewhat anachronistic style as this type of footwear wasn’t popularized until the 1940s and was far more common at the time that the film was made than when it was set. He wears them with a pair of dark brown socks, a shade darker than the boots themselves.

In the eighth chapter of the novel The Sun Also Rises, Jake describes his arrival in Pamplona, recalling that “Brett was wearing a Basque beret. So was Mike.”

Up through the middle of the 19th century, the soft, round beret was traditionally the headgear of choice for French and Spanish peasants. Berets started to attain international attention after industrialization in France and Spain led to mass production and military adoption. By the roaring twenties, the beret became fashionable headgear among the expatriates staying in Europe.

Thus, Jake and his confederates in The Sun Also Rises often sport black wool berets, particularly when attending sporting events.

Jake and Bill don black berets and red scarves to fit in during one of many bullfights in Pamplona.

One of Jake’s first actions upon meeting his friends in Pamplona is to remove his own tie, making room for his new preferred neckwear to match everyone else in Pamplona for the bullfights: a bright red satin scarf.

“No one knows exactly when the red scarf, known in Spanish as the ‘Pañuelico,’ became a part of the unofficial costume for the running of the bulls and the festival, but now a red sash is worn by practically every participant and festival goer,” wrote Toby for Bucket List Events, who goes on to discount some of the more morbid theories about the origins of this practice. More can be learned at the official San Fermín site, which expands on the religious origins of the red scarf while also providing helpful tips for potential Pamplona visitors.

Jake knots his scarf under the collar of his white shirt, though he unbuttons the top button and wears the scarf outside both his shirt and suit jacket. The cotton shirt has a spread collar, a wide front placket, and no pocket. The double (French) cuffs are fastened with a set of small silver square links, each with a black onyx-filled square in the center.

Jake suspiciously eyes his drinking companion.

The gray suit jacket is one of two sporty peak-lapel, flap-pocket jackets worn by Tyrone Power in The Sun Also Rises, as he also wears a similar jacket in beige gabardine for a brief earlier scene while talking with Robert Cohn at a Paris gymnasium.

Jake interrupts Cohn’s workout.

What to Imbibe

When it starts raining during their post-prandial promenade, Jake and Brett duck into a local bar, where he orders several rounds of “dos Fundador, por favor!” for the two of them.

Jake orders one of many rounds of Fundador that he would be imbibing over the course of The Sun Also Rises.

Fundador, a Spanish grape brandy, makes several appearances throughout Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, including twice in Chapter 16 when “Mike ordered a bottle of Fundador and glasses for everybody…” and later when they “all sat down at a table and ordered a bottle of Fundador.” Evidently, Fundador isn’t the sort of thing to drink without a bottle for the whole table!

Several varieties of Fundador (which literally means “Founder”) are currently marketed by Brandy de Jerez, located in the southwestern Spanish “Sherry Triangle” city of Jerez de la Frontera.

Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises (1957)

How to Get the Look

Tyrone Power channels Ernest Hemingway by blending the traditional “San Fermín costume” with a natty, contemporary sport suit for comfortable days… and calvados-soaked nights.

• Light gray summer sport suit
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with peak lapels, two flapped set-in chest pockets, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted button-through back right pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with spread collar, wide front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Small silver square cuff links with black onyx-filled square center
• Bright red satin scarf
• Dark brown belt with square gold single-prong buckle
• Brown suede chukka boots
• Dark brown socks
• Black wool Basque-style beret

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and, of course, Ernest Hemingway’s book, which is one of my favorites and remains essential reading for anyone hoping to bask in the milieu of the 1920s “Lost Generation”.

The Quote

Everyone behaves badly, given the proper chance.

Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1978)

Vitals

Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, American private investigator

London, September 1977

Film: The Big Sleep
Release Date: March 13, 1978
Director: Michael Winner
Costume Designer: Ron Beck

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Raymond Chandler’s birthday was 130 years ago today (July 23, 1888), so I’m celebrating the hard-boiled author’s big day with a look at a cinematic portrayal of one of his most enduring creations, cynical private eye Philip Marlowe, as played by Robert Mitchum in this 1978 update of The Big Sleep.

Three decades after Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall lit up the screen in the lead roles, Michael Winner directed this adaptation that moved the setting from noir-era L.A. to contemporary England and didn’t shy away from the controversial sex and drugs that the Hays Code forced Howard Hawks to avoid for his iconic 1946 film noir.

Thus, the 1978 film ends on a bleaker note, more faithful to the original novel as Marlowe confronts both Sternwood sisters, abandoning the Bogie-Bacall romantic subplot in favor of establishing our lone hero as “part of the nastiness now,” as he ponders the nature of death:

What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a stagnant lake or in a marble tower on the top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell.

What’d He Wear?

For the film’s denouement, Philip Marlowe arrives at the Sternwood estate in a stylish summer suit in a blue-on-white hairline stripe with white contrast stitching on the swelled edges, pocket seams, and lapel buttonhole. The suiting appears to be either cotton or a cotton blend, a cool-wearing and comfortable choice for warmer weather.

As opposed to the bolder stripes associated with the classic seersucker suit, Marlowe’s suit is patterned with a narrow blue stripe on a white ground.

A closer look at the suit in shots like this reveals its faint stripe pattern.

The subtle striping of the suit gives it an overall light blue appearance that, with the neckwear, matches the powder-blue suit and dark blue suit stipulated by Raymond Chandler in his opening paragraph of The Big Sleep.

The single-breasted suit jacket has wide notch lapels with the white contrast stitching visible along the swelled edges and on the left lapel buttonhole. The lapels roll to a two-button front with mother-of-pearl buttons that match the three on each cuff. The jacket also has roped sleeveheads, a long single vent, and patch pockets on the left chest and hips.

The flat front trousers have a full fit and are slightly flared at the plain-hemmed bottoms per the trending style of the late ’70s. Mitchum wears a wide black leather belt through the trouser belt loops.

The stylish private eye wraps up a convoluted case.

Mitchum wears a white cotton shirt by famed London shirtmaker Frank Foster that has a semi-spread collar with long points consistent with 1970s trends. The shirt has a front placket and rounded cuffs that each close with a single button.

Returning from the blue-gray suit worn in the opening scene is the royal blue satin silk tie, knotted in a standard four-in-hand, and its matching pocket square.

A matching tie and pocket square is often considered a sartorial no-no. At this point, Marlowe couldn’t care less.

The light, summery suit is somewhat countered by the black calf slip-on shoes, which appear to be the same high-vamp loafers with medallion perforated wingtips that he wears throughout the rest of the film.

Marlowe crosses the lawn in his light summer suit and contrasting black loafers.

Not clearly seen but almost certainly present on his left wrist is the stainless Rolex DateJust with its silver dial and steel “Jubilee” bracelet that real-life Rolex wearer Mitchum wore on screen.

Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1978)

How to Get the Look

Robert Mitchum may have been a bit long in the tooth for this portrayal of Philip Marlowe, but he nonetheless brings a fresh, interesting, and contemporary fashion sense to the character.

• Blue-on-white hairline-striped cotton summer suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single back vent
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with long-pointed semi-spread collar, front placket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Dark navy polka-dot tie
• Black leather belt with polished gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather high-vamp wingtip slip-on loafers
• Dark navy cotton lisle socks
• Rolex DateJust steel-cased wristwatch with silver dial and steel “Jubilee” bracelet

If you’re looking to spend a few thousand on a contemporary update of this suit, check out this offering from Ermenegildo Zegna.

The Gun

Camilla Sternwood (Candy Clark) carries the distinctive-looking Beretta Minx, a subcompact .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol. Camilla’s small stainless steel pistol with its white plastic grips made its first appearance when the wanton heiress brought it to Joe Brody’s flat and again she requests a shooting lesson from Marlowe.

Marlowe is only slightly amused as Camilla Sternwood takes aim with her stainless Beretta .22.

The Beretta Minx (M4) is a longer barreled variant of the Beretta Model 950 subcompact semi-automatic pistol, with the tip-up barrel extended to 3.75 inches. Its low-recoil .22 Short rimfire round was the first American metallic cartridge, developed in 1857 for the Smith & Wesson Model 1 at a time when most revolvers fired cap-and-ball ammunition. It was quickly phased out by larger and more powerful rounds, but the fast and quiet .22 Short remained popular for target and sport shooting as well as for hunting small game like raccoons.

The Beretta Minx never attained the level of popularity as the more compact Model 950 Jetfire, and the final nail in the Minx’s coffin was placed when it was restricted from import to the U.S. in 1968. Production was swiftly ceased after 12 years.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Chandler’s 1939 novel.

The Quote

Oh sure. All I itch for is money. I’m so greedy that for fifty pounds a day plus expenses on the day I work, I risk my future, the hatred of the cops, of Eddie Mars and his pals, I dodge bullets and put up with slaps and say “Thank you very much. If you have any further trouble, please call me. I’ll just put my card here on the table.” I do all that for a few pounds. And maybe just a little bit to protect what little pride a sick and broken old man has in his family, so that he can believe his blood is not poisoned. That his little girls – though they may be a trifle wild – are not perverts and killers.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.12: “Lost Horizon”)

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, ad man at the pinnacle of professional success… and personal disillusionment

New York City, Summer 1970

Series: Mad Men
Episodes:
– “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10), dir. Jennifer Getzinger, aired 4/19/2015
– “Time & Life” (Episode 7.11), dir. Jared Harris, aired 4/26/2015
– “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12), dir. Phil Abraham, aired 5/3/2015
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Considering its significance, the final business suit that Don Draper (Jon Hamm) wears on-screen in Mad Men makes a rather ignominious debut, though it does get a shining moment of glory as Don – the erstwhile Dick Whitman – gets a glimpse of what he really wants his life to be.

In “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10), three episodes before the finale, our slick ad man is summoned to settle an office dispute between Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) and Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) after brainstorming a “future-of-the-company” speech with Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm). The day ends on an even duller note as Don is forced to provide conciliatory advice for the considerably twerpy junior copywriter Mathis (Trevor Einhorn), recalling his own fumble with Lucky Strike as a client ten years earlier.

Just two episodes later in “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12), it’s early September 1970 and one-time rival McCann-Erickson is living its advertising dream of counting Don Draper among its creative ranks. Don begins the workday with a reassuring “heh, look where we are now” exchange with Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) before joining his confederates to listen to the research about an upcoming pitch for potential client Miller beer.

Don should be living his best life, at the ostensible top of his profession and somehow positioned to keep getting even higher. Yet, as Peggy Lee serenaded us in the opening moments of this final season, Don can’t help but wonder “is that all there is?”

“Having seen a McCann box lunch brainstorming session, it’s pretty clear that he’d rather reign in hell than serve in advertising heaven,” wrote reviewer John Swansburg for Slate.

In a shot that television critic Todd VanDerWerff describes as the single shot that explains the entirety of Mad Men, Don lets his attention drift from the meeting. While his fellow shirt-sleeved drones are content to listen to tired research, the fully suited Don gradually looks toward the window, turning his back on his can of Coke that represents the show’s dream client – Coca-Cola – unable to take his eyes away from the potential freedom of a jet flying across the New York skyline.

The subtle moment is sold by the mastery of Phil Abraham’s direction and Jon Hamm’s nonverbal acting. As Abraham told Vanity Fair: “We worked on this unease, this unsettling moment that Don experiences where he sees the guys flip the binders over at exactly the right time and they all take out their pens. The research guy is droning on, and [Don] turns, looks out the window, and sees a chance for flight—What am I doing here?—and he leaves.” Perfect shot, indeed.

As though some cosmic force – and no, it isn’t Bert Cooper yet – is telling him to leave her with positive vibes, Don ends their conversation with parting words of encouragement: “Knock ’em dead, Birdie.”

A final moment of positivity between two former spouses.

By the time we catch up with him in the middle of the night outside Cleveland, he’s ditched his tie and the cosmic forces are now more apparent – taking the form of the apparition of Bert Cooper (RIP!), who announces weather reports and – of course – ads over Don’s car radio. “Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car of the night?” quotes Bert from On the Road, when Don likens his own sojourn to “riding the rails”.

The rails take Don to Racine, Wisconsin, where he hopes to find his latest paramour, brooding waitress Diana Baur (Elizabeth Reaser), and the answers that finding her may answer for him about him. However, he only encounters her zealot ex-husband Cliff Baur and his new wife Laura. Don tries to pass himself off as “Bill Phillips”, the researcher from the dull Miller Beer meeting – and then a debt collector in search of Diana herself – but his “shiny car”, the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, is one of the status trappings from his soon-to-be-prior life that betrays his gambit.

“The champion shape-shifter has lost his touch—even his seemingly quick-witted backup lie, that he is a collection agent… is quickly found out,” Swanburg mentioned in his Slate review.

The last time we see Don looking like a successful Madison Avenue ad man. By the end of the next episode, his suit-wearing days would be behind him and even his luxury coupe would be in new hands.

We leave Don as he embarks on his new adventure… not at McCann-Erickson, but in search of himself.

What’d He Wear?

Don’s Final Business Suit

We see plenty of new suits from Don Draper’s wardrobe in 1970, but this suit shows the most extensive fashion transformation from the show’s 1960 setting. Since “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12) all but completes the on-screen arc of his professional life in advertising, it’s significant that our first and last glimpses of Don at the office feature him in a gray semi-solid suit, white shirt, and duo-tone striped tie.

Compare Don’s final suit with the suit he wore in the show’s pilot episode, which premiered 11 years ago this month on July 19, 2007.

While Mad Men‘s other characters’ office wardrobes evolved to reflect the rapidly changing fashions of the turbulent decade, Don remained stylish, timeless, yet ultimately conservative in his sharp, two-piece business suits. ’60s counterculture may have tried to push “the man in the gray flannel suit” out of the world, but Don Draper wasn’t ready to go anywhere.

“I like the idea of Don being rooted in these gray suits,” Mad Men‘s costume designer Janie Bryant explained to Vanity Fair for an April 2015 article. “For me, I always go back to the gray suit because that is Don’s armor from himself and from the world.”

Joan and Don share a final ride up to the office in “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12).

Don thus makes his last appearance in the office in a gray subtly self-striped suit. His McCann-Erickson colleagues encourage him to remove his jacket for the meeting, but one look at the shirt-sleeved drones tells Don that his satisfaction is best served by leaving it on.

Although Don wears a number of suits during this final season, this one most reflects the bolder and wider trends of the 1970 setting. The two-button jacket itself is his preferred single-breasted, notch-lapel style with the familiar white pocket square neatly folded into the breast pocket, but the era-specific details are emblematic of the early ’70s, from the wide notches of his broad, swelled-edge lapels to the wide hip pocket flaps and long single vent.

The flat front suit trousers also show their early ’70s influence with frogmouth front pockets and wide belt loops to accommodate his thick black leather belt. The trousers also have jetted back pockets – with a button through the left-side pocket – and plain-hemmed bottoms.

Don wears the traditional footwear of the American businessman, a pair of black calf leather derby shoes. Don’s derbies have a split toe box and four or five eyelets for the black laces. He wears them with high black dress socks.

Still wearing his shoes, Don is interrupted from his usual mid-day office slumber in “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10).

Shirts and Ties

In both “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10) and “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12), Don wears this gray suit with one of his usual crisp white cotton shirts, which had been established as his preference as far back as the show’s pilot episode when he was shown to have a desk drawer in his office full of them.

Don’s white shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket, and breast pocket for his Old Golds… as he is decidedly no longer a Lucky Strike devotee after they dropped his agency’s account in the show’s fourth season. Don’s shirts at the office are invariably equipped with double (French) cuffs, and he wears a set of silver embossed rectangle links in “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10).

“The Forecast” (Episode 7.10)

Don wears exclusively striped ties with this suit, all withs tripes that follow the traditional American “downhill” direction of running from the right shoulder down to the left hip. The stripe patterns are also more complex than the typical rep or club stripe with their multiple colors and alternating widths.

In “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10), Don wears a tie striped in light gray, navy, and yellow that appears to be a vintage Calvin Klein item per the navy-stitched “CK” on the blade. This theory checks out as far as historical accuracy goes as Calvin Klein was founded in 1968, two years before the setting of the episode.

“The Forecast” (Episode 7.10)

The final season of Mad Men found Don going beyond his comfort zone of all white or off-white dress shirts and exploring the possibilities of stripes and light blue shirts with his business suits.

For a dinner with Pete Campbell and now-client Ken Cosgrove in “Time & Life” (Episode 7.11), Don wears a light blue shirt with a set of gold-framed cuff links in the French cuffs. His tie is “downhill”-striped in gray and navy with narrow shadow stripes in the alternating color above each bolder stripe.

“Time & Life” (Episode 7.11)

The classic white shirt returns for Don’s final appearance at the office in “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12), and he wears a set of silver onyx-filled rectangular cuff links. His tie continues the “downhill”-striped tradition of the others with maroon and light gray stripes that alternate in thickness as they cascade from the thick four-in-hand knot down to the blade of the considerably wide tie.

“Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12)

Don’s Accessories

“The Forecast” (Episode 7.10) finds our favorite ad man strolling into the office on a warm early summer day, the perfect weather to swap out his usual felt fedora in favor of a blue-gray short-brimmed trilby made from fine Milanese Pinzano straw. This particular hat with its black striped band was part of the ScreenBid auction that ran after the show’s production ended, as reported here by the Los Angeles Times.

Summer hat in hand, Don strolls up to his office at SC&P in “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10).

As confirmed by Preston Fassel in his March 2016 article for 20/20 Magazine, Don’s sunglasses of choice are the American Optical Flight Goggle 58… rather than the commonly reported Randolph Engineering aviators. Developed for U.S. military pilots in – you guessed it – 1958, the AO FG-58 offers its wearers a squared “navigator” frame as opposed to the rounder frame of the traditional aviator-style eyewear. Just over a decade after their introduction, the AO FG-58 was the preferred eyewear for the flight crew of Apollo 11, the NASA mission that landed the first humans on the moon.

When Don embarks on his own great American road trip in “Lost Horizon” (Episode 7.12), his AO Aviators make their return, shielding his eyes from the sun as he barrels across the heartland.

Even Don’s snappy sunglasses can’t hide his dubious inspection of a heartland hitchhiker.

These functional AO sunglasses aren’t the only accessory that Don keeps after “freeing” himself of his clothes and car, the trappings of his previous life as an unsatisfied ad man. From the first episode of the fifth season through the final scenes at the Big Sur commune, Don continues to wear his Omega Seamaster DeVille. Of course, a classic Omega luxury watch isn’t the sort of thing you just give away. (Then again… neither is a Coupe de Ville, and we see how that works out.)

A Christie’s auction from December 2015 sold four watches that had appeared on the show, including Don’s Omega from the final seasons. Per the auction listing, “the watches were leased to the show by vintage watch specialist Derek Dier, who has supplied watches to the movie industry, noted musicians, actors, writers, artists, international dignitaries and Fortune 500 CEOs. Mad Men Property Master Ellen Freund worked with Dier to select the watches.”

The Christie’s page further describes the watch as: “Signed Omega, Automatic, Seamaster, De Ville, Ref. 166.020, Movement No. 23’943’081, Circa 1960.” The stainless wristwatch with its black dial, date indicator, and black textured leather strap eventually sold for $11,875.

What to Imbibe

Even the most casual Mad Men viewer could likely tell you Don’s drink of choice: a heavy pour of Canadian Club from a bottle in his office, or an Old Fashioned cocktail for nights on the town.

“Draper drinks rye,” Joan Holloway told Draper’s then-secretary Peggy Olson in the pilot episode, to which Peggy responds: “Rye is Canadian, right?”

You may laugh at Peggy’s ignorance of the subject, but at least she’s trying to figure it out. A decade later in “The Forecast” (Episode 7.10), the young copywriter Mathis tries to needle his way onto Don’s good side by gifting him a bottle of Chivas Regal 12. A fine blended whisky for sure, but it reveals that Mathis knows little about his boss. While Don has been known to keep various Scotch whisky (including Chivas) in his office from time to time, the only time he drinks Scotch on-screen was a desperate night in Rachel Menken’s apartment in the first season that found Don downing a dram of J&B.

So close, Mathis.

The following episode starts with Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove waiting for their dinner meeting with Don to begin. After being dismissed from Sterling Cooper & Partners, Ken had taken a position with their client, Dow Chemical, where he has since promised to make SC&P jump through hoops to keep his business. Unlike Pete, Ken has no qualms about not waiting for Don before drinking the evening’s wine selection, Château Margaux 1953, “often considered the best there is,” according to Ken.

What to Drive

It’s not necessarily #CarWeek, but Don’s Caddy gets so many glamour shots in its penultimate episode, that I feel behooved to give it a little more love than just a few sporadic mentions scattered throughout this post.

Don Draper drives from New York to Racine in the 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville that he has been driving since the fifth season premiere. This silver ’65 Coupe de Ville replaced Don’s earlier Caddy that he purchased in the show’s second season when a salesman convinced him that it was the car he needed for proving his success to the world.

Don’s shining Cadillac Coupe de Ville, parked outside the Baur home. Once a symbol of his prestigious status in the New York ad world, it now represents his best shot at freedom from it.

1965 was the first model year of the redesigned third generation Cadillac Coupe de Ville, though it continued the 129.5-inch wheelbase of its predecessor and the 429 cubic-inch V8, though the engine would be increased in size to a 472 cubic-inch V8 for the 1968 model year. The Coupe de Ville would undergo another redesign for 1971.

1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

Body Style: 2-door convertible

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

Engine: 429 cid (7.0 L) Cadillac V8 with Carter 4-barrel carburetor

Power: 340 hp (253.5 kW; 343 PS) @ 4600 rpm

Torque: 480 lb·ft (651 N·m) @ 3000 rpm

Transmission: 3-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 129.5 inches (3289 mm)

Length: 224.0 inches (5690 mm)

Width: 79.9 inches (2029 mm)

Height: 55.6 inches (1412 mm)

In August 2015, less than three months after the show’s finale aired, the actual ’65 Cadillac Coupe de Ville driven by Don in the show was auctioned by Screenbid, yielding $48,980. As Bob Sorokanich noted for Road & Track, the “sale price includes $39,500 for the car, plus a 24 percent commission to Screenbid, the auction host. That’s pretty strong money for a ’65 Coupe de Ville, which Hagertys tends to value around $13,000.”

“De Ville” was evidently the theme of Don’s luxurious life from the fifth season onward, as that season premiere introduced both his new Cadillac Coupe de Ville and the Omega Seamaster DeVille that he would have through the end of the series.

What to Listen to

Times have changed since the days of Don Cherry crooning “Band of Gold” in a crowded Manhattan bar. A decade later, Don “rides the rails” in his shiny Cadillac to the sounds of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” closing out the episode.

Recorded in June 1969 and released as a single three weeks later, Bowie’s dreamy rock ode to a fictional astronaut (“Major Tom”) tapped into the zeitgeist of an era captivated by space travel; indeed, only five days after the release of the single on July 11, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts would take off for their mission that would land them on the moon, the world-changing event at the center of Mad Men‘s penultimate season finale.

“Space Oddity” was instantly recognized for its originality, receiving the 1970 Ivor Novello Special Award for Originality and becoming Bowie’s first single to chart in the United Kingdom. Nearly five decades later, it remains significant in pop culture, named one of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. David Bowie’s death in January 2016 led to a resurgence of the song’s popularity, and it ranked third in iTunes downloads within two days of the artist’s passing.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.12: “Lost Horizon”)

How to Get the Look

Don Draper’s final office suit may be an evolution of his usual gray-suited style, but the presence of trendy 1970 details makes it the first time the decade’s bolder trends had influenced his business wear.

• Gray subtly self-striped suit
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, wide-flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long single vent
  • Flat front trousers with wide belt loops, frogmouth front pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton dress shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
  • Silver-framed cuff links
• Maroon and light gray “downhill”-striped tie
• Wide black leather belt with squared steel single-prong buckle
• Black calf leather split-toe derby shoes
• Black dress socks
• Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator
• American Optical Flight Goggle 58 gold-framed aviator sunglasses

The suit jacket makes one more appearance in the series’ penultimate episode, “The Milk and Honey Route” (Episode 7.13), when Don wears it to dress up a white shirt and khakis at an American Legion fundraiser in Oklahoma.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series… or just the final season, if you still haven’t caught up or need to complete your collection.

The Quote

I’m really tired, aren’t I?

Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Vitals

Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone, née Andolini, Sicilian-born gangster

Corleone, Sicily, Summer 1922

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today’s #MafiaMonday post explores a much requested outfit – indeed, I’ve received at least three separate asks for it in the last 12 months alone – from The Godfather, Part II, often considered one of the greatest films of all time. In a mostly Italian-speaking performance that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Robert De Niro reprised the role of Vito Corleone that had been originated by Marlon Brando in The Godfather two years earlier.

The shifting narrative of The Godfather, Part II, tells the parallel stories of mob kingpin Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the late 1950s and his father Vito’s rise from a nine-year-old Sicilian refugee at Ellis Island to a powerful figure in the 1920s underworld.

Vito’s success takes him back to his hometown in Sicily, face-to-face with aging Mafia chieftain Don Ciccio (Giuseppe Sillato). Don Ciccio has grown senile and mostly immobile in the two dozen years since he orchestrated the murders of Vito’s father, brother, and – ultimately – his mother. He has no recollection of the young boy that he orphaned when a dashing, dapper, and mustached gent from New York stands before him with a gift of olive oil… and a well-concealed knife.

What’d He Wear?

After more than two decades rising to success, wealth, and power in the United States, Vito Corleone’s return to Sicily finds him in a succession of suits that both signify his newfound status while also contrasting who he is against where he came from. Whether it’s the ivory summer suit worn for his arrival or the dark business suit for touring the olive oil warehouse, Vito stands out against the sun-kissed Sicilian environment as an outsider – albeit a successful one. His Sicilian friend, Don Tommasino (Mario Cotone), spends the duration of Vito’s visit wearing brown, and it indeed he that belongs. While Vito may be welcomed with open arms, he is still a visitor who now truly belongs in America.

However, Vito dresses in a rust brown pinstripe wool suit for his mission of vengeance at Don Ciccio’s villa. The rich suiting still conveys his status and power, but the earthy color coordinates more with his dusty, sepia-toned surroundings. It’s a chameleon effect that identifies Vito as a trustworthy son of Sicily as Don Ciccio welcomes him on his porch.

“My father’s name was Antonio Andolini…”

The suit was designed by Theadora Van Runkle and made for the film by Western Costume Co., as proven by the inside tags seen in this suit’s listing on The Golden Closet. The jacket and trousers were sold at a June 2016 “Profiles in History” auction with more details available from Invaluable.

Tailored specifically for Robert De Niro, the suit was distinctively styled in the vintage tradition, with short and wide full-bellied peak lapels that were popular on men’s single-breasted suit jackets in the 1920s and 1930s. These lapels roll to the top of three closely spaced brown buttons all placed at least an inch from the jacket.

The shoulders feature heavily roped sleeveheads, and the waist is suppressed with a horizontal seam circling the jacket at the center button. The bottom is cut more like a double-breasted jacket with squared, closed quarters that – combined with the suppressed waist and ventless back – create a full and flared skirt section of the jacket below the waist line. Each sleeve ends with a single button at the cuff, and the welted breast pocket slants toward the center.

Another distinctive aspect of the suit jacket are the slanted, welted pockets on the hips rather than the traditional hip pockets with jetting or flaps along the top. The angle is far more slanted than is typically seen on a jacket like this, and this style of side-entry pockets more resembles trouser pockets than those of a suit jacket.

“… and this is for you!”

Vito’s white cotton shirt with its long point collar, front placket, and button cuffs and the dark brown Deco-printed silk tie are both engulfed by the high rise of the suit’s matching single-breasted waistcoat, which Vito wears with all six buttons fastened.

Vito completes his grisly task by wiping his bloody hands on the shirt of the freshly mutilated Don Ciccio.

The finished film makes it difficult to discern much about Vito’s straight-leg suit trousers, as he is either seen primarily from the waist-up or in long shots where the overcoat in his hands covers up all but the fact that they are finished with two-inch turn-ups (cuffs) at the bottoms and are worn with dark brown leather derby-laced cap-toe boots that rise above his ankles.

The auction listings don’t shed any light on whether or not the trousers have pleats, though Invaluable informs us that the trousers sold in 2016 have “velcro front closure and hook and eye snap waist,” though it’s most likely that the velcro was added sometime in the 40 years after production wrapped as it’s hard to imagine a method actor like Robert De Niro wearing pants with a velcro fly for a scene set in the mid-1920s… especially such a pivotal scene.

The aforementioned overcoat that Vito carries is dark brown wool with a dark satin lining that shines in the sun. He never wears the coat, but he does wear a brown fedora with a brown grosgrain band that gets left behind in the ensuing fracas as Vito and Don Tommasino make their escape.

Olive oil in hand, Don Tommasino and Vito Corleone pay a house call on the decrepit Don Ciccio.

Happily married to Carmela for half a decade, Vito wears a gold-toned wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974)

How to Get the Look

Vito Corleone channels his rustic heritage when he returns to Sicily in a sharp brown three-piece suit with unique, vintage-inspired details.

• Rust brown pinstripe wool three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with wide, short peak lapels, curved welted breast pocket, slanted welted side-entry hip pockets, 1-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat
  • Straight-leg trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with long point collar, front placket, and single-button cuffs
• Dark brown Deco-printed silk tie
• Dark brown leather derby-laced cap-toe boots
• Brown fedora with a brown grosgrain band
• Gold wedding band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men (Episode 1.10: “Long Weekend”)

Vitals

John Slattery as Roger Sterling, advertising account service chief

New York City, September 1960

Series: Mad Men
Episode: “Long Weekend” (Episode 1.10)
Air Date: September 27, 2007
Director: Tim Hunter
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

It’s Labor Day weekend. Between now and Monday, we have to fall in love a dozen times.

Happy #MadMenMonday! Americans are celebrating their last week in the office before the long weekend over Labor Day, a holiday that provided Roger Sterling with one of his most quotable – and lecherous – of early Mad Men episodes.

Friday, September 2, 1960. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Roger Sterling are among a skeleton crew remaining in the office for the last full day before Labor Day weekend. After the long weekend, Roger hopes to see ideas from his team that “aims a howitzer at Kennedy’s balls” in service to their prospective new client, Republican presidential candidate Dick Nixon. In the meantime, Roger follows his true passions and propositions Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) for an extended liaison over the weekend.

We can go anywhere tonight! We can see a Broadway show then sit at any table in the Colony with our clothes off, if we want to.

Roger’s wide-eyed plans are quickly diffused, however, as Joan has recently seen The Apartment and is rethinking her place in line to be Sterling Cooper’s Shirley MacLaine surrogate. Paired with the bad news from Don that Dr. Scholl’s is taking its business elsewhere, the two ad men drown their sorrows in drams from Roger’s office bar before Roger leads them down to the casting area for Fred Rumsen’s double-sided aluminum commercial. A cynical yet amused Don watches as Roger plays predatory Richard Dawson to the young sets of twins who came to audition to the commercial before he “lands” on the 20-year-old sisters Eleanor and Mirabelle Ames, the latter of whom astutely notes: “Oh my… everything he says means something else, too.”

Flanking John Slattery in this production photo are Megan Stier and Alexis Stier, who portrayed Eleanor and Mirabelle Ames, respectively.

The Ames sisters soon realize exactly what is on Roger’s one-track mind, though his attempts at a second round of sex with Mirabelle leads to a heart attack that brings Don running to the rescue of his friend… and it isn’t the last time Don provides Roger with invaluable help that evening. As a delusional Roger starts calling out for Mirabelle while on the gurney, Don smacks him and reminds him that his wife’s name is Mona. The entire experience leads the cheeky ad man to a cathartic realization:

I’ve been living the last 20 years like I’ve been on shore leave.

What’d He Wear?

Three-piece suits were a hallmark of Roger Sterling’s style throughout Mad Men‘s entire run, though I believe the only time this specific suit is featured is the first season episode set on the Friday before Labor Day, 1960.

This gray semi-solid wool suit combines Roger’s two preferred styles – three-piece suits and double-breasted suits – by pairing a single-breasted jacket with double-breasted-style peak lapels with a matching waistcoat and trousers.

“I really need to get to the bottom of that… yes, I would like to get a look at those!”
Roger’s double entendres fail to have their desired effect on Joan Holloway, and he is forced to search elsewhere for his Labor Day weekend plans.

The suit jacket’s broad peak lapels have long gorges with pick stitching visible on the edges. The sleeveheads are roped with four buttons at the end of each sleeve, and the ventless back is somewhat flared. The jacket has straight flapped hip pockets in line with the lower button on the front, and Roger wears a white linen kerchief in the welted breast pocket.

The matching suit waistcoat (vest) has five buttons spaced apart and worn with the lowest button over the cutaway notch bottom undone. The waistcoat has four welted pockets and a gray satin-finished back lining with an adjustable cinch strap.

Roger and Don scope out the potential talent for Freddy Rumsen’s latest commercial… and their potential dates for the evening.

Roger’s trousers have a single reverse pleat on each side of the fly with side pockets, jetted back pockets, and substantial turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Although many men opt for braces, side adjusters, or nothing to secure the trousers of a three-piece suit, Roger Sterling prefers belts no matter what. This particular belt is black leather to match his shoes with a silver-toned box buckle. It’s difficult to tell if he does so here, but – in later seasons – Roger would use his belt buckles as a vehicle for his “S” monogram.

Pillow talk with Roger and Mirabelle Ames. Note his belt, half-hanging around the top of his pleated trousers.

Roger’s cotton dress shirt is white-on-white self-striped with a breast pocket and rounded cuffs that close on one of two buttons. The club collar is pinned under the tie knot with a long silver-toned collar bar.

His navy tie is patterned with a spaced out field of small, angled white dots.

Tie firmly in place, Roger smokes his way through a meeting to discuss strategy for the Nixon campaign.

Roger’s socks get far more attention than his shoes, as he kicks off his black lace-ups in preparation for his second tryst with Mirabelle. When Don runs back into the room, however, the first thing seen by both Don and the audience are Roger’s beige dress socks with brown polka dots. Roger holds his socks in place with a pair of black sock garters that clip onto each side of both socks.

An unusual sight greets Don Draper upon his return to Roger’s office.

Like Don and many other men of his era, Roger wears all white underwear, and his romp with Mirabelle means both his undershirt and undershorts get more screen time than usual. Roger’s undershirt is sleeveless with reinforced neck and arm holes, though the cloth isn’t ribbed like the fitted A-shirts popular today.

Roger Sterling finds a friendly, comfortable place to rest his head.

Roger wears no rings in this episode, nor does he appear to be wearing his watch.

What to Listen To

Once the office has emptied out, Roger puts on music and goes full steam in trying to bed one – or both – of the twins, set to the tune of the McGuire Sisters’ cover of Domenigo Madugno’s “Volare”.

After Domenico Madugno released “Nel blu dipinto di blu” on February 1, 1958, the Italian ballad shot to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, spending five consecutive weeks at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart later that summer and becoming the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year during the 1st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in May 1959.

By the time Madugno’s hit made music history at the inaugural Grammy Awards, the world arguably had “Volare” fever, borrowing the Italian word for “to fly” that features prominently in the song’s chorus. Dean Martin recorded his own take on Madugno’s song in half-English, half-Italian, released in August 1958 as “Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu)”.

Even non-Italian artists became embracing the popularity of “Volare”. The McGuire Sisters, a trio from Middletown, Ohio, introduced their cover of Dino’s half-English version in 1958. While it didn’t have the enduring appeal of Madugno’s original canzone or Martin’s laidback cover, the McGuire Sisters’ recording still made it up to number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100… as well as into an episode of Mad Men nearly fifty years later.

How to Get the Look

John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men (Episode 1.10: “Long Weekend”)

Show you still mean business for the last week in the office before Labor Day by making a powerful impression à la Sterling Cooper’s witty and womanizing head of account services, Roger Sterling.

• Gray semi-solid wool three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with four welted pockets, notched bottom, and adjustable back strap
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White-on-white self-striped cotton shirt with pinned club collar, breast pocket, and adjustable-button cuffs
• Navy tie with small white spaced-out angled dots
• Black leather belt with silver-toned box buckle
• Black leather derby shoes
• Beige dress socks with brown polka dots
• White cotton sleeveless undershirt
• White cotton boxer shorts

Whether you have the right suit or not, you can always outfit yourself with some of Roger Sterling’s favorite accessories, such as a navy polka-dot tie from The Tie Bar, beige polka-dot socks, and an old-fashioned set of sock garters.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series… but start with the first season, of course.

The Quotable Roger Sterling

• The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.
• You know what my father used to say? Being with a client is like being in a marriage; sometimes, you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face.
• What do we work so hard for? To have enough money to buy fabulous vacations for our families so we can live it up here.
• Remember, Don… when God closes a door, he opens a dress.

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1941)

Vitals

Henry Fonda as Charles “Hopsie” Pike, brewery heir and ophidiologist

SS Southern Queen, sailing north from South America,
August 1940

Film: The Lady Eve
Release Date: February 25, 1941
Director: Preston Sturges
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Men’s Wardrobe: Richard Bachler

Background

To celebrate the birthday today of my wonderful, patient, and charming girlfriend, I’d like to highlight the elegant evening wear worn by Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve, a classic screwball comedy that I first discovered with her family.

The Lady Eve is a fun, comedic change of pace for Fonda, who had just received an Academy Award nomination the previous year for the sobering The Grapes of Wrath. As opposed to a Dust Bowl drama featuring death and despair, The Lady Eve‘s set was reportedly plenty of fun for all involved. Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, who would remain lifelong friends, rarely returned to their dressing rooms, instead opting to trade stories and script notes with Preston Sturges, who both wrote and directed the film.

Sturges, who would have celebrated his 120th birthday yesterday, had set out to write a fantastic screenplay with Stanwyck in mind for the leading role, and he did just that while in Reno waiting out a divorce from his third wife.

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck take direction while filming the famous flirty scene in Jean’s cabin.

The film begins as ophidiologist Charles Pike returns from a year-long expedition studying reptiles (as ophidiologists do) along the Amazon. Nicknamed “Hopsie” in recognition of his family’s successful brewery (“The Ale That Won for Yale”), Pike hopes for a quiet voyage on the SS Southern Queen as he heads back to the States, but his dashing looks and reputable success have him turning the heads of every woman during dinner. Only Jean Harrington is wily enough to force the heir to reciprocate her attention… and understandably so!

A few months after Hopsie’s suspicions of Jean’s true motives ruin their chance at romance, she reappears in his life as the “Lady Eve Sidwich”, posing as a posh English socialite who pretends not to recognize her former near-paramour. The Pike family hosts a dinner party in honor of “The Lady Eve”, calling for Hopsie to don his finest formal regalia. The astounded heir first ruins his evening tailcoat and white tie kit, then his black double-breasted dinner jacket, forcing him to return to the dinner in the same off-white dinner jacket he wore during his first encounter with Jean on the Southern Queen.

“It’s the last one,” Hopsie bemoans. “If anything happens to this, I’ll have to wear a beach towel.”

…so, naturally, he finds himself directly under the falling coffee service and yet another dinner jacket bites the dust.

What’d He Wear?

More than a decade after the dinner suit, or tuxedo, was increasingly accepted as formal wear in the years following World War I, stylish gents began looking for alternatives to traditional black or midnight blue dinner jackets that would be comfortable yet fashionable in warmer climates. Enter the white dinner jacket.

It would be more accurate to describe the color of a “white” dinner jacket as off-white or ivory, providing a touch of contrast against the crisp white dress shirt beneath it. Single- and double-breasted styles were both popular during the emergence of the white dinner jacket in the 1930s, though the double-breasted style eliminated the need for its wearer to don an additional layer that would cover the waist. Thus, a double-breasted dinner jacket would have been very comfortable for Hopsie Pike’s equatorial evening at sea.

No matter how comfortable your dinner jacket may be, there’s no sartorial cure for awkwardness.

Likely constructed from a light, summer-weight wool, Hopsie’s dinner jacket has a wide self-faced shawl collar that rolls to a 4×1-button double-breasted front with mother-of-pearl sew-through buttons that match the three smaller buttons on each cuff. The relaxed formality in situations calling for white dinner jackets means the lapels are traditionally not faced in grosgrain or satin silk as found on dark dinner jacket lapels, nor are the buttons covered in silk. The ventless jacket has a welted breast pocket where Hopsie wears a white display kerchief and straight hip pockets.

Hopsie appropriately wears a black silk bow tie, and the pointed-end bow tie (also known as a “diamond tip”) nicely balances Henry Fonda’s narrower face.

Hopsie’s white formal dress shirt has a large point collar typical of the era’s fashion trends. A later scene that finds Hopsie changing into his other dinner jacket gives us a better look at the shirt, which appears to be a sheer cotton voile with the visible collar, bib, and double cuffs made from thicker marcella cotton.

The dress shirt has three small round black studs with metal trim on the front bib. The double (French) cuffs are fastened with a set of thin cylindrical links.

A year up the Amazon does nothing to prepare Hopsie Pike for a situation like this.

Suspenders (braces) with black tie kits are meant to be useful but not visible, yet the unorthodox position that Hopsie finds himself in during mid-embrace with Jean reveals his white suspenders to the audience. White leather double-hooks on the front and back connect to buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband.

The trousers themselves are the same black or midnight blue wool formal trousers that would be worn with a full dinner suit, with silk braiding down each side and plain-hemmed bottoms. In accordance with traditional black tie standards, Hopsie also wears a well-shined pair of black patent leather cap-toe oxford shoes with black dress socks.

Production photo of Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda filming The Lady Eve.

As the black tie dress code was developed and standardized during the early 20th century, there was uncertainty about how a gentleman should wear his timepiece. Early practices with formal white tie stipulated that, if a man must wear a watch with his formal wear, that it be a discreetly placed pocket watch on a simple but elegant chain. However, World War I introduced both relaxed dress codes and popularity of the wristwatches that had been worn by servicemen, and men were increasingly keeping time on their wrist, whether dressed for business or dinner.

Hopsie wears a wristwatch with an elongated rectangular case on a brown leather strap. As these were the days before watchmakers like Omega invested millions to have their timepieces on James Bond’s wrist, little attention would have been paid to the exact watch model during production and it’s likely that this is Henry Fonda’s own wristwatch.

Henry Fonda as “Hopsie” Pike in The Lady Eve (1941)

How to Get the Look

Henry Fonda wears a classic example of the warm-weather white dinner jacket in The Lady Eve, perfectly styled and appropriately suitable for a summer evening at sea. The look would become iconic the following year as Humphrey Bogart dressed in an ivory dinner jacket to brood over his bourbon in Casablanca.

• Ivory wool double-breasted dinner jacket with 4-on-1 button front, shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
• Black wool formal trousers with black satin side stripe, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton voile formal dress shirt with long marcella point collar, marcella front bib with three black studs, marcella double/French cuffs
• Black silk pointed-end bowtie
• Black patent leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black dress socks
• Rectangular wristwatch on brown leather strap
• White silk pocket kerchief

This weekend also presents your last opportunity to wear white before Labor Day… if you’re the sort of the Northern Hemisphere dweller who follows such practices.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie… and take care of your dinner jackets!

The Quote

You’re certainly a funny girl for anybody to meet who’s just been up the Amazon for a year.

Footnote

Interestingly, context clues on the checks written by her father indicate that Jean’s attempted seduction at sea seems to be set on August 28, 1940, exactly 78 years and two days ago!

James Stewart as Rupert Cadell in Rope (1948)

Vitals

James Stewart as Rupert Cadell, cerebral publisher and former prep school headmaster

New York City, Spring 1948

Film: Rope
Release Date: September 25, 1948
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Labor Day often signifies the changing of the seasons from the hot summer months into the cooler autumn, a time when the linen suits are shifted toward the back of the closet as flannels and tweeds return to the forefront. As we look ahead to the warmer clothes of the approaching season, I take inspiration from a real-life BAMF who had plenty of style both on and off the big screen, Jimmy Stewart.

Just over 70 years ago on August 26, 1948, Rope premiered in New York City, nearly a month before it was released to screens around the country. With a story by Hume Cronyn and a screenplay by Arthur Laurents, Alfred Hitchcock adapted his experimental thriller from Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play, itself inspired by the psychology of the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case that shocked the world in 1924.

John Dall and Farley Granger play the murderous young men who kill a former classmate they deemed inferior just to prove to themselves – and to the world – that they can commit “an immaculate murder”. In his first of four collaborations with Hitch, James Stewart stars as the fellas’ former prep school headmaster with whom they’d discussed Nietzsche’s “superman” concept and the “art” of murder.

What’d He Wear?

Produced during the shining decades in the early 20th century often referenced as “the golden age of menswear”, Rope showcases elegant tailoring on each of its three leads. Bold peak lapels are the order of the day, from the double-breasted jacket of John Dall’s navy serge suit to the sharp and wide lapels on the single-breasted jackets of Farley Granger and Jimmy Stewart’s three-piece suits.

Rupert’s gray tweed suit bridges the gap between the cool, calculating Brandon in navy serge and the anxious, earthier Phillip in his brown striped suit. While gray can have businesslike connotations, the tweed suiting brings Rupert’s ensemble “down to earth” and subconsciously presents his morality more in line with the less murderous Phillip.

Stewart’s Rupert Cadell arrives at a dinner party hosted by Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger), unaware that the two lads have just murdered a former classmate and are daringly storing his corpse in an antique chest that the food is being served from.

Dressed in a gray herringbone tweed three-piece suit, Rupert’s party attire befits his professorial reputation and occupation. Gray is a good color for the former schoolmaster, reflective of his own moral “gray area” that led his former students to believe he would actually condone a murder committed by Nietzsche’s Übermensch.

Rupert’s fine tweed suit is one I consider to be overlooked, though I was pleased to see that the blog Clued Down did include it in a list of the top 5 suits in cinema.

The single-breasted, three-button jacket has wide and sharp peak lapels with a buttonhole through the left lapel. At 6’3″, James Stewart’s tall frame places him in the rare segment of the male population that not only can pull off a three-button jacket but also benefits from the visual balance offered by that third button.

The ventless suit jacket has straight shoulders, a welted breast pocket for his white linen pocket square, and straight jetted hip pockets. The sleeves end with four kissing buttons that curve away from the sleeve vent as they extend down toward the wrist.

Rupert’s slanted sleeve button formation can be seen as he slyly plants his gold cigarette case in Brandon and Phillip’s apartment.

The single-breasted, six-button waistcoat is correctly worn with the lowest button left undone over the notched bottom. It likely has four welt pockets, though the draped chest of his suit jacket covers much of the clothing beneath it.

Ideal tailoring during the 1940s meant that wearing a three-piece suit to a dinner party would keep the trouser waistband properly concealed under the waistcoat at all times. James Stewart’s suit is beautifully tailored so that the long rise of the trousers ends just above the lowest fastened button of his waistcoat, maintaining a harmonious flow.

Though the proper fit of the jacket and waistcoat means we can’t be sure if he is wearing suspenders (braces) or has side adjusters, we can see that the full-fitting trousers have double forward pleats and are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

The full fit of 1940s tailoring was beneficial for a lanky guy like Jimmy Stewart, who would likely look like a lopsided string bean in the “skinny fit” suits of the 2010s.

Rupert wears a white cotton dress shirt with a front placket and double (French) cuffs that are fastened with a set of flat gold rectangular links. The large point collar is elegantly accented with a classic gold bar that keeps his appearance neat throughout the evening.

Rupert works his charm on Mrs. Atwater (Constance Collier).

Rupert wears a navy tie made of finely textured silk, knotted in a neat four-in-hand that pops forward due to the shirt’s collar bar.

Rupert makes an unfortunate discovery.

Gray tweed works equally well with brown or black footwear, but attending a dinner party in an urban metropolis like New York City makes the latter a little more appropriate. Rupert thus wears black leather cap-toe oxford shoes with black socks, which are mostly covered by the full break of his trousers.

Brandon and Phillip aren’t the type to demand their guests remove their shoes in the house, though they might have reconsidered this rule if they knew that Rupert would be stepping over the couch. However, most hosts would likely protest a guest firing a gun out their window before concerning themselves with whether or not said guest was wearing his shoes on their couch while doing so.

Rupert’s subtle dress watch has a round yellow gold case and a light-colored dial and is worn on a russet brown leather strap with stitched edges.

Rupert’s watch flashes from his wrist as he and Phillip struggle for control of Brandon’s discarded .38.

Like any respectable gent in the city during the ’40s, Rupert wears a hat. In this case, it’s a gray fedora with a black grosgrain band.

Brandon and Phillip’s kind housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson (Edith Evanson), helps Rupert with his hat.

The Gun

Brandon Shaw (John Dall) keeps a loaded Colt Detective Special in his pocket throughout the dinner party, perhaps as an extension of his thrill-seeking behavior.

“That’s a gun, isn’t it?” Rupert asks, and Brandon sheepishly admits to arming himself to prepare for his trips up to Connecticut where burglars are evidently running rampant. In a gesture of good faith, Brandon leaves the revolver on the piano, but his more emotional partner Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) impulsively grabs it. After a brief struggle, a slightly wounded Rupert gets control of the weapon and fires three shots out the window to attract police.

Rupert Cadell has his own way of calling 9-1-1, and it doesn’t even need a phone.

The idea of carrying an all-steel .38 that weighs considerably more in your pocket may seem preposterous in the era of lightweight polymer subcompact handguns, but Colt had introduced its innovative Detective Special for just that purpose in 1927. Though pocket pistols had existed since the dawn of the revolver nearly a century earlier, the Colt Detective Special combined the power of the .38 Special round with the concealability of a 2″ “snub nose” barrel to deliver the first true mass-produced “belly gun” favored by cops and criminals alike.

What to Imbibe

This is an occasion. It calls for champagne.

Despite their haughty sense of superiority, Brandon and Phillip somehow make the mistake of outfitting their guests with the incorrect glasses, providing neither coupes nor flutes but stemmed cocktail glasses for their champagne. This wasn’t an uncommon practice a few decades earlier during the Prohibition in the United States, but it most likely would have been out of vogue by the late 1940s when the pair of murderers hosted their dinner party.

Rupert makes no bones about having to drink his champagne out of an inconvenient glass.

Interestingly, many modern mixologists are turning their nose up at the traditional cocktail glass for martinis and artisanal cocktails, instead preferring the more bowl-shaped coupe that had been specifically developed for sparkling wine in the late 1600s. (Contrary to rumor, the coupe was not designed in honor of Marie Antoinette’s bosom.)

James Stewart as Rupert Cadell in Rope (1948)

How to Get the Look

James Stewart looks every bit the professorial “Hitchcock hero” in his gray tweed three-piece suit, elegantly tailored for the times.

• Gray herringbone tweed wool tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with wide/sharp peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, slanted 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with narrow notched bottom and four welted pockets
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton dress shirt with pinned point collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold collar bar
  • Flat gold rectangular cuff links
• Navy textured silk tie
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black dress socks
• Gold round-cased wristwatch with light-colored dial on russet brown leather strap
• Gray felt fedora with black grosgrain band

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

In the spirit of this and the previous post about Henry Fonda’s white dinner jacket in The Lady Eve, fans of classic Hollywood should check out Hank & Jim, Scott Eyman’s fantastic and insightful book released last October about the five-decade friendship of Fonda and Jimmy Stewart.

The Quote

After all, murder is – or should be – an art. Not one of the “seven lively”, perhaps, but an art nevertheless. And, as such, the privilege of committing it should be reserved for those few who are really superior individuals.

Footnotes

Astrological enthusiasts might appreciate the loquacious Mrs. Atwater’s accuracy when exploring the sun signs of movie actors, declaring the “sinister” James Mason to be a Taurus (born May 15, 1909), Cary Grant to be a Capricorn (born January 18, 1904), and Ingrid Bergman to be a Virgo (born August 29, 1915).

When Phillip Morgan replies that his birthday is July 14, she astutely concludes: “Cancer, the crab… moon child”. While actor Farley Granger, who portrayed Phillip, was also a Cancer, his birthday was July 1. (James Stewart, born May 20, 1908, is a Taurus like Mr. Mason, and John Dall’s May 26, 1920, birthday thus makes him a Gemini.) Evidently, Hitch was quite enamored with the concept of astrology at the time, as his subsequent film – coincidentally starring Ingrid Bergman – was titled Under Capricorn.

Yours truly is also a Cancer, born on July 21. From what I understand about the traits of my shared sign with Mr. Granger, it is an apt sign for me.

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin in Notorious (1946)

Vitals

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin, American government agent

Rio de Janeiro, Spring 1946

Film: Notorious
Release Date: September 6, 1946
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Background

With a tight screenplay from Ben Hecht, a dream cast including Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains, and a finely developed cinematic maturity as the by-product of a quarter-century of directing, Notorious is considered a career high in the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock.

Released across the country 72 years ago last week, Notorious includes the director’s traditional elements of suspense, romance, and comedy in a contemporary espionage tale of a Nazi spy’s daughter (Bergman) recruited by a dashing agent (Grant) to infiltrate her father’s organization by seducing the urbane Alexander Sebastian (Rains). Hitchcock’s research for the film’s MacGuffin of uranium had him placed on an FBI watch list for a time, but it was a kiss rather than radioactive materials that brought Hitch closer to actual trouble with the U.S. government.

The Motion Picture Production Code was introduced in 1930, but it wasn’t until 1934 when code administrator Joseph Breen began strictly enforcing the rigid code that censored profanity, sexuality, drug use, and other “immoral” content (including “ridicule of the clergy”) from American films for nearly 35 years to follow. Filmmakers wishing to obtain the necessary seal of approval would need to adhere to the code’s restrictions or face making a film that could never be released. (Some directors fought back, as Howard Hughes did with The Outlaw, though it took five years of fighting Breen for Hughes to get a wide release.)

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman share a code-defying three-minute kiss in Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946).

“Excessive or lustful kissing” was one of many items prohibited by the Hays Code, preventing even the most passionate of on-screen couples from locking lips for more than three seconds. Aware of this restriction and more than willing to circumvent it, Hitchcock designed a sequence that would have Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kissing for a full two-and-a-half minutes, though the two would break apart every three seconds as they walked and nuzzled together through the scene.

The director was reportedly inspired when he was traveling by train through France and spotted through the window a young woman who was helping her male companion balance against a wall while he was peeing. “And that was what gave me the idea,” he later explained. “She couldn’t let go. Romance must not be interrupted, even by urinating.”

Grant and Bergman, who began a lifelong friendship while filming Notorious, displayed enough chemistry on-screen to conceal the awkwardness they felt while filming the scene. “Don’t worry, it’ll look right on the screen,” he told the actress.

And how right he was. Along with this film’s impressive tracking shot that begins on a second floor balcony and ends with a key clasped in Bergman’s hand, the two-and-a-half minute kissing scene is regarded as one of Hitchcock’s superlative sequences from his career.

What’d He Wear?

When not in his sharply tailored suits or evening wear, Cary Grant’s T.R. Devlin dresses down for an afternoon in Rio with a single-breasted sport jacket in classic gun club check. This criss-crossing four-color pattern was adapted by the American Gun Club in 1874 from the original Scottish “Coigach” estate check.

While the color of Devlin’s sport jacket can’t be confirmed, contemporary lobby cards and promotional art show it to be generally olive green. The notch lapels of the jacket roll to the top of three woven leather shank buttons, and Grant typically wears the top two fastened. There are also four smaller woven leather buttons on the end of each sleeve.

The jacket cut is contemporary to the mid-1940s with a fashionably full cut, wide shoulders, and draped chest. There is a single back vent. The hip pockets are jetted but the set-in flapped pocket on the left breast adds a sporty detail that slightly dresses down the jacket while adding a unique identifying element.

A well-tailored sport jacket nicely bridges the gap between relaxed formality and buttoned-up business as needed.

By his mid-40s, Cary Grant was already enough of a confident style authority to know what he found to be both comfortable and flattering, a must-have combination for a man who spends many hours in front of the camera. His style experimentations resulted in the establishment of an otherwise uncommon fusion of an Ivy League-style button-down collar shirt with double (French) cuffs. These are almost impossible to find off-the-rack, though Brooks Brothers does offer a limited number of shirts – like this one – available in this combination.

“As a younger man, I tried wearing a flared, too-high collar that, although modish amongst those I regarded as the sophisticates of that day, looked ridiculous on my 17 1/2-inch neck,” Grant told GQ for his now-famous advice section in the publication’s winter 1967/1968 issue. “Luckily, after the embarrassment of viewing myself from almost every angle on screen, that mistake was soon rectified. Button-cuffed shirts are simplest to manage, but if you wear cuff links, as I do, don’t, I beg you, wear those huge examples of badly designed, cheap modern jewelry. They, too, are not only ostentatious, but heavy and a menace to the enamel on your car and your girl friend’s eye.”

Grant’s GQ advice doesn’t mention his preference for the soft button-down collar, but those who have tracked his style through his career notice its frequent presence in his films. With his suits and this sport jacket in Notorious, Grant wears a white cotton shirt with a luxuriously rolled button-down collar and double cuffs fastened with a set of engraved round links.

T.R. Devlin tops off a round of highballs during his afternoon date with Alicia Huberman.

With such a noticeable pattern, Grant wisely keeps his shirt and tie subdued. His dark tie has a mid-colored foulard pattern and is tied in a neat four-in-hand knot with a dimple.

Despite his English heritage and debonair continental style, Cary Grant made a career-long habit of embracing quintessentially American casual fashions from head to toe, whether it be the button-down shirt collar popularized by Brooks Brothers or the penny loafer introduced by G.H. Bass. Grant expressed his appreciation for the penny loafer in his GQ entry, where he stated that “the moccasin type of shoe is, to me, almost essential and especially convenient when traveling, since they can be easily slipped off in the airplane or car.”

Exactly a decade before Notorious was produced and released, G.H. Bass of Wilton, Maine, introduced the “Weejun” to the world. This slip-on shoe soon gained its “penny loafer” moniker for the prep school habit of slipping pennies in the diamond-shaped slot across the shoe’s top strap. At the time of its 1936 introduction, this shoe was mostly worn in extremely casual situations or at home, but it grew to more formal acceptance with sport jackets and blazers within the following decade.

By the time Notorious was produced in 1946, the penny loafer was perfectly acceptable footwear for an American gent to wear with a casual sport jacket and tie as T.R. Devlin does in Rio. Based on the shade of the leather seen on screen and Grant’s frequent on- and off-screen practice of wearing brown loafers with gray hosiery, we can assume that T.R. Devlin’s shoes in Notorious are brown leather Weejuns with light gray socks.

Behind-the-scenes photo of Hitchcock on set with co-stars Grant and Bergman.

When in the city, Devlin balances the patterned jacket with a pair of solid trousers in a mid-colored flannel. These pleated trousers have side-pockets and are finished on the bottoms with turn-ups (cuffs).

However, a day on horseback calls for attire better suited for the activity. Devlin’s sporty gun club check jacket is appropriate for a ride in the country, and his favored button-down style keeps his shirt collar from flapping up into his face during the constant equestrian movement, even with the top two buttons undone in the absence of neckwear.

Devlin’s equestrian gear includes tall brown leather boots that rise to just below his knee. His light gabardine riding breeches have seven lace eyelets visible down from the knee area to just above where the trouser legs tuck into the boots.

Making connections after post-ride libations.

Only a glimpse of Devlin’s wristwatch is available under his shirt cuffs, but he most likely wears the same Cartier Tank on a dark leather strap that Cary Grant wore in real life.

For a day of equestrian pursuits, Devlin ditches his tie and swaps out his disc-shaped cuff links for a set of pearl semi-sphere links.

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin in Notorious (1946)

How to Get the Look

Cary Grant often brought his own tasteful tailoring to his roles, and T.R. Devlin in Notorious is no exception. Devlin adds sophistication to a sporty dressed-down outfit with a uniquely detailed jacket, a button-down shirt worn with cuff links and a tie, and slip-on penny loafers.

• Light-toned gun club check wool single-breasted 3-button sport jacket with notch lapels, woven leather buttons, flapped set-in breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
• White cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
• Dark foulard pattern silk tie
• Mid-colored flannel pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Brown leather moc-toe penny loafers
• Gray socks
• Cartier Tank gold dress watch with square white dial on brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

James Garner as Philip Marlowe in Marlowe (1969)

Vitals

James Garner as Philip Marlowe, cynical private detective

Los Angeles, Spring 1969

Film: Marlowe
Release Date: October 22, 1969
Director: Paul Bogart
Costume Design: Florence Hackett & James Taylor

Background

Save for a single season of a loosely adapted ABC TV series, he character of Philip Marlowe had gone more than two decades without a cinematic portrayal at the time Marlowe was released in 1969. Directed by the appropriately named Paul Bogart (no relation), this adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s 1949 pulp novel The Little Sister updated the setting to contemporary Los Angeles.

James Garner took some criticism for his take on the famous private eye, but I think the likable actor’s vulnerable sincerity works for his interpretation of Chandler’s anti-hero. Marlowe is also credited for setting the stage for Garner to take on his signature role of Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files for six seasons on NBC.

James Garner and Rita Moreno in Marlowe (1969)

If any criticism should be seriously leveled toward Marlowe, it’s that the whole vibe seems passé with Marlowe more in vein with characters like Paul Newman’s Harper or Frank Sinatra’s Tony Rome who were stylish in mid-decade but already anachronistic by the end of the tumultuous decade. After all, 1969 was the same year that George Lazenby decided James Bond was already out of date after his one-off turn as 007. This isn’t to say there wouldn’t eventually be a place for venerated literary characters like Marlowe and Bond, but they would need to catch up with a rapidly changing world to find their place with modern audiences getting used to a world beyond the strict Hays Code.

In fact, 1969 may have been the last year that an ambivalent detective like James Garner’s Marlowe could find his way onto the big screen before the divisive politics of Nixon-era zeitgeist split America’s big-screen cop heroes into violent avengers like Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and cheekier and more sensitive de-escalators like Garner’s own Jim Rockford.

Perhaps to reintroduce ’60s audiences to the character, the title Marlowe was used in place of The Little Sister, though Chandler’s original title is referenced in the title song performed by Orpheus, which transitions to the radio inside Marlowe’s ’63 Plymouth convertible as he drives up to The Infinite Pad, a flop house in the fictional coastal town of Bay City, California.

Garner does his own work to introduce the cool-as-a-cucumber Marlowe to audiences as he steps out of the Plymouth, drops his shades down below his eyes, and approaches this den of hippie iniquity.

In the middle of his search for one Orrin Quest, Marlowe shakes down the shifty junkie managing the place who groans: “Lousy private fuzz, you oughta be ashamed of yourself!” to which Marlowe cracks back: “Just too proud to show it.”

When someone later mistakes the manager “for an ice block,” as Marlowe puts it, the case gets rolling.

Average day in a detective’s life. I’ve been stabbed, snubbed, and generally snookered.

What’d He Wear?

Though it’s not technically autumn yet, mid-September brings us even closer to tweed season.

James Garner’s Philip Marlowe makes his on-screen introduction – and spends most of the film – wearing a gray tweed sport jacket in the classic American sack cut with its natural shoulders, boxy profile due to lack of darts, and ventless back.

Marlowe finds himself in temporary custody. Lt. Christy French (Carroll O’Connor) makes a point of asking Sgt. Fred Beifus (Kenneth Tobey) to cuff the private eye’s wrists behind his back.

The 3/2-roll single-breasted jacket has slim notch lapels with swelled edges that roll over the top button to the center of three sew-through buttons in the same dark gray mixed plastic as the two spaced buttons on each cuff. The patch breast pocket and flapped patch hip pockets are double-stitched along the edges.

The suiting is a small-scale light gray-and-black herringbone tweed that has an overall gray effect.

Marlowe gets stoned on some wicked weed, courtesy of the equally wicked Dr. Vincent Lagardie (Paul Stevens).

Marlowe doubles down on his Ivy League aesthetic, wearing a white cotton oxford shirt with a gently rolling button-down collar. The shirt has a front placket, breast pocket, and single-button rounded cuffs.

The first tie he wears with this outfit is a plain black slim tie, knotted in a small Windsor knot though it’s worn loosened at the collar throughout the sequence, both communicating Marlowe’s general nonchalance and signifying to the audience that he’s already in the middle of a case when we meet him.

Marlowe has no patience for shady motel shamus Oliver Hady (George Tyne).

Marlowe spends the latter portion of the film wearing a different white cotton shirt with a narrow semi-spread collar rather than the button-down collar. The rest of the details – the front placket, breast pocket, and single-button rounded cuffs – remain the same, and he wears the same black leather holster over both of his shirts.

“Underneath your pasties, there’s a size 40 heart,” Marlowe suggests to burlesque performer Dolores Gonzales (Rita Moreno) after she offers to help him bandage up his latest wound.

Despite the American influences of his attire, Marlowe’s skinny striped repp tie follows the traditional British “uphill” direction from the right hip to the left shoulder. With its wide stripes in maroon and dark navy blue, the tie follows the color combination of the Royal Fusiliers, the City of London regiment of the British Army that was in continuous existence for 283 years until it was deactivated in 1968, the year before Marlowe was released.

The look of the all-American cop in a gray tweed jacket, light shirt, red-and-navy striped tie, and dark trousers would be revisited two years later in Dirty Harry when Clint Eastwood’s renegade cop dons the same ensemble but with a brick red sweater vest as an added layer against the San Francisco chill.

Marlowe balances the textured jacket with a subdued pair of dark charcoal straight-leg trousers. These trousers have a medium-high rise with a fitted, belt-less waistband that appear to have darts rather than pleats or a traditional flat front. These trousers have frogmouth-style front pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms.

With this outfit and both of his screen-worn suits, Marlowe invariably wears a pair of black calf cap-toe oxfords with black socks.

The violent death of a gangster in the hills above Bay City isn’t enough to ruin Marlowe’s appetite for nuts… though it might help to look a little more concerned in front of the two cops investigating the case.

“He eschews fedora and trench coat for sunglasses,” writes a reviewer at Noirsville, referencing the subtle way that James Garner’s Marlowe updates an otherwise classic American look. While Bogie’s Marlowe had only worn tinted lenses as part of an effete disguise, sunglasses were de rigueur for any character to be deemed “cool” in 1969.

The first scene finds Garner stepping out of his Plymouth and dropping his shades to below his eyes… not removing them immediately, but instead visually communicating his disdain for his slummy surroundings. Marlowe’s black-framed sunglasses have a wraparound shape and long, curved lenses similar to the Ray-Ban Balorama, which had been developed only two years earlier and, two years later, would be the outdoor eyewear of choice for Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.

Marlowe sizes up The Infinite Pad.

Marlowe’s steel wristwatch follows the emerging mid-sixties fashion with its black dial and black leather strap.

The Guns

Unlike Jim Rockford, Garner’s Philip Marlowe has no reservations about arming himself for his considerably dangerous profession. In a black leather shoulder holster, he first carries a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver with a blued steel frame, rounded wooden grips, and a two-inch barrel. The Model 10 originated as the Smith & Wesson “Military & Police” model just before the dawn of the 20th century and remains the quintessential American police revolver with its six-round cylinder and .38 Special round.

Marlowe holds a .38 on Grant W. Hicks (Jackie Coogan) after spotting a .45 in his suitcase.

The decision to arm Garner’s Marlowe exclusively with revolvers is at odds with Chandler’s 1949 novel, where he carried a Luger, the iconic semi-automatic pistol of the German military.

After his Smith & Wesson is taken away by Sonny Steelgrave’s thugs, Marlowe takes up his secondary weapon, a Colt Python with a 2.5″ barrel dug out from his office desk drawer. While it resembles his previous revolver with its snub-nosed barrel, blued steel frame, and wooden grips, the Python was chambered for the more powerful .357 Magnum round.

Marlowe arrives at Sonny Steelgrave’s home, tapping on the glass door with the butt of his snub-nosed Colt Python.

After Mavis Weld (Gayle Hunnicutt) summons him to Steelgrave’s home, Marlowe takes her nickel Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket with white pearl grips to stage a suicide. Developed soon after the turn of the century, this pocket pistol was chambered for the anemic .25 ACP round, though Marlowe mistakenly refers to it as a .32 several times throughout the film.

Marlowe sniffs the Colt .25 he took from Mavis Weld to determine that it had been recently fired.

Marlowe incorrectly referring to the Colt .25 as a .32 almost definitely comes from Chandler’s novel The Little Sister, where Steelgrave had gifted “a [little black] .32-caliber automatic with a white bone grip” to both Mavis Weld and Dolores Gonzales. This would imply the popular Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol, though the only other detail provided in the book is a nine-round magazine, one more than the Colt Model 1903 could carry.

James Garner as Philip Marlowe in Marlowe (1969)

How to Get the Look

James Garner’s Philip Marlowe spends much of his time on screen in the classic American Ivy League-inspired ensemble of a tweed jacket with a white button-down collar shirt, slim tie, dark trousers, and black oxfords.

• Gray-and-black herringbone tweed single-breasted 3-button-2 sport jacket with slim notch lapels, patch breast pocket, flapped breast hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
• White cotton oxford shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 1-button rounded cuffs
• Black skinny tie
• Charcoal flat front trousers with fitted waistband, frogmouth front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black dress socks
• Black leather shoulder holster (RHD)
• Stainless steel round-cased wristwatch with black dial on black leather strap
• Black plastic-framed wraparound sunglasses

If you’re the type that opts for more color, seek out a Marlowe-approved maroon-and-navy striped tie.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Her boyfriend tried to buy me first, then bury me… I resent both overtures.

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist and sophisticated sociopath

Rome, Italy, August 1959

Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the 83rd birthday of French actor and worldwide style icon Alain Delon. Born November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, a commune south of Paris, Delon entered the film world during a trip to the Cannes Film Festival shortly after his dishonorable discharge from the French Navy. Attending Cannes with his friend, actress Brigitte Auber, Delon caught the eye of one of David O. Selznick’s talent scouts. A contract was offered, but Delon would later choose to cancel the contract in favor of remaining in France to begin his film career there.

After a few leading roles in France, it was Plein soleil in 1960 that boosted Delon to international stardom. Released as Purple Noon in the English-speaking world, this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 thriller novel The Talented Mr. Ripley starred Delon as the cunning sociopath Tom Ripley, a portrayal that Highsmith herself highly approved of.

Following the murder of his friend Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), Ripley begins taking steps to assume the deceased man’s identity, beginning with a trip to Rome in one the dead man’s bespoke suits and monogrammed shirts.

What’d He Wear?

“Since its debut on the Riviera in the late twenties, the pure silk dupioni suit has always been the last word in summer chic,” wrote Alan Flusser in his definitive Dressing the Man, illustrating his point with a dapper Prince Charles on holiday in Hawaii outfitted in a gleaming white dupioni silk tailored suit. Indeed, with its slubby imperfections and fluid sheen, dupioni remains one of the more romantic suitings, evoking images of a leisurely champagne lunch in Saint-Tropez or an evening out in Monaco…

…or conducting business in Rome, in the case of Alain Delon’s Tom Ripley.

Ripley prepares for a full day as Philippe Greenleaf.

Having recently “inherited” the expansive wardrobe of the late bon vivant Philippe Greenleaf, Ripley dons a rich dark blue dupioni silk suit and sets out for a day of transactions ranging from brokering the sale of Greenleaf’s boat to forging his passport.

In Dressing the Man, Flusser describes dupioni as “a luxurious shantung-style silk fabric made from a double silk fiber from two cocoons nested together… combining the best of natural fiber worlds.” He further offers that “the classic shades are cream, brown, blue, and elephant gray.” In dark, somber colors like charcoal gray, dupioni silk could make an argument for office wear, though Ripley’s bold blue suit plays to the elegant suiting’s potential for opulence.

Despite the lavish qualities of the suiting, the fit and details of Ripley’s purloined blue suit are all business. The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels, a 3/2 button roll, a ventless back, and jetted hip pockets. Ripley adds a touch of color with a sky blue satin silk pocket square folded in his welted breast pocket, picking up the lighter blue of one of his tie stripes without being an exact match.

Ripley’s suit jacket also has functioning three-button “surgeon’s cuffs”, hardly a rakish detail in itself unless worn as Ripley does with one of the buttons undone. Despite the likely apocryphal story that surgeon’s cuffs got their name from battlefield doctors unbuttoning their cuffs to roll up their sleeves before performing surgery rather than taking the time to remove their jackets, the more contemporary practice of a fellow leaving one or more of his sleeve buttons undone is more or less out of a desire to show off that the cuffs are not the ornamental variety typically found on off-the-rack jackets.

Note the undone last button on Ripley’s cuff.

The suit’s beltless trousers have a full, flattering fit with double reverse pleats and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

Ripley wears derby shoes made from black calf leather.

Ripley makes an impression as he strides through Rome traffic.

Ripley balances the less businesslike elements of the suit by wearing it with a classic white shirt and striped tie. The white cotton shirt has a wide spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs.

The identity of the shirt’s true owner is made clear with the red-embroidered “Ph.G.” monogram on the left breast, signifying that Ripley’s transformation into Greenleaf is underway.

“Discretion of paramount to good taste, and large or conspicuously placed initials are indiscreet,” writes Flusser of monogrammed shirts in Dressing the Man. He would likely approve of the understated monogram Greenleaf chose for his shirt… if not the disheveled way in which Ripley wears it.

In a fine example of textural coordination, Ripley wears a slubby shantung silk tie that echoes his dupioni silk suiting. The tie is patterned in wide “uphill” stripes in navy, light gray, and light blue.

Like knit ties and tweed, the slubby textures of the shantung silk tie and dupioni silk suit work together nicely to unify Ripley’s ensemble.

With their complementary cool tones, this blue and gray striping is a common combination in men’s neckwear. Drake’s currently offers a half-shantung silk, half-cotton tie in a similar tri-color stripe.

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

How to Get the Look

Dupioni silk’s long association with luxurious Mediterranean leisure makes it an ideal choice for the late bon vivant Philippe Greenleaf and the successor to his identity, Tom Ripley, who wears the suit in a business context with complementary cool colors that communicate his passionless professionalism.

• Blue dupioni silk suit:
  • Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, functional 3-button “surgeon’s cuffs”, and ventless back
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Navy, blue, and gray widely “uphill”-striped shantung silk tie
• Sky blue satin silk pocket square
• Black calf leather derby shoes
• Gold pendant necklace on thin gold chain
• Steel watch with round silver dial on navy blue strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in “The Wheel”, Episode 1.13 of Mad Men.

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, mysterious advertising creative director

New York City, Spring to Fall 1960

Series: Mad Men
Episodes:
– “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02), dir. Alan Taylor, aired 7/26/2007
– “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04), dir. Tim Hunter, aired 8/9/2007
– “Shoot” (Episode 1.09), dir. Paul Feig, aired 9/13/2007
– “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13), dir. Matthew Weiner, aired 10/18/2007
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

Background

This particular suit makes sporadic appearances across the masterful debut season of Mad Men, AMC’s much-acclaimed drama set in the world of American advertising in the 1960s.

We first see the dashing ad exec Don Draper (Jon Hamm) wearing it as he takes a drag from one of his Lucky Strikes during a meeting with his creative team in the second episode, “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02). After he clears the office of the meeting’s junior attendees, he contemplates the age-old question of “what women want” with the agency’s senior accounts man, Roger Sterling (John Slattery).

Two episodes later in “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04), the suit shows up during a contentious client meeting with the stubborn and “pious” Walt from Bethlehem Steel. Sniveling and ambitious junior account man Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) is none too pleased about Don’s treatment of Walt, and Don uses the younger man’s rebuke as an opportunity to insult his side of their shared profession:

Don: You do your job. Take him sailing, get him in a bathing suit. Leave the ideas to me.
Pete: (defiant) I have ideas.
Don: I’m sure you do. Sterling Cooper has more failed artists and intellectuals than the Third Reich.

But the suit’s most significant appearance comes in the first season’s memorable finale, “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13), set in the final work days leading up to Thanksgiving 1960. Don makes the easy decision to forego spending the holiday with his family in favor of preparing for a pitch to Kodak to win the business advertising their new slide projector, tentatively named The Wheel. “‘Kodak reinvented the wheel.’ They’re gonna hear that ten times,” Don drolly speculates.

However, a return to the shoebox full of mementos from his past life as Dick Whitman, the jarring news of his half-brother Adam’s suicide, and a late night conversation with a pantless Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) who has been sleeping in his office after his first – of many – extramarital dalliance, inspires Don to refocus his pitch on family and nostalgia.

Neither Don, Harry, or the audience could have expected this moment to result in one of the most stirring scenes in modern television.

The next day, Don’s still wearing the same suit but looking as good as ever, no doubt having changed his shirt for one of the fresh ones kept in his drawer. He wows Kodak as well as his own team with a nostalgic pitch for Kodak’s projector, which he rechristened the “Carousel”.

Scored by David Carbonara’s “The Carousel”, this sentimental sequence remains emotionally effective not only for the show’s viewers but also its own characters as poor Harry Crane runs from the room in remorseful tears.

Kodak reps and Sterling Cooper sit back to watch Don’s pitch. Harry Crane won’t know what hit him.

Don himself returns home with a newfound appreciation for the family life he had taken for granted… but, sadly, his realization came too late as he’s already missed the chance to spend Thanksgiving with his wife and children, who are spending the holiday at her parents’ house. The season closes with Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, anachronistic for the show’s 1960 setting but ushering in the next season that begins in 1962.

Interestingly, show creator Matthew Weiner’s conception of this moment came from his own moment of uncertainty. “At the time, I didn’t know if there was gonna be another season of the show,” Weiner said, according to a Business Insider article covering a Mad Men-related exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image. “And it was important for me to not only use Bob Dylan, because I love the idea of the central premise of the show that someone like Don, who lived in that world and dressed like that and had that job was going to be listening to this music… I also just love the words to this song because it’s a moment of Don in deep regret about losing his family.”

What’d He Wear?

The Brown Striped Suit

“No brown in town” had hardly ever been the rule in America that it once was across the pond, and it would have been all but forgotten on both sides of the Atlantic by 1960 when Madison Avenue’s ad men were riding up the elevators to their swanky, wood-paneled offices.

“While there are those diehards who refuse to consider a brown suit, there is no man who cannot wear one to personal advantage,” writes Alan Flusser in his definitive Dressing the Man. “The dark brown suit offers many virtues, the first being its freedom from dependence on the predictable blue and gray.”

Blue and gray are undeniably staples of Don Draper’s wardrobe, though he’s never shied away from professional attire in varying shades of brown, particularly when he needs to rely on the palette’s earthiness. For instance, Don grounds himself with this brown striped suit – one of his first season favorites – when presenting to a client with a reputation for piety in “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04) and for an important nostalgia-centered pitch in “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13).

Don updates his professional brown suits throughout the seasons with differing shades and patterns, but his first makes an appearance in the show’s second episode, “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02), when he holds court in his office wearing a dark brown flannel with rust-colored rope striping.

“Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02)

Don’s suit jacket suggests fashion sensibilities of the 1950s with its full fit and length, perfectly appropriate for 1960 but perhaps an explanation for why this suit makes its final appearance at the end of the first season in favor of more contemporary suits to follow.

The single-breasted suit jacket has a 3/2-button roll, with the center fastening button appropriately dividing the shirt and tie above it and the trousers below it for balanced proportions. The jacket has straight flapped hip pockets in line with the lowest button, and Don wears a neatly folded white cotton pocket square in the jacket’s welted breast pocket. The jacket also has a single vent, non-functional “kissing” two-button cuffs, and narrow shoulders with roped sleeveheads.

Don wows his audience with a sharp suit and a sharp presentation.

When worn properly, Don’s flat front trousers have a long rise in accordance with the era’s fashions, but long nights in the office find his trouser waistline slumping, despite his slim vintage Brooks Brothers belts with box-style buckles to hold them up. His trousers have straight side pockets, jetted back pockets (with no buttons), and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

One of many late nights in the office spent drinking, preparing the perfect pitch, and drinking some more.

Don almost always matches his belt leather to his shoes, wearing a dark brown leather belt with a steel box buckle in “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02) and “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13) and a black leather belt with a brass buckle in “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04) and “Shoot” (Episode 1.09).

Shirts and Ties

Particularly during his career at Sterling Cooper in the early 1960s, Don exclusively wears white dress shirts with his suits, notably keeping a backup collection of laundered and folded white shirts in his desk drawer when he needs to change after spending the night “in the city”. His shirts have a semi-spread collar, front placket, and breast pocket for his ubiquitous Lucky Strike cigarettes.

It’s really amazing that this guy made it to 1970 without getting lung cancer.
For more about Don Draper’s “weird agelessness”, check out Neima Jahromi’s thoughtful piece for The New Yorker just before the show’s finale in May 2015.

All of Don’s shirts at the office have squared double (French) cuffs, where he wears a rotating selection of stylish links. In “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02), he coordinates with his gold-toned tie with a set of gold elongated hexagonal cuff links.

“Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02)

With his toned down dark tie in “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13), Don wears a simpler pair of flat silver square cuff links.

Pre-pitch confidence in “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13).

For this suit’s first two appearances, in “Ladies Room” (Episode 1.02) and “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04), Don wears an “old gold”-colored tie with yellow scattered dots placed along a series of subtle “downhill” diagonal ribs.

Old gold, a shade closer to brown mustard than the shiny yellow gold of jewelry, is a curious color for Don Draper as the show’s first scene establishes Old Gold cigarettes as the primary competitor for his client, Lucky Strike; by the show’s end, Don himself would shift to smoking Old Golds… but I digress. This is Don’s most commonly worn tie with this suit.

Don takes a stand in “New Amsterdam” (Episode 1.04).

In “Shoot” (Episode 1.09), Don steps into his office to find a mysterious package from McCann-Erickson’s Jim Hobart, offering membership in the New York Athletic Club in exchange for Don bringing his creative directing talent to their agency. As he opens the gift and considers his professional conflict during an internal meeting, he wears a slim tie with equally narrow “downhill” stripes in olive, black, beige, and brown.

Same place, three months later. Don contemplates a new opportunity in “Shoot” (Episode 1.09).

The suit’s final appearance finds it paired with Don’s most subdued tie, a slim piece of neckwear in a solid brown so dark that it looks black in some lighting.

Sometimes Don Draper even impresses himself.

Everything Else: From Head to Toe…to Wrist

Like all professional gentlemen of the mid-century era, Don would never dream of traversing to and from his office without his hat and coat. For the former, he typically sports a felt short-brimmed fedora – made from gray, taupe, or brown felt – with a black grosgrain band.

Don’s coat changes depending on the season, pressing his usual khaki thigh-length raincoat into service on the warm but wet rainy days of spring and summer. This raglan-sleeve coat has single-button pointed half-tab cuffs, a single vent, and red iridescent satin-finished lining.

Arriving at the office in “Shoot” (Episode 1.09).

For chillier days, like the late November days leading up to Thanksgiving 1960, Don wears a brown glen plaid wool topcoat with slim-notched lapels, a single-breasted front with three widely spaced buttons, straight flapped hip pockets, and set-in sleeves with half-cuffed ends.

Though he invariably wears chocolate brown dress socks to continue the leg line of his trousers, Don switches between wearing brown and black shoes with this particular suit. The makers of these shoes can’t be definitively determined, though Jon Hamm was known to wear dress shoes made by Florsheim and by Peal and Co. (by Brooks Brothers) across the show’s run.

For the transitional seasons of early spring and late fall (as seen in “Ladies Room” and “The Wheel”), Don wears a pair of brown leather cap-toe derby shoes. During the warmer months like late spring into summer, he wears black calf leather cap-toe oxfords, a more formal style.

The wristwatch that Don wears throughout the first season has been strongly hypothesized to be a steel Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox with a replacement black and white “tuxedo dial” and a black leather strap. The Memovox was very innovative when introduced in 1956 as it was the first automatic wristwatch to include a mechanical alarm function. It was produced through the 1960s and revived in 2012. Don would stick with Jaeger-LeCoultre, wearing the Reverso style in the second and third seasons, before he switched to his Rolex Explorer in the fourth season and his Omega Seamaster DeVille for Mad Men‘s final three seasons.

Late night anguish in “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13).

As far as underwear goes, interested parties can follow Don’s example with all white cotton for his crew-neck short-sleeved undershirts and boxer shorts.

Go Big or Go Home

Just go home!

What to Imbibe

Canadian Club had been Don’s fuel for conceptualizing the Kodak pitch… up to the moment that he curled into the fetal position and passed out on his couch. However, he still accepts Duck Phillips’ congratulatory glass when Ken Cosgrove offers a “here’s how!” toast after the pitch’s success.

MAD MEN

To answer Peggy Olsen’s question in the pilot about the difference between “rye” and “Canadian whisky”, it is technically incorrect to use both terms interchangeably as Canadian whiskies – like Canadian Club – are required by law to have been mashed, distilled, and aged at least three years in Canada. Some Canadian distillers add small amounts of rye grain to their mashes, creating a demand for “rye” in Canada, though corn remains the primary grain for most Canadian whisky.

Corn, rye, and barley are used in the three distinctive mashes for Canadian Club, which celebrates its 160th anniversary of production this year. Hiram Walker had initially founded his distillery in Detroit in 1858 but very quickly moved it across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario, as the temperance movement picked up legs across the U.S. Within two years, it gained the nickname of “club whisky” for its popularity in gentlemen’s clubs, and it took the formal name of Canadian Club in 1890 to adhere to American import laws regarding country of origin.

Prohibition only bolstered C.C.’s popularity, as gangsters like Al Capone went to great lengths to smuggle it into the U.S., creating a demand for this smooth whiskey that found its legal American sales skyrocketing once Prohibition was repealed in 1933. By the start of World War II less than a decade later, C.C. was being sold in 90 countries around the globe. The famous “Canadian Club” neon sign was placed in Times Square in 1952, where it would remain an iconic fixture of Times Square photography for 21 years. The brand has only continued to grow, with new bottlings like Canadian Club Reserve and Canadian Club rye introduced over the last few decades.

And from what vessel would Don and his cronies drink Canadian Club? Why, a round, silver-rimmed rocks tumbler based on Dorothy Thorpe’s famous “Roly Poly” design.

How to Get the Look

“Whether in a winter or summer weight, plain or pinstriped, double- or single-breasted, the high-class brown suit will always be a power player in any male wardrobe aspiring to permanent stylishness,” writes Alan Flusser in Dressing the Man, and they are words that Don Draper takes to heart with his rotation of strong brown suits over the course of the show.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in “New Amsterdam”, Episode 1.04 of Mad Men.

• Dark brown flannel suit with rust-colored rope stripe
  • Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket (with white cotton pocket square), straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton dress shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs with gauntlet button
  • Gold elongated hexagon cuff links
• Gold silk tie with scattered yellow dots
• Dark brown belt with steel box-type buckle
• Dark brown calf leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Dark brown dress socks
• Taupe felt short-brimmed fedora with black grosgrain ribbon
• Khaki raglan-sleeve raincoat or brown glen plaid topcoat, weather dependent
• Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox steel-cased wristwatch with black-and-white “tuxedo dial” and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Start with the first season, but you’ll eventually want to check out the whole series.

If you want to see the show – and Jon Hamm’s powerful performance as Don Draper – at some of its best, check out the nostalgic Kodak pitch moment from the first season finale, “The Wheel” (Episode 1.13).

The Quote

Well, technology is a glittering lure. But there is a rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash – if they have a sentimental bond with the product.

My first job, I was in-house at a fur company with this old pro of a copywriter, a Greek, named Teddy. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. He also talked about a deeper bond with a product: nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent.

Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a space ship… it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called The Wheel. It’s called a Carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around, and back home again… to a place where we know we are loved.

Louis Jourdan and Elizabeth Taylor in The V.I.P.s (1963)

Vitals

Louis Jourdan as Marc Champselle, “a gigolo… a buffoon… a professional diner-outer… a notorious sponger!”

Heathrow Airport, London, Winter 1963

Film: The V.I.P.s
(also released as Hotel International)
Release Date: September 19, 1963
Director: Anthony Asquith
Costume Designer: Pierre Cardin (uncredited)

Background

Happy December! For the first month of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we look to the stylish 1963 film The V.I.P.s, a cinematic celebration of jet-age luxury starring an impressive international cast as a group of travelers stranded at London’s Heathrow Airport and the neighboring Hotel International for a cold but passionate January night.

Screenwriter Terence Rattigan supposedly based this drama on his friend Vivien Leigh’s attempt to leave Laurence Olivier for her lover, Peter Finch, until Leigh and Finch’s flight out of London airport was delayed by fog, giving Olivier time to rush to the airport to confront them and convince Leigh to return home with him.

While Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton famously played the feuding married couple in the first of a dozen films they would star in together, in a role that would become all too real for the film’s cast and crew, the role of Liz’s dashing – if irresponsible – paramour went to Louis Jourdan, a suave Marseille-born actor who had taken a break from his fledgling film career during World War II to join the French Resistance. Twenty years after his role in The V.I.P.s, Jourdan would bring his urbane sophistication to the James Bond franchise as Kamal Khan, the villain opposite Roger Moore’s 007 in Octopussy (1983).

What’d He Wear?

“Jourdan flew to London from Hollywood at the last moment to appear in the film, bringing his own wardrobe with him,” wrote Sam Kashner for Vanity Fair in July 2003, providing the definitive behind-the-scenes account of this movie. “‘I had never seen anything like it,’ remembers [assistant director Peter] Medak, who was the first to greet Jourdan on the set. ‘There were 20 pairs of gray flannel trousers in various shades, and sport jackets, and those shoes! The same shoes Cary Grant used to wear, those kind of loafers. He always looked immaculate on-screen and off—he was famous for that.”

Early in his career, Louis Jourdan had been a model for Pierre Cardin, and Cardin’s uncredited costume design on The V.I.P.s leaves little doubt that it was Cardin’s designs that provided the bulk of Jourdan’s wardrobe as the debonair Marc Champselle.

Marc drapes himself in a camel cashmere raglan-sleeve coat. The single-breasted coat has a single-breasted three-button covered fly front; when he turns up the notch lapels, a fourth button is revealed at the neck to close the coat over the chest for additional warmth. The full-fitting, knee-length coat has hand pockets with large vertical openings, cuffed sleeves, and a single vent.

Note the raglan sleeves and the button at the neck.

Perfect for a winter day in London, Marc wears a gray herringbone tweed sport jacket with an American-inspired cut with no darts and a single rear vent. The single-breasted front has notch lapels with swelled edges that roll over the top of three dark gray plastic buttons. Two non-functioning buttons are spaced apart on each cuff. The jacket also has a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets.

Marc stands in the lobby of Hotel International.

In the welted breast pocket of his tweed sportcoat, Marc wears a red silk pocket square, printed in a foulard pattern of ornate olive squares.

Marc enjoys a moment with Frances in her suite.

“His need is for Charvet ties and silk shirts,” Paul growls about Marc. If that’s the case, Marc is certainly ignoring his needs for his day of luxury air travel, wearing instead a considerably subdued cotton shirt and solid black tie.

Marc’s shirt is pale gray with a semi-spread collar and double (French) cuffs. His only concession to any sort of sartorial grandeur is this regard is a set of large and ornate gold cuff links with enamel-painted striped shields on the faces.

Marc flashes his cuff links as he works out an arrangement with Paul.

Marc keeps his neckwear simple with a plain black tie, knotted in a four-in-hand. It may indeed be a Charvet tie, but not conspicuously so.

Seemingly in line with the real Louis Jourdan’s reported penchant for gray flannel trousers, Marc Champselle wears a pair of dark charcoal wool flat front trousers that rise to his waist, just at the buttoning point of the jacket. They appear to be beltless and finished on the bottoms with plain-hemming rather than cuffs.

Despite Peter Medak’s recollection of Jourdan wearing “those kind of loafers… Cary Grant used to wear”, his character appears to be wearing black calf leather lace-up derby shoes with black socks to continue the leg line.

Marc indulges in his virtues: gambling, drinking, and womanizing.

Marc wears a plain gold watch on a black leather strap, fastened to his left wrist.

What to Imbibe

Although much of the movie is set in a V.I.P. lounge where the characters have little to do other than drink, The V.I.P.s featured far more imbibing behind the scenes than on the screen. Richard Burton “would drink Bloody Marys before noon, then a second bottle of vodka for lunch,” while Peter Medak told Vanity Fair decades later about Elizabeth Taylor drinking glasses of straight vodka in her makeup chair before going on camera.

Booze was even a major part of the film’s promotional tactics. Anatole “Tolly” de Grunwald designed a marketing campaign that included a contest where the winning “V.I.P.” would win a personalized portable bar that was stocked with twelve bottles of Booth’s High & Dry gin, three bottles of dry vermouth, and a set of cocktail accessories.

In the film itself, White Horse blended Scotch whisky seems to be the booze of choice for our stranded characters. White Horse has been continually produced since 1861, and it was reportedly distributed to crews of the U.S. Army Air Force 467th Bombardment Group when stationed at RAF Rackheath in England during the final months of World War II. The whisky’s blend includes Glen Elgin and Lagavulin, before the latter would become a popular single malt bottling in its own right, including as the favorite of Parks and Recreation‘s Ron Swanson.

“I thought we might be needing this,” Marc offers when he brings a bottle of White Horse to Frances’ hotel suite.

Later, a squabble between Frances and her jealous husband Paul leads to her cutting her hand. He pours out a dram of White Horse for both of them before he realizes…

Paul: Didn’t know you liked whisky.
Frances: It’s not my bottle.
Paul: Oh, I see… do you think he’ll forgive us?

Paul soon gets the chance to find out as Marc returns to Frances’ suite and is drolly greeted by Paul: “I’ve stolen some of your whisky, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” responds the jilted lover.

How to Get the Look

Louis Jourdan as Marc Champselle in The V.I.P.s (1963)

A dapper dresser in real life, Louis Jourdan brought a fashionable yet functional aesthetic to his character in The V.I.P.s with a timeless ensemble just as appropriate for a natty winter day at the office as for high-class air travel.

• Gray herringbone tweed single-breasted sport coat with notch lapels, 3/2-roll dark gray plastic buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Pale gray cotton shirt with semi-spread collar and double/French cuffs
• Black tie
• Charcoal wool flat front trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather derby shoes
• Black socks
• Camel cashmere raglan coat with notch lapels, single-breasted 3-button covered-fly front with throat button, large vertical hand pockets, cuffed sleeves, and single vent
• Red square-printed foulard silk pocket square
• Gold watch on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Look, I’m not insulted. From all you know of me, you’ve a perfect right to suppose that I can be bought off. As a matter of fact, I have been bought off by a jealous husband before… two, come to think of it.

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson with his white DeSoto in Vertigo (1958)

Vitals

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, former San Francisco detective

San Francisco, Fall 1957

Film: Vertigo
Release Date: May 9, 1958
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Let’s kick off the winter edition of BAMF Style’s semi-annual (or is that bi-annual) Car Week where I take an additional look at what these well-dressed characters are driving.

Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s noir-esque 1958 thriller and the last of his four collaborations with James Stewart, finds the actor behind the wheel of a white DeSoto coupe as he follows Kim Novak’s character around San Francisco from her Nob Hill apartment and the Podesta Baldocchi flower shop to Mission Dolores and their fateful meeting at Fort Point on the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

What’d He Wear?

Like Hitch and Jimmy’s earlier collaboration Rear Window (1954), we meet Stewart’s character as he’s recuperating from an on-the-job leg injury. However, unlike L.B. Jeffries, former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson isn’t bound to a wheelchair and proudly shows off his abilities with his cane to his friend Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), with whom he discusses many of the world’s most essential innovations…

Scottie: What’s this doohickey?
Midge: It’s a brassiere! You know about those things, you’re a big boy now.
Scottie: I’ve never run across one like that.
Midge: It’s brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: no shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do… works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it. He worked it out in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby… a do-it-yourself kind of thing!

Like many men in mid-century America, Scottie’s wardrobe consists of a limited but versatile selection of business suits in varying shades of blue, gray, and brown. The suits are all generally cut the same – single-breasted, three-button jackets with notch lapels and pleated trousers with turn-ups – with variations in the suiting and style: three are flannel while two are serge, three have ventless jackets while the other two have short vents, and two of the suits have sporty patch pocket jackets as well.

The suit that Scottie wears for his introductory scene with Midge, and much of his subsequent investigation following Madeleine around town, is a brown serge that closely matches his hat.

Scottie’s tie bar gleams in the San Francisco sun.

With his tall, lean frame, James Stewart benefits from the visual balance of a three-button tailored jacket as opposed to a two-button jacket. This brown serge suit jacket is no exception. The ventless jacket also has a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and three-button cuffs.

Scottie shows off his abilities with – and without – his cane.

Scottie’s suit has matching trousers with a proportionally long rise that harmonizes with the suit jacket and Stewart’s 6’2″ height. The single reverse-pleated trousers have side pockets, a back pocket on the left side for Scottie’s wallet, and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms.

He wears a dark brown leather belt that coordinates with his cordovan leather footwear and fastens through a small, squared gold single-prong buckle.

While Scottie creatively rotates his suits, ties, belts, and accessories, one part of his wardrobe that never deviates are his clean white cotton poplin shirts with James Stewart’s signature two-button barrel cuff that visually balance the actor’s long arms.

Note the cuff button close to the edge of Stewart’s sleeve. There is a second button further up his arm, concealed by the suit jacket sleeve.

Other than a brief sequence when he pays less attention to his wardrobe, Scottie always augments his shirts and ties with a collar pin and a tie bar. The safety pin-style collar bar pins both of his collar leaves under the tie knot for a tidy look, while he wears the tie clip just above the buttoning point of his jacket, shining through even with the jacket fastened. Both the collar bar and his tie clip are gold when he wears this brown serge suit.

It’s interesting to consider Scottie’s practice of wearing both a collar and tie bar when taking a closer look at his actual neckwear. While most of his ties are patterned or striped in multiple colors, the patterns themselves are always orderly and never abstract; the stripes follow a certain repeating sequence and the grid-like patterns of his other ties could doubly serve as an early map of Philadelphia. This is clearly a man who is interested in dressing well but hesitates risking something looking out of order.

Scottie’s first tie is striped in multiple shades of blue, including a periwinkle, royal blue, and dark navy, all split with hairline stripes and following the “uphill” direction of British regimental ties. Interestingly, this is the same tie he wears with his brown birdseye tweed sport jacket when he and Madeleine share a fateful day at Mission San Juan Batista.

The many moods of Scottie Ferguson, part 1: delighted.

A few scenes later, Scottie is wearing the same tie as he follows Madeleine around the city. He wears a silk tie “downhill”-striped in red and gray, though the gray alternates between thick sets of duo-toned stripes and a single mid-gray stripe. He later wears this same tie with his royal blue serge suit.

Part 2: mystified.

For a day that finds Scottie finally face-to-face and interacting with Madeleine, he wears this suit and a bright red foulard tie patterned in a crimson geometric grid with a yellow dot at the center of each grid cell.

Part 3: unflappable.

Scottie takes a break from bothering with collar pins or tie bars after the incident at Mission San Juan Batista, still wearing ties with his suits but sometimes not even buttoning the top button. This sequence of Vertigo also features the simplest tie that Scottie wears with his brown suit, “uphill”-striped in two shades of brown. Each stripe is the same narrow width.

Part 4: firm.

Scottie’s fifth and final tie with this outfit is a mini-plaid pattern with white and red stripes cross-checked on a navy ground. With this tie, he is back to wearing his standard collar pins and tie bars.

Part 5: imploring.

Never one to be caught outside without his hat, Scottie wears a chocolate brown felt fedora with a wide brown grosgrain band and a 2.25″-wide self-bound brim reminiscent of “the Cavanagh edge” used by some of the best hatmakers after Cavanagh’s first patent expired in 1931.

It appears to be the same hat worn by Stewart in many of his films across the 1950s, including The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Bell, Book, and Candle (1958), and even possibly Harvey (1950). Stewart granted an interview to The Arizona Republic in 1972 that mentions he was still wearing the same hat decades later, albeit with some TLC to keep it together.

Discussion at the online forum The Fedora Lounge has suggested that Churchill Ltd. made Jimmy Stewart’s Vertigo hat and thus was the maker of his tried-and-true brown fedora throughout his 1950s career, though the forum also suggests Borsalino, Cavanagh, Dobbs Fifth Avenue, and Stetson among the possible brands that the actor preferred.

Jimmy Stewart’s well-traveled Churchill hat appears throughout Vertigo.

Scottie wears his cordovan wingtip oxford brogues with their five-eyelet closed lacing. The shoes are just a shade warmer than his brown suit.

Scottie’s suit trousers have a full break that covers much of his shoes.

Scottie ignores the common menswear practice of matching one’s hosiery to his trousers – or at least his shoes – and wears a pair of dark navy ribbed socks.

Taking it easy on Midge’s mid-century couch.

Despite the many devices keeping his tie straight and in place, Scottie is no-frills about jewelry or accessories, wearing only a plain gold dress watch on a black leather strap.

The Car

Scottie Ferguson may be a more old-fashioned type of detective, but his set of wheels are nothing short of the latest in fifties automotive fashion, driving around the city in a 1956 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman two-door hardtop coupe in plain white, through the paint takes an icy blue cast under the vivid California sky.

Scottie Ferguson pulls up in his white DeSoto.

It’s de-lovely, it’s dynamic, it’s DeSoto…

DeSoto heralded its new 1955 lineup by co-opting Cole Porter’s lyrics, with the composer’s permission, of course. As the race for American automotive supremacy continued through the decade, the new DeSoto models were unveiled with a redesign consistent with Chrysler designer Virgil Exner’s “Forward Look” for the fifties. The redesign – as well as the introduction of a four-door hardtop in ’56 – proved fortuitous for the marque, which saw increased sales through the middle of the 1950s.

The Firedome had previously been introduced as DeSoto’s premium line, but the Firedome name was rebranded as the entry level for the 1955 model year, taking a back seat to the new Fireflite and Adventurer models, the latter of which was essentially a beefed-up Fireflite Sportsman that topped the offerings at a factory price of $3,678. The three-speed column-mounted manual transmission was offered as standard equipment on the Firedome, though more models were actually produced with the $189 addition of Chrysler’s two-speed Powerflite automatic transmission with its “typewriter key” push-buttons on the dashboard. (Read more about the 1956 DeSoto here.)

Unlike the more exclusive Fireflite and the high-performance Adventurer, the base model Firedome was applied to a wide range of DeSoto body styles from four-door sedans and station wagons to two-door convertibles and coupes. The “Sportsman” trim was available for the four-door sedan and two-door hardtop coupe, the latter of which carried a $2,783 factory price and was driven by Jimmy Stewart through the hilly streets of San Francisco in Vertigo.

1956 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman 2-Door Coupe

Body Style: 2-door hardtop coupe

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

Engine: 330.4 cid (5.4 L) Chrysler DeSoto Firedome V8 330 Hemi with Carter 2-barrel carburetor

Power: 230 hp (171.5 kW; 233 PS) @ 4400 rpm

Torque: 305 lb·ft (414 N·m) @ 2800 rpm

Transmission: 2-speed Powerflite automatic

Wheelbase: 126 inches (3200 mm)

Length: 220.9 inches (5611 mm)

Width: 78.3 inches (1989 mm)

Height: 60.3 inches (1532 mm)

After DeSoto’s rapid rebranding from top-of-the-line to least expensive, the Firedome found a happy medium as a mid-range offering for its final years of production before it was discontinued for the 1960 model year. DeSoto itself wouldn’t last much longer, barely surviving into the sixties as sales rapidly decreased.

Chrysler officially dropped the DeSoto division from its lineup on November 30, 1960, delivering it to the same ignominious fate as once venerated marques as Nash, Packard, and Studebaker that were unable to survive the fierce competition and economic downturn faced by car manufacturers during the “fabulous fifties”.

James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo (1958)

How to Get the Look

James Stewart brought much of his own simple but stylish aesthetic to his roles, including the character of John “Scottie” Ferguson in Vertigo with his earthy, conservative suits and timeless hats.

• Brown serge tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, back left pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White poplin dress shirt with long point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and 2-button rounded cuffs
  • Gold safety pin-style collar bar
• Blue and/or red patterned tie
  • Gold tie bar
• Slim cordovan leather belt with small gold single-prong buckle
• Cordovan leather 5-eyelet wingtip oxford brogues
• Dark navy socks
• Brown felt fedora with brown grosgrain band and 2.25″-wide brim with self-bound “Cavanagh edge”
• Gold wristwatch with round case, black-ringed white dial, and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo with a 1963 Rolls-Royce in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)

Vitals

Marcello Mastroianni as Renzo, Italian writer

Milan, Italy, October 1963

Film: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Italian title: Ieri, oggi, domani)
Release Date: December 19, 1963
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Costume Designer: Piero Tosi

Background

Car Week continues with a focus on a classic Italian comedy released 55 years ago this month.

After four movies together in the 1950s, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren reteamed in 1963 for Vittorio De Sica’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – released in Italy as Ieri, oggi, domani – a stylish anthology about life and love. The film is split into three segments that each star Loren and Mastroianni as a different couple.

The second segment, “Anna”, is the shortest of the three and stars Loren as an industrialist’s glamorous wife – dressed to the nines in Christian Dior – as she is forced to choose between her husband’s Rolls-Royce and her unassuming lover Renzo (Mastroianni).

The film was scored by composer Armando Trovajoli, who makes a brief appearance as the driver of a red Ferrari who stops to help Anna and Renzo by the side of the road.

In his plaid sport jacket, Giorgio Ferrario (Armando Trovajoli) looks like he could be just as willing to sell Anna a car as much as he’s willing to give her a ride in his own. His sense of style adds a new level that clearly interrupts the dynamic of sophisticated Anna and the subdued Renzo.

Trovajoli composed three tracks for this sequence with the jazzy “Descansado” providing a bossa nova background for much of Anna and Renzo’s romantic and scenic drive through the Lombardy countryside.

Released in the United States in March 1964, the movie received Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards while Mastroianni took home a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow also has the somewhat less significant distinction of being the last movie that I watched on FilmStruck before the streaming service ended its operations at the end of last month.

What’d He Wear?

Renzo is the most traditionally dressed of Marcello Mastroianni’s three characters in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, bridging the gap between the working-class Carmine in his untucked henleys and polo shirts and ratty striped trousers, and the opulent bon vivant Augusto Rusconi with his bespoke summer suit, blazer, and boldly banded hat.

Renzo makes his first appearance in “Anna” when he emerges from his car – a Fiat 600, of course – and walks up to the passenger side of her Rolls. He is draped in a fawn-toned glen plaid wool raglan coat, a practical and understatedly stylish for a drive with his lover on a late October afternoon in Milan.

Renzo and Anna.

Renzo’s coat collar has a buttonhole through each leaf. The coat has five buttons from the neck down to below the waist, with an additional button under the right collar leaf. Each of the five buttons down the right side of the front is sewn adjacent to a buttonhole that corresponds to a button on the inside of the coat’s tan wool lining.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on set in Milan. Note the buttons down the inside of the lining on the left side… and the outside buttons sewn next to additional buttonholes on right side.

“The idea grew out of a makeshift coat which Lord Raglan made for himself while commanding the troops in the Crimea. To keep himself warm he cut a hole in the blanket and put his head through it,” explains the venerable Hardy Amies in his ABCs of Men’s Fashion, published in 1964 shortly after Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was released. “Raglan now has come to mean the one-piece shoulder and sleeve that sprang from this piece of inventiveness, rather than a coat as such, although in a coat the Raglan shoulder by its nature carries with it a loose, wide, easy-fitting, and therefore an informal coat.”

Renzo’s coat has raglan sleeves that end with a short, single-button half-tab on each cuff.

Compared to the materialistic Anna in her Christian Dior ensemble of mink coat and jet black dress, Renzo comes across as earthy, grounded, and genuine in his simple but well-cut brown tweed suit, a warm and practical choice for the fall afternoon.

Renzo is on the fence – or guardrail, in this case – when it comes to Anna.

The single-breasted suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front. Renzo initially wears the welted breast pocket unadorned, though he stuffs in the used white handkerchief after fussing with the crashed car. The jacket also has straight jetted hip pockets, a ventless back, and three-button cuffs that appear to be functioning “surgeon’s cuffs”, though – unlike his more rakish character in “Mara” – Marcello wears them fastened.

Their assignation interrupted, Renzo and Anna get back into the car.

Renzo’s matching suit trousers have single pleats in the outward-facing or “reverse” style often associated with Italian tailoring. Worn beltless, they have straight pockets along the side seams and jetted back pockets. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) with a full break.

After incurring Anna’s wrath for almost smothering a fire with her mink coat, Renzo offers up his own suit jacket and shows off his pleated trousers in the process.

Renzo’s white cotton shirt is subtly patterned with a gray mini-grid check.

Note the details of Renzo’s glen plaid coat, mini-checked white shirt, and brown tweed trousers. Note also Anna’s roving hand, which considerably shortens the life of her dear Rolls-Royce.

The shirt is detailed with a point collar and single-button cuffs with a steep cutaway curve. Renzo wears a solid black woven silk tie, echoing the simple yet elegant aesthetic of his iconic suits in La Dolce Vita (1960) three years earlier.

Exhausted from attempted car repairs and failed relationship repairs, Renzo sits by the side of the road with his shirt and tie loosened at the neck.

Renzo wears black calf cap-toe derby shoes with V-shaped lacing that tapers inward. His dark socks appear to be brown, possibly a thin silk.

Renzo’s limited automotive repair knowledge doesn’t do the Rolls – or his budding relationship with Anna – much good.

Though he would be a Rolex wearer later in life, Mastroianni’s watch in the “Anna” sequence of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is too briefly glimpsed for a definitive ID on the maker. It has a gold case that emerges from his shirt cuff at times, flashing a round white dial and a dark leather strap.

In good times… and in bad.

The Car

“I don’t know these cars. My limit is a Fiat 600,” Renzo sheepishly admits as Anna forces him to take the wheel of her husband’s gray 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III convertible. Anna doesn’t seem to listen or care, at least until she blames the inevitable accident on the fact that she “was a fool to let a Fiat 600 driver take the wheel!”

Poor Renzo is forced to put his suit jacket into service to hope to salvage Anna’s wrecked Rolls.

By the early 1960s, the Rolls-Royce had enjoyed six decades of an association with opulent elegance and innovative production – interrupted only by World War II – that led to stars like John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra acquiring them as status symbols. Anna’s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III is the ultimate status symbol in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Rolls-Royce began production of the first generation Silver Cloud in April 1955, a time that the marque was beginning to equip all of its cars with automatic rather than manual transmissions as standard equipment. More than 2,200 cars had been produced by 1959, when the Silver Cloud II was introduced with a V8 engine that was arguably more powerful but far less smooth than the previous iteration’s straight-six cylinder engine.

The Silver Cloud III made its world debut in October 1962, and production soon began on a run of 2,044 cars that would be introduced for the 1963 model year. In addition to slight cosmetic changes from the previous model, the V8 engine was also increased with 2-inch carburetors, an increased compression ratio of 9:1, and a nitrate-hardened crankshaft to accommodate the increased in power, which Rolls-Royce left characteristically undisclosed but has been estimated at around 200 horsepower. You can read more about Silver Cloud III performance and specs here.

Hyde Park bespoke coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward, formed by Rolls-Royce Limited in 1961 after the merger of H.J. Mulliner & Co. and Park Ward, continued to style coaches with the Silver Cloud III, and the Drop Head Coupe featured in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is of a Mulliner Park Ward design.

1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III

Body Style: 2-door convertible

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

Engine: 380 cid (6.2 L) Rolls-Royce 90-degree V8

Power: 200 bhp (147 kW; 203 PS) @ unknown RPM

Torque: unknown

Transmission: 4-speed automatic

Wheelbase: 127 inches (3226 mm)

Length: 211.8 inches (5378 mm)

Width: 74 inches (1880 mm)

Height: 64 inches (1626 mm)

A total of 7,372 Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds would be produced across all three series of the car’s production from 1955 to 1966, when it was replaced by the Silver Shadow, Rolls-Royce’s first car to use unitary body and chassis production.

After Renzo “mishandles” Anna’s Rolls-Royce, she fetches a ride from the plaid-jacketed Giorgio Ferrario, who is speeding though the countryside in a red 1960 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB, a rare sports car with less than 60 examples made, including ones owned by actors James Coburn and Alain Delon. It was a fiberglass replica of a ’61 California Spyder SWB that was famously featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Cameron’s dad had a right to be upset, as auctioned cars have picked up more than $10 million at auctions over the last few years.

How to Get the Look

Marcello Mastroianni with Sophia Loren and a 1963 Rolls-Royce in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)

With his Ivy-inspired plaid raglan coat and tweed suit, Marcello Mastroianni’s simple and timeless outfit as Renzo would look just as appropriate in Massachusetts or Merseyside as it does in Milan.

• Brown tweed suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button suit jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with fitted waistband, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White gray mini-grid checked cotton shirt with point collar and single-button cuffs
• Black tie
• Black calf leather derby shoes
• Dark brown dress socks
• Fawn glen plaid wool five-button raglan coat with side pockets and half-tab single-button cuffs
• Gold wristwatch with white square dial on dark brown leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

Versions of varying quality have been released for home video and streaming since the film fell into public domain, but consensus among reviewers seems to agree that the best version has been released by Kino Lorber Films, both on its own as well as in the Sophia Loren “Award Collection” box set that also includes Marriage Italian Style and Sunflower, two more of her 13 collaborations with co-star Marcello Mastroianni.