Robert Redford as Johnny Hooker in The Sting (1973).
Vitals
Robert Redford as Johnny Hooker, Depression-era con artist
Chicago, September 1936
Film:The Sting Release Date: December 25, 1973 Director: George Roy Hill Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
To celebrate Robert Redford’s 80th birthday next week, I’m revisiting one of my favorite Redford flicks. After the incredible success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the chemistry of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the starring roles, both actors re-teamed four years later to play washed-up con artist Henry Gondorff (Newman) and his de facto protégé, Johnny Hooker (Redford).
The titular sting is a con that Gondorff and Hooker expertly organize to swindle crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) as revenge for Lonnegan’s brutal killing of a well-liked associate. The con is centered around an illegal off-track betting parlor where the two men pose as feuding gamblers. As the plot thickens, the lines are blurred to the point where even the audience is unsure of who is trying to con whom, leading to one of the most famous denouements in movie history.
For BAMF Style readers fortunate enough to live in the Pittsburgh area, Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will be showing The Sting during its “Essential American Cinema: The 1970s” week from August 19-25. (The Godfather and Grey Gardens will also be shown during the week. Don’t miss!)
What’d He Wear?
In their guises as slick wire store bookies Shaw and Kelly, Gondorff and Hooker each don a black tuxedo. Fitting for their roles, Gondorff’s dinner jacket has more traditional shawl lapels while Hooker wears a somewhat sportier black dinner jacket with wide peak lapels. The sharp lapels have a lifted collar and satin facings. The shoulders are very wide and well-padded with roped sleeveheads. The jacket is tailored to emphasize these strong shoulders and appear lean through the torso.
Black Tie Guide reports that this style was losing popularity by 1940 when Esquire advised its readers “to stick to tradition to avoid being mistaken for bandmasters, ‘a tribe noted for wasp waistlines, barn-broad shoulders and Himalayan high rise trousers’.”
The cigarette girl working the room is another symbol of a bygone era.
The way that Hooker’s jacket shines under certain light suggests the possibility of being mohair or a mohair-wool blend. Appropriately for a dinner jacket, it has straight jetted hip pockets, a single welted breast pocket, a ventless back, and silk-covered buttons. Although the three covered buttons on each cuff is nothing out of the ordinary, the jacket very curiously has a two-button front; traditionally, a single-breasted dinner jacket should only have a single button to close the front. Recently, Daniel Craig’s ivory Tom Ford dinner jacket in Spectre received some criticism for its two-button front.
Redford.
Although Esquire would report within a year after the film’s setting that the attached turndown collar had superseded it in terms of popularity, the wing collar formal shirt is the dress shirt of choice for both Gondorff and Hooker when donning their respective black tie ensembles. Hooker’s dress shirt is white piqué with three studs on the plain front bib. Both the shirt studs and the cuff links are black squares with silver trim, although the cuff links are much larger. This shirt may have been one of the Anto shirts that the manufacturer provided to The Sting for Robert Redford to wear.
I did warn about spoilers above, right?
Hooker’s black satin silk bow tie has a large butterfly shape. It is clearly a pre-tied model with the hook visible under the bow (typically the left side), which should be especially avoided with a wing collar shirt when the clasp has nowhere to hide. By the 1930s, it was indeed customary for a man’s bow tie fabric to match the facings of his dinner jacket lapels.
Can’t unsee that bow tie hook!
Hooker wears a pair of white suspenders over his shirt. Not much is seen of these braces, which connect to his trousers somewhere under his cummerbund, but the adjusters appear to be brass.
Hooker hits the Bushmills after a rough day.
Hooker’s formal trousers match his dinner jacket in a similar black mohair-wool fabric with a single black satin stripe down each side. They have double reverse pleats, straight side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms with a short break.
Hooker tries to keep himself calm as the drama unfolds in Shaw’s betting parlor.
Hooker wears a wide black silk pleated cummerbund to cleanly transition between his shirt and trousers. However, Black Tie Guide found an example from The New Etiquette, published in 1937 a year after The Sting is set, that states that “the pleated formal sash” was only acceptable with a black tuxedo in a resort setting; more general acceptance of cummerbunds was still a decade away.
Black patent leather shoes and black socks are the most acceptable form of footwear with black tie, but Hooker takes an additional step back from formality by sporting bluchers (or derby shoes), a less dressy alternative to the more formal balmoral shoe.
Hooker struts back down into the wire store. The shoes worn by men in The Sting must have the loudest soles I’ve ever heard on screen.
Homburg hats and chesterfield coats were the preferred outerwear with black tie during this era, but Hooker opts instead to wear his everyday fedora with a trench coat when venturing outside the gambling den. His wide-brimmed fedora is dark gray felt with a wide black grosgrain ribbon.
Hooker gets the surprise of his life in a Chicago back alley.
Hooker’s tan belted trench coat has tartan plaid lining that suggests Burberry. The lapels are wide and often worn with the collar upturned over Hooker’s neck, although he leaves the small double latch open over the throat to expose his bow tie. The cuffs are fitted with thin straps that adjust through a brass buckle, and the ribbed belt fastens around the waist through a larger brass single-claw buckle. The back has a large storm flap and a long vent up to nearly the waist. All of the buttons are light tan plastic, and the epaulette straps are each secured to the shoulder with a single button at the neck.
With the collar of his trench coat turned up and hat brim pulled down over his face, Hooker looks every bit the film noir hero as he dashes around Chicago to execute his double-crossing schemes.
Throughout The Sting (and most of his movies), Robert Redford wears a plain silver ring on the third finger of his right hand, which the actor has stated was a gift from Hopi Indians in 1966. We can also assume that he’s wearing the same silver chain necklace with its large round pendant as he wears in other scenes.
As opposed to his usual sleeveless undershirts, though, a white cotton short-sleeve t-shirt appears to be Hooker’s undershirt of choice when sporting his formalwear.
How to Get the Look
Although he certainly wears a classic-inspired black tie ensemble for his days and nights in the betting parlor, Johnny Hooker is still a less polished amateur who was thrust into a world of professionals and, thus, is more prone to breaking a few sartorial rules.
Black mohair-wool single-breasted 2-button dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Black mohair-wool double reverse-pleated formal trousers with satin side stripes, straight side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White piqué formal dress shirt with detachable wing collar, plain front bib with three black square studs with silver edge trim, and double/French cuffs
Black satin silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Black pleated silk cummerbund
Black square cuff links with silver edge trim
White suspenders with brass adjusters
Black patent leather plain-toe bluchers
Black dress socks
Dark gray felt fedora with thick black ribbon
Tan belted trench coat with large lapels, button-down epaulettes, handwarmer pockets, cuff straps, small brass double throat latch, and long single vent
Christian Bale and Cara Seymour as Patrick Bateman and Christie, respectively, in American Psycho (2000).
Vitals
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, shallow investment banker and possible serial killer
New York City, Spring 1988
Film:American Psycho Release Date: April 14, 2000 Director: Mary Harron Costume Designer: Isis Mussenden
Background
Halloween approaching is a fine time to address a monster in human form like Patrick Bateman who may have been a sharp dresser (for the ’80s) but was undoubtedly a terrible human being (in any era!)
You can tell Bateman is trying his best to be seen as a classy host; he plays Phil Collins, after all! Of course, Bateman is hindered by the fact that no classy evening should ever include the words “don’t just stare at it, eat it!”
What’d He Wear?
In the chapter “Thursday” of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, Patrick Bateman describes his attire:
I’m wearing a six-button double-breasted wool-crepe tuxedo with pleated trousers and a silk grosgrain bow tie, all by Valentino.
A style-hound like Bateman likely picked up his tuxedo after reading about the resurgence of 1930s formalwear, especially the double-breasted dinner jacket, in GQ’s annual formalwear roundup in December 1984. As excerpted by Black Tie Guide: “To be sure, the Thirties remain the inspiration: double-breasted dinner jackets with peaked satin or grosgrain lapels…”
The film American Psycho perfectly brings Bateman’s formalwear to life with a yuppie update of the ’30s double-breasted dinner jacket. The black dinner jacket worn by Christian Bale on screen has a 6-on-2 button double-breasted front and a long, full cut. The full-bellied peak lapels are satin-faced and sweep out wide across his chest, pointing up toward each shoulder. Each lapel has a buttonhole that runs parallel to the slanted gorge.
Bateman methodically frames his evening.
While likely not wool crepe, Bateman’s dinner jacket has a sheen that implies possibly mohair, silk, or a blend. The shoulders are padded and extend very wide. There is a welted breast pocket, jetted hip pockets, and ventless back. The buttons on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are all covered in black satin silk.
The matching formal trousers are fully cut to match the excess style of the ’80s. They have double reverse pleats, slightly slanted side pockets, and no back pockets. A satin stripe runs down each side of the trousers down to the plain-hemmed bottoms.
The trouser waistband is plain with no belt loops or adjusters. The suspenders fasten to six buttons inside his waistband: two in the back and two sets of two in the front. The braces themselves are white and wide, divided into three equal-width stripes each separated by a hairline black stripe. Two black rectangular tabs in the front separate the braces from the white fabric double runner ends that hook through the inner right and left buttons of the trouser waistband. A black leather patch in the back center meets the two front straps before they converge. The back section of the suspenders connect to his trouser waistband with a black leather double-button ear in the center.
You’ll never think of “Sussudio” the same way again.
Bateman wears a white formal shirt with a point collar and narrowly-pleated front bib. The four round yellow gold studs down the placket match the larger yellow gold cuff links that fasten each of the shirt’s double cuffs. His butterfly-shaped bow tie is black satin silk, matching his lapel facings.
A shit-eating grin… the natural result from many years of not just staring at it, ifyouknowwhatImean.
Only briefly seen, Bateman’s footwear is the formality-appropriate black patent leather balmorals with black silk dress socks.
Bateman briefly ignores his bathing “guest” to take a phone call.
When venturing outside, Bateman complements his aspired image as a dashing young chauffeured businessman with a beige cashmere scarf draped around his neck.
Patrick Bateman’s “charm” is lost on Christie, one of the few characters who sees him for who he is.
Don’t touch the watch!
In the book, the line was “Don’t touch the Rolex,” although the brand had obvious misgivings about being so blatantly included in the more accessible cinematic adaptation. Still, the line would have been an accurate one as Bale’s Bateman (not be confused with Bale’s Batman) wears a Rolex DateJust in mixed “Rolesor” yellow and white gold with a 36mm case and gold dial, closed over his left wrist on a two-tone “Jubilee” bracelet.
How to Get the Look
The definitive Me Decade yuppie, Patrick Bateman’s black tie ensemble is accurate to the ’80s with its oversized homage to the ’30s.
Black mohair double-breasted dinner jacket with satin-faced wide peak lapels, silk-covered 6-on-2 button front, welted breast pocket, jetted straight hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Black mohair reverse-pleated formal trousers with satin side stripes, plain waistband, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal dress shirt with point collar, narrow pleated bib (with four gold studs), and double/French cuffs
Black satin silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Gold cuff links
White triple-striped suspenders with black leather accents
Black leather cap-toe balmorals
Black silk dress socks
Beige cashmere scarf
Rolex DateJust in stainless 36mm case with two-tone yellow gold and stainless “Jubilee” bracelet
Robert Redford as Nathan Muir, experienced CIA case officer
Berlin, Winter 1977
Film: Spy Game Release Date: November 21, 2001 Director: Tony Scott Costume Designer: Louise Frogley Redford’s Costumer: David Page
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
When Nathan Muir is being questioned by the CIA about his history with Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), one particular incident that receives attention is Operation Rodeo, best remembered by Muir as “the Cathcart affair” for the involvement of embassy mole Anne Cathcart (Charlotte Rampling).
Vivaldi’s “Spring” concerto from The Four Seasons, performed by Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra, cuts in as the film flashes back again to Berlin in 1977. Muir is in black tie with a glass of single malt in his hand, accompanying his “cousin” (Andrea Osvárt) to a party where the two encounter the enigmatic Ms. Cathcart.
Cathcart: That Scotch is older than she is… Muir: Am I supposed to feel bad about that?
What’d He Wear?
While Tom Bishop is out with an East German informant speeding through the back streets of Berlin in his beaten-up Škoda, Muir is hobnobbing with the elite of the spying community at a black tie gathering that would’ve surely made 007 salivate. His black wool dinner jacket has satin-faced peak lapels that are fashionably wide for the late ’70s and roll to the single-button closure. Both the single front button and the three buttons on each cuff are covered in black silk.
Muir, his “cousin”, and Anne Cathcart.
Muir completes his tuxedo with a pair of black wool formal trousers with a satin stripe on the side of each leg and plain-hemmed bottoms. A pleated black silk cummerbund covers his waist.
An urgent call!
Robert Redford is a frequent customer of Anto Beverly Hills, so it was Anto that provided his tuxedo shirt in Spy Game. The white formal shirt is Swiss cotton with a long point collar and five 3/4″ pleats on each side of the front placket. The small, gold-trimmed black shirt studs match the larger rounded square cuff links in each of the shirt’s double (French) cuffs.
Underneath, Muir wears a white cotton crew-neck short-sleeved t-shirt as an undershirt.
Muir also wears a black satin bow tie, self-tied with a butterfly shape.
Muir ventures out onto a Berlin rooftop early that morning for a covert meeting with Bishop following the failed extraction of Schmidt and the successful unveiling of Cathcart the mole. To combat the morning chill, Muir dons a black wool car coat with styling details borrowed from a traditional pea coat like the wide Ulster collar, hand pockets, and double-breasted front (consisting of six widely-spaced buttons, with three to button). The coat has roped sleeveheads and a short fit that ends at his hips.
The rooftop scenes also reveal Muir’s footwear with his black tie ensemble. He wears black patent leather oxfords, the most formal shoe option after the opera pump, and black dress socks.
Redford on a roof.
Muir wears the same accessories on his right hand as he does throughout Spy Game. His stainless steel wristwatch is a Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 watch with a white dial on a stainless link bracelet. The ring on his third finger is the silver ring that Robert Redford received as a gift from Hopi Indians in 1966 and wears in most of his films. He also appears to have a gold wedding ring on his left hand.
Muir isn’t used to orders not being obeyed.
The gold-framed aviator-style eyeglasses that Muir wears are consistent with his specs seen in most of the film’s 1970s-set scenes; after that, he switches to a pair of Oliver Peoples glasses.
How to Get the Look
Nathan Muir fashionably incorporates 1970s trends into an ultimately timeless tuxedo for a night of espionage and intrigue.
Andrea Osvárt and Robert Redford.
Black wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and silk-covered 3-button cuffs
Black wool formal trousers with black satin side stripes and plain-hemmed bottoms
White Swiss cotton formal shirt with long point collar, 3/4″-pleated front, gold-trimmed black studs down front placket, and double/French cuffs
Black satin butterfly-shaped bow tie
Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
Black dress socks
White cotton crew-neck short-sleeve t-shirt
Black wool double-breasted 6×3-button car coat with Ulster collar and hand pockets
Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 wristwatch with stainless 41mm case, white dial, and stainless link bracelet, worn on right wrist
Silver Hopi Indian ring with black imprint, worn on right ring finger
Robert Redford as Jack Weil, smooth, cynical gambler and U.S. Navy veteran
Havana, December 1958
Film:Havana Release Date: December 14, 1990 Director: Sydney Pollack Costume Designer: Bernie Pollack
Background
The new year is a time of resolutions, but instead of dropping a few hundred quid on a gym membership that will be used three times until it’s finally dropped in March, invest those dollars in a perfectly tailored dinner jacket… then resolve to find the occasion in 2017 to wear it. Whether it’s to class up a night out or just to feel confident at the grocery store, you’ll be glad you made the investment!
To illustrate the impression a great dinner jacket can make, BAMF Style is delivering a double dose of Robert Redford’s formalwear leading up to the new year. (Thursday’s post analyzed his black tie ensemble in Spy Game.) In this sequence from Havana, Jack Weil (Redford) dresses to the nines for an evening meeting with Meyer Lansky (Mark Rydell) and Joe Volpi (Alan Arkin) at one of Lansky’s casinos.
Jack sports a ivory wool shawl-collared dinner jacket, perfect for a warm evening soiree in Havana and evocative of Humphrey Bogart‘s classic double-breasted jacket in Casablanca.
A Christmas tree in the background isn’t going to make meeting with Meyer Lansky any less tense.
The shawl lapels are self-faced save for the strip of white satin piping along the edge. The top and sides of the welted breast pocket are also piped in white satin, further embellished by an ivory silk display kerchief poking out of the pocket. The jetted pockets are straight, and there appear to be two buttons on each cuff that match the single ivory plastic button on the front.
The details of Weil’s dinner jacket set him apart as more of an individualist than Joe Volpi.
He wears a black or midnight blue pleated silk cummerbund that remains visible above the low button stance of his jacket. Cummerbunds are the most popular waist covering for warm-weather formalwear as it keeps its wearer cooler than a waistcoat would.
The ventless dinner jacket is fully cut as was fashionable in the late 1950s with wide padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.
Weil and Volpi hit the streets.
Redford once again wears an Anto Beverly Hills shirt, and Anto confirmed that this white formal shirt has five 3/4″ pleats on each side of the placket, just like his Swiss cotton tuxedo shirt in Spy Game. Also similar to his Spy Game shirt is the long point collar, the three gold-trimmed round black studs visible above the waist, and the double (French) cuffs for his gold cuff links.
Weil’s buddy takes on a much more tragic black tie ensemble.
The slim butterfly-shaped bow tie is either black or midnight blue silk.
Jack wears a pair of reverse-pleated dark wool formal trousers, either in black or midnight blue with a black satin stripe down the side of each leg. His high-rise trousers also have plain-hemmed bottoms and side pockets where he often places his hands.
Weil wears a pair of black patent leather oxfords with black dress socks.
Weil’s accessories remain the same throughout Havana with an ornate gold signet ring on his right pinky and a gold wristwatch on his right wrist. The watch has a round yellow gold case with a gold dial and a flat gold bracelet.
Weil ends his night looking cooler than ever.
Interestingly, this is one of the few times that Redford does not wear his usual silver Hopi-gifted ring.
Go Big or Go Home
This scene features Bobby Darin’s 1959 classic “Beyond the Sea”, but for your festive New Year’s Eve celebration, you’ll definitely want Darin’s bittersweet “Christmas Auld Lang Syne” from his 1960 album The 25th Day of December, available on Amazon.
How to Get the Look
As always, Robert Redford makes dressing well look effortless.
Ivory wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with satin-piped shawl collar, satin-piped breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
White Swiss cotton formal shirt with long point collar, 3/4″-pleated front, gold-trimmed black studs down front placket, and double/French cuffs
Black slim silk bow tie
Gold cuff links
Black silk cummerbund
Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with black satin side stripes, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
Black dress socks
Gold wristwatch with round gold dial on flat bracelet
Gold signet pinky ring
For an extra subtle touch, Weil wears a white silk display kerchief in his jacket breast pocket.
Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1974)
Vitals
Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, enigmatic millionaire and eager romantic
Long Island, NY, Summer 1925
Film:The Great Gatsby Release Date: March 29, 1974 Director: Jack Clayton Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Background
Things are looking good for Jay Gatsby by the end of summer. He’s reunited with his former love, Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), and – for better or worse – he’s established himself as the party king of West Egg. Sure, no one knows where his curiously vast fortune came from, but as long as he keeps the champagne flowing and hot jazz booming, no one cares either.
For his ultimate summer bash, Gatsby reaches across the bay to invite the Buchanans, but the adulterous cuckold Tom (Bruce Dern) is none too amused by this nouvreau riche showcase. Tom’s disapproval only fuels Gatsby as he and Daisy steal away for a few private moments during the party.
Despite his one-on-one time with Daisy, Gatsby is morose the next morning when surveying the remnants of his party with neighbor and confidante Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston).
Gatsby: Thank you for staying, Nick. She didn’t like it. Nick: Of course she did. Gatsby: She didn’t have a good time.
Ah, but just when you think Gatsby is realizing that his dream is over, the “eternal reassurance” that Fitzgerald described in his smile returns in an instant, now directed inward to allow Gatsby to reassure himself.
Gatsby: I’ll fix everything… Just the way it was before. She’ll see. Nick: You can’t repeat the past. Gatsby: Can’t repeat the past? Of course you can!
What’d He Wear?
This is Gatsby’s biggest part of the season, so he pulls out the stops to look as dashing as possible to impress Daisy (and subtly intimidate Tom) by upping his usual garden parties into a white tie affair. The classic evening tailcoat – when custom made and worn correctly – is one of the most flattering garments that a man can wear, and thus the perfect choice for a 1920s gentleman looking to impress a fashionable woman of means.
Gatsby’s evening tailcoat is midnight blue worsted wool with wide peak lapels faced in satin silk with no buttonhole. The only external pocket is a welted breast pocket where Gatsby wears a white linen display kerchief. The coat’s shoulders are wide and padded with heavily roped sleeveheads.
Like a proper dress coat, the psuedo double-breasted front isn’t meant to be closed, and the six buttons on the front (three on each side of the cutaway opening) are all covered in the same midnight satin as the lapel facings, as are the two decorative buttons over the tail vents in the back and the three ornamental buttons on each cuff.
Daisy and Gatsby are having far too much fun for Tom’s liking…
The waistcoat is the one place where personalization is most welcome in a white tie ensemble, providing that it is white and low-fastening, of course. Gatsby’s double-breasted waistcoat is white piqué with a cross-check pattern that provides additional contrast against his solid white shirt. The low opening is U-shaped rather than the traditional V-shape with slim shawl revers, eight silver-toned buttons (four to close), and a straight-cut bottom.
The thin gold chain of Gatsby’s pocketwatch is worn across his waist and through the second buttonhole with the watch itself in the left jetted pocket of his waistcoat.
Gatsby delights in introducing the cuckolded Tom as “Mr. Buchanan… the polo player.”
Gatsby wears forward-pleated formal trousers that appropriately match the midnight blue worsted dress coat. The trousers rise high with the waist unseen under his waistcoat, ending just above the bottom of the coat fronts and likely held up with white silk suspenders in keeping with white tie tradition. The side pockets are concealed along satin stripes which extend down the side of each leg to the plain-hemmed bottoms, although Gatsby often disregards the intent of this elegantly minimalist design by frequently placing his hands in his pockets.
Ever the gentleman, Gatsby looks just as ready for a party when cleaning up his previous soiree the next morning.
With its narrow pleated front, Gatsby’s white cotton formal shirt is more appropriate for black tie as white tie always calls for more formal and cleaner-looking starched bib. Gatsby’s shirt has a detachable wing collar with broad, pronounced wings. Three diamond studs are visible down the front placket above the opening of the waistcoat, although they don’t match the red oval cuff links (with silver trim) that he wears in his stiff single cuffs.
This is about as ’20s as it can get, folks.
Gatsby wears a butterfly-shaped white cotton piqué bow tie. Appropriately, the back band of the tie is concealed by the back collar of the dress coat. Because he’s no slouch, it’s a self-tied model that was likely custom made to perfectly fit Robert Redford’s neck.
Note the subtle piqué texture of Gatsby’s white cotton bow tie.
The scene mostly keeps Gatsby’s feet out of frame – the story is more advanced by his facial expressions that range from romantic joy to nostalgic sorrow – but he is almost definitely wearing black patent leather balmorals, the most formal practical footwear for white tie. Derby shoes are decidedly less formal and – pink suits aside – Gatsby isn’t enough of a dandy for court shoes or opera pumps. The glimpse we get of his black dress socks also rules out that he may be wearing dress boots.
Gatsby’s cuff links, pinky ring, and even socks can be spotted best when cleaning up with Nick the next morning.
Gatsby sports both of his rings during the party. On the third finger of his right hand is the silver ring that Robert Redford had received as a gift from Hopi tribesmen in 1966 and wears in almost all of his movies; his left pinky features an ornate gold ring with a dark green stone that evokes the light at the end of Daisy’s dock.
Go Big or Go Home
Thanks to Nelson Riddle’s orchestration, Gatsby’s parties always feature a festive soundtrack that immediately transports audiences back to a summer night during the early years of the roaring twenties. This party features “Whispering”, a 1920 ballad made famous by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra; “Charleston”, the classic 1923 dance hit that has become synonymous with the decade; and, perhaps chosen specifically by Gatsby for Daisy, the jazz standard “It Had to Be You”.
Likely the best known from that trio of songs, “It Had to Be You” was penned by Isham Jones in 1924 with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was an immediate hit when released, and – like “Whispering” and “Charleston” – received the Paul Whiteman treatment to further popularize it. In the decades since, it has become a ballad of sweet romance in romantic comedies like Annie Hall (1977) and When Harry Met Sally… (1989). The Harry Connick Jr. version used as the theme in the latter was ranked #60 in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs in 2004.
How to Get the Look
Gatsby’s approach to white tie is less formal than traditional sartorialists would prefer, but he is nouveau riche, so it should be expected that he would add some youthful flair to a classic ensemble.
Midnight blue worsted wool six-button evening tailcoat with satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, satin-covered 3-button cuffs, and 2 decorative buttons over tail vents
White cross-checked piqué double-breasted full-dress waistcoat with slim shawl revers, 8-on-4 silver-toned buttons, jetted pockets, and straight-cut bottom
Midnight blue worsted wool forward-pleated formal trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal shirt with detachable wing collar, front placket with narrow pleats and diamond studs, and stiff single cuffs
White textured cotton piqué self-tied bowtie
Red enamel-faced oval cuff links with silver trim
Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
Black dress socks
Gold pocketwatch on thin gold chain, worn in waistcoat pocket
Plain silver ring, worn on right ring finger
Ornate gold ring with dark green stone, worn on left pinky
Gatsby doesn’t wear a boutonniere, instead opting for a white linen display kerchief in his breast pocket.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie and read the book – it’s one of my favorites!
If you’re interested in pursuing your own formal white tie ensemble, check out what the experts at Black Tie Guide have to say on the subject.
Cary Grant as Nickie Ferrante in An Affair to Remember (1957)
Vitals
Cary Grant as Nicolò “Nickie” Ferrante, socialite playboy
Onboard the SS Constitution in the Mediterranean, December 1956
Film: An Affair to Remember Release Date: July 2, 1957 Director: Leo McCarey Executive Wardrobe Designer: Charles Le Maire
Background
Valentine’s Day being on a Tuesday this year is no excuse for not pulling out the stops to impress that special someone. The romantic holiday calls for a double dose of Cary Grant, known for his debonair demeanor both on and off screen.
Following a reader request from Gleb received last October, BAMF Style is taking a look at the distinctive and sophisticated tuxedo that Grant wears while romancing Deborah Kerr aboard the SS Constitution in 1957’s An Affair to Remember.
What’d He Wear?
Given that the film lent its title to a number of tuxedo rental shops, it’s only fitting that An Affair to Remember would feature Cary Grant in one of his most debonair black tie ensembles. Grant’s character, Nickie Ferrante, dresses for dinner in a midnight blue worsted dinner jacket with a distinctive single-link button closure. The link-front design had fallen relatively out of vogue by World War II, mostly popular during the waning years of the Edwardian era as the dinner jacket itself was eclipsing the formal tailcoat in men’s eveningwear though it remained a natty alternative through the early decades of the 20th century.
Nickie and Terry trade barbs in her stateroom.
Grant’s dinner jacket has sharply pointed peak lapels with satin facings and buttonholes. The long, wide lapels extend down to the low stance of the link-button front, working in tandem with Grant’s tall 6’2″ frame to create a luxurious V shape that follows the flattering fifties cut of the dinner jacket, widest at the padded shoulders and suppressed through the waist for a strong silhouette.
Grant wears a distinctive matching midnight waistcoat with a low V-shaped opening and a large single-button closure. The full back appears to be covered in midnight satin, glimpsed at certain angles when Grant shifts around in Kerr’s stateroom. The waistcoat nicely complements the low button stance of his dinner jacket.
Although smoking is a frequent motif in An Affair to Remember, it was while filming this movie that Cary Grant eventually dropped his sixty-a-day cigarette habit that he had developed since he was 7 years old. (Yes, 7!)
The trousers are midnight blue worsted to match the dinner jacket with a satin side stripe down each leg and side pockets – likely cut just behind those stripes – where Grant often places his hands, even when sitting. The bottoms are appropriately plain-hemmed with no cuffs.
Clever framing with Grant and Kerr in the middle, flanked by the “angel on her shoulder” (her fiance’s photo) on the left and the “devil on her shoulder” (her bed, albeit a single one) on the right.
The white formal shirt has a long-pointed semi-spread soft collar, a favorite of Grant’s, and a plain front where he wears two diamond studs visible above the waistcoat. The squared double (French) cuffs are fastened with a set of silver-trimmed mother-of-pearl chain-style links. The midnight blue satin silk bow tie is butterfly-shaped and, naturally, self-tied rather than adjustable or pre-tied.
The chain-style links are two-sided, visible on both sides of his wrist as Cary Grant here appears to be mansplaining either elevator mechanics or appropriate serving methods to Deborah Kerr.
The most appropriate shoe for black tie is the formal oxford (balmoral), and Grant here wears a pair of square-toed black leather oxfords with black silk socks.
The Cary Grant fan club awaits him as he descends the deck stairs.
Nickie’s wristwatch is likely the same gold Cartier tank watch that Grant preferred to wear in real life.
Never call him late for dinner.
For a rainy evening at the opera, Nickie Ferrante opts for practicality over formality, wearing a black waterproof raincoat with a short Prussian collar, fly front, and set-in sleeves. He leaves only the top button of his raincoat undone, revealing a white cashmere scarf tied in an ascot-style overhand knot. Once his cab pulls away, he dons a black felt homburg with a black grosgrain band.
Back in New York, a little rain must fall.
What to Imbibe
Nickie Ferrante glides into the lounge of the SS Constitution and at first orders a champagne cocktail before recalling his earlier conversation with Terry McKay.
Nickie: Don’t you think life should be gay and bright a bubbly like champagne? Terry: I like pink champagne. Nickie: Yes, that’s the kind I mean – pink champagne. Now is there any reason why from now on, this trip shouldn’t be pink champagne?
Although Terry had nixed his romantic advances by pointing to her fiance, Nickie’s spirits haven’t been soured and he amends his order to a glass of pink champagne before asking the bartender where he can pick up cigarettes. When he returns with his fresh pack of Chesterfields, Nickie is just as surprised as Terry to find that they have both been served glasses of pink champagne, placed inches away from each other on the bar.
So much for keeping a low profile…
The pink champagne served in the 1950s at the time of An Affair to Remember would have typically been the sweet sparkling variety that was developed in response to drinkers who wanted an alternative to dry Brut champagnes. Since then, dry variations of rosé champagne have been developed by adding a touch of still Pinot Noir to sparkling cuvée or the less common saignée method of bleeding the clear juice after limited black grape skin contact.
How to Get the Look
There are few looks as iconic as Cary Grant in a tuxedo and he looks ever bit the gentleman as Nickie Ferrante during his romantic transatlantic crossing.
Midnight blue worsted wool single-breasted link-front dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, satin-covered 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
Midnight blue single-button formal waistcoat with full satin-covered back
Midnight blue worsted pleated formal trousers with satin side stripe, straight side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal shirt with long-pointed semi-spread soft collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
Diamond shirt studs
Silver-trimmed mother-of-pearl cuff links
Midnight blue satin silk butterfly-shaped self-tied bow tie
Black leather square-toed oxfords/balmorals
Black silk dress socks
Cartier Tank yellow gold wristwatch with square white dial and black leather strap
Aidan Turner as Philip Lombard in And Then There Were None (2015)
Vitals
Aidan Turner as Philip Lombard, adventurer and ex-mercenary
Devon, England, August 1939
Series Title:And Then There Were None Air Date: December 26-28, 2015 Director: Craig Viveiros Costume Designer: Lindsay Pugh
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As we get closer to St. Patrick’s Day, BAMF Style is focusing on another Irishman, Aidan Turner, the Dublin-born actor who many are suggesting as a possibility for taking over the James Bond mantle as the prospects of Daniel Craig’s return seem dwindling.
Of course, an important aspect of the 007 role is how well an actor sports a dinner suit, so we’re checking out the period black tie ensemble that Turner wore as Philip Lombard in the BBC’s 2015 miniseries And Then There Were None.
Published in 1939, And Then There Were None is widely considered to be Agatha Christie’s masterpiece and, with more than 100 million copies sold around the world, tops the charts as the world’s best-selling mystery novel and the sixth best-selling book of all time. It had been adapted for the screen several times, most faithfully in 1945 (albeit with a more positive ending), until the three-part miniseries that aired after Christmas 2015 set the gold standard for adapting Christie’s work.
Turner joined an all-star cast including Charles Dance, Sam Neill, Maeve Dermody, Miranda Richardson, and Toby Stephens in the classic story of ten strangers summoned to an island mansion for a summer weekend retreat. They range from a retired judge and a judgmental spinster to an alcoholic doctor and a rakish socialite, Anthony Marston (Douglas Booth), the only one that calls out the peculiarity of their situation:
I had a letter inviting me to a house party. Pretty young things, you know? Champagne, music… and apart from Lombard, who looks like he could cut up a bit lively, the rest of you don’t really look like fun-loving house party types. No offense.
The first evening, all are dressed for dinner when they discover that none of them have ever met their supposed host, U.N. Owen (Christie’s characters weren’t above puns), and find their deepest secrets revealed as a mysterious recording accuses them each of murder. Every character refutes his or her respective charges…except the cheeky Lombard who sees no reason to deny his past:
Philip Lombard, that you did murder 21 men, members of an East African tribe…
Lombard isn’t alone in his non-denial. The reckless Marston recollects “those two kids” that he killed in a drunk driving incident that led to the “terrific nuisance” of a six-month suspended license. The guests are disgusted by Marston, but their revulsion soon turns to horror as the swaggering young socialite chokes to death before their eyes. Something is amiss…
What’d He Wear?
The seven English gentlemen invited to dinner on Soldier Island all dress for dinner the first night, sporting black tie that would have been appropriate and fashionable for a summer evening in 1939. Philip Lombard’s classic single-breasted dinner jacket with its sweeping peak lapels and his wing collar shirt would have been the epitome of fashionable English formalwear in the immediately pre-war era. Double-breasted dinner jackets had been catching on throughout the decade as a fashionable but ultimately less formal – and thus, more American – alternative.
It’s worth noting that, in the 1945 film, Louis Hayward’s Lombard wears a double-breasted dinner jacket with a turndown collar, perhaps a reflection of the character’s casual nature and the more staid context during the latter years of World War II.
Dueling Lombards: Louis Hayward (in 1945) and Aidan Turner (in 2015) attempt to out-debonair each other as Philip Lombard.
Surprisingly, given the character’s general irreverence, Aidan Turner wears a very formal dinner suit in the 2015 adaptation. His black wool single-breasted dinner jacket has full-bellied peak lapels, faced in black grosgrain. The wide lapels have long gorges with edges that even rise above the concave shoulder line, and the width is so exaggerated that the lapels even roll over the single link-button closure in the front, which he wears open anyway.
“Strong shoulders and wide lapels,” defined men’s jackets in the 1930s, according to costume designer Lindsay Pugh in a 2013 Q&A with WWD.com.
The concave shoulders with roped sleeveheads and the width of the lapels at the peaks work with the ventless back and suppressed waist to deliver an hourglass silhouette that emphasizes Lombard’s sleek, athletic physique, no doubt contributing to Marston’s conclusion that he “could cut up a bit lively.” The dinner jacket has a welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, and three black plastic buttons on the end of each cuff.
A traditionally British element of Lombard’s black tie ensemble is the wing collar on his starched white formal shirt. By the late 1930s, the turndown collar had usurped the classic wing collar in popularity – particularly in the United States – but the wing collar remained the most formal option. Lombard wears his on a starched white boiled shirt with two studs visible on the front bib. The shirt’s single cuffs are worn with a set of silver-trimmed black square cuff links, essentially larger versions of the shirt studs.
Lombard wears a black grosgrain silk self-tied bow tie in a large butterfly/thistle shape.
Lombard’s black wool formal waistcoat has luxurious shawl lapels and a low, V-shaped opening. It is single-breasted with four black plastic sew-through buttons all worn fastened and a notched bottom.
Auditioning for 007?
Lombard’s black high-rise trousers have period-correct pleats and the standard silk side stripe – grosgrain here to match the lapel facings and bow tie. The bottoms are finished with plain hems, as they should be on a dinner suit.
Lombard wears black patent leather oxford shoes and black dress socks.
Lombard kicks back with a pre-dinner whiskey.
Barely seen under Lombard’s shirt sleeve is his tank watch, a simple square-cased wristwatch on a russet brown leather strap. A pocket watch would have been the most traditional option, particularly with a classic formal look like Lombard’s, but a sportsman like him would probably prefer to keep his daily timepiece without sacrificing function for form.
Aidan Turner and his co-stars joke around on set.
How to Get the Look
Despite his irreverent nature and bold suits and casual attire, Philip Lombard sports very traditional and classically British evening wear when dressing for dinner with the other doomed guests on Soldier Island.
Black wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with wide grosgrain-faced lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Black wool single-breasted 4-button formal waistcoat with shawl lapels and notched bottom
Black wool single-pleated high-rise formal trousers with satin side stripe, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal shirt with starched front bib and single cuffs
Detachable wing collar
Silver-trimmed black square studs
Silver-trimmed black square cufflinks
Black grosgrain butterfly-shaped self-tied bow tie
Black patent leather oxfords/balmorals
Black dress socks
Steel tank watch with square tan dial on russet brown leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series and Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel, one of my favorites and certainly deserving of its best-selling status.
The Quote
It’s amazing how people get an attack of conscience when they’re safely tucked away in their beds.
Footnote
Turner is effective in the role, but it’s hard to imagine his Lombard – or any Lombard played by a modern actor – deliver the restrained insult “my good blockhead” that always stood out to me from Christie’s novel.
Michael K. Williams as Albert “Chalky” White on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 4.08: “The Old Ship of Zion”)
Vitals
Michael Kenneth Williams as Albert “Chalky” White, nightclub owner and bootlegger
Atlantic City, Spring 1924
Series:Boardwalk Empire Episodes: * “New York Sour” (Episode 4.01, aired September 8, 2013, dir. Tim Van Patten)
* “Resignation” (Episode 4.02, aired September 15, 2013, dir. Alik Sakharov)
* “Acres of Diamonds” (Episode 4.03, aired September 22, 2013, dir. Allen Coulter)
* “All In” (Episode 4.04, aired September 29, 2013, dir. Ed Bianchi)
* “The North Star” (Episode 4.06, aired October 13, 2013, dir. Allen Coulter)
* “William Wilson” (Episode 4.07, aired October 20, 2013, dir. Jeremy Podeswa)
* “The Old Ship of Zion” (Episode 4.08, aired October 27, 2013, dir. Tim Van Patten) Creator: Terence Winter Costume Designer: John A. Dunn
Background
As BAMF Style’s Boardwalk Empire week continues, the focus shifts to “Chalky” White, the shrewd, pragmatic, and popular bootlegger who rises through the hierarchy of the Atlantic City underworld to finally own his own nightclub at the outset of the fourth season.
Michael K. Williams is arguably one of the best actors of this generation, and his nuanced portrayal of Omar Little on The Wire has cemented that character as one of the greatest TV performances of all time. As a Star Wars fan, I was delighted to hear last month that he’ll be part of the star-studded cast of next year’s Han Solo-focused prequel as reported in Variety.
Boardwalk Empire‘s fourth season is a tour de force for Williams, building up to Chalky’s climactic arc gaining ground in “The Old Ship of Zion” (Episode 4.08) through the season’s tumultuous final episodes.
What’d He Wear?
Chalky presides over The Onyx Club on a nightly basis, always smartly and sharply attired in a striped dark navy tuxedo with a wing collar and fancy waistcoats.
The dinner jacket is duo-toned navy blue wool with tonal satin striping throughout. The wide, sharp peak lapels are faced in black grosgrain silk and roll to the high-stanced single-button closure, positioned a few inches above Williams’ natural waistline. The single front button and the four buttons on each cuff are all covered in the same black grosgrain as the lapel facings.
Chalky’s dinner jacket has a welted breast pocket, which he wears empty, and straight jetted pockets on the hips.
Chalky swaps out his waistcoats but maintains a similar black tie look each night for his hosting duties at The Onyx Club.
Chalky looks strong and imposing in his full cut dinner jacket, shaped by darts to flatter Michael K. Williams’ physique with padded, sloped shoulders and roped sleeveheads. The back is ventless, the most formal vent option for a dinner jacket.
In the left lapel of his jacket, Chalky wears a gold eight-pointed star pin with a large blue square-set stone.
Chalky is appropriately mesmerized by a rendition of “St. Louis Blues” as sung by Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham) in “The North Star” (Episode 4.06).
The flat front formal trousers match the striped navy dinner jacket for a full dinner suit effect. They have a straight fly, on-seam side pockets, plain-hemmed bottoms, and – most notably – a very wide black grosgrain braid stripe down the outside of each leg.
Chalky relishes the position of power that he has long deserved.
Chalky wears two different fancy silk waistcoats with his tuxedo, each incorporating some degree of blue to call out the navy dinner suit.
His blue jacquard silk waistcoat gets the most screen time, worn in all but two of the episodes that feature him in a tuxedo. The pattern consists of lighter blue and beige abstract flurries printed on a navy silk ground. This single-breasted vest has short lapels, a high-fastening front with six self-covered buttons, and a notched bottom.
In “Resignation” (Episode 4.02), “Acres of Diamonds” (Episode 4.03), and “The North Star” (Episode 4.06), Chalky sports a dashing double-breasted waistcoat with a repeating pattern of blue-trimmed white squares printed on black silk. The squares abstractly alternate between full squares, dotted squares, round dots, and two bars – either horizontal or vertical.
This double-breasted vest has a “keystone”-style 6-on-3 button scheme with a straight-cut bottom and sweeping peak lapels. (“Keystone” means that the button rows taper in their spread from top to bottom…like the lower portion of a keystone.) All six buttons are covered in black grosgrain silk.
Chalky wears a white formal shirt with a narrow-pleated bib front and double (French) cuffs, always sporting cuff links to match his shirt studs whether they’re the silver-trimmed black set or gold mother-of-pearl set seen in “The Old Ship of Zion” (Episode 4.08). The shirt is worn with a detachable wing collar, secured to the front and back of the collar band with a gold stud.
According to a post-show auction that included this outfit, the shirt “by St. Laurie” was custom made for the production by Kozinn + Sons in New York.
Chalky trades a few playful punches in “Resignation” (Episode 4.02).
Chalky invariably wears a black faille diamond-pointed bow tie that coordinates nicely with the similarly textured black grosgrain facings of the jacket lapels.
Chalky wears black calf leather five-eyelet plain-toe oxfords with dark navy dress socks. Plain-toe oxfords (also known as bal-type or balmorals to us Americans) are the most formal practical footwear for black tie, and it makes sense that Chalky, whom Williams himself described as having “a shoe fetish,” wouldn’t sacrifice formality in this department.
Chalky prods a door open with his foot, wearing one of the well-shined black calf oxfords (inset) that were auctioned off after the show’s run.
Chalky wears his usual gold square-cased dress watch on his left wrist. It has a gold square dial and slim black leather strap.
Genevieve Valentine of The A.V. Club summed it up perfectly in her review of “Resignation” (Episode 4.02): “No one on this show, and honestly no one on many other shows, can deliver a death stare like Michael Kenneth Williams.”
Chalky’s black tie ensemble, as auctioned at ScreenBid.com in 2014.
The navy dinner suit, rather than the usual “darker than black” midnight blue is a curious choice that may reflect the retro-styling that Lisa Padovani mentioned in a 2013 article with Entertainment Weekly after the fourth season wrapped: “I’m inspired by contemporary stuff too and I’ll think, ‘That could translate into 1920s…’ We try to incorporate old pieces with new pieces and old trimmings and accessories with the new things we manufacture to give it a seamless quality.” Daniel Craig’s midnight blue dinner suit in Skyfall was color enhanced to a bolder navy on that film’s promotional material, briefly popularizing navy tuxedoes as seen on celebrities like Eddie Redmayne and Ryan Gosling.
After production wrapped on Boardwalk Empire, this entire outfit – including the dinner suit, shirt, bow tie, square-dotted waistcoat, and shoes – were auctioned at ScreenBid.com.
The outfit was described as:
This dark blue and black striped tuxedo has a black lapel and includes a black vest with a blue square pattern. The tuxedo shirt, as worn by Chalky – as played by Michael Kenneth Williams – is a bib shirt with a detachable collar and white stripe by St. Laurie. Also included in the lot is a black faille bowtie and silver/black square shirt studs, as well as Chalky’s shoes.
NB: The silver and black studs were not ever featured on the show, to the best of my knowledge.
How to Get the Look
Michael K. Williams as Albert “Chalky” White on Boardwalk Empire (Episode 4.03: “Acres of Diamonds”)
Chalky White incorporates a welcome dose of color into his black tie ensemble, hosting nightly at the Onyx Club in a striped navy tux and rotating cycle of fancy waistcoats.
Dark navy satin-striped wool single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with black grosgrain-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, black grosgrain-covered 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
Gold eight-pointed star lapel pin with blue stone
Blue-toned patterned silk 6-button waistcoat with lapels
Dark navy satin-striped wool flat front formal trousers with black grosgrain side braid, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal shirt with narrow-pleated bib and double/French cuffs
Detachable wing collar
Gold mother-of-pearl shirt studs
Gold cuff links
Black faille diamond-ended bow tie
Black calf leather 5-eyelet plain-toe balmorals/oxford shoes
Dark navy dress socks
Gold square-cased wristwatch with gold square dial on black leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the whole series, but explore the fourth season to find these episodes of Chalky in his prime.
Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Vitals
Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine, U.S. Army OSS officer and redneck leader of the “Inglourious Basterds”
Paris, June 1944
Film: Inglourious Basterds Release Date: August 21, 2009 Director: Quentin Tarantino Costume Designer: Anna B. Sheppard Brad Pitt’s Evening Attire: Giorgio Armani
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Inglourious Basterds kicks off a two-film spree in Tarantino’s filmography focused on rewriting history with violent vengeance. In this revisionist take on World War II, a band of Jewish-American military guerillas – think The Dirty Dozen meets The A-Team – is assigned the sole task of secretly but brutally fighting their way through occupied German territory, murdering any Nazi encountered in their wake. The two-year spree of these “inglourious basterds” who give the film its title ends up in a Paris movie theater on the eve of the D-Day invasion with an opportunity to take down the German high command, including Hitler himself, to end the war.
It was at this point that I thought, “ah, here it is. The war didn’t end and Hitler didn’t die until a year later when he shot himself in his bunker, so the gang will definitely fail this mission.” Wrong! Leave it to QT to beautifully surprise me with a very welcome alternative history.
Inglourious Basterds plays with the common 007-esque spy film trope of putting its dashing hero in a tuxedo for an evening event, something which Brad Pitt himself would do with less irony in last year’s Allied (which, yes, will get a BAMF Style post soon!), but it’s terribly fun to watch Pitt out of place as the Tennessee roughneck sporting a white dinner jacket and struggling his way through his new Italian cover as stuntman Enzo Gorlomi. (Of course, this being QT, the name is an homage to the birth name of Enzo G. Castellari, director of 1978’s The Inglorious Bastards.)
Following a nomenclatural battle of wits with the sinister Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), Aldo Raine almost immediately finds himself in Landa’s custody and a new battle of wits ensues. Landa’s grandoise flamboyance (“That’s a bingo!”) meets Aldo’s no-nonsense directness (“You just say ‘bingo'”) as the two men sift through their personal agendas to find a mutually beneficial plan to end the war that evening.
Of course, being a high-ranking officer in the evil SS, Landa isn’t permitted to come out totally unscathed, as he discovers when Aldo begins preparing his knife. “You’ll be shot for this!” Landa exclaims. Unaffected by the desperate cries of a Nazi, Aldo considers this for a second, then replies:
Nah, I don’t think so. More like chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.
What’d He Wear?
Worldly villain that he is, Hans Landa instantly sees through Aldo’s weak cover and identifies to his guards “the guy in the white smoking jacket.” Of course, Aldo is actually sporting an off-white dinner jacket but the semantics of sartorialism hardly matter when the fate of the world is at stake. Either way, the guards know precisely who he means and Aldo finds himself in German custody before he even gets a chance to sip his champagne.
June is a summer month in Paris and the movie premiere is a festive occasion, so Aldo’s decision to wear an ivory dinner jacket is appropriate. Costume designer Anna B. Sheppard told Clothes on Film, “As I was using a lot of black tuxedos, uniforms, and SS black dress uniforms in the final scene, I wanted to use a more flamboyant and visible design to highlight the fact that he plays an Italian filmmaker.” As WWD reported the week before the film was released:
Giorgio Armani collaborated with Inglourious Basterds costume designer Anna B. Sheppard to create a made-to-measure dinner jacket for Brad Pitt’s character to wear in a key scene. The two-button white dinner jacket with peak lapels would normally retail for $4,375. Meanwhile, this week, Pitt has worn Tom Ford suits to the Los Angeles premiere of Inglourious Basterds and to the New York premiere of The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Aldo stands out against both friends and enemies with his resplendent off-white dinner jacket.
The unsophisticated Aldo Raine is about as far from James Bond as a spy can get, but his off-white dinner jacket with its nontraditional satin-faced peak lapels and silk-covered two-button front is very similar to the ivory Tom Ford “Windsor” dinner jacket that Daniel Craig would wear six years later as 007 in Spectre… right down to the red carnation in his lapel.
Bridget is understandably nervous when Aldo’s linguistic abilities are tested by the multilingual Hans Landa.
The wide and full-bellied peak lapels with strongly built shoulders, ventless back, and waist suppression takes inspiration from contemporary suits of the late ’30s and 1940s. Aldo’s dinner jacket also has silk-covered four-button cuffs, straight jetted hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket where he wears a folded white silk display kerchief.
Aldo’s dinner jacket is handled roughly during his arrest. Note the fallen carnation on the floor below his left lapel.
A double-breasted jacket with shawl lapels would have delivered the effect of Humphrey Bogart’s iconic dinner jacket in Casablanca, but it’s important to remember that this is hardly the outfit-of-choice for a rugged former bootlegger from the mountains of Tennessee who has unexplained rope burns around his neck. This guy is meant to look as uncomfortable as possible… and the discomfort pays off hilariously.
Aldo’s palpable discomfort and the triangle of shirt material emerging below his buttoned jacket (despite his cummerbund) would surely tip off an urbane villain like Landa.
The jacket itself isn’t without sartorial flubs (which may also be on purpose!), but actor B.J. Novak’s recollection from the production proves that the overall impact is more important than nailing the details:
Maybe the coolest night for me filming we shot in this truck, a scene where Brad Pitt and I were kidnapped, in handcuffs with bags over our heads. It was just an establishing shot. I showed up and all I had to do was be handcuffed and have this bag over my head. Brad Pitt is there in his white tuxedo jacket, and Tarantino, my all time hero is there behind the camera, and I realized there’s no way I can mess this up. I have a bag over my head, I’m handcuffed, I have no lines, there’s nothing I can do to mess this scene up. I just kinda looked around between every take and just marveled at my good luck. It was the most glamorous thing. I mean not only Brad Pitt, but like in a white tuxedo, and a mustache, and an accent, hamming it up and absolutely convincing, and taking you back to the ’40s. It was the most transformative film experience that I couldn’t mess up. I kept thinking “I can’t believe I’m here.”
PFC Utivich and Lt. Raine, captured but only hours away from ending World War II.
Aldo’s black formal trousers have forward pleats and a slouchy medium rise, unfashionable in that or any era but quite fitting for a character unused to the trappings of formalwear. The trousers appropriately have a single satin braid down each side and plain-hemmed bottoms.
The waistband of the trousers is concealed by a black grosgrain cummerbund.
Aldo’s shirt appears to have been made with vents through which he could conceal the straps of his knife’s shoulder holster.
Aldo’s white formal shirt has a marcella front bib, a British compromise dating back to the early 20th century to give wearers the appearance of a full-dress shirt combined with the comfort preferred by Americans in the areas typically covered by a dinner jacket. Aldo wears three round diamond-filled silver shirt studs down his front bib. The shirt’s single cuffs are fastened with mother-of-pearl links.
The shirt is worn with a detachable wing collar, fastened at the neck with a gold stud, calling back the early days of formal dress when it was easier for men to wash or replace a collar than an entire shirt. Inglourious Basterds makes the most of this period detail by featuring Aldo wearing his shirt collar unfastened after his arrest.
Aldo’s been chewed out before.
Aldo’s black silk bow tie is a butterfly-shaped self-tying model.
A rough night of negotiating calls for loosening the now unneeded bow tie.
Despite other faux pas that may be present in his outfit, Aldo wears the most appropriate footwear, a pair of black patent leather oxford shoes with a straight cap toe. He also wears black dress socks.
The arresting SS officers are quick to find the dynamite strapped to Aldo’s ankles.
Aldo’s trusty Bowie knife is holstered in what appears to be a custom sheath under his left arm, held into place by a series of black leather straps running over the back and shoulders and under the front of his shirt.
Aldo’s trusty Bowie knife, holstered under his left arm and taken by the Nazis during his arrest.
Premiere Props auctioned the complete formalwear worn by Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) and Omar Ulmer (Omar Doom), the two other “basterds” who accompanied Aldo and Bridget to the Stolz der Nation premiere:
With his formal tailcoat, Donny wears a white Angels and Bermans dress shirt.
Omar’s double-breasted dinner jacket remains unidentified but his white wing collar shirt is La Valiere, his formal trousers are AAW-Berlin, and his black oxfords are from Siam Costumes.
Siam Costumes also provided the formal trousers to another unidentified character’s black tie ensemble (link) with a Henk ter Horst dress shirt.
How to Get the Look
Aldo Raine’s discomfort in formalwear is hilarious, but even the nontraditional details of his off-white dinner jacket can’t keep Brad Pitt from looking as sharp as you’d expect Brad Pitt to look.
Ivory wool single-breasted 2-button dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, silk-covered 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
White formal dress shirt with triple diamond-studded marcella bib and single cuffs
Detachable wing collar
Mother-of-pearl cuff links
Black silk self-tied bow tie
Black formal forward-pleated trousers with black satin side braiding and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black grosgrain cummerbund
Black patent leather cap-toe balmorals/oxford shoes
Black dress socks
Black leather shoulder holster sheath, for Bowie knife, concealed under left armpit
The Gun
Other than a single shot from Landa’s own Walther P38 used to dispatch the unfortunate driver Herman, Aldo Raine sticks to his trusted and true Bowie knife as his weapon of choice during the film’s final act. (To read more about the knife, likely a Smith & Wesson “Texas Hold ‘Em”, check out my post about Aldo’s pea coat and casual attire.)
Sorry, Herman.
His team, however, is assigned the innovative .38-caliber pistol glove, designed by the U.S. Naval Intelligence Office and developed by Sedgley in Philadelphia for short-range use by the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy. Known as the OSS Pistol Glove, the weapon consists of two cylinders fitted to the back of a leather glove; one cylinder contains a plunger that is pressed into the target and the other cylinder is the barrel that fires a single .38-caliber round into said target.
Donny presents Omar with one of the two pistol gloves they will use to gain access to Hitler’s private viewing box.
In Inglourious Basterds, OSS Pistol Gloves are used by Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) and Omar Ulmer (Omar Doom) to effectively gain entrance to Hitler’s private viewing booth. In addition to their costumes from the scene, Premiere Props also offers the bullet props from their glove guns for sale: Donny’s bullet and Omar’s bullet.
I’ve done my share of bootlegging. Up there, if you engage in what the federal government calls “illegal activity,” but what we call “just a man tryin’ to make a livin’ for his family sellin’ moonshine liquor,” it behooves oneself to keep his wits. Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true… it ain’t.
Footnote
Right down to the carnation of the edge of the long peak lapel, both Aldo the Apache and James Bond in Spectre appear to have taken some inspiration from the same ’40s fashions when determining their warm weather formalwear ensembles. Where Aldo opts for the traditional wing collar and bib front, however, Bond wears a pleated-front shirt with a turndown collar and a diamond-pointed bow tie.
Dean Martin on the set of The Dean Martin Show, circa 1965
Vitals
Dean Martin, smooth and multi-talented entertainer
Burbank, California, 1965 to 1974
Series:The Dean Martin Show Air Dates: September 16, 1965 – April 5, 1974 Director: Greg Garrison Tailor: Sy Devore
Background
On June 7, 1917, Dino Paul Crocetti was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Angela and Gaetano Crocetti, the latter a barber from the Abruzzo region in Italy where much of my own family hails. One hundred years later, the world remembers him as Dean Martin, the charming crooner whose legendary career spanned half a century as a major headliner from nightclubs and casinos to movies and TV shows.
Effortlessly charismatic and unflappable, Dino brought his smooth star power to his popular comedy act with Jerry Lewis and later as a leader of the Rat Pack alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
CNN contributor Bob Greene wrote in 2012: “His friend Frank Sinatra may have liked the image of being Chairman of the Board, but the core of Martin’s enduring allure is that not only did he not want to be chairman, he didn’t even want to serve on the board: It would mean that he would be cooped up in some boardroom for meetings when he’d rather be out playing golf. The sight of him in a tuxedo – he wore it as comfortably as most men wear a pair of pajamas – says to people who weren’t even born when he was at the height of his fame: Take a deep breath and let yourself grin. Your problems can wait until tomorrow.”
While the boozy, womanizing antics of the Rat Pack may have alienated younger audiences during the radical ’60s, Dean Martin’s solo star never stopped shining. In 1964, Dean’s recording of “Everybody Loves Somebody” knocked the seemingly invincible Beatles off of the number one spot on the Billboard charts. Not only was it his first hit to crack the Top 40 in six years, but it almost immediately shot to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 list. Later to be his signature tune, “Everybody Loves Somebody” retained its top position on the “Pop-Standard Singles” chart for eight weeks.
As Dean Martin demonstrated his staying power even in the age of the British Invasion, he was approached to headline a variety show on NBC. Reluctant to scale back his bread-and-butter work in movies and nightclubs and unwilling to commit to the pressures of a weekly show, Martin laid down admittedly and deliberately outrageous terms for his acceptance: a staggering salary of $40,000 and a commitment to show up only to the show’s taping without rehearsals. Of course, NBC was delighted for any response at all and accepted, and Dean announced to his family: “They went for it, so now I have to do it.”
The Dean Martin Show debuted on NBC on September 16, 1965 and became an NBC staple, running at 10 p.m. on Thursdays (Thirsty Thursday, of course) and, later, Fridays for 264 episodes until its final show on April 5, 1974. The show was exactly what one would expect of Dean Martin, a casual, genuine, and unpretentious hour of entertainment that benefited from the natural spontaneity of Dean’s unrehearsed performances and willingness to put himself out there. My grandma still laughs when remembering Dean’s genuine shock at the celebrity guests who would knock on a closet door on the set, surprising him as the producers almost always kept guest identities from Dean in order to provoke the best response.
While his fellow Rat Packers and stars of the era were often plagued with addictions and scandal, Dean Martin was seemingly most addicted to fake-drinking rather than actually imbibing as heavily as his image demanded, often filling his on-stage rocks glass with apple juice rather than his preferred J&B scotch whisky. Dean was a dedicated father to his seven children and was forever heartbroken when his son Dean Paul Martin was killed in a crash while flying with the California Air National Guard in March 1987.
A lifelong smoker of Kent cigarettes, Dean Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993. Despondent over the loss of his son six years earlier and tired after his long, successful career, Dean refused the surgery that may have prolonged his life and died in his Beverly Hills home on December 25, 1995 at the age of 78. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip where he had entertained so many were dimmed in his honor, and Ohio Route 7 through his hometown of Steubenville was renamed Dean Martin Boulevard.
The epitaph on his crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park reads “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime,” both the name of his signature song and the personal credo that defined his beloved persona.
What’d He Wear?
“In regular clothes, I’m a nobody,” Dean once reflected. “In a tuxedo, I’m a star.”
Thus, for his most starring role as the host of a long-running variety show, Dean dressed to the nines every night in a tailored dinner suit perfectly suited for his debonair playboy image.
Per his standards, Dean Martin was a star every week from the fall of 1965 through the spring of 1974.
The Dinner Jacket
The luxurious dupioni silk was Dino’s suiting of choice when it came to his trademark dinner jackets.
Over the course of his variety show from 1965 to 1974, Dean Martin wore at least four different styles of dinner jacket that reflected the fashions of the times. A few aspects remained consistent on each: all were black dupioni silk with a single-breasted, single-button closure and a welted breast pocket for his trademark red silk display kerchief.
Dino’s dinner suits are all made from that shiny, slubby pain weave silk fabric known as dupioni. Slightly heavier than other silks like shantung, dupioni silk may have worn warm for our hero during unrehearsed nights of singing, dancing, and prancing under the hot lights of a TV studio, but the fabric’s wrinkle-resistant properties lend well to the lounge lizard aspects of Dean’s persona, allowing him to luxuriate around the set week after week without his trademark tux looking rumpled.
His two dinner jackets with peak lapels were the most formally detailed with jetted side pockets and ventless back while his notch lapel dinner jackets incorporated other less formal details borrowed from business suits such as ticket pockets and side vents.
When Dean’s show debuted in September 1965, he appeared in a sleek ventless dinner jacket with slim peak lapels that roll to a single silk-covered button at his waist. The red silk display kerchief favored by several Rat Packers puffs out from his welted breast pocket while his straight hip pockets are jetted for clean lines through the torso. The sleeves end with three silk-covered buttons on each cuff.
Dino welcomes the audience with “Everybody Loves Somebody” during one of the first episodes in fall 1965.
As the show went on into the late ’60s, Dean’s tuxedo retained its closer cut but loosened up on its formality; by 1968, Dino was rocking slim notch lapels, flapped pockets, and long double vents on his dinner jacket… less formal elements but certainly appropriate given the “living room” nature of the production. The flapped hip pockets slant slightly backward and, like the flapped ticket pocket on the right, are positioned just below the buttoning point. He still has three cuff buttons, albeit black plastic sew-through buttons rather than the more elegant silk-covered buttons of his earlier jacket.
Dino sings “That Old Feeling” and “I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am” with guest Ann-Margret during her fifth season appearance, February 1970. (Link)
When the sixth season began in September 1970, Dean was back to a ventless dinner jacket with peak lapels, albeit wider lapels more fitting the fashions of the era. The hip pockets slant backward, and Dean’s ever-present red pocket square again puffs out from his welted breast pocket, echoing the jacket’s red faille lining. For the ’70s, Dean also started wearing jackets with single-button cuffs.
Dean Martin with guest Frank Sinatra during one of his many appearances. This particular episode is from New Year’s Eve 1970. (Link)
Finally, by the end of the show’s run in the spring of 1974, Dean’s dinner suit fell victim to some of the excess of ’70s fashion with long double vents and extremely wide satin-faced notch lapels that extend to nearly an inch away from his armpits. The ticket pocket and straight hip pockets have wide flaps. This jacket, too, has a single black plastic button on each cuff.
Gene Kelly performs with Dean Martin, circa 1973. (Link)
At least some of his dinner jackets, most probably the earliest ones, were likely tailored by the Rat Pack’s unofficial tailor, Sy Devore. By the 1970s, Dean was known to wear dinner jackets tailored by Carmen Lamola of Beverly Hills, such as this black wool tuxedo that was auctioned in June 2008 as part of Julien’s Summer Entertainment Sale.
Like his fellow Rat Pack comrade Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin was a major proponent of the red silk pocket square, albeit worn more rakishly unstructured than the Chairman’s preferred TV fold… a difference that reflects both men’s styles, sartorial and otherwise.
Dino in particular seemed to favor bright red satin kerchiefs, providing a vibrant splash of color against the duo-toned black dinner suit and white shirt.
To add the Dean Martin touch to your formal attire, a crimson red silk pocket square like this.
Everything Else
Dean’s formal trousers naturally matched his dinner jackets, suited in black dupioni silk with a shiny satin stripe down the side of each leg. He often placed his hands in his side pockets, positioned just behind the satin braid.
The flat front trousers typically rose low on his waist, coordinating well with the low button stance of his dinner jackets. The bottoms are plain-hemmed, per standard practice for formal trousers.
Befitting his casual nature and a wise concession under the hot studio lights, Dean would forego wearing a waist covering such as a cummerbund or waistcoat, instead keeping his jacket buttoned and relying on the finely tailored coordination to keep him looking cool and composed.
Dino in repose.
Dean Martin seemed to abhor traditional dress shirts, fully embracing a button-down collar to wear with every outfit from sport coats and business suits to dinner suits. Unacceptable to menswear purists, a button-down shirt with black tie is indicative of Dino’s unpretentious attitudes that lent him a unique degree of sartorial freedom. (Sinatra, an impeccable dresser whose precision bordered on obsessive compulsion, probably took issue with some of his friend’s fashion choices.)
Dino takes his unorthodox shirt a step further by often sporting the seemingly incongruous combination of a button-down collar and double (French) cuffs on the same shirt, a unique combination that was also worn – albeit less formally – by his friends Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant. Through the nine seasons of The Dean Martin Show‘s run, Dean wore a variety of cuff links, including sets in mother-of-pearl, diamond, or plain metal.
Dean Martin chats with guest Goldie Hawn in the fifth season premiere on September 18, 1969, discussing the virtues of dumb pride. (Link)
Interestingly, the most nontraditional element of Dean’s shirt was also the most consistent as he never appeared in anything but a white button-down shirt on his show… however, the details beyond that would often vary. A plain front was usual, but Dean would also wear shirts ranging from a front placket with mother-of-pearl buttons to diamond studs (as seen in the New Year’s Eve 1970 episode with Sinatra). Dean’s non-double cuff shirts were usually of the multiple-button barrel cuff variety, as seen in Ocean’s Eleven and in the famous photo from backstage at Carnegie Hall in 1961.
Dean shares a good-hearted laugh at the expense of Melissa Stafford, one of his “Golddiggers”, who flubbed a line during a musical performance. (Link)
Like the lapels of his dinner jacket, Dean’s black satin silk bow tie would grow in size over the course of the show to reflect the trends of each show’s particular season.
Dino’s bow tie grew from a timeless butterfly-style in 1965 to a then-fashionable jumbo butterfly by the mid-’70s.
Dean’s on-air footwear with his dinner suits was always a pair of black velvet Prince Albert evening slippers, both with and without gold embroidery.
While less formal than oxfords, the elegant Prince Albert slipper has long been an acceptable black tie footwear alternative in settings like the home, club, or other intimate gatherings. Dino also correctly wears his evening slippers with black dress socks, avoiding some men’s misconceptions that evening slippers should be worn sockless like bedroom slippers!
By wearing the less formal Prince Albert slippers, Dean essentially invited himself and his viewers into guests’ living rooms every Thursday night.
Dean Martin typically wore his jewelry on his left hand. A silver (or white gold) diamond ring was a mainstay on his left pinky, dating back to his early career in the Martin and Lewis days. He would also usually wear a silver chain-link bracelet around his left wrist, a common affectation among Italian-American men.
Dino flashes his accessories and cuffs during an early episode of The Dean Martin Show.
In some early episodes, Dean could be spotted wearing a gold dress watch rather than his bracelet. This watch has a square silver dial and is worn on a gold bracelet.
Dean Martin wears a gold watch while enjoying a duet with Louis Armstrong, circa 1965 (link).
For more information about Dean Martin in a dinner jacket, check out this early BAMF Style post about his black mohair tuxedo in Ocean’s Eleven (1960).
Go Big or Go Home
Dean Martin and his daughter Claudia singing alongside Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy on The Dean Martin Show‘s 1967 Christmas special.
At the height of The Dean Martin Show‘s popularity, Dean hosted one of the most highly rated episodes at Christmas 1967 featuring regular guest Frank Sinatra and members of both of their families, including Martin’s wife Jeanne and all seven of his children (Craig, Claudia, Gail, Deana, Dean Paul, Ricci, and Gina) in addition to Sinatra’s three children (Tina, Nancy, and Frank Jr.)
Celebrity Christmas specials were a dime a dozen in the late ’60s, seemingly the backbone of Andy Williams’ career, but Dean’s show highlighted the warmth that set him apart as an entertainer. Dean may have loved opening his door to the surprise appearances of stars like John Wayne and Ann-Margret, but it was his family that truly gave him the most happiness.
Frank Sinatra essentially became a member of Dean’s family. As one of his first guests, Frank was often to return to The Dean Martin Show for incredible music duets and skits. It was only around the easygoing Dino that Frank could loosen up.
A loyal and unflappable friend, Dean would always step in to help Frank and it was often Dean’s cooler head that would prevail when the short-fused Frank was provoked by seemingly harmless triggers like an undercooked egg or a loud bar patron.
For all of his own faults, Frank could always depend on Dean.
How to Get the Look
Dean Martin will be forever linked to the image of a charming figure comfortably clad in a black tailored tuxedo, looking forever at ease.
Black dupioni silk single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
White cotton shirt with button-down collar, plain front, and double/French cuffs
Black satin silk bow tie
Black dupioni silk flat front formal trousers with satin side stripe, straight side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black velvet Prince Albert slippers
Black dress socks
Silver chain-link ID bracelet
Silver diamond pinky ring
Toss a red silk kerchief in your breast pocket and a glass of scotch in your hand, and that’s amore!
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the show! In addition to a number of YouTube clips, compilation DVDs are also available on Amazon.
Of course, you should also be listening to the music. This 30-song collection is branded as his “essential” volume and with classics like “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, “Volare”, and “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You”, it’s a fine place to start.
I also like the mellow collection on Late at Night with Dean Martin, featuring an understated version of his signature hit “Everybody Loves Somebody” in addition to classics like “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home”, “Dream”, and “Mean to Me”.
The Quote
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.
Footnote
There seems to be some confusion about whether or not Dean Martin’s birth date is June 7 or June 17. The earlier date seems to be the more widely accepted date. Either way, he’s a Gemini.
Somehow, his birth time has been confirmed as 11:55 p.m… which makes perfect sense.
Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 9: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.”)
Vitals
Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr, charming studio wunderkind
Hollywood, August 1936 through February 1937
Series:The Last Tycoon Episodes:
– “Pilot” (Episode 1, dir. Billy Ray)
– “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (Episode 5, dir. Gwyneth Horder-Payton)
– “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6, dir. Stacie Passon)
– “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 9, dir. Billy Ray) Streaming Date: July 28, 2017 Developed By: Billy Ray Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Amazon recently announced the disappointing news that they are discontinuing production of The Last Tycoon, the second of its F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired series to meet that fate following the cancellation of Z: The Beginning of Everything days earlier.
In its brief, nine-episode life, The Last Tycoon was true to its “golden age of Hollywood” roots with an emphasis on style rather than substance… but oh what style it was, and with strong performances to booth with Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer, Lily Collins, Rosemarie Dewitt, and others rounding out the talented cast of characters.
The series also made the most of its dazzling period costumes, the creation of master costume designer Janie Bryant of Mad Men fame; an entire blog alone could be dedicated to the snappy menswear worn by Bomer, Grammer, and Enzo Cilenti.
Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel about wunderkind studio executive Monroe Stahr’s affairs and ambitions in 1930s Hollywood formed the basis for the series, but developer Billy Ray was clearly building a more elaborate world for his complex characters when the series was axed.
In addition to revisiting the novel, series star Matt Bomer told Vanity Fair in a June 2016 interview that he spent time researching Irving Thalberg, the MGM producer whose youth, ability, and congenital heart disease inspired Fitzgerald’s character. “The character was largely based on Mr. Thalberg, because Mr. Fitzgerald used to work for him,” explained Bomer. “He wrote underneath him at the studio system for a brief period and was really inspired by this man who had a complete understanding of the system and how that operated, and the fact that he was this young wunderkind, this genius at what he did.”
What’d He Wear?
The Last Tycoon‘s dashing titular lead, Monroe Stahr, trots out a debonair black tie ensemble in four of the series’ nine episodes, worn to a number of Hollywood parties whether to celebrate a professional achievement, the holiday season, or his own marriage engagement.
The elegant executive at his own engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).
Monroe Stahr’s classic evening kit leaves nary a detail ignored, reflecting the growing popularity of double-breasted dinner jackets during the 1930s especially among the young and stylish like Monroe and his Hollywood set.
“It’s so fun to make suits during this period, I love it,” explained Janie Bryant to Fashionista during a July 2017 interview. “It’s all about those wide shoulder, nipped waist, double-breasted jackets. Wide leg trousers. It’s about everything being wide and big. It’s very different from Mad Men minimalist and everything skinny.”
Bomer was more than enthusiastic to wear the period-perfect clothes designed by Bryant. “Oh, I think Janie Bryant is a genius. I mean, I think she changed menswear almost single-handedly with what she did on Mad Men. Everything she chose, I just trust her implicity,” he told Vanity Fair. “I liked getting to do the double-breasted… the very specific tailoring done at that time was different for me and unique and definitely informs the way you move as a character in a way that I found really helpful.”
It was the Duke of Windsor – then the Prince of Wales – who brought double-breasted dinner jackets into fashion during the 1930s. As Black Tie Guide reports, the jacket had been “previously considered too informal for evening wear due to its lack of an accompanying waistcoat,” but this soon-to-be-called “semi-formal” approach caught on with wearers who followed the Prince’s example of wearing it with “a soft-front pleated evening shirt featuring attached turndown collar and French cuffs rather than the traditional starched front shirt with detachable wing collar and single cuffs.” Monroe Stahr follows the Prince’s template to a T, though his addition of a waistcoat would have satiated the critics that remained concerned with the lack of such a garment.
Monroe Stahr’s black wool double-breasted dinner jacket has the classic six-on-two button front with the six front buttons and the three buttons on each cuff all covered in black silk. The jacket’s wide peak lapels have straight gorges and black grosgrain silk facings rather than the shinier satin lapels that “were increasingly associated with ready-to-wear apparel.” (Source: Black Tie Guide).
Left: A party in “Eine Kleine Reichmusik” (episode 5) calls for a white boutonnière. Right: Monroe cuts a dashing figure on the evening of his engagement party in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).
For extra special occasions, Monroe wears the traditional white carnation pinned to his left lapel as a festive boutonnière, but he always wears a white pocket square – usually linen – in the jacket’s welted breast pocket. The straight hip pockets have a flap, a holdout from earlier decades that would be phased out on the best quality dinner jackets by the end of the 1930s.
The ventless jacket is tailored for a close, flattering fit with padded shoulders and roped sleeveheads.
An exhausted Monroe Stahr stands in his black tie kit, sans the actual tie, among hospital holiday decorations in “A Brady-American Christmas” (episode 6).
Even during the more formal pre-WWII era, waist coverings – especially waistcoats – were considered unnecessary with a double-breasted dinner jacket given that garment’s full wrap around the wearer’s torso. For Monroe Stahr, however, dressing to the nines means leaving no stone unturned and that means wearing a black wool single-breasted waistcoat to match his dinner jacket and formal trousers. The waistcoat (or vest, if you must) has three buttons on the front, covered in black silk, with a notched bottom and two welted pockets.
Monroe’s era-correct waistcoat gets some welcome exposure after rising from a nap in “A Brady American Christmas” (episode 6)… while his white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt gets some indecorous exposure.
The full back is also covered in black satin with a strap to adjust the fit. Traditional full-backed waistcoats were still the norm in 1936 America, though Esquire noted that the backless design sported by the Prince of Wales was now the preferred style in London and was gaining popularity in the U.S. (Source: Black Tie Guide)
Matt Bomer and co-star Dominique McElligott on set of The Last Tycoon. (Source: Janie Bryant’s Instagram)
Though Paul Muni wore a traditional white waistcoat under his black double-breasted dinner jacket in 1932’s Scarface, Esquire was reporting in its inaugural issue the following autumn that “the white waistcoat has at last been allowed to rejoin its lawful but long estranged mate, the tailcoat, and the new dinner jackets are matched with a waistcoat of the jacket material, with dull grosgrain lapel facing.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)
As Esquire‘s inaugural issue hit newsstands in the autumn of 1933, the concept of a formal waistcoat matching the color and cloth of a gentleman’s tuxedo would have been de rigeur three years later as the fictional Monroe Stahr makes the Hollywood rounds in an all-black three-piece dinner suit.
The distinctive “drooping” shawl collar of Monroe’s waistcoat would have also been quite fashionable. Introduced in 1921 according to Black Tie Guide, this unique wide-based lapel was a common sight during the ’30s. BTG also posted a portion of this Heller catalog from 1936 that includes several examples of dress waistcoats with lapels not unlike Monroe’s. Surviving vintage models also abound today such as this four-button waistcoat dated to 1938.
The black grosgrain silk facing of Monroe’s distinctive waistcoat lapel appropriately matches his dinner jacket lapel facings, his bow tie, court shoe bows, and the grosgrain side braid of his trousers for a cleanly coordinated and consistent look.
The black wool trousers rise high enough for the waistband to be correctly concealed under Monroe’s waistcoat. The full cut trousers have forward pleats, slightly slanted “quarter top” side pockets that follow the line of the grosgrain-braided side seam as it curves gently forward at the waist, and plain-hemmed bottoms (as cuffs are a no-no for formal trousers bottoms.)
Even workaholic film producers deserve some rest. No need to look so guilty, Monroe!
Monroe wears black suspenders (or braces), the most traditional option for holding up trousers when wearing black tie. The suspenders’ gold adjusters are seen poking out the sides of his waistcoat armholes at the shoulders.
When dressed in black tie, Monroe exclusively wears white cotton “semi-formal” shirts with soft-pleated fronts and double (French) cuffs, following the most fashionable trends of the mid 1930s. As the series is set over the fall of 1936 and into the spring of 1937, it’s appropriate to note that Esquire reported in November 1937 that the once traditional wing collar had been virtually replaced by the turndown collar as the “standard for informal wear.” (Source: Black Tie Guide)
For the most part, Monroe’s white dinner shirts echo the styling of his business dress shirts with a fashionably long point collar. The 1/2″-pleated front of the shirt is elegantly accented with round gold-rimmed diamond studs. His sleeves are shirred at the wrist with four closely-spaced pleats, and the squared double cuffs are fastened with plain gold cuff links.
Monroe’s white “semi-formal” shirt in various states of dress in “A Brady-American Christmas” (Episode 6).
Monroe deviates from his usual semi-formal shirts in the fifth episode only. In “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”, he again wears a white cotton dinner shirt with a turndown collar and pleated front, but both the semi-spread collar (not a point collar) and the pleats on this shirt are considerably narrower.
Left: Monroe’s standard point collar and wide-pleated dress shirt, seen here in episode 6: “A Brady-American Christmas.” Right: A formal shirt with a semi-spread collar and narrow pleats, worn only in episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik.”
Monroe’s standard semi-formal neckwear is a black silk butterfly-shaped (or thistle-shaped) bow tie made from the same duller grosgrain silk as his lapel facings, reflecting a level of coordination that was becoming increasingly accepted and expected by the mid-1930s.
Monroe’s piercing glare is as sharp as his collar point in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (episode 9).
Butterfly and semi-butterfly bow ties were most common for men during this era, but the diamond-pointed bow tie that Monroe wears in the first episode would have also been acceptable.
Monroe Stahr wears a less common, but still acceptable, pointed-end bow tie in the first episode of The Last Tycoon.
Despite the lessened formality of his double-breasted dinner jacket and soft-fronted, turndown collar shirt, Monroe Stahr appears to be wearing the most formal footwear option: black patent leather pumps.
The men’s dress pump traces its origins back to the Regency period when gentlemen would swap out their daytime boots for buckle-fastened pumps. It was naturally the influence of Beau Brummell that led to the silver steel buckle being replaced by the more genteel square grosgrain bow has distinguished the opera pump in essentially the same form for nearly 200 years.
Monroe’s pumps appear to have a slightly higher vamp, pushing them closer to the look of a wholecut oxford with flat silk ribbon laces, a mid-1930s fad that bridged the formality gap between the ceremonious dress pump and the more functional oxford. (You can read more about this short-lived shoe at Black Tie Guide.)
Monroe also sports his opera pumps when wearing his formal dress white tie and tails in the first and last episodes of the season, a context where opera pumps are more frequently seen than with the less formal black tie.
No matter what the context, Monroe always wears a gold signet ring on his right pinky. Though the etched “S.” most assuredly stands for his professional surname of Stahr, it could also designate his birth surname of Sternberg.
Monroe begins the series wearing a yellow gold wristwatch with a tonneau-shaped white dial and gold bracelet, a standard men’s dress watch of the era. By the end of the fourth episode, he’s received two brand new wristwatches as birthday gifts*; the first is a gold tank watch from Louis B. Mayer (Saul Rubinek) followed by a steel round-cased watch, a gift from Monroe’s own boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) in his attempt to “one-up” the legendary Mayer. It is this steel watch with its minimalist white dial and black leather strap that Monroe wears for the duration of the season.
* The episodes featuring Monroe’s birthday are set in early-to-mid September, making him the second consecutive Virgo character to be featured on BAMF Style after Monday’s post about Tony Soprano.
How to Get the Look
Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 5: “Eine Kleine Reichmusik”). Note the shirt’s semi-spread collar and narrow pleats as opposed to the point-collared shirt with wider pleats that he wore in other episodes.
Monroe Stahr exemplifies the perfect balance of fashion-forward formalwear and honoring black tie tradition with his tailored three-piece double-breasted dinner suit.
Black wool double-breasted dinner jacket with grosgrain-faced peak lapels, 6-on-2 silk-covered buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, silk-covered 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
Black wool formal waistcoat with wide “drooped” grosgrain-faced shawl collar, three black silk-covered buttons, notched bottom, two welted pockets, and black satin-covered full back with adjustable strap
Black wool formal pleated trousers with grosgrain side braid, “quarter top” on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton dress shirt with long point collar, wide pleated bib, front placket, and squared double/French cuffs
Gold-trimmed round diamond studs
Gold cuff links
Black grosgrain silk thistle-shaped bow tie
Black suspenders with gold adjusters
Black patent leather opera pumps/court shoes with square black grosgrain bows
Black dress socks
White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt/A-shirt
Gold monogrammed signet ring, right pinky
Steel wristwatch with round case and white dial on black leather strap
Monroe always wears a white linen display kerchief in his jacket’s breast pocket and, for extra special events, a white boutonnière in his left lapel.
Series star Matt Bomer is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, located just two miles from my home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!
If you’re interested in the history of formalwear, check out Black Tie Guide’s comprehensive history of vintage black tie. To learn more specifically about the pre-WWII Depression era depicted in The Last Tycoon, Black Tie Guide’s also got you covered.
Roger Moore as James Bond with Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, suave and sophisticated British MI6 agent
Cairo, Egypt, August 1977
Film:The Spy Who Loved Me Release Date: July 7, 1977 Director: Lewis Gilbert Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows Tailor: Angelo Vitucci
Background
A man in a sharply tailored tuxedo meets a beautiful woman over martinis in an exotic cocktail lounge. Hours later, he finds himself – Walther PPK in hand – stalking a seemingly unstoppable metal-mouthed killer through the Egyptian pyramids. This quintessential James Bond moment is one of many iconic scenes in Roger Moore’s third 007 outing, The Spy Who Loved Me, and it’s how I remember him on his first birthday since his passing last May at the age of 89.
Born October 14, 1927 in south London, Roger Moore brought charismatic warmth, self-deprecating charm, and a killer eyebrow muscle to his seven-film stint as James Bond from 1973 to 1985.
In Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 years of James Bond Movies, Sir Roger himself recalls that his favorite of his own 007 films, The Spy Who Loved Me, was released on “Jim’s lucky number” – July 7, 1977. The film underwent a necessary plot reinvention on the instruction of the late Ian Fleming who, so uninspired by his own novel, forbade the Bond filmmakers to use any part of it but the title for their own adaptation. Given this blank slate, writers Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum outdid themselves with a spectacular Bond adventure now considered to be among the best – if not the best – of Moore’s tenure.
Moore’s more autobiographical volume, My Word is My Bond, recounts a spaghetti dinner cooked personally by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, the legendary producer at the helm of EON Productions and one of the men responsible for bringing Bond to the big screen in the first place. Reportedly, someone forgot to refrigerate the food that would be served to the crew one afternoon for lunch. Moore, never one to throw someone under the bus, recalled that “there was one day when something went wrong in Egypt and word reached us mid-morning that there wouldn’t be any lunch. Cubby knew he’d have a revolt on his hands, and so – somehow – gathered together huge great cooking pots, bundles of pasta and meat, and made a wonderful pasta with meatballs and sauce.”
“He served it up to the boys and girls himself too,” wrote Moore, modestly neglecting to mention that he also ladled out spaghetti for the hungry crew members even in full black tie costume as 007.
Roger Moore ditched Bond’s dinner jacket and grabbed a ladle when it came time to serve dinner for the crew.
À bientôt, Sir Roger.
What’d He Wear?
James Bond is known for his dinner jackets even by those who aren’t fans of the series, so I wanted to highlight my favorite of Roger Moore’s black tie ensembles in the series: the double-breasted dinner suit in The Spy Who Loved Me.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a double-breasted dinner jacket in Amazon’s The Last Tycoon, set in 1936 Hollywood. Men’s fashions of the 1930s underwent a revival during the ’70s so it makes sense that Moore’s fashionable take on Bond would find the agent in his signature tuxedo with a double-breasted dinner jacket in the classic pre-war style of a high-buttoning six-on-two front. Moore’s 007 would wear double-breasted dinner jacket in three consecutive Bond films throughout the ’70s – The Man with the Golden Gun(1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Moonraker (1979) – as well as a much more ’80s-styled jacket in A View to a Kill (1985).
Roger Moore’s exquisite double-breasted dinner jacket has been exquisitely written about by Matt Spaiser on The Suits of James Bond with an in-depth exploration into the fit, the tailoring, and the tailor himself – Angelo Vitucci of Angelo Roma – who added a distinctively Roman touch to Moore’s black tie kit.
Moore’s Bond was ably accompanied by rival KGB agent Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), a skilled and confident woman of action more removed from some of the franchise’s earlier “damsels in distress”.
Moore’s midnight blue dinner suit shines under the morning sun, implying a possible wool-mohair blend that would breathe well in the hot Egyptian desert. The ventless jacket’s peak lapels are faced in black satin silk, matching the bow tie and the trouser side striping. The six buttons (with two to fasten) on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are also covered in black satin.
Per traditional black tie conventions, the side pockets are appropriately jetted rather than flapped, and Moore wears no pocket square in his welted breast pocket.
Before Jaws and after Jaws… surprisingly not much worse for wear!
Moore wears a white dress shirt from his usual shirtmaker Frank Foster, with a very large point collar typical of the ’70s. Double cuffs are standard for black tie shirts, but Moore’s shirt has the distinctive pointed-tab single-button cuff invented by Ted Lapidus, the influential French fashion designer who also popularized the safari suit during the ’60s and ’70s.
The popularity of the tab cuff during the decade also extended to the fringes of organized crime as an element of the shirts created by Anto Beverly Hills for Robert De Niro to wear as Sam “Ace” Rothstein to wear in the 1970s-set scenes of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995).
Matt Spaiser explores the shirt further at The Suits of James Bond, suggesting cotton voile as a possible fabric based on the sheer shirting and investigating the distinctive dark shiny buttons sewn through with white thread for a distinctive pop on the shirt’s front placket and cuffs.
Bond watches Q’s presentation with interest.
Bond wears a standard black satin silk bow tie in a large butterfly (thistle) shape, coordinating with his larger shirt collar and wide peak lapels without approaching the excessively large bow ties seen in embarrassing prom photos from the ’70s.
Bond, dubious of the abilities of Egyptian builders.
In My Word is My Bond, Moore recalled a cheeky story when he and Barbara Bach were filming outside Cairo. “As wewalked across the frame in a David Leanesque shot, I’m afraid I let my trousers drop down. I had hoped they might leave it in, but it was vetoed.”
Moore’s trousers match his dinner jacket in the same shiny midnight blue wool/mohair suiting with a black satin stripe down the sides and a strip of black satin around his waistband in lieu of a cummerbund. The trousers emit minimalist elegance with their lack of pleats, pockets, waist adjusters, or cuffs.
In the last 24 hours, Bond’s been knocked around, drugged, and robbed, all under the blaring Egyptian sun. Yet, Roger Moore still exudes insouciant elegance and sophistication with his untied bow tie and dinner jacket removed and so rakishly flung over his left shoulder.
Promotional photo of Barbara Bach and Roger Moore (in double-breasted tux and loafers) leaning against thatLotus Esprit.
Moore further dresses down his black tie ensemble with squared moc-toe slip-on shoes rather than the more traditional oxfords, though his loafers are the most formal variant in glossy black patent leather that nicely coordinates with the shine of his mohair-blend dinner suit.
Each loafer has a strap across the vamp with a squared gold-toned buckle on the outside, sometimes referred to as “sidebit” detailing as opposed to the full-width “horsebit” on the more casual slip-ons that Moore wears with his suits and odd jackets.
The maker of Moore’s loafers is unconfirmed, though I speculate they’re Ferragamo. Reportedly, Moore’s neighbor – the spouse of Salvatore Ferragamo’s eldest son – was horrified to see her friend sporting the rival wares of Gucci in his first two appearances as James Bond, and Moore was subsequently converted to Ferragamo leather goods.
His black dress socks are probably silk.
Bond eulogizes the late Max Kalba.
The “quartz revolution” was in full swing by 1977, and even James Bond had turned in his trademark Swiss dive watch for a Japanese quartz-powered digital watch. Roger Moore had been the first Bond to wear a digital wristwatch on screen with his Hamilton Pulsar in Live and Let Die, but the novelty of digital timekeeping in 1973 was mainstream just a few years later when Moore strapped on the first of his many Seiko timepieces for The Spy Who Loved Me.
Throughout The Spy Who Loved Me, whether dressed in business suit, dinner suit, naval uniform, or casual attire, Moore’s 007 wears a Seiko LC Quartz DK001 digital display wristwatch, model 0674-5009, in a stainless steel case on a stainless expanding bracelet. More information about this comparatively rare watch can also be found at James Bond Lifestyle as well as Dell Deaton’s blog James Bond Watches.
Some may criticize the digital watch with a dinner jacket as a major faux pas, but I’m sure the filmmakers were more satisfied by a hefty product placement commission from Seiko rather than the approval of a blogger writing about the film four decades later. You do you, Mr. Bond.
This dinner suit was also worn by Roger Moore for the film’s opening gunbarrel sequence, the first formal wear to be featured as all previous gunbarrels – including Moore’s for Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun – featured the Bond actors (and stunt coordinator Bob Simmons* doubling for Connery) in a dark business suit.
Roger Moore’s tuxedo-clad gunbarrel sequence set a new standard for the series that would last a quarter of a century.
The Spy Who Loved Me began a tradition of a black tie gunbarrel sequence that would last through Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond film, Die Another Day (2002).
* Bob Simmons was the James Bond franchise’s legendary long-time stunt coordinator and, in fact, appeared in the Alpine-set pre-credits sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me as one of the gun-toting KGB assassins on skiis.
What to Imbibe
Buy you a drink, Major Amasaova… or may I call you XXX?
After their first encounter at the p-p-pyramids, Bond and Anya Amasaova catch up at the Mojave Club for a meeting with the club’s owner, the doomed Max Kalba (Vernon Dobtcheff), whose black market greed would eventually seal his hate.
Bond: The lady will have a Bacardi on the rocks. Anya: For the gentleman, a vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred. Bond: Touché.
Bond catches up with the disreputable Kalba to get his hands on the film’s MacGuffin microfilm, but Anya isn’t far behind.
Anya: Just a moment. I would like to bid for it too. You forgot your drink, Mr. Bond. Bond: Thank you. Na zdorovje. Kalba: It seems you have competition, Mr. Bond. And from where I sit, I fancy you will find the lady’s figure… hard to match.
Kalba himself displays some interesting eveningwear tendencies with a wide bowtie and large-collared shirt apropos to 1977 contrasting with his stark white dinner jacket with its slim shawl collar. Consistent with villainy in the Bond series, a lack of sartorial taste tends to align with a lack of moral authority. We can feel the judgment in Bond’s eye as he laconically sips his martini.
If you plan on toasting to Sir Roger’s birthday with a Saturday evening martini, keep in mind that the actor preferred gin to vodka. As he wrote in Bond on Bond:
I myself prefer a gin martini and, in all my years of traveling, believe the best is served in the bar of Maison Pic, in Valence, France. How do they prepare it?
First, the ingredients. My gin of choice is Tanqueray and vermouth has to be Noilly Prat.
Take the glass or cocktail shaker you are using and, for two sensible-sized martinis, fill 1/4 of each glass with Noilly Prat. Swill it around and then discard it. Next, top the glasses up with gin, drop in a zest of lemon, and place the glasses in a freezer or ice-cold fridge until you are – or should I say she is – ready.
Roger Moore on location in Egypt during the filming of The Spy Who Loved Me, October 1976.
How to Get the Look
Roger Moore blends a classic aesthetic with a casual approach for his elegant double-breasted black tie ensemble in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Midnight blue wool/mohair double-breasted dinner jacket with black satin-faced peak lapels, satin-covered six-on-two button front, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, satin-covered three-button cuffs, and ventless back
White cotton voile shirt with large point collar, front placket with smoke faux-stud buttons, and “Lapidus” pointed-tab single-button cuffs
Black satin butterfly/thistle-shaped bow tie
Midnight blue wool/mohair flat front formal trousers with black satin side stripe, black satin fitted waistband, no pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
Black patent leather sidebit moc-toe loafers
Black silk dress socks
Seiko LC 0674-5009 Quartz DK001 stainless steel digital wristwatch
The Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me features some firearm fluctuation as James Bond’s signature Walther PPK is swapped out in some scenes – such as the earlier Cairo rooftop fight – with a Beretta Model 70 pistol.
This sequence at the Egyptian pyramids finds 007 with his trusty Walther PPK back in his hands. Bond isn’t wearing his usual shoulder holster when he removes his dinner jacket for his long walk to Cairo, so he’s likely carrying the pistol loosely in his pocket.
Bond’s PPK vs. Major Amasova’s bracelet-laden wrist. Who would win?
A chuckling Roger Moore twirls Bond’s trademark PPK on set. Don’t try this at home!
A prop Walther PPK pistol carried by Roger Moore for non-firing scenes in The Spy Who Loved Me can be viewed at YourProps. A closer look at the markings of this PPK indicates that it’s actually a replica produced by the Spanish manufacturer Denix.
Denix still markets its replica PPK, described as “Semiautomatic pistol, Germany 1919” on its site, for 94.62€. Blued and nickel finishes are available, and the serial number – #382480 – is consistent with the one printed on the YourProps PPK listed to have been used by Moore.
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 11: “The Last Journey”)
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Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd anti-Bolshevik and former British agent
London, Fall 1925
Series:Reilly: Ace of Spies Episode: “The Last Journey” (Episode 11) Air Date: November 9, 1983 Director: Jim Goddard Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sidney Reilly is just settling into life with his latest – and final – wife, the glamorous actress Nelly “Pepita” Bobadilla (Laura Davenport), when he is visited by Georgi and Maria Schulz, the Soviet double agents who have come to ensure him of his safe passage through Russia to meet with The Trust.
Of course, The Trust is secretly an counterintelligence operation to help Felix Dzerzhinsky’s OGPU identify and capture anti-Bolshevik resistance agents like Sidney Reilly, who had been sentenced to death in absentia in 1918.
The series suggests that Reilly may have been aware of The Trust’s true nature and that sacrificing himself, a high-profile spy, would terminate the operation. Whether he knew the group’s true means or not, Reilly had waited seven years for an opportunity to return to Soviet Russia, and he immediately begins packing for what would become – as the title suggests – his last journey.
What’d He Wear?
Sidney Reilly showcases plenty of nattily dressed-down ensembles for receiving visitors at home during his postwar life in London, including a Fair Isle knit vest in the ninth episode, a gray wool shawl-collar cardigan in the tenth episode, and this blue v-neck sweater with a classic argyle pattern in the eleventh and penultimate episode.
The traditional argyle pattern consists of a series of diamond shapes in two or three colors, typically overlain by diagonal lines that create a diamond-shaped grid. The pattern dates back to the Clan Campbell of Argyll (an alaternate spelling) in western Scotland as well as the “tartan hose” socks worn by Scottish Highlanders beginning in the 1600s. Centuries later, the argyle pattern became fashionable for knitwear first in England, followed by the U.S., in the years immediately following World War I. Pringle of Scotland developed is “iconic Pringle argyle design” in the 1920s, and the trendsetting Duke of Windsor’s propensity for wearing argyle golf jerseys and socks only increased the pattern’s popularity during that roaring decade. (You can follow my lead and learn more about the history of argyle from this Wikipedia article and its sources.)
Thus, we find Sidney Reilly spending a quiet afternoon at home in the fall of 1925, sporting a long-sleeved argyle wool sweater at the height of the pattern’s newfound popularity. Reilly’s argyle pattern covers his chest with sky blue, gray, and pale blue-gray diamonds with a light gray cross-check overlay. The rows of pale blue-gray and gray lozenges are five across; the sky blue lozenges are stacked four across. The rest of the sweater – the ribbed v-neck, the long-ribbed hem line, the back, and the set-in long sleeves with their ribbed cuffs – are all sky blue.
British spy meets Wall Street prepster as Sidney Reilly dons an argyle sweater, Winchester shirt, and bow tie.
Reilly wears a striped “Winchester shirt” with navy candy stripes on a white ground. The large white contrasting point collar may be detachable. The shirt also has a front placket with mother-of-pearl buttons and barrel cuffs that fit more comfortably under the long sleeves of a sweater and would be more consistent with Reilly’s dressed-down weekend aesthetic.
These later episodes portray a more matured Reilly who always wears proper neckwear even when not leaving the house. The real-life Really was known to fancy bow ties later in his life per this well-known 1924 portrait which I compared to a similar outfit in the miniseries.
Reilly maintains his cooler blue tones with this outfit by sporting a dark navy butterfly-shaped bow tie with neat rows of white dots.
The sign of a strong relationship: Reilly and Nelly are still smiling after putting up picture frames in their new home.
Reilly wears a pair of dark gray flannel trousers with double forward pleats, side pockets, and jetted back pockets – or at least definitely a pocket on the back right.
The trouser bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs), breaking clear of his brown calf leather cap-toe oxfords.
Reilly sees off his visitors. Does he trust them? Time will tell.
Having cast aside his pocket watch after returning from Russia in 1918, Reilly follows the post-WWI trend of wearing the sportier wristwatch, a particularly wise choice with this more casual outfit. It appears to be a gold tank watch with a white square dial and a black leather strap.
Reilly’s wristwatch slips up his wrist as he assures Nelly that he’ll be careful so that he may return to her.
How to Get the Look
Sidney Reilly sets a standard for guys looking to spruce up their fall weekend casual looks with a bold argyle sweater and a coordinating bow tie.
Sky blue wool v-neck long-sleeve sweater with gray and pale blue-gray argyle chest pattern
Navy candy-striped Winchester shirt with contrasting white point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
Dark navy white-dotted silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Dark gray wool double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets, jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
Brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Gold tank watch with white square dial on black leather strap
If you’re seeking an exact replica of Reilly’s double gray-on-sky blue argyle jumper, the nearest approximation I’ve been able to find online is this Club Room sweater that channels the spirit – though certainly not the exact look – of Reilly’s garment. Instead, I urge using Reilly’s outfit as a guideline for finding what works best for you personally.
The Tie Bar offers two lovely bow ties in navy woven silk; you can check out the “Mini Dots” or their larger-scaled cousin, the “Pindot”, but be advised that neither field white dots is arranged quite as orderly as Captain Reilly’s neckwear. Both of these The Tie Bar options are available for less than $20 each as of October 2017.
The Gun
Even when I was working on this page as an administrator for IMFDb, I had some trouble identifying the pocket pistol carried by both Reilly and his friend Captain George Hill (Hugh Fraser) in the series’ later episodes.
My best guess is that it is a subcompact Beretta model, possibly the era-correct Beretta Model 1919 in .25 ACP (6.35mm).
Reilly will need a lot more heat than he plans on packing for his return to cold Soviet Russia.
The Beretta Model 1919 was the predecessor of the Beretta 418, the .25-caliber pistol that Ian Fleming initially chose when arming his fictional secret agent James Bond in the first five of 007’s novelistic adventures. It would be an appropriate homage given the real-life Reilly’s role in inspiring Fleming’s hero, as the author himself once reportedly said: “James Bond is just a piece of nonsense I dreamed up… he’s not a Sidney Reilly, you know!””
Ray Milland, Robert Cummings, and John Williams in Dial M for Murder (1954)
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Ray Milland as Tony Wendice, conniving former tennis pro
Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday, romantic American crime writer
Anthony Dawson as C.A. Swann, opportunistic con man
John Williams as Chief Inspector Hubbard, clever Scotland Yard detective
London, Fall 1953 and Spring 1954
Film:Dial M for Murder Release Date: May 29, 1954 Director: Alfred Hitchcock Wardrobe Credits: Moss Mabry & Jack Delaney
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This year’s Halloween post is a Suits and Suspense Spook-tacular, exploring the possible meaning behind the menswear of Hitchcock’s classic Dial M for Murder as well as an appreciation of some damn fine 1950s tailoring!
Dial M for Murder, in case you haven’t seen it, is a sophisticated yet chilling thriller starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly as married couple Tony and Margot Wendice whose secrets from each other drive the plot. Her secret is that she’s having an affair with American writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings); his secret is that he wants to kill her. Rounding out the cast is John Williams reprising his role from the Frederick Knott-penned stageplay as the sagacious Inspector Hubbard and Anthony Dawson as the crooked con man contracted by Tony to carry out the deed against Margot.
This exploratory feature post is going to be a little different than past pieces, serving up every outfit worn by the major male characters over the context of the entire film. That means this post will be packed with a staggering 12 outfits… not to mention a level of extrapolary detail that reveals, if nothing else, that I spend far too much time thinking about men’s style in the movies. Time for a drink!
What’d They Wear?
Oh hi, Mark
The first scene of Dial M for Murder is a quick single-shot vignette of Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings) arriving in England, optimistic and looking forward to his tryst with the married Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly). It’s likely the fall, as it’s later revealed during the trial that the following day’s murder was committed on Saturday, September 26. (However, Mark later says that it was March 26… further complicating matters.)
Mark’s gray semi-solid suit: Single-breasted, three-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets. Likely pleated trousers with turn-ups/cuffs. White shirt with spread collar and double/French cuffs. Navy silk tie. Navy wool v-neck sweater (never seen again). Brown leather cap-toe oxfords. Brown fedora. Taupe topcoat (carried, never worn) echoes both his gray suit and brown accessories and outerwear.
Setting the Stage
We next catch up with Mark and Margot in mid-affair, exchanging smooches and Scotch in the Wendice living room. They are soon joined by Margot’s debonair husband Tony (Ray Milland), who seems blissfully unaware of the true nature of his wife’s visitor.
Tony and Mark are dressed in what is essentially the same outfit: a solid-colored two-piece suit with single-breasted, low stance two-button jackets with all of the same details (white pocket square, low straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, ventless back) and even patterned ties. It’s what each man does with this “1950s uniform” that differentiates him, particularly in Margot’s eyes as she strives to settle her inner romantic conflict.
Margot and her well-suited suitors.
Tony, in his earth tones, symbolizes home and a grounded life that would be easy and familiar for Margot. Of course, familiarity breeds contempt as the saying goes, and Margot’s warnings to Mark about Tony’s behavior and attitudes indicate that there is something less than comforting beneath his earthy surface. Mark, on the other hand, is far more vibrant in his navy suit and red tie… more colorful and exciting to Margot if not quite as safe. Red will be established as Mark’s “passion color” and his whimsically patterned tie here reflects his relatively “lightweight” attitude as he isn’t yet preoccupied with murder and the potential death of his lover. His red tie also coordinates with her red dress and shoes, though she wraps herself in a brown mink that echoes the brown-wearing Tony’s hold on her.
Mark’s navy flannel suit: Single-breasted, two-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), low straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, likely ventless back. Double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and cuffed bottoms. White shirt with point collar and French cuffs (with gold cuff links). Maroon satin silk slim tie with decorative yellow and blue motif. Black leather shoes, probably oxfords. Pearl gray fedora with wide black grosgrain band. Gold wristwatch.
Tony’s taupe worsted suit: Single-breasted, two-button jacket with notch lapels, slanted welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), low straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Forward-pleated trousers finished with cuffs. White shirt with English spread collar and button cuffs. Brown patterned tie, wider than Mark’s ties. Brown leather cap-toe oxfords with black socks. Khaki raincoat (carried here, more important later.)
“Captain Lesgate”
C.A. Swann (Anthony Dawson), aka “Captain Lesgate” among other names, is the only character to wear the same thing throughout his multiple appearances on screen. Where the other male characters prefer tasteful and traditional suits in the spirit of mid-1950s fashion, Swann opts for a louder array of patterns and colors that differentiate him from the rest of the Dial M for Murder pack. He doesn’t “belong” in this picture, and – thus – he is the only character not to survive it.
C.A. Swann is a simple man. All that he’s got hidden up his sleeve is a strangely fastened shirt cuff and a string of swindled spinsters.
Looking closer at Swann’s attire reveals some interesting details. Swann curiously wears his white double-cuffed shirt with one side fastened over the other like a single barrel cuff. This unorthodox manner for wearing cuff links has sparked debate on online menswear forums, with the general consensus being that this is a sloppy and immature look at best… though it does have some proponents when worn under a long-sleeved jumper like Swann does.
His red-and-navy striped tie has all the look of a traditional club or regimental tie, something one would expect of the Oxford-educated “Captain Lesgate” without any of the actual pedigree of military service. The tie itself with its curiously American right shoulder-down-to-left hip striping, is almost certainly Brooks Brothers’ BB#4 rep tie. (This tie is still available for $79.50 from Brooks Brothers.)
C.A. Swann’s outfit: Tan and brown gingham-check herringbone flannel single-breasted 3-roll-2 button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, two-button cuffs, and single back vent. White shirt with point collar and French cuffs, interestingly worn like a barrel cuff. Red-and-navy right-down-to-left-striped club tie. Navy wool v-neck long-sleeve sweater. Charcoal flannel double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and cuffed bottoms. Chocolate brown nubuck leather derby-laced chukka boots with hard leather soles. Gray gabardine twill trench coat with epaulettes, 6×3-button front, belt, straight side hand pockets, and adjustable two-button cuff tabs. Cream cashmere scarf. Gold watch, left wrist (though a later close-up depicts a steel watch on a dark brown leather band) and gold signet ring, left pinky.
A Black Tie Affair
Tony invites Mark along to a Saturday night stag party at his club, for which the rules of black tie would dictate men in dinner jackets. Lucky for Mark that he brought his tux across the pond!
Both men’s dinner jackets are consistent with the postwar silhouette of built-up shoulders, sweeping peak lapels, and suppressed waists, but the details beneath that differ wildly. Mark is attired in “a turndown collar shirt and narrow batwing tie,” resulting in what Black Tie Guide calls “the quintessential fifties tuxedo.” Consider what Ian Fleming wrote for that most tuxedoed of cultural icons, James Bond, in his inaugural 007 novel published in 1953, the same year that Dial M for Murder was filmed:
As he tied his thin, double-ended black satin tie, he paused for a moment and examined himself levelly in the mirror… He looked carefully round the room to see if anything had been forgotten and slipped his single-breasted dinner-jacket coat over his heavy silk evening shirt… He… gave a final pull of his narrow tie and walked out of the door and locked it.
– Casino Royale, Chapter 8
Tony opts for a less formal approach, sporting one of his regular white shirts with buttoned barrel cuffs! This breach in formality may be surprising coming from the Brit rather than the American, but it’s worth accounting for the context of the scene. By early 20th century standards, any situation with no women present automatically downgrades the degree of formality; formality would be further relaxed during the World War II era as men were more frequently dining out in regular business suits. Thus, Tony could be given some leeway when sporting his less-than-formal shirt with a dinner suit for a stag party at his men’s club.
Mark’s Black Tie Ensemble: Midnight blue single-breasted dinner jacket with straight-gorge satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Midnight formal forward-pleated trousers with very high rise and likely plain-hemmed bottoms. White traditional formal shirt with long point collar, widely pleated front (with studs), and double cuffs. Black batwing bow tie. Navy raincoat with set-in sleeves and adjustable single-button tab cuffs.
Mark’s outfit may be more fashionable for the mid-1950s, but Tony’s more traditional ensemble proves to be timeless.
Tony’s Black Tie Ensemble: Black single-breasted “drape cut” dinner jacket with wide satin-faced peak lapels, slanted welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Black formal satin side-striped forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms. White shirt with spread collar, front placket (with mother-of-pearl buttons, not studs), and single-button squared barrel cuffs. Black butterfly/thistle-shaped bow tie. Black patent leather oxfords with black socks. Black overcoat (carried).
Note Tony’s informal shirt with its front placket and button cuffs.
The Aftermath
The next day, Tony Wendice is carrying himself like a man who has gotten away with “the perfect murder”. His suit and tie are exquisitely coordinated as his navy tie echoes the blue windowpane in his beautifully textured gray flannel suit. He’s as smooth as he looks, adapting to a major wrench in his plans and still adeptly engineering things to achieve his nefarious goals. It is tailored and styled exactly the same as his previous taupe suit, but his look now channels cold calculation rather than warm groundedness.
Ice and steel. Note also the black bottle to Tony’s right, labeled “Gordon’s.” Is this the Wendice household’s preferred gin?
At this point, the only potential major obstacle could be the police, but when Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) arrives at the door also sporting a gray suit and blue patterned tie, it’s clear to the viewer that these men are in the same league… at least for now.
These variations on the same theme subtly indicate a uniform of coldness as both are pressuring Margot and, in turn, indicting her.
Do you feel judged?!
The more old-fashioned Hubbard is hardly wearing the exact same thing as Tony, rather just the same colors, and he is the only major character to break from single-breasted tailoring to sport a double-breasted jacket. Hubbard’s bow tie and jumper are a clear contrast to the sleek two-piece suits of the two men who are silently vying to control Margot’s future.
The bit of fraying on the bottom right ribbing of his sweater is just enough to not outright ruin the garment, and it’s exactly the amount of wear-and-tear that one would expect to see on a man like Chief Inspector Hubbard.
Note the slight fraying on the bottom of Inspector Hubbard’s sweater.
Aside from the now-departed Swann, Hubbard’s is the most distinctly different style of menswear in the film and a clear sign that the Wendices have an “interloper” in their midst. Unlike Swann, however, Hubbard’s taste is more traditional and thus better suited (in a Hitchcock film, anyway) for a heroic role.
And speaking of heroes… Mark is the last to arrive on the scene, standing out from the gents questioning Margot by wearing a cool blue suit and a dark burgundy red silk tie. I established earlier that red appears to be Mark’s passion color, and he’s wearing it here as the only man on the scene passionately advocating on Margot’s behalf.
Mark’s navy chalkstripe suit: Single-breasted, three-button jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and likely cuffed bottoms. White shirt with spread collar and French cuffs (with gold cuff links). Burgundy satin silk slim tie.
Tony’s gray flannel suit with light blue windowpane overcheck: Single-breasted, two-button jacket with notch lapels, slanted welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), low straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops and two back suspender buttons, side pockets and no back pockets, turn-ups/cuffs. White shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs. Navy mini-patterned silk tie (tucked into trousers!) Red suspenders/braces with black hardware and fastenings. Black leather oxfords with black silk dress socks.
Hubbard’s gray chalkstripe flannel suit: Double-breasted jacket with low 4×2-button front, wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket (white pocket square, not neatly folded), straight jetted hip pockets, three-button cuffs, no vents. Double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets, back right pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs. White shirt with point collar, front placket, and French cuffs (with gold rectangular cuff links). Navy mini-dotted butterfly-shaped bow tie. Gray cashmere v-neck sweater (slightly frayed on bottom ribbing, right side). Black leather cap-toe oxfords. Black homburg with pinched crown. Khaki raincoat with plaid lining.
Reprieve and Retribution
Months have passed. Margot has been convicted of Swann’s pre-meditated murder and is awaiting execution. Mark channels his undying love for her into freeing her, and he’s all business when he shows up at the Wendice threshold, having set aside his red passion tie and donned a gray worsted suit, the traditional office wear of the American businessman. (It’s worth noting that this suit with its two-button jacket is not the same as the gray suit with a three-button jacket that he wore for the vignette of his arrival in the beginning of the film.)
While Mark is all business, Tony, on the other hand, is dressed in his most casual and laidback getup yet: a textured gray tweed sport jacket. His purple tie evokes the color of royalty as he’s been living the easy life in his self-imposed kingdom since Margot’s incarceration, spending her money. And yet, his tie is knotted in a small four-in-hand, almost restrictively tight as the noose grows tighter around his own neck.
Both dressed in gray, Mark and Tony look considerably less vibrant than their first meeting earlier in the film.
One interesting sartorial observation: up to this point, Mark and Tony both wore ventless jackets exclusively. Now, Tony wears a single-vented sport coat and Mark’s suit jacket has double vents. Did men’s fashion really evolve that much over the few months that Margot has been in prison?
Arriving on the scene is good old Inspector Hubbard, again blazing a trail in a dark striped flannel three-piece suit, the only three-piece suit to be worn by any character. Now, Hubbard is in all navy blue against Tony’s gray and purple; the two are no longer on the same team. Blue is the traditional color of police uniforms… law and justice has finally arrived to save the day.
Margot’s POV: an astonished Mark and rather self-satisfied Inspector Hubbard, both in navy ties, greet her upon her unexpected return home.
And, alas, this scene also offers the significance of Chekhov’s Raincoat! Hubbard had brought his raincoat for his first meeting at the Wendice home, where its sole purpose was seemingly a quick moment of comic relief as an accidental seat cushion for Mark.
Now, Hubbard uses his and Tony’s similar raincoats to conduct a series of switches to prove his theory correct. Six decades later, it seems an anachronistic device as most men rarely wear proper outerwear, let alone outerwear as standardized as the khaki gabardine raincoat was in the early 1950s.
Raincoat hijinks!
Mark’s gray worsted pick suit: Single-breasted, two-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket (with white linen folded pocket square), low straight jetted hip pockets, spaced three-button cuffs, short double vents. Forward-pleated trousers with slanted side pockets and cuffs. White shirt with spread collar and French cuffs (with gold rectangular cuff links). Dark navy silk slim tie. White suspenders (per behind-the-scenesphotos). Black leather cap-toe oxfords with black socks. Pearl gray fedora with wide black grosgrain ribbon.
Tony’s gray sportcoat and slacks: Gray textured twill-striped tweed single-breasted, two-button sport jacket with notch lapels, slanted patch breast pocket (with white linen folded pockt square), straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, and short single vent. Gray flannel trousers. White shirt with spread collar and mitred button cuffs. Purple-dotted lavender silk tie, knotted in tight four-in-hand. Black patent leather oxfords. Khaki raincoat.
Hubbard’s navy chalkstripe flannel three-piece suit: Single-breasted, 3-roll-2 buttoning jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket (with white linen pocket square), straight jetted hip pockets, four-button cuffs, no vents. Single-breasted, six-button waistcoat with four welted pockets and notched bottom. Double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets and cuffed bottoms. White shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and French cuffs (with gold rectangular cuff links). Navy silk tie. Black leather cap-toe oxfords with perforated stitching across toe cap. Black homburg with pinched crown. Khaki raincoat with plaid lining.
What to Imbibe
Despite only four drinking characters and four days depicted on screen, the Dial M for Murder crew does quite a number on the Wendice household’s well-stocked booze collection… though they tend to limit their imbibing to only three of the most classic concoctions:
Scotch & Soda
The soon-to-be condemned man enjoys one last nip.
Who drinks it? Tony Wendice, Margot Wendice, and Mark Halliday.
What brand of booze? Johnnie Walker Red Label is the Wendice whisky of choice, and Tony even tipples a dram neat at the film’s denouement after he’s been exposed.
How do they make it? Pour some whisky straight from the bottle into a highball glass. Siphon in some carbonated water from a soda siphon bottle, and voila! You’ve got yourself a highball.
Martini
Better living through gin.
Who drinks it? Tony Wendice, Margot Wendice, and Mark Halliday.
What brand of booze? Though not seen during the actual martini-mixing process, a bottle of Gordon’s can be spotted on the Wendice bar.
How do they make it? We catch up with Tony halfway through his concocting, but he appears to be stirring gin, ice, and what is likely a small amount of dry vermouth in a glass mixing glass. (Apologies, Mr. Bond.) He then strains into three traditional martini glasses and serves them up with no garnish.
Brandy, straight
Tony’s brandy evidently meets with Swann’s satisfaction. Like he would know.
Who drinks it? Tony Wendice and C.A. Swann.
What brand of booze? “This calls for a special drink,” declares Tony upon his “reunion” with Swann. “I was planning to palm you off with an indifferent port, but let’s see what we have here,” he says before grabbing for a bottle of brandy apparently named Kennedy’s in red print on a beige square label. The brand is unfamiliar to me.
How do they make it? Tony simply pours the brandy into proper snifters for he and Swann to drink. No additions needed.
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 10: “The Trust”)
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd anti-Bolshevik and former British agent
Long Island, Fall 1924
Series:Reilly: Ace of Spies Episode: “The Trust” (Episode 10) Air Date: November 2, 1983 Director: Martin Campbell Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Following his trial in absentia for plotting against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, British agent Sidney Reilly (Sam Neill) has been living in exile in New York, feverishly plotting an anti-Bolshevik invasion of Russia to be led by his comrade Boris Savinkov. His fundraising tactics include a public auction of his vast art collection and various meetings with prospective donors, including an appeal to secure financial support from no less than Henry Ford! The show depicts the Ford meeting as arranged by his ex-wife Nadia, with whom Reilly is on surprisingly good – and I mean good – terms.
In the meantime, Reilly has also hired a new secretary, Eugenie (Eleanor David), of whom he is suspicious. Reilly arrives at his Long Island home one weekend afternoon where Eugenie introduces him to Madame Chinova (Heather Canning), a Russian-born woman who took notes on a brutal interrogation conducted by Soviet agents. Her notes from the interrogation confirm for Reilly the existence of a group known as The Trust… and this group may be the key to Reilly’s plans.
What’d He Wear?
About midway through the episode, Reilly’s dark blue Austin saloon pulls up to his Long Island estate. The chauffeur holds open the rear door, from which Reilly emerges looking every bit the hard-boiled Bogart type in his khaki gabardine trench coat and wide-brimmed beige fedora. The trench coat had been catching on for both men and women in the early 1920s after its popularity among British service members during World War I.
A scene from earlier in the episode as Reilly accompanies the sinister Soviet agent Monkewitz (Forbes Collins).
Reilly’s trench coat lacks the traditional storm flaps on the front and back, though it has a large collar, epaulettes, and a high 8×4-buttoning double-breasted front that is reinforced by the self-belt buckled around the waist. The raglan sleeves have belted cuffs at the ends, and the back has a box pleat running down the center. Below the belt, a buttoned tab separates the vent from the split pleat. Reilly’s trench coat lacks the traditional storm flaps on the front and back.
Reilly strolls into his home, where Eugenie is waiting at the door. Note the trench coat, fastened midway down the vent below the belt.
Upon entering his home, Reilly swiftly discards his trench coat over a chair to reveal his dressed-down ensemble of a shawl-collar cardigan sweater, bow tie, and trousers.
Reilly’s light gray shawl-collar cardigan is made from heavy gauge ribbed knit wool with a warm, “fuzzy” texture. The top two of its eight brown woven leather buttons are “rolled over” by the expansive shawl collar, and Reilly wears it with four buttons fastened, leaving the lowest button undone to prevent bunching at the waist.
The shawl collar of Reilly’s cardigan rolls over the top two buttons. The lack of buttonholes on the left lapel implies that the rolled-over buttons are merely decorative (unless there are toggles beneath the left lapel that the buttons would fasten onto).
The cardigan has no pockets. The cardigan also has tan suede elbow patches on each arm. The cuff of each sleeve is wide-ribbed and rolled back once over each wrist.
Eleanor introduces Reilly to his guest, Madame Chinova.
Reilly wears a striped Winchester shirt with a large white point collar contrasting against the light blue-on-white striped shirt. The shirt has mother-of-pearl buttons up the front placket and likely buttoned barrel cuffs that would better fit under the long sleeves of his heavy cardigan sweater.
The real life Reilly was frequently photographed in bow ties, including one famous photograph of the spy looking rather tired and gaunt in 1924, the year of this episode’s setting. With this outfit, Sam Neill’s Reilly wears a patterned butterfly-shaped bow tie in muted tones of brown, tan, and navy paisley.
Reilly listens to Madame Chinova’s story.
Reilly wears dark gray wool trousers, possibly the same pants that he would wear in the following episode with his sky blue argyle sweater and bow tie. Those trousers have double forward pleats, side pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs).
Reilly’s dark brown leather shoes are also appropriate for this more casual outfit. They appear to be cap-toe derbies, slightly darker than the cap-toe oxfords he would wear with the argyle sweater outfit featured in the following episode, and they appear to be worn with dark gray socks that would correctly continue the trouser leg line.
Reilly arrives home. Note the trench coat tossed onto the chair behind him.
It’s unconfirmed if Reilly is wearing a wristwatch in this scene as the long sleeves of his cardigan fully cover his wrists, but other scenes depict him wearing a gold tank watch around this time as wristwatches were certainly in style for men by the early 1920s, having been popularized during World War I.
How to Get the Look
Sidney Reilly looks right at home (well, he is at home) standing by his mantle on a chilly fall day in his chunky wool knit cardigan sweater, augmented with the elegant touch of a patterned bow tie and contrast collar shirt.
Light gray heavy-gauge ribbed knit wool cardigan sweater with shawl collar, 8 brown woven leather buttons, tan suede elbow patches, and wide-ribbed cuffs
Light blue-striped Winchester shirt with contrasting white point collar, front placket, and button cuffs
Muted brown and navy paisley-patterned butterfly-shaped bow tie
Dark gray wool double forward-pleated trousers with side pockets, jetted right back pocket, and turn-ups/cuffs
Dark brown leather cap-toe derby shoes
Beige soft felt wide-brimmed fedora with brown grosgrain band
Khaki gabardine trench coat with high collar, 8×4-button double-breasted front, belt with buckle, raglan sleeves with belted cuffs, center box-pleated back and single vent
Gold tank watch with white square dial on black leather strap
George Lazenby as James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Vitals
George Lazenby as James Bond, smooth British secret agent
Estoril, Portugal, September 1969
Film: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Release Date: December 18, 1969 Director: Peter R. Hunt Tailor: Dimi Major Costume Designer: Marjory Cornelius
Background
On the 00-7th of December, this Car Week post is focused on James Bond’s sole Christmastime adventure, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service starring George Lazenby as the suave secret agent.
The film opens with a scene straight out of the source novel as a competitive Bond engages in a playful “race” against a beautiful young woman speeding toward the beach in her convertible. From the iconic theme song to Lazenby’s clenched lips holding a cigarette as his lighter illuminates a fashionable black tie kit, the moment is classic 007 and it sets the scene for a powerful film that remains faithful to Ian Fleming’s original vision for this significant story and its place in the Bond canon while also establishing the action-oriented direction of George Lazenby’s character.
The young woman, of course, turns out to be the reckless Teresa “Tracy” di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg), the daughter of an influential organized crime figure who has been cornered into a cynical outlook on life. Bond dashes into the waves to save the woman from a suicide attempt, but ends up brawling with the two men who had been following her and looks up only to see that Tracy absconding in her Mercury Cougar. He takes in his situation and verbally winks to the camera:
This never happened to the other fella…
What’d He Wear?
You can learn much about George Lazenby’s midnight blue dinner suit from Matt Spaiser’s comprehensive post at The Suits of James Bond, the definitive source for the clothing of 007’s world. I strongly urge all readers to visit The Suits of James Bond!
The only time that James Bond had previously worn a dinner jacket with peak lapels was Sean Connery’s ivory dinner jacket in Goldfinger. Lazenby’s peak lapels are of a timeless, moderate width rather than excessively slim as was fashionable earlier in the ’60s or too wide as the following decade’s trends would dictate. The lapels have a straight gorge and are faced in midnight satin silk with a buttonhole through the left lapel.
The opulent settings of the Hotel Palácio’s dining room frame Bond’s “date” with Tracy.
The most formal option for a dinner jacket is no vents, but double vents like the long side vents on Lazenby’s jacket are a fashionably acceptable alternative. Both the single button on the front and the three buttons on each cuff are covered in midnight satin silk as well. The single-button jacket has jetted hip pockets and a welted breast pocket, though Lazenby wears no pocket square.
The Suits of James Bond astutely calls out the closely but comfortably fitted dinner suit’s tasteful concessions to late 1960s fashion trends from the short fit of the jacket to the “lower-than-traditional” rise of his darted-front formal trousers.
Like Connery before him, Lazenby wears trousers with three-button tab side adjusters and no waist covering. The trousers have straight pockets along the side seams and two jetted pockets on the back. The legs are trimmed with midnight satin stripes from the waistband down to the bottoms, which are plain-hemmed with a medium break at the top of his shoes.
Fleming’s Bond would have little regard for Lazenby’s reckless behavior upon his return to his hotel room, exercising none of the ritual precautions outlined in the first chapter of Casino Royale… and nearly to his own peril!
Bond wears two white dinner shirts from Frank Foster, the legendary London shirt-maker who also made shirts for Sean Connery and Roger Moore. Both shirts have a subtantial point collar and are made of cotton voile, a nice lightweight fabric for the summer resort-like setting.
Bond’s first dinner shirt, worn during the beach scenes, has a narrowly ruffle-pleated front and squared double (French) cuffs worn with slim gold bar cuff links.
Lazenby’s first shirt in action. What would “the other fella” have thought?
At the casino, Bond wears his second and certainly flashier dinner shirt with two large ruffle strips on each side of the front placket, which buttons up with mother-of-pearl buttons.
Lazenby lets the ruffles on his second shirt fly free after an evening of resting them unobtrusively beneath his dinner jacket where their true splendor could only be hinted at.
This shirt also has squared double cuffs, this time secured with a set of small gold recessed circle links.
Bond’s traditional butterfly-shaped bow tie echoes his lapel facings in dark midnight blue satin silk.
Had Lazenby mastered his own take on the Bond smirk? You be the judge.
Bond’s black leather cap-toe oxfords are appropriate as the most traditional and formal lace-up shoes to be worn with black tie.
Silk socks are frequently chosen with formal and semi-formal wear, and Bond appears to be wearing black silk dress socks in the casino, but his shoeless scenes on the beach seem to show our hero sporting a thicker pair of hosiery, likely to protect Lazenby’s feet against the elements when filming.
Aftermath of a failed assignation.
George Lazenby had reportedly tracked down a Rolex when auditioning for the role of James Bond, and the actor fittingly wears two during his sole cinematic outing as 007. Lazenby’s first on-screen Rolex is a classic ref. 5513 Submariner with a stainless steel case, black bezel and dial, and stainless Oyster bracelet.
“Paid in full.”
Lazenby on location in Portugal, still wearing Bond’s trilby, bow tie, and shoulder holster.
Lazenby’s Bond would later wear another Rolex, a ref. 6238 pre-Daytona chronograph, when disguised as Sir Hilary Bray at Piz Gloria. After Roger Moore took over the role of James Bond, he too would wear a Submariner 5513 in his first two Bond films – Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun – before strapping on a Seiko during the quartz revolution of the late ’70s.
Lazenby’s Bond seems hardly the type to wear a traditional hat, though his first appearance of Bond features him motoring along the coast in a black short-brimmed trilby to top off his black tie ensemble. He soon ditches the hat (as well as his jacket) when he leaps off to rescue Tracy from the waves.
The shoulder holster is another traditional accessory of Bond lore dating back to Sean Connery in Dr. No, although Lazenby wears a sleeker, updated version. Lazenby’s rig consists of a wide strap over his left shoulder connected to a thinner black strap that loops around his right shoulder. The holster itself carries his trademark Walther PPK under his left armpit for a smooth right-handed draw.
Under the holster section hangs a short strap that is evidently meant to be worn fastened to Bond’s side adjuster tabs (as Sean Connery wore his), but Lazenby already has the holster unbuttoned when he easily slips it off upon returning to his hotel room.
A behind-the-scenes shot from Becoming Bond of Lazenby being fitted into his shoulder holster on set. The older little man helping him seems to be the same from the beach photo above.
Bond’s heavy black-framed sunglasses with their amber lenses are seen only in silhouette before they are discarded onto the passenger seat and never worn again. To me, they evoke the look of Michael Caine’s bespectacled spy Harry Palmer.
Lazenby may have made some poor choices in his life, but he still was wise enough to know that James Bond wouldn’t wear sunglasses at night.
Lazenby makes a brief appearance as a tuxedoed Bond later in the film during the “We Have All the Time in the World” montage of his various dates with Tracy.
Photographs and footage that has surfaced of George Lazenby screen-testing with various actresses and posing for publicity photos shows him in a more traditional, minimalist ensemble of a Connery-style shawl-collar dinner jacket and plain-fronted shirt with a herringbone woven bib and covered fly placket… with nary a ruffle or pleat to be found.
Lazenby during the audition process, twirling Bond’s trademark PPK. French actress (and author) Marie-France Boyer turns away from the gunplay.
By the time Lazenby’s Bond had made it to the big screen, he would be appropriately ruffled, courtesy of master shirt-maker Frank Foster.
Go Big or Go Home
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reclaimed Ian Fleming’s “down-to-earth” James Bond after the cinematic spectacle of You Only Live Twice. Right from the opening scene, Bond is motoring along a beach-side road in his Aston Martin when reaches for his cigarette case and lighter, echoing the wide gunmetal case and Ronson lighter that got plenty of ink in Fleming’s novels, and lights up.
No tricks or rockets from this cigarette… just Bond enjoying a smoke from a simple unfiltered cigarette that even has the three gold rings of the Morlands that had been commissioned by Ian Fleming in real life to denote his Commander rank in the British Royal Navy. Fleming would later pass his exact smoking habits, right down to the triple-ringed cigarettes in the same Balkan and Turkish tobacco blend, on to his most famous fictional creation.
Can anyone better versed in tobacco lore than I identify the brand of cigarette Lazenby actually lights up as Bond? The blue printing at the midway point is certainly brand-suggestive.
Lazenby may have been the last cinematic Bond to make use of a cigarette case, but he was only one in a long line of Bond interpretations to show an appreciation for fine champagne. In this case, it’s a bottle of Dom Pérignon of 1957 vintage that he orders to share with Tracy.
A champagne aficionado would have known Bond’s champagne order to be the sign of someone trying to look more sophisticated than they were, as there was no 1957 vintage produced of Dom Pérignon; Bond should have instead ordered a 1955 or a 1959, particularly as the latter would have fit the literary Bond’s stated preference for ten-year-old champagne.
This German lobby card for Im Geheimdienst Ihrer Majestät features a full shot of Tracy and Bond in the dining room of the Hotel Palácio.
However, even the impressive champagne isn’t enough to hold Tracy’s interest and she cuts to the chase, sending the champagne to her room and handing Bond a key so that he may join later and see where the night takes them. (As far as background music goes, I always enjoyed “Try”, the moody and atmospheric instrumental piece composed for the film by John Barry that plays during Bond and Tracy’s brief “date” in the casino dining room.)
Mr. Bond, no stranger to this type of suggestion, takes Tracy up on her offer. Again eschewing caution, 007 strides into her hotel room and immediately finds himself engaged in fisticuffs with Che Che (Irvin Allen), one of Marc-Ange Draco’s more robust henchmen. Bond knocks the man cold after a closely choreographed fight… then feels the need to show off even more by sampling some caviar on his way out the door and noting to no one in particular: “Royal Beluga… north of the Caspian.” He then sets off to his own room for a fateful and inevitable assignation with Tracy.
As for the hotel itself? Bond himself stated earlier in the lobby that “everything seems up to the Palácio’s usual high standards,” establishing the setting as the Hotel Palácio in Estoril, Portugal. James Bond Lifestyle‘s excellent research into this storied hotel describes that Ian Fleming himself had stayed there in May 1941, likely while shadowing rival spy Dusko Popov. Built in 1930, the Palácio Estoril continues to thrive to this day, offering “hotel, golf, and wellness” in an exclusive atmosphere that retains its classic pre-WWII elegance.
How to Get the Look
George Lazenby in costume and on location as James Bond beside his Aston Martin DBS in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
George Lazenby may not have thought much of James Bond’s preference for traditional menswear, but he certainly looks the part in this well-tailored black tie kit that blends classic elegance with then-modern fashion.
Midnight blue single-breasted 1-button dinner jacket with satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, covered 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
Midnight blue darted-front formal trousers with midnight satin side braiding, 3-button side-adjuster tabs, straight side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White cotton voile ruffled-front formal shirt with front placket, double/French cuffs, and open gauntlets
Gold cuff links
Midnight blue satin silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black silk dress socks
Rolex Submariner 5513 stainless steel dive watch with black bezel, black dial, and stainless Oyster link bracelet
Black leather shoulder holster
Black short-brimmed trilby with narrow grosgrain band
The Car
Goldfinger and Thunderball had established the on-screen relationship between James Bond and Aston Martin, placing the quintessential British secret agent in a quintessentially British sports car.
In its quest to establish continuity with the earlier films of the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service gives George Lazenby’s 007 his own Aston Martin, albeit an updated 1968 Aston Martin DBS Vantage.
Bond parks his DBS at the top of the beach when observing Tracy’s erratic movements.
Aston Martin introduced the DBS in 1967 as an intended replacement for the smaller DB6, itself a successor to the DB5 that had been popularized as 007’s gadget-laden sports car. The DBS incorporated a sleek, modernized look that was William Towns’ first design for Aston Martin.
The base model of the DBS was powered by a naturally aspirated inline-six cylinder engine that produced 282 horsepower, though a Vantage performance option increased the output to 325 horsepower with Italian-made Weber carburetors. The DBS Vantage could reportedly reach a top speed of around 150 mph (241 km/h), a limit that Bond certainly would have been eager to test when racing Tracy.
1968 Aston Martin DBS Vantage
Body Style: 2-door coupe (2+2 seater)
Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)
Engine: 3995 cc (4.0 L) Aston Martin DOHC I6 with Weber carburetors
In 1969, Aston Martin introduced a V8 engine option for the DBS, and this 5340cc coupe was briefly the fastest four-seater production car in the world. The success of the V8 model signaled the end of the DBS, which ceased production after the 1972 model year, and the design was incorporated into the renamed “Aston Martin V8”.
George Lazenby wasn’t the only James Bond actor to prominently drive an Aston Martin DBS. As debonair dandy Lord Brett Sinclair on The Persuaders!, Roger Moore had a “Bahama Yellow” six-cylinder, five-speed 1970 DBS that was re-badged and re-wheeled to resemble the V8 model. Sinclair was Moore’s final major role before he took over as James Bond in Live and Let Die in 1973.
The Guns
The first of James Bond’s armament that we see in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service isn’t his iconic Walther but rather a disassembled Armalite AR-7 rifle in the glove compartment of his Aston Martin. 007 fans would recall this being the “sniper rifle” issued to Bond by Q in From Russia With Love and used to great effect when eliminating Krilencu the Bulgar terrorist.
In one of many instances of establishing continuity with the earlier films, the AR-7 appears here in Bond’s DBS. Bond even uses the rifle’s scope to observe Tracy before establishing that she’s in danger and heading into the ocean after her.
The parts of Bond’s AR-7 survival rifle in a concealed compartment in his DBS. Not the last prop that would return from From Russia With Love…
When Bond’s trademark Walther PPK does finally show up, it’s not in his hands but those of Tracy di Vicenzo, who has removed it from his discarded holster and cornered him in his hotel room.
Gunplay is evidently Tracy’s idea of foreplay.
007 disarms her with one swift movement of his arm, and the two find a more agreeable manner for getting acquainted.
Frank Sinatra as Joey Evans, womanizing nightclub singer
San Francisco, Spring 1957
Film:Pal Joey Release Date: October 25, 1957 Director: George Sidney Costume Designer: Jean Louis
Background
Today marks the birth of Frank Sinatra, the Chairman of the Board himself, born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken. This son of tenement-dwelling Italian immigrants grew to be one of the most influential, best-selling music artists in history.
Sixty years ago, Sinatra was rising as one of the biggest stars in the world when he starred as the titular Pal Joey, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe award. Originally a stage musical starring Gene Kelly as the singing and dancing anti-hero, Pal Joey was reconfigured for the screen with the character more reflective of Sinatra’s own charming yet mischievous “nice guy” persona.
Though he played the title character, Frank Sinatra reportedly insisted upon co-star Rita Hayworth receiving top billing because “For years, she was Columbia Pictures,” although he’s also credited with the more laconic explanation of simply saying, “Ladies first.”
The film also starred Kim Novak as ingenue chorus girl Linda English, and Sinatra remarked of being billed between the two of them that, “That’s a sandwich I don’t mind being stuck in the middle of.”
Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak in Pal Joey.
Despite actually being three years younger than Sinatra, Rita Hayworth plays the cougar-ish Vera Prentice-Simpson, a former burlesque performer who takes on the younger Joey Evans as her “boy toy” in return for financing his dreams of owning a nightclub. In his 2008 book Sinatra in Hollywood, author Tom Santopietro declared the scene in which Sinatra sings his own classic standard “The Lady is a Tramp” to Hayworth as the finest moment of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ film career.
I received a request from BAMF Style reader Mark earlier this year to showcase Frank Sinatra’s style in Pal Joey, so it seemed apt to start by featuring this scene on the chairman’s actual birthday. Happy birthday, Frank!
What’d He Wear?
As a professional entertainer, Frank Sinatra’s titular Joey spends much of the film in variations of formal attire from sharp dinner suits in midnight blue and black mohair (at the beginning and end, respectively) as well as a red flecked jacket when on the bandstand and a white tie and tails ensemble during a fantasy sequence in the musical finale.
After the club where Joey is performing receives a surprise visit from the glamorous and powerful ex-burlesque performer Vera Prentice-Simpson, Joey emerges from the back room to serenade her in an equally impromptu rendition of “The Lady is a Tramp,” dressed in a non-traditional black tie kit consisting of a dove gray shawl-collar dinner jacket with a lace-trim pleated front shirt and midnight formal trousers.
Joey closes out a show-stopping number for Vera’s benefit.
The gray dinner jacket has self-faced shawl lapels of a classic width that neatly roll to a single button positioned perfectly at the waist line for harmonious lines with only the shirt visible above the buttoning point and only the trousers below it.
Jetted, rather than flapped, pockets on the hips continue the clean lines of the ensemble and are considered more appropriate for formal wear and dinner jackets. Joey wears a white linen pocket square neatly folded into the welted breast pocket. There are three buttons on each cuff and, per dinner jacket tradition, there are no vents.
Joey wears a white pleated-front dinner shirt in cotton voile with a black silk butterfly-shaped bow tie. The shirt’s squared double (French) cuffs are held together with the same large silver-toned ridged disc links as he wears elsewhere.
Joey and his canine pal prepare for his evening’s performance in his dressing room.
The Rat Pack had many of their shirts made from Nat Wise of Beverly Hills, which was adapted into Anto Shirt in 1987, and this unique shirt is likely no exception, though it predates Frank’s association with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
The subtle lace trim on the shirt’s pleated front looks like it was constructed from ripped strips of paper, delivering just the needed level of insouciant imperfection befitting the character’s swagger. The pleats are a bit affected but hardly as flashy as the ruffled front of James Bond’s tuxedo shirt in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The shirt has a standard placket with mother-of-pearl buttons.
Sinatra doing what he does best.
In accordance with this less formal ensemble, Joey doesn’t wear the traditional waist covering (cummerbund or waistcoat) that often accompanies black tie. He wears white fabric suspenders (braces) with gold adjusters with white leather hooks that connect to two double sets of buttons along in the inside of the front trouser waistband and a single set of two buttons on the outside of the back trouser waistband, split by a narrow “fishmouth” notch that adds flexibility as Joey moves or sits.
Joey catches Linda’s eye through the barred window of his dressing room.
Joey’s formal trousers are midnight blue, possibly the trousers from his dinner suit at the beginning of the movie, with double reverse pleats and a satin side stripe that extends from the plain-hemmed bottoms up to the top of the waistband. They have no back pockets but straight pockets along the side seams, behind the satin braids, where Sinatra often places his hands.
Production photo of Frank Sinatra with Barbara Nichols, yet another of the beautiful women with whom he co-starred in Pal Joey (1957). Nichols was a mainstay of late 1950s productions that called for brassy blonde bombshells from Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Where the Boys Are (1960) to the first episode of The Untouchables in 1959.
Black oxfords are considered the most formal lace-up shoe that one can wear with black tie, although Sinatra was certainly known to wear the uber-formal opera pumps with some of his tuxedos… such as this pair of John Lobbs worn with this custom Cyril Castle dinner suit in the 1970s.
But back to Pal Joey, where Sinatra wears a more practical and accessible pair of black patent leather cap-toe oxfords with black silk dress socks.
“A hat’s not a hat till it’s tilted,” sang Sinatra with Dean Martin and Bing Crosby in “Style” for Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), and Sinatra’s ability to effectively wear a hat has become part of his lore.
Naturally, Joey thus tops of his look with his black corded-band trilby when heading out of the club with Vera on his arm.
The hat is less formal than the homburgs suggested as appropriate headgear with black tie, but his less-than-formal dinner jacket excuses it. The black felt hat has a pinched crown with a band consisting of four thin tan cords joined together on the left side.
This Pal Joey hat was undoubtedly made by Cavanagh, whose hats Sinatra wore exclusively in real life, though I can’t find more information about this hat specifically.
Joey takes in his surroundings.
Joey wears a watch on his left wrist that isn’t clearly seen anywhere on screen, though it appears to be a gold tank watch on a black leather strap, an elegantly simple style appropriate for black tie and befitting Sinatra’s own image.
Joey shares drinks and dreams with Vera while tending bar on her yacht.
One of Pal Joey‘s four nominations at that year’s Academy Awards was for Best Costume Design, appropriately recognizing the achievements of Paris-born designer Jean Louis.
How to Get the Look
Frank Sinatra’s signature look on stage was a dark tuxedo with a red silk pocket square, so it’s a treat to see the Chairman take on this non-traditional yet beautifully tailored dinner jacket in Pal Joey.
Dove gray shawl-collar single-button dinner jacket with welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
White linen pocket square, folded in breast pocket
White cotton voile dinner shirt with point collar, lace-trimmed pleated front, and squared double/French cuffs
Round silver ridged cuff links
Black satin silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Midnight blue double reverse-pleated formal trousers with satin side stripes, straight/on-seam side pockets, fishmouth-notched back waistband with two suspender buttons, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White suspenders/braces with gold adjusters and white hooks
Black patent leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black silk socks
Black felt short-brimmed fedora with tan quadruple-corded band
Gold tank watch on black leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie, and read up on your Sinatra style. Several years ago, I was honored to receive the gift of Bill Zehme’s The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’, a definitive bible of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ approach to sartorialism and life, from BAMF Style reader Teeritz.
I have also heard good things about a newly released book, Eliot Weisman’s The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra, which explores the last two decades of Sinatra’s life.
The Quote
I got it figured out. You treat a dame like a lady, and you treat a lady like a dame.
Sean Connery as James Bond in Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent in repose
At sea, Spring 1971
Film:Diamonds are Forever Release Date: December 17, 1971 Director: Guy Hamilton Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Sean Connery’s final scene as the official James Bond finds him in a quintessentially 007 scenario enjoying a romantic dinner with a beautiful woman. Having foiled the nefarious plans of Ernst Stavro Blofeld once more, Bond and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) take to the sea for a leisurely cruise across the pond, reminiscent of the novel’s own passages set aboard the Queen Elizabeth.
If you’re curious about the ship featured in the film, the aficionados at AJB007 have suggested that it’s a P&O ship… possibly the SS Canberra.
With New Year’s Eve celebrations around the corner, I’m sure many BAMF Style readers are planning to ring in the new year with style. Consider sporting a velvet dinner jacket in a celebratory but tastefully subdued darker color like burgundy, hunter green, or navy. As the former two colors may be more associated with the Christmas holiday, let’s take a look at the latter as worn by Mr. Bond at sea.
What’d He Wear?
Diamonds are Forever features Sean Connery wearing his most varied and colorful wardrobe as James Bond, reminiscent more of the fashionable clothing worn by George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service than Connery’s own “uniform” of gray suits and navy grenadine ties that he had established in Dr. No.
Sean Connery makes his last official EON Productions appearance as James Bond in a creative black tie ensemble anchored by a navy velvet dinner jacket, appropriate for an intimate dinner at sea. You can read about this jacket, shirt, bow tie, and trousers in comprehensive detail in Matt Spaiser’s definitive 007 style blog, The Suits of James Bond.
Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) puts quite a show into opening a claret for Bond… unaware that it is a claret, of course, and sealing his own fate.
The well-cut velvet jacket has slim, self-faced shawl lapels that roll to a single-button front that Connery wears fastened throughout the scene, including while seated.
The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and have four buttons at each cuff. Pocket flaps and double vents are generally not preferable with evening wear, but both are more acceptable for dressed-down or fashionable pieces like this jacket.
Bond wears a light blue shirt that, other than the spread collar, is consistent with the details of Connery’s Turnbull & Asser shirts that he wore with his business suits earlier in the series including a front placket and the character’s signature two-button turnback cuffs also known as “cocktail cuffs” among other epithets.
(007 first wore a cocktail cuff shirt with black tie in Thunderball when he wore a white shirt with a sleek midnight mohair dinner suit to a casino in the Bahamas.)
Bond’s black silk bow tie is a large butterfly (or “thistle”) shape, though it’s hardly to the comically large proportions that less stylish men were wearing in the ’70s.
James Bond, confident that his bow tie won’t mark him for inclusion in future Buzzfeed articles decrying 1970s fashion. (He obviously forgot about the short pink tie he had been wearing earlier…)
Bond wears dark formal trousers with the traditional single black side stripe down each leg. They may possibly be the same as the black flat front formal trousers he wears with his off-white dinner jacket in Las Vegas, but they can’t be the same as the distinctive black dinner suit with its red-accented facings and details.
His shoes are black cap-toe oxfords worn with black silk dress socks.
Poor Mr. Wint.
If you like the look of the navy velvet shawl-collar dinner jacket, you can also channel Colin Firth’s look in Kingsman: The Secret Service when Galahad sports a “dope-ass smoking jacket” with a white formal shirt, black bow tie, and Black Watch plaid trousers for a McDonald’s dinner with Samuel L. Jackson’s character.
What to Imbibe
Snobbery saves the day for James Bond and Tiffany Case when 007 traps his would-be wine steward into revealing his lack of expertise over a bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild.
Mr. Wint: Wine, sir? Mouton Rothschild ’55. A happy selection, if I may say. Bond: I’ll be the judge of that… that’s rather potent. Not the cork, your after-shave. Strong enough to bury anything… but the wine is rather excellent. Although, for such a grand meal, I had rather expected a claret. Mr. Wint: Of course. Unfortunately, our cellars are rather poorly stocked with clarets. Bond: Mouton Rothschild is a claret. And I’ve smelled that aftershave before, and both times I’ve smelled a rat!
These fightin’ words send Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) leaping into action with the dubiously effective weapon of two flaming skewers. Bond grabs the nearby bottle of Courvoisier and – as these two bozos likely neglected to remember that brandy is flammable – quickly renders the poorly coiffed Mr. Kidd aflame.
To learn more about Mouton Rothschild’s appearance across Bond canon, the wine’s iconic label, and the use of its 1955 vintage in Diamonds are Forever, check out James Bond Lifestyle.
To avoid being foiled by Mr. Bond in the future, arm yourself with the knowledge that a “claret” is a traditionally British English term for red wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France.
If cocktails are more your speed, you can follow Bond’s post-prandial example in the novel Diamonds are Forever when he and Tiffany Case are headed back to England on the Queen Elizabeth:
They got into the lift for the Promenade Deck. “And now what, James?” said Tiffany. “I’d like some more coffee, and a Stinger made with white Crème de Menthe, while we listen to the Auction Pool. I’ve heard so much about it and we might make a fortune.”
How to Get the Look
Sean Connery’s tenure as James Bond ended as it began with the actor in black tie.
Nearly a decade had passed since 007’s introduction in Dr. No, and the creative yet elegant approach to dinner dress in Diamonds are Forever show just how much fashion had evolved in those nine years.
Navy velvet single-button dinner jacket with slim shawl lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
Light blue poplin dress shirt with spread collar, front placket, and 2-button turnback/cocktail cuffs
Black silk butterfly-shaped bow tie
Black wool flat front formal trousers with silk side stripe, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black dress socks
If you’re worried about evoking Hugh Hefner’s smoking jacket – don’t. There are quite a few factors that differentiate a velvet dinner jacket from a smoking jacket, including how you wear it. Plus, the item is coming back en vogue according to a December 2017 GQ article calling velvet dinner jackets “the easiest holiday party hack around”.
William Powell and Myrna Loy in After the Thin Man (1936)… with Skippy as Asta
Vitals
William Powell as Nick Charles, retired private detective
San Francisco, New Year’s Eve 1936
Film:After the Thin Man Release Date: December 25, 1936 Director: W.S. Van Dyke Wardrobe Credit: Dolly Tree
Background
After the Thin Man was released on Christmas 1936 as a continuation of The Thin Man, as its title implies. The all-original story was drafted by Dashiell Hammett himself immediately after the success of the first film, although Hammett had first envisioned circumstances that would send his witty detective duo back to New York City. Eventually, the decision was made to have the Charles couple solving a crime in their hometown of San Francisco.
The last we saw Nick was lounging in his silk dressing gown and pajamas while riding the train from New York with Nora. After what must have been a three-year-long train ride, they finally arrive in San Francisco just in time for New Year’s Eve… and a dreaded invitation to the snobby abode of Nora’s elderly aunt Katherine (Jessie Ralph) and her lovelorn cousin Selma (Elissa Landi). The visit quickly turns into an investigation as Nick and Nora are set on the case of finding Selma’s absent husband Robert.
Nora: Aunt Katherine wants to speak to you. Nick: What have I done now? Nora: Do you know why Robert wasn’t here tonight? Nick: Sure, because he’s smart. Nora: I’m not fooling, darling, he’s disappeared. Nick: That’s swell. Now if we could just get Aunt Katherine to disappear…
What’d He Wear?
Aunt Katherine is a traditionalist, so a visit to her stuffy Frisco mansion naturally calls for full evening dress, a step above the formality of Nick’s black tie dinner ensemble in The Thin Man. Nick Charles shows up to the Forrest residence in elegant and contemporary “white tie” evening dress, tailored exquisitely to flatter William Powell’s lean figure.
The black wool evening tailcoat has wide peak lapels faced in black satin silk and a pink carnation attached to the left lapel. The tailcoat’s only outer pocket is a welted pocket on the left breast, where Nick wears a white linen display kerchief.
For more than a century, this type of dress coat (also known as a “claw-hammer coat” or “swallow-tail coat”) had been designed to not fasten in the front, so the six-button double-breasted front with its three satin-covered buttons on each side are purely vestigal. The three buttons on each cuff and two ornamental buttons on the back waist – above the tails – all covered in the same black satin silk.
The dress coat is cutaway from the back tails to a square-cut, waist-length front, just long enough to correctly cover the white waistcoat and prevent a disruption in the elegant lines of the outfit. The long sweep of the tailcoat’s wide lapels and the V-shaped button formation work together with the high waisted trousers to enhance the appearance.
Nick begrudgingly makes the acquaintance of Nora’s well-to-do relations.
Nick wears the traditional white evening shirt with a detachable white wing collar and a stiff marcella bib with a single small, round, pearl-like stud at mid-chest. The stiff single cuffs are each linked with a set of plain white semi-sphere links.
Nick takes solace in a highball while gangsters and police battle it out in the Lichee’s back office.
The white tie that gives the dress code its name is a traditional thistle-shaped cotton marcella bow tie that Nick wears in front of the wing collar tabs.
The white waistcoat had been standardized for full evening dress since the early 20th century when the black waistcoat was relegated to the less formal black tie code. Nick wears a textured white cotton marcella single-breasted low-cut waistcoat with square-cut shawl lapels, three self-covered buttons, two jetted pockets, and a notched bottom.
Bottoms up!
Nick’s formal trousers are black wool to match the waistcoat with double-braided stripes down the side of each leg in black satin silk to match the tailcoat lapels and button coverings. Double braiding has always been traditional for full-dress trousers, although the single side stripe of black-tie formal trousers is also an acceptable alternative. The straight side pockets of Nick’s trousers are cut along the side seams just behind the braiding.
Concealing the trouser waistband is a must with full evening dress, and the ideal high-waisted look (which was also quite fashionable during the film’s 1930s production) ensures that the top of Nick’s trousers are well-hidden above the bottom of his cutaway tailcoat front and waistcoat.
Flat front trousers had been the standard leading up to World War I, but postwar fashions of the 1920s and ’30s popularized pleats. Thus, our fashionplate detective sports double forward pleats on his full-dress trousers.
Nick is helped out of his overcoat at the Lichee, briefly flashing his coat maker’s label – are any eagle-eyed vintage clothing enthusiasts able to identify it?
The full break of Nick’s plain-hemmed trouser bottoms covers the top of his black leather cap-toe oxfords, the most acceptable footwear alternative to the traditional patent leather opera pumps. Nick wears black ribbed dress socks.
Promotional photo of Myrna Loy and William Powell for After the Thin Man (1936).
The homburg was an acceptable headgear alternative for white tie, but Nick spares no formality and opts for the classic black silk top hat with a duller black silk grosgrain band.
Nick wears a black wool knee-length Chestefield coat. The peak lapels have a classic formal velvet collar and satin facings to coordinate with the formal evening tailcoat worn under it; this is clearly not a coat to be worn with a business suit. The single-breasted coat fastens with a single cloth-covered button at the waist under a fly front. The cuffs have a short vent but no buttons, and there is a a single welted breast pocket and a widely flapped pocket on each hip.
Nick, in full white tie kit with proper outerwear (sans gloves), waits for Nora to enter the Lichee.
Nick’s white evening scarf is likely silk with frayed edges.
Nick makes the most of the aged Henry’s services.
By the 1930s, wristwatches had eclipsed pocket watches as the timepiece of choice for most gentlemen, so the subtle tank watch that Nick wears on his left wrist would not have been a violation of etiquette, especially as it remains relatively unseen.
Go Big or Go Home
Nick and Nora arrive at the Lichee just as Polly Byrnes (Penny Singleton, later famous for her titular role in the Blondie series) is entertaining a New Year’s Eve crowd with the boisterous “Blow That Horn”. The tempo later slows down for her performance of “Smoke Dreams”, a more romantic ballad written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed that makes several appearances throughout After the Thin Man.
Although, in the words of the immortal Mama Cass, you can always feel free to “make your own kind of music.”
Of course, when the clock strikes midnight, the band jumps into a jazzy rendition of the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” as couples greet 1937 with kisses and resolutions.
Nick: Have you made any New Year’s resolutions? Nora: Not yet. Any complaints or suggestions? Nick: A few. Nora: Which? Nick: Complaints. Nora: All right shoot. Nick: Well, you don’t scold, you don’t nag, and you look far too pretty in the mornings. Nora: All right, I’ll remember: must scold, must nag, mustn’t be too pretty in the mornings.
What to Imbibe
After drowning his sorrows with plenty of brandy at Aunt Katherine’s “soiree”, Nick Charles is more than happy to enjoy the free champagne offered by Dancer (Joseph Calleia) at the Lichee… though Dancer is less than happy when Nick’s party ends up including a number of ex-cons with names like “Willie the Weeper”.
Joe: Champagne, boys. Joe’s pal: Me too. Nick: Sure, Champagne! Willie? Willie the Weeper: Scotch… with a Champagne chaser. Nora: Likewise.
One hand affixed to the brandy decanter, Nick finds ways of entertaining himself in the company of Aunt Katherine’s senile dinner guests before absconding with Nora to the livelier environs of the Lichee.
But why do we drink champagne on New Year’s Eve? And how do even troglodytes like Joe know to order it at midnight?
Check out this mashed.com article about the history of champagne on New Year’s Eve… and the “villainous compound” of arrack punch that toasted many a new year in the early 1800s.
How to Get the Look
Though full evening dress may be less-than-practical attire for ringing in 2018, the white tie and tails ensemble that Nick Charles (William Powell) wears for New Year’s Eve 1936 in After the Thin Man remains a standard for timeless formalwear should you ever find yourself in a situation calling for the finest of finery.
Black wool evening tailcoat with wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, satin-covered 6-button double-breasted front, 4-button cuffs, and tails with 2 ornamental buttons
Pink carnation, worn on left lapel
White linen display kerchief, worn in breast pocket
White formal shirt with detachable wing collar, stiff marcella bib, and single cuffs
White small round studs
White semi-sphere cuff links
White cotton marcella thistle-shaped self-tied bow tie
White cotton marcella single-breasted 3-button waistcoat with square-cut shawl lapels, notched bottom, and jetted pockets
Black wool double forward-pleated formal trousers with double satin side braiding, straight/on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
Black ribbed dress socks
Black wool single-breasted Chesterfield coat with satin-faced peak lapels, velvet collar, fly front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, vented plain cuffs, and single back vent
Black silk top hat
White silk evening scarf with frayed bottom
Gold tank watch on dark leather strap
I speculate that Nick wears a black wool tailcoat and trousers, although midnight blue had been a fashionable alternative for more than a decade after the trailblazing Prince of Wales introduced a midnight evening suit that would allow his intricate tailoring to be better noticed in photographs.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the entire film series and Dashiell Hammett’s original treatments outlining After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man in the single volume released as Return of the Thin Man… significant for being the last fiction that Hammett composed during his life.
The Quote
We want to go someplace and get the taste of respectability out of our mouths.
Footnote
After taking his guest’s hat, coat, and scarf, the elderly Henry the butler directs Nick to follow him, saying “Walk this way, sir,” as he stumbles toward the drawing room. The cheeky Nick, never the sort to miss an opportunity for wit, replies, “Well, I’ll try,” and affects a stagger to his walk as he follows him.
More modern viewers may recognize the joke from Young Frankenstein, featuring Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman as the hunchback Igor. Feldman later told Robert Ross of The Bookseller that Mel Brooks kept the joke in over the initial objections of Feldman and Wilder:
It’s a terribly old music hall joke. I did that to make the crew laugh and Mel Brooks said, “Let’s shoot it.”
Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr on The Last Tycoon (Episode 9: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar”)
Vitals
Matt Bomer as Monroe Stahr, charming studio wunderkind
Hollywood, fall 1936 and March 1937
Series:The Last Tycoon Episodes:
– “Pilot” (Episode 1, dir. Billy Ray)
– “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 9, dir. Billy Ray) Streaming Date: July 28, 2017 Developed By: Billy Ray Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s Oscars night!
The Last Tycoon, Amazon Video’s gone-too-soon stylish ode to Hollywood’s Golden Age, ended its singular season during the 1937 Academy Awards. Interestingly, the 9th Academy Award ceremony was held on March 4, 1937, exactly 81 years ago tonight!
In real life, MGM’s The Great Ziegfield took home the coveted Best Picture prize, but that film was neglected in The Last Tycoon‘s fictional timeline as Brady-American’s tearjerker Angels on the Avenue faces off against real-life nominees Anthony Adverse, Libeled Lady, San Francisco, and Three Smart Girls.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… the first episode of The Last Tycoon finds slick Hollywood producer Monroe Stahr at a jazzy reception. Monroe is considered the best in the biz, but he’s not above sitting among his writers and hearing their thoughts of him firsthand… and dishing it right back. The night is also ripe for romance as a recently widowed Monroe shares his first dance with Kathleen Moore (Dominique McElligott), an alluring waitress from a local diner. Of course, he must also field advances from his boss’ ambitious daughter Celia (Lily Collins), who finds the time to pitch him an intriguing anti-Nazi espionage film in between taking passes at him.
Of course, Monroe’s heart is fragile in more ways than one. Real-life ’30s studio wunderkind Irving Thalberg had provided F. Scott Fitzgerald with literary inspiration for the character of Monroe Stahr, including Thalberg’s reputation as “a boy wonder” and the congenital heart disease that eventually sealed his fate at the age of 37. Thalberg actually appears as a character in The Last Tycoon, meeting his demise shortly after his appearance and reminding Monroe of his own uncertain future.
Eight months later, it’s now Oscars night in Hollywood with George Jessel hosting at downtown L.A.’s Biltmore Hotel. Monroe and Kathleen’s romance blossomed into an engagement… and quickly fizzled as her dishonest nature was violently unmasked while relations between Monroe and his boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) have deteriorated beyond hope. It seems that Monroe’s only ally left in the world is Celia, who has honed her producing skills since the fateful party where she first pitched her espionage concept. The contemptuous gang beats out MGM for the coveted Best Picture award, but the stress is too much for Monroe to bear, and we are left hanging hours later as he clutches his heart, calling out for Celia as he collapses.
In many ways, it’s an appropriate “non-ending”, just enough to possibly conclude the show while also echoing the unfinished state of Fitzgerald’s source novel.
What’d He Wear?
The Last Tycoon‘s dapper protagonist dresses in elegant white tie to bookend the series, sporting full evening dress in both the first and final episodes. It’s a fitting choice, as he finds himself in white tie when first hearing the pitch for An Enemy Among Us and again wearing white tie when he himself is pitching the concept of the same film to Louis B. Mayer eight episodes later. White tie was designed to make a man look his most dashing, thus elevating a guy like Matt Bomer to nearly superhuman levels.
Speaking of superhumans, The Last Tycoon‘s master costume designer Janie Bryant explained the symbolic relationship between Monroe Stahr and his appearance in black-and-white full evening dress to Costume Designers Guild: “Monroe Stahr wears black and white a lot because it’s a reference to the era of black and white movies, but he also sees his world as very black and white. He is all about the integrity of the artistry and the craft of making the movies, so he wears beautifully tailored suits, but he’s not ostentatious.”
By the mid-1930s, black tie had surpassed white tie as the default evening dress code for gents, and Monroe Stahr certainly makes the most of his contemporary-styled double-breasted dinner jacket, saving his full evening dress for only the most formal occasions.
Though higher in the studio hierarchy, Monroe Stahr honors his writing team by donning full evening dress at the screenwriters’ ball in the pilot episode.
Monroe Stahr’s black wool dress coat has the traditional long tails and faux double-breasted front. The look is designed to be timeless, though Monroe’s particular kit nods to the fashions of the era with broader peak lapels (faced in black silk, of course) with long, slanted gorges. The only external pocket is the welted breast pocket, in which Monroe wears a white silk pocket square.
The front is styled like a double-breasted jacket, but meant to be worn open. The six front buttons, three buttons on the sleeve ends, and two vestigal buttons over the back tails are plain black plastic four-hole sew-through buttons with no black silk coverings.
Monroe shares his first dance with Kathleen.
For his evening at the screenwriters’ ball in the first episode, Monroe wears a white evening dress shirt with a plain white front bib that shows two mother-of-pearl studs. The shirt is worn with a detachable wing collar and has squared single cuffs fastened with round mother-of-pearl cuff links that match the front studs. Mother-of-pearl is considered one of the most traditional and tasteful options for appointments on a full dress evening shirt.
After a public dressing down by the widow of his recently deceased brother-in-law/employee, Monroe literally dresses down by removing his tailcoat.
Esquire was reporting in its inaugural issue in autumn of 1933 that “the white waistcoat has at last been allowed to rejoin its lawful but long estranged mate, the tailcoat, and the new dinner jackets are matched with a waistcoat of the jacket material, with dull grosgrain lapel facing.” (Source: Black Tie Guide) In this episode, Monroe wears a butterfly/thistle-shaped self-tying bow tie in white pique to perfectly match his waistcoat.
Monroe gives Celia a moment to remember in the first episode.
The white pique waistcoat in the first episode is double-breasted with a closely spaced, tapered four-on-two button front beneath the low front opening. The waistcoat has welted hip pockets and a slim shawl collar with grosgrain edges. Unlike most modern dress waistcoats (or at least those popularly issued by rental houses), it has a full back like a waistcoat that would accompany a three-piece suit.
Though a fine traditional example of a gentleman’s full dress waistcoat, it is slightly too long and about an inch of white fabric peeks out under each side of the tailcoat’s cutaway front sections.
A confrontation in the first episode leaves Monroe clutching his midsection.
Monroe wears a different white shirt, tie, and waistcoat for the 1937 Academy Awards ceremony. His white marcella formal shirt appears to have an attached wing collar, a surprising deviation at a time when most formal shirts were worn with detachable collars. The shirt also has a wide front placket, worn with diamond studs, and rounded single cuffs fastened with a set of rectangular links.
Monroe pays tribute to his late wife Minna. Next to Minna is his recently acquired Oscar statuette.
Monroe wears a slightly slimmer self-tying bow tie, a light ivory diamond-shaped silk tie with a pointed end.
Monroe finds an interested audience in Louis B. Mayer (Saul Rubinek) when pitching Celia’s movie, An Enemy Among Us, during a break in the 1937 Academy Awards ceremony.
For the Oscars, Monroe again wears a double-breasted, four-on-two button full dress waistcoat with shawl collar, but the similarities end there. Monroe has severely overcompensated for the previous waistcoat’s excessive length, here wearing a straight-bottomed waistcoat in ivory twill that looks fine at the ceremony itself but rides up above his trouser line when in respite at his office.
With his tailcoat removed, his tie undone, and – lest we forget – his boss furious at him, Monroe Stahr has more to worry about than the length of his waistcoat.
This waistcoat also lacks the full back of his other, instead looping around his neck and fastening around the back of his waist, a style that was popularized at the time by the Prince of Wales, of course. The shawl collar is slim around the neck but swells out to a wide “drooping” squared bottom (similar to his black tie waistcoat), and there are no pockets.
Monroe’s waistcoat in “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 1.09) also provides a better look at his white silk suspenders (braces) with their gold adjusters, seen just below the back loop of his waistcoat around his neck.
Minna (and Oscar) watch over Monroe.
The only trousers one should really wear with a black full dress tailcoat are the black formal trousers with silk side striping, and Monroe follows that rule to a T with his double reverse-pleated trousers with their single silk side stripe, on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms.
The victorious producers rise to collect their Oscar!
Most men had accepted the more practical and timeless black leather oxford as the de facto dress shoe by the 1930s, but Monroe Stahr sticks with the über-formal black patent leather opera pump as his preferred footwear with both white tie and black tie dress, naturally worn with black dress socks.
Monroe’s choice of outerwear, seen only when outside before and after the Oscar ceremony, is the traditional black wool chesterfield coat with a white silk dress scarf with frayed edges. The double-breasted chesterfield has wide satin-faced peak lapels, welted breast pocket, a six-on-two button front in the “keystone” arrangement and covered in black satin, and straight flapped hip pockets.
Monroe looks every bit the matinee idol when arriving at – and leaving – the 1937 Oscars with Kathleen.
“If a boutonnière is worn with full dress then it must be white,” declares the experts at Black Tie Guide when exploring full dress traditions. Our protagonist recognizes and adheres to this tradition, wearing two different white carnations on his left lapel that compete for attention with his rakishly worn white pocket squares.
Monroe’s first white tie ensemble, when attending the screenwriters’ ball in the pilot episode, features a white carnation worn with the stem pinned through the lapel. This more modern, less regarded style reminds me more of harried mothers trying to prep their sons for prom pictures than a gentleman dressing for the evening.
Why the discomfort, Monroe? Perhaps it’s that prom-style boutonnière… or perhaps it’s the widow publicly blaming you for her troubled husband’s suicide.
By the titular ceremonies of “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar” (Episode 1.09), Monroe Stahr has graduated his boutonnière game to the more mature, less damaging, and ultimately correct style of wearing it with the stem inserted through the buttonhole of his left lapel, where it is likely secured by an under-lapel loop that keeps it in place without needing to damage the lapel with a pin.
Eight episodes later, Monroe is between a rock and a hard place thanks to his dishonest fiancee and his disloyal boss… but you’d never know it when you see him sporting that expertly worn boutonnière!
On his right pinky, Monroe wears a gold signet ring with an etched “S.” that likely signifies his adopted professional surname of Stahr (though it could also be his birth surname of Sternberg.)
How to Get the Look
Unlike his more old fashioned boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer), Matt Bomer’s Monroe Stahr reserves his full evening dress tailcoat and white tie for only the most formal occasions… instantly multiplying his elegance quotient.
Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer) dances with Kathleen Moore (Dominique McElligott) in the pilot episode of The Last Tycoon.
Black wool dress tailcoat with broad silk-faced peak lapels, 6-on-2 button double-breasted front, welted breast pocket, 3-button cuffs, and tails with two vestigal buttons
White pique double-breasted waistcoat with shawl collar, 4-on-2 button front, and welted hip pockets
Black wool formal pleated trousers with grosgrain side braid, “quarter top” on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
White formal shirt with detachable wing collar, marcella front bib, and single cuffs
Mother-of-pearl shirt studs
Mother-of-pearl cuff links
White pique bow tie
White silk suspenders with gold adjusters
Black patent leather opera pumps/court shoes with square black grosgrain bows
Black dress socks
White cotton short-sleeve undershirt
Gold monogrammed signet ring, right pinky
White carnation boutonnière
You can learn more about how to properly wear a boutonnière, using no less than 007 as an example, in a recent post featured on Matt Spaiser’s The Suits of James Bond.
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