Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown on Columbo (Episode 3.07: “Swan Song”)

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Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown, homicidal gospel singer

From Bakersfield to Los Angeles, Spring 1974

Series: Columbo
Episode: “Swan Song” (Episode 3.07)
Air Date: March 3, 1974
Director: Nicholas Colasanto
Credited by: Richard Levinson & William Link

Background

Johnny Cash was born 90 years ago today on February 26, 1932. Following more than a decade and a half of country hits, the Man in Black riffed on his own image as the villainous guest star in the penultimate episode of Columbo‘s third season, airing just a week after his 42nd birthday. (The episode marks the second of two that were directed by Nicholas Colasanto, who may be best known for his role as “Coach” on Cheers. The director gets a subtle nod when Cash’s character refers to his arranger, “Nick Solacanto”.)

Cash guest-starred as Tommy Brown, the charismatic leader of the Lost Soul Crusaders whose superstar fandom among teenage girls—not to mention Lieutenant Columbo’s wife, apparently—seems to be a little more than I’d expect to see from a gospel singer. Either way, Tommy’s mutual affection for young women is a little too much for his wife Edna (Ida Lupino), who confronts the man she dubs “a lustful sinner” with his criminal past, from his years in prison to the statutory rape of their young band member, Maryann (Bonnie Van Dyke).

This being a Columbo episode, we know right from the start that Tommy is the one who engineered the plane crash that took Edna’s and Maryann’s deaths in a burnin’ ring of fire, so the real entertainment comes from watching the cat-and-mouse between Cash—easing comfortably into one of the few affable antagonists on the series—and his new “little buddy,” the rumpled detective so doggedly on his trail who ultimately determines that “any man who can sing like that can’t be all bad.”

Though they get off to a rocky start, Columbo and Tommy Brown develop one of the less antagonistic acquaintanceships of the series as the homespun singer seems to be one of the few villains who doesn’t treat the scrappy detective with dismissive or overly smug contempt.

What’d He Wear?

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he’s a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who’ve never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said
About the road to happiness through love and charity
Why, you’d think he’s talking straight to you and me

— Johnny Cash, “Man in Black”, recorded 1971

Tommy Brown shares more than a few biographical details and characteristics with the real Johnny Cash, not just his stardom in the music world but also his past service in the Air Force and his fondness for black clothing. In fact, Tommy clearly “borrows” his wardrobe from the star’s own closet, as there are distinctive details that are consistent with what photo and video records show from this era in the Man in Black’s life.

At the start of the episode, Tommy wears a black knee-length belted trench coat as he arrives at the Bakersfield arena where his band will be performing that evening, though we never see the coat again after this scene.

At the start of the episode, Tommy arrives at the arena where he’ll soon be wowing an adoring crowd. The black trench coat only serves to enhance Cash’s “Man in Black” image.

Through the entire episode, Tommy cycles through identical long-sleeved shirts made of a black heavy twill, tailored to be worn untucked with short vents on each side. These shirts bear stylistic similarities to a stage-worn shirt from that same year, custom-made for Cash by Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors of North Hollywood, with more photos and details available at this Lelands auction listing.

The black shirts have a plain front (no placket) with six black sew-through buttons, including one at the neck that he always wears undone. The tall point collar is built to retrain its structure even when worn open-neck. The set-in sleeves are shirred at the shoulders and finished with two-button barrel cuffs. A horizontal yoke extends across the back, with two jetted pockets set-in on each side of the chest.

Tommy Brown’s distinctive black shirts were likely pulled right from Cash’s actual wardrobe.

Occasionally, Tommy adds a touch of color via a navy paisley-printed cotton bandanna, tied like a neckerchief under the collar of his shirt.

For a touch of country color, Brown occasionally ties a blue paisley kerchief around his neck, kept under his shirt collar.

Few can wear black shirt and pants together as authentically as Johnny Cash, and he brings this sartorial panache to Tommy’s wardrobe via his plain black flat front trousers, held up by a black leather belt that we only glimpse when the silver-toned buckle shines from his waist after he’s knocked from his stool during his first house party as a recent widow. Styled with side pockets, these trousers are tight through the leg but flare out at the bottoms, which are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Taking a tumble during his first soiree as a newly single man, Tommy’s belt buckle flashes from under his untucked shirt.

Apropos his cowboy attitude, Tommy wears a set of black leather plain-toe boots with calf-high shafts that close with brass-toned zippers along the inside. (As seen under his leg cast, he wears black socks, not an unexpected choice given the overall color scheme.)

As the boots are almost certainly Cash’s own footwear, they could have been made by Moresci like this pair of authentic Cash-worn ankle boots that was auctioned by Julien’s Live in December 2010.

Much like his feet inside them, Tommy Brown’s boots take some distress during the plane crash that claims his wife and mistress.

Tommy wears gold jewelry that was likely also Cash’s own personal items, including a gold necklace, an etched gold ring on the third finger of his right hand, and an elegant gold wristwatch worn on a flat gold bracelet.

This watch—which does not appear to be a Rolex, said to be Cash’s favorite watch brand—has a narrow gold case with a flat crown and a minimalist champagne-hued dial with no evident hour markers.

Tommy’s ring and watch flash from his hands as he makes his furtive final arrangements, pre-flight.

For the episode’s final act that finds Tommy preparing to go on tour, he pulls on a unique indigo-blue denim jacket that blends trucker jacket sensibilities with the cut of a chore coat. The upper portion resembles a traditional trucker jacket, with a shirt-style collar and five silver-toned rivet buttons up the front. Two set-in chest pockets are covered with a button-down pointed flap, the top of each aligning with the horizontal chest yoke. The tab sewn on the right side of the left pocket flap informs us that this was made by Levi’s, with the use of an orange tab denoting the venerated denim outfitter’s more offbeat items of the era. (You can still find ’70s vintage examples of these unique chore jackets from secondhand sites like Bidstitch and eBay.)

A pleated strip extends down from the yoke on each side to form the narrow top of the patch pocket positioned each hip, with a curved cutaway entry just above hand level. The waistband is a separate piece around the entire mid-section of the jacket, creating a belt-like effect. The back has a yoked piece that tapers out from the armholes down to the waistband, where two long double vents extend down to the hem, like a sports coat. The set-in sleeves are finished with a single-button barrel cuff, like a trucker jacket.

Tommy Brown’s denim chore jacket is no match for Columbo’s iconic rumpled raincoat.

What to Imbibe

Upon his second meeting with Lieutenant Columbo, Tommy offers “brandy or bourbon… you look more like a beer man,” before cracking open a bottle of something else for himself.

What to Listen to

Given Tommy Brown’s gospel metier, his rendition of Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” permeates the episode, but if you’re looking for something from the Man in Black’s classic catalog, Cash’s recording “Sunday Morning Coming Down”—penned by his pal and future co-Highwayman Kris Kristofferson—is also heard several times, first from the portable radio owned by Jeff (Douglas Dirkson) the airport mechanic and again performed live by “Tommy” at his party following his wife’s death.

The episode also marked the public debut of Cash’s signature black Martin D-35 guitar, made on request without the knowledge of the company president, C.F. Martin III. Martin had been against producing black guitars and didn’t know that his company had made one for the star until he saw it in this episode.

Whatever backlash Martin’s luthiers may have faced for crafting the one-of-a-kind guitar was likely soon quashed as the black D-35 became a staple of Cash’s public performances for two decades to follow, to the point that Martin now offers the all-black “D-35 Johnny Cash” as a tribute to the Man in Black.

Cash’s black Martin guitar gets plenty of airtime.

How to Get the Look

Johnny Cash and Ida Lupino on Columbo (Episode 3.07: “Swan Song”)

Few could follow the Man in Black’s signature style without looking like they’re trying too hard to crib from Johnny Cash.

• Black heavy twill tailored shirt with tall point collar, six-button plain front, two jetted chest pockets, side vents, and set-in sleeves with shirred shoulders and two-button barrel cuffs
• Navy-blue (with white paisley print) cotton neckerchief
• Black flat front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt with silver-toned buckle
• Black leather plain-toe boots with inside-zip calf-high shafts
• Black boot socks
• Indigo-blue denim half-belted chore jacket with shirt-style collar, five silver-toned rivet buttons, two flapped chest pockets, two curved-entry patch hip pockets, single-button cuffs, and long double vents
• Gold necklace
• Gold etched ring
• Gold dress watch with minimalist champagne dial on flat gold bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series. You can also read a fine review of the episode at Columbophile, which is an essential resource for fans of the show!

The Quote

You’re a sanctimonious hypocrite of a bible-spoutin’ blackmailer, and I’ve given you your last chance to be fair!

The post Johnny Cash on Columbo appeared first on BAMF Style.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021)

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Daniel Craig as James Bond, retired British secret agent

Jamaica to Cuba, Spring 2020

Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 00-7th of June! The weather continues warming up as we approach summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and I’m sure I won’t be alone in turning to James Bond for inspiration as I begin rotating summer style staples back to the front of my closet.

To dissect the phrasing of his literary creator, you could say James Bond had lived enough for two lifetimes by the time we find the globetrotting secret agent now retired toward the start of No Time to Die. Approximately five years have passed since he finally left the employ of MI6 and—again, like Ian Fleming—he’s settled into seaside solitude on the shores of Jamaica, the Caribbean island nation where Ian Fleming penned many of his Bond novels and where the film series itself began with most of the action in Dr. No.

“You fell so far off the grid we thought you must be dead,” his old boss M (Ralph Fiennes) would ultimately tell him, and that appears to be just how Bond likes it, isolated in a tropical paradise with little to do but fish, drink, and work through piles of books with adventurous titles like A Sailor’s Tales, The Complete Book of Sea Fishing, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Returning home from a day of fishing, the erstwhile 007 proves that his spy-dey senses haven’t totally abandoned him as the presence of cigar ash—particularly Delectado cigars, as favored by his old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright)—alerts him to a recent intruder. He showers, brushes his teeth, and stows his pistol into his desk before driving his Land Rover into Port Antonio, where he engineers a run-in with Felix and his politically appointed State Department crony Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), who eagerly describes himself as “a huge fan” of Bond… only to be disparaged as “the Book of Mormon” by his espionage hero.

“It’ll be like old times,” Leiter pitches Bond over drinks on the prospect of reteaming, having specifically selected the retired agent to assist them in finding the missing MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). Bond declines the task, choosing to relive his “old times” by going home with Nomi (Lashana Lynch), a mysterious woman he had encountered the club… only to learn that she’s a British agent who threatens him into keeping out of her way.

Nomi: A lot’s moved on since you retired, Commander Bond. Perhaps you didn’t notice?
Bond: No, can’t say I had! In my humble opinion, the world doesn’t change very much.

Evidently, Nomi hadn’t realized that the now-cynical Bond had turned down Leiter’s request and—perhaps hoping to insult him into complacency—she aims to further twist a knife into Bond’s ego by revealing a detail of her relationship with his former employer.

Nomi: By the way, I’m not just any old double-O… I’m 007. You probably thought they’d retire it.
Bond: It’s just a number.

Nomi’s attempt to keep Bond in retirement fails, and indeed may have energized his wish to accept Leiter’s request for a “favor” when he calls the next morning and announces his decision: “Felix, I’m in.” Not a minute is wasted as Bond returns to the helm of his handsome Spirit 46 sailing yacht to traverse the Cayman Trench to meet his contact, the charming young agent Paloma (Ana de Armas), in Santiago de Cuba.

What’d He Wear?

It was April 29, 2019, the day before I was scheduled to leave for a work conference in Toronto. Among the final packing, travel arrangements, and meeting plans, I had received the long-awaited news that filming commenced the day before on the movie we all still knew as “Bond 25″… and that there were already behind-the-scenes photos from the Port Antonio production available online!

Bond fans received a dual treat with the April 2019 paparazzi shots released, not only sharing the first full outfit from No Time to Die but also teasing Jeffrey Wright’s return as Felix Leiter.

Considering that it was Daniel Craig’s approach to Bond’s casual style that drew me into the world of James Bond, I was delighted to see that our first glimpses—albeit unofficial ones—had shown yet another accessible and dressed-down outfit. The instant and intense scrutiny of the army of better-informed Bond style fans than I meant it wasn’t long before the brands were identified. Okay, Tom Ford, Omega, those jibe, but… Sperry? Tommy Bahama? You mean the stuff from my [retired] dad’s closet? (And yes, my closet too.)

As we learned more about the context of No Time to Die, it became clear that we were finally seeing Mr. Bond in retirement and, like so many retirees, he’d abandoned the constraints of dressing for work by favoring the more leisurely style championed by brands like Tommy Bahama. Sure, there may be more luxurious ways to do it, but—in the cinematic closure of a characterization consistent with the more fatalist pathos of Ian Fleming’s James Bond—it feels appropriate see our erstwhile civil servant dressed in more affordable and worn-in garb.

The well-tailored suits and dinner jacket would come later (this is still a Bond movie, after all), but this sequence in Jamaica feels like a 21st century sartorial update for the James Bond whose author had described items like his line up of Sea Island cotton shirts and a houndstooth suit alternately described as “battered” and “yellowing”.

Perhaps most importantly, the style is not only consistent with Bond’s literary roots but also the less-polished 007 that Daniel Craig had portrayed in his debut, Casino Royale. In that first film, his youthful Bond dressed for a night of poker at the Bahamas’ One&Only Ocean Club in an untucked black-presenting button-up shirt rumored to be from the unsophisticated Alfani label found only at Macy’s. Fifteen years later, the aged and retired Bond echoes that look with yet another untucked black shirt, suggesting a personal predisposition for how he favors dressing in the Caribbean.

One of the first officially released images from No Time to Die depicted Bond’s final moments of true retirement before returning to active duty as a favor to a friend. (Photo by Nicola Dove)

Bringing the conversation back to those better-informed Bond style fans, I always recommend Matt Spaiser’s site Bond Suits as the first place to find the best analysis of 007’s attire, with plenty of other excellent sources from experts and enthusiasts including Iconic Alternatives, James Bond Lifestyle, and The Bond Experience continuing to provide in-depth insights into the clothing, accessories, and gadgets of Bond’s world and wardrobe.

The Black Silk Shirt

After cleaning himself in an outdoor shower, Bond pulls on a comfortable black long-sleeved shirt that flatters Daniel Craig’s athletic physique but still offers a breezy fit, helped by two short notched vents on the sides. Like many Bond fans, I had initially registered considerable surprise to learn that Bond’s shirt had been positively identified as the Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”, but the style appears consistent with Bond’s standards, with a solid color in a luxurious fabric rather than some of the louder prints that Tommy Bahama is known for (and which I, neither sophisticated nor a secret agent, feel freer to wear.)

Per its name, the shirt is made from a silk twill, light enough to wear comfortably in a warmer environment, with a subtle white top-stitch along the edges. In his Bond Suits post about the outfit, Matt Spaiser concluded that the shirt had likely been tailored and shortened by the costume department, in turn reducing the number of buttons up the plain front from eight to six. The shirt buttons up to the neck, but Bond keeps the top few buttons undone, and the way that the one-piece collar presents so well when worn open-neck echoes the “convertible collar” originally developed in the mid-20th century for military uniform shirts to be worn effectively both with and without ties.

Bond keeps the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, but knowing the model of shirt he wears informs us that the mitred cuffs are finished with two stacked buttons to close. The shirt also has a squared patch pocket over the left side of the breast that’s just large enough for him to slip his sunglasses after the sun goes down, providing that rare case of a movie character visibly stowing something in a pocket without it magically disappearing when not in use.

Even Bond has the self-awareness to realize that Nomi’s taciturn self-invitation into his bedroom stretches the bounds of believability, asking that she “cut to the chase?” and disparaging her sense of “professional courtesy” after the damage she caused to his Land Rover. Now that he’s home, he’s presumably taken his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket but you can see them there throughout the Port Antonio nightclub scene, including while he’s drinking with Leiter and Logan Ash.

Years after No Time to Die was released, the shirt has evidently remained a favorite of Daniel Craig in real life as the great Instagram account @whatsdanielwearing spotted the actor wearing it while greeting fans after a May 2022 performance of Macbeth in New York City.

Read more about this shirt at James Bond Lifestyle. You can also buy the shirt from Tommy Bahama, though one should heed David Zaritsky’s word of caution in his excellent vlog to consider a size smaller than you usually wear.

The Gray Jeans

Unless you count the bottom half of Roger Moore’s powder-blue leisure suit in Live and Let Die or the denim-like pants briefly seen as Timothy Dalton’s disguise in Licence to Kill, Daniel Craig had been the first James Bond actor to prominently wear jeans as part of a significant outfit on screen, incorporating cream-colored Levi’s and more traditional dark blue denim 7 for All Mankind jeans among his casual fits in the action-packed Quantum of Solace.

Blue denim will always be the traditional cloth associated with jeans, but as they’ve become an established casual staple over the last few decades, other colors and cloths have emerged as alternatives that may regarded as slightly dressier, if for no other reason than lacking the century-old associations with manual labor, gold prospecting, and rodeos.

In No Time to Die, Bond pulls on a pair of light gray cotton jeans with a small black tab on the upper right side seam that has identified them as Tom Ford, the luxury brand that provided much of Daniel Craig’s tailored and casual-wear since Quantum of Solace. Despite the premium connotations of Tom Ford, the jeans follow traditional denim design with five pockets—two curved in the front, an inset right-side coin pocket, and patch back pockets—and nickel rivets, as well as a button-fly. Although the jeans have belt loops, Bond doesn’t wear a belt, in keeping with his more relaxed lifestyle as well as the jeans’ slim fit preventing the likelihood of any wardrobe malfunctions.

After finding unexpected cigar ash, Bond takes the extra precaution of arming himself with his personal Browning Hi-Power that’s never far from his reach, including tucked into his Tom Ford jeans before he stores it in a drawer in his living room. The lower rise of his jeans reveals the top of his black underwear as he pulls his pistol from the front of his waistband.

Read more about these jeans at Iconic Alternatives and James Bond Lifestyle. You can still find similar Tom Ford jeans for sale from retailers like Farfetch, or you could follow the rest of retired Bond’s budget-conscious example by finding light gray Levi’s for a fraction of the price without sacrificing quality.

The Boat Shoes

Boat shoes, or deck shoes, were pioneered in 1935 by New England-based outdoorsman Paul Sperry, who took inspiration from his dog’s paws to develop the now-famous siped sole that gave wearers traction aboard slippery decks. Initially, the Sperry Top-Sider remained limited to those who most needed to maintain their footing at sea, but the popularity slowly crept inland, first among the U.S. Navy who negotiated the rights to manufacture shoes for Naval Academy sailors and among the Ivy League students at universities that encircled Sperry’s headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.

“When deck shoes appeared on the cover of Lisa Birnbach’s tongue-in-cheek The Official Preppy Handbook in 1980, it cemented their place in the upper-crust WASP wardrobe as the dressier alternative to sneakers,” wrote Josh Sims in Icons of Men’s Style. Even 007 couldn’t resist the fashionable comfort of deck shoes, which debuted in the franchise when Timothy Dalton sported a pair while jumping across Tangier rooftops in The Living Daylights.

Following that adventure, it took Bond’s retirement to bring deck shoes back into his wardrobe when Daniel Craig was photographed on the set of No Time to Die wearing a weathered pair of Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original Rivingston boat shoes with full-grain nubuck leather uppers in a shade that Sperry describes as “Titan tan” but I’d be more inclined to describe as light brown. Following traditional deck shoe styling, these have hand-sewn moccasin-stitched toes and a customizable 360° lacing system for each shoe’s single brown rawhide lace entwined through two sets of rust-proof gold eyelets. Cushioned with lambskin lining and a layer of memory foam, the shoes are attached to non-marking latex outsoles with Sperry’s signature Razor-Cut Wave-Siping system.

“Boat shoe? More like yacht shoe, if we’re talking swag-factor,” describes the Sperry website, making their case simpler as our first look at the retired Bond depicts him cruising in a Spirit 46 sailing yacht… albeit barefoot. And on that note, Sims concluded his piece on the deck shoe by referring to “the sock controversy… to wear, or not to wear—the argument has yet to be won.” For the action-packed sequence in The Living Daylights, Dalton’s Bond had indeed worn socks with his deck shoes, but—for the retired Bond’s moment of relative leisure in No Time to Die—Craig appears to wear his Sperrys sans socks.

Daniel Craig on the Jamaican set of No Time to Die in April 2019.

Read more about these shoes at From Tailors With Love and James Bond Lifestyle. The latter also makes a compelling case for the “non-Rivingston” Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original boat shoe as a viable alternative, and—as it isn’t the screen-worn model—the tan colorway tends to be more frequently available. Though the screen-worn color is currently out of stock (as of June 2022), you can still purchase the Original Rivingston model from Sperry.

The Omega Watch

The end of Bond’s employment with MI6 evidently doesn’t mean the end of his preference for wearing Omegas, as the new model specifically designed for No Time to Die debuted during the scenes of Bond’s Jamaican retirement.

“When working with Omega, we decided that a lightweight watch would be key for a military man like 007,” Daniel Craig explained in Omega’s official announcement. The resulting product is the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer (210.90.42.20.01.001), worn on a metal “shark mesh” or “Milanese” bracelet that closes through an adjustable-fit deployable clasp. The 42mm case and bracelet were made from a lightweight yet durable and anti-corrosive Grade 2 titanium that offer a tactical advantage given the resistance to reflecting light.

“I also suggested some vintage touches and colors to give the watch a unique edge,” Craig shared in the announcement, no doubt referring to the unique “tropical brown” unidirectional bezel and dial, made from a weight-saving aluminum and providing an attractive alternative to Bond’s usual black and blue dials. The hours are indicated by luminous non-numeric markers, with a “broad arrow” just above the 6:00 marker that James Bond Lifestyle reports was “used by British Armed Forces and visible on some vintage watches issued and owned by the British Ministry of Defense (especially the W.W.W. watches from the Second World War).”

The watch is powered by Omega’s self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8806 movement with a power reserve of 55 hours and resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss. In addition to the screw-in crown, the Seamaster has a helium escape valve extending from the side at the 10:00 position.

Navigating the open sea presents the perfect context for Bond’s newly designed Omega which, particularly one with enough vintage design to echo the aging character himself.

You can purchase the No Time to Die Omega from Amazon and Omega… or check out the more affordable alternatives for both the watch and the mesh bracelet identified by Iconic Alternatives.

The Sunglasses

Following phases wearing Persol and Tom Ford sunglasses, Craig’s Bond seems to have settled on Vuarnet as his preferred eyewear brand after wearing their glacier goggles in his previous film, Spectre. Bond rotates between two pairs of Vuarnets in No Time to Die, beginning with these Vuarnet Legend 06 sunglasses that he wears in Jamaica and—like so many other items from Bond’s closet—had already been a favorite of Daniel Craig’s in real life.

The frames come by their sleek vintage design honestly, as French star and style icon Alain Delon had popularized the Vuarnet 06 when he wore a black nylon pair in the 1969 thriller La Piscine. A half-century later and appropriately renamed the Legend, these Vuarnets again received the star treatment when Craig wore a brown-framed pair with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses in No Time to Die.

Bond’s Vuarnets battle the setting sun as he cruises into Port Antonio at the wheel of a vintage Land Rover.

You can still buy these glasses from Vuarnet, advertised as “James Bond’s choice.”

The Baseball Cap

For his cross-sea journey to Cuba, Bond pulls on what may be the least characteristic part of his costume: a dark blue cotton baseball cap. Plain baseball caps have recently emerged as an unlikely status symbol associated with wealth, an image popularized by shows like Succession, albeit the Roys favor expensive cashmere caps that “subtly telegraph their affluence”, according to Wall Street Journal‘s Jacob Gallagher.

With his wardrobe of expensive tailoring from Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, and Tom Ford, some may expect Craig’s Bond to favor $500 Loro Piana caps à la the insufferable Kendall Roy, our Tommy Bahama-wearing retiree instead opts for the considerably more practical American workwear brand Carhartt, albeit de-branded for the finished movie. An “empty” square of stitching on the front suggests where the costume team would have removed the prominent brown leather Carhartt brand patch.

Made from a washed dark navy cotton canvas, the Carhartt cap follows traditional baseball cap styling with six triangular panels, each with a small ventilation grommet and top-stitched where sewn together, and an adjustable back strap.

In his Bond Suits analysis, Matt Spaiser observes that his plain navy baseball cap makes the character look more American—specifically like Craig’s style idol Steve McQueen as he appeared while piloting a glider in The Thomas Crown Affair.

You can read more about the Carhartt baseball cap at James Bond Lifestyle, which has identified the Carhartt “Odessa” Cotton Canvas cap as the likely contender for the screen-used version.

To buy similar caps, you can get the same “Odessa” with the prominent front branding that was removed for Bond or, if you want to avoid modification, the “Visor” with a plain front but a smaller Carhartt-branded tab sewn onto the left side. SIS Training Gear also offers a “Jamaica Yacht Hat” that resembles Craig’s screen-worn Carhartt without the need to remove or color over any logos; get 10% off your SIS Training Gear purchase with discount code “BAMF”!

The Waxed Jacket

In this sequence featuring brands both new and old (to Bond, anyway), the former agent introduced yet another Bond heritage brand to the outfit when pulling on a Barbour jacket for his unofficial mission to Cuba. This has been identified as the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham” jacket, a trimmed update of the classic Barbour Beaufort jacket designed in collaboration with Daiki Suzuki’s Engineered Garments with a waist-length cut and snap-up front that reminds me of a heavier-duty coach’s jacket.

This jacket perfectly suits the context, consistently casual like the rest of his outfit and in a neutral navy color that doesn’t threaten to clash while also evoking Commander Bond’s naval background and expertise at sea. The unwashed waxed cotton material would make for a comfortably lightweight layer in the tropical climate while still providing enough water resistance that would be an asset while sailing across the western Caribbean.

Like traditional deck jackets and other outerwear intended to resist the elements, this Barbour jacket has a wide storm-flap fly that fastens with five blue-finished snaps over a two-way brass-zipper with a circle pull. A substantial throat latch hangs under the left leaf of the wide collar, which closes over the neck by connecting to an exposed snap post on the right leaf should the wearer turn up his collar.

The full cut and raglan sleeves, left plain at the cuffs, offer Bond a substantial range of movement while navigating his boat. In addition to the wide-welted slash pockets, a large game pocket extends across the lower back with a vertical zip-entry on each side.

With his Barbour jacket now worn open, Bond meets his contact Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Santiago de Cuba, kicking off what the movie’s fans and detractors alike seem to agree would be a highlight of No Time to Die.

The “Graham” jacket has been discontinued (but still occasionally appearing on places like eBay), but—as of June 2022—the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Covert” jacket has generally adopted the same styling and can be purchased from Farfetch and MR PORTER.

You can learn more about the jacket from The Bond Experience, Iconic Alternatives, and James Bond Lifestyle.

The Gun

Dating back to many Ian Fleming novels and the first time Sean Connery introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond,” the Walther PPK had been well-established as 007’s duty weapon to the point that even many unfamiliar with firearms could identify this German-designed handgun as Bond’s preference. Originally chambered for the .32 ACP cartridge, the Daniel Craig characterization updated the compact pistol for a higher-caliber world by arming 007 with the slightly more powerful .380 ACP ammunition and the occasional modification of a PPK/S with a palm-print safety. Of course, once Bond is no longer in MI6’s service, he can no longer rely on the agency to equip him with firearms.

When Bond responds to a possible intruder in No Time to Die by arming himself with a Browning Hi-Power, we can assume that this is his personal pistol, perhaps having been stashed in a safe-house or privately purchased once MI6 demanded he hand in his latest Walther.  “Bond is a man of heritage, of classics, and of familiarity,” explained my friend Caleb Daniels, who manages the Commando Bond website and Instagram. “A retired 007, whether a ‘former SAS type’ or SBS, would have been very familiar with this firearm. It only fits that when reaching for a dedicated home defense firearm, he would reach for a functional classic like the Hi-Power.”

The Hi-Power had long been the designated service pistol of the British military, beginning with the 1950s when it was designated the L9 as the replacement for the aging Webley and Enfield revolvers; an upgraded Hi-Power was re-designated L9A1 during the following decade.

With his service record as a Commander in the Royal Navy and possibly the Special Boat Service (SBS), Bond would have been intricately familiar with the Hi-Power. The Walther PPK was a suitable choice when Bond needed a pistol that could be easily concealed, but his lifestyle in Jamaica would have reduced his armament needs to something reliable that he wouldn’t need to worry as much about carrying. With its double-stack magazine loaded with 9mm ammunition, the hardy Hi-Power would have been the perfect choice for his updated needs.

Caleb shared more about the specific Hi-Power that Bond wields on screen:

While we only see it for the briefest of instances, we can see that Bond’s pistol is interesting, as it is outfitted with a “commander”-style ring hammer and plastic grips which are typically found on MKIII Hi-Powers. This blending of old and new may just be a prop department accident, but I think it speaks well to Bond’s personal preferences. Ring hammers are popular on the Hi-Power platform as they prevent the dreaded hammer bit caused by the pistol’s short beavertail and aggressively sharp hammer. The newer production grips are a jet black polymer, and are detailed with a diamond stipple pattern and arched finger rests.

Bond, in his supreme confidence, carries this pistol inside the waistband at the appendix position (AIWB) without a holster or belt, for the briefest of moments, and then proceeds to lock it away in a concealed drawer prior to leaving his home to meet Felix Leiter. While I was disappointed to see Bond carry in such a way, it seems to have been just to briefly conceal the firearm, as he had not identified his mystery visitor as of yet, to provide an element of surprise if needed.

The curvature on the grips suggest the Mark III variant, which was introduced in 1988, though Bond’s Hi-Power could just be an older model modified with Mark III grips.

As its name implies, the Browning Hi-Power had been based on designs by firearms pioneer John Moses Browning in response to French military criteria, though Browning died in 1926, nearly a decade before the pistol was completed. It wasn’t until 1935 when his protégé Dieudonne Saive completed the design and Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN) produced the first P-35 Grande Puissance, or “Hi-Power”, named after its then unprecedented 13-round magazine capacity. Given that the pistol was chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, the Hi-Power was a precursor to what firearm writers would eventually dub the “Wonder Nine”, though this term would be more traditionally applied to double-action/single-action (DA/SA) pistols that appeared decades later.

With its single-action trigger and short recoil operation, the Hi-Power echoed the functionality of Browning’s iconic 1911 pistol design, though even the designer had to work outside of that earlier design since he had sold the 1911 rights exclusively to Colt. Despite this obstacle, the Hi-Power has ultimately emerged as a well-regarded pistol in its own right and has been continuously produced by FN Herstal since 1935, aside from a short four-year hiatus when production ended in 2018, only to be resumed this year as the modified “FN High-Power”.

Through its long lifespan, the Hi-Power had also undergone the cosmetic and functional updates one would expect of a nearly century-old design, including the Mark III variant introduced in 1988. Daniel Craig had previously handled another Browning Hi-Power as Bond when, in Casino Royale, he grabbed a Mark III from an embassy official’s desk in Madagascar.

Caleb concluded his points to me by remarking on the artistic parallels of this armament, pointing out that “Bond liberates the pistol in Casino Royale from the desk drawer of the embassy worker attempting to draw it on him, and, in No Time to Die, he returns it to a drawer that is filmed and styled suspiciously similarly. It’s such a small detail—the angle of the camera and the light on the gun as it rests in the drawer—but it feels right to see it at both the beginning and the end of the explosive and emotional tenure of Daniel Craig’s James Bond, 007.”

Read more about the firearms of No Time to Die at IMFDB.

The Vehicle

Although we know he keeps access to at least one Aston Martin stashed away overseas, Bond embraces the rugged nature of his off-the-grid lifestyle in a weathered blue 1977 Land Rover Series III, a canvas-roofed SUV designed for off-roading.

In addition to the aforementioned ’85 Aston Martin, the Land Rover could be considered an additional—if less obvious—vehicular flashback to The Living Daylights, in which Timothy Dalton’s James Bond clung to the canvas roof of an OD Landy full of assassins before sending it off the side of the Rock of Gibraltar.

Bond nimbly handles his open-topped vintage Land Rover as he powers into Port Antonio.

The Series III was the final and most-produced Land Rover generation, with more than 440,000 vehicles manufactured from 1971 to 1985, the last year for “series” Land Rovers as the brand continued more widely expanding its lineup. Two- and four-door models were produced on both 88″ (short wheelbase) and 109″ (long wheelbase) platforms, and Mr. Bond drives an SWB two-door model produced in 1977, right in the middle of the Series III run.

Among these dimensional options, each “series” Land Rover also offered both diesel and petrol engines, though I suspect Bond would have be driving the latter, generating 62 horsepower from its 2.25-liter Rover inline-four engine. Unlike his Aston Martins, Land Rovers weren’t intended to be high-performance vehicles, instead gaining a well-earned reputation for durability and longevity as the first mass-produced four-wheel-drive vehicles for civilian usage.

Bond drives his blue 1977 Land Rover Series III through Jamaica.

1977 Land Rover Series III (SWB)

Body Style: 2-door off-road vehicle

Layout: front-engine, four-wheel-drive (4WD)

Engine: 193.4 cu. in. (2.25 L) Rover OHV I4

Power: 70 hp (52 kW; 71 PS) @ 4000 RPM

Torque: 119 lb·ft (161 N·m) @ 1500 RPM

Transmission: 4-speed manual

Wheelbase: 88 inches (2235 mm)

Length: 142.4 inches (3617 mm)

Width: 66 inches (1676 mm)

Height: 77.5 inches (1968 mm)

Read more about this Land Rover at James Bond Lifestyle and IMCDB.

What to Imbibe

Skyfall established Heineken beer as Bond’s retirement beverage of choice, seen again in No Time to Die as he enjoys a round of the distinctive Dutch pale lager with Felix Leiter and Logan Ash… arguably enjoying the beer more than the latter’s sycophantic company.

The last time we saw Bond drinking Heineken, he was “enjoying death” in self-exile in Skyfall. One could argue he’d enjoy actual death more than a conversation with Logan Ash.

Either the prospect of returning to active service or Ash’s excessive grinning sends Bond back to hard liquor, so he sidles up to the bar and orders simply “Scotch,” though we don’t see what the bartender pours him.

Returning home with Nomi, he prepares a drink of Blackwell Black and Gold dark rum, neat. Presumably, he was also going to pour one for his new houseguest, but she had sauntered into the bedroom before he could even produce a second rocks glass for her. You can read more about this rum at James Bond Lifestyle, which quotes founder Chris Blackwell explaining that “James Bond has been a big part of my life, from my childhood lunches with Ian Fleming at GoldenEye to being a location scout on the first movie, Dr. No. It was a pleasure working alongside the No Time To Die production team in Jamaica providing our iconic rum for the set in James Bond’s house, which has made this very special relationship come full circle. This is a rum that celebrates Jamaica, my friendships, and also my family legacy.”

Bond reaches for the Blackwell rum, identifiable by the lowercase “b” on the label around the bottle’s neck.

How to Get the Look

Daniel Craig as James Bond during production of No Time to Die (2021)

James Bond illustrates how even a secret agent dresses both affordably and comfortably in retirement, remaining true to his character’s overall sartorial philosophy… if understandably less polished.

• Navy-blue unwashed waxed cotton waist-length jacket with large collar, snap-closed throat latch, storm flap with 5-snap/zip fly, raglan sleeves with plain cuffs, slash side pockets, and zip-entry back game pocket
  • Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham Jacket”
• Black lightweight silk twill long-sleeved shirt with convertible collar, breast pocket, 6-button plain front, 2-button mitred cuffs, and short side vents
  • Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”
• Light gray cotton five-pocket jeans
  • Tom Ford “Slim-Fit Selvedge Jeans”
• Brown full-grain nubuck leather two-eyelet moc-toe boat shoes
  • Sperry “Gold Cup Authentic Original Rivingston”
• Dark navy washed cotton canvas baseball cap
  • Carhartt “Odessa” Cotton Canvas Cap
  • SIS Training Gear “Jamaica Yacht Hat”
• Vuarnet Legend 06 brown nylon-framed sunglasses with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses
• Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 210.90.42.20.01.001 titanium 42mm-cased self-winding watch with “tropical brown” aluminum dial and rotating bezel on titanium mesh bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. I also recommend watching David Zaritsky’s exclusive interview with Daniel Craig for The Bond Experience, discussing Bond style, No Time to Die, and more!

The Quote

You didn’t get the memo. I’m retired.

The post No Time to Die: Retired Bond’s Caribbean Casual Style appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Vitals

Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf, narcissistic profligate playboy

Italy, Summer 1958

Film: The Talented Mr. Ripley
Release Date: December 25, 1999
Director: Anthony Minghella
Costume Design: Ann Roth & Gary Jones

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Last year around this time, I finally read Patricia Highsmith’s thriller novel The Talented Mr. Ripley that provided the source material for two stylish adaptations: the lush French production Purple Noon (Plein soleil) released in 1960 and Anthony Minghella’s more faithful The Talented Mr. Ripley released on Christmas 1999.

The central drama follows a trio of American jet-setters cavorting on Italy’s scenic Amalfi Coast: spendthrift playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), his charming on-and-off girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), and their mysterious companion Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), who seems to have taken an obsessive interest in Dickie.

At first, Dickie seems no more than mildly annoyed by the newcomer, loosened somewhat when he and Marge are entertained by Tom’s “uncanny” ability to impersonate and mimic his own father.

Marge: [Tom] made me laugh so hard I almost got a nose bleed!
Dickie: Is that good?
Marge: Shut up.

Weeks of constant companionship, homoerotic baths, and awkward fashion swaps deteriorate relations among the trio, which come to a head as Dickie rents a boat with Tom and sails it off the Sanremo coast, where he intends to move both to ditch Tom, whom Dickie declares can be “a leech” and—even worse—”quite boring.” As Dickie states:

I really, really do not want to be on this boat with you.

Fed up, Tom takes the opportunity to throw it all back in Dickie’s face… literally. With an oar.

What’d He Wear?

After their first official meeting on the beach (filmed at Bagno Antonio in Ischia), Dickie again encounters Tom lunching with Marge in his absence. Dickie wears a laidback but eye-catching wardrobe of black shirt and white trousers, communicating his simpler approach to life than the more complex Tom.

For this lunch as well as their last day together on that fateful boat trip, Dickie sports the same unique black short-sleeved shirt, worn only partially buttoned and untucked with a pair of off-white trousers on both occasions. This initial appearance clearly illustrates the contrast between the easygoing Dickie and the buttoned-up Tom in his Ivy garb, while comparing their outfits on the boat shows just how extensively Tom has been influenced by Dickie, right down to his new clothing.

Dickie’s black sport shirt is softly constructed from a narrowly ribbed cloth, so lightweight that it appears almost sheer under the Mediterranean sun. The shirt has at least six black sew-through buttons up the front, ostensibly to be fastened up to the neck, and a patch pocket over the left breast.

Dickie Greenleaf eyes the newcomer with some suspicion.

Although costume designers Ann Roth and Gary Jones worked with John Tudor in New York to make Dickie’s clothing, shirts like this are unlike almost anything produced by American manufacturers of the era and accurately reflect what someone like Dickie would have worn to comfortably show off while living la dolce vita in the more fashion-forward Europe.

Dickie offsets the darkness of the shirt by rotating it against his favorite white trousers, held up by a black leather Gucci belt identified by its telltale silver “G”-logo buckle. These provide an appropriately maritime cast to his style at sea, as he kicks back in a pair of white cotton double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, back pockets, and turn-ups that he insouciantly self-cuffs even higher on each leg.

Tom has clearly been influenced by Dickie’s sense of style, now wearing silky sport shirts rather than the Ivy-style OCBDs from his arrival.

Having worn white leather moc-toe loafers in the city, the seagoing Dickie pulls on his more casual sneakers with white canvas uppers, flat white woven laces, and wide white rubber soles. Right down to the navy foxing stripe banded around the top of each rubber outsole, these oxford-laced sneakers resemble the classic Sperry Cloud CVO Deck Sneakers.

When we pan over the blood-stained shoes that he kicked off during the murder, we can spy dark blue insoles with double sets of white stripes on each side flanking the letter “E”—presumably the last letter of the manufacturer’s name—as well as the flattened heels that allow Dickie to wear them like slip-on clogs.

I’ve seen Sperry line some of their sneakers with striped insoles, though I don’t recognize this particular stripe arrangement. (And it’s possible that the errant “E” follows an “SP” and preceded an “RRY” that was removed by the costume team.)

Dickie often takes to the water in a unique deck jacket made of white duck, with an irregular stepped closure consisting of a series of six oversized grommets and hooks. This closure system may have been inspired by the U.S. Navy implementing “hook” deck jackets in 1943 to replace the earlier models with zippers that were often rendered inoperable by freezing rain or corrosive salt water.

The front of Dickie’s hip-length jacket is split into a straight, funnel-like top portion that can fold down like a traditional collar and a more dramatic asymmetrical flap that tapers from a sharp corner on the right side of the chest down to the hem. Both these top and lower portions are each rigged with three nickel-finished grommets that coordinate to matching hooks on the right side of the jacket. The jacket also has a horizontal-zip set-in pocket over the left breast and set-in sleeves that are finished with short vents at each cuff.

Once the duo get acclimated in the boat, Dickie takes off his jacket, thus leaving it clean enough for Tom to pull on upon reaching dry land immediately after the murder… signaling that his programmatic takeover of Dickie’s identity has already begun.

Dickie sports a gold ring on each hand, with a double-ridged band on the middle finger of his right hand and a flashier ring with a green stone gleaming from his left pinky. Dickie describes the latter as a gift from Marge that he “had to promise—capital P—never to take it off.”

Dickie wears his stainless steel watch that follows a retro design suggesting Bulova, Hamilton, Longines, or Wittenauer, though BAMF Style reader Scott has shared a Spotern link concluding that Dickie likely wears an inexpensive Japanese-made Swanson wristwatch. The vintage-inspired timepiece has a round silver dial detailed with a diamond at the 12 o’clock position and Arabic numerals marking the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock hours. Dickie wears it on a mesh-like “Milanese” bracelet that closes with a single-prong buckle over his left wrist.

“My job was to show this very well-off boy, Dickie, in Europe, on a very strict allowance, but with a sensational lifestyle,” costume designer Ann Roth explained to The Rake. “I had him in a jacket and some shorts, or a jacket and some linen trousers, and that jacket had to reflect a very rich background. And if he had one or two made in Rome, it had to look that way.”

When taking Tom into town after lunch, Dickie debuts the dark navy dupioni silk blazer that he would later wear with a pork-pie hat, two-toned shoes, and striped tie during their trip to Rome. The single-breasted jacket has straight peak lapels, three silver-finished shank buttons, a welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, double vents, and three cuff buttons.

Dickie shows Tom around Mongibello.

What to Imbibe

When Tom meets the couple, he shares a concern that he’s intruding until Dickie abruptly asks: “Can you mix a martini?” “Sure,” Tom replies, but Marge breathes a sigh and states, “I mix a fabulous martini,” leaving the two “classmates” to catch up. “Everybody should have one talent,” Dickie jokes about Marge’s mixological abilities.

Weeks later, we finally see Dickie drinking one of Marge’s martinis, garnished with a single olive, as he and Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman) otherwise ignore both Marge and an increasingly bitter Tom on a sailing trip off Mongibello.

In happier times—for Dickie, rather than Tom—Dickie enjoys a Marge-made martini with his fellow jazz hound Freddie Miles.

Patricia Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, chronicled frequently enjoying martinis herself, with at least two mentions in her diaries of drinking seven martinis in one sitting. “I wonder if any moment surpasses that of the second martini at lunch, when the waiters are attentive, when all life, the future, the world seems good and gilded (it matters not at all whom one is with, male or female, yes or no),” she wrote.

How to Get the Look

Jude Law and Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Dickie Greenleaf’s wardrobe has come to exemplify resort fashion, blending the elegance of a bygone era with an insouciant nonchalance illustrated by the way he wears his clothing, only partially buttoning up his untucked black ribbed sport shirt, self-cuffing the bottoms of his already-cuffed white linen slacks, and stepping down the heels of his worn-in white sneakers to transform them into slip-ons.

• Black narrowly ribbed short-sleeve button-up sport shirt with patch-style breast pocket
• White linen double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather Gucci belt with silver-toned “G”-logo buckle
• White canvas oxford-laced CVO-style deck sneakers with navy foxing stripes and white rubber outsoles
• Steel wristwatch with silver dial on silver Milanese mesh bracelet
• Gold double-ridged ring
• Gold signet pinky ring with green stone

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and read Patricia Highsmith’s novel.

Quote

I know, I’m late. I’m a swine.

The post The Talented Mr. Ripley: Dickie’s Black and White at Sea appeared first on BAMF Style.

Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine in A Star is Born (2018)

Vitals

Bradley Cooper as Jackson Maine, charismatic country-rock star

Los Angeles, Spring 2017

Film: A Star is Born
Release Date: October 5, 2018
Director: Bradley Cooper
Costume Designer: Erin Benach

Background

My friend @thestyleisnotenough recently recommended writing about Bradley Cooper’s style in his directorial debut A Star is Born, in which he starred as Jackson Maine, a rock star with an outlaw country image that belies his self-esteem and substance abuse issues.

Premiering four years ago during the Venice Film Festival, this Oscar-nominated drama was the fourth major cinematic adaptation of the story, which had been previously filmed in 1937, 1954, and 1976. The two earlier versions focused on the movies, while the 1976 and 2018 adaptations shifted to the music industry, as evident from the opening sequence that follows the charismatic yet self-destructive Jack out onto the stage to perform the original song “Black Eyes”.

Jack’s ride home after the Friday night concert gets slowed by traffic so, craving a drink, he has his driver find him a spot to wait it out, the first available establishment being a drag bar where he discovers Ally (Lady Gaga) singing “La vie en rose”, a song that Cooper reportedly insisted be included after the actor was wowed by Gaga’s rendition at a cancer benefit in real life. Smitten with both the performer and her talents, Jack takes Ally out for another drink at a “cop bar”, where her brawl with an aggressive fan of Jack’s results in a late-night run for frozen veggies, gauze tape, and cheese curls… the latter unrelated to healing Ally’s busted hand.

After dropping her off early the next morning—and we all remember the “I just wanted to take another look at you” memes—Jack invites Ally to his show at the Greek Theatre, where he invites her out on stage to introduce her singing/songwriting talents to the world, kickstarting their personal and professional relationship.

What’d He Wear?

Jackson Maine’s costumes ring with as much authenticity as Bradley Cooper’s performance, presenting a rock star with a relatively modest and limited sense of dress, rooted in hardy workwear traditions as much as his bluesy, blue-collar sound. Costume designer Erin Benach approached Jack’s wardrobe as a “uniform” from which he would rarely deviate. “We loved the idea that Jack would have a very small closet and a silhouette he rarely ventures out of,” Benach explained to Magazine Michele Franzese Moda. “He’s not trying to impress anyone anymore. You can almost imagine he doesn’t think about his clothing, that he has three pairs of pants, four shirts, one jacket, and an air of nonchalance about him. You’ll never see him picking out his clothes.”

A staple of Jack’s wardrobe is a tan cotton twill trucker jacket, specifically made for the production by Runabout Goods but presented with gently fraying edges and enough distress to suggest that it’s a well-worn favorite from his closet.

Jack typically reserves his tan canvas jacket for his off-stage life—as the construction would likely limit his movement during performances—but he keeps it on for the impromptu intimacy of a late-night request while waiting for Ally in the drag bar.

Runabout Goods appropriately markets their commercially available version as the Starborn Jacket, made from the same rinsed 12-ounce tan duck canvas in a style that “pays tribute to classic ’50s and ’60s single-pleat jackets produced by the likes of Foremost and Ranchcraft.” Unlike Lee and Levi’s trucker jackets of the era, Foremost and Ranchcraft typically designed their waist-length work jackets with extra hand pockets that brought the grand total of external pockets to four.

Jack’s tan jacket has two patch pockets over the chest, each with a pointed bottom and a rectangular flap that closes through a single button, plus a pen slot above the top of the left pocket flap. In addition, the aforementioned hand pockets have slanted set-in welted entries. Five brass-finished rivet buttons close up the front, echoing the same buttons that close the chest pocket flaps and the squared cuffs. (The buttons are finished with “RISING SUN | L.A., CALIF.” reflecting the company’s original name before its founder Mike Hodis rebranded the brand as Runabout Goods.)

The bright florescent lighting of the Super A brings out every detail of Jack’s canvas trucker jacket.

The center is flanked on each side by a single forward-facing pleat, fastened by three brass tacks that align with the buttons and buttonholes. The sleeves are set-in, with horizontal yokes across the front and back. (Unlike the commercially available Starborn Jacket, Cooper’s screen-worn jacket lacks any buckle-strap side-adjusters.)

In addition to his first-aid items to treat Ally’s hand, Jack satiates one of his less self-destructive cravings.

Shop the jacket: Runabout Goods Starborn Jacket in tan canvas (Runabout Goods, $295)

Jack seems to favor black shirts and pants, a nod to his country rock forebears like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Roy Orbison, the latter of whom would be memorably featured in A Star is Born when a drug-hazed Jack would perform in a tribute to the Big O at the Grammys.

“He had his performance shirt,” explained Erin Benach in an interview with Jazz Tangcay for Awards Daily. “I found a button-down shirt from the ’70s that I loved, but I didn’t like the collar so I changed that. I changed the body a bit. It was a super-curated look. It looks like we went to a store and bought it, but it was all handmade.”

Jack rotates through a collection of mostly identical black shirts, textured with a tonal graph check that presents a subtle sheen under the bright stage lights. He exclusively wears these long-sleeved shirts untucked, letting the long rounded shirt-tails flare out under the cropped jacket hem. These shirts are designed with a point collar, breast pocket, button cuffs, and a plain (no placket) front that Jack typically wears with the top few buttons undone.

Production photo by Clay Enos.

His habit of wearing his shirts untucked with the tails hanging over the back prevent us from discerning much detail of Jack’s usual black jeans from what we see on screen, as the shirt hem covers any potentially telltale detailing on the back pockets. (For what it’s worth, Jack’s brother and manager Bobby appears to wear black Wrangler jeans, as evident by the brand’s signature tan leather patch over the back-right pocket.)

They appear to be designed with the standard five-pocket design—two curved front pockets with a set-in watch pocket on the right, plus two back pockets—and are held up with a wide dark brown leather belt fastened through a thick brass-finished single-prong buckle.

A familiar scene on tour for the Maine brothers as Bobby (Sam Elliott) places a passed-out Jack in bed. Note the distinctive Wrangler patch on the back of Bobby’s black jeans.

Jack’s brown leather boots are styled with buckled straps over the boots characteristic of the classic engineering boots that grew popular among motorcyclists in mid-century, a style that the bona fide biker Jack would have come by honestly. As we see after Bobby puts him to bed, Jack wears plain black boot socks, which cover his shins comfortably enough under the calf-high rise of the boots. (“You know, I can never get used to that… the idea of not wearing socks,” Jack quips to Ally’s new manager Rez, who wears short “female insert” no-show socks with his suede oxfords.)

The boots have brown full-grain leather uppers and Goodyear-welted hard leather soles with honeycomb-textured tread.

The distinctive buckled straps of Jack’s engineer boots are seen as he gets close to Ally in the Super A parking lot as seen in this behind-the-scenes photo credited to W. Blanco (Premiere/BACKGRID), depicting a scene from the film that had been initially interpreted as Lady Gaga nursing a genuine on-set injury in a Daily Mail article that ran prior to the film’s release.

Erin Benach joked with Awards Daily that the process for finding Jackson’s hat involved trying on “150 cowboy hats a million and two times… you would laugh at us if you knew how many times we tried it on. We built them after we found them. We were just trying them on. It’s not just about the head and the fit.”

Unlike some country performers who incorporate cowboy hats as part of their on-stage image, Jack typically reserves his for off-stage, reinforcing the authenticity of his good ol’ boy persona. Made of dark brown felt with very little pinch to the crown, Jack’s wide-brimmed hat has a narrow golden tan woven leather band.

While rehearsing for his show at the Greek, Jack wears a pair of Persol PO0714 sunglasses, designed with a center-folding frame and made famous by the “King of Cool” himself, Steve McQueen. Jack’s Persols are color code 24/31, indicating the “Havana” tortoise frames and crystal green lenses.

While the shirt is more subdued, the degree to which it’s unbuttoned—plus the sunglasses and guitar—remind me of George Harrison’s Cloud Nine album cover.

Shop the sunglasses: Persol PO0714, color code 24/31 (Amazon, $335; Sunglass Hut, $335)

Jack wears a silver-chain necklace with a silver rectangular pendant with a relief of what appears to be a trio of flowers growing out of a single stem. Jack also added a plain gold ring to the chain, which collects around the pendant.

As Jack typically wears button-up shirts, he keeps the necklaces tucked under them against his chest but a brief vignette of Jack and Ally stepping off of the tour bus depicts him wearing a plain heathered gray cotton T-shirt under his tan trucker jacket, with his necklace worn over it.

Production photo of Jack and Ally on tour.

Jack does eventually rotate between several other jackets of similar colors or styles, including a black denim trucker jacket and a tan suede snap-front shirt-jacket with a large ’70s-style collar, but this tan trucker jacket reappears toward the end when Jack returns home and reunites with Ally after his stint in rehab.

What to Imbibe

“You think maybe he drinks a bit much?” Bobby quips after he passes out one night in his hotel room. Admittedly, Jackson Maine does not set a great example when seeking how to imbibe, but his drink of choice appears to be “gin on the rocks” as he orders at the drag bar. He’s often seen pouring from a squared bottle, and he often drinks it with a lime such as seen at the Short Stop, the “cop bar” near Dodger Stadium where he takes Ally.

How to Get the Look

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga on the set of A Star is Born (2018)

There’s nothing shallow about it: Jackson Maine’s lived-in style is as weathered as its wearer—if perhaps more ultimately resilient. His cowboy hat and black shirt and jeans reflect his outlaw country heritage, layered under a functional tan trucker jacket and completed with a pair of engineer boots popular among motorcyclists like Jack himself.

• Tan canvas trucker jacket with front and back yokes, five brass rivet buttons, tack-fastened forward-facing front pleats, two pointed chest pockets with squared button-down flaps, two slanted set-in welted hand pockets, and squared button cuffs
• Black tonal graph-check shirt with point collar, plain front, breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Black denim jeans
• Dark brown leather belt with heavy brass single-prong buckle
• Brown leather engineer boots with buckle-straps
• Black boot socks
• Dark brown felt cowboy hat with narrow woven tan leather band
• Persol PO0714 Havana tortoise-framed folding sunglasses with crystal green lenses
• Silver necklace with silver pendant and gold ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie as well as its Grammy-winning soundtrack.

As a country rock star brimming with charisma, if slightly aloof—particularly when his senses are dulled by substances—Jackson Maine’s demeanor, hard partying, and outlaw country image and music style reminded of a modern-day Waylon Jennings.

Waylon had been a contemporary and frequent bandmate of Kris Kristofferson, who portrayed the lead in the 1976 version of A Star is Born. Additionally, the 2018 version includes several references to another Waylon contemporary and friend: Willie Nelson, both as Bobby’s new boss and via the appearance of his son Lukas as a member of Jack’s band, a nod to Lukas having taught and coached Cooper in his role.

For an additional connection, Waylon and his wife Jessi Colter somewhat lived a real-life version of the on-screen drama, albeit with a thankfully happier ending after Waylon finally kicked his extensive drug habit in the ’80s. Waylon and Jessi had married in 1969, a year before she released her debut record album. The title of that album? A Country Star is Born.

The Quote

If there’s one reason we’re supposed to be here, it’s to say something so people wanna hear it.

The post A Star is Born: Bradley Cooper’s Tan Trucker Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

Vitals

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley, country rock guitarist and singer

Shreveport, Louisiana, January 1955

Film: Elvis
Release Date: June 23, 2022
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin
Tailor: Gloria Bava

Background

Elvis Presley was born 88 years ago today on January 8, 1935. Little introduction is needed for the King of Rock and Roll, who remains one of the most significant cultural figures of the last century even nearly 50 years after this death. Several movies have been made about Presley’s life and musical career, the most recent being the highly publicized Elvis, released last year with an astounding and immersive lead performance by Austin Butler that has been touted as a likely contender for an Academy Award.

Some audiences were polarized by director and co-writer Baz Lurhmann’s signature spectacle or by Tom Hanks playing Presley’s financially abusive manager Colonel Tom Parker like a bloated Bond villain (though others have argued this is exactly who Parker was), but Austin Butler’s portrayal of the King has been almost universally acclaimed, including praise from Presley’s wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie. An Instagram post from the latter commended how Butler “channeled and embodied my father’s heart and soul beautifully. In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully.”

Elvis‘ narrative focuses most directly on the tense relationship between the singer and Colonel Tom, a shady promoter whom we meet while representing tired country acts like Hank Snow (David Wenham) until Snow’s own son Jimmie Rodgers Snow (Kodi Smit-McPhee) excitedly plays Elvis’ first hit single, “That’s All Right”. The opportunistic Parker knows a gold mine when he hears it and sets out to catch Presley’s upcoming performance at KWKH radio’s “Louisiana Hayride”, which biographer Peter Guralnick describes as “the [Grand Ole] Opry’s more innovative rival in Shreveport.”

Presley had started performing at the Hayride in October 1954, just two weeks after his Opry debut, though Elvis includes some of the circumstances from his first appearance into the January 21, 1955 show depicted in Elvis where Parker first laid eyes on the singer in person and observes the sensational effect he and his trademark wiggle has on the crowd in attendance—specifically its younger female audience and the “feelings they were not sure they should enjoy.”

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Catherine Martin explained in a call with Financial Times that, of the approximately 93 costume changes that Austin Butler went through as Elvis, the most substantial challenge was “finding that 1950s look that encapsulated Elvis’ rebelliousness and sexuality at that watershed moment—and then allowing Austin’s performance to fit his version of Elvis, rather than slavishly copying the originals.”

By the film’s chronology, Butler’s Elvis first takes the stage at the Louisiana Hayride in a suit that’s predominantly hot pink, a power color for the star who long idolized a pink Cadillac as a mark of success and which stands out among the drabber traditional country duds of his fellow musicians and presenters.

It has been well-documented that, especially in these early years of his career, the real Elvis Presley had favored pink and black clothing. This was mentioned by my friend Gary Wells, who published a thoughtful review of Elvis on his excellent blog Vintage Leisure by SoulRide and also directed me to the official site of Elvis’ backing guitarist Scotty Moore, which shares that—during the January 22, 1955 performance—a fan in attendance named Nick Gulli snapped a rare 35mm color photograph of the King wearing a vibrant pink suit and black shirt similar to how Butler dresses for the same concert in Elvis.

Dressed in his characteristic pink and black, Elvis brings the house down playing “Baby Let’s Play House,” an Arthur Gunter-penned song that the real Presley would release as a Sun Records single four months later in April 1955.

“The pink suit is a combination of this very drapey, fabulous wool fabric with a very specific soft, almost cardigan-like feel in the jacket,” Martin explained to Jazz Tangcay for Variety. “One of the interesting things about ’50s suiting is there was a lot of texture, a lot more texture than we have today,” she elaborated to Vanity Fair. “And that was really hard because you just spend your time looking through tailoring fabric books just hoping that you’re gonna find something that’s gonna match or fit what you want.”

Much as he often did in real life, Elvis depicts the eponymous singer and future style icon staring into the windows of Lansky Bros., a clothier on Memphis’ famous Beale Street that has capitalized on its connection to both Elvis the man and Elvis the movie. It’s in the Lansky Bros. storefront where Butler’s Presley admires the distinctively detailed pink suit he would eventually purchase and wear for this stage appearance on the Louisiana Hayride.

“For Elvis, though, it was the clothing, it was the styles, the bold fashions, that drew him in, as he gazed hungrily into Lansky’s windows,” wrote biographer Peter Guralnick in Last Train to Memphis, a reality that would be reflected on screen as Elvis ogles this pink suit while still dressed in his pre-fame uniform as a Crown Electric Company truck driver. “He made a definite impression on Guy and Bernard Lansky, the brothers who owned and operated the store. ‘He came down and looked through the windows before he had any money—we knew him strictly by face,’ recalled Guy.”

The jacket is less a traditional suit jacket and more a rockabilly evolution of the “Hollywood jacket” or “loafer jacket” style that was most popular through the 1940s and ’50s, a precursor to the oft-reviled ’70s leisure suit. Traditionally unstructured with a loose fit, this style of jacket would comfortably serve the range of motion Elvis needed for his gyrating performances.

The fabric is primarily the hot-pink wool gabardine as cited by Martin, with a contrasting charcoal shoulder yoke that runs straight across the back and chest with subtle white streaking. The edges are piped in a matching streaked charcoal, running continuously around the narrow camp collar, down the front on each side, and around the ventless back.

The single-breasted jacket has three black buttons, which Elvis wears completely unbuttoned for this first appearance… making it a little easier for the women in the front row to pull it off of him!

The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and loose through most of the arms but shirred at the wrists, where they’re gathered under each turnback (gauntlet) cuff, trimmed around the edge in charcoal and fastened with two black buttons arranged side-by-side, more like a shirt than a suit jacket. The only exterior pockets are a jetted pocket on each hip.

“Along with making reproductions of costumes or outfits that Elvis wore, Baz was also focused on how his costumes reflected his sexuality, his rebelliousness, and created a kind of wildfire among his fans,” Martin explained to Vanity Fair. “Like for instance, the lace shirts. Elvis in the mid-’50s wore a lot of lace shirts in different colors, and that kind of connected to what we know as kind of rock star today and also that interesting juxtaposition of the feminine and the masculine. Similarly, Elvis’s favorite color combination was black and pink. So finding a way of incorporating that and to be true to the boxy nature of the ’50s look, but at the same time, respect the body underneath.”

Elvis cycles through several similarly styled lace shirts during the scenes set across the mid-1950s, including a burgundy shirt while recording his first Sun Records single in ’54 and a pink lace shirt while mulling over the “New Elvis” controversy in the summer of ’56. As Martin shared, these were a staple of the real Presley’s wardrobe, like a white custom-made shirt that he was photographed wearing in the ’50s and later gave to his aunt before it was auctioned.

Under the pink-and-black suit, he wears a black lace shirt with a narrow collar. The tight and short sleeves and open lace—with no undershirt—both serve Martin’s stated purpose to “respect the body underneath”.

The trousers are solid hot-pink to match the suit, with an era-appropriate high-rise to Butler’s natural waist that work with the pleat-enhanced full fit to make his stage movements as “Elvis the Pelvis” more effective.

“Obviously his pants were important, and it was a lot about the drape, how the fabric worked,” Martin explained to Vanity Fair. “In these pants—that we coined the ‘squirrel pants’, because that’s one of the insults that was leveled at Elvis—it’s really about the balance of the back and front. More fullness in the front, how much pleat you have, where the pleats fall at the front, whether you move them more in towards the fly or you bring them more out towards the pocket. Our pants were quite bun-hugging at the back. That’s one of the specialties of our tailor Gloria Bava—she likes a nice bottom. And then it’s allowing enough fullness in the front so that you could get all that shake. And then we pegged the legs, as it’s called. So they narrowed toward the shoe. There’s more air in the top of the leg than there is at the bottom. And basically the pegging allows the top to move, but there’s a kind of anchor at the bottom.”

As Martin describes, the legs are very full through the hips and down to the knees, before they taper down to the plain-hemmed bottoms. Each side pocket opening aligns with the seam running down each side. The single reverse-facing pleats align with the first belt loop on each side of the fly. Elvis’ narrow belt is striped in bands of black, white, pink, and black that unites his sartorial palette, with black leather ends that buckle through a silver-toned single-prong buckle which he pulls off to the left.

Guralnick described the real Elvis’ clothing for his first Louisiana Hayride appearance on October 16, 1954 as “a typical black and pink outfit,” more specifically “a pink jacket, white pants, a black shirt, a brightly colored clip-on bow tie, and the kind of two-tone shoes that were known as correspondent shoes, because they were the kind that a snappy salesman or a correspondent in a divorce case might be expected to wear.” This two-colored footwear can also be known as spectator shoes.

Butler’s Elvis appropriately strides onto the stage in a pair of black-and-white leather cap-toe spectator oxfords, with the straight toe-caps, round laces and five-eyelet lace panels, and soles all black while the remaining vamp is white calf. The full break of his trouser bottoms tend to cover his hosiery, but Elvis’ frantic stage movements flash his lighter pink cotton lisle socks.

Later in ’55, Elvis joins Colonel Tom Parker on tour with Hank Snow, cycling through a few of his rockabilly outfits including this same suit seen in a brief vignette now worn with black-and-white penny loafers rather than lace-up oxfords.

Luckily, Elvis’ pink-and-charcoal loafer jacket survived being pulled off of him during the Louisiana Hayride so he could press the suit back into service as part of Hank Snow’s tour of the South, albeit with black-and-white loafers instead of lace-ups.

The early 1955 Elvis has yet to adopt any of his extravagant jewelry or rings, simply wearing a plain stainless steel wristwatch on a black leather strap.

How to Get the Look

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

Elvis dazzles the audience—and his future manager—with not only a unique style of performing but also his totally individual way of dressing, in a rockabilly-styled pink loafer suit, black lace shirt, and spectator shoes, a relatively(!) subdued precursor to the bedazzled jumpsuits that would define his stage looks of the ’70s.

• Black lace short-sleeved shirt with narrow collar
• Hot-pink wool gabardine three-button loafer jacket with charcoal-trimmed edges and contrasting shoulder yoke, narrow camp collar, 2-button turnback cuffs, straight jetted hip pockets, and ventless back
• Hot-pink wool gabardine high-waisted single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black, white, pink, and black-striped narrow belt with black leather ends and silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black-and-white calf leather 5-eyelet cap-toe spectator oxford shoes
• Light-pink cotton lisle socks
• Stainless steel wristwatch on black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

I’m all geared up.

The post Austin Butler as Elvis: Pink-and-Black Rockabilly Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line (2005). Photo credit: Suzanne Tenner.

Vitals

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, country rock star

London, Ontario, February 1968

Film: Walk the Line
Release Date: November 18, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Tailor: Pam Lisenby

Background

Fifty-five years ago on February 22, 1968, Johnny Cash surprised both the audience and perhaps also his frequent performing partner, June Carter, by proposing to her in the middle of a performance in London, Ontario. The pair had been friends—and eventually lovers—for nearly a decade, as depicted in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line, which culminated with Cash’s on-stage proposal following their performance of “Ring of Fire”, the song June had composed with Merle Kilgore four years earlier to meditate on her own emotions about their relationship.

“June acted all flustered—and maybe she was caught off guard by the timing, but the two had been talking for weeks about getting married, even discussing specific dates,” wrote Robert Hilburn in his biography, Johnny Cash: The Life. “Excited to be part of such a special moment, the crowd showered the couple with affection when June accepted his proposal.”

Johnny Cash and June Carter, on stage in London, Ontario after she accepted his marriage proposal, February 22, 1968.

It had been just over a month since Cash’s landmark concert at Folsom Prison and four days before his 36th birthday when the Man in Black popped the question in front of an audience of 7,000 at London’s Gardens hockey arena. Walk the Line presents the moment as a surprise—and not a wholly welcome one—for June, who had been joining Johnny in a duet of their popular “Jackson” when he interrupted it to ask the question.

In real life, their recording of “Jackson” received a Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Performance Duet, Trio, or Group just one week later on February 29. “What a nice wedding gift this is!” June announced to a reporter that evening. The following day, Johnny and June were married at the First Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky, and they would remain married for 35 years until their deaths months apart in 2003.

What’d He Wear?

By the late 1960s, Johnny Cash had established his habit of dressing in black as he would immortalize himself in the 1971 song “Man in Black”. For the ’68 on-stage proposal, Cash wears his usual black layers, though each has a unique texture or design that adds some visual interest beyond just an all-black shirt, waistcoat, and trousers.

The shirt is all black with a tonal mini-diamond weave, designed with a spread collar worn open at the neck. Consistent with the increasingly fashionable trends that would even reach James Bond’s closet, the front pleats and French cuffs are frilled with ruffles, finished with pale-gray edges. He fastens the double cuffs with a set of gold rectangular cuff links, detailed with a black line across the center and a raised black semi-spherical stone in a round setting.

Cash’s black silk waistcoat (vest) is patterned all over in a tonal basket-woven print and styled like a formal waistcoat with its smooth-finished shawl collar and low-fastening front. The long shots and his guitar placement conceal how many buttons are on the front, but I would suspect two or three above the notched bottom. There are two welted pockets on each side.

Cash wears black flat-front trousers with a silky finish that shines under the bright stage lights. Though this material makes them flashier than you’d find on a ranch, the trousers incorporate elements of Western styling—consistent with Cash’s country genre—such as the wide, pointed belt loops, slanted full-top front pockets, and back pockets with pointed flaps. The trousers are cut straight through the legs down to plain-hemmed bottoms that break over Cash’s black leather boots, which coordinate to his black belt leather.

How to Get the Look

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (2005)

Johnny Cash was famous for frequently dressing in black, a sartorial habit dating back to his salad days at Sun Records in the ’50s, with Walk the Line establishing his mastered completion of the “Man in Black” image by this pivotal moment in his life, taking the stage in a black shirt, waistcoat, and trousers.

• Black tonal mini-diamond weave long-sleeved shirt with spread collar, ruffled front, and ruffled double/French cuffs
  • Gold rectangular cuff links with black line and raised black stone
• Black basket-woven printed silk formal waistcoat with smooth shawl collar, four welted pockets, and notched bottom
• Black silky flat-front straight-leg trousers with wide Western-pointed belt loops, slanted full-top front pockets, pointed-flap back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather belt
• Black leather boots

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, and pick up some Johnny Cash records.

In the spirit of Johnny and June’s professional (and personal) partnership, I recommend their great 1967 album Carryin’ On, which my wife kindly gave me for a birthday gift two years ago. The album includes “Jackson” as well as covers of Bob Dylan (“It Ain’t Me, Babe”) and Ray Charles (“I Got a Woman” and “What’d I Say”) as well as a pair of Cash/Carter-penned songs, including my favorite “Oh, What a Good Thing We Had”.

The Quote

In case none of y’all heard, she said yes!

The post Walk the Line: Johnny Cash in Black for an On-Stage Engagement appeared first on BAMF Style.

Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna, intense LAPD detective-lieutenant and Marine Corps veteran

Los Angeles, Spring 1995

Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 83rd birthday to Al Pacino, the iconic actor born April 25, 1940. Pacino rose to fame after his performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974), the latter also establishing his co-star Robert De Niro. After two decades heralded as two of the best actors of their generation, Pacino and De Niro were finally reunited in Heat, sharing the screen for the first time as their characters in The Godfather, Part II never appeared together.

Michael Mann was inspired by the real-life exploits of Chicago detective Chuck Adamson’s investigation into an early 1960s bank robber named Neil McCauley to write and direct Heat, which was actually Mann’s second go at the story which he had originally filmed as a much lower-budget, less complicated made-for-TV movie in 1989 called L.A. Takedown.

Pacino stars in Heat as Vincent Hanna, an intense and idiosyncratic lieutenant in the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division given to bombastic outbursts (especially when women’s asses are a topic of discussion), explained in the original screenplay as the byproduct of Hanna’s cocaine addiction. Hanna is as “funny as a heart attack,” as described to Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), the professional armed robber whom Hanna becomes increasingly obsessed with hunting, sure that McCauley is planning on a major score but unsure of what it will be.

Once the anticipated heist is in progress, Hanna finally receives a tip that McCauley’s crew is taking down the Far East bank in downtown L.A., giving Hanna and his team just enough team to load up and ride onto the scene, resulting in one of the most famous and exciting movie gunfights—and one that would eerily parallel a real-life event two years later.

After the bloody afternoon that leaves two crooks and a handful of cops dead, Hanna doggedly continues his pursuit of McCauley, ignoring his own tenuous relationship to his wife and stepdaughter as he fears he’ll lose the chance to bag the master criminal…

Bon voyage, motherfucker! You were good…

What’d He Wear?

While I’ve written extensively about Robert De Niro’s style as Neil McCauley, I’ve also received a few requests from readers interested in how Al Pacino dresses as his intrepid predator, Vincent Hanna. If McCauley follows the Mann criminal “uniform” of gray-toned suits and white open-neck shirts as also seen in Collateral (2004) and—to some extent—Thief (1981), Hanna has his own sartorial guidelines defined by warmer suits, generally in shades of brown with dark shirts and low-contrast ties.

The happy Hannas.

Hanna’s generously tailored Canali suits reflect the baggy trends of the 1990s, partly developed in reaction to the more form-fitting styles of the 1980s while also expressing a more relaxed style in increasingly informal workplaces. A Canali label can be spied on the inside of Pacino’s jacket as Hanna undresses in his hotel room while estranged from his wife Justine (Diane Venora).

Note the Canali label on Hanna’s suit jacket.

Hanna gets the tip about McCauley’s robbery while dressed in a brown-and-black micro-checked suit.  This single-breasted jacket has notch lapels with a low gorge similar to his other suits, though the low button stance is only for one button as opposed to his other two-button jackets. One-button jackets are typically most flattering for shorter men, and Al Pacino’s 5’7″ height makes him the ideal candidate to ideal from the balance of a one-button jacket.

The jacket has straight jetted hip pockets and a welted breast pocket, from which Hanna visibly hangs his LAPD badge to quickly identify his alliance—and thus avoid friendly fire—during the gunfight along South Figueroa Street. Each sleeve is finished with two buttons at the cuff. The ventless jacket has wide and heavily padded shoulders, which look even more pronounced given the then-fashionably baggy fit.

“The suits definitely do reflect 1995 very well—the very wide shoulders, the low gorges,” observed Ken Stauffer while discussing Heat‘s costume design on Pete Brooker’s podcast From Tailors With Love. “[Pacino] kind of gets swallowed up in those Italian designer suits.”

The low rise and bunched bottoms of Hanna’s suit would have been unfortunately trendy at the time, but they may also be the byproduct of his hefting more than two pounds onto his belt in the form of the fully loaded Colt Officer’s ACP pistol, carried in a black leather Yaqui slide holster on his left side. Yaqui-style holsters are a relatively simple design, consisting of a large leather loop around the center of a handgun’s frame to secure it snugly to the wearer, worn outside-the-waistband (OWB). Hanna keeps his positioned horizontally with the grip facing forward for a right-handed cross-draw.

Hanna reminds Justine’s one-night-stand Ralph (Xander Berkeley) of his place by keeping his holstered Colt Officer’s ACP exposed while, uh, uninstalling his TV.

While his LAPD colleagues all wear traditional business suits and ties with white, blue, and striped shirts, Vincent Hanna follows a flashier pattern of dress with dark shirts and ties. This presents an interesting costume inversion as the criminal Neil McCauley’s gray suits and white shirts are more aligned with more conventional style while Hanna’s darker suits, shirts, and ties are more traditionally associated with underworld characters; consider Robert de Niro’s costumes in Casino, released the same year as Heat.

Unless he’s wearing a black suit, Hanna typically wears black shirts made by Anto Beverly Hills, with a silky finish suggestive of either high-twist cotton, silk, or a blend; synthetic fabrics can also be made to look silky, but the prestige of Hanna’s attire would suggest he prefers higher-quality natural fabrics. The shirts are designed with point collars, button cuffs, and a plain front (no placket).

Hanna’s black tie has a low-contrast foulard pattern, which appears to be a series of dark blue lines against shadowed slate-gray triangles.

After a day that saw many lives ended, Hanna does his best to save one after his anxious stepdaughter Lauren (Natalie Portman) attempts suicide in his hotel bathroom.

Anticipating some heavy action, Hanna layers a dark blue ballistic vest under his suit jacket for the downtown gunfight. Body armor like this typically consists of tightly woven “bulletproof” synthetic fibers like Kevlar to provide ballistic protection in combat by absorbing and dispersing the force of a bullet, reducing the force that is transmitted to the wearer’s body.

Hanna and his fellow officers wear vests made of two pieces—one protecting the front, another protecting the back—secured by shoulder straps and two straps around the torso.

Hanna often wears black leather shoes as expected with his business suits, but a quick glance at his feet during the gunfight reveals a pair of black-and-gray apron-toe sneakers with flat black woven laces. I can’t find much verified information about these shoes, other than a suggested comment that they may be Nike Air Trainer SC sneakers.

Their prominence on screen suggests that the choice was intentional (especially given Michael Mann’s attention to detail), so it’s possible that Hanna keeps these more movement-oriented shoes at his office and changes into them when preparing for action.

Hanna dresses his left wrist with both a silver Jerusalem cross charm bracelet and his wristwatch, which Danny Hilton described last year for Hodinkee as “a period-perfect ’90s Bulgari watch that jives with his character’s off-kilter and frankly unhinged demeanor.” Like their taste in suits, Hanna’s conspicuous Bulgari contrasts against the function-driven practicality of Neal McCauley’s digital Timex Stealth. Recalling Pacino’s earlier role in Scarface, Albert Tong wrote previously for British GQ that Hanna’s Bulgari Diagono is “the kind of watch a Miami drug lord would wear diving off the back of a yacht, rather than an upstanding member of the LAPD.”

Bulgari introduced the Diagono the late 1980s, blending a sporty touch into Bulgari’s heritage of luxury. Hanna’s model is a quartz-powered chronograph, strapped to a black leather band that swells through the center. The stainless steel case includes a fixed bezel with “BVLGARI” etched across the top and bottom, with a standard crown positioned at 3 o’clock, flanked by pushers at the 2 and 4 o’clock positions. The black dial has three silver sub-registers positioned across the bottom, with a small black date window between the 4 and 5 o’clock positions. Each hour is indicated with non-numeric indices.

Hanna dresses his left hand with the BVLGARI-branded chronograph and a Jerusalem cross bracelet.

On the middle finger of his right hand, Hanna wears a brass ring, shaped like an oval-faced signet ring but with an aquamarine cabochon that has a blue-starred center. The ring is etched with three lines along each side of the band.

Hanna performs a brass check on his Colt Officer’s ACP to confirm that he has a round chambered. The method—including trigger discipline—as well as the action itself are all hallmarks of Michael Mann’s attention to realistically depicting firearms usage.

He rarely wears them elsewhere, but Hanna sports black-rimmed rectangular reading glasses when his team gets Hugh Benny’s tip about the bank job. Otherwise, his eyewear is typically a set of narrow-framed Revo sunglasses.

Hanna also wears his usual pair of gold necklaces, including one on a narrow link-chain that has a stamped gold circular pendant.

The Guns

Beginning with his directorial debut (Thief), Michael Mann grew a deserved reputation for his meticulous attention to technical detail, including the use of firearms and his characters’ proficiency with them. For Heat, Mann brought in well-known SAS operators to instruct the respective teams in the use of their weapons—Andy McNab trained De Niro’s crew of crooks while Mick Gould worked with Pacino and his fellow cops, thus establishing distinctive styles for the gunmen on each side of the law.

Harry Lu was the lead weapons master, and the film’s weapons were rented from the L.A.-based Stembridge Gun Rentals; according to the IMFDB discussion page, some—including Hanna’s rifle for the street gunfight—may have been originally rented from Mike Papac at Cinema Weaponry until the production duration required replacements.

Over the course of Heat, Hanna cycles through his everyday Colt Officer’s ACP pistol, a heavier-duty FN FNC rifle, and a commandeered Mossberg 590 shotgun, all models that had been introduced within the previous decade or two as tactic-informed evolutions of older designs.

Colt Officer’s ACP

Lieutenant Hanna’s primary sidearm is a Colt Officer’s ACP, a scaled-down 1911-style semi-automatic pistol introduced by Colt’s Manufacturing Company in 1985. Designed for concealed carry and personal defense, the Colt M1991A1 Series 80 Officer’s ACP has a 3.5-inch barrel (as opposed to the 5″-barreled full-size 1911) and a shortened grip frame that holds a six-round magazine, to be loaded with the same .45 ACP ammunition as associated with the standard 1911 pistol. Despite its reduced size and lighter-weight aluminum alloy frame, the Colt Officer’s ACP is still a substantial weapon and can weigh more than two pounds when fully loaded. The Officer’s ACP was available in blued and stainless finishes—Hanna opts for a parkerized blued model with custom ivory grips.

One of Al Pacino’s screen-used Colt Officer’s ACP pistols from Heat, serial #CP21094. Photo sourced from Julien’s Live auction.

Though primarily marketed to civilian buyers, the Colt Officer’s ACP also saw use by some law enforcement agencies, particularly those requiring smaller armament for undercover work or off-duty carry. That said, I can’t confirm if such a weapon would have been authorized for LAPD usage. Through the ’90s, the issued sidearm for LAPD personnel was the Beretta 92F and 92FS pistol in 9mm, as exemplified by “loose cannon” LAPD detective Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) in the Lethal Weapon series. Given that SWAT officers carried Colt Mk IV Series 70 1911 pistols, Hanna may have argued his case to carry his own downsized 1911… or he just may not have cared what his superiors thought.

Stembridge Gun Rentals provided two Colt Officer’s ACP pistols—serial numbers CP21094 and CP21263—to be used in Heat, purchased from Colt specifically for the production and loaned out from February through July of 1995. According to a letter from Brandon Alinger of The Prop Store in London (as related by The Firearms Blog), Mann was so concerned about the possibility of seeing the barrel restrictor on film that the blank-firing adapter was threaded deeper than usual. One of the two pistols—serial number CP21094—has been auctioned several times, including most recently in April 2021 by Julien’s Live.

Hanna stalks McCauley with his .45 cocked and ready. Note the “COMPACT MODEL” etched on the right side of the slide. (The other side says “MODEL M1991A1”).

FN FNC

Rightly anticipating heavy firepower when confronting McCauley’s crew during the daytime bank heist, Hanna supplements his usual pistol with an FN FNC battle rifle. The FNC was developed through the late 1970s by the Belgian manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN) was introduced in 1979 as an intended replacement for the older FN FAL.

Designed to be lightweight, reliable, and modular, the FN FNC features a gas-operated action with a rotating bolt, and is fed from a 30-round detachable STANAG box magazine, chambered for the same 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition as the venerated M16 rifle series. All with a lightweight alloy side-folding skeleton stock, the FN FNC is offered in three different standard barrel lengths: a 17.1-inch “Standard” rifle, the 14.3-inch “Short” carbine, and the 16.1-inch Law Enforcement carbines offered only in semi-automatic mode.

Hanna takes aim with his FN FNC during a crucial moment when precision is more important than power.

The FN FNC has primarily been used by military and law enforcement agencies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, although it has also seen limited use by some U.S. law enforcement agencies and civilian gun owners. While it is a reliable and versatile rifle, its use in the U.S. has been limited by its relatively high cost compared to other options on the market, as well as restrictions on the availability of select-fire rifles to civilians.

“According to the on-set armorer, Hanna’s rifle was a select-fire FNC (as opposed to the semi-auto only civilian version) that was chopped down by the armorer to a Para length barrel, and an M16-style birdcage flash-hider was attached,” according to IMFDB. “Despite being a full-auto weapon, Michael Mann instructed Al Pacino to fire only in semi-automatic mode, because Hanna and all of the other cops who were involved in the shootout would be concerned about the possibility of endangering bystanders.”

Hanna takes cover during the gunfight to reload his FN FNC.

Mossberg 590

When Neil McCauley finally feels the heat coming around the corner at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport, Hanna again recognizes that he may need a heavier-duty weapon and takes a Mossberg 590 pump-action shotgun from a uniformed LAPD officer when chasing McCauley onto the LAX tarmac.

O.F. Mossberg & Sons introduced the Model 590 in 1987 as a tactical variation of the older Mossberg 590 shotgun, generally differentiated by its magazine tube that was designed to be opened at the muzzle end for simplified cleaning and maintenance. The standard Model 590 configuration loads eight-plus-one 12-gauge rounds into the tube under the 20-inch barrel, though Mossberg has evolved the Model 590 to include a range of ammunition (including .410 bore and 20-gauge), shorter 18.5″ barrels, and pistol grips.

The Mossberg 590 requisitioned by Hanna during the finale of Heat features the standard 20″ barrel length in addition to black synthetic furniture, bayonet lug, and heat shield.

Hanna chases McCauley with his shotgun.

What to Imbibe

Contrasting the undepicted substance rumored to fuel his many outbursts, Vincent Hanna takes the edge off with the help of Jack Daniel’s, the Tennessee whiskey celebrated as a favorite of Frank Sinatra, Keith Richards, and Clark Griswold’s dad. He keeps a bottle on his desk during the second day of the McCauley manhunt, but we more prominently see him drinking some—neat, of course—at the start of the movie when Justine confronts him about his late hours.

“I’ve got three dead bodies on a sidewalk off Venice Boulevard, Justine. I’m sorry if the goddamn…chicken…got over… cooked.”

How to Get the Look

Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995)

Unlike his colleagues, Vincent Hanna dresses more like a celebrity—or even a celebrity criminal—than a typical cop with his then-fashionably baggy Italian suits, low-contrasting dark shirts and ties, and array of jewelry that includes a luxury chronograph and a chunky ring on his shooting hand.

• Brown-and-black mini-check Canali suit:
  • Single-breasted 1-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs
  • Single-pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black silky shirt with point collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Black tonal-patterned tie
• Black leather belt with gold-toned square single-prong buckle
• Black leather Yaqui-style OWB slide holster, worn butt-forward on the left side
• Black-and-gray sneakers
• Black socks
• Brass signet-like ring with aquamarine cabochon
• Silver Jerusalem cross bracelet
• Bulgari Diagono stainless steel chronograph watch with “BVLGARI”-etched fixed bezel, black dial with three silver sub-registers and date window, and black leather strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie as well as the 2022 episode of the From Tailors With Love podcast featuring my friends Pete, Ken, and Kyle discussing Heat‘s costume design.

The Quote

I’m very angry, Ralph. You know, you can borrow my wife—if she wants you to. You can lounge around here on her sofa in her ex-husband’s dead-tech, post-modernistic, bullshit house if you want to. But you do not get to watch my fucking television set!

The post Pacino in Heat: Vincent Hanna’s Checked Canali Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

Vitals

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley, country rock guitarist and singer

Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956

Film: Elvis
Release Date: June 23, 2022
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Costume Designer: Catherine Martin
Tailor: Gloria Bava

Background

It doesn’t get much more American than Elvis.

Austin Butler went all out in his performance as the King of Rock and Roll in Baz Lurhmann’s characteristically flamboyant biopic, released last summer. Butler’s performance received particular praise—including endorsements from the Presley family—and Elvis would be nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Costume Design.

Elvis follows Presley’s brief life from boyhood through the various levels of stardom, particularly through the lens of his complicated relationship with his domineering manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). In the early years of his fame, Presley’s hip-swinging celebration of Black music is shown to so enrage the bigoted establishment that he’s being threatened with legal trouble.

The film presents his July 4, 1956 concert in Memphis as an opportunity for Presley to maintain the cleaned-up “New Elvis” image he had introduced three days early while performing “Hound Dog” on The Steve Allen Show three days earlier, stuffed into a white tie and tails as he crooned to an actual basset hound. Instead, having rediscovered the meaning behind his music among the blues joints on Beale Street, Elvis delivers a sweltering performance of “Trouble”—and lands himself right in it, arrested by the Memphis vice squad when he soundly disobeys being told to not “so much as wiggle a finger.” To avoid prosecution, Colonel Tom devises a plan for Elvis to swap out his blue suede shoes for spit-shined service derbies: “It’s either the Army or jail.”

Except that isn’t quite what really happened.

True, Elvis had just felt embarrassed himself by the overly formal “Hound Dog” bit on Allen’s show on July 1, and indeed there was some pressure to maintain the more widely acceptable “New Elvis” image. But when Elvis took the stage at Russwood Park on that 97-degree night in Memphis, the city that the Tupelo-born singer had called home since he was 13, he reclaimed his pulsating persona to the delight of the crowd… and nary a notable protest from any law enforcement. True, he was rushed out of the stadium by Memphis police—but it was merely to protect him from the usual mob of excited fans.

When the furor finally died down, and Elvis had graciously accepted a city proclamation designating Wednesday, July 4, as Elvis Presley Day, he turned to the crowd and announced, with that inscrutable mixture of boyish charm and adult calculation, “You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none, I’m gonna show you what the real Elvis like tonight.”

— Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

The real Elvis Presley performing at Russwood Park in Memphis, July 4, 1956.

The King’s set list 67 years ago tonight could not have included “Trouble”, as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wouldn’t write this blues number until more than a year later, when Presley recorded it for the soundtrack of his 1958 movie King Creole. Instead, he opened his half-hour set with his recent chart-topper “Heartbreak Hotel”, followed by a series of Presley standards and “Hound Dog” to close… without a top hat-wearing basset hound this time.

Presley’s Army career was also far less calculated than Elvis depicts, though Colonel Tom did encourage his client to not resist the draft as he suspected that military service would help improve Presley’s image among older Americans. After he received his draft notice, the Army and Navy both made Presley attractive offers, but the singer refused both and chose to simply enter the U.S. Army as a regular soldier, sworn in at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas on March 24, 1958 to begin his two-year service.

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Catherine Martin deservedly received her fourth Academy Award nomination for Elvis, bringing three decades to vibrant life on screen as well as dressing Austin Butler’s Elvis in at least 93 costume changes, including dozens through the 1950s sequence that “encapsulated Elvis’ rebelliousness and sexuality at that watershed moment,” as she explained in a call with Helen Barrett for Financial Times. Martin expressed her desire to focus on designing costumes that allowed Butler’s characterization to breathe on its own “rather than slavishly copying the originals,” but she still brilliantly recreated many of the King’s looks through the two dozen years of his professional career.

“He was dressed all in black save for red socks and the red tie which he and his father had picked out just before the show,” Peter Guralnick writes in Last Train to Memphis of Presley’s attire for the July 4, 1956 charity concert in Memphis, a description that also accurately describes how Martin dressed Butler during this era before Elvis transitioned to his famous leather jumpsuits of the ’70s.

Austin Butler’s screen-worn black suit was tailored by Gloria Bava with a loose fit, echoing the actual black silk suit that Elvis wore for the Memphis concert. Looser fits were fashionable through the ’50s, partly as there was still an association between prosperity and excess fabric following the end of World War II-era fabric rationing. The fashionably full fit also allows the King a full range of movement for his famous gyrations that begin with his little finger and end with his sprawling across the stage.

Similar to how the real Elvis wore his single-breasted suit jacket that night, Butler’s Elvis wears only the lowest of the two buttons fastened on his jacket. The shoulders are wide and padded, again consistent with ’50s fashions. The sleeves have roped heads at the shoulders and are finished with four buttons on each cuff. The single-vented jacket has appropriately sporty patch pockets over the hips and left breast.

The singer keeps his jacket buttoned through the duration of his performance—no small feat, given how much his swinging pelvis tests that single button’s strength. This keeps the top of his trousers mostly covered, but we can safely assume that they’re pleated (consistent with the era’s trends and King’s other trousers at this point in the story) and held up by a black leather belt. The bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).

Elvis’ unconventional style meant a range of unique footwear, from a rotation of black-and-white spectators to the celebrated blue suede shoes of Carl Perkins’ rockabilly hit that the King had covered in ’56. For the Memphis concert, his black leather apron-toe loafers are a bit more conventional, following the guidance that black shoes are a safe bet with a black suit. That said, Elvis breaks up the black with scarlet-red socks that coordinate with his tie, uniting his outfit into a dangerous-looking black-and-red color scheme.

Elvis’ red socks echo the primary color in his tie, both pieces boldly standing out against his black suit. In contrast to the pink-and-black that defined Elvis’ look for the first two years of his success, the new black-and-red color scheme looks more dangerous.

Martin’s costume team magnificently recreated the patterned scarlet-red twill tie that the real Presley had received (and was subsequently photographed wearing) when he signed his recording contract with RCA Records in November 1955 and indeed wore again several months later for the Memphis concert. As seen in photos from when it was auctioned by Julien’s Live in 2014, both the real tie and the silk screen-worn tie are patterned with a white repeating motif of RCA’s longstanding “His Master’s Voice” logo, depicting a dog gazing into a gramophone horn.

This logo originated around the turn of the 20th century after English artist Francis Barraud painted his late terrier Nipper listening to a Edison-Bell phonograph. After the image was promptly dismissed by the Edison-Bell company (“dogs don’t listen to phonographs”), Barraud showed it to a representative of the Berliner Gramophone company, who offered to buy the painting… on the condition that Barraud repainted a Berliner Gramophone instead of the competing brand’s phonograph. After Barraud obliged, the image was registered as a trademark for the Berliner Gramophone company on July 10, 1900 and was retained for use by its American successor, Victor Talking Machine Co.—which would be redubbed RCA Victor by the time they signed the King.

Elvis wears the tie with a solid black shirt, designed with a point collar and button cuffs.

Elvis wears a tie depicting his master’s corporate logo… while rebelling against their wishes for his public image.

A staple of Elvis’ style by this point in his career was an assortment of diamond-studded gold horseshoe-shaped rings, worn on the ring finger of his right hand. He would continue to wear these through the next two decades of his life, eventually purchasing them from jeweler Lowell Hays, who recreated the ring from the original mold for sale on the Graceland store.

Not only was he wearing the ring for the Memphis concert, but Peter Guralnick writes that, among the festivities on that July night, “Elvis’ signature fourteen-diamond horseshoe ring (worth six hundred dollars) was won in a drawing by seventeen-year-old Roger Fakes.”

Elvis also wears a gold pinky ring with a dark inset stone on his left hand.

Elvis was associated with a variety of distinctive watches over the course of his life, from the triangular Hamilton Ventura seen in movies like Blue Hawaii to the funky gold Rolex King Midas he sported in the ’70s. We don’t see much of the timepiece dressing his wrist during the Memphis concert, aside from an unassuming metal case and a black leather strap.

That night at Graceland (at least I believe it’s supposed to be that night), he has swapped out his watch for a more ornate gold watch with a black dial—detailed with two white sub-registers—on a gold expanding band.

Elvis shares a moment with his mother Gladys (Helen Thomson) as the family comes to terms with the Colonel’s plan to enlist the singer in the Army.

You can read more about the real Elvis’ favorite watches at Gear Patrol and Wrist Enthusiast.

How to Get the Look

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Elvis (2022)

I associate black suits with death, whether dressing for a funeral or as a movie hitman. Though this suit was informed by historical record, it’s an appropriate look for this sequence that depicts a rebellious Elvis decidedly “killing” his cleaned-up image and aligning himself against the puritanical establishment.

• Black silk loose-fitting suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, patch breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black shirt with point collar and button cuffs
• Scarlet-red silk tie with repeating white RCA “Nipper” logo motif
• Black leather apron-toe loafers
• Scarlet-red socks
• Diamond-studded gold horseshoe ring
• Gold inset-stone pinky ring
• Metal-cased dress watch on black leather strap

For what it’s worth, just because my friends and I were huge Rush Hour fans in high school, I can’t see a black suit, black shirt, and red printed tie without thinking of Jackie Chan. But the King did it first.

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

You can also see how closely Catherine Marine’s Oscar-nominated costume design echoed what Elvis Presley actually wore for the concert in this silent color footage from 67 years ago tonight:

The Quote

A lot of people sayin’ a lot of things. Of course, you gotta listen to the people that you love, and—in the end—you’ve gotta listen to yourself.

The post Austin Butler as Elvis: Black Suit for a 4th of July Concert appeared first on BAMF Style.

Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo in Never Say Never Again (1983)

Vitals

Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo, billionaire businessman and SPECTRE terrorist

Monte Carlo, Spring 1983

Film: Never Say Never Again
Release Date: October 7, 1983
Director: Irvin Kershner
Costume Designer: Charles Knode

Background

1983 was the year of the dueling James Bonds. Roger Moore continued as the canonical 007 in Eon Productions’ Octopussy, while Bond emeritus Sean Connery surprised audiences by starring in Never Say Never Again, an “unofficial” reimagining of Thunderball released 40 years ago next month by Jack Schwartzman’s Taliafilm.

Never Say Never Again resulted from a two-decade effort by producer Kevin McClory, who had collaborated with Ian Fleming and screenwriter Jack Whittingham on an original Bond screenplay in the late 1950s. When Fleming published a novelization of their unproduced screenplay as Thunderball in 1961, McClory and Whittingham sued and settled out of court, albeit with a string of conditions that ultimately maintained Eon’s rights to the story for up to ten years after the release of their own cinematic adaptation of Thunderball, released in 1965.

By the mid-1970s when McClory announced his plans to produce his own version of the story, both Whittingham and Fleming had died, and Connery had hung up 007’s shoulder holster—presumably for good—after reluctantly returning to the iconic role in Diamonds are Forever. After more legal and production hurdles, the end result released in October 1983 was Never Say Never Again, titled in reference to Connery reprising his role after twice saying he would never play Bond again. (While Moore turned 55 during the production of Octopussy, it’s Never Say Never Again that focuses more on Bond’s advancing age… despite Connery actually being three years younger than Moore and looking considerably more fit than the last time Connery starred as the “official” Bond in Diamonds are Forever a dozen years earlier.)

Not being produced by Eon meant many signature elements were missing, like the James Bond theme, the opening gunbarrel, and a familiar cast portraying 007’s allies at MI6. However, Bond still received his briefing from M (Edward Fox), flirted with Miss Moneypenny (Pamela Salem), and received his equipment from an uncharacteristically jolly Q (Alec McCowen) before jetting off to the Bahamas to investigate a missing nuclear warhead… just as he had in Thunderball.

Never Say Never Again globe-hops with more ferocity than Thunderball, and it’s not long before Bond arrives in southern France, tracking the enigmatic billionaire Maximilian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and his girlfriend Domino Petachi (Kim Basinger). Bond literally gets his hands on Domino at a Villefranche-sur-Mer massage parlor, where he learns that Largo is hosting a charity ball that night across the border in Monte Carlo. Good thing Bond packed his tuxedo!

Largo: Do you enjoy games, Mr. Bond?
Bond: Depends with whom I’m playing.

If, like me, you spent much of your childhood going over to friends’ house just to watch them play video games, this scene offers the same thrills and more.

An oft-criticized scene from Never Say Never Again pits Bond against Largo during a duel for world domination… in the form of a pixilated video game that Largo invented. Titled “Domination”, the Atari-style game was clearly an attempt to make the story seem fashionable for the 1980s—though it likely seemed dated by the time its first audiences were already out of the theater. A beaming Largo explains that “unlike armchair generals, we will share the pain of our soldiers in the form of electric shocks.” Even after almost passing out from the pain, Bond keeps the game going—is it because he wants to prove a point to Largo, or does he just not want to give $58,000 to a children’s charity?

As September 12 is National Video Games Day (not to be confused with plain old “Video Games Day” observed on July 8), BAMF Style’s inaugural Never Say Never Again post will explore Largo’s creative black tie for the event.

What’d He Wear?

In contrast to the old-school villain that an eye-patched Adolfo Celi portrayed in Thunderball, Brandauer’s yuppified Largo represents the materialism of ’80s excess, whether he’s mashing the buttons of his digital Risk copycat or prancing around the decks of his luxury yacht with a sweater knotted around his neck.

Unlike 007’s classic black tie ensemble, Largo subverts evening-wear conventions at nearly every opportunity when building his wardrobe for the charity ball. “Creative black tie” generously describes Largo’s attire, and its lack of elegance further serves to position him as the villain against the more refined and respectably dressed James Bond.

The ’60s Largo had also dressed in a white double-breasted dinner jacket, but the similarities end there. As opposed to the classic, Casablanca-style evening-wear that Adolfo Celi wore, Brandauer’s dinner jacket is pencil-striped in black against the white ground. The narrow shawl collar is piped with black edges that coordinate with the stripes and the black two-hole buttons—arranged in a 6×2-button double-breasted configuration, as well as two vestigial buttons on each cuff. Typically reserved for suit jackets and sports coats, the single vent also defies evening-wear tradition. Unlike most striped tailoring where the stripes follow the direction of the lapels, Largo’s stripes are angled to “collide” with the edge of his shawl collar.

The tailoring is consistent with early ’80s trends, from the wide shoulders to the shorter length. The jacket has straight flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket, in which Largo wears a white silk pocket square with a black “Y”-shaped geometric print on one side.

Largo’s just smiling because he’s playing a game he invented. If he was facing off against me in Cruisin’ USA, he wouldn’t have a chance.

Regardless of the dinner jacket’s color or cut, black tie tradition calls for a white formal shirt and the black bow-tie that informs the dress code’s nomenclature… leave it to Largo to buck both conventions.

Largo’s had it up to here with my criticism of his wardrobe!

Largo’s black formal shirt has the requisite pleated front for evening shirts but an attached wing collar and button-fastened squared barrel cuffs. You could argue that Largo at least follows the “black tie” part, but his white pin-dotted necktie is a straight tie, which he knots with a half-Windsor and initially tucks into his cummerbund.

Largo balances the offbeat upper half of his outfit with a traditional bottom half, even finished with a black pleated silk cummerbund covering his waist and the top of his black trousers. These flat-front trousers have side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms with then-fashionable flare, but I can’t tell if they’re detailed with the black silk side braid that characterizes formal trousers.

Largo’s shoes are also surprisingly understated, as he wears the black calf leather cap-toe oxfords and black socks that are considered acceptable with all codes of men’s evening dress. With that jacket and his sense of showmanship, I would have surprised something like black-and-white spectator shoes, but the all-black oxfords are refreshingly traditional.

“That last round… nearly killed me.”

Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo in Never Say Never Again (1983)

How to Get the Look

True, there are many worse looks at today’s red carpet events or proms than Largo’s flamboyant fit for casino night in the early ’80s, but 007 himself still clearly wins the sartorial gold prize for most tasteful evening-wear. Still, if you’re feeling brave and want to inject some Bond heritage into your creative black tie, be my guest…

• White (with black pencil stripe) double-breasted 6×2-button dinner jacket with black-trimmed shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, vestigial 2-button cuffs, and single vent
• Black formal evening shirt with attached wing collar, pleated front, and button-fastened barrel cuffs
• Black (with white pin-dots) tie
• Black pleated silk cummerbund
• Black flat-front trousers with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black dress socks

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

As the stakes increase, so does the level of pain… rather like life.

The post Never Say Never Again: Largo’s White Striped Dinner Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

Vitals

Al Pacino as Tony Montana, ambitious drug dealer

Miami, Spring 1981

Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Tailor: Tommy Velasco

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Al Pacino introduced the world to his little friend 40 years ago today when Scarface premiered in New York City on December 1, 1983, eight days before it was widely released. Despite initial criticism for its now-famous violence, Scarface surpassed expectations by grossing $66 million globally, doubling its budget and securing its status as one of the most influential and popular gangster movies.

Scarface centers around Pacino’s explosive portrayal of the Cuban-born Tony Montana, a modern-day incarnation of the Prohibition-era Italian-American gangster Tony Camonte played by Paul Muni in the 1932 film of the same name. That pre-Code film was originally adapted from Armitage Trail’s contemporary novel, loosely based on the life and crimes of Al Capone.

Oliver Stone’s characteristically politically charged screenplay updated Tony for the 1980s, bringing him from Cuba to the United States via the famous Muriel boatlift. Shortly after their arrival, Tony and his more charismatic friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) quickly find illicit work to fund their new lives in Miami, from the murder of a political prisoner to brokering a cocaine deal. After the latter results in a double-cross, Tony and Manny successfully recover both the money and the ye-yo but insist of personally delivering it to the local kingpin Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) rather than working with his snarky middleman Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham).

The warm reception from the affable Frank contrasts sharply with his icy girlfriend Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer), who regards Tony with disdain both before and after his clumsy attempts at flirting during the group’s celebratory night out. Between those moments and his awkward responses to Frank’s jokes that get lost in his laughter, the sequence highlights Tony’s initial discomfort in this high-status world, his lines consistently feeling out of sync with the rest of the conversation. Still, he doesn’t let this get in the way of his vicious ambition, as he tells Manny on their ride home:

Me, I want what’s coming to me—the world, chico, and everything in it.

What’d He Wear?

This sequence is the first we’ve seen of Tony Montana dressing to impress after he spends the first act clad in a rotation of aloha shirts and T-shirts. Still, his new duds aren’t enough to impress Frank, who insists:

I’m gonna get you new clothes, too. I’m gonna get you $550 suits, so you look real sharp!

With veiled consciousness, Tony glances down at the new blue striped three-piece suit that he clearly valued to wear for their auspicious meeting.

The mid-blue suit is patterned with lighter blue track stripes that alternate in thickness. Likely made for the production by Paramount Pictures tailor Tommy Velasco, the suit consists of a matching single-breasted jacket, waistcoat, and trousers that follow a similar cut to most of Tony’s other three-piece suits in Scarface.

The two-button jacket has notch lapels of moderate width, long double vents, three-button cuffs, straight flapped hip pocket, and a welted breast pocket that Tony doesn’t think to dress with a pocket square, as he would with all of his suits to follow. The single-breasted waistcoat has four jetted pockets—two on each side—and a five-button front that he wears with only a few center buttons done, an insouciant look that synchronizes with his dramatically open shirt collar while indicating that he’s not yet totally comfortable in dressier clothes… unlike Manny in his smarter yet still-flashy suit and tie.

Only the in the 1980s Miami coke-dealing scene would these be considered three reasonable examples of dressing for business.

Tony neutralizes the tasteful suit with a gauche shirt worn even more gauchely, with the top few buttons undone and the long-pointed collar flat over the lapels and shoulders of his suit jacket—a manner consistent with disco-era extravagance. Thus, aside from the button-fastened barrel cuffs, only the collar and revers show above the V-shaped neckline of his waistcoat.

The white shirt has pale-blue sets of stripes—a wide stripe bordered on each side by a narrower matching stripe—that frame a series of slate-blue polka-dots, also arranged like stripes.

The flat-front trousers fit fully through the legs down to the plain-hemmed bottoms, which break over the tops of his black leather side-zip ankle boots. The raised and angled heels appear to be the fashionable “Cuban heels”, apropos Mr. Montana’s nationality.

Tony may resent much of Frank’s demeanor from the start, but he eventually evolves his regular wardrobe to be closer to Frank’s, with somewhat more restraint to his open-necked shirts, white suits, taupe-shaded leather shoes, and—of course—plenty of gold jewelry.

Given that this is Tony’s first brush with fruitful success in the drug world, he can’t yet afford the gold necklaces, rings, and watch that are staples of any self-respecting 1980s Miami drug dealer—as flashed by Frank and Omar during the night at the club.

What to Imbibe

While it’s hard to believe that Frank and Omar are following Frank’s maxim of “don’t get high on your own supply,” the booze is certainly flowing throughout the celebratory sequence. Back at the Lopez pad, Frank offers Tony a drink (“Scotch, gin, rum”) to which Tony requests gin, served on the rocks. Perhaps to show solidarity, Frank drinks the same.

Later, at the Babylon Club, everyone already has full glasses of red wine when a waiter arrives with a bottle of Dom Pérignon 1964 champagne, which Omar pours out for everyone. (The burgundy appears to be labeled a 1955 Château Latour Grand Vin, though the label’s layout and scripted typeface resembles Château Montrose more than the block-lettered Latour label… but now I just sound like Frasier.)

Named after a significant French Benedictine monk who played a pivotal role in developing the Champagne process, Dom Pérignon stands out as one of the world’s most esteemed sparkling wines. It upholds its prestigious status as an exclusively vintage champagne, crafted only in years deemed robust for its unique blend of Pinot noir and Chardonnay grapes.

How to Get the Look

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)

With his brashly open-necked shirt corrupting an otherwise smart blue striped three-piece suit, the rising Tony Montana still finds a way to incorporate sartorial excess without relying on the abundance of gold jewelry and other accessories he could afford to add to his wardrobe as he accumulates more wealth and power in 1980s Miami.

• Mid-blue alternating track-striped three-piece tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
  • Single-breasted 5-button vest with four jetted pockets and notched bottom
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White (with wide light-blue track stripes and slate-blue polka dots) shirt with long point collar and button cuffs
• Black leather side-zip ankle boots with Cuban heels

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

The eyes, chico, they never lie.

The post Tony Montana’s Blue Striped Suit in Scarface appeared first on BAMF Style.

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

Vitals

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, insecure mob family sibling

Havana, New Year’s Eve 1958

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

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy New Year! Ringing in 2024 also celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Godfather, Part II, Francis Ford Coppola’s mob epic that many consider equal or even superior to its masterpiece predecessor.

In the spirit of this weekend’s celebration, let’s travel back to New Year’s Eve 1958 as the weak-willed Fredo Corleone (John Cazale) joins his powerful younger brother Michael (Al Pacino) in Havana to negotiate their family’s casino interests—unaware that all their work will be undone by Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries within 24 hours.

Of course, both Corleones are also tragically unaware that the events of the evening will reveal to Michael that he’s been betrayed by his own brother, whom Michael would bestow with a now-iconic kiss of death at midnight:

What’d He Wear?

Many revelers often dress for New Year celebrations in their winter whites, perhaps symbolizing their bright optimism or blank slates for the coming year. Spending the holiday in tropical Cuba makes wearing white even more appropriate as bleached wardrobes are typically associated with warmer weather. Among the Corleone party ringing in 1959, we see this exemplified with Senator Pat Geary (G.D. Spradlin), who wears an off-white dinner jacket with his black tie ensemble while the Corleones escort him through Havana. As one may expect of the neglected Corleone sibling, Fredo adopts a less tasteful approach for New Year’s Eve.

Costume designer Theadora Van Runkle dressed Fredo in the quintessential screen gangster outfit of a white two-piece suit with a black shirt and a high-contrasting tie. Unlike his younger but wiser brother Michael—dressed with sober smartness in his black mohair suit and tie—Fredo wants to assert his gangland associations; he wants to be seen as mobbed-up man about town, the kind of guy who knows exactly where to find the weirdest sex show this side of Obispo.

While Senator Geary and Michael Corleone dress with contrasting formality but equally appropriate dignity for the evening, one look at Fredo makes it very clear that it’ll be a mob-flavored new year for this party.

Fredo’s off-white suit appears to be a light cream-colored gabardine, a tightly woven twill often favored for warm-weather tailoring. Much like the rest of his family and friends, Fredo’s tailor doesn’t seem to show much interest in him, suggested by the jacket’s rather poor fit that results in overly long sleeves and a combination of fashionably padded shoulders and a narrow chest that looks especially awkward on John Cazale’s lean frame. This is hardly a criticism of the costume design or tailoring—quite the opposite, in fact, as it serves to illustrate how out of his depth Fredo is in this environment, particularly when he attempts to participate in any degree of intrigue.

The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to two clear plastic buttons on the front, which match the two smaller buttons positioned close to the edge of each cuff. The jacket also has a single rear vent, straight hip pockets with wide rectangular flaps, and a welted breast pocket that he generally wears empty—save for the two Cuban cigars sticking out when we first see him.

Perhaps most significantly, Fredo’s white suit, black shirt, and white tie is a sartorial inversion of Michael’s black suit, white shirt, and black tie—illustrating how the two are opposing forces.

We see little of the suit’s matching flat-front trousers aside from the slanted front pockets and the belt loops, through which Fredo wears a black leather belt that presumably coordinates to the black leather shoes we only see in an extremely long-distance shot.

Fredo may have been able to salvage the dignity of his outfit by following Michael’s example of a white shirt and black tie, but he instead inverts this safe formula to present the full cartoon gangster image in his black shirt and white-dominant tie.

The shirt’s silky finish and the shape of his long semi-spread collar suggests he may be wearing a rayon sports shirt with its plain front buttoned up to the neck. As I don’t believe we ever see anything but Fredo’s bare wrists under the overly long sleeves of his jacket, it may even be a short-sleeved shirt.

Knotted in a classic four-in-hand, Fredo’s silk Macclesfield tie consists of a black nailhead pattern woven against a white cross-checked ground.

Fredo tonally and seasonally completes the look with his short-brimmed white straw Panama hat, fashioned with a low, round crown (almost like a pork pie hat) and a black triple-pleated puggaree band.

Though we can’t tell from under the long sleeves of his jacket whether he’s wearing a wristwatch, his usual gold rings flash from each hand—an etched pinky ring with a small ruby stone on his right hand and a larger ring with a black-filled square face on his left ring finger.

What to Imbibe

Okay, gentlemen, it’s refill time here. You might try some of those local drinks, you know, Cuba Libre, Piña Colada…

Based on his tall glass filled with cola, lime, and likely a liberal dash of white rum from the bottle of Bacardi Superior, Fredo appears to have selected a Cuba Libre for himself.

“Oh, a Cuba Libre… isn’t that just a fancy name for a rum and Coke?” you ask, and no—you couldn’t be more wrong! Although, technically yes, the hypothetical you is correct in that it’s a rum and Coke… but with added emphasis on the addition of lime.

Too focused on pouring rum for one of their female companions, Fredo reveals a fatal truth that he would later wish his dear brother—standing only a few feet away—would not have overheard.

In his 2005 volume Rum: The Epic Story of the Drink That Conquered the World, Charles A. Coulombe asserts that the Cuba Libre “seems to reflect perfectly the historical elements of the modern world” as “a potent symbol of a changing world order—the marriage of rum, lubricant of the old colonial empires, and Coca-Cola, icon of modern American global capitalism”.

The drink emerged shortly after the Cuban War of Independence, when “Cuba libre!” was a rallying cry for independence. Two years after the United States intervened during the final year of the war in 1898—a period known as the Spanish-American War—bottled Coca-Cola was first imported into Cuba. Bacardi advertising exec Fausto Rodriguez claimed that he observed the combination of rum and Coke being poured out for U.S. soldiers still stationed in the nation in August 1900, while others claim it was invented two years later at the historic El Floridita restaurant in Havana to commemorate the anniversary of Cuban independence.

Regardless of its exact origins (and one imagines it wouldn’t have taken too much brain power to “invent”), the combination remains popular in both its rum-and-Coke and Cuba Libre forms, with many purists citing that the latter is differentiated by the necessity of lime.

While some recipes merely call for two shots of rum and a significant squeeze of fresh lime juice poured into a glass and topped with cola, the IBA stipulates 50mL of white rum, 10mL of lime juice, and 120mL of cola, mixed together in a highball glass and garnished with a lime wedge.

How to Get the Look

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)

After a year that included his black-and-red checked silk dinner jacket for his nephew’s communion and a pink sports coat for his arrival in Havana, it’s only appropriate that Fredo Corleone end 1958 on a bold sartorial note in a white two-piece suit, black sport shirt, and white-dominant tie that—especially with his Panama hat and pair of gold rings—is dripping with gangster steez.

• White gabardine suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops and slanted side pockets
• Black rayon short-sleeved sports shirt with large semi-spread collar and plain front
• White silk Macclesfield tie with mini black woven nailhead pattern
• Black leather belt
• Black leather shoes
• White straw Panama hat with round, flat crown and black puggaree band
• Gold pinky ring with ruby stone
• Gold ring with large black-filled square surface

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, including the masterpiece sequel The Godfather Part II. There will plenty more posts celebrating this great film’s style over the year!

The Quote

Feliz Año Nuevo!

The post The Godfather Part II: Fredo’s White Suit on New Year’s Eve appeared first on BAMF Style.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie Jerimovich on The Bear (Episode 2.08: “Bolognese”)
Photo credit: Chuck Hodes/FX

Vitals

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie Jerimovich, restaurant manager and honorary Berzatto “cousin”

Chicago, Spring 2023

Series: The Bear
Episodes:
– “Bolognese” (Episode 2.08)
– “Omelette” (Episode 2.09)
– “The Bear” (Episode 2.10)
Air Date: June 22, 2023
Director: Christopher Storer
Creator: Christopher Storer
Costume Designer: Courtney Wheeler

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“New year, new me” is an oft-repeated philosophy thorough January as people reaffirm committing to becoming their best selves. One of my favorite on-screen transformations recently has been Richie Jerimovich’s journey to find his purpose across the second season of The Bear. For his portrayal of Richie, Ebon Moss-Bachrach has been nominated for a Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Emmy—with the results of the latter to be announced this Monday night.

The Bear established Richie at the start as a brash and boastful loudmouth, proud of his self-maintainted reputation as a wild card. “I’m not like this because I’m in Van Halen, I’m in Van Halen because I’m like this,” he frequently reasserts, all the while increasingly questioning his purpose. Though he loves his “cousin” Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Richie clearly resents the new methods that the experienced chef and his visionary new hire Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) had brought to their longstanding Chicago restaurant… until Carmy enrolls Richie in a week honing his stagiaere skills in what would be essentially an unpaid internship at the exclusive Chicago restaurant Ever.

Under the tutelage of the little-seen head chef Terry (Olivia Colman), Richie discovered the value in elevating the culinary experience for customers, shifting his mindset to recognize that he has the ability to succeed. Having developed the ingredients for self-actualization over the course of the season, Richie returns from Ever as a matured version of himself, now channeling his greatest assets—a natural charisma and ease with people, as noted by Terry—into a productive capacity as he joins Carmy, Syd, and Natalie (Abby Elliott) to launch their new restaurant, The Bear.

The end of the second season finds Richie rising to the occasion, leading by inspiration:

We are in the fortunate position of being able to blow some fucking minds tonight.

A far cry from the Glock-wielding wannabe gangster in the first episode, Richie maintains his own stress levels through the ups and downs of The Bear’s “family and friends night” soft launch, from referencing Siddhartha (albeit not without his characteristic profanity) to the new hires before opening to taking over BOH to run the line (again, not without profanity) after a meth addiction and a faulty fridge door incapacitate two of The Bear’s cooking staff.

What’d He Wear?

I’m wearin’ a suit ’cause it makes me feel better about myself.

Through the first season and a half of The Bear, Richie’s screen wardrobe rotated between a handful of grease-stained Original Beef (or “Berf”) T-shirts with tracksuit separates and his trusty black leather Members Only jacket which, like its wearer, has trouble finding its place in the modern world.

Changed by his brief but impactful stagiarire experience bringing “luxuriation” to the expectant diners at Ever while clad in a shark-gray Pronto Uomo suit, Richie’s sartorial shift indicates his new sense of purpose as he takes himself and his role more seriously.

Richie’s sartorial experience at Ever imbues him with the confidence and desire to adopt his own suit of armor.

“I wear suits now,” Richie frequently reaffirms to his impressed colleagues at The Bear.

For inspiration, Richie turned toward Al Pacino in Heat as his paragon of competence and style, dressing accordingly in low-contrasting, monochromatic dark suits, shirts, and ties. (I like to think that Richie may have read BAMF Style posts about Vincent Hanna’s wardrobe for inspiration, but maybe that’s wishful thinking.) Costume designer Courtney Wheeler shared with Mike DeStefano for Complex that Ebon Moss-Bachrach had conceptualized Richie looking to Heat for inspiration, which she describes as “Completely Richie… that’s completely his idea of being put together and his idea of feeling powerful.”

“Wheeler imagined that Richie wanted to re-create his inspiring stagiaire aesthetic, plus the all-black serendipitously coordinated with The Bear’s decor,” explains Fawnia Soo Hoo for The Hollywood Reporter. Wheeler elaborated to Trishna Rikhy for Esquire that the suit they ultimately selected cost between $700 and $800, after trying both lower-priced and higher-end suits: “It was about finding a middle ground, and that happened to be the middle price point we did. With Ebon, how it fit and how he felt in it was really important. The brand is not supposed to be important at all for his storyline, but I honestly do think it’s believable that Richie said, I’m going to go out and buy this suit. It’s recognizable, it’s what a guy wears who knows his stuff.”

Pulled off the rack from Hugo Boss, the black micro-waffle textured 100% virgin wool suit wasn’t perfectly tailored, as Wheeler understandably identifies that Richie wouldn’t be the sort with the inclination, knowledge, and/or budget to do so. After all, he’s also the type who selects a black suit for his first nice suit (when tradition would suggest gray or navy instead), though he achieves his primary purpose of an improved self-image in an industry that doesn’t reward sartorial purity as sternly as finance or law.

Amidst the sea of white uniforms BOH, Richie stands out in his all-black suit.

The black single-breasted jacket has pick-stitched peak lapels that roll to a two-button front. Most frequently associated with double-breasted jackets, peak lapels go through rotations of fashionability on single-breasted jackets—perhaps most historically notable in the 1930s and 1970s before the style was revived during the 2010s and popularized by models like the Tom Ford “Windsor”.

Richie’s suit jacket otherwise follows conventional design with its welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, double vents, and “kissing” four-button cuffs.

Let it rip.

The matching flat-front trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets (with a button through the back left), and plain-hemmed bottoms. Richie holds them up with a black leather belt that closes through a squared steel-toned single-prong buckle.

Photo credit: Chuck Hodes/FX

Ten days out from the opening of The Bear, Richie debuts his suit to his colleagues in “Bolognese” (Episode 2.08). Consistent with his inspo, he wears a black shirt patterned with gray pencil stripes and blue shadow stripes. The shirt design includes a spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs. He restrains the busy shirt stripe by wearing a micro-woven charcoal silk tie.

For friends-and-family night in “Omelette” (Episode 2.09) and “The Bear” (Episode 2.10), Richie appropriates a truly all-black look, wearing a solid black cotton shirt with spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs. His black tie is vertically ribbed, inlaid with a repeating tonal black “downhill”-direction bar stripe.

Black leather lace-up shoes are the smartest route with a black suit, and Richie unimpeachably chooses cap-toe oxfords—a classic choice that wouldn’t clash against his black suit.

Richie doesn’t wear a wristwatch, bracelet, or any visible jewelry aside from the gold wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand, signifying his tenuous attempt to grasp onto his ended marriage.

How to Get the Look

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie Jerimovich on The Bear (Episode 2.09: “Omelette”)

In the spirit of Richie’s transformation, wear a suit that makes you feel good about yourself. For Richie, that meant channeling Al Pacino’s low-contrasting dark designer suits, shirts, and ties in Heat, albeit in a cut refreshingly updated for the times.

• Black micro-waffle-textured wool Hugo Boss suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets (with back-right button-through closure), and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black shirt with spread collar, plain front, and button cuffs
• Black tonal-striped silk tie
• Black edge-stitched leather belt with steel squared single-prong buckle
• Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Gold wedding ring

Sources

• Complex — “Meet the Woman Making ‘The Bear’ One of the Most Stylish Shows on Television” by Mike DeStefano
• Esquire — “How The Bear Became High-Key Fashion Television” by Trishna Rikhy
• The Hollywood Reporter — “‘The Bear’ Costume Designer on How One Dapper Suit Marks the Turn of Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie” by Fawnia Soo Hoo

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series, currently streaming on Hulu.

The Quote

Anticipation creates luxuriation. Yeah… yeah? Fuckin’ abra-fuckin’-cadabra, chefs.

The post The Bear: Richie Wears Suits Now appeared first on BAMF Style.

Jackie Chan in Rush Hour (1998)

Vitals

Jackie Chan as Yan Naing Lee, athletic Hong Kong Police Force detective

Los Angeles, Fall 1997

Film: Rush Hour
Release Date: September 18, 1998
Director: Brett Ratner
Costume Designer: Sharen Davis

Background

Happy 70th birthday, Jackie Chan! Born April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong, Chan grew to fame for his impressive stunts and his ability to blend such acrobatic fighting with comic timing—a skill exemplified throughout the action-packed 1998 buddy comedy Rush Hour, a DVD that my high school friends must have watched dozens of times.

After a Chinese diplomat’s daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles, the consul calls on a devoted friend from the Hong Kong Police Force to assist the investigation. Unwilling to accept the foreign detective’s help, the FBI passes Inspector Lee off to the LAPD—specifically the loquacious and foolhardy Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), who resents being tasked with a babysitting assignment. While the feds follow the investigation by-the-book, Tucker’s unorthodox methods and Lee’s familiarity with those involved give the mismatched pair an advantage as they track down Soo Yung’s kidnappers… much to the FBI’s chagrin.

What’d He Wear?

Lee and Carter both dress in variations of the monochromatic color schemes that dominated men’s fashions across the late 1990s, illustrated by the popularity of Regis Philbin’s matching shirts and satin ties on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? (Yes, 10-year-old me owned a gold Regis Philbin-brand shirt and tie. Let’s move on.)

Inspector Lee arrives in Los Angeles wearing a black suit and black shirt, accented by a bold red silk tie that contrasts against the rest of the black clothing. The outfit is surprisingly flashy for an understated and generally serious investigator like Lee, but that further demonstrates how deeply this quasi-Mafioso look infiltrated menswear—while also keeping in mind that costume designer Sharen Davis was dressing movie stars for a fun action comedy.

Carter wears a purple tie that echoes his lighter-colored shirt while Lee embraces the monochromatic black suit and shirt.

The texture and folds of Lee’s black suit suggests polyester, roomily cut with a baggy fit that’s consistent with ’90s fashion trends that fortuitously provide Jackie Chan considerable range of motion for his dextrous stuntwork.

The ventless suit jacket has notch lapels that roll to a single-breasted two-button front. The front quarters are squared, with straight flapped hip pockets in addition to a welted breast pocket. The shoulders are wide and padded, and the sleeves are finished with three-button cuffs.

Lee’s black trousers rise to Jackie Chan’s waist, with reverse pleats that add volume through the thighs and harmonize withe jacket’s fuller cut. Styled with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms, the trousers are held up by a black leather belt that closes through a silver-toned single-prong buckle.

The dust and dirt accumulated after Lee’s long night makes his black belt appear to be a lighter color as he and Carter leave the consulate.

Over his black cotton crew-neck short-sleeved T-shirt, Lee wears a black soft poplin shirt with a point collar, front placket, set-in breast pocket, and button cuffs. His bright scarlet-red silk tie is printed with a scattered arrangement of black squares, and Lee often tucks the tie behind his shirt’s placket when anticipating intense action scenes like the bar-fight and pursuing Sang (Ken Leung) after the warehouse bombing.

Lee settles into the back of an L.A. tour bus, believing he’s evaded Carter. Note his tie-tag facing the camera before he rearranges himself.

Lee’s distinctive derby shoes are fashioned with black suede uppers that have a moc-style apron-toe and four-eyelet open lacing, all fastened to black rubber outsoles. These are likely Jackie Chan’s tried-and-true stunt shoes, as he even wears them with his tuxedo during the final act when these are hardly formal enough to be considered appropriate with black tie. His black ribbed socks continue the leg-line of his black trousers.

The Gun

Though the Hong Kong police had issued Inspector Lee a Glock 17, he evidently leaves his service weapon behind upon traveling to the United States, where he has a reasonable expectation on relying on his fists and feet when force is needed while investigating Soo Yung’s kidnapping.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Lee has little familiarity with firearms, as seen when he deftly disarms Carter of his Beretta 92FS Inox while trying to evade his LAPD “babysitter”. Lee’s dexterity so impresses Carter that he later asks how to master the technique during the montage set to Edwin Starr’s 1970 hit single “War” before Carter eventually gives Lee his gun and badge to investigate the Foo Chow restaurant in Chinatown.

This being America, Lee may not have anticipated that Carter would have a second gun… and the cabbie would have one too!

Beretta had launched its 92 series of pistols in 1976, evolving to the iconic 92FS developed in the mid-1980s in response to the U.S. military’s extensive testing for a new service pistol to replace the aging M1911A1. With its double-stack magazine feeding 15 rounds of now-standard 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition through the recoil-operated pistol with a traditional double-action trigger, the Beretta 92FS met the Army’s requirements and would eventually be adopted as the “M9” in American military service.

By the time Rush Hour was filmed in the late 1990s, the Beretta 92FS was also an issued sidearm for the LAPD, as represented in movies like the Lethal Weapon series. It’s possible that Carter obtained his model with Beretta’s shiny satin stainless steel “Inox” finish to fit his flashy undercover persona—which, as it happens, aligns with his real persona—as the more typical authorized pistol for the LAPD was the all-blued 92FS that Carter seems to carry as a backup.

Lee also gets his hand on a few blued Beretta 92FS pistols at the consulate, taking one from an agent at the gate that he coolly disassembles with one hand (as his other hand is cuffed to the steering wheel he removed from Carter’s Stingray) and another from FBI agent Dan Whitney (Rex Linn) after unbelting Whitney during a fight that sent the agent’s holster falling to the floor.

How to Get the Look

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour (1998)

In his all-black suit, shirt, and ties—contrasted only by his dramatic red printed tie—Inspector Lee’s costume may be a relic of 1990s fashions but also indicates how seriously he takes his task in recovering the consul’s beloved daughter, dressing more like a cinematic killer than the traditional investigator.

• Black polyester suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black poplin shirt with point collar, front placket, set-in breast pocket, and button cuffs
• Scarlet-red silk tie with abstract black square print
• Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black suede apron-toe 4-eyelet derby shoes
• Black ribbed socks
• Black cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt/undershirt

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Not being able to speak is not the same as not speaking. You seem as if you like to talk. I like to let people talk who like to talk. It makes it easier to find out how full of shit they are.

The post Jackie Chan in Rush Hour appeared first on BAMF Style.

Warren Oates in Cockfighter (1974)

Vitals

Warren Oates as Frank Mansfield, voluntarily mute cockfighter

Georgia, Spring 1973

Film: Cockfighter
Release Date: July 30, 1974
Director: Monte Hellman
Wardrobe Credit: Carol Hammond & Patty Shaw

Background

Fifty years ago today on July 30, 1974, the locally filmed B-movie Cockfighter premiered in Roswell, Georgia.

“King of Cult” producer and director Roger Corman had spied Charles Willeford’s novel of the same name in an airport bookstore and had read no more than the title and the back cover before buying the adaptation rights, explaining to his editor that “with a title like this, if we can’t sell it, we’re in big trouble.” Unfortunately… they couldn’t sell it.

Perhaps dismayed that Hellman took a more philosophical than exploitative approach, Corman tried every trick at his disposal to grow an audience. After hiring Joe Dante to recut the film, he rotated through alternate titles like Born to Kill, Gamblin’ Man, and Wild Drifter, until eventually accepting a rare defeat, citing Cockfighter as the only New World Pictures release to lose money, despite its already meager $400,000 budget.

Like many other Corman films, Cockfighter found a cult following in the decades after its release, certainly in part to the talent involved. Working from a screenplay that Willeford adapted from his own novel, Monte Hellman was hired to direct as his first feature since Two-Lane Blacktop. Hellman assembled a cast that included Two-Lane Blacktop alumna Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, and Oates’ friend and frequent co-star Harry Dean Stanton (the subject of my first Cockfighter post), as well as ’50s screen idol Troy Donahue, character actors Robert Earl Jones and Richard B. Shull, and a young Ed Begley Jr. in one of his first prominent roles.

Three years after Hellman directed him to magnificence as “GTO” in Two-Lane Blacktop, Oates delivered one of his arguably career-best performances as Frank Mansfield, a determined gambler who vows to remain mute until he can be awarded Southern Conference Cockfighter of the Year. As Frank increases the stakes by betting everything he owns along the way, we see the lengths to which he goes to build up the odds against his gamecock Sandspur, such as disfiguring the beak to appear cracked.

What’d He Wear?

Contrasting the flashier suits and kerchiefs that Stanton wears as his friendly rival Jack Burke, Frank Mansfield’s wardrobe is generally rooted in classic workwear with a country-and-western flair like chambray shirts and snap-front shirts, worn with the same hardy hat, jacket, boots, and jeans.

One piece that Frank repeats from his closet is a black long-sleeved shirt, detailed with contrasting white double-stitched seams along the edges—framing the fashionably long point collar, the button-up front placket, the two-button squared barrel cuffs, and the shoulder seams.

Frank’s simple black shirt, straw hat, and jeans reflect his more reserved personality when compared to Jack Burke in his off-white corduroy suit, colorfully striped shirt, and coordinated satin neckerchief.

Frank regularly wears a light natural straw cowboy hat, detailed with a narrow dark-brown ribbon around the base of the crown and knotted on the left side. The ridged cattleman’s-style crown is perforated with all-around ventilation holes through the center of the hat to allow cool air to pass through, and the wide brim is gently curved up.

Comparable modern Stetsons would be the 100X straw Griffin and the 10X straw Lobo, each crafted with a 4 1/8″ crown and 4 1/4″-wide brim.

Frank tucks the shirt into his usual dark-blue denim Lee Rider boot-cut jeans, identifiable by the branded black patch sewn along the top of the back-right pocket as well as the signature “lazy S” stitch across both back pockets. These zip-fly jeans follow the usual five-pocket configuration with two curved pockets in the front plus a coin/watch pocket inset inside the right pocket. He holds them up with a dark-brown leather belt that closes through a large silver-toned western-shaped single-prong buckle, though the belt is decorated with three rows of grommets across the back where two domed silver studs are mounted.

The jeans’ boot-cut legs allow for Frank’s dark russet-brown leather pointed-toe cowboy boots that coordinate with the western-inspired aesthetic.

During one of the cockfights, Frank wears the shirt with a different set of blue jeans, uniquely styled with the old-fashioned cinch-back that Levi’s had removed from its iconic 501® jeans during World War II. In addition to the cinch-back, these jeans also have wide belt loops, front pockets with scooped curved entries, and set-in back pockets.

Frank often wears a brown corduroy barn coat, styled with toggle buttons and squared patch-style hip pockets covered by slightly pointed single-button flaps. Lined in a dense taupe-brown fur that extends onto the collar and revers, the thigh-length coat features brown leather accents ranging from the collar trim and buttonhole reinforcements to patches over the elbows and the front of each shoulder.

This being the ’70s, even a relatively practical dresser like Frank Mansfield isn’t immune to the allure of the safari suit, perhaps driven to such sartorial drama after losing his mobile home, Cadillac, and girlfriend all to Jack Burke after Sandspur suffers a particularly bad loss.

His eyes shielded behind large gold-framed aviator sunglasses, Frank returns to the Mansfield family farm outside Decatur before working his way back into the Southern Conference, dressed with uncharacteristic flash in a khaki safari suit and red neckerchief.

The safari suit consists of a matching hip-length jacket and flat-front trousers with full, flared bottoms. The shirt-jacket has a fashionably large point collar, shoulder straps (epaulets) that fasten down with a single silver snap at each pointed end over the sleeve-head, and two-snap cuffs. The front is pleated like a Levi’s Type II denim jacket with its double sets of center-facing pleats flanking six silver-toned snaps up the front placket. The two chest pockets and two slightly larger hip pockets are all detailed with inverted box-pleats and covered with a single-snap flap. The back also features an inverted box-pleat down the center, aligned with a vent below the half-belt.

A curiosity of Frank’s costume is the yellow bracelet he wears around his left wrist, which appears to be made from a rubber or PVC material but adjusted through silver-toned hardware.

How to Get the Look

Warren Oates in Cockfighter (1974)

• Black contrast-stitched long-sleeved shirt with long point collar, front placket, and 2-button squared cuffs
• Brown corduroy thigh-length barn coat with brown leather-trimmed collar, toggle-button front, brown leather chest and elbow patches, and patch hip pockets (with pointed single-button flaps)
• Dark-blue denim Lee Rider boot-cut jeans with belt loops, zip-fly, and five-pocket layout
• Dark-brown leather belt with large silver-toned western-shaped single-prong buckle, three rows of grommets, and 2 silver domed decorative back studs
• Dark russet-brown leather pointed-toe cowboy boots
• Light natural straw cowboy hat with all-around ventilated cattleman’s-style crown, narrow dark-brown grosgrain ribbon, and wide brim
• Yellow PVC bracelet with silver adjusters

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Piss on her and the horse she rode in on.

The post Cockfighter: Warren Oates’ Black Shirt and Lee Jeans appeared first on BAMF Style.

Sam Elliott in Road House (1989)

Vitals

Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett, reliable bouncer

Jasper, Missouri, Spring 1988

Film: Road House
Release Date: May 19, 1989
Director: Rowdy Herrington
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the 80th birthday of Sam Elliott, the prolific actor who has brought his commanding voice and distinguished mustache to a variety of roles from his breakthrough performance in Lifeguard (1976) to hits like Mask (1985), Tombstone (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), and A Star is Born (2018), to name just a few.

The first time I saw Road House, I was surprised to see that Elliott had shaved his signature soup-strainer to portray Wade Garrett, the tough and trusted bouncer that professional cooler Dalton (Patrick Swayze) calls to the small town of Jasper, Missouri, where local crime boss Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara) is making his task of taming the Double Deuce more of a challenge than he hoped.

Of course, Jasper isn’t entirely unfriendly to Dalton, who has made the romantic acquaintance of local physician Elizabeth “Doc” Clay (Kelly Lynch), whom Wade compliments after a long night of drinking and dancing by declaring “that girl’s got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.”

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Marilyn Vance communicates how cool Wade Garrett is by dressing him almost exclusively in black clothing. Unlike Dalton, whose clothes balance the roomy trends of the late ’80s with trimmer tailoring that flatters Swayze’s physique and also stays contained while fighting, Wade fully embraces the era’s baggy fashions, often dressed in oversized shirts that he wears untucked and only partially buttoned.

He arrives in Jasper wearing a black microfiber long-sleeved camp shirt, styled with a flat loop collar, two flapped chest pockets, button cuffs, and a plain front that he typically wears with only three of the lower smoke-colored buttons fastened.

Wade always wears all-black denim Lee straight-leg jeans, identifiable by the black-on-black “lazy S” stitch across the two back pockets and the branded button atop the zip fly seen when he shows Dalton and Doc the scar over his right hip—a demonstration that also illustrates Wade’s dislike for underwear.

“I’ll show you one I’m real sentimental about, Doc.”

Wade’s worn dark-brown leather plain-toe derby-laced work boots have slightly raised heels that give the 6’2″ Sam Elliott an even more intimidating boost of height.

Wade wears black rectangular-framed wraparound sunglasses, likely the Ray-Ban Balorama model that was introduced in 1967 and established its cinematic badass credits when Clint Eastwood wore them as the titular Inspector Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971). Similar to other ’80s movies like Top Gun (1986), Ray-Bans are ubiquitous in the Road House universe, from Dalton’s black aviators to O’Connor’s gold Shooters.

Wade prefers ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirts, rotating between a light-gray A-shirt under his black microfiber shirt and a plain white one that he wears with a gray shirt and during his final scene atop the Double Deuce’s bar.

The slate-gray long-sleeved shirt is Wade’s sole exception to wearing all-black clothing, though it’s still consistent with the monochromatic scheme. Also fashionably oversized for the period, the shirt has a spread collar, two button-through patch pockets on the chest, button cuffs that he wears undone, and a button-up front placket that he also wears with just the lowest few buttons fastened.

When Wade receives Dalton’s call, he’s working at a bar in New York and sporting a plain tight black cotton T-shirt with very short sleeves, tucked into his black Lee jeans.

Unlike Dalton who wears a wristwatch, Wade only accessorizes with a thick black leather cuff bracelet, secured over his left wrist with two belted straps that each close through a silver-toned single-prong buckle. The bracelet aligns with Wade’s rugged persona, presenting a tough and rebellious aesthetic while also protecting his wrist from the rigors of being a bouncer and a biker.

What to Imbibe

I haven’t spent enough time in Missouri to know if Miller beers are as prevalent as they are for the drinkers in Road House, but the venerable Milwaukee-based brewery certainly has fans among Dalton, Wade, and Doc, with the boys drinking “Champagne of Beers” Miller High Life (4.6% ABV) on the night of Wade’s arrival and still pounding bottles of Miller Genuine Draft (4.7% ABV) over breakfast.

Doc sticks to the 4.2% ABV Miller Lite, perhaps either in consideration of unexpected medical responsibilities that may arise or wary of her caloric intake to maintain the ass that, in Wade’s opinion, defies her considerable brainpower.

How to Get the Look

Sam Elliott in Road House (1989)

Wade Garrett maintains a simple wardrobe of generally all black clothing, still creating a degree of complexity with the microfiber shirting that contrasts just enough with the denim of his straight-leg jeans. His hardy boots, wraparound Baloramas, and leather cuff all serve practical purposes that work well within the context of his work and lifestyle.

• Black microfiber long-sleeved camp shirt with loop collar, plain button-up front, two flapped chest pockets, and button cuffs
• Light-gray ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Black denim Lee zip-fly jeans
• Dark-brown leather plain-toe derby-laced work boots
• Black Ray-Ban Balorama wraparound sunglasses
• Black leather double-strapped cuff bracelet

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

When a man sticks a gun in your face, you got two choices: you can die or you can kill the motherfucker.

The post Sam Elliott’s Black Clothes in Road House appeared first on BAMF Style.

Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis in Public Enemies (2009)

Vitals

Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, ambitious FBI agent

Columbiana County, Ohio, October 1934

Film: Public Enemies
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Ninety years ago today, a law enforcement team combined of local police and federal agents led by Melvin Purvis cornered and killed the Depression-era desperado Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd on a farm outside of Clarkson in western Ohio. Purvis had risen to national prominence for his role in the death of bank robber John Dillinger three months earlier in Chicago, an incident that propelled the Oklahoma-born outlaw Floyd to the top of J. Edgar Hoover’s list of “Public Enemies”.

Based on Bryan Burrough’s nonfiction volume of the same name, Michael Mann’s 2009 film Public Enemies centered primarily around Purvis’ hunt for Dillinger, following Mann’s formula from films like Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral that reflects the unique mirror between two professionals on opposing sides of the law—in this case represented by the charismatic criminal Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and more laconic lawman Purvis (Christian Bale).

As a result, lip service is paid to Floyd’s notoriety but the circumstances of his October 1934 death are actually positioned a year earlier so that Bale’s Purvis leads the hunt and fires the fatal shot into “Pretty Boy” Floyd (Channing Tatum) before he’s even recruited into the Dillinger manhunt. However, Floyd had been on the national radar for considerably longer than Dillinger, dating back to his first bank robberies in 1930 while Dillinger was still in the midst of a decade-long sentence in the Indiana state prison.

Floyd’s four-year crime spree resulted in the deaths of at least a half-dozen men—including at least five more if he was indeed involved in the infamous Kansas City Massacre in June 1933—though he maintained a folk hero’s reputation through his many escapes and relentless  bank robberies, often sharing the profits of his heists with his family’s impoverished neighbors and kin in the Cookson Hills. Contemporary myths that Floyd would burn mortgage records of repossessed homes during these holdups, though this may be apocrpyhal. Regardless, the dozens of robberies committed by Floyd and his cronies hit Oklahoma so hard that bank insurance reportedly doubled between 1931 and 1932.

The FBI publicly accused Floyd of involvement in the Kansas City Massacre, which resulted in the deaths of four lawmen—including FBI agent Raymond Caffrey—and the collateral death of the prisoner they were transporting, bank robber Frank Nash. In the wake of this increased federal pressure, Floyd and his partner-in-crime Adam Richetti absconded with their girlfriends to hole up in Buffalo, New York. Dillinger’s death in July 1934 ultimately resulted in Hoover bestowing Floyd with the title of Public Enemy #1, with the heat intensifying despite having laid low for more then a year.

The group left Buffalo late on the night of Friday, October 19, 1934, but their short-lived trip ended hours later just beyond the Ohio state line where Floyd crashed their secondhand Ford into a phone pole while navigating the fog. After the Baird sisters were sent into East Liverpool to get the car fixed, the armed men in their flashy suits attract enough attention that local lawmen investigate, with Richetti arrested after a brief gunfight while Floyd goes on the run into the western Ohio woods.

Ten years ago, chance found me near East Liverpool for work on October 22, 2014—the 80th anniversary of “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s death. After the work event ended, I drove to the spot where Floyd’s death is marked with a sign by the road—evidently used for considerable target practice. I also dressed accordingly in a navy business suit, white open-neck shirt, and black oxfords, just as Floyd was recorded to be wearing when he was killed at the spot. (Though I did have a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless handy, I did not contribute any of my own rounds to the sign’s heritage.)

That Sunday, October 21, Hoover sent his star agent Purvis to charter an airplane to Wellsville to lead the manhunt for Public Enemy #1. The following afternoon, Monday, October 22, two cars carrying four federal agents (including Purvis) and four local policemen arrived at the farmhouse of Ellen Conkle on Sprucevale Road outside of Clarkson, just as Floyd attempted to get a ride with Mrs. Conkle’s brother in his Ford Model A. Upon spotting the arriving police, Floyd jumped from the car with a .45-caliber 1911 pistol in each hand and heads across an open field toward the woods, 200 yards away. Unfortunately for him, the eight armed lawmen were already out of their cars with their guns up.

“That’s him, let him have it!” Purvis supposedly shouted, as the officers and agents let loose with their handguns, rifles, shotguns, and Thompson submachine guns. The mortally wounded Floyd admitted his identity but continues denying involvement in the Kansas City Massacre until he died at 4:25 p.m. Both Floyd and Purvis were 30 years old at the time, with Purvis two days shy of his 31st birthday while Floyd would have turned 31 four months later.

What’d He Wear?

Though it is well-documented that “Pretty Boy” Floyd was wearing a navy suit, white shirt, and black oxfords at the time of his death on October 22, 1934, I haven’t seen any historical documentation of what Melvin Purvis wore during the manhunt. The real Purvis was fastidious about his appearance, reportedly changing shirts up to three times over the course of a single day to maintain his professional appearance. While this aligns with how costume designer Colleen Atwood dressed Christian Bale’s Purvis in a parade of era-informed suits and ties through the rest of Public Enemies, the character is introduced wearing more rugged outdoors apparel when stalking Floyd “through an apple orchard,” as he later reports.

Purvis’ black napped cotton shirt takes styling queues from military and police uniforms with its structured point collar, shoulder epaulets, and twin chest pockets that suggest an authoritative symmetry. The cloth appears to be moleskin, a woven heavy cotton shorn to present a soft yet durable suede-like texture, making it a favored fabric for outdoor pursuits. Purvis’ shirt is reinforced with low-contrast edge-stitching around the collar, epaulets, front placket, cuffs, and the horizontal yoke extending across the upper back. The barrel cuffs are closed with two black buttons, matching the single button closing over each gauntlet. The two chest pockets are covered with rectangular flaps which also close with a single button. Across the placket, pockets, cuffs, and epaulets, all of the buttons are black plastic.

Purvis’ brown wool flat-front breeches were a popular type of hunting trousers through the 1930s, designed to be comfortably roomy through the thighs and then tapered below the knee to be tucked into calf-high boots. The trousers have straight, on-seam side pockets and set-in back pockets covered with narrow scalloped single-button flaps.

Though Purvis could be criticized for the redundency of his belt and braces, each piece serves a different purpose here. The narrow russet-brown leather suspenders serve the function of keeping his trousers up, with long, string-like ties in the back connecting to buttons along the inside of his waistband. Pulled through the loops around his trouser waistband, the russet-brown leather belt with its center-laced design and large squared single-prong buckle is more intended to support his weaponry. Twelve loops for his 8mm rifle cartridges are positioned at the belt’s front-right, just ahead of the matching open-top holster for his Colt Detective Special revolver.

Purvis’ brown leather calf-high hunting boot have black laces that pull through several sets of eyelets before they loop through gunmetal-finished speed hooks up the shafts. He wears taupe-brown ribbed wool knee-high socks that he folds down over the tops of his boots.

Whether inspired by an affectation worn by the real Melvin Purvis or conceptualized by costume designer Colleen Atwood, Bale wears a large gold signet ring on his left ring finger.

The Gun

In keeping with his outdoorsy attire, Bale’s Purvis is appropriately armed for the hunt with “an 8mm Mauser sports rifle with a slim fore-stock and wrist and a turned-down bolt handle,” as described in the screenplay, which editorializes that “it’s the best rifle made in 1933.”

Though it shares its 7.92x57mm cartridge and nomenclature with German military rifles, the Mauser 98 Sporter was built intentionally for hunting purposes with their open sights and ribbed barrels. Purvis appears to wield the standard “German-style” Model B as suggested by its ribbed 23.5-inch barrel, flat “butter knife” bolt handle, and the double set trigger—a complex mechanism that recalls the hammer on a traditional double-action handgun.

“Pulling the rear trigger sets the front one for a very light pull to avoid disturbing the shooter’s aim,” writes Ludwig Olson for American Rifleman. “The rifle can also be fired by pulling the front trigger without setting it, but the pull is much heavier.”

Though Purvis’ fellow posse members like special agent Herman Roth and East Liverpool policeman Chester Smith carried Winchester rifles, Purvis reportedly only carried his standard-issue Colt Detective Special on this day, firing all six rounds of .38 Special at Floyd during these final moments. Public Enemies indeed includes the weapon holstered on the right side of Bale’s belt, though he only uses the rifle during this scene.

How to Get the Look

Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis in Public Enemies (2009)

Though the suspenders and bloused trouser bottoms may look dated, the rest of Melvin Purvis’ hunting attire in Public Enemies could translate well to a rugged fall outfit today—a heavy black two-pocket shirt tucked into brown flannel trousers with a sturdy leather belt coordinated to trusty boots.

• Black moleskin cotton shirt with point collar, front placket, two chest pockets (with rectangular single-button flaps), and two-button cuffs
• Brown wool flat-front hunting breeches with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, set-in back pockets (with scalloped single-button flaps), and bloused bottoms
• Russet-brown leather center-laced belt with squared single-prong buckle
  • Russet-brown leather belt holster for snub-nosed/2″-barreled revolver
  • 12 rifle cartridge loops
• Russet-brown leather narrow suspenders (braces)
• Brown leather calf-high lace-up hunting boots
• Gold signet ring

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie as well as Otis Taylor’s recording “Ten Million Slaves” that scored the scene and was also used in Public Enemies‘ promotional trailers:

The post Public Enemies: Christian Bale’s Hunting Gear as Melvin Purvis appeared first on BAMF Style.