Nothing new, attire-wise, but we do get to learn a little more about Moody’s secret recipe for Cheese Sensation.

Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, womanizing novelist with substance abuse issues

Venice Beach, Summer 2007

Series: Californication
Episode: “Girls Interrupted” (Episode 1.07)
Air Date: September 24, 2007
Director: Tucker Gates
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

Background

As one of the first episodes to feature more heavily on the Flanderization of Charlie Runkle, Hank gets relatively less screen time than usual in “Girls Interrupted”, the seventh episode of the first season.

When we do see him, the attire is all pretty standard. We do get a better look at the green button-down he wore earlier in the season and finally find out about Hank’s signature dish, an infamous conglomeration of cheese for the whole family!

What’d He Wear?

DAY 1

For a late night reading session with his daughter, we see how Hank lounges around his apartment. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just a comfortable black T-shirt and his dark jeans.

DAY 2

Hank goes to meet his agent for lunch and is disappointedly surprised by the appearance of Todd Carr, the director who turned his book into a “big shitty movie”. For this, Hank sports his dark chocolate brown smoking jacket, a black button-down, and jeans. We don’t get a good look at his footwear, but he is again wearing his brown Timberland suede Chelsea boots.

Hank wears a brown smoking jacket that was likely meant to be the same as his olive thin-wale corded jacket in previous episodes, but this one appears to be a warmer brown suede with less structure. This jacket also has a jetted breast pocket unlike the welt pocket on the other first season smoking jackets.

Hank’s black shirt is constructed from a thicker cotton than his earlier shirts. It has a slim collar and front placket with black plastic buttons.

DAY 3

Hank takes Karen to a meeting at Carr’s Beverly Hills home, a post-modern mansion right out of Dwell magazine. He wears a dark forest green casual shirt, medium-dark wash jeans, and his Chelsea boots. His sunglasses are, as usual, a pair of Izods (Model 725).

The shirt is likely the same one as worn over a dark T-shirt in episode 2 and worn under Bill’s leather jacket in episode 5. It is very lightweight with soft, flappy collars, a patch breast pocket, and seven white buttons down a plain front. The stitching is visible throughout the shirt, notably on the shoulders and across the rear horizontal seam. Hank wears the shirt in a very devil-may-care manner, befitting his personality, with the collars flapping everywhere. The shirt also has cuff buttons and gauntlet buttons, all worn unfastened and with the sleeves rolled up.

This is probably the jauntiest we see Hank during the whole of the first season, so it makes sense that he would look his most colorful. Also, it says something about him that dark forest green is his most colorful.

That night, Karen decides to reward Hank with a family dinner – which Hank volunteers to cook. Dressing to impress, he showers and puts on his black button-down from earlier (evidently, he’s washed it in the interim) with his medium-dark wash jeans, black socks, and his black Nike Cortez track shoes.

Accessories

Nothing out of the ordinary for Hank. He wears his silver spinner ring on his right index finger and a black leather braided bracelet accompanied by a hexagonally-studded black leather cuff.

Go Big or Go Home

Perhaps sensing a future with Karen, Hank has cut down on his smoking, only borrowing the occasional one from his breast pocket while waiting for Karen outside Carr’s house. We also only see one drink, a whiskey, when having lunch with Runkle. The lunch even appears to be a salad, perhaps signs that Moody is looking to be a little healthier?

That theory is quickly turned on its head when Hank offers to make the “one dish” he is really able to cook, the aptly named Cheese Sensation. Hank describes this artery-clogger as “the haute cuisine of Long Island”, consisting of “five kinds of cheeses, including cream cheese – the people’s cheese.”

Not many specifics are given about the actual creation of such a “meal”, but we do know that it is made in the oven and shouldn’t be left for too long, lest it burns. If an emergency call beckons you away, reheat it for 25 minutes at 300°F while you go rescue your ex-girlfriend’s 16-year-old stepdaughter-to-be from her sexual predator of an English teacher.

How to Get the Look

Having a mishmash of any of these elements will lead to a look that’d make Moody proud:

• Dark brown single-breasted suede smoking jacket with a 2-button front, 3-button cuffs, single vent, jetted breast pocket, and flapped hip pockets
• Dark forest green lightweight casual shirt with a breast pocket and white buttons on a placket-less front
• Black casual shirt with a breast pocket and black buttons down the front placket
• Black short-sleeve James Perse cotton T-shirt
• Medium-dark wash blue denim jeans
• Brown suede Timberland “Torrance” Chelsea boots with black elastic side gussets
• Black & white Nike Cortez tennis shoes
• Black socks
• Silver spinner ring, worn on the right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, worn on the left wrist
• Thin black braided leather bracelet, also worn on the left wrist
• Izod 725 sunglasses

Do Yourself a Favor And…

Buy the first season.

The Quote

I know you Hebrews do things a little differently, but the last time I checked a ménage à trois was not a pit stop on the road to redemption.

Footnotes

Hank’s bracelets are available at Urban Wrist.

As I mentioned in the last Hank post – each first season episode will continue to get its own post. After that, each different look in each season will have one page for itself, encompassing several episodes putting each look in context. Otherwise, there would be about 50 different posts on this blog about the exact same black T-shirt, jeans, and boots.