Layer Cake – Rust Brown Chalkstripe Jacket and Jeans
Daniel Craig in Layer Cake (2004).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as an unnamed London drug dealer (the credits call him “XXXX”)
London, Summer 2004
Film: Layer Cake
Release Date: October 1, 2004
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie
Background
The outset of Layer Cake introduces its unnamed central character, a shrewd, young drug dealer played by Daniel Craig with a level of stoic cool that argues the film as a potential “audition” of sorts for Craig eventually taking the 007 mantle.
To drive the Bond point home, Craig’s character meets with fellow villains to announce his retirement at the Stoke Poges Golf Club, the venerable setting for Bond’s iconic golf match against Auric Goldfinger forty years earlier.
The 007 connection ends there as Dan – credited as XXXX – heads to a nightclub to broker an ecstasy deal with a couple of Liverpudlian pill slingers. While there, he runs into an ambitious but obnoxious gangster named Q Sidney (Ben Whishaw) and his knockout girlfriend Tammy (Sienna Miller). An additional layer of intrigue comes from the fact that the moronic Sidney’s uncle is “The Duke”, a cowboy gangster who got poor XXXX in trouble with some ruthless Serbs.
What’d He Wear?
Although sport coats and suit jackets worn with jeans aren’t a universally loved combination in the sartorial community, Daniel Craig’s vibrant rust-colored jacket in Layer Cake has had many online forums buzzing with people trying to track down information about it. Plus, his nightclub outfit is far less douchey than the sea of Ed Hardy and Tapout t-shirts one unfortunately finds in most clubs these days.
Dan brings some class to the London clubhopping crowd.
Like the navy blue pinstripe suit jacket he wears elsewhere in Layer Cake, XXXX’s rust brown chalkstripe jacket is worn with a white shirt and jeans for a casual twist on the usual sport coat look. It’s certainly not something James Bond would wear; the bold brown chalkstripe jacket is more evocative of the striped suit that Robert Redford wore for “date night” as Johnny Hooker in The Sting.
Matt Spaiser at The Suits of James Bond deduced that the navy pinstripe coat was an orphaned suit jacket, but the sporty look of the brown striped jacket leads me to believe it is likely a designer sport coat meant to capitalize on the then-stylish trend of a business suit jacket with jeans. For the sake of this post and based on its usage, I’ll refer to the brown jacket as a sport coat.
The sport coat is rust brown with a bold white chalkstripe, manufactured from a sporty fabric that takes on an iridescent sheen in different light, reflecting blue outside and red under the lights of the club. It is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll to the top of the 2-button stance.
The jacket has a comfortable fit – especially when compared to Craig’s jackets in Skyfall eight years later – with a suppressed waist and long double vents. The shoulders are straight with roped sleeveheads and 3-button cuffs at the end of each sleeve. Flapped hip pockets sit straight along the waistline, and the welted breast pocket offers XXXX a quick and convenient way to pocket Tammy’s phone number at the club.
Proof that Bond never was one to listen to much that Q had to say.
Other than the coat, the rest of XXXX’s outfit is the same as we see with the navy suit jacket. He wears the same white long-sleeve shirt with its large 2-button spread collar, front placket, and 2-button cuffs.
He also wears the same medium-dark wash Levi’s jeans with a wide brown textured leather belt. The belt has three staggered roles of holes along the back and a large brass double-prong buckle in the front.
Dan knows how to be discreet even if his potential bedmates don’t.
Craig’s leather R.M. Williams “Henley” Chelsea boots appropriately match the brown leather belt while also nicely drawing out the brown in the jacket. The color of the boots, according to R.M. Williams, is actually a dark shade of brown called “chestnut” for the brand’s purposes.
Craig’s wristwatch throughout Layer Cake – often believed to be a Rolex DateJust – is stainless with a black dial on a steel link bracelet.
How to Get the Look
Daniel Craig’s Layer Cake style is consistent for a young go-getter who ably balances style with the shrewdness that allows him to fly under the radar when needed.
- Rust brown chalkstripe single-breasted 2-button sport coat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped straight hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
- White long-sleeve shirt with tall 2-button spread collar, front placket, and 2-button cuffs
- Medium-dark blue Levi’s denim jeans
- Wide brown textured leather belt with large brass double-prong buckle
- Dark brown (“chestnut”) leather R.M. Williams “Henley” Chelsea boots with brown elastic side gussets
- Rolex Datejust wristwatch with stainless case/bracelet and black dial
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie
The Quote
Life is so fucking good, I can taste it in my spit.
Whether or not this jacket belongs to a suit, it is not right to call it a sports coat. Sports coats are sporty (having an origin to do with sports), and chalk stripes are not sporty no matter the colour. This is merely just a jacket, which some call an “odd jacket”. A sports coat is a specific type of odd jacket, just as a blazer is a specific type of sports coat.
Hey Matt – thanks for your quick and expert feedback. I cut a few more paragraphs detailing my inner conflict about how to describe DC’s jacket here (as it’s a sartorial blog, not a Nick’s mind blog!). I’m sure you saw my eventual reasoning in the paragraph where I cite your entry.
I’ve observed many discussions and forum pieces about whether or not a “pinstripe/chalkstripe sport coat” can really exist. I think my most definitive answer is that some major retailers are now marketing striped jackets as “sport coats,” and that this should be best regarded when we’re looking at a jacket like DC’s here that is more casual than what would have been an orphaned business suit jacket. While marketing certainly doesn’t drive industry standards – I’ve seen far too many suit jackets advertised separately as “suit blazers” 🙁 – I would argue the changing nature of fashion may provide some allowances when it comes to modern interpretations of a sport coat.
(Not that I’m defending the continually casual dress adopted by modern men. It’s disheartening to see folks in Steelers jerseys and distressed jeans when I take my girlfriend to an anniversary dinner!)
I certainly had a heck of a time determining what to call this garment (http://bamfstyle.com/2015/10/04/justified-boyd-405-sweatersportcoat/). “Sweater-sportcoat” was an itchy thing for me to type out, but he wears so many gray tweed jackets, sweaters, and sweater coats that some definition was needed. Even Ted Baker called it a “blazer” in their marketing.
I believe you once told me that you’re not much of a jeans wearer; what do you think would have been the most appropriate outfit for DC to wear in this sequence?
I can understand your reasoning for it not being part of a suit (brown striped business suits haven’t been popular since the 40s, no matter what Ralph Lauren tries to sell), but since it isn’t sporty it’s not a “sports coat”. “Sports coat” is not a term for any jacket that doesn’t come as part of a suit. This jacket is simply a jacket. Sports coats are made of sporty fabrics and have sporty details. When you combine a sports coat with matching trousers it’s a sports suit.
I’m not touching the Justified piece!
I wouldn’t go to a club like this, so I don’t even know what a gentleman should wear in this sequence!
Thanks, Matt! This will certainly help moving forward.
Justified‘s characters are about as sartorially far removed from the Bond series as it gets (while still looking presentable in public!) I’ve screencapped some of my favorite clothing blunders from the series, not the least of which found M.C. Gainey sporting a garish shirt covered in American flags.
Well said; I doubt many gentlemen would find themselves in a club like that in the first place.
The boots are RM Williams Craftsman or Comfort Craftsman, not Henleys — I got this from the company and you can tell from the lower profile instep and toe.SH From: BAMF StyleSent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 09:30To: shirsch170@gmail.comReply To: BAMF StyleSubject: [New post] Layer Cake â Rust Brown Chalkstripe Jacket and Jeans
a:hover { color: red; } a { text-decoration: none; color: #0088cc; } a.primaryactionlink:link, a.primaryactionlink:visited { background-color: #2585B2; color: #fff; } a.primaryactionlink:hover, a.primaryactionlink:active { background-color: #11729E !important; color: #fff !important; }
/* @media only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) { .post { min-width: 700px !important; } } */ WordPress.com
luckystrike721 posted: ” Vitals Daniel Craig as an unnamed London drug dealer (the credits call him “XXXX”)
London, Summer 2004
Film: Layer Cake Release Date: October 1, 2004 Director: Matthew Vaughn Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie Background The outset of Layer “
Straight from the source! Thanks – I’ll check it out and make some edits.
They may also be All Rounders, a similarly cut boot in a darker, matte finish, unlike the glossy Craftsman and Comfort Craftsman.
I live in Australia and our biggest men’s outfitter Peter Jackson, sells some of best ready to wear Sports Jackets and they are all traditional sports jackets. Some in wool, cotton, linen even denim. But they all have traditional sporty features, patch pockets, slanted pockets, elbow patches on some, swelled edges. None made of worsted. I think we should just stick to classic definitions.
Craig still wears striped jackets with jeans to this day. During the publicity tour for Spectre he wore a grey herringbone suit jacket from Tom Ford with dark blue Levi jeans. he wore a Tom Ford cocktail cuff shirt like the one from Spectre with a dark grey tie. It isn’t the best look, but Craig was obviously trying to get the most out of the clothes he had with him on the tour. He wore the grey suit a lot with different shirts during the publicity tour. But Craig could have walked in to a Brunello Cucinelli or Tom Ford store and grabbed a more casual and appropriate sport cost off the rack and it would have worked better with jeans.