Michael Caine as Alfie – Brown Tweed Sportcoat
Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins in Alfie (1966).
Vitals
Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, caddish Cockney car service driver and playboy
London, Fall 1962 through Spring 1965
Film: Alfie
Release Date: March 24, 1966
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Wardrobe Supervisor: Jean Fairlie
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
Brown tweed is a great look for fall, so BAMF Style is focused on this outfit sported by Michael Caine in Alfie (as suggested by frequent blog commentor Ryan Hall) for this early October post.
Caine wears this outfit in several major scenes in Alfie: during an argument with Gilda (Julia Foster) following the birth of their son and when he meets the vivacious Ruby (Shelley Winters) while out hocking photographs on the streets of London.
What’d He Wear?
Tweed is traditionally an element of country clothing so our pal Alfie is breaking a few sartorial conventions (as well as moral ones, for the early ’60s at least) by sporting this brown tweed sport jacket in the heart of London.
Alfie’s single-breasted sportcoat is brown tweed with mixed red, beige, and blue yarns. It is single-breasted with two urea sew-through buttons to close the front and two functioning buttons on each cuff. The slim notch lapels have swelled edges and a buttonhole through the left lapel. Edge swelling is also present on the jacket’s four outer pockets: a patch pocket on the left breast, two flapped hip pockets that slant slightly toward the back, and a flapped ticket pocket on the right side. The shoulders are well-padded with roped sleeveheads, and there is a single vent in the back.
Alfie’s wardrobe stays pretty consistent throughout the various stages of his on-screen life.
Alfie confines his outfit to all earth tones. His fitted shirt is a brown and white mini-gingham check with a slim button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and mitred cuffs that close with two stacked buttons.
As a new dad, Alfie learns the rules of ‘peek-a-boo’ fairly quickly.
His flat-bottomed “old gold” silk tie is super slim, fitting for his shirt collar and the era. The slubbing indicates dupioni silk.
With this jacket, Alfie always wears trousers in shades of brown. When arguing with Gilda and meeting Ruby, he wears a pair of taupe low-rise trousers with a darted front and an extended front waistband tab. He wears a very slim brown leather belt that is often hidden by the shirt billowing over the waist line. The side pockets are slanted, and the back pockets are jetted. They are straight through the leg with plain-hemmed bottoms. He wears a similarly styled but darker brown pair when playing with his son.
Alfie swaps out a darker pair of trousers for play time with his son… perhaps to avoid grass stains?
Alfie’s footwear is only briefly seen in these sequences, but he appears to be wearing a very dark brown pair of penny loafers with a pointed toe. His socks curiously appear to be dark blue.
Alfie always wears the same accessories, a gold pinky ring with a brown ovular face and a stainless wristwatch with a black dial and steel rice-grin bracelet. The ring is on his right pinky, and his watch – which I’ve previously hypothesized to be an Omega Seamaster – is on his left wrist.
Alfie stands next to The Most British Looking Man.
During a brief scene as he and Gilda stroll with their new baby, Alfie casually wears his khaki waterproof cotton raincoat with the brown leather shoulder and elbow patches that was previously covered in a post on this blog. The single-breasted coat has a three-button front and two patch pockets (each with an inlayed patch pocket of its own), but Alfie wears it totally open and tucked behind his back for post of this scene.
Alfie is always ready for a rainy day in London.
How to Get the Look
Alfie takes his disregard for the “no brown in town” rule a step further by pulling off a very countrified tweed outfit in the very urban setting of London in the swinging ’60s.
- Brown mixed tweed single-breasted 2-button sportcoat with slim notch lapels, patch breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket, 2-button cuffs, and single vent
- Brown-and-white mini-gingham check shirt with slim button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and mitred 2-button cuffs
- Old gold dupioni silk “skinny tie”
- Taupe darted-front low rise trousers with slim belt loops, slanted side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and straight plain-hemmed bottoms
- Brown leather slim belt
- Dark brown leather penny loafers
- Dark blue dress socks
- Khaki waterproof cotton single-breasted 3-button raincoat with brown leather shoulder/elbow accents, flapped patch pockets, half-belted back, and long single vent
- Stainless wristwatch with a black dial on steel deployable-clasp bracelet
- Gold pinky ring with a brown oval setting
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie
Since Alfie is wearing it casually, a tweed sports coat is fine for the city on London where he wears it. There is the old no brown in town, but that was declared dead in 1939. Alfie loves to break the rules so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind breaking that rule. And again many people wear tweed jackets in the city these days.
Also I don’t know if Hayward made this jacket for Caine, it doesn’t look much like his work. The shoulders are too padded in my opinion to be a Hayward. He usually made very soft shoulders and very little padding if any, just a bit of wadding. It could have been an off the rack jacket that they spotted and thought it would be good as a more casual down time jacket for Alfie.
I notice that even though Alfie is such an unspeakable cad, he has chosen to walk on the street side of Gilda (“protecting the lady from gutter-splash”) like a gentleman.
I’m sure he was taught gentlemanly manners by his mother or father when he was young, but his streak of self-absorption often gets in the way of his goodness. He was probably spoilt by his mother maybe as a child or something of that sort.