Indiana Jones’ Tweed Jacket for Dinner
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Vitals
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, adventurer and archaeology professor
India, Summer 1935
Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Release Date: May 23, 1984
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
Background
A memorable scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom finds the titular archaeologist and his two newly introduced companions, Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), invited to a banquet at Pankot Palace hosted by the young Majarajah Zalim Singh (Raj Singh). The trio doesn’t take warmly to the feast, which includes such delicacies as “snake surprise” and chilled monkey brains.
One of my favorite aspects of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the alternative costumes that Indy sports when not in his signature leather jacket and fedora. In addition to a Casablanca-inspired (but ’80s-executed) white dinner jacket at the film’s outset, Indy uses this dinner as an opportunity to dress up his usual bush shirt and “pinks” trousers by donning a tweed sport jacket and bow tie.
In a way, this outfit is truest to Dr. Jones’ actual self, presenting outwardly as a respectable if somewhat old-fashioned professor while he remains a tough and daring adventurer at his core.
What’d He Wear?
Tweed is a staple of Indiana Jones’ wardrobe, however the rugged woolen cloth typically makes its appearance as the suiting of choice for one of his three-piece numbers while teaching in the sober environs of Marshall College.
Indy showed remarkable foresight in bringing along this tweed jacket, perhaps anticipating that his adventures might lead him to a situation calling for more formal attire than his brown leather jacket. The sport jacket in question is a barleycorn tweed woven with dark brown and tan threads.
Note the weave of Indy’s tweed jacket.
This marks the only appearance of this particular tweed jacket in the Indiana Jones series, as it’s not orphaned from either of the tweed three-piece suits that Dr. Jones wears in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Indy’s ventless, single-breasted jacket has notch lapels with swelled edges that roll to a two-button front. The two front buttons and the two buttons on the end of each sleeve are mixed brown plastic sew-through buttons. The jacket has a patch pocket on each hip and a welted breast pocket.
Magnoli Clothiers, which specializes in replica attire from movies like the Indiana Jones series, currently offers the similar “Tweed Professor Jacket” in several colors of pure wool tweed for $545.
The apple-bearing Indiana Jones pays a late night visit to Willie Scott.
The versatility of Dr. Jones’ khaki cotton safari shirt becomes an asset for his more formal dinner in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when he is able to convert it into a dressy enough shirt by adding the aforementioned tweed jacket and a bow tie. Only the slightly darker brown sew-through buttons on the front placket and squared cuffs indicate that he may be wearing something other than the usual dress shirt.
When Jones removes his jacket upon returning to his room, we see the epaulettes (shoulder straps), self-strip front pleats, and pointed button-down pocket flaps that reveal it to be a bush shirt. According to IndyGear.com, the shirt was originally designed by Andreas Dometakis. You can pick out your own from one of two replica versions available from Magnoli Clothiers as the “Adventure Shirt”, currently offered for $125.
Indy’s dinner garb packs a professorial punch with his subtly patterned bow tie. The tie is drab dark brown to coordinate with the earthy tones of the rest of his outfit.
As you might expect, Magnoli Clothiers also offers their own replica of this tie with a “repeating ‘neat’ pattern of woven pink and green diamonds,” though this wool-and-silk neckwear is a pre-tied bow tie rather than the self-tying style that Harrison Ford wears on screen. The “Professor’s Bowtie” is available on the Magnoli site for $45.
Dr. Jones looks every bit the staid New England college professor as he drops some knowledge on the Maharaja’s guests.
Indy’s brown khaki twill wool trousers that he wears with his leather jacket are also appropriate for his dinner with the Majarajah. Modified from the trousers nicknamed “pinks” for their puce hue by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps officers who wore them during the World War II era, these trousers with their reverse pleats and 4″ military-style plain hem would look just as appropriate in any civilian’s closet, particularly when worn with a natty tweed jacket and bow tie to dinner.
These button-fly trousers have slanted side pockets, back pockets with scalloped, single-button flaps, and belt loops where Indy wears his officer’s-style brown cotton web belt with a brass slider buckle. Magnoli replicas of both the “Officers’ Pinks” (also their “Adventure Pants”) and the web belt can be found for $125 and $6, respectively.
Again, the versatility of Indiana Jones’s signature costume proves to be valuable as his brown waxhide ankle boots are hardly recognizable as the same rugged Alden model 405 “Truebalance” boots that he wears for traversing rickety bridges or clambering onto Nazi cargo trucks.
It was reportedly Harrison Ford himself who informed what would be Indy’s favored footwear as he was a fan of the Middleborough, Massachusetts-based Alden Shoe Company‘s boots. More information can be found at IndyGear.com, and interested buyers can still buy the “405 Original Brown” work boots or seek out Magnoli Clothiers’ “Adventure Boots” replicas for $515.
Whether seeking dangerous escapades or an exotic dinner, Indy always wears dark brown cotton lisle socks with his boots.
The evening before their invitation to dinner, Indy’s well-traveled boots can be seen as he takes a few restful moments chatting with Willie.
SunglassesID.com identified Indy’s glasses as the Savile Row “Beaufort Panto” model with a 14-karat gold frame, “Chestnut” tortoise rims, and half-covered cable.
Indy and Willie discuss “nocturnal activities.”
The significance of Dr. Jones wearing his glasses to dinner, and then removing them for a trade of romantically charged bon mots with Willie was explored by the blog That Moment In, which suggests a Superman-like transformation. When he removes his glasses, Dr. Jones – the “suave, apple-munching playboy” who had inspired passionate infatuation from his students – transforms back into the focused, adventure-driven Indiana Jones who has little time for carnal extracurriculars.
How to Get the Look
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones ably blends his two personalities: the analytical professor and the adventurous archaeologist. The tweed jacket, bow tie, and glasses are all emblematic – and easily removable – sartorial symbols of his position at Marshall College while the core of the outfit – his safari shirt, officer’s “pinks”, and ankle boots – reveal his truer alter ego as the Indy we all know best.
- Brown barleycorn tweed single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Khaki cotton long-sleeve safari shirt with spread collar, pointed-flap button-down chest pockets, button-down shoulder epaulettes, vertical front strips, and squared 1-button cuffs
- Dark brown subtly patterned bow tie
- Light brown twill wool single reverse-pleated officer’s trousers with 7 belt loops, slanted front pockets, button-down scalloped flap back pockets, and 4″ military-hemmed plain bottoms
- Brown cotton officer’s webbed belt with brass slider buckle
- Brown waxhide leather Alden 405 apron-toe 5-eyelet/4-hook ankle boots with leather-faced cotton duck lining and rubber heels
- Dark brown cotton socks
- Gold-framed eyeglasses with tortoise rims and round lenses
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie
The Quote
Nothing shocks me. I’m a scientist.
Nice write up. Unfortunately you’re a bit off the mark on the pants. While they are based on Officers Pinks, they are not actually Pinks. They sport a number of modifications, most notably the front pleats. Magnoli sells them too as Adventure Pants.
I’d also like to add, for the pants, Wested makes the superior offering, more accurate and more cost-effective.
Indy’s glasses always bugged me because their size was more 1985 than 1935. My own pair – this style was known as Beaufort- got a lot of wear back in ’86, I tell ya, but the curved wire temples (temples are what you call those arms that rest on your ears and hold the glasses to your head) really begin to hurt the backs of your ears after a couple of hours. However, mine were a classic smaller size than Indy’s. These glasses, along with a pair of baggy pleats and crisp white shirt with those elastic metal sleeve holders, I cut quite a figure back in the day. Looked like a junior accountant just before the crash of ’29.
That old movie trope of the hero having to lose his glasses before he mans up really bugged me back then. It reached its apex for me when Kurt Russell’s specs went missing in “Executive Decision” (1996).
I always thought he wore his black silk tie from his tuxedo with this outfit. I guess he’s more concerned about coordination than I gave him credit for.