Kramer’s Cabana Shirts on Seinfeld
Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld (Episode 7.05: “The Hot Tub”)
Vitals
Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer, eccentric “hipster doofus”
New York City to the Hamptons, Spring 1994
Series: Seinfeld (Seasons 5-9)
Created by: Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld
Costume Designer: Charmaine Nash Simmons
Costumer: Stephanie Kennedy
Background
As we begin planning summer getaways, it’s time to start getting your vacation clothes out of storage… and making sure your son didn’t sell them!
Puffy shirts, Gore-Tex, and “morning mist” had already established the comedic significance of costumes woven into Seinfeld‘s humor by the time the fifth-season episode “The Raincoats” aired 30 years ago today on April 28, 1994. In addition to the eponymous beltless trench coats referenced by the episode’s title, this two-parter directed by Tom Cherones also introduced a new wardrobe staple for the series: Kramer’s terry-lined cabana shirts.
Terrycloth leisurewear may be trending more prominently than it has in nearly half a century since its heyday during the 1960s and ’70s. Considered passé and tacky by the ’90s, this was just the sort of dated apparel that would be treasured by the retro-minded “hipster doofus” Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards)… and their original owner, the cantankerous Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller).
Connected to the storyline of Morty Seinfeld (Barney Martin) importing his old stocks of “The Executive” raincoats for resale, “The Raincoats” finally gives us a sense of where Kramer finds his vintage gear by taking us to the secondhand shop run by Rudy (Michael G. Hagerty). Always looking for a quick buck, unapologetic cheapskate George Costanza (Jason Alexander) sells Rudy the moth-infested shirts that had been boxed for decades in his dad’s attic… and which Rudy is all to happy to resell to Kramer as part of his “springtime cruise collection”.
George negotiates Rudy into paying him $225 for the three boxes of Frank’s “cabana clothes”, including the terry-lined medallion-patterned shirt that would become a staple of Kramer’s wardrobe and the red, black, and white-printed shirt folded on the counter that Kramer would briefly wear later in the same episode.
Kramer puts his money where his mouth—and his moth-ridden shirt—is, incorporating the shirts into his distinctive two episodes later for the appropriate context of a weekend in the Hamptons and continuing to wear these terry-lined cabana shirts through the end of the series.
What’d He Wear?
The term “cabana shirt” can be applied widely across men’s vacation wardrobes, but I’ll restrict the definition in this context to the retro-styled poolside shirts lined in terry-cloth toweling, designed for its wearers to dry off in comfort after a leisurely swim—perhaps under the shelter of a cabana. Given this context, they were often made by swimwear companies like Jantzen in addition to specialized casual outfitters like Mr. Cabana, The Nutter, Sea Island, Surf King, and Sun City Casuals.
The reverse side of these shirts consists of a flat jersey-knit cotton, often busily patterned in the spirit of a Hawaiian shirt. Following that sporty example, these shirts are almost always short-sleeved with a flat camp collar and a button-up front.
Note the defining details of a cabana shirt: the printed matte outer shell and the piled terry-cloth toweling lining that shows on part (if not all) of the collar. Many also have pockets, typically patch pockets (due to the nature of their construction) that often show the same terry-cloth lining around the edges like this favorite of Kramer’s—and Frank’s.
Series costumer Stephanie Kennedy confirmed to me that these had actually been rented for Kramer as matching two-piece sets—complete with shirt and shorts—though it seems only the shirts actually made it onto the show.
Cabana Shirt #1: White Medallion Print
After buying them at two for $25 at Rudy’s Antique Boutique, Kramer debuts one of his new—or at least new-to-him—cabana shirts in “The Raincoats, Part 2” (Episode 5.19) when he arrives at the Costanza home for dinner. Peeling off one of Morty’s “The Executive” beltless trench coats, Kramer reveals the shirt that he’s blissfully unaware used to belong to Frank, who had spent much of the episode obsessing over the now-missing shirts that he can’t go on a cruise without.
The fact that the only other people who share Kramer’s enthusiasm for his clothes are old retirees tells you all you need to know about his sense of style.
“That shirt, where’d you get that shirt? That’s my cabana shirt! You stole my shirt, you son-of-a-bitch!” Frank accuses his dinner guest, until George admits to having sold his “cruise-wear”. Kramer demonstrates his famed kavorka almost instantly as Frank’s wife Estelle (Estelle Harris) strides into the room and declares how much she loves his shirt.
Frank: That’s because it’s mine!
Estelle: You look just like Frank… on our honeymoon.
It makes sense that the shirt would have been unmistakable to Frank, given its distinctive alternating print of burgundy, gray, and gold medallions against a white ground. The terry lining is also plain white, as seen on the revers and around the edges of the trio of patch pockets—one over the left chest and one on each hip. This shirt has vented short sleeves and fastens with three widely spaced off-white plastic buttons up the front.
Estelle’s reaction to Kramer illustrates the power that a great-looking cabana shirt can command from admiring women.
Though the provenance is clearly proven to him, Kramer continues wearing this shirt in at least four more episodes: “The Hamptons” (Episode 5.21), “The Label Maker” (Episode 6.12), “The Hot Tub” (Episode 7.05), and “The Nap” (Episode 8.18). In “The Raincoats, Part 2”, he pairs it with dark navy trousers that have flapped back pockets; in “The Label Maker” and “The Hot Tub”, with dark brown pleated slacks; and after an extended day at the local pool in “The Nap”, with sage-green reverse-pleated chinos and flip flops.
Cabana Shirt #2: Coral-Red Leafy Print
In “The Hamptons” (Episode 5.21), Kramer debuts another cabana shirt, more consistently patterned in the aloha shirt tradition with its gold-leafy trees and white-sailed galleons printed against a coral-red ground. Unlike the previous shirt, this shirt’s camp collar is entirely faced in the same white terry-cloth as the lining, which also shows along the edges of the short sleeves and along the tops of the two set-in hip pockets. The shirt has buttonholes for three large pearl-like white two-hole buttons, though the lowest button is missing so Kramer can only fasten the top two.
“Yo-Yo Ma…”
The shirt gets its most prominent screen-time in “The Hamptons”, where he wears it with his swim trunks that are also chaotically patterned with an all-over print of yellow bumblebees against a black ground. Appropriate for the setting, he foregoes his usual black leather low-top Doc Martens for a pair of worn-out white canvas side-gusset espadrille-like slip-on shoes that show considerable abuse, from dirty uppers to shredding at the toes.
George and Jerry curb their enthusiasm when presented with Kramer’s “fresh caught” lobster.
After this, the shirt gets established as a favorite shirt for Kramer to wear while loafing at home; perhaps the missing lower button would have made it inappropriate—even by Kramer’s standards—for wearing out and about in New York City. We see him wearing it while hosting a party at the end of “The Kiss Hello” (Episode 6.17), when the police confront him at the end of “The Engagement” (Episode 7.01), and while relaxing on his sofa and ducking calls from the cable company in “The Cadillac” (Episode 7.14/7.15); in this latter instance, he appears to wear the same light sage-green pleated slacks as he did with the medallion-printed cabana shirt in “The Nap”.
Cabana Shirt #3: Red with Black-and-White Shapes
Seen only in “The Raincoats”, one of Frank’s old shirts that George sells to Rudy—and which Kramer promptly buys and wears—consists of black-and-white tropical shapes like waves, palm trees, and sailboats illustrated against a mottled red-two tone ground. As it lacks the terry-cloth lining, this shirt qualifies solely on a technicality as it’s clearly from the box labeled “Cabana Shirts” that George sells to Rudy… and the moths seem to be tickling Kramer as he sports the shirt under one of The Executive raincoats while joining Morty to negotiate their deal.
Kramer and Morty model The Executive when hoping to make their major sale to Rudy, who has ended his policy of buying from strangers after Frank’s cabana shirts—like the one sported by Kramer—resulted in a moth infestation.
Cabana Shirt #4: Lilac Stripes
A brief scene in “The Pool Guy” (Episode 7.08) depicts Kramer stealing the Moviefone guy’s valor. This vignette is the sole appearance of another cabana shirt, this one with a lilac ground that has pale slate-gray stripes, bordered by burgundy bar stripes and bisected by a metallic tonal slate stripe. Fastened up the front with burgundy plastic 4-hole buttons, the shirt has a fuzzy peach terry-cloth lining that shows on the self-cuffed short sleeves and the lower revers of the camp collar.
By this point, nearly two years have elapsed since “The Raincoats” so Kramer has likely started supplementing his wardrobe with terry-lined cabana shirts that hadn’t once belonged to Frank Costanza.
Cabana Shirt #5: Navy-and-Green Print
Another scene of Kramer on the phone in his apartment, another cabana shirt—and another single-worn item like its predecessor, this vignette from “The Van Buren Boys” (Episode 8.14) has Kramer desperately calling J. Peterman (John O’Hurley) to get his stories back.
Given the close-up on Michael Richards during the scene we can’t tell if he’s wearing the same pants he intended on returning until he slipped in mud, but we get a great look at the busy print covering his cabana shirt, which could be described as a quasi-Keith Haring design that alternates between free-hand sketches of inverted dark navy-blue smiling suns next to lime-green scribbles filling in the white space next to it. (I said it could be described that way, I never said it could best be described that way.) Echoing the white ground, the short-sleeve shirt is also lined in white terry-cloth that shows on the lower revers.
Cabana Shirt #6: Yellow Floral Print
Kramer’s final cabana shirt makes a contextually appropriate appearance during his brief retirement to Florida in “The Wizard” (Episode 9.15), where Jerry discovers Kramer has quickly established the same mooching relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Seinfeld as he had with Jerry up in New York.
Worn with pale-yellow cotton shorts, the shirt’s repeating all-over print features small yellow wreathes that encapsulate rings of six pink flowers and their respective green leafy stems encircling a single lilac. These yellow wreathes are arranged on a tight grid, with downscaled yellow wreathes (each encircling a smaller lilac) filling in the remaining space. The shirt has four clear pearl-like plastic buttons up the front and is lined in a white terry-cloth that presents on the lower half of the revers as well as the pointed yokes across the tops of the patch-style hip pockets.
Kramer looks every bit the Florida retiree in his cabana shirt and coordinated yellow shorts as he greets the Seinfeld family.
Kramer also continues wearing the gold watch that he bought for himself as a retirement present, though he’s quick to admit to Jerry and George that “it’s not really gold.”
The watch was an uncharacteristic addition for Kramer, whose sole jewelry regularly consisted of the diamond-shaped amber gemstone pendant suspended from a short and thin gold necklace.
How to Get the Look
These may not be as instantly recognizable as Kramer’s lobster-printed shirt, but they’re just as unique to the character’s sense of style and particularly relevant as brands like Busbee McQuade, California Cowboy, Dandy Del Mar, OAS, Orlebar Brown, Tombolo, and even mainstream retailers like H&M, J. Crew, and Todd Snyder seek to bring the terrycloth back into the world of contemporary menswear.
Of course, for the true Kramer look, you’d be best-served to scan vintage resellers. In the absence of Rudy’s Antique Boutique, there’s always eBay…
Prices and availability current as of April 28, 2024.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series, now streaming on Netflix. Giddyup!
The show’s most serious fans have delighted in many behind-the-scenes insights and photos shared by Stephanie Kennedy, who joined the series as a key costumer in the fifth season and continually entertains on Instagram account @seinfeldbackstage and Substack of the same name.
Didn’t Sean Connery’s James Bond sport one of these in a Bond movie, too?
You may be thinking of the blue terry-cloth cabana “playsuit” that Connery’s 007 wore in Goldfinger! https://bamfstyle.com/2020/08/25/bond-goldfinger-terrycloth/
Even if you didn’t watch Seinfeld during it’s run (I didn’t), like WWF/WWE, you picked it up through osmosis. Cabana shirts, suede jackets, hand models, and Keith Hernandez became punchlines. I did catch re-runs–it’s a rare sitcom that went into syndication while it was still on the air in prime time.
Michael Richards’s freakout on stage brought the show back into laser-sharp focus, so the character association got a little tarnished. His public apology on Letterman brought back the specter of Andy Kaufman at his shoulder, and considering the Richards/Kaufman nexus, I do admit I didn’t find it altogether unamusing.
Speaking of a ‘Spectre’ at the shoulder, Ian Fleming was a great fan of this type of shirt and can be seen in many stills wearing Sea Island cabana shirts and sandals while smoking out of a long ivory-handled filter. He plugged Sea Island in his novels and had Bond enjoying them whenever he could.