Terence Stamp’s Dark Plaid Suit in The Limey
Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)
Vitals
Terence Stamp as David Wilson, hardened English professional criminal
Los Angeles to Big Sur, California, Fall 1998
Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One week ago today, British screen icon Terence Stamp died at the age of 87, following a six-decade career that began with his Oscar-nominated titular performance in Billy Budd (1962) and roles in the Superman and Star Wars franchises.
Steven Soderbergh’s offbeat crime caper The Limey (1999) provided the rare late-career starring role for the sixtysomething Stamp, starring as the laconic English criminal Wilson who arrives in Los Angeles seeking answers—and revenge—after his actress daughter Jenny’s death in a mysterious car accident.
With only a small bag and a carton of unfiltered Lucky Strikes, Wilson checks into an L.A. motel before setting out for answers from Jenny’s friends like Eduardo (Luis Guzmán) and Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren). His personal investigation quickly closes in around Jenny’s final boyfriend, the showy yet shady music producer Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda) with dangerous connections to local drug dealers.
What’d He Wear?
Wilson arrives in Los Angeles wearing a dark-gray mini-glen plaid worsted wool suit with a matte olive cast, woven with such tonal subtlety that the check barely reveals itself except when the light catches the pattern. This muted take tempers any dandyish flair, keeping the effect earthy and understated while still offering texture beyond a flat solid.
The suit’s cloth and cut read mid-century Mod, echoing Stamp’s formative starpower during the swinging ’60s when he starred in films like Poor Cow, Ken Loach’s 1967 directorial debut that editor Sarah Flack wove into The Limey‘s flashbacks to depict a younger Wilson.
The narrow notch lapels with gently swelled edges roll to the top a full, high-fastening three-button stance that follows classic mid-’60s tailoring vocabulary, even as three-button jackets were being revived in the 1990s when The Limey was produced. The straight, wide shoulders are lightly structured out to roped sleeveheads, softly suggesting a spalla camicia style. Cut with long double vents, the jacket features a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and two vestigial buttons spaced apart on each cuff.
The flat-front trousers have a longer rise—and plain-hemmed bottoms with a proportionally shorter break—than contemporary ’90s styling, again consistent with the throwback tailoring that visually communicates Wilson as a “man out of time”. The legs are trim but not tight, with a straight-to-tapered profile for the slightly narrow “stovepipe” cut associated with ’60s trousers.
Styled with side pockets and jetted back pockets, the trousers are held up with the same smooth black edge-stitched leather belt that Wilson later wears more casually with his black jeans and Harrington jacket. This belt closes through a small polished silver single-prong buckle.
Like his belt, Wilson also wears the same matte black calf leather plain-toe derby shoes that he would dress down with the Harrington jacket and black jeans, an outfit where his white socks are slightly more appropriate as they merely provide a distractingly striking contrast here against the sleek dark lines of his suit. The thick black rubber soles and matte finish also read more like workwear, creeping toward the territory of police or postal service shoes.
This curious footwear underscores Wilson prioritizing function over form—though, influenced from the fashions of his 1960s heyday, he can’t help but to still look more stylish than most of the hoods he encounters in late ’90s L.A.
Wilson arrives wearing an olive-green shirt, which appears to be made from an inexpensive plain cotton, its soft creasing reinforcing his lived-in look that prioritizes practicality over pomp. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, front placket with six black buttons, button cuffs, and a straight hem.
Wilson wears the same suit and tie for a party at Terry Valentine’s home (actually the Astral House in the Hollywood Hills), though he changes into a different shirt. Chromatically compatible but in a darker shade of olive closer to brown, this shirt has a wider spread collar, a front placket with mixed brown buttons, and button cuffs.
Even when Wilson changes shirts, he always wears the same silk repp tie—patterned with diagonal black stripes, bordered on each side with a narrower white bar stripe, against an olive ground. More consistent with his setting than his origin, the stripes follow the American “downhill” direction rather than the British “uphill” direction.
Shortly after his arrival, Wilson dresses down the suit to meet Eduardo by swapping out the shirt and tie for a typical short-sleeved polo shirt. The polo has a micro-knit black-and-olive body, contrasted with a black narrow-ribbed collar tipped in balanced olive and gray stripes. He fastens the lower two of the three white pearl-ish buttons on the polo’s placket.
No ostentatious watches or flashy jewelry for Wilson, of course! Other than his gold center-ridged wedding band on the conventional ring finger of his left hand, he only wears a simple gold-finished steel watch with a round white dial and date window at 3:00, fastened onto a matching gold-toned expanding band.
The Gun
Among the bag of firearms that Wilson purchases from a pair of local teens is a stainless steel Smith & Wesson Model 686 revolver with stock Gonçalo alves hardwood grips that he wields as his primary weapon, from carrying it during Terry’s Hollywood Hills house party to the final confrontation among the breaking waves at Big Sur.
Wilson imagines himself exacting some .357 Magnum revenge on Terry Valentine during the middle of his soiree.
Smith & Wesson introduced the Model 686 in 1981 as part of their L-framed .357 Magnum double-action revolvers. With barrel lengths ranging from the 2.5 inches as carried by Wilson up to a massive 8 inches, the Model 686 is distinguished by its stainless steel frame, compared to the blued steel of the similar Model 586. Though standard models feature a six-shot cylinder, Smith & Wesson added an extra punch of firepower in 1996 with the seven-shot Model 686 Plus.
How to Get the Look
Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)
A hard-edged relic of the ’60s London underworld dropped into slick, sun-baked late-’90s Los Angeles, Wilson wears a suit with the high three-button stance, narrow lapels, and trim trousers recalling Mod fashions but with enough weathered practicality to underline his age, mileage, and displacement as a man out of time.
- Dark olive-gray mini-glen plaid worsted wool suit:
- Single-breasted 3-button jacket with narrow notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and long double vents
- Flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and short-break plain-hemmed bottoms
- Olive-green cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
- Olive-and-black downhill-striped (with white border stripes) silk repp tie
- Black edge-stitched leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
- Black calf leather plain-toe derby shoes
- White ribbed cotton crew socks
- Gold wedding ring
- Gold-finished steel watch with round white dial (and 3:00 date window) on gold-finished expanding band
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
How you gonna keep her down on the farm after she’s seen L.A.?
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