Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand
French Riviera, Summer 1965
Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.
The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean.
After he loses track of Marianne (and loses himself with a familiar face at the movies), Ferdinand makes ends meet working on a yacht belonging to Lebanese queen-in-exile Princesse Aïcha Abadie (appearing as herself!) until he again encounters Marianne.
What’d He Wear?
Ferdinand pulls together a simple yet distinctive look for his seaside loafing. His navy cotton short-sleeved jersey has a raised crew-neck and a ribbed-knit body that follows Bébel’s lean frame for a more distinguished silhouette than a more shapeless T-shirt.
He keeps his head warm with a simplification of the World War II-era “jeep cap”, crafted from the traditional drab khaki ribbed-knit wool and fashioned with a short self-brimmed visor. It differs from the U.S. Army’s issued M1941 wool knit cap as it lacks the full cuff that wraps around the crown. He tosses the cap out of Marianne’s blue Alfa Romeo as they speed away from the pier.
Ferdinand continues wearing the wrinkled trousers from his pale-blue cotton summer suit and the same weathered taupe-brown leather loafers with straps over each instep, sans socks. These flat-front trousers have an extended waistband tab that closes through a single button, quarter-top side pockets, button-through back pockets, and subtly flared plain-hemmed bottoms.
He continues wearing his usual gold signet ring on his right pinky and also supplements the look for a sunny day by the sea in his gold-framed aviator-style sunglasses.
Some photos of Belmondo on set show him in costume for this sequence but already layering on the light-gray herringbone sports coat he would wear over a bright-red shirt during the final act.
After Ferdinand and Marianne reconnect by the sea, they connect with her wealthy gun-smuggling “brother” Fred, who hooks Ferdinand up with the herringbone jacket and bright-red shirt that he wears for the film’s explosive final act.
How to Get the Look
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
As Ferdinand drifts farther from his straitlaced identity at the start of Pierrot le Fou, he adopts an increasingly casual wardrobe like the jeep cap, short-sleeved jersey, and sockless loafers that appropriately suit his work aboard a royal yacht moored in the French Riviera.
- Navy ribbed cotton crew-neck short-sleeved jersey
- Pale-blue cotton flat-front suit trousers with fitted waistband, quarter-top side pockets, button-through back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Taupe-brown leather moc-toe vamp-strap loafers
- Khaki drab ribbed-knit wool jeep cap
- Gold-framed aviator-style sunglasses
- Gold signet pinky ring
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
I’m just a huge question mark hanging over the Mediterranean horizon.
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