Clark Griswold’s Christmas Tree-Hunting Parka and Sweater
Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Vitals
Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold Jr., festive family man and food additive executive
Chicago*, December 1989
Film: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Release Date: December 1, 1989
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Let’s officially launch the Christmas season and continue this winter’s Car Week with the Griswold family in their “ol’ front-wheel-drive sleigh” in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, released 36 years ago today on December 1, 1989!
After the first two films took the Griswolds traveling across the United States and Europe, the family spends the holidays at home, where “the last true family man” Clark (Chevy Chase) and his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) are trying to spread yuletide cheer to their kids Audrey (Juliette Lewis) and Rusty (Johnny Galecki) with a snowy Saturday afternoon trek into the most mountainous region of rural Illinois* in search of “that most important of Christmas symbols.”
Audrey: We’re not driving all the way out here so you can get one of those stupid ties with the Santa Clauses on it, are we Dad?
Clark: No, I have one of those at home.
Rather than neckwear, the family is embracing the frosty majesty of the winter landscape to find the perfect tree that will anchor the “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas” envisioned by Clark, foregoing the pre-cut trees offered in Jolly Jerry’s lot to chop one down himself… despite forgetting a saw.
(*The reason you see the Rocky Mountains in the background is that the Griswolds’ journey evidently took them more than 1,000 miles to the west; these scenes were filmed near Breckenridge in Summit County, Colorado.)
What’d He Wear?
Clark Griswold’s yuletide style has been requested by several BAMF Style readers throughout the years, so readers interested in finding where to buy Sparky’s winter gear can click here to skip ahead to a “Shop the Look” section at the bottom of this page.
Clark bundles into a warm hooded Eddie Bauer parka, insulated by goose down feathers that the Seattle-based outdoor outfitter promoted as the “lightest, warmest thing on Earth.” The shell is a tightly woven blend of 65% polyester and 35% cotton, treated for water resistance and dyed an almost iridescent shade of teal that appears blue on screen but presents more green in set photography. The coyote fur-trimmed hood is cinched with a dark-blue woven drawstring.
I’d ask Audrey for help nailing down the actual color of Clark’s parka, but her eyes are frozen. (It’s all part of the experience.)
The thigh-length coat has a straight front-zip, covered by a four-button storm fly that further protects the wearer from the elements. Two slanted zip pockets over the chest are supplemented by large bellows pockets over the hips which close with single-button flaps.
The set-in sleeves have ribbed inner storm cuffs, designed to keep cold drafts out while preventing warm air from escaping the sleeves and adding soft buffers between the wrist and outer sleeve. The waist is cinched with an inner drawstring, but an inverted pleat centered in mid-back assures the wearer will maintain a wide range of arm movement.
“Later, dudes.”
Clark often reaches for his Chicago Bears baseball cap, made from a navy cotton twill with the team wordmark embroidered in orange across the front two panels of the crown. The cap has a ventilation grommet through the top of each panel, and the visor underside is finished in green.
Under the parka, Clark wears a burgundy wool V-neck sweater over a navy, burgundy, and green tartan plaid flannel button-up shirt with a point collar.
“Hey kids, look—a deer!”
Back home to (literally) trim the tree, Clark doesn’t need the heavy-duty warmth of his parka but still pulls on a layer of down against the cold—this time the same teal-green nylon-shell puffer vest he would also wear when stringing up the family’s grid-stressing Christmas lights. Likely another Eddie Bauer piece, this zip-up vest has five rows of goose down-filled air pockets. The ribbed-knit collar matches the rest of the jacket, and two front pockets with slanted entries are positioned against the two lowest rows of air pockets. Clark also continues wearing his lined navy polyester winter ski gloves.
And, for true completionists, Clark pulls on a classic white Cooper HM6 hockey goalie mask.
Clark’s dark charcoal trousers may be casual woolen flat-front slacks, styled with side pockets and button-through back pockets, with the bottoms bunched into the high uppers of his snow boots. The four pairs of D-ring eyelets laced against the gray upper gaiters identify these as the Sorel 1964 PAC™ model, developed by the Canadian-based Kaufman Rubber Company in the mid-1960s as an updated alternative to L.L. Bean’s half-century-old “duck boot” design.
The seam-sealed waterproof uppers consist of a black vulcanized rubber lower shell reinforced with five molded ribs extending across the vamps to the toes, attached to gaiters (of full-grain leather or lightweight textile) and paired with lugged rubber outsoles that provide a stronger grip on icy or wet surfaces.
Clark slams the gas with his Sorel snow boots, pushing his Taurus wagon’s Ford Vulcan V6 engine to the limit.
Clark wears his large tortoiseshell-framed glasses when behind the wheel, as well as his usual gold wedding band on his left ring finger. The self-cuffed sleeves of his sweater cover his wrist, so we can’t see if he’s wearing the same leather-strapped dive watch that most prominently appears while he’s stringing his Christmas lights.
The Car
Let’s burn some dust here. Eat my rubber!
The Griswolds have moved on from the infamous Wagon Queen Family Truckster from the first Vacation movie, as Clark begins their old-fashioned family Christmas at the wheel of a mauve 1989 Ford Taurus Wagon, customized for the production with more faux-wood paneling that was never actually factory-offered by Ford. Clark describes the Taurus as the family’s “ol’ front-wheel-drive sleigh,” which—according to On Screen Cars—gave stunt coordinator Dick Ziker an extra challenge when performing the wagon’s jump into the Christmas tree lot, as the drivetrain kept pushing the vehicle into a nose-dive.
The Taurus was Ford’s last-minute Christmas gift to itself, launched alongside the Mercury Sable on December 26, 1985 for the following model year to replace the aging Ford LTD. Its “jelly bean” aerodynamic design shifted American automakers away from the boxy K-car platform that had dominated the ’80s and has been cited as saving the Ford Motor Company from bankruptcy.
Four-door sedans and five-door wagons were offered from the jump, in trim levels ranging from the base L, upscale GL, and premium LX, as well as the performance-based SHO introduced for 1989. Base-level sedans came standard with a 2.5-liter straight-four engine that produced a meager 88 horsepower, but an upmarket option was the 3.0-liter “Vulcan” V6 that was offered standard in wagons—generating 140 horsepower and mated to a four-speed automatic transmission.
The Griswolds’ customized Taurus wagon appears to be the base-level L trim, though GL and LX wagons produced through this timeframe had the option of a larger 3.8-liter Essex V6.
The Griswolds have no idea that they’re about to get a firsthand demonstration of the Taurus living up to its “flying potato” nickname.
1989 Ford Taurus Wagon
Body Style: 5-door station wagon
Layout: front-engine, front-wheel-drive (FWD)
Engine: 182.2 cu. in. (3.0 L) Ford Vulcan V6
Power: 140 hp (104 kW; 142 PS) @ 4800 RPM
Torque: 160 lb·ft (217 N·m) @ 3000 RPM
Transmission: 4-speed Ford AXOD automatic
Wheelbase: 106 inches (2692 mm)
Length: 191.9 inches (4874 mm)
Width: 70.8 inches (1798 mm)
Height: 55.1 inches (1400 mm)
The Taurus went through a series of redesigns and facelifts through the subsequent decades, taking a more ovular look toward the end of the ’90s. Production briefly ceased in 2007 until it was reintroduced as a retooled version of the Ford Five Hundred. The final North American production series of the Taurus launched in 2010 following Ford’s “Kinetic Design” philosophy, but it was discontinued at the end of the decade alongside the marque’s Fiesta, Focus, and Fusion models as Ford limited its focus (sorry) to trucks and crossovers, aside from the venerated Mustang.
How to Get the Look
Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
“The last true family man” blends presentability with practicality when trekking into the snow with his family, pairing a warmly insulated parka and waterproof boots with his open-neck plaid shirt and burgundy sweater—as well as his ubiquitous Bears cap.
- Dark teal-blue polyester/cotton thigh-length parka with coyote fur-trimmed hood, straight-zip front with 4-button storm fly, slanted zip chest pockets, bellows hip pockets with single-button flaps, ribbed inner storm cuffs, and inverted box-pleated back
- Eddie Bauer
- Navy, burgundy, and dark-green tartan plaid flannel long-sleeved shirt with point collar
- Burgundy wool V-neck sweater
- Charcoal wool flat-front trousers with side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Black vulcanized rubber waterproof boots with gray textile uppers (with four sets of D-ring eyelets) and lugged rubber outsoles
- Sorel 1964 PAC
- Navy cotton twill baseball cap with orange-embroidered “Chicago Bears” wordmark
- Tortoiseshell-framed glasses
- Gold wedding ring
- Navy-blue lined polyester winter gloves
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
Looks great! Little full, lotta sap.
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