Bottle Rocket: Owen Wilson’s Cabana Shirt
Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket (1996)
Vitals
Owen Wilson as Dignan, small-time crook and big-time dreamer
Texas, Fall 1995
Film: Bottle Rocket
Release Date: February 21, 1996
Director: Wes Anderson
Costume Designer: Karen Patch
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Wes Anderson and his friend—and frequent collaborator—Owen Wilson shared their respective directorial and acting debuts thirty years ago today when Bottle Rocket premiered on February 21, 1996.
The director and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson had previously filmed the story as a 13-minute black-and-white short that was screened at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, where it caught the attention of James L. Brooks, who agreed to finance a full-length version. Brooks’ financial involvement bumped the budget to $5 million, attracting co-star James Caan to bring experience and credibility alongside Anderson and the Wilson brothers’ freshman talent.
After engineering the “escape” of his friend Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson) from a voluntary mental health clinic in Arizona, excitable petty thief Dignan (Owen Wilson) ropes Anthony and their friend Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) into an ambitious heist scheme as part of his 75-year plan for success, eventually anticipating a career with the mythic Mr. Henry (James Caan)—who turns out to merely be Dignan’s eccentric former boss at the Lawn Rangers landscaping company.
Though recouping just over 10% of its budget at the box office due to its limited release, Bottle Rocket gained critical momentum and high-profile fans like Martin Scorsese, ultimately launching both Wilson brothers’ and Anderson’s career, which would continue with his 1998 follow-up Rushmore.
What’d He Wear?
The standout piece from Dignan’s wardrobe is arguably the retro-style cabana shirt that he changes into from the navy-collared white polo shirt that he wore while helping Anthony “escape” from the Arizona clinic. This shirt had evidently always been integrated into Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson’s vision for Dignan, as the actor had previously worn this exact same shirt in their original 1992 short film.
Dignan’s primary costume shirt remained unchanged from this 1992 short to its feature-length adaptation.
Dignan’s retro cabana shirt is a true vintage piece made by swimwear brand Jantzen during the 1950s and ’60s when terry-lined fashions defined mid-century cabana style, though Dignan wearing this terry-lined cabana shirt in West Texas rather than anywhere near a body of water reinforces his Kramer-like “hipster doofus” presentation.
The distinctive print features brown tribal diamond squares organized in a latticed grid against a white, gray, and blue amoebic print, graphed onto an olive ground. (Some surviving examples of this exact Jantzen print can still be found from secondhand sellers, like this piece from @gwvint on Instagram. This busy flat cotton outer shell contrasts against the white terry-cloth camp collar which continues onto the five-button placket and is echoed around the ends of each elbow-length sleeve—extended from the lining, which is entirely made from this terry toweling fabric to assist gents wearing it to dry off after swimming.
Two open-top patch pockets are positioned above the hips, and the shirt has a straight hem, which he appropriately wears untucked. This would be Dignan’s go-to shirt until the final act, when he dresses in one of his signature yellow jumpsuits.
The brothers Wilson model mid-century leisurewear from Owen’s terry-lined cabana shirt as Dignan to Luke’s golden guayabera as Anthony Adams.
Dignan wears his cabana shirt over a plain white cotton crew-neck short-sleeved T-shirt. An undershirt, particularly one with sleeves, defeats the purpose of a cabana shirt’s terry lining, but Dignan isn’t wearing it for its intended purpose anyway.
Dignan continues wearing his pale cream cotton trousers, held up by a black cotton web belt that closes through a silver-toned box-framed buckle embellished with a black “D” (for “Dignan”). These flat-front trousers have a roomy fit through the hips and thighs, slightly tapering through the legs to turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. They are styled with straight, on-seam side pockets and jetted back pockets—with a button through only the back left pocket.
Dignan wears black leather wingtip oxford brogues, an appropriately vintage but ultimately impractical shoe choice addressed over the Vince Guaraldi-scored end credits of the 1992 short, when Anthony explains of his sneakers that “the fact of the matter is that, if we race, these shoes should kill yours,” a reasonable point that Dignan still insists they bet on. Dignan maintains both the off-white trouser leg-line as well as his own anti-fashion sense by wearing plain white ribbed cotton tube socks.
Though much of Dignan’s style is rooted in mid-20th century leisure wear, his accessories are pure ’90s. He wears an all-black Casio G-Shock DW-6600-1VZ digital wristwatch, powered by a two-year CR2016 battery. Casio introduced the multi-function DW-6600 sub-series to its G-Shock lineup in 1994, so it would have been relatively new by the time Wilson strapped one on to portray Dignan, though he clearly wears an earlier G-Shock model in the 1992 short.
These chunky 50mm-wide digital watches have an “Electro Luminescence” LCD display under mineral glass, framed by a fixed black resin bezel with “G-SHOCK” printed in red across the top—followed clockwise by buttons toggling “Split/Reset”, “Start/Stop”, “Mode”, and “Adjust”—and attached to Casio’s 71604349 black resin band fastened through a silver-toned single-prong buckle.
Casio engineered the G-Shock in the ’80s specifically to withstand stress, shock, and vibration, making it the ideal wristwatch for Dignan testing out a variety of handguns like this snub-nosed Smith & Wesson Model 38 Bodyguard.
Dignan keeps a set of black or gunmetal-framed “bug eye”-shaped sunglasses with oval lenses in his shirt’s left pocket. These are almost certainly the Oakley E Wire, a popular frame through the 1990s into the Y2K years when narrower sunglasses reigned. (If Dignan is still out there somewhere on the run from Johnny Law today, he would likely update his specs to Oakley’s appropriately named Bottle Rocket wraparounds.)
“On the run from Johnny Law.”
For the bookstore robbery, Dignan pulls on a black nylon convertible puffer jacket likely made by Ski Daddle of North Hollywood, a division of Pack-in Products. This blouson-style ski jacket has horizontal air pockets filled with down and duck feathers around the torso and is characterized by zip-off sleeves that can quickly convert it into a vest. Two strips of pale-gray and burgundy encircle mid-chest, contrasting against the all-black nylon ground.
The black straight front-zip extends up to a funnel-neck, though Dignan keeps the top undone to fold the collar down like a shirt. The cuffs and hem are elasticized, and the zip-up hand pockets have gently slanted openings.
Dignan completes his heist attire with a set of black leather gloves detailed with three-point seams over the backs.
The Gun
A fun sequence follows Dignan, Anthony, and Bob into a field to test out a variety of handguns sold by Temple (Temple Nash). After rotating through a handful of Smith & Wesson revolvers and a compact Detonics .45 pistol, Dignan seems most satisfied with the massive stainless steel Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum revolver.
Perhaps not the safest manner in which to test a new firearm, but at least Dignan maintains some trigger discipline!
Colt debuted the Anaconda in 1990, making it still relatively new at the time Bottle Rocket was filmed in late 1994. Built on Colt’s new heavy-duty large “MM” frame, the Anaconda was the company’s overdue entry into the large-bore Magnum market that had been long dominated by Smith & Wesson and Ruger. Offered only in a stainless steel finish, the Anaconda cosmetically resembled an upsized version of Colt’s existing King Cobra and Python double-action magnum revolvers, specifically borrowing the Python’s ventilated-rib barrel. The standard chambering from its inception was .44 Magnum, though a .45 Long Colt variant was introduced in 1993.
The Anaconda’s size made it impractical for anything but sport shooters and hunters, offered with four-, six-, and eight-inch barrels; Dignan’s 6″-barreled Anaconda measures just under a foot long and weighs a whopping 3⅓ pounds, with rollmarks on the barrel specifically indicating a classic .44 Magnum model.
“I can’t focus unless the gun is on the table!” Dignan exclaims in response to Bob and Anthony both fiddling with his Anaconda as they plan the heist, with Bob responding that he was the one who actually paid for it in the first place.
What to Imbibe
Dignan celebrates the success of the bookstore heist by pouring out shots of Hennessy VS cognac for him, Anthony, and Bob. This legendary cognac house was founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy, the County Cork-born Jacobite who established the distillery after he was exiled from his home country as a teenager and went on to serve in the Irish Brigade of the French Army.
The Very Special (V.S.) variety enjoyed by Dignan’s crew is Hennessy’s entry-level offering, characterized by a vibrant, fruity palate with notes of toasted almonds, brown sugar, and a delicate, floral finish.
Later, when the trio is hiding out in a motel, Dignan and Bob are surprised to discover Anthony mixing a batch of frozen banana daiquiris for Inez (Lumi Cavazos) and her fellow housekeeping staff… with Dignan accepting Anthony’s offer to have one.
In 1953, George Soule developed the banana daiquiri at the Mountaintop Bar in St. Thomas as an offshoot of the classic Cuban cocktail mixed from rum, lime juice, and sugar. Unlike traditional daiquiris that were shaken over ice and strained into a chilled glass like a martini, Captain Soule pulverized his ingredients in a blender for a smoothie-like finish—just as Luke Wilson’s fictional Anthony Adams would do in a nondescript Texas motel room four decades later. As the banana daiquiri merely adds at least one half of a banana to the mixture of light rum, lime juice, and triple sec, an electric blender more effectively purées the bananas for a smoother consistency with the liquids to be produced in batches.
How to Get the Look
Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket (1996)
You can channel Dignan’s retro MCM energy with a bold camp or cabana shirt with roomy off-white slacks and simple leather shoes, keeping the vibe off-kilter with a modern, utilitarian watch like his bl
- Olive geometric-printed short-sleeved vintage cabana shirt with white terry lining, collar, 5-button placket, and sleeve-ends, and two patch-style hip pockets
- Jantzen
- White cotton crew-neck short-sleeved T-shirt
- Cream cotton flat-front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Black cotton web belt with monogrammed silver-toned box-framed buckle
- Black leather wingtip oxford brogue shoes
- White ribbed cotton tube socks
- Black wire-framed narrow oval-shaped sunglasses
- Oakley E Wire
- Black tactical digital watch with 50mm case, red-lettered black resin bezel, LCD display, and black ridged resin strap with silver-toned single-prong buckle
- Casio G-Shock DW-6600-1VZ
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
He’s out. You’re out, too. And I don’t think I’m in either. No gang!
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