Vitals

Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob captain and Army veteran

Miami Beach, Fall 2007

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Remember When” (Episode 6.15)
Air Date: April 22, 2007
Director: Phil Abraham
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

For some reason, TikTok users in 2021 decided that May 24 was National Rigatoni Day. Leave it to me to five years behind on the trends, but rigatoni is my favorite pasta so I may as well find this tenuous connection to again post about my favorite show—specifically the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie whips up some “rigatoni alla Paulie” or “rigatoni alla Tony, heh heh heh,” while silently—or not so silently—fretting about his fate.

“Remember When” is the third episode of the second half of The Sopranos‘ sixth and final season, following the quirky mob capo “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and his boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) to Miami Beach to duck potential murder charges back home in Jersey. After learning that an informant blamed the killing on the long-dead Jackie Aprile Sr., a celebratory Tony rents the Sea Vous Play fishing boat for a final excursion with Paulie… who has been irritating the hell out of him the whole trip with his typical tics and inane questions like “Chevy Chase… fuck ever happened to him?”

The duo’s trip to sea feels a little too familiar to Paulie, who had previously joined Tony on a pleasure craft where they executed an informant. Now, even the prospect of some delicious rigatoni doesn’t feel like enough insurance for Paulie’s peace of mind.

---

What’d He Wear?

Paulie leaves his silk tracksuits and Sansabelt trousers behind for a day at sea at Miami Beach, even overlooking the mob aphorism (“Maforism”?) that “a don doesn’t wear shorts.” Contrasting Tony’s vibrantly printed tropical shirt, Paulie wears a more subdued short-sleeved camp shirt in a solid pale mint-green, comfortably oversized to allow the breeze. Of the five beige front buttons, Paulie only wears the second from bottom button fastened, naturally also leaving the loop collar open at the neck. The shirt has wide elbow-length sleeves, a welted pocket set-in over the left breast, long pleats behind the shoulders that are collected at the waist, and a straight waist hem designed to be untucked. He wears the shirt over one of his usual white ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirts, its neckline just below the tip of the textured gold cross he wears on a gold rope-chain necklace.

Paulie’s light stone-gray cotton shorts extend to just above his knees, fashioned with slanted side pockets and belt loops—which go unused. The shorts likely also have back pockets, though we never see these under the shirt’s untucked hem.

We watched Paulie pack at least three identical pairs of his usual all-white leather Vikings shoes ahead of the trip, and they’ve never looked more suitable than when he’s striding out to sea off the coast of Miami Beach. Reflecting Paulie’s strong distaste for shoelaces that he vocalized in the third-season premiere, these slip-on shoes are styled have smooth white leather uppers with a split-toe and top-stitching following the curve of the front panels over the insteps.

Paulie stands out among his Rolex-loving crew with his quartz-powered Movado Esperanza wristwatches, rotating between both plain stainless steel and yellow-gold PVD-coated models. He wears the former in Florida (likely ref. 042141372), with a 39mm stainless steel case on a matching Esperanza bracelet—characterized by its free-falling design of long, open links and a push-button deployment clasp. Movado watches are recognizable for their classic “museum dial”, a minimalist expression of matte black with a single mirrored concave dot at the 12 o’clock position and hands in the same metal as the watch case.

Weighing down the smallest of three fingers he regularly points with, Paulie’s right pinky ring was an integral part of both his and Tony Sirico’s appearance. “They say Mafia wear pinkie rings, but men of style wear pinkie rings,” Sirico clarified to The New York Times‘ Ilene Rosenzweig in “Ba-Da-Bing! Thumbs Up for the Pinkie Ring,” published before The Sopranos‘ second season aired. Cycling through several rings over the course of the series, Sirico’s gold pinky ring by the final season featured a raised rectangular onyx setting.

---

How to Get the Look

Cooking rigatoni in choppy seas can be a sartorial disaster, but Paulie exercises his usual caution and avoids spilling Sunday gravy on his light-colored leisurewear that consists of a mint camp shirt, stone-colored shorts, and his characteristic white loafers.

• Pale mint-green short-sleeved camp shirt with loop collar, five-button plain front, set-in breast pocket, and rear pleats
• White ribbed cotton sleeveless undershirt
• Light stone-gray cotton flat-front Bermuda shorts with belt loops and slanted side pockets
• White leather split-toe Vikings loafers
• Movado Esperanza 042141372 stainless steel watch with black minimalist “museum dial” on steel open-link bracelet
• Gold pinky ring with black onyx rectangular stone

---

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the whole series.