Vitals

Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer

Saint Thomas, Summer 1980

Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Six months ago, I observed Alan Alda’s 90th birthday with my first post of his seasonal wardrobe in The Four Seasons, his 1981 comedy following four pairs of couples vacationing together throughout a tumultuous year in their lives, scored by Vivaldi’s concerti of the same name. (The film was recently adapted as a Netflix series co-created by and starring Tina Fey with Alda’s endorsement, as the actor also appears as Fey’s father.)

The second segment of The Four Seasons is set during the summer when the group sails their rented boat Sandavore through the U.S. Virgin Islands. The dynamic has shifted since the salesman Nick (Len Cariou) left his wife and has brought his much younger girlfriend Ginny (Bess Armstrong) on the trip, distracting the rest with loud sex at night and nude swimming in the morning. Alda’s moralistic lawyer Jack tries to openly explore how this has affected the group, but denies to his wife Kate (Carol Burnett) that he harbors any fantasties of his own around Ginny or a woman like her, instead venting his frustrations about Nick and Ginny treating the group expedition like a private holiday:

They’re not even on this trip! They walk around mooning all the time, making goo-goo eyes. My God, if one of them farts, the other one thinks it’s Guy Lombardo!

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What’d He Wear?

After rotating through pullover polo shits with short-inseam swim trunks, Jack pulls on more refined casual-wear for topside hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Echoing the safari-informed fashions that dominated 1970s menswear, his sky-blue linen shirt has shoulder epaulets and four inverted box-pleated pockets, each covered with a single-button flap, with the presence of lower hip pockets clearly indicating the shirt was meant to be worn untucked like a shirt-jacket. The seven sky-blue plastic buttons up the front match the two on each cuff, the pocket-flap buttons, and the epaulet closures.

Jack affects a suitably nautical summer look with his cream-colored cotton flat-front trousers, finished with plain-hemmed bottoms that break over the tops of his smooth beige leather boat shoes. Perfectly appropriate for this context, his boat shoes follow the design innovated by Paul A. Sperry in the 1930s with siped soles inspired by dog paws for better traction on wet decks at sea. Exemplified by the original Sperry Top-Sider but mimicked by other outdoor brands like Timberland, the traditional boat shoe (or deck shoe) features moc-toe construction and a 360° lacing system that pulls through two or three sets of metal-finished derby-style eyelets.

For selfish reasons, I wish Jack had followed the example set by his pals Nick and Danny who both regularly wear sporty Seiko dive watches. Instead, he wears a tasteful dress watch with a stainless steel 34mm case, mirrored gold minimalist dial with non-numeric hour indices, and a smooth black leather band.

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How to Get the Look

Self-righteous pontificating aside, Alan Alda’s Jack demonstrates how little it takes to craft a simple yet interesting and classically informed summer look in his lightweight blue linen safari shirt, white slacks, and boat shoes. The only thing missing, in my opinion, are a set of tasteful sunglasses.

• Sky-blue linen long-sleeved safari shirt with point collar, shoulder epaulets, four inverted box-pleated pockets with single-button flaps, and two-button cuffs
• Cream cotton flat-front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
• Beige leather moc-toe boat shoes with siped white rubber outsoles
• Stainless steel dress watch with mirrored gold minimalist dial on smooth black leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

It just so happens that Venus rose from the sea on a clamshell—sexuality was born in wetness!