Vitals

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, disturbed taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran

New York City, Spring 1976

Film: Taxi Driver
Release Date: February 9, 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Ruth Morley

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Ahead of Robert De Niro’s birthday tomorrow, let’s celebrate Taxi Driver‘s 50th anniversary this year by seeing how well Travis Bickle cleans himself up for a date. Paul Schrader’s screenplay indicates the importance of Travis making a good impression on the more sophisticated campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) by describing his approach:

TRAVIS, dressed to the teeth, walks brightly down the sidewalk. His face is freshly shaved, his hair combed, his tie straightened.

Of course, while Travis may know enough to look the part, he hasn’t quite grasped the concept of taking his first date literally anywhere but a porn palace.

Their initial meeting had gone a little smoother, as Travis confidently strolled into Betsy’s workplace and outlined what he felt was missing in her life… and how he could fulfill it. Over coffee and pie, she recognized some of the more complicated aspects of the cabbie’s personality.

Betsy: You know what you remind me of?
Travis: What?
Betsy: That song by Kris Kristofferson.
Travis: Who’s that?
Betsy: A songwriter. “He’s a prophet… he’s a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction. A walking contradiction.”

After Travis vehemently clarifies that he’s never been “a pusher”, Betsy is still intrigued enough to agree to a date. And that’s when things go haywire.

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What’d He Wear?

Though costume designer Ruth Morley took some liberties in translating the wardrobe from the page to the screen, Paul Schrader’s screenplay describes how Travis even put effort into his appearance before approaching Betsy for the first time:

He’s dressed the best we have seen him; his pants (not jeans) are pressed, his boots shined, his hair combed. Under his Army jacket he wears a freshly laundered shirt and ivy league tie. He drops his cigarette, steps on it and walks in.

Rather than either of his Army jackets—a personalized tanker jacket and an M-65 field jacket—Travis debuts a dressier maroon corduroy sports coat that truly does make him “dressed the best we have seen him.” Made from a medium-wale corduroy cotton shell, the single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to an Ivy-inspired 3/2-roll woven leather shank-button front, tailored with natural shoulders and a full fit gently shaped with darts through the torso. The welted breast pocket and flapped patch pockets over the hips are classic details, with only the longer single vent suggesting the 1970s timeframe. The sleeves are finished with two decorative buttons spaced apart.

The new jacket also calls for a new shirt: a brown-forward plaid cotton flannel shirt, patterned with a busy yellow and white check. This Western-styled long-sleeved shirt has a long collar, pointed western yokes over the shoulders, two chest pockets with pointed single-snap flaps, five white-finished snaps up the front placket, and three matching snaps over each cuff. He would later rewear it when using one of his illegally purchased handguns to shoot a convenience store robber and, finally, during Taxi Driver‘s post-gunfight denouement.

Though Morley forewent the “Ivy league tie” Schrader’s screenplay outlined for his first meeting with Betsy, she eventually dresses him in a striped tie for the couple’s aborted date to see Sometime Sweet Susan. Echoing common styles of the ’70s, the tie is patterned with diagonal gold bar stripes—each bordered in a narrower bright-yellow stripes—against a matte taupe-brown polyester ground.

In lieu of a dressier shirt, Travis wears the tie with his plain white Western shirt with its point collar, pointed yokes, and snap-closed placket, pockets, and cuffs; it’s actually a smart effect that sartorially responds to the sportier aspects of his corduroy jacket and khaki slacks. This shirt would later become a casualty of Travis’ devious planning, trimming away the right sleeve to make room for his sliding .25-caliber holdout pistol.

Travis’ “pants (not jeans)” are light khaki chino cotton trousers. Though a ubiquitous menswear staple today, these also provide some smart consistency with the rest of Travis’ military-informed wardrobe as khakis had gained mainstream traction after they were popularized as workwear by returning GIs in the mid-20th century. Travis’ straight-leg slacks are almost certainly civilian-marketed commercial trousers, styled with belt loops, straight side pockets, two scallop-flapped back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms that flare just enough below the knees to comfortably cover the diamond-and-flame stitched calf-high shafts of his russet-brown leather cowboy boots.

Travis holds up his trousers with his usual dark russet leather belt, closed through a dramatic twelve-sided silver buckle that features ornate silver scrollwork and a large pearl-like oval stone set in the burgundy-filled center.

Never seen with any other outfits, Travis also wears a cool watch that flashes from his left wrist while flirting with Betsy at her desk. The yellow-gold case encircles a glossy green dial with its gold-applied non-numeric hour indices, strapped to a brown leather rally-style bracelet with brass studs flanking the timepiece itself. Little else is discernible from what we see on screen, aside from a subtle crown at the conventional 3 o’clock position.

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How to Get the Look

Fifty years later, Travis’ maroon corduroy jacket, plaid flannel shirt, khakis, and boots is still great for impressing a date. Fifty years later, Travis’ choice of taking her to a porno theater is still not.

• Maroon medium-wale corduroy single-breasted 3/2-roll sport jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped patch pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and long single vent
• Brown, yellow, and white plaid cotton flannel long-sleeved Western-styled shirt with point collar, pointed yokes, snap-front placket, two chest pockets with single-snap flaps, and snap cuffs
• Light khaki chino cotton flat-front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, scallop-flapped back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark russet-brown leather belt with silver 12-sided ornately detailed buckle with large pearl-like center-mounted stone
• Russet-brown leather cowboy boots with diamond-stitched shafts
• Gold wristwatch with green dial, gold-applied non-numeric hour indices, and brass-studded brown leather rally strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

I think you’re a lonely person. I drive by this place a lot and I see you here. I see a lot of people around you. And I see all these phones and all this stuff on your desk. It means nothing. Then when I came inside and I met you, I saw in your eyes and I saw the way you carried yourself that you’re not a happy person. And I think you need something. And if you want to call it a friend, you can call it a friend.