Richard Arlen’s White Suit in Island of Lost Souls

Richard Arlen in Island of Lost Souls (1932)

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Richard Arlen as Edward Parker, shipwrecked sailor

South Pacific, Summer 1932

Film: Island of Lost Souls
Release Date: December 23, 1932
Director: Erle C. Kenton

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The old maxim that a gentleman shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day has long grown outdated, but those looking for one last hurrah in summer whites can find inspiration in Erle C. Kenton’s pre-Code sci-fi/horror adventure Island of Lost Souls.

Set on the titular island (but actually filmed on Catalina), this adaptation of H.G. Wells’ 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau stars Charles Laughton as the eponymous Moreau and Richard Arlen as the shipwrecked Edward Parker, who finds himself at Moreau’s mercy on the island.

The sole survivor from the sunken S.S. Lady Vain, Parker is plucked from the sea aboard the Covina, where he’s treated by the enigmatic ex-doctor Montgomery (Arthur Hohl)—who seems more in command of the ship and its strange animal cargo than the drunken Captain Davies (Stanley Fields), who grumblingly describes their mysterious destination as “Dr. Moreau’s island, and it stinks all over the whole South Seas.”

Parker soon understands this criticism firsthand after discovering that Moreau has been dissecting men and beasts and combining their DNA into grotesque hybrid creatures, snarling in response: “Now I can understand why you and your island stink from one end of the South Seas to the other!” To keep Parker distracted and further his own experimentation, Moreau introduces him to the alluring Lota (Kathleen Burke) without explaining that she is part-panther.

Born 126 years ago today on September 1, 1899 (and shockingly only two months younger than Laughton), Arlen was cast after Randolph Scott was initially considered to play Parker. One of the most prominent actors of the 1920s and ’30s, Arlen brought his experience as a Canadian Royal Flying Corps pilot to his starring role in the first-ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, Wings (1927). Though his stature waned in later decades, Arlen was one of the few major silent-era stars to successfully transition onto television, with guest appearances on dozens of shows until his death in March 1976. Continue reading →

Against All Odds: Jeff Bridges’ White Shirt and OG-507 Trousers

Jeff Bridges in Against All Odds (1984)

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Jeff Bridges as Terry Brogan, recently cut football player

Cozumel, Mexico, Fall 1983

Film: Against All Odds
Release Date: March 2, 1984
Director: Taylor Hackford
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

A loose remake of Jacques Tourneur’s seminal 1947 noir Out of the Past, Against All Odds recasts the typical private eye as Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges), a pro football player sidelined after a career-ending shoulder injury. Cut from the fictional Los Angeles Outlaws, Terry turns to his shady bookie friend Jake Wise (James Woods), who offers him a job finding his missing girlfriend Jessie (Rachel Ward)—who also happens to be the daughter of the Outlaws’ owner.

Terry’s search leads him to Cozumel, a sun-drenched island off the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, where Jessie invites him to her secluded tropical refuge. There, amid the crashing surf and flowing tequila, the two plunge headlong into a dangerous affair. Continue reading →

Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap

Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)

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Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand

French Riviera, Summer 1965

Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.

The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean. Continue reading →

Night Moves: Gene Hackman’s Blue Lacoste Shirt

Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby in Night Moves (1975)

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Gene Hackman as Harry Moseby, private detective and former professional football player

Florida Keys, Fall 1973

Film: Night Moves
Release Date: June 11, 1975
Director: Arthur Penn
Costumer: Arnie Lipin
Costume Supervisor: Rita Riggs

Background

I love sweaty ’70s movies during the summer, especially when our star is rocking a superb soup-strainer.

Released 50 years ago in June 1975, the dolorous detective thriller Night Moves features the marvelous mustached private eye Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) dressed in array of casual attire, from super-trendy safari shirts and suede shirt-jacs to more timeless attire like a smart tweed sports coat and a classic Lacoste tennis shirt to beat the heat when his work takes him to the Florida Keys. Continue reading →

Terence Stamp’s Dark Plaid Suit in The Limey

Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)

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Terence Stamp as David Wilson, hardened English professional criminal

Los Angeles to Big Sur, California, Fall 1998

Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One week ago today, British screen icon Terence Stamp died at the age of 87, following a six-decade career that began with his Oscar-nominated titular performance in Billy Budd (1962) and roles in the Superman and Star Wars franchises.

Steven Soderbergh’s offbeat crime caper The Limey (1999) provided the rare late-career starring role for the sixtysomething Stamp, starring as the laconic English criminal Wilson who arrives in Los Angeles seeking answers—and revenge—after his actress daughter Jenny’s death in a mysterious car accident. Continue reading →

The White Lotus: Walton Goggins’ Linen Dandy Del Mar Beach Set

Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood on The White Lotus, Episode 3.08: “Amor Fati”. Photo by Fabio Lovino.

Vitals

Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett, troubled tourist and “victim of [his] own decisions”

Koh Samui, Thailand, Spring 2024

Series: The White Lotus
Episode: “Amor Fati” (Episode 3.08)
Air Date: April 6, 2025
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

It seems like every month I’m checking in on my man Walton Goggins, but I can’t help myself after seeing how Alex Bovaird’s Emmy-nominated costume design dressed Rick Hatchett exactly in my summer aesthetic on The White Lotus. Whether he’s in wild tropical-printed shirts and cargo pants or a chic matching set from Dandy Del Mar, Rick’s vacation wardrobe hits all the right notes.

I first discovered the Cali-based brand Dandy Del Mar back in 2020 through their retro-informed swimwear and terry-forward loungewear, and as the brand’s collection of leisurewear has grown, so has my personal stash. (This isn’t a sponsored post, I swear—I’m just a big fan!) Naturally, I was thrilled when I saw Rick sporting one of their matching sets during his emotional reunion with Chelsea on the beach in Koh Samui during the latest season finale.

As this summer draws closer to an end, let’s look back at how Rick Hatchett dressed toward the end of his fateful stay at the White Lotus this year. Continue reading →

Bonnie and Clyde: Michael J. Pollard’s Herringbone Jacket and Jeans as C.W.

Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Vitals

Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss, slow-witted mechanic-turned-bank robber

Iowa, Summer 1933

Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

W.D. “Deacon” Jones may not be as famous as Bonnie Parker or Clyde Barrow, but the Dallas teenager was once among their closest companions in the notorious Barrow gang.

At only 16 years old, Jones was running jobs and riding shotgun on robberies, a role later blended with the gang’s informant Henry Methvin to create the fictionalized composite character C.W. Moss in Arthur Penn’s landmark 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde. Jones lived long enough to see the movie and admitted in a Playboy interview that “Moss was a dumb kid who run errands and done what Clyde told him… that was me, all right.”

Having survived countless shootouts during nearly a year riding with the Barrow gang, Jones ultimately couldn’t escape the fate that had claimed his contemporaries. Fifty-one years ago today in Houston during the early morning hours of August 20, 1974, the 58-year-old Jones was shot three times with a 12-gauge shotgun during an altercation outside a friend’s house. Continue reading →

Robert Redford’s Flight Jacket as The Great Waldo Pepper

Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

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Robert Redford as Waldo Pepper, daring stunt pilot

Midwest United States, Summer 1926 through Spring 1928

Film: The Great Waldo Pepper
Release Date: March 13, 1975
Director: George Roy Hill
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

One year after portraying the titular Great Gatsby, Robert Redford starred in The Great Waldo Pepper as the fictional eponymous aviator—loosely inspired by several real-life daredevil flying aces of the Roaring ’20s—making it a fitting focus ahead of National Aviation Day tomorrow.

Born 89 years ago today on August 18, 1936, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, thanks in part to his performances opposite Paul Newman in George Roy Hill’s hit comedies Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973). Released 50 years ago this March, The Great Waldo Pepper reunited Redford with Hill for a more lighthearted counterpoint to the actor’s contemporaneous political thrillers like Three Days of the Condor (1975) and All the President’s Men (1976).

We first meet barnstormer Waldo Pepper in the summer of 1926, landing his bright yellow Standard J-1 in a Nebraska field to sell plane rides to curious locals. Continue reading →

Purple Noon: Alain Delon’s Blue Ivy-Style OCBD, Cream Jeans, and Loafers

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Purple Noon (1960)

Vitals

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, charming American con artist

Italy, Summer 1959

Film: Purple Noon
(French title: Plein soleil)
Release Date: March 10, 1960
Director: René Clément
Costume Designer: Bella Clément

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

French screen and style icon Alain Delon died one year ago this week on August 18, 2024. One of the actor’s most celebrated and stylish roles remains his portrayal of Tom Ripley in Purple Noon, René Clément’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The French/Italian co-production (released in France as Plein soleil) was the first cinematic adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, followed by Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley and Steven Zaillain’s 2024 Netflix miniseries Ripley. Clément was inspired to cast Delon after spotting the young actor in the 1959 comedy Women are Weak, and his enigmatic performance as Tom Ripley eventually launched him to wider global recognition.

Highsmith’s own opinion about the film ranged from cheers for Henri Decaë’s stunning cinematography to jeers against Clément’s bastardized ending, though the author fully praised Delon’s “excellent” portrayal of her devious creation. Continue reading →

The Naked Gun: Leslie Nielsen’s Taupe Suit as Frank Drebin

Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun (1988)

Vitals

Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, straight-talking police lieutenant

Los Angeles, Spring 1988

Film: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Release Date: December 2, 1988
Director: David Zucker
Costume Designer: Mary E. Vogt

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

As this year’s  The Naked Gun continues to draw laughs, let’s flashback to 1988 when audiences first saw the bumbling Frank Drebin on the big screen.

After decades in dramatic roles (save for a zany turn in the first season of M*A*S*H), Leslie Nielsen’s comic potential was first appropriately realized when David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker cast the Canadian actor as Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, their 1980 spoof of disaster films.

The movie’s success—and Nielsen’s deadpan delivery—prompted ZAZ to craft a send-up of classic cop shows like M Squad, continuing their usual blend of slapstick, sight gags, and verbal puns. Police Squad! debuted as a mid-season replacement in March 1982, introducing viewers to “Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective-Lieutenant, Police Squad”. Critically acclaimed for its sense of humor far ahead of contemporary programming, Police Squad! was nonetheless canceled by ABC after only six episodes were produced.

Luckily, ZAZ never gave up on Nielsen’s character, co-writing a screenplay with Pat Proft that retooled the formula for a movie that would become arguably one of the funniest comedies of all time, spawning two sequels (which also starred Nielsen as Drebin) and the 2025 continuation with Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. Continue reading →