Lee Marvin’s Gray Silk Suit in The Killers

Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964).

Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964).

Vitals

Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom, professional mob hitman

Miami, Fall 1963

Film: The Killers
Release Date: July 7, 1964
Director: Don Siegel
Costume Designer: Helen Colvig

Background

Tomorrow would have been the birthday of Lee Marvin, who was born in New York on February 19, 1924. After his WWII service with the Marine Corps, Marvin spent a few decades acting before lighting up the screen as introspective assassin Charlie Strom in Don Siegel’s adaptation of The Killers. In addition to his first top-billed film role, The Killers also led to Marvin winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor (in addition to his role in Cat Ballou). Continue reading →

Henry’s Copa Date Suit in Goodfellas

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990).

Vitals

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, ambitious New York mob associate

New York, Spring 1964

Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno

Background

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, so BAMF Style is appropriating Mafia Monday for one of the most memorable scenes from Goodfellas, the impressive Steadicam shot that follows Henry and Karen’s date at their Copacabana. After leaving his Chrysler Newport with a doorman across the street (“It’s easier than leaving it at a garage”), the camera follows Henry as he spirits Karen through the labyrinth of hallways and kitchens into the famous nightclub, peeling off twenties for every hand that helps along the way. Continue reading →

Frank Underwood’s Cream Linen Suit

Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood in "Chapter 33" of House of Cards (2015).

Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood in “Chapter 33” of House of Cards (2015).

Vitals

Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, ruthless and calculating U.S. President

Gaffney, SC, August 2015

Series: House of Cards
Episode: “Chapter 33” (Episode 3.07)
Streaming Date: February 27, 2015
Director: John Dahl
Costume Designer: Johanna Argan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Week of Weddings comes to an end with a subdued renewal of vows for that coldest of TV couples, Frank and Claire Underwood.

“Chapter 33” is a particularly meditative episode for a show that has found its lead character throw another major character in front of a train. The episode uses the creation and subsequent destruction of a Hindu mandala to tell the story of the unorthodox Underwood marriage. While political murders and extramarital affairs aren’t enough to kill their marriage, the President and his wife find themselves more divided than ever after the events of the previous episode. It’s significant that they return to the original church in Gaffney where their formation was created in order to rejuvenate their relationship, and it’s while talking to Yates in front of their first home together that he can admit:

I can tell you this, though, there would have been no White House without Claire.

Of course, Gaffney was also the place where Frank Underwood was created, and it is here – through the increasingly less biased eyes of biographer Thomas Yates – that he is as removed from his ruthless political self as possible. He is disarmingly introspective and charismatic, pouring out stories and wisdom though it were from a bottle of bourbon in his office. Continue reading →

John Shelby’s Glen Plaid Suit for Peaky Blinders’ Gypsy Wedding

Joe Cole as John Shelby on Peaky Blinders (Ep. 1.04, 2013).

Joe Cole as John Shelby on Peaky Blinders (Ep. 1.04, 2013).

Vitals

Joe Cole as John Shelby, impulsive Peaky Blinder gang member

Birmingham, England, September 1919

Series: Peaky Blinders
Episode: Episodes 1.04
Air Date: October 3, 2013
Director: Tom Harper
Creator: Steven Knight
Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie

Background

Week of Weddings continues with a look from BBC Two’s Peaky Blinders. In the fourth episode, the Shelby brothers gather the Peaky Blinders for what ostensibly seems like an attack on the rival gypsy Lee family. John, the hotheaded younger brother of gang leaders Tommy and Arthur, has recently come to his family requesting their blessing to marry the neighborhood’s most prolific prostitute. The Lees, on the other side of town, have a girl that’s “gone a bit wild”. Tommy sees the opportunity here to end things without blood. (Not including the blood symbolically drawn from each new spouse’s hand.)

On the morning of the big showdown, John shows up especially itching for a fight… until Tommy pins a boutonniere on John’s left lapel and directs him to his new wife Esme. Continue reading →

American Gangster: Frank Lucas’ Wedding Suit

Denzel Washington and Lymari Nadal as Frank Lucas and Eva Lucas in American Gangster (2007).

Denzel Washington and Lymari Nadal as Frank Lucas and Eva Lucas in American Gangster (2007).

Vitals

Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, heroin kingpin

Harlem, Summer 1971

Film: American Gangster
Release Date: November 2, 2007
Director: Ridley Scott
Costume Designer: Janty Yates
Tailor: Leonard Logsdail

Background

For BAMF Style, the week leading up to Valentine’s Day always means a Week of Weddings, focusing on how some of the greatest on-screen tough guys dress up for their big day.

American Gangster depicts the rise and fall of heroin trafficker Frank Lucas and his disputed claims of smuggling dope home in the caskets of American servicemen who had died during the Vietnam War. He meets the Puerto Rican beauty queen Eva (her real name was Julianna) at his nightclub, and the two are soon married. Continue reading →

Bogart’s Ivory Dinner Jacket in Casablanca

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a 1942 studio portrait to promote Casablanca.

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a 1942 studio portrait to promote Casablanca.

Vitals

Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, cynical “gin joint” manager and former arms dealer

Casablanca, Morocco, December 1941

Film: Casablanca
Release Date: November 26, 1942
Director: Michael Curtiz

Background

Although remembered today as one of the greatest romances to grace the screen, the Los Angeles Times‘s Bob Strauss was most accurate when he declared Casablanca a “near-perfect entertainment balance” of comedy, romance, and suspense. In fact, the movie has become so ingrained as a romance classic that few recall just how badass it actually is.

Take the leading man: Rick Blaine. Played by Humphrey Bogart (which already lends plenty of BAMF credibility), Rick is more cynical than any of the private eyes that Bogie ever played on screen. He owns a bar with an illegal gambling den and maintained a successful side racket of running guns to Ethiopia, in addition to packing his own pistol on most occasions.

When Ilsa, the love of his life, walks back into his bar after nearly two years, he takes to the bottle… and he does so with gusto. The bitter Rick refuses to help Ilsa’s crusading resistance leader husband, to which she responds by drawing her own gun. After sorting out conflicted feelings, old flames, and a bullet or two in the gut of a Nazi, Rick finally manages to find closure with his old love while paving the way for further shady business ventures. The end.

With just over a week left until Valentine’s Day, Rick Blaine provides a classic, dapper look sure to make your special lady swoon on this most hated of holidays. Good luck, fellas. Continue reading →

The Sopranos: Christopher’s Blue Herringbone “Made Man” Suit

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Molitsanti on The Sopranos (Episode 3.03: "Fortunate Son").

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Molitsanti on The Sopranos (Episode 3.03: “Fortunate Son”).

Vitals

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, newly “made” mob soldier

New Jersey, Fall 2000

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Fortunate Son” (Episode 3.03)
Air Date: March 11, 2001
Director: Henry J. Bronchtein
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

Background

This suit had been requested a few weeks ago, and—as both a huge fan of The Sopranos and a kindred spirit of the tragic Christopher Moltisanti character—I was more than pleased to delve a little deeper into the suit and scene where Christopher finally “gets his button” for Mafia Monday. Continue reading →

Gene Hackman’s Tweed Suit as Buck Barrow

Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons as Buck and Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons as Buck and Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Vitals

Gene Hackman as “Buck” Barrow, bank robber, ex-convict, and family man

Texas, May 1933

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

Background

Happy birthday to Gene Hackman, who turns 86 years old today!

Bonnie and Clyde marked the first major role for Hackman, who had spent much of the ’60s as a struggling actor who shared rooms with fellow struggling actors Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. 1967 turned out to be a banner year for the friends and roommates, earning Hackman and Hoffman their first Academy Award nominations.

Hackman brings an easygoing charm to the role of the more famous Clyde’s older brother Buck, and the film gets many of the “on paper” details right about Buck. As Clyde’s older brother, he had more experience tangling with the law and spent the first few months of Clyde’s criminal career in the Texas state prison. He had escaped once, but—as Hackman tells Warren Beatty’s Clyde—it was his new wife Blanche that talked him into returning to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence, and he would be pardoned 15 months later. Buck and Blanche journeyed to visit Bonnie and Clyde, ostensibly for a reunion and possibly for Buck to try and talk Clyde into following his good example. Of course, the murder of two Joplin policemen during this reunion meant Buck would be wanted again as well, and the brothers led the motley “Barrow Gang” in a string of small-town stickups and kidnappings over the next three months. Continue reading →

Terry Leather’s Herringbone Coat in The Bank Job

Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).

Jason Statham as Terry Leather in The Bank Job (2008).

Vitals

Jason Statham as Terry Leather, fledging bank robber and former car salesman

East London, September 1971

Film: The Bank Job
Release Date: February 29, 2008
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Odile Dicks-Mireaux

Background

Based partially on some possibly true events (or at least theories) surrounding the famous Baker Street robbery of 1971, The Bank Job is a fun caper flick from 2008 that stars Jason Statham in a decidedly less Statham-esque role than usual, leading a team of non-violent petty criminals chosen by the British government to burglarize a bank.

Of course, it’s not that simple as Statham’s crew isn’t even aware that they’re working for the government and wedging themselves between a sadistic London gangster and a militant revolutionary. Continue reading →

Don Draper’s Brown Hershey Pitch Suit

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, presenting a pitch to Hershey executives in "In Care Of" (Episode 6.13) on Mad Men.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, presenting a pitch to Hershey executives in “In Care Of” (Episode 6.13) on Mad Men.

Vitals

Jon Hamm as Don Draper, suddenly honest Madison Avenue ad man

New York City, Fall 1968

Series: Mad Men
Episodes: “Favors” (Episode 6.11) & “In Care Of” (Episode 6.13)
Air Date: June 9, 2013 (Episode 6.11) & June 23, 2013 (Episode 6.13)
Directors: Jennifer Getzinger (Episode 6.11) & Matthew Weiner (Episode 6.13) 
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After Winter Storm Jonas had most of us on the East Coast huddling in whatever warmth we could find this weekend, it’s time to head back to work. In the spirit of Jon Hamm’s recent Golden Globe win for the final season of Mad Men, let’s head back to the office appropriately suited up. Continue reading →