January 22, 2026

Twin Peaks: Dale Cooper’s FBI Raid Jacket

Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks (Episode 1.06: “Episode 5”, aka “Cooper’s Dreams”)

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Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper, FBI agent

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Cooper’s Dreams” (Episode 1.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 5/10/1990)
– “Realization Time” (Episode 1.07, dir. Caleb Deschanel, aired 5/17/1990)
– “Variations on Relations” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Design: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following what would have been series co-creator David Lynch’s 80th birthday on Tuesday, I decided to make this Twin Peaks week on BAMF Style to give Lynch and Mark Frost’s surreal mystery series some long overdue attention. If you don’t like that, fix your hearts or die.

Twin Peaks centered around the arrival of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to the fictional titular small town in upper Washington state, where he joins Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) to investigate the murder of local teen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Even after the murder is ostensibly solved, Coop hangs around in Twin Peaks, lured by its colorful townsfolk and growing lore around the mysterious Black Lodge. Continue reading →

January 20, 2026

Twin Peaks: David Lynch’s Black FBI Suit as Gordon Cole

David Lynch as FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole on Twin Peaks (Episode 13: “Demons”)

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David Lynch as Gordon Cole, hearing-impaired FBI regional bureau chief

Twin Peaks, Washington, March 1989

Series: Twin Peaks
Episodes:
– “Demons”, aka “Episode 13” (Episode 2.06, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter, aired 11/3/1990)
– “Lonely Souls”, aka “Episode 14” (Episode 2.07, dir. David Lynch, aired 11/10/1990)
– “On the Wings of Love, aka “Episode 25” (Episode 2.18, dir. Duwayne Dunham, aired 4/4/1991)
– “Variations on Relations”, aka “Episode 26” (Episode 2.19, dir. Jonathan Sanger, aired 4/11/1991)
Created by: Mark Frost & David Lynch
Costume Designer: Sara Markowitz

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today would have been the 80th birthday of David Lynch, the celebrated filmmaker whose surrealist productions often blended elements of humor and horror. Born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch died just four days before his 79th birthday last year when his emphysema was exacerbated from his Hollywood Hills home during the destructive wildfires that ravaged southern California.

In addition to the ten feature films he directed, Lynch co-created the TV series Twin Peaks with Mark Frost. On its surface, this mystery series centered around FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the death of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in a small Washington town, while more surreal elements focused on the supernatural realm presented through Coop’s bizarre dreams and the interactions among the quirky Twin Peaks townsfolk that lean into the characteristically Lynchian references to mid-century Americana.

Lynch himself would finally appear on screen during the second season as Coop’s hearing-impaired supervisor: “Federal Bureau of Investigation Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole,” as he introduces himself to local sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean), adding, “that’s a real mouthful, but I can’t hear myself anyway.” Continue reading →

January 18, 2026

Cary Grant’s Tuxedo in Notorious

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious (1946)

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Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin, American government agent

Rio de Janeiro, Spring 1946

Film: Notorious
Release Date: September 6, 1946
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Design: Edith Head (gowns only)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Released 80 years ago this September, Notorious marked the second of four screen collaborations between Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant—who was born 122 years ago today on January 18, 1904. Written by Ben Hecht, Notorious is vintage Hitch at full boil, blending noir-tinged espionage with a romance daring enough to taunt the censors, all delivered with the Master of Suspense’s unmistakable mix of wit, menace, and nerve-shredding tension.

Notorious reaches a boiling point during a party hosted by the urbane yet dangerous Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) and his new wife Alicia (Ingrid Bergman)—in fact a honeyspot spy recruited by American agent T.R. Devlin (Grant) to seduce her way into Sebastian’s circle of German emigrés hiding in post-World War II Brazil. Continue reading →

January 16, 2026

Our Man Flint: James Coburn’s Tuxedo

James Coburn in Our Man Flint (1966)

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James Coburn as Derek Flint, bon vivant superspy

New York City to Marseilles, Spring 1965

Film: Our Man Flint
Release Date: January 16, 1966
Director: Daniel Mann
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

James Coburn originated the character of Derek Flint in Our Man Flint, one of the many spy spoofs in the wake of ’60s Bondmania, released sixty years ago today. Technically, the film premiered a month earlier in St. Ann’s Bay in Jamaica, though it wasn’t widely in theaters until the American release on January 16, 1966. It would be followed the next year by a sequel, In Like Flint—which also happens to be Austin Powers’ favorite movie… and, indeed, you can see plenty of shagadelic DNA in the Flint series. Continue reading →

January 13, 2026

The Grey: Liam Neeson’s Winter Survival Gear

Liam Neeson in The Grey (2011). Photo credit: Kimberley French.

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Liam Neeson as John Ottway, world-weary oil company sharpshooter

Alaskan Wilderness, Winter 2011

Film: The Grey
Release Date: December 11, 2011
Director: Joe Carnahan
Costume Designer: Courtney Daniel

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After a few reader requests that piqued my interest in survival stories, I recently watched The Grey, which premiered 14 years ago n January 2012 following its debut the previous month during the annual “Butt-Numb-a-Thon” film marathon in Austin.

Adapted by director Joe Caranhan and Ian MacKenzie Jeffers from the latter’s short story “Ghost Walker”, The Grey centers around Liam Neeson as the spiritually exhausted John Ottway, who describes his situation in the opening voiceover:

A job at the end of the world: a salaried killer for a big petroleum company. I don’t know why I did half the things I’ve done, but I know this is where I belong, surrounded by my own: ex-cons, fugitives, drifters, assholes. Men unfit for mankind.