Tagged: Brown Turtleneck
Kenneth Branagh’s Antarctic Exploration Gear as Ernest Shackleton
Kenneth Branagh in Shackleton (2002)
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Kenneth Branagh as Sir Ernest Shackleton, prolific polar explorer
Antarctica, December 1914 to August 1916
Series: Shackleton
Air Dates: January 2-3, 2002
Director: Charles Sturridge
Costume Designer: Shirley Russell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Channel 4 series Shackleton aired in two parts during the first week of January 2002, winning Emmy Awards in two of the seven categories for which it was nominated among nods from the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globes. Kenneth Branagh stars as the titular Sir Ernest Shackleton, specifically depicting his leadership of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition toward the end of what many call the “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration”. Though the specific expedition failed in its scientific objective, his leadership and the resourceful group’s survival have become legendary as a feat of, well, endurance. Despite this, Shackleton wisely avoids hagiography as it presents the titular adventurer with virtues and flaws intact.
After securing funding and approval from the British Admiralty despite looming war across Europe, Shackleton’s crew departed from Plymouth in August 1914 aboard the Endurance. Shackleton had purchased this Norwegian-built three-masted schooner, which was originally christened Polaris before he renamed it from his family motto (“By endurance, we conquer”), thus its journey from England through the South Atlantic was its maiden voyage. Following stops in Buenos Aires and South Georgia Island, Shackleton and his crew of 28 men—and 69 dogs—finally departed for the Antarctic on December 5th.
The real Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), photographed aboard the Endurance by Frank Hurley, circa 1914-1915.
Shackleton commanded the Endurance through the Weddell Sea, while Aeneas Mackintosh helmed a supporting party aboard the Aurora through the Ross Sea. Hoping to make landfall by Christmas, the seagoing expedition stretched into January 1915 when the Endurance became beset in pack ice. To conserve fuel for a potential return to South Georgia, Shackleton cut the engines and began drifting in the ice… for nine months.
110 years ago today on October 27, 1915—one year and a day after the Endurance left Buenos Aires—Shackleton finally gave his crew the orders to abandon ship, establishing a camp on the ice after—aside from Frank Hurley’s photographs and Leonard Hussey’s banjo—each man was instructed to dump all but two pounds of personal possessions from aboard the ship. Endurance finally sank just over three weeks later on November 21, 1915, starting a new chapter as the crew realized their mission shifted from science to survival.
My job now is to make sure you all live: every single one of you. To do that, I cannot afford to be sentimental. If I am, you will die—die starving, die frozen, die mad. I’ve seen it before, I do not intend to see it again.
Fargo, Season 5: Sam Spruell as Ole Munch
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch on Fargo. Photo credit: Michelle Faye/FX.
Vitals
Sam Spruell as Ole Munch, mysterious mercenary and ancient sin-eater
Minnesota and North Dakota, Fall 2019
Series: Fargo
Episodes:
– “The Tragedy of the Commons” (Episode 5.01, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “Trials and Tribulations” (Episode 5.02, dir. Noah Hawley, aired 11/21/2023)
– “The Paradox of Intermediate Transactions” (Episode 5.03, dir. Donald Murphy, aired 11/28/2023)
– “The Tender Trap” (Episode 5.06, dir. Dana Gonzales, aired 12/19/2023)
– “Linda” (Episode 5.07, dir. Sylvian White, aired 12/26/2023)
– “The Useless Hand” (Episode 5.09, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/9/2024)
– “Bisquik” (Episode 5.10, dir. Thomas Bezucha, aired 1/16/2024)
Creator: Noah Hawley
Costume Designer: Carol Case
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I recently received a request from BAMF Style reader Joe (thanks for the tip, Joe!) to review the interesting style of Ole Munch (Sam Spruell), an antagonist from the fifth and latest season of Fargo, which just ended last month.
For those unfamiliar, the series is a loosely connected anthology inspired by—and tangentially related to—the 1996 masterpiece film by the Coen brothers, who also joined as executive producers after being impressed by series creator Noah Hawley’s interpretation. Each season is primarily set in a different era and locale throughout the snowy American Midwest, pulling additional inspiration from other Coen brothers’ films.
With his relentlessness and terrible haircut, Ole Munch arguably takes a few queues from No Country for Old Men‘s Anton Chigurh… though the mysterious Munch ultimately demonstrates a more merciful sense of pragmatism than the psychopathic Chigurh. A self-described nihilist (which also echoes the philosophy of German technopop stars-turned-kidnappers in The Big Lebowski), Munch reveals himself to be over 500 years old, doomed to immortality as a sin-eater from 16th century Wales… delivered by fate to 21st century Minnesota. Continue reading
The Pink Panther: Robert Wagner’s Après-ski Style
Robert Wagner and Capucine in The Pink Panther (1963)
Vitals
Robert Wagner as George Lytton, smooth con artist and aspiring jewel thief
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Winter 1963
Film: The Pink Panther
Release Date: December 18, 1963
Director: Blake Edwards
Wardrobe Supervisor: Annalisa Nasalli-Rocca
Background
Given the ridiculous nature of the later entries that focus more heavily on the madcap misadventures of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers), it may surprise first-time viewers to see The Pink Panther so fashionably depict the elegance of winter jet-setters as they take to the Alpine ski resorts of Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy, spending days on the slopes and evenings by the fire.
As February extends into the Olympic games and ski-trip season, I had wanted to revisit the stylish skiwear seen in The Pink Panther, only to realize that Robert Wagner’s 92nd birthday today coincides with the timing of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Wagner appeared in The Pink Panther as George Lytton, a small-time con man and nephew of the suave Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven). After George discovers his urbane uncle is actually a master jewel thief known as “The Phantom”, he sets out to learn from Sir Charles… even attempting to seduce his mistress, Simone Clouseau (Capucine), who just happens to be the wife of the bumbling Sûreté inspector on their trail. Continue reading
Three Days of the Condor: Joubert’s Trench Coat
Max von Sydow as Joubert in Three Days of the Condor (1975)
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Max von Sydow as G. Joubert, French Alsatian contract assassin
New York City and Washington, D.C., Winter 1975
Film: Three Days of the Condor
Release Date: September 24, 1975
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
You may be walking, maybe the first sunny day of the spring, and a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know—maybe even trust—will get out of the car, and he will smile a becoming smile… but he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift.
Happy Spring to my BAMF Style readers in the Northern Hemisphere! Among the many screen credits of the late Max von Sydow, who died at the age of 90 earlier this month, was the taciturn professional assassin known as G. Joubert in the ’70s espionage thriller Three Days of the Condor.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Leo’s Brown Leather Jacket
Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
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Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, washed-up TV actor
Los Angeles, February 1969
Film: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Release Date: July 26, 2019
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips
Background
Now that Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood has been released on video and streaming services, I wanted to get cracking on the much-requested to cover Arianne Phillips’ fantastic costume design that brought the end of the swinging ’60s to life. Phillips’ costume design is one of ten categories for which Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a contender at the Academy Awards this Sunday, in addition to nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, and Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt.
As Pitt’s yellow Aloha shirt and jeans was already the subject of a BAMF Style “preview” post last summer (with a more robust post to come, I assure you!), I wanted to turn my attention to Rick Dalton, the fading star of TV westerns who’s forced to admit at the start of the movie:
It’s official, old buddy. I’m a has-been.
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