Tagged: Oxford Shoes
Dillinger’s Blue Jailbreak Suit in Public Enemies
Johnny Depp behind-the-scenes as John Dillinger in Public Enemies (2009).
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Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, Depression-era bank robber
Indiana, September 1934
Film: Public Enemies
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood
Background
Once again, the best shots of Dillinger’s attire in this scene from Public Enemies are from production shots, as Michael Mann’s choice of a handheld camera and extreme close-ups just show close details. However, unlike the previous Public Enemies post, Dillinger was nowhere near the incident being portrayed on film.
While Dillinger did indeed engineer the breakout of his prison buddies from the Michigan City Penitentiary on September 26, 1933 – eighty years ago yesterday – he was nowhere to be found on the day in question. Was he being smart by avoiding the situation? Was he scared?
Neither. He was in jail himself.
About a week earlier, Dillinger had managed to smuggle three .45-caliber pistols, likely the gang’s favorite Colt semi-automatics. On September 26, Harry Pierpont and Charley Makley found the marked box with the guns inside. They dug them out and, with eight other yeggs, managed to get out of prison. Unlike the film adaptation, it was relatively bloodless with no fatalities. Some of the prisoners were quickly rounded up and either killed or returned to prison, but the nexus of the Dillinger Gang: Pierpont, Makley, Russell Clark, Walter Dietrich, and John “Red” Hamilton, were now back together again. The only problem was Dillinger himself. Continue reading
Redford in Gatsby’s White Three-Piece Suit
Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in 1974’s The Great Gatsby.
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Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, enigmatic millionaire and eager romantic
Long Island, New York, Summer 1925
Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren
Background
According to tradition passed down to us from generations of snobs, Labor Day is the last socially acceptable day for Americans to wear white prominently. If you’re scrambling to get your white in before your country club bars you for showing up in October with your favorite ivory sports coat, follow Gatsby’s example to make a solid impression.
In his 1925 book, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s attire as:
…Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in.
Patrick Redfern’s Powder Blue Traveling Suit
With Labor Day coming up, this is your last chance to toss in any summer vacations that may be in the works. Make sure you travel in style.
Nicholas Clay as Patrick Redfern in Evil Under the Sun.
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Nicholas Clay as Patrick Redfern, Irish school teacher, swindler, and double murderer
Adriatic Sea, Summer 1939
Film: Evil Under the Sun
Release Date: March 5, 1982
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Continue reading
Bond Style – Black Tie in Thunderball
This weekend, James Bond himself – Sean Connery – turns 83. Celebrate in style with black tie and either a vodka martini or, to honor his heritage, a tumbler of single malt Scotch.
Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball.
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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy
Nassau, May 1965
Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
For the first time in three years, James Bond spends the majority of the film in beach attire, from swimming trunks to casual shirts and linen slacks. Reasonably so, too, as the warm climate of the Bahamas doesn’t really demand a three-piece flannel suit and tie.
However, we are still given a glimpse of the Bond we all know and love when he rolls into the Nassau casino suited up in a snazzy midnight blue tuxedo. Continue reading
Nucky Thompson’s Red, White, and Blue
Steve Buscemi as “Nucky” Thompson in “The Emerald City”, episode 1.10 of Boardwalk Empire.
Happy 4th of July to all American followers of BAMF Style.
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Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, corrupt Atlantic City treasurer and Republican political boss
Atlantic City, November 1920
Series: Boardwalk Empire
Episodes:
– “The Emerald City” (Episode 1.10, aired November 21, 2010, dir. Simon Cellan Jones)
– “A Return to Normalcy” (Episode 1.12, aired December 5, 2010, dir. Tim Van Patten)
– “Two Boats and a Lifeguard” (Episode 2.08, aired November 13, 2011, dir. Tim Van Patten)
Creator: Terence Winter
Costume Designer: John A. Dunn
Tailor: Martin Greenfield
Background
While our nation may be politically divided today, there is one politician that all of America can agree on: Enoch “Nucky” Thompson. Continue reading
Rusty’s Airport Attire in Ocean’s Thirteen
Brad Pitt oozes cool as “Rusty” Ryan in Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) in Vegas’s McCarran International Airport. Hey, Sopranos fans – am I crazy or does the guy sitting behind him look exactly like Meadow’s friend Noah from season 3?
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Brad Pitt as Robert “Rusty” Ryan, casino heister and hotel manager
Las Vegas, July 2007
Film: Ocean’s Thirteen
Release Date: June 8, 2007
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Background
Possibly still smarting from Danny’s remark about “Ted Nugent’s shirt” at the end of Ocean’s Eleven, Rusty has relatively toned down his attire for Ocean’s Thirteen. I say “relatively” because he still wears white suits and shirts that reflect better than most mirrors, but it is also primarily solids, with a subtle stripe thrown in occasionally.
For much of Ocean’s Thirteen, and especially the final scene, Rusty embraces the summer climate and wears a lot of bright earth tones. It is a very cool look and, as usual for Brad Pitt, is risky for the standard layman to execute successfully. However, Rusty’s confidence and – dare I say – swagger work in his favor and even Roman Nagel has to admit early on that Rusty “has style”. Continue reading
Bullitt’s Navy Suit
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Steve McQueen as Bullitt (1968).Vitals
Steve McQueen as Lt. Frank Bullitt, maverick SFPD inspector
San Francisco, Spring 1968
Film: Bullitt
Release Date: October 17, 1968
Director: Peter Yates
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
There is little dispute among both film and automobile fans that 1968’s Bullitt features the best car chase scene in movie history. Steve McQueen faces off in a fastback Mustang GT against two hitmen in a black Charger. By now, diehard fans of the film know that the Charger legendarily overtook and outpowered the Mustang during the actual filming, although it was still edited to have McQueen’s driving emerge victorious as the Charger ended up, sadly, in a ball of flame. Continue reading
Real Men Wear Pink: Redford as Gatsby
Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in the 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The little girl on his left is Patsy Kensit, who would later play Mel Gibson’s ill-fated love interest in Lethal Weapon 2.
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Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, enigmatic millionaire and eager romantic
Long Island, New York, Late Summer 1925
Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren
Background
Today is the day that Baz Luhrmann is releasing his interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel The Great Gatsby. Saving any comment on that for the end, it only seems appropriate to look at some of the iconic suits that Robert Redford donned for his portrayal of Gatsby almost forty years ago.
By the early to mid 1970s, men’s suits were beginning to revert back to styles popular during the height of the Roaring Twenties: bright three-piece suits with wide lapels, double-breasted waistcoats, and flared legs. Some credit the fact the coke-and-disco fueled ’70s were a replication of the booze-and-jazz fueled ’20s and that the style would naturally gravitate towards excess. Others point to the award-winning costumes made by Theoni V. Aldredge for 1974’s The Great Gatsby. Continue reading
Don Draper at the end of Season 5
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men, episode 5.13 “The Phantom”.
This Sunday marks the return of Mad Men with the sixth season premiere on AMC. When we last saw Don Draper at the end of the fifth season, he was on a Manhattan bar stool, being propositioned by a couple of young barflies.
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Jon Hamm as Don Draper, twice-married Madison Avenue ad man
New York City, Spring 1967
Series: Mad Men
Episode: “The Phantom” (Episode 5.13)
Air Date: June 10, 2012
Director: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
Background
In the final episode of Mad Men‘s fifth season, “The Phantom”, the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce office is trying overcome their grief in the wake of a major death. Don Draper is hit hard, feeling responsible for the second suicide of someone he had rejected. Additionally, our protagonist is dealing with a throbbing toothache and his young wife’s desire to revisit acting. By the end of the episode, his tooth is healed, the company is buying additional office space, and Megan has had a successful audition.
Don, however, is at a crossroads: Does he move forward? If so, how? Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Edwardian Gray Suit
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in “An Affair With A Married Woman”, the first episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies.
Had he not been killed by the Soviets in 1925, Sidney Reilly may have lived to be 140 last weekend- March 24th to be specific. However, a 140-year-old man is very unlikely, especially with his lifestyle and habits, so something would’ve probably gotten him anyway.
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Sam Neill as Sigmund Rosenblum, later renamed “Sidney Reilly” upon his entry into the British Secret Service
London, Spring 1901
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “An Affair with a Married Woman” (Episode 1)
Air Date: September 5, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
This is the first we see of Reilly – still known as Rosenblum – back home in London after his first mission, the details of which will be covered in a later post. After an assignation with his prostitute mistress Rose, he resurfaces at a public meeting in Covent Garden where the British Secret Service is denying his own existence. In a cheeky fashion that recalls James Bond, he gets the best of everyone. Later, we also see him wearing the same suit for a series of meetings and the funeral of his aforementioned mistress. Continue reading
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