Tagged: Policeman
Justified – Raylan’s Pilot Episode Tan Suit Jacket and Jeans

Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the pilot episode (“Fire in the Hole”) of Justified.
(Photo by: Prashant Gupta, FX)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, proudly old-fashioned Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, March 2010
Series: Justified
Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 16, 2010
Director: Michael Dinner
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree
Background
BAMF Style concludes this weeklong focus on first episodes with an outfit from the pilot of Justified, one of my favorite modern crime shows.
Justified‘s pilot has a special place in my heart for being filmed in southwestern Pennsylvania, just outside my hometown of Pittsburgh. According to a June 2009 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the region was chosen for both aesthetic and practical reasons as a viable double for the South but with a tax rebate for film and TV productions that Kentucky doesn’t offer (or at least didn’t offer at the time.) Continue reading
Basic Instinct: Black Bomber Jacket and Jeans
Vitals
Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, suspended homicide detective
San Francisco, April 1991
Film: Basic Instinct
Release Date: March 20, 1992
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Background
The nylon bomber jacket has made a comeback in recent years with few knowing the story of its all-too appropriate name, developed as the “MA-1” in the 1950s for U.S. bomber pilots to replace the B-15 flight jacket and older leather variations.
Two decades later, the bomber jacket hit the civilian market with manufacturers like Alpha Industries introducing it to new audiences in colors other than the standard military olive drab. It was further popularized in TV and movies, including the almost ubiquitous appearance of an Alpha Industries MA-1 worn by Steve McQueen in The Hunter (1980) and Kevin Costner in Bull Durham (1988).
Though the MA-1 bomber jacket was being phased out of active military use by the early ’90s, it still remained a staple of men’s casual wear and was a fitting choice as the go-to off-duty jacket worn by Michael Douglas’ fashionably tailored homicide detective Nick Curran in Basic Instinct. Continue reading
Jimmy Stewart’s Green Sweater in Vertigo
Vitals
James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, former San Francisco detective
San Francisco, Fall 1957
Film: Vertigo
Release Date: May 9, 1958
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
San Francisco has always been a popular setting for detective movies. From 1940s film noir like The Maltese Falcon through the gritty ’60s and ’70s era with movies like Bullitt, Dirty Harry, and McQ, Hollywood has made the most of its picturesque neighbor to the distant north.
Though Alfred Hitchcock had filmed in the Bay area before, Vertigo was his first cinematic effort actually set in San Francisco and he makes the most of his setting. Continue reading
McQ’s Navy Blazer and 1973 Trans Am

John Wayne as Det. Lon “McQ” McHugh in McQ (1973), armed in front of his 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
Vitals
John Wayne as Lon “McQ” McHugh, taciturn Seattle PD lieutenant
Seattle, Fall 1973
Film: McQ
Release Date: February 6, 1974
Director: John Sturges
Wardrobe Credit: Luster Bayless
Background
It’s no Hollywood secret that McQ was originally developed as a vehicle for Steve McQueen. Five years after McQueen sat behind the wheel of a hunter green Mustang GT390 careening through the streets of San Francisco in Bullitt, the role of gruff Seattle police lieutenant Lon McHugh was retooled for screen legend John Wayne, who took on his first detective role at the age of 66.
Wayne, whose entire left lung had been surgically removed after a bout with cancer a decade earlier, could only walk short distances without needing oxygen – much to the chagrin of director John Sturges – but still turned in a surprisingly energetic performance as a cop who combines Dirty Harry’s stubborn grit with Bullitt’s propensity toward speeding around the city in a sporty dark green American muscle car. Continue reading
Justified – Raylan Givens’ Tan Suede Jacket

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, armed with his BlackBerry and a Glock in this promotional still from Justified (Episode 1.02: “Riverbrook”)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old school Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, Spring 2010
Series: Justified
Episodes:
– “Riverbrook” (Episode 1.02, Director: Michael Dinner, Air Date: March 23, 2010)
– “The Collection” (Episode 1.06, Director: Rod Holcomb, Air Date: April 20, 2010)
– “Veterans” (Episode 1.11, Director: Tony Goldwyn, Air Date: May 25, 2010)
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designer: Ane Crabtree Continue reading
Michael Douglas’s Suede Sportcoat in Basic Instinct
Vitals
Michael Douglas as Nick Curran, suspended homicide detective
San Francisco, April 1991
Film: Basic Instinct
Release Date: March 20, 1992
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Background
Nick Curran’s investigation gets increasingly personal the deeper he looks, taking him all over hte Bay Area from Cloverdale and Berkeley to Salinas and back to San Francisco as he researches details about the elusive “Lisa Hoberman”‘s history with seductive murder suspect Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone).
Due to his suspension, Curran is working off-the-clock, dressing down from his professional daywear to provide a perfect example of a stylish cop’s attire for Casual Friday. Continue reading
Justified – Raylan’s Muted Navy-and-Brown Plaid Sportcoat

Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on Justified (Episode 1.05, “The Lord of War and Thunder”)
Vitals
Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, old school Deputy U.S. Marshal
Harlan County, Kentucky, Fall 2010
Series: Justified
Episodes:
– “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05, Director: Jon Avnet, Air Date: April 13, 2010)
– “Hatless ” (Episode 1.09, Director: Peter Werner, Air Date: May 11, 2010)
– “Cottonmouth” (Episode 2.05, Director: Michael Watkins, Air Date: March 9, 2011)
Creator: Graham Yost
Costume Designers: Ane Crabtree (Season 1) & Patia Prouty (Season 2)
Background
Justified took some time to find its footing at the beginning, developing the style of its characters as well as the show’s own format: would this be an episodic “case-of-the-week” procedural or more serial?
Luckily, the show found its place at the perfect intersection of these two as its lead character, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, often had to handle a quick new case with eccentric, one-off criminals all developed against the longer arcs of his feud with the Crowder clan, his romantic entanglements in Harlan County, the consequences of his quick trigger finger, and frustrations with his own family, particularly his father Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) whom we meet in “The Lord of War and Thunder” (Episode 1.05). Continue reading
McQ’s Striped Tweed Sportcoat
Vitals
John Wayne as Lon “McQ” McHugh, taciturn Seattle PD lieutenant
Seattle, Fall 1973
Film: McQ
Release Date: February 6, 1974
Director: John Sturges
Wardrobe Credit: Luster Bayless
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
What do you get when you mix Dirty Harry’s attitude with Bullitt’s cinematic style and a twist of neo-noir influence? Why, you get McQ, the 1974 crime drama that marked one of Wayne’s few non-Western and non-war movies in his storied career. Continue reading
Sean Connery’s Brown Corduroy Jacket in The Untouchables
Vitals
Sean Connery as Jim Malone, tough and honest Chicago beat cop
Chicago, September 1930
Film: The Untouchables
Release Date: June 3, 1987
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Marilyn Vance
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Untouchables is a highly entertaining—yet highly fictionalized—saga of the successful legal campaign to bring down Al Capone’s criminal enterprise that terrorized Chicago through the 1920s with an all-star cast including Robert De Niro as Capone himself.
Eliot Ness had made a name for himself in the final years of Chicago’s beer wars as a relentless Prohibition agent, and he would use his fame decades later to pen The Untouchables, a memoir in which he credits himself with practically single-handedly sending Capone to prison. In real life, Ness’ raids were indeed disruptive, but it was the work of modest investigators U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson and IRS agent Frank Wilson that eventually led to the charges that successfully convicted Capone. Continue reading
Harry’s Suede Shirt-Jacket in The Enforcer
Vitals
Clint Eastwood as Insp. Harry Callahan, reassigned San Francisco inspector
San Francisco, Summer 1976
Film: The Enforcer
Release Date: December 22, 1976
Director: James Fargo
Costume Designer: Glenn Wright
Background
After all the romance of Valentine’s Day, Clint Eastwood is bringing some toughness back to BAMF Style as one of his most iconic characters, “Dirty Harry” Callahan. The third film in the “Dirty Harry” series, The Enforcer, finds Harry teamed up with tough rookie detective Kate Moore (Tyne Daly) against a gang of militant revolutionaries.
Harry begins the final day of his investigation roughing up a massage parlor, noting that it’s the sort of place where “for $75, you get to make it with a rubber dolly.” A tip leads him to a gunfight in a church which ultimately leads to a gunfight at Alcatraz. Continue reading






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