Tagged: SB-Jacket DB-Waistcoat 3-Piece Suit

Murder on the Orient Express: Kenneth Branagh’s Navy Suit as Poirot

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Vitals

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, obsessive-compulsive Belgian detective

Orient Express, Winter 1934

Film: Murder on the Orient Express
Release Date: November 10, 2017
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Costume Designer: Alexandra Byrne

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Readers who have seen my posts focused on adaptations of And Then There Were NoneDeath on the Nile, and Evil Under the Sun are likely aware that I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie’s mystery fiction since I was 10 years old. Thus, it’s a continued thrill to find her works thriving as studios on both sides of the pond continue to churn out lavish adaptations of her work a full century after she introduced the world to Hercule Poirot with the publication of her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920. In particular, David Suchet has been performing yeoman’s work as the quintessential Poirot across 70 episodes of an ITV-produced drama series that successfully—and relatively faithfully—adapted every novel and story that prominently featured Christie’s master detective.

In the spirit of contemporary BBC adaptations like The ABC MurdersAnd Then There Were NoneOrdeal by Innocence, and The Pale Horse, Kenneth Branagh helmed what’s now the fourth adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, arguably Christie’s best-known novel famous for its then-groundbreaking solution. Continue reading

Warren Oates’ Brown Striped Suit as Dillinger

Warren Oates as John Dillinger in Dillinger (1973)

Warren Oates as John Dillinger in Dillinger (1973)

Vitals

Warren Oates as John Dillinger, Depression-era bank robber

Indiana, Fall 1933

Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George

Background

Eighty four years ago tonight – November 15, 1933. Four police cars converge on a small office building on Irving Park Boulevard in the Chicago Loop. In an upstairs doctor’s office, one of the most wanted men in the tri-state area is being treated for either a ringworm infection or “barber’s itch,” an inflammation of hair follicles, depending on which account you read. On the floor below, a cagey informant named Art McGinnis is signaling desperately to police that their quarry is upstairs. Fate, however, is on the side of the outlaw, a thirty-year-old bank robber named John Dillinger. Continue reading

Jay Gatsby’s Brown Suit and Yellow Rolls-Royce (1974 Version)

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1974), posing with his yellow 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I convertible.

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1974), posing with his yellow 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I convertible.

Vitals

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, romantic millionaire and shady bootlegger

New York City, Summer 1925

Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren

Background

Well, it’s the arbitrarily-chosen second week of June, which means it’s time for the third semi-annual Car Week!

I’m kicking off this week by focusing on a very iconic car in both literature and film – Jay Gatsby’s big yellow Rolls-Royce tourer, a symbol of the era’s destructive opulence. Continue reading

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

Cash at Folsom, 1968.

Cash at Folsom, 1968.

Vitals

Johnny Cash, badass country rock musician (later played by Joaquin Phoenix in 2005’s Walk the Line)

Folsom, CA, January 1968

Background

46 years ago today, Johnny Cash made music history by recording a live album from inside the walls of Folsom State Prison. Although he wrote the song “Folsom Prison Blues” while serving in the Air Force in the early ’50s, it wasn’t until fifteen years later that he actually performed at the titular prison. Many don’t know that he had performed in prisons before, beginning with gigs at Huntsville State Prison in 1957 and at San Quentin on New Year’s Day 1958, but At Folsom Prison was the first album Cash released that was actually recorded from a live prison concert. By the time of his Folsom gig, he had actually served some jail time. Continue reading

Redford in Gatsby’s White Three-Piece Suit

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in 1974's The Great Gatsby.

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby in 1974’s The Great Gatsby.

Vitals

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.

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.

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.

Vitals

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

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.

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.

Vitals

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