Tagged: Summer Relaxation
Robin Williams’ Black-on-White Floral Silk D&G Shirt in The Birdcage
Robin Williams in The Birdcage (1996)
Vitals
Robin Williams as Armand Goldman, South Beach nightclub manager
Miami Beach, Winter 1996
Film: The Birdcage
Release Date: March 8, 1996
Director: Mike Nichols
Costume Designer: Ann Roth
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I’m honored to share my birthday with Robin Williams, who was born 75 years ago today on July 21, 1951. One of my favorite of the late comedian’s movies is The Birdcage, crafted by the iconic married team of director Mike Nichols and writer Elaine May as an adaptation of the French play and subsequent film La Cage aux Folles.
Williams stars as Armand Goldman, owner of the titular Birdcage, a South Beach drag club starring his more flamboyant partner Albert (Nathan Lane). When Armand’s son Val (Dan Futterman) reveals he’s marrying the daughter of the ultraconservative Virginia senator Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman) who insists on meeting his future in-laws, Armand and Val conceive a plan to host the senator’s family by luring Albert away from the couple’s ostentatious apartment—allowing time for Armand to renovate himself and his home to support Val’s untruth that his father is actually Armand Coleman: a heterosexual cultural attaché to Greece… “whatever the hell that is.” Continue reading
The Four Seasons: Alan Alda’s Sky-Blue Summer Shirt and White Trousers
Alan Alda in The Four Seasons (1981)
Vitals
Alan Alda as Jack Burroughs, married lawyer
Saint Thomas, Summer 1980
Film: The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981
Director: Alan Alda
Costume Designer: Jane Greenwood
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Six months ago, I observed Alan Alda’s 90th birthday with my first post of his seasonal wardrobe in The Four Seasons, his 1981 comedy following four pairs of couples vacationing together throughout a tumultuous year in their lives, scored by Vivaldi’s concerti of the same name. (The film was recently adapted as a Netflix series co-created by and starring Tina Fey with Alda’s endorsement, as the actor also appears as Fey’s father.)
The second segment of The Four Seasons is set during the summer when the group sails their rented boat Sandavore through the U.S. Virgin Islands. The dynamic has shifted since the salesman Nick (Len Cariou) left his wife and has brought his much younger girlfriend Ginny (Bess Armstrong) on the trip, distracting the rest with loud sex at night and nude swimming in the morning. Alda’s moralistic lawyer Jack tries to openly explore how this has affected the group, but denies to his wife Kate (Carol Burnett) that he harbors any fantasties of his own around Ginny or a woman like her, instead venting his frustrations about Nick and Ginny treating the group expedition like a private holiday:
They’re not even on this trip! They walk around mooning all the time, making goo-goo eyes. My God, if one of them farts, the other one thinks it’s Guy Lombardo!
Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand
French Riviera, Summer 1965
Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.
The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean. Continue reading
The White Lotus: Walton Goggins’ Linen Dandy Del Mar Beach Set
Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood on The White Lotus, Episode 3.08: “Amor Fati”. Photo by Fabio Lovino.
Vitals
Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett, troubled tourist and “victim of [his] own decisions”
Koh Samui, Thailand, Spring 2024
Series: The White Lotus
Episode: “Amor Fati” (Episode 3.08)
Air Date: April 6, 2025
Director: Mike White
Creator: Mike White
Costume Designer: Alex Bovaird
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It seems like every month I’m checking in on my man Walton Goggins, but I can’t help myself after seeing how Alex Bovaird’s Emmy-nominated costume design dressed Rick Hatchett exactly in my summer aesthetic on The White Lotus. Whether he’s in wild tropical-printed shirts and cargo pants or a chic matching set from Dandy Del Mar, Rick’s vacation wardrobe hits all the right notes.
I first discovered the Cali-based brand Dandy Del Mar back in 2020 through their retro-informed swimwear and terry-forward loungewear, and as the brand’s collection of leisurewear has grown, so has my personal stash. (This isn’t a sponsored post, I swear—I’m just a big fan!) Naturally, I was thrilled when I saw Rick sporting one of their matching sets during his emotional reunion with Chelsea on the beach in Koh Samui during the latest season finale.
As this summer draws closer to an end, let’s look back at how Rick Hatchett dressed toward the end of his fateful stay at the White Lotus this year. Continue reading
La Collectionneuse: Patrick Bauchau’s Slate Sweater and Swimwear
Patrick Bauchau and Haydée Politoff in La Collectionneuse (1967)
Vitals
Patrick Bauchau as Adrien, art gallery owner
French Riviera, Summer 1966
Film: The Collector
(French title: La Collectionneuse)
Release Date: March 2, 1967
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Bastille Day feels like a fitting occasion to celebrate French director Éric Rohmer’s first color film, the 1967 drama La Collectionneuse, which has recently resurfaced across summer mood boards. No surprise, given its sun-drenched palette courtesy of cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a frequent Rohmer collaborator who also shot aesthetically satisfying masterpieces like Days of Heaven.
Considered the fourth entry in Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”, La Collectionneuse was made with extreme efficiency while the director waited for Jean-Louis Trintignant’s availability to shoot My Night at Maud’s. Rohmer and Almendros worked with a minimal crew, relying on natural light and long takes to ground the characters in their idyllic—and quietly volatile—setting.
La Collectionneuse was also the first starring role for Belgian actor Patrick Bauchau, who had appeared uncredited in Rohmer’s La Carrière de Suzanne four years earlier and would later be known to 007 fans as the henchman Scarpine in Roger Moore’s final James Bond film, A View to a Kill. Here, he plays the narcissistic gallery owner Adrien, who intends to take advantage of the monastic conditions at his rich friend Rodolphe’s rented villa near Saint-Tropez to enjoy “a real vacation” in peace and solitude:
I even tried not to think. I was face-to-face alone with the sea, far from cruises and beaches, fulfilling a childhood dream put off year after year. I lost myself completely in the play of shadow and light, sinking into a lethargy heightened by the water. That state of passivity, of complete availability, promised to last much longer than the euphoria of one’s first summer dip into the ocean. I could easily see myself spending a whole month this summer this way.
However, this peace and solitude are threatened by the feisty young Haydée (Haydée Politoff), unexpectedly staying at the villa. Adrien and his friend Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle) are initially distrustful of the girl who brings a different lover to the villa every night, but he gradually comes to appreciate her company when she joins him on his early morning swims. Continue reading
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Dick Shawn’s Red Dodge Dart and Beach Duds
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Vitals
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus, impulsive lifeguard
Southern California, Summer 1962
Film: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Release Date: November 7, 1963
Director: Stanley Kramer
Costume Designer: Bill Thomas
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
I like to spend a week every summer exploring the intersection of costumes and cars as they define characters on screen. For this year’s first Car Week post, I’m revisiting a sentimental favorite: the 1963 slapstick comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with its sprawling cast of the era’s most recognizable comic actors from Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Buddy Hackett to Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Shawn.
The latter is introduced later in the daylong pursuit of $350,000 stashed under a “big W” by the late Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), portraying beach lifeguard Sylvester Marcus, described by his brother-in-law J. Russell Finch (Berle) as “an irresponsible, unreliable, big loudmouth, no-good bum who, if he isn’t a crook, it’s only because he hasn’t got the brains or ambition to even become a crook.”
Finch and his wife Emeline (Dorothy Provine) are traveling with her overbearing mother, Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), whose relentless nagging during their search for the buried loot finally pushes Finch over the edge. The resulting blow-up leaves Emeline and her mother to fend for themselves, but—knowing she can count on her hopelessly devoted son—Mrs. Marcus calls Sylvester to send him ahead of them to Santa Rosita to find the loot.
Unfortunately for her quick payday, Sylvester’s sole brain cell is distracted somewhere between a beer and a bikini-clad brunette. Distracted by his mother’s description of Finch’s “assault”, Sylvester leaps into action and into the brunette’s shining red Dodge Dart convertible, tearfully determined to rescue his mother and sister without actually having listened to why they called him in the first place. Continue reading
Thunderball: Rik Van Nutter’s Tropical Shirts as Felix Leiter
Rik Van Nutter as Felix Leiter in Thunderball (1965)
Vitals
Rik Van Nutter as Felix Leiter, CIA agent
Nassau, The Bahamas, Summer 1965
Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Background
Just as I ended last summer by looking at one of James Bond’s aloha-wearing allies in Thunderball, let’s kick off the first weekend of summer during Thunderball‘s 60th anniversary year with Bond’s “brother from Langley” dripped out for days in the tropics. Continue reading
Dean Martin’s Matching Cabana Set in Artists and Models
Dean Martin and Dorothy Malone in Artists and Models (1955)
Vitals
Dean Martin as Rick Todd, struggling but smooth-talking painter
New York City, Summer 1955
Film: Artists and Models
Release Date: November 7, 1955
Director: Frank Tashlin
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Iconic entertainer Dean Martin was born 108 years ago today on June 7, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio. Born Dino Crocetti, the singer and actor remains well-known for his joint acts like the Rat Pack and a decade-long partnership with comedian Jerry Lewis.
After debuting together in Atlantic City in 1946, Martin and Lewis made a total of 16 movies together. Their 14th feature, Artists and Models, was released 70 years ago on November 7, 1955—five months to the day after Martin’s 38th birthday. Though the team would make two more movies before the dissolution of their partnership the following year, Artists and Models foreshadowed the future directions of their respective solo careers as the first of eight collaborations between Lewis and Looney Tunes director Frank Tashlin and the first of seven times that Martin would star with Shirley MacLaine.
Martin and Lewis brought their usual personas to Artists and Models as the romantic painter Rick Todd and goofy children’s author Eugene Fullstack, respectively. In her second film appearance, MacLaine co-stars as Lewis’ love interest Bessie Sparrowbush, who also helps Rick woo her friend, professional artist Abigail Parker (Dorothy Malone). Continue reading
Q’s Tropical Style in Thunderball
Desmond Llewelyn as “Q” in Thunderball (1965)
Vitals
Desmond Llewelyn as “Q”, MI6’s trusted quartermaster and gadgeteer
Nassau, Summer 1965
Film: Thunderball
Release Date: December 29, 1965
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Background
Welsh actor Desmond Llewelyn, best known for his portrayal of the steadfast “Q” in 17 James Bond films over 36 years, was born 110 years ago today on September 12, 1914. Llewelyn may have been destined to be indelibly intertwined with James Bond’s world of gadgetry, as his father purchased the first production Bentley in 1921, decades before Ian Fleming assigned agent 007 a Bentley 4½ Litre in his early novels.
After serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during World War II, Llewelyn resumed his acting career, which consisted largely of uncredited bit parts in films such as Hamlet (1948) and A Night to Remember (1958). His big break came when director Terence Young invited him to audition for the role of MI6’s equipment officer in the second Bond film, From Russia With Love (1963). Both Young and Fleming envisioned the character of Major Boothroyd—named after firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd—with a Welsh accent, although Llewelyn believed the character should speak with the upper-class accent that he ultimately adopted for the role. Although the name Boothroyd was occasionally referenced (most notably in The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977), the character became widely known as “Q,” a nod to his title as quartermaster and head of MI6’s “Q branch.”
Llewelyn returned for Goldfinger (1964), where he and Sean Connery established Bond and Q’s signature relationship, marked by affectionately antagonistic banter during the now-iconic scenes where Q introduces Bond to his latest innovative gadgets—often destined for considerable abuse. This playful dynamic continued in Thunderball (1965), during a memorable scene where a tropically dressed Q arrives in the Bahamas to equip his most troublesome agent with a selection of pocket-sized gadgets… provided Bond has a convenient pocket, of course. Continue reading
Diamonds are Forever: Sean Connery’s Bond Returns… in a Terrycloth Shirt
Sean Connery and Denise Perrier in Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent
French Riviera, Spring 1971
Film: Diamonds are Forever
Release Date: December 17, 1971
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Master: Ray Beck
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Born 94 years ago today on August 25, 1930, Sir Sean Connery rose to stardom as the first actor to play James Bond in the official EON Productions series, from Dr. No (1962) through Diamonds are Forever (1971).
Connery first retired from the role after You Only Live Twice (1967), resulting in Australian actor George Lazenby’s sole shot in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). After Lazenby too hung up 007’s shoulder holster, Connery was persuaded back for one last official performance as Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent, commanding a record-setting $1.25 million salary to return as Commander Bond… which he then donated in its entirety to the Scottish International Education Trust.
Despite the somber ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that set Bond out for revenge, Diamonds are Forever began a lighter era for the series as the stories diverged from Fleming’s source material with an increased emphasis on comedic elements and spectacle.
After a few faceless vignettes in exotic locales like Cai-Cai-Cairo, Connery’s Bond makes his long-anticipated on-screen reappearance during the pre-credits sequence of Diamonds are Forever, striding down onto the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s stunning beach in Cap d’Antibes, where he makes his iconic introduction (“Bond, James Bond”) to Marie, an even more stunning bikini-clad brunette portrayed by Denise Perrier, the French-born Miss World 1953.
Marie: Is there something I can do for you?
Bond: Yes, as a matter of fact, there is… there is something I’d like you to get off your chest.
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