The Look goes on...

[Clouseau]

Sweatshirts were part of my 80s take on the Look - Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and so on.

Now I have just one PRL in a blue marl - too tube-like and not very comfortable as a result. Spends most of its life in the wardrobe.

Would not rule out another one in future but not a priority.

Movies - it's here that I really do live in the past! I may struggle to find one except perhaps The Talented Mr R.

I would say the best ever for the summer Look. But a bit old for the survey ?
There is a remake though...

 

[Mr Knightley]



I would say the best ever for the summer Look. But a bit old for the survey ?
There is a remake though...

Oh 1999 too old? Not sure how a remake could improve it...

 

[Thin White Duke]



Oh 1999 too old? Not sure how a remake could improve it...

It's already a remake of Purple Moon or something. French film with Alain Delon? I've never seen it but heard it was decent.

 

[Clouseau]

Oh 1999 too old? Not sure how a remake could improve it...

I thought you were referring to Plein Soleil with Alain Delon and Maurice Ronet, the original version from the same book.

I just checked, Puple noon was the English title indeed. But it is the first adaptation of The talented Mr R by Patricia Highsmith (and of course it's much better than the remake in all points)

 

[Clouseau]

It's already a remake of Purple Moon or something. French film with Alain Delon? I've never seen it but heard it was decent.

You will love it.
Alain sports a boating blazer at one point.
Maurice Ronet is my favourite french actor. Class. You will have to see Le feu follet too.

 

[covskin]

Well I googled The Warriors yesterday and found I would be passing near a Warriors convention so here I am lol. The actors say no remake (and, on topic, the outfits were ridiculous). I'm having another beer...

 

[Jimmy Balantyne]

I don't think we have gone off topic. On the contrary...

Motion pictures have always been a sign of the times. We already had some discussion on Mod to Suedehead about movies, and how some were influential to the Look.

THE FILM SURVEY

Which film most epitomizes the Look for you ?

Only one answer is allowed.

To avoid too many 'Thomas Crown affair' or 'Bullit' answers, and because we are in The Look goes on, it would be interesting to quote a relatively recent picture.

So it is not an easy one

...

De Niro Mean Streets. It's a street thing...

 

[Clouseau]

Well I googled The Warriors yesterday and found I would be passing near a Warriors convention so here I am lol. The actors say no remake (and, on topic, the outfits were ridiculous). I'm having another beer...

Funny coincidence !!!

 

[Paint House Gang]

If you watch documentaries from back then the gangs dressed almost as outlandishly as the ones in The Warriors.



Wearing a uniform was definitely a things as can been in Chicago as well:
http://www.gaylords712.com/sweaters.html
http://www.stonegreasers.com/greaser/chicago_gangs.html

The original book was written in the 60s and reflects its time. Here is something I wrote about it on Talk Ivy

I've just finished reading the book that the film was based on, and there IS an Ivy gang. The film's 'Riffs' are know as 'the Delancey Thrones,' and they're described as wearing their "summer uniform-tight ice-cream pants and red T-shirts". Describing their 17 year-old leader Ishmael (Cyrus in the movie), Sol Yurick writes:

"A tiny gold earring glinted pleasantly against his smooth black skin and made him exotic, dangerous in spite of the expensive Ivy League summer wear."

Later on in the book Yurick writes of Ishmael:

"He stood there dapper, the coolest, wearing the neat, simple Ivy League clothes. He shunned the too-tight fit, the surplus of buckles most of the men wore."

and

"Here was The Man with the Idea, who was rumoured to have twenty-one expensive suits in his closet and as many pairs of shoes; the Man with an arsental that could outfit a battalion. Who did not know Ishmael?"

The 'Warriors,' know as the 'Coney Island Dominators' in the book, wear snap-fastening money jackets (so more of a baseball jacket than what mods call a monkey jacket) and "expensive italian shoes". Their shoes are described as costing $15 in 1965 money. Their outfits in the movie are a sort of hybrid of punk, biker and red indian.

While lurid and sensational, the book seems much more realistic than the movie. There is no assasination, no hit put out on the Warriors, just a gang meeting gone wrong and a long difficult journey home. In contrast to the cartoon baddies of the film, the gangs of the book are made up of juvenile delinquents. The descriptions of turf wars and gang insignia seems consistent with journalistic/sociological accounts of the period. In some ways it reminds me of the Richard Allen Skinhead series but the writing is much better. It paints a really interesting portrait of a mid-60s New York City rife with tension and crime. Divided by feircly terriotrial youth gangs with well-meaning leftie youth worker trying vainly to keep the peace. Gets into the sleezy underbelly of society as well with subway bathroom knocking shops, gambling addicts, junkies, homosexuals and the like.

 

[Clouseau]

So far...


TWD TCA



Inspector Quantum of Solace



Benj84 Hôtel du Nord



Mr K Mr R



JB Mean Streets


...

 

[Fruitbat]

I read somewhere that the ' Warriors come out to play'
line was improvised.
The film came out in 79 but they were describing the NYC gang scene of the late 60s/ early 70s.
Re fashion and Mafia films, I generally prefer their casual wear to the suits.
When I saw a Bronx Tale, soon afterwards I went to Camden to try and get a short leather coat similar to the one worn by the main teenager character C.
I struck lucky and got a good likeness but with smaller lapels which is just what I wanted.
Re Goodfellas, in the scene where Ray Lolita pistol whips the rich kid in the blokes garage, he's wearing a brown leather coat with a black shirt underneath, which struck me as wrong.

 

[Clouseau]

I read somewhere that the ' Warriors come out to play'
line was improvised.
The film came out in 79 but they were describing the NYC gang scene of the late 60s/ early 70s.
Re fashion and Mafia films, I generally prefer their casual wear to the suits.
When I saw a Bronx Tale, soon afterwards I went to Camden to try and get a short leather coat similar to the one worn by the main teenager character C.
I struck lucky and got a good likeness but with smaller lapels which is just what I wanted.
Re Goodfellas, in the scene where Ray Lolita pistol whips the rich kid in the blokes garage, he's wearing a brown leather coat with a black shirt underneath, which struck me as wrong.

Mob guys are not really known for their good taste

...

Once i was lost by night in a Kyoto bad area, two Yakuzas helped me to find my way. One had a pink suit, the other one an apple green one...

 

[Donkey Jacket]

The socs from the film ''the outsiders'' have a somewhat ivy look.

 

[covskin]

The 60s-based one was The Wanderers @Fruitbat. What a great year 1979 was, The Warriors, Scum and Quadrophenia.

As usual my answer is none, I really can't think of a film for clothes, but the last new film I saw that I liked was a French film Girlhood (Girl Gang in French I think). Recognised a lot of themes there.

 

[benj84]



The 60s-based one was The Wanderers @Fruitbat. What a great year 1979 was, The Warriors, Scum and Quadrophenia.

As usual my answer is none, I really can't think of a film for clothes, but the last new film I saw that I liked was a French film Girlhood (Girl Gang in French I think). Recognised a lot of themes there.

A great film the wanderers, had the baldies, ducky boys and my favourite the Wong's, who I wanted to be. With their slick hair and leather jackets but you had to have a last name Wong which mine wasn't