In the film idiom, the costuming on The Talented Mr. Ripley is simply fantastic. Ann Roth, the costume designer, is fantastic.

I think Allen is in a class of his own. His use of colour is very well worked out.
It's not Ivy League, it's not Americana, it may well be a part of 'Trad' (Not my field of expertise), but what it certainly is is his own look.
Well worked out. Intelligent. Thought over, and presented with style.
He should stand on his own as his style is HIS.
I think his impact should be assessed by the fact that the rules of 'Trad' were altered to accommodate him by our Godfather.
Not an everyday occurrence.
Life is much more simple when we work out the proper names for things - There is the old 'Ivy League' style, there is the new 'Trad' style and within 'Trad' is Allen's own evolution of it all.
All valid styles. Different but good.
One can never have too much style.
And he IS a individual. A big plus point.

Miles.

Rope!

I have much to say on this.

Grandfather, father, Hitchcock films, Breakfast At Sir Winston Churchills Flem spoon.'s, many films featuring Jimmy Stewart, Metropolitan, Animal House, one or two kids in college, infinite numbers of early to mid 60s films, not all good, often involving people like Tony Randall, Gig Young, and Rock Hudson, and many skinny repp ties, and yes, The Official Preppy Handbook...never would have thought to combine the pink oxford with the old Norwegian sweater without it, nor gotten into club collars.

Last edited by Coolidge (2006-10-15 22:26:41)

Turns out the play of Rope was called Rope after all. I wish my memory was better.

Patrick Hamilton wrote it.

So good to see Mr. Ellison's name here.
A Man who should never be Invisible.

Strength & Pride are always Stylish.

http://www.levity.com/corduroy/ellison.htm

Last edited by Miles Away (2006-10-16 12:26:46)

Lord Hillyer, thank you kindly for the above picture ....

Some of my influences include the old booklet that came with the Rolling Stones' High Tides and Green Grass LP (monaural London red label); Jack Lord as Felix Leiter; David Niven; James Coburn; Lee Marvin in The Killers and Point Blank; the supreme George Peppard in Breakfast at T's; Minty Sedgwick and his tweed; Robert Lowell's deshabille; Elliott and Brad Richardson; good old Prof. Archibald Cox; and most importantly to me, a slew of less public people including: my old college chums (ex-Lakeville mafia); an associate prof of HoA/AmStud who sported perfect tan and brown corduroy jackets (he didn't care a whit about his clothes but had perfect taste and the prettiest, nicest wife, just like Olivia Williams from the movie Rushmore); a Locusty pal schooled for a time in Wallingford (skipped college completely but remains king of the hand-me-down ancient 2-buttons-on-the-sleeve  Brooks tweeds and, while he has never heard of Alden, knows to get his shell cordovan loafers from Brooks); a prepped-out English teacher who came to our school after years of teaching at RISDE; HA, the late great dean of my residential college who was a history prof and bold tweedmaster par excellence; a trim Japanese Scot who taught in our uni's comp lit dept. and drank Islay, and whose overall J.Pressery was unsurpassed by anybody else I've ever seen (modern honors though to Steedappeal and Dennis of Press Cambridge); my late great civ pro professor, a superb exemplar of how to wear the herringbone tweed suit (ever-so-slightly too loose); a late great federal district judge of my close acquaintance who was the unequalled master of madras, seersucker, loafers with all suits, tan cotton summer suits and all things old-school go-to-hell ('60s Lilly and way beyond); a college drawing master from RISDE who wore the stretched and misshapen Norwegian sweater, frayed, paint-spattered, too-short khakis, and Bean camp mocs the way they were meant to be worn (trashed); my friends from the Andover Shop; so many more, you get the drift.  Much love to all of them.

Last edited by stanshall (2006-10-16 18:08:22)