Cooking the dinner, I got to thinking about Toffeeman. As I so often do. (Mind your own business). He (as Gibson Gardens) recently posted about the character of 'Yale' in 'Manhattan', and 'Annie Hall' features in The Ivy Look. Going back to his nightclub years, I own original publicity material that shows him as pure Ivy with knobs on, and I can't help wondering whether it was a natural style for him or the brainchild of some management sharpie. The clothes as he has grown older have sometimes bordered on the sad, but in the 70s, well, it was a different matter. Yet, to my eye, he always looked a bit shambolic and uncoordinated. I read somewhere that Ralph Lauren used to make the jackets. I also read that he went on dressing like a college man until he was well into middle age; rings a few bells. Any observations on the evolution of his look, film by film? I remember a shirt in 'Play It Again, Sam' that I particularly liked. Was it mainly cashmere and badly fitting chinos? Flusser features him in 'Dressing The Man'. He looks ghastly.
Hey you dheere are you are you pickin' on dhe little guy again........ becuz..... if so I'm I'm I'm goin' a well just you wait an see what i'm a goin a do
The last film Woody looked human in was Hannah and her Sisters and that was a quarter of a century ago. His physical and artistic decline is startling. I maintain though that he was a style icon from 65-85, particularly in Annie Hall, Play it Again Sam, Take the Money and Run, Bananas and Manhattan. He looked so American, so New York, that unconscious, slouchy look, softly textured, given a twist with the horn-rim specs. I always thought Jeff Garet did that look so brilliantly. An easy style, but still really distinctive and cool.
TM
Right. A timely bump. Mods, study this carefully, word by word.
one more bump
I think you underestimate peoples' ability to use the search function
Sports Fan was probably right but, as we English intellectuals are prone to saying, sod it, here's another bump: partly for one of our newly-minted posters, Mr. Singer. Just been looking at/listening to the scene on line where the guy with the spearpoint collar shirt is waffling about Fellini and Beckett. Marshall McLuhan steps forward and makes the chap look about six inches tall. Look at Woody's above-the-waist appearance. Did he sleep in the stuff or just dump it on the bathroom floor then wear it again the next day? The army jacket looks thinner than I remember. The leather belt looks thicker. Chinos? Can't see his footwear.
Jeff G certainly looked more 'considered' than this.
The heart of Woody Allen's style or sometimes lack of it is very Jewish.
You might know the term, in yiddish we call it looking a schlock. Thrown together clothing, ill considered or simply badly co-ordinated.
Some people do it on purpose as if to say thinking about clothes is below me or something irrelevant but I know more of my tribe who love clothes than don't.
AFS - look for the herringbone sport coat he wears early on in the film when he appears at a political rally. Something to behold.
I suspect there was also a large element of wearing what was normal for the time, albeit with a campus/ivy influence, i.e. it's a very 70s look. I wouldn't copy it wholesale, in fact the only things I can recall that I would actually want to wear are some of his BDs, nonetheless other garments are appealing all these years later. Considering it was the 70s that's not bad.
I can't think of anyone else at that time (mid to late 70s) in the public eye who was wearing ivy-influenced clothing, except maybe some politicians. Although, thanks to certain Japanese magazines that were shared by HTJ a few years ago, we do know that on campus and amongst some businessmen, ivy still had its place in the US back then.
Last edited by Yuca (2021-11-12 13:54:41)
A few years ago I watched some 70's Dick Caveat shows.
He had an Ivy-ish look. Some nice tweed jackets but very of the time lapels, worn with polo necks.
I know he was a Press customer but I'm not sure what they supplied.
I read somewhere that Brooks had very good sales in the 1970s, I know not all their offerings were ivy but still, a lot were, so plenty of people must have been wearing ivy back then. Perhaps no one trying to look remotely with the times. Although those 70s campus shots certainly anticipate the better elements of 80s prep (and look good today), so they were well ahead of their time.
I'm going to buy two or three of the films on DVD in time for Christmas viewing. These will probably be 'Annie Hall' (I'll certainly be watching out for that herringbone), 'Hannah And Her Sisters', 'Radio Days' and possibly 'Manhattan', possibly 'Broadway Danny Rose'. Naturally I'll be looking at what the chaps are wearing.
Rumpled I may be on occasion, but I've never lacked basic co-ordination. But I only take a fairly cursory look in the mirror. No 'peacock', I.
Woody's still particular about his clothes - a great shot on Instagram taken on 6th October of him on a Manhattan street in olive bucket hat, white T shirt under a chambray shirt, pleated khakis - it's very old school American casual, a great look, particularly for an 85 year old. I wish we could post pictures here.
And I get tired of all the "pedo" stuff that appears in comments whenever he appears. It's so lazy and demeaning, for while he is clearly a strange old bird none of the allegations have ever been proven. A crime with plenty of prima facie evidence, I show the jury 25 examples your honour, is that of repeatedly making terrible films for the last 30 years. He went from genius to dud almost overnight, his mojo completely vanished.
He was allowed to adopt.
I kind of say this on the basis that my wife is an adoption social worker so the subject crops up from time to time.
Beyond his clothes, at his absolute best, he is still very, very funny.
I put the picture up on my Instagram page -
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWN8xEmMo-M/?utm_medium=share_sheet
More here:
http://instagram.com/woodyallenpages
He’s looked old since he was a fairly young man and part of the reason is that he *appears* to take little interest in what he looks like, he’s definitely not interested in fashion. A classic example of looking good without appearing to try.
As to the other stuff, there’s an interesting article here which adds to my existing view that the abuse allegation emanated from the vitriolic break up with Mia Farrow who emerges as being a very weird person …. who knows with these showbiz types?
Woody Allen’s jazz band has played a residency at the Carlyle for many years, as one of New York’s most prestigious hotels they were quite happy to be associated with him.
CN2P: agreed, he looks good; less morose than usual. Can the English carry off such a look? Possibly not. Saw a gang of young men earlier, outside one of our 'micro pubs', skinny jeans, pint glasses in hand, all gang-mentality aggression glaring; probably on their way to the match. I was in navy cashmere, sockless with 'wine' Sebago loafers. They stared at the passing line of traffic as though we had just landed from a distant planet.
I did try a more 'full-on' Woody look about a dozen years ago, bucket hat and all. Couldn't quite convince myself let alone others. But it's worth trying.
Sockless? Have you been reading Ivy Style?
I saw him perform at The Carlyle. Trad jazz is not my bag at all.
He plays clarinet but it’s not his band so is happy just to be one of guys.
I was looking at his list of films and there’s a number of them since 2005 I’ve enjoyed.
Scoop, Irrational Man, Midnight in Paris and in particular Cafe Society.
I appreciate that they’re not as good as many of earlier films but they’re still better than most of the dross coming out of Hollywood these days
I've only seen Manhattan, Annie Hall (both superb of course) and a crap one that came out around 15 years ago. Am I missing anything?