Steve McQueen and MA-1s
- Compared to other countries, movie tickets are a little expensive in Japan. The best thing about being 60 is that I can buy a discount senior ticket. The first movie I went with the ticket was Top Gun: Maverick. I saw the previous Top Gun movie first-hand in the 1980s. It was a weekday morning when I visited a multiplex in Ginza to see the new Top Gun movie, and interestingly, the theater was full of old men and women like me. When Kenny Loggins’ Denger Zone began to play at the beginning, there was a stir in them. That made me smile wryly.
Steve McQueen donning an MA-1 Jacket in his final work, The Hunter. - It was the winter of 1986 when the previous Top Gun was released. The movie smashed the box office and MA-1 flight jackets became a fad. What Tom Cruise wears in the movie is actually a CWU-36P and a leather G1 jacket, but somehow they were replaced by MA-1 jackets. Young people rushed in stores like Nakata Shoten in the Ameya-Yokocho market, The Back Drop and NAMSB in Shibuya to get ALPHA INDUSTRIES’ MA-1. I guess Keizo Shimizu was selling MA-1 jackets at NAMSB, a sister store of REDWOOD, around that time. I remember that the store carried the item in colors that were not available in other shops, including black and Claud Montana’s blue. That was what only a man who later established NEPENTHES could do.
- For people in the same generation as Shimizu, Daiki Suzuki and me, however, an MA-1 jacket is reminiscent not of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, but of Steve McQueen in The Hunter. It was McQueen’s final role and he always wears an olive drab MA-1 paired with Lee Riders 200 jeans and a Rolex Submariner watch in the movie. The rescue orange liner of the jacket features a vertical inner pocket with a press-stud that is perfect to stash a gun. I thought that the shoes McQueen wears in the movie are ONITSUKA TIGER, but it looks like I’m wrong. As I re-watched the movie, it looks like a pair from PANTHER, a Japanese sports shoe brand. If there is anyone who knows it, please let me know.Steve McQueen donning an MA-1 Jacket in his final work, The Hunter.
Learning from the bad boys
- What other movies did Shimizu and Suzuki get inspiration from? The first thing that I thought of was West Side Story as the movie became the theme of this season’s NEEDLES collection. It is a musical movie classic depicting conflicts between two gang groups, the Jets and the Sharks, in Manhattan downtown. Steven Spielberg remade it in 2021. Shimizu said that he admires the purple/black outfit of the Sharks’ George Chakiris - a purple shirt, black jeans and Converse’s Chuck Taylor-like black basketball shoes. It’s typical of him who loves purple.
- This is off topic, but in 1977, POPEYE magazine made a cover story featuring movies like West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and The Wanderers with a title of “History of Waru – bad boys have always been youth fashion icons” to introduce bad boy outfits in movies. It was shortly after the magazine became biweekly. Actor Hiroshi Tachi and Koichi Iwaki appeared in the fashion story as models, wearing a red drizzler jacket and an award jacket both matched with jeans. Come to think of it, I remember that NEEDLES once offered a purple/black bi-colored award jacket exclusively made by SOOKUM. I see. That’s why NEEDLES is good at designing American Casual clothes with a bad boy twist.
- You can refer to the American Graffiti movie for authentic bad boy style as opposed to clothes worn by weird Japanese punks. According Shimizu’s interview that looks back on his life so far on the official website of NEPENTHES, he became interested in 1950s fashion after seeing the movie right after the screening when he was a freshman in high school in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture. He said he then visited Cream Soda, a clothing shop in Harajuku, with his friends. I do understand how he felt. I’m also from a provincial town - Fuji City in Yamanashi’s neighbor, Shizuoka Prefecture. So I had to travel to the Ameya-Yokocho market by changing several trains to buy Levi’s 501 jeans. And I remember that many people at that time had the movie’s soundtrack record featuring Wolfman Jack as a DJ.
- Bad boys are indispensable for teen movies. In American Graffiti, it must be John, a guy driving a customized Ford Coupe. His outfit includes a white tee, jeans and cowboy boots. He keeps his cigarettes in his rolled-up sleeve and many Japanese gangster kids admired his such style. Shimizu’s another favorite outfit in the movie was the one with a cowboy hat matched with a western shirt worn by Bob, a role played by just-debuted Harrison Ford.
Short sleeved madras BD shirt for Curt’s Ivy League look in American Graffiti. - Because I’m a natural-born conservative in terms of fashion, I preferred the classic Ivy League style of earnest Curt. He wears a button-down madras shirt untucked and matched it with a crewneck white shirt, off-white cotton pants and navy canvas Top-sider shoes. When I traveled to Los Angeles with illustrator Hiroshi Watatani for Begin magazine several years ago, I visited a branch of Mel’s Drive-in, one of the stages of American Graffiti, in exactly the same outfit as Curt. By the way, Watatani likes the nerd outfit of Terry, a Vespa guy with glasses on, the best.
Hollywood stars : the icons of Trad
- The other day, I talked with Suzuki about movies that inspired his clothing design and he picked up Dustin Hoffman’s The Graduate, saying; “People in the same generation as Shimizu and me would name the same movies, so it’s first come first served.” The authentic Ivy League outfits worn by Hoffman as Benjamin have still been featured on men’s fashion mags whenever they make an issue about the American Trad or Preppy style.
Dustin Hoffman fleeing with the bride in The Graduate; the film was a treasure chest of preppy attires. - The most famous look is worn when he tries to stop a wedding ceremony. His outfit at that time consists of an off-white field parka, a black polo, white jeans and white Jack Purcell. I once imitated the style by wearing a parka from GRENFELL, FRENCH LACOSTE’s black polo, white pique pants from LEVI’S and a pair of white Jack Purcell. His outfit including a blue shirt, a black tie and a seersucker jacket is also gorgeous, along with the one with a brown cord jacket. All the looks worn by Benjamin are the great reference of the American Trad style.
- A series of movie costume worn by Dustin Hoffman during the 1970s greatly fascinated people in my generation. I like him wearing a M-65 jacket paired with flare cord pants and GUCCI’s horse bit loafers in Kramer vs. Kramer. Such 1970s New Yorker style can look wack, but I guess NEEDLES’ love of horse bit loafers came from the movie.
- We cannot talk about snobby New Yorker looks in the 1970s without mentioning Woody Allen. Japanese men’s fashion magazines feature him and his styles whenever they make an American Trad or Preppy issue. The best example is the Annie Hall movie released in 1978. His nerd and traditional New York styles include double pleated chinos with a coin pocket, cord pants matched with a Herringbone tweed jacket, Oxford work shoes that remind me of HERMAN’s SANTA ROSA shoes or GEORGIA GIANT boots and a colored tee peeking from the neckline of a plaid shirt. Along with Diane Keaton’s boyish “Annie Hall style” with a men’s jacket and chinos, all the American Trad style lovers should also be able to memorize Allen’s outfits.
Leave it to Kramer vs. Kramer for the snob 70s wardrobe. - Suzuki told me that he likes the costume with a military jacket, chinos and a plaid shirt worn by Woody Allen in Manhattan, too. My favorite outfit in the movie is the one with a cable vest, an Oxford button-down shirt worn without a tie and cord pants. Each piece is simply designed, but Woody Allen neatly combines all of them together to make himself look a nerd New Yorker by adding a distressed military jacket or hat and picking the right pant length.
- n BRUTUS magazine’s Preppy issue published in 2012, Shimizu answered to a question of who is the most preppy person for him and said; “Woody Allen, as a man who paired CONVERSE All Star kicks with a tuxedo to attend the Academy Award presentation.” Suzuki was also asked what the preppy fashion is in an interview. He then said “Preppy outfits have something in common with the Japanese bad boy fashion,” citing John Belushi’s costume as a failure Ivy League student in National Lampoon's Animal House. It consists of a Bermuda shorts-like cropped madras pants and a college sweater featuring a “COLLEGE” logo. Truly preppy.
Nerdy New Yorker style worn by Woody Allen in Annie Hall. - This outfit worn by John Belushi in National Lampoon's Animal House has always been regarded as the authentic Ivy League style just like the looks in the TAKE IVY book. Although all the Ivy League students featured in the book wear cropped cotton pants and white jeans, that is not because the style was popular among them. It’s just because the students were frugal and didn’t own many pairs of trousers back then. As they repeatedly washed and dried their pants, the length became shorter by shrinkage. Just as Suzuki said, preppy fashion is as tough and rugged as the Japanese bad boy fashion.
Detective movies and tweed jackets
- We’ve looked at costumes of movies shot in New York, East Coast in the 1970s so far, so let me then explore movies made in San Francisco, West Coast. Both Shimizu and Suzuki often name Dirty Harry as the movie that inspired their fashion design. Although it was serialized and five sequels were made, what the two pay most attention to is the first and second ones because of the costume designed in the late 1960s and the 1970s styles. I’ve heard that Shimizu admired how Harry eats his favorite hotdog so much that he tried to imitate it right after the movie was released, but then the ketchup spilt all over him. By the way, I first learned about the .44 Magnum cartridge from the movie.
- Dirty Harry can’t be without a herringbone tweed jacket that the protagonist played by Clint Eastwood always wears. With a wide lapel, a three-button front and elbow patches, the jacket is designed in the authentic American Trad style. Harry wears it even when riding on a motorcycle, layering a lamb’s wool V-neck sweater underneath. The item is not for fashion for him, but a piece of tough, masculine clothes.
Clint Eastwood’s rugged tweed jacket look from Dirty Harry. - I just realized that almost all the main characters of detective movies made between the late 1960s and the early 1970s wear a tweed jacket. In Bullitt, a movie set in San Francisco, Steve McQueen matches his brown tweed jacket with a turtle neck sweater, Mud Guard chukka boots and a balmacaan coat. Robert Redford also throws on a herringbone tweed jacket over a chambray shirt paired with a knitted tie and denim pants in Three Days of the Condor, although this movie takes place in New York. What the outfits have in common is that all the protagonists casually wear their jacket as a sports coat. Tweed jackets made by ENGINEERED GARMENTS and REBUILD by NEEDLES should be worn in that way, too.
- When Shimizu revealed the very first story of NEEDLES‘ world-famous track pants on NEPENTHES in print, he answered a question and said that there is a movie he saw when he worked at Red Wood in which a father who tries to go see his child’s baseball match in his adidas track pants, a tee and a tailored jacket. He forgot the movie title, but loves the scene. I wonder what the movie’s name is. The athletic outfit I saw in a movie for the first time was a heather gray sweat suit worn by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky. Until then, athletic wear meant poly blended track suits like the ones worn by Japanese comedians. I had no idea there was a thing such as heather gray athletic sweat suit made in the U.S.
NEPENTHES’ take on the New Hollywood Movies
- Upon writing this article for this issue, I realized that Al Pacino’s Serpico and Scarecrow would be the movies that are closest to the mood of NEPENTHES. For its fall/winter 2015 collection, NEEDLES actually made looks inspired by Serpico, featuring Al Pacino-like bearded model.
- The most famous piece of clothes worn by Al Pacino as Detective Serpico is a white U.S. Navy sailor hat. Al Pacino wears it like a bucket hat with the brim turned down over his eyes, although the brim should be turned up for proper use. I think the movie created and spread the way of wearing the hat. It’s just a guess but ENGINEERED GARMENTS’ signature bucket hat probably derives from the movie. Shimizu and Suzuki have also designed Mexican jackets, watch caps, M-65 jackets and pea coats for their brands with inspiration from Al Pacino’s hippie-like costume in Serpico.
- In Scarecrow, Al Pacino always pulls his watch cap over his eyes and wears a navy CPO shirt layering over a chambray shirt, brown cord flares (Levi’s 646 pants, I guess) and navy sneakers. It’s an authentic American Casual look and my all-time best reference when wearing ENGINEERED GARMENTS’ CPO shirt. Al Pacino’s partner played by Gene Hackman looks cool, too, in his tweed coat and tweed newsboy cap. He would also layer a lettered cardigan or a mohair cardigan on a long sleeve Hawaiian shirt worn over a long sleeve waffle tee. It’s a look made with randomly picked clothes without considering the season, but has something in common with the unique and witty American Casual style of NEPENTHES.
In Serpico, Al Pacino’s M-65 takes a hippie turn, comparable to the style of NEPENTHES. - American movies made around the era are descended from the New Hollywood films. For example, Taxi Driver starred Robert De Niro looking cool in his tanker’s jacket and M-65, The Deer Hunter, another De Niro movie, known for his mountain parka look, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest featuring Jack Nicholson wearing a watch cap, a leather G1 jacket and a pair of work boots. Many of those movies often feature mentally-unstable Vietnam veterans as the protagonists, depicting the lifestyle of American youth in the turbulent era with the prolonged Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. That is the reason why hippie clothes and military wear are often seen in the movies. I know clothes do not really matter for the movies, but they look too cool not to mention. And love and peace are always the key anyway.
- Kizu Darake No Tenshi (The Wounded Angel) is not an American movie but a Japanese TV drama starred Kenichi Hagiwara also known as Shoken. This stylish drama series was shot in the 1970s and said to be made because Shoken wanted to make a TV series that is similar to the New Hollywood movies such as Scarecrow. I’ve heard that Shoken’s partner, Akira, was first planned to be played by Shohei Hino instead of Yutaka Mizutani. Shohei Hino now travels around Japan by bike for NHK’s TV program. I want him to wear SOUTH2 WEST8 clothes for the program, because it will surely suit him.
- Interestingly, both Shimizu and Suzuki pay more attention to the costume when watching popular 1970s marine thrillers. For Jaws, their focus is on Roy Scheider’s heather gray half sleeve sweatshirt, jeans and Top-sider deck shoes, while the fishermen wearing INVERALLAN-like Aran sweater cardigans in Orca also caught their eyes. Now I think those styles are definitely inspiring, too, but I just couldn’t pay enough attention to the costume because sharks and killer whales looked too scary. That’s so impressive that both of the designers could find it out.
Military and workwear-like ensemble, reminiscent of NEPENTHES, from Scarecrow. - The most “American Casual” style in movies is, for me, the one worn by Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears. His outfit consists of a tailored jacket layered over a Hawaiian shirt, chinos and a baseball cap. That’s exactly what an old guy in an American suburb would wear. The children’s uniform looks nice as well as their everyday outfits. Actually, children’s costume in 1970s movies is the most real, authentic American Casual style. In the classic E.T. movie, Eliot always wears a red or heather gray zipped hoodie. Because no shops in Japan offered a zipped hoodie around the time when the movie was first released, Eliot’s outfit looked so fresh and new for me.
- In spite of this lengthy essay on fashion in movies so far, a movie I’ve watched over and over again is, to be honest, Enter the Dragon. I know, it’s not stylish at all, but I watched it again quite recently on a satellite channel. But wait, I heard the other day that Bruce Lee wears a MEN'S BIGI suit designed by Takeo Kikuchi when visiting his sister’s grave. While re-watching the movie with more attention to the costume, the white Chinese outfit Lee wears during the final fight starts to look like NEEDLES’ shirt with oriental buttons, strangely enough. No, we don’t need any excess knowledge to “dress movies.” Studying is not necessary for that. DON'T THINK. FEEL!
Atsushi Ide : Born in 1961 in Shizuoka, Ide has been participating in advertisements for Parco, Seibu Department Stores and Seiyu as a copywriter. He also works as a freelance editor for POPEYE, while writing columns on many different magazines, including Begin, LaLa Begin, AERA STYLE MAGAZINE, Hitotoki (a magazine issued for the Central Japan Railway Company), Yomiuri Shimbun and NIKKEI STYLE Men’s Fashion, newspapers and websites.