Sartorial Felony

That double-breasted, peak-lapel suit recently worn by Leonardo DiCaprio during filming of Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street is…what’s the precise term? Vulgar? Grossly dated? Too much? “Yecch”? David Letterman wore these awful suits on his show for years and years, and I used to say the same thing when he came onstage… “good effing God.” They were popular during the Clinton era, I realize, but moviegoers want magic, not realism…and there are very few things less magical in 2012 than gray double-breasted suits with peak lapels.

If I was Scorsese I would can the costumer right now, just to be safe. Costumer: “But Marty, this is what they were all wearing back then! I’m just following the styles of the ’90s.” Scorsese: “I don’t care. You’re making my star, Leo, look like a schmuck, and I can’t have that. Sorry but you’re done.”

Why has Leo dyed his hair black? Because the guy he’s playing, “Wolf of Wall Street” author and former financial scammer Jordan Belfort, had dark hair. Got it!

34 thoughts on “Sartorial Felony

  1. Costumer: “But Marty, this is what they were all wearing back then! I’m just following the styles of the ’90s.”

    Scorsese: “I don’t care. No matter what the correct interpretation of the styles of the ’90s might be, Jeffrey Wells doesn’t like it, and I can’t have that. Draw your pay.”

  2. Those sure were some unbelievably revolting suits but I’m sure Martin’s people did their research.

    Confessions of the Wolf of Wall Street

    “My role models were Gordon Gekko and Richard Gere from Pretty Woman. The best of everything – the presidential hotel suite, the Ferrari, the house on the beach, the gorgeous blonde, the expensive wine, the art auctions, the yacht – the ultimate Wall Street rich guy.”

    And then some. I can’t recall Richard Gere’s character falling asleep in a pile of cocaine big enough to use as a pillow, or even the venal Mr Gekko co-opting his wife’s sweet old aunt to smuggle money out of the US.

    http://bit.ly/doDXwy

  3. Assuming Jeff has shoes on. Jeff, point your iPhone at your shoes. Take picture. Post picture. Stop talking. Thread over.

  4. Well I’m glad they’ve dyed his hair to accurately reflect the real-life character he’s portraying, not like that hack Spielberg’s silver-fox Lincoln, but I won’t be happy until I get a faithful depiction of what toilets were like in the 1980s on Wall Street. This is precisely the kind of thing that I like to see and learn about when I see a historical film of any kind. What did everything smell like back then? How well did contraptions work? What kind of soaps, perfumes, bath towels and scented fragrances did they use? Did bathrooms have absorbent floor mats or did water just collect in pools on the marble or hard-tiled floors? Did the toilets function fairly well for the most part or were there issues? Did general stores sell rounded rolls of toilet paper like they do today, etc.?

  5. I’m sure Scorsese and his three-time Academy Award-winning / ten-time Academy Award-nominated costume designer are enjoying this thread.

  6. Goodfellas was brilliant partly because of this type of precise attention to the gaudy details of mobster life. This script has been likened to Goodfellas, so this sort of approach looks promising to me. As Lex always says, surely you’ve got to be more excited about Scorsese returning to his wheelhouse than doing another Hugo, right?

  7. I’m wondering when was the last time Jeffrey Wells wore a suit himself. I’m guessing when he got married some 25 or 30 years ago.

  8. I’m wondering when was the last time Jeffrey Wells wore a suit himself. I’m guessing when he got married some 25 or 30 years ago.

  9. Well, that first comment sure didn’t show up when I posted it the second time.

    Anyway, does Wells even own a suit? I’ve been following him forever, and I’ve never seen a picture of him even wearing a shirt with a collar, much less a suit.

  10. I agree about the double-breasted peaked-lapels look. Separately they’re both pretty bad, together they’re a perfect storm of vulgarity.

    I’m just surprised to hear such strong opinions about men’s suits from a guy who hasn’t worn anything but T-shirts and black jeans since the glory days of punk rock.

  11. I love the audacity of the sentence “If I was Scorsese…” coming from someone who is among the ants nibbling at the heels of actual artists.

  12. Wells apparently isn’t big on historical accuracy. I’m sure he appreciated the total absence of Afros in the late-60s-set SPARKLE.

  13. But the character is a schmuck. The suit is supposed to be a borrowed one anyway. 24 year-old Jordan Belfort claims he was earning 100 bucks a week when that scene was supposed to take place in May of 1987. Jordan’s life gets pretty depraved, so if merely the sight of that suit sickens you, you better bring a barf bag with you to the digiplex.

    “There’s nothing more reprehensible in any men’s clothing department than Gold Toe socks. There are truly the sock of schmucks.”
    http://tinyurl.com/wolfgoldtoe

  14. Scorsese knows clothes better than almost any other filmmaker out there. The guy’s father worked in the Garment District for years, and Scorsese himself has often shown obsessive attention to detail in his clothes, dating back to his earliest student shorts. He’s even collaborated with Hugo Boss to create his own line. This seems to be one of those areas where we can probably, y’know, trust him.

  15. Why would somebody who owns a mauve suit EVER tell anyone about it?

    Isn’t just saying such a thing enough reason to, in the words of Jeff, regard them askance?

  16. Jeff uses notions of “reality” at his own convenience. “Jaws” is hackwork because a woman doesn’t disrobe according to Jeff’s sure-to-be-rigidly literal-minded notions of how such acts should occur. And now Scorsese’s taken to task for obeying the reality of the situation.

    Basically Jeff’s turned into a crank who doesn’t like anything for reasons that shift in accordance to what he’s most likely most recently eaten. The only movies that are safe are generally middle-of-the-road journeyman films that suggest a wee hint of auteurism so as to flatter Jeff’s substantiated fear of being a plebe.

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