From my room I can hear the trains running out to the seas of Europe

[sovay]

My arm hurts and my head aches more than usual and I just sneezed, which had better be the Pneumovax, but I wish to express my delight that someone who runs a site dedicated to men's fashions on film and TV has devoted an entry to Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) because I adore him in that movie and one of the things I adore about him is how good he doesn't look:



Look, I have one husband who can wear orange plaid and the other owns a tie we call the blue-ringed octopus: I'm not biased against the flamboyant. I am biased against a tie that matches a box of aspirin and looks like it was chosen so its owner could put all the mustard on his hot dog he wanted without risk. I am biased against a shirt that if it came on your TV screen at sign-off you would call the repairman the next day. The tweed jacket not pictured is a saving grace because it covers most of the shirt, but not even a raincoat improves the effect of the tie. The most I would ever attempt to argue for this ensemble is that it looks exactly like its character and avoids public indecency. But I am charmed by the analysis, even if I feel that "coordinating" is an optimistic designation for what that tie is doing. Now I just want to watch the film again.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

That is, indeed, a tie. And a shirt. That should not be worn, particularly not together! XD

[mrissa]

That's IMPRESSIVE.

[davidgillon]

I think I have that shirt.

[choco_frosh]

Boo on health, yay on cool filmfashion!site.

[larryhammer]

who can wear orange plaid

Are you able to share pictorial evidence?

[moon_custafer]

I mean, my sartorial philosophy is “wear anything, just look like you’re wearing it on purpose,” so…

(My *personal* sartorial philosophy is “wearing a dress and tights feels about the same as wearing a t-shirt and leggings, except people will think you made an effort.”)

[minoanmiss]

There's orange plaid and then there's THAT OH MY EYES

[julian]

Walter Matthau is rumpled even when wearing a tux. This is just the outward expression of that rumple.

ETA: And I do hope everything is due to the pneumovax.

[gwynnega]

The costume designer must have had a lot of fun with this.

[sporky_rat]

I really like that tie, though!

[rushthatspeaks]

I could make that shirt look good.

The tie is beyond assistance.

[asakiyume]

The tie matching the bayer box is brilliant!

The very long 20-year-old telenovela we just finished featured a protagonist who inclined to garish clothing, and he was adorkable.

[selkie]

Don't you own that shirt? Hasn't it got faux-pearl buttons? Have I mentally robbed my grandfather z'l's closet for your similar frame?