When I was a wee lad in 2012 (I was sixteen and fresh out of high school), I remember being at the Hollywood Bowl with my family for one of our annual traditions: watching John Williams conduct the LA Phil. This was back when he was a bit younger-ish, which meant that he would conduct the full program himself; Williams currently only conducts the latter half of the program, with David Newman or Gustavo Dudamel doing the first half). In some years, Williams would feature guests, which helped provide a bit of a theme or curation to the program. After all, ‘ol Johnny is more than just Star Wars and Superman. 

One year, he brought along Seth Macfarlane, who sang crooner songs or pieces from musicals like Gigi. However, for the year in question, he featured Gil Shaham, a prominent American violinist.  We were treated to a medley from William’s film version of Fiddler On The Roof (which netted Williams his first Oscar by the way), a spectacular arrangement of the theme from Laura, and of course a selection from Schindler’s List. 

However, the piece that struck me most was a spectacular and passionate tango entitled “Por Una Cabeza”. I later found out that while the full orchestral arrangement was certainly Williams (you can tell if you listen to it) the tune was actually composed by Carlos Gardel. When I looked it up on Youtube, I saw that the version I heard at the Bowl was hard to find. Most of the clips were old 30s and 40s recordings of the tango in it’s original form— as well as a clip from some movie where Al Pacino played a blind man and danced with a beautiful woman.

That was my first encounter with Scent of a Woman. 

I didn’t come across the movie again until very recently when I was hanging out with Spencer on Discord and talking about movies with extremely horny straight guys guys who are big fans of women. While Leo “I sure do love that women” DiCapro was a certainly a contender, the winner was Al Pacino, specifically his monologue from Scent of a Woman where Pacino tells a young man just how much he loves women and sex. All the while flying first class and wearing a delightfully slouchy brown plaid suit, mid grey shirt, and black striped tie (Frasier and Ethan-core to the max). Suits and being horny? Sounds like me– I knew I had to see this damn movie. 

After we did Public Enemies (another movie connected to my pre-menswear past) we did just that. Spencer, MJ, and I were quite excited to finally gain the context behind that infamous airport scene. Hoo-ah! 

Boy, the Scent of a Woman was long. It’s very Oscar Bait movie with all the tropes: grizzly actor who hasn’t gained his Award playing a cranky asshole, a young newbie that defrosts him, and a dramatic story that deals with a disability, morals, and the reason for living. But despite all of that, the film comes off as charming and actually quite heartwarming. A big part of it is that we don’t really make movies like this anymore (and I’m not just talking about the problematic jokes). Scent was nominated for a slew of Academy Awards and its simply quite different from what was nominated this past season, though I guess you could make the argument that The Holdovers is actually quite close (whoops). 

The film centers on Charlie Simms (Chris O’Donnel), an east coast prep schooler who attends on scholarships and is a genuinely nice guy, unlike the old money assholes that he’s around. Mr. Simms decides to stay at school over Thanksgiving break and takes a weekend job as the aide to the blind Lt. Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino) whose family goes on a trip. It sounds like a simple caretaker job but Slade has other plans– he absconds with an unwilling Simms to NYC to do three things: see his brother, make love to a “terrific” woman, and “blow his brains out”. Simms then spends his time getting to know Slade and tries to convince him to live, all the while wrestling with his own moral quandary on whether or not to snitch on his classmates in exchange for guaranteed acceptance to Harvard.

Again, it’s a pretty straightforward film that I quite enjoyed– it’s touching, funny, and to bring it to the reason I’m writing about it, it’s got some good menswear.

If Slade was in 2024, I feel like he would’ve read my blog…or rather he’d just be a cool random guy that I think looks fly. He’s an incredibly well dressed man who takes pride in his appearance despite being blind. And like other film characters with a military background, he has a bit of a uniform: Slade is almost always wearing a 3PC peak lapel SB suit with a tab collar shirt and patterned tie. He appears to go to one tailor (whether its bespoke or MTM we don’t know) as all his suits are cut the same. 

While the first suit we see him in is a brown 2PC, he’s most known for the grey plaid 3PC that he wears for the entirety of his NYC adventure, swapping out the shirt and tie as needed; he even does a mid-evening pocket square change. What a menswear-guy thing to do! 

I mean with his slightly anachronistic styling, at least to the extent that he stands out among the other characters, it still feels familiar to us, as if he’s from another era. He’s like a 90s Apparel Arts man. 

However, the surprising menswear moves came from Mr. Simms and his compatriots and instructors at Baird. The scenes at the prep school are an ivy-style wet dream thanks to all the blazers, tweeds, OCBDS, and white socks that abound. 

“Chas” Simms is the most put together of the bunch, perhaps due to his good-natured personality and outsider existence (as he was only able to attend due to a scholarship). His sack jackets (which appear to be true 60s vintage) and pants all fit well; he also has his OCBD and tie fastened properly. It’s only due to the impromptu trip to NYC with slade that he slacks up a bit, being forced to wear a cable knit, balmacaan, and gym undershirt as that’s the only garments he brought with him. Frank does get him a suit and shirt, which still end up styled pretty ivy-trad, though the muted colors in the shirt and tie bring in that contemporary/90s feel. 

George Willis Jr. and the rest of the Baird chums all have a bit more schlubbiness to their ivy. Jr. perpetually has his jacket (and coat) lapels propped up, his OCBD collar undone, and his tie loose, making him feel much more “fratty” and certainly plays up the old money asshat vibe. His prankster prep pals are equally as irreverent though I know most menswear guys will like them more due to the different jackets, sweaters, and outerwear that they get to don. It’s certainly more relevant to most fashion mfers than the propper Mr. Simms or the dandy Colonel even if these preppy characters have very limited screen time. 

The movie isn’t exactly a menswear-must but if you’ve got the time, definitely give it a try if you haven’t seen it already! 

BREAK

The boys and I discuss this movie in more depth on the latest bonus episode of the podcast! You can listen to a clip below, but the full ep (as well as our archive on other movies’ style) is available on Patreon! 

Don’t forget to support us on Patreon to get some extra content and access to our exclusive Discord. Oh and don’t forget, we do a podcast every two weeks!

Buh-bye!

Ethan M. Wong (follow me on IG)| StyleandDirection

The Podcast is produced by MJ.

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