It’s been a while since I’ve seen a cozy movie, let alone one that is menswear friendly. You know, Something that you can throw on, feel good after, and get inspired to wear some clothes seems like a big undertaking. After all, it seems that most menswear movies are dramatic period flicks like Maestro or Killers of the Flower Moon, outside of quirky stuff like Wes Anderson or Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (where you kinda just follow a few dudes around what is seemingly a regular day). I just assumed we’d have to look to the past for nice, small scale movies with cool fits. However, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers was the unexpected feature that covered all of our bases.

I actually don’t remember seeing an actual trailer for this film. Perhaps that’s because I have AMC A-List and AMC theaters tend to only show the big blockbusters, which are accompanied by big blockbuster trailers; a preview for an indie film is a rare occurrence in that establishment.  

That being said, I do remember seeing Paul Giamatti’s lazy eyed mug pop up on the giant digital billboard in the Glendale AMC. I also noticed that he was wearing a bowtie and slouchy cord trousers and that his other poster compatriots were also wearing nice clothing: Da’Vine Randolph was in a cool 60s dress and Dominic Sessa was in an OCBD and rather high waisted 5-pockets. I was definitely intrigued but didn’t get an official endorsement until James told me that this was his pick for favorite movie of 2024. 

So on a particularly slow Friday, I decided to get off a bit early and watch this film at Glendale, mainly because my local AMC was not showing it yet. I guess Glendale is closer to Hollywood, which could mean that the audience demos are more inclined to see indie or “AMC Artisan” films compared to my SGV location where we are saddled with extended runs of Aquaman.

I was delightfully surprised! In fact, I may have to agree with James: this was indeed my favorite movie of 2023. 

The 1970s-set movie follows Paul Hunnam (Giamatti), an Ancient Civ teacher at the fictional prep school of Barton, and Angus Tully (Sessa), a student at the aforementioned school. Both of them, including Mary (Randolph) are forced to “holdover” together at the school during the holiday break as Tully’s parents aren’t able to have him due to a vacation. Everything starts out as prickly as you could imagine, but the three of them end up becoming close throughout the course of the film.  The movie was incredibly enjoyable, warm, heavy (at times), and for the purposes of this blog, wonderfully costumed!

A big part of the charm that this movie has is that it is not only set in 1970, but it feels like a 70s film. Granted, I haven’t seen much of those outside of the big names as well as a few conspiracy thrillers, but I could tell what this movie was going for. The characters, setting, music title sequence, and overall vibe (both in and out of the movie) feel like we’re actually watching it in 1970.

This is all expertly shown in the costuming. It’s a prep school in 1970, so everyone is wearing elements of ivy, be it tweed jackets, cord pants, OCBDs, bow ties, and club neckties. What is quite interesting is that there isn’t a uniform, so we’re treated with a bit of variety among the students, who all have different sartorial takes during the school day scenes. We then get to see some nice casual attire when it’s the “holdover” part and the students are allowed to dress down; it is here that we get a bit more of that late 60s, early 70s vibe with the puffer jackets, tees, chunky sweaters, knit polos, and printed shirts. Mr. Tully certainly looks great for a teen in 1970. 

Of course, Mr. Hunnam is the true menswear king of the film. He dresses just like you would expect a history to dress like: corduroy suits, sweaters (and sweater vets), bowties, and camp mocs. While some of those elements change ever-so-slightly based on the context of the film, what stays delightfully consistent is his houndstooth trilby and grey duffle coat. While he doesn’t’ look like a cool ALD or Drake’s model, Mr. Hunnam’s natural crabbiness leads to true slouch, which certainly fits the film and is quite inspiring to me. After all, Mr. Hunnam isn’t a bad guy– Tully (and a few other students) can be quite assholish when it comes down to it.

Overall, the attire of the film feels natural and appropriate, which is the main job of a costuming designer. The Holdovers definitely calls to mind the countless (and fantastic) screenshots that Berkeley Breathes used to post of general 70s films as well as ones set at prep schools. I can see the appeal of having movies with characters wearing various expressions of classic menswear without it being a big deal. That is most likely the appeal of ivy-trad in general! 

That being said, it is quite clear that the world (of outfit wearers) is no longer like the world we see in The Holdovers. This makes the film’s costuming stand out, especially to me as I live in a place (and context) distantly removed from any sort of New England and prep school context. I’m sure plenty of my mutuals and online pals will be not as enamored with this film as I am, but I certainly haven’t experienced anything like this! 

For me, the Holdovers is an inviting challenge to be a little less bold with my attire, while still getting the most out of my wardrobe. To be a little cozy and appreciate the ease of wearing an OCBD, duffle, and jeans without it getting into Esquire Man. At the very least, I should do more ivy-trad stuff again! 

We discuss our love of The Holdovers on the bonus podcast above! It’s also quite pertinent because Spencer took a recent trip to Boston, which figures heavily in the third act of the film. He brings stories of dive bars, museums, new-to-him attire to help him combat actual snow, and perhaps a little “candy cane”. It’s a good one!

You can listen to the first 15 minutes of the bonus pod now on all platforms, but you’ll have to subscribe on Patreon to get the RSS feed of the full episode (as well as access to our Discord).

Recommended Reading

• There’s a lot of cool interviews with Wendy Chuck, the costume designer for the film:
  • Focus Features Q&A
  • Eye For Film interview
  • Awards Daily
• BAMF also covered the film in much better detail that I could ever do

Spencer’s Boston Trip

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Buh-bye!

EthanMWong | StyleandDirection

The Podcast is produced by MJ.