I guess “looking to the past” is the theme of these past few April blog posts. But then again, that’s basically one of the themes of this blog as a whole. You might even say we have a penchant for Nostalgia, but more on that (and how it relates to menswear/getting dressed) in a little bit. For now, let’s talk about a movie from the past that also looks at the past.
At Spencer’s suggestion, we watched Peter Bogdanovich’s 1974 film Paper Moon. I’m sure many of you guys have heard and seen this film but this was actually my first time watching it. I haven’t seen many “classic films” simply because they never came up for my family or even my friends (at least in high school and college). If I didn’t own it and we didn’t go to the movie theater for it, chances are I haven’t seen it. There’s a reason why I saw nearly all of last year’s Oscar noms (it’s because I have AMC A-list)!
Anyway, like other films Spencer has suggested we cover on the pod, I have indeed heard of this movie before. It’s a fun one that is looked at fondly by vintage enthusiasts and movie lovers alike. I’ve also had it come up as a general trivia fodder, since Tatum O’Neal is the youngest person to ever win an Oscar! It’s certainly well deserved because I thoroughly enjoyed her performance in the film.
Made in the 1970s but set in the 1930s (just like Chinatown and The Sting), Paper Moon is a road comedy film that follows “Mose” Pray and nine-year-old orphan Addie Loggins on their misadventures on the road. Mose is almost certainly Addie’s father, but he maintains that he is not, despite having a close relationship with her mom. The pair meet at the funeral for Addie’s mother’ and Mose ultimately is tasked with taking her to Missouri to join her extended family.
The thing is that Mose is a con man who is full of scams, like getting recent-widows into paying for Bibles their deceased husband never actually ordered. It is the Depression after all! Mose and Addie have quite an adventure on the road with big wins (and losses), countless arguments, and genuinely heartwarming moments. It’s a very nice film that I enjoyed immensely!
What’s most interesting about this is that despite being made in the 1970s, the film looks like it could be an actual movie from the 1930s. This isn’t just due to the period setting or that it’s filmed in black and white. There is careful attention done to the cinematography, dialogue, and physical acting that feels remarkably close to Golden Era films, at least the ones I’ve actually seen. Bogdanovich made what feels like a true love-letter, a period that he and his crew were just shy of experiencing themselves.
The costuming is especially top-notch. Everything the characters wear looks like it’s directly from 1936. This is especially true for Moses, who spends most of the film wearing a suit (or a “suit” if you look closely) that looks like its true vintage (though I am not entirely sure). After all, the 70s can be considered to be a bit of a redux of 30s menswear, but Paper Moon does it in a subtle way; it ain’t the Sting which feels very 70s.
Pray alternates between two “suits” as his uniform. The first one is a striped “3PC suit”, where the jacket and vest match but the pants are clearly from a different striped suit; he occasionally trades the striped waistcoat for a solid black one. The other suit is our favorite: a plaid single-breasted peak lapel number, complete with horizontal peaks that are just a tad blunted. Gorgeous!
With both of these suits he wears a mix of solid and multi-stripe shirts, the latter of which do betray the era as 70s (though there were similar patterns back in the day). The ties are also quite fun, being nearly all abstract designs, but they do seem to span different eras. Not every 30s tie was a brocade, but there is something “off” about Moses’s ties. He then finishes off his look with a rather excellent optimo crown panama hat. I find that such a fun choice considering how easy it would be to give your main character a fedora. All of these details definitely tell us a little bit about his character! At the very least, everything feels fancy yet cobbled together, no doubt due to the depression and his career as a conman.
Of course he isn’t the only one who has great style. Addie herself has a lot of fun looks, proving that once again, vintage kid drip is unmatched. There’s also other male characters that get to show some sartorial prowess, like the hotel manager and the Bootlegger, both of whom give us quite the inspo for wearing odd waistcoats. Fans of casual style will enjoy the cops (who wear A-2s) and the brief scene with the hillbillies. So much good stuff!
I will say that if you want a better write up of this film’s attire, you should read BAMF. Nick is better than us at this thing!
This film is the topic of our latest bonus episode, which you can listen to in full by subscribing to our Patreon! A short clip is found above but you might be confused as to what the hell I’m talking about…
That’s because this episode is also where I talk about my random invitation to the start of the TCM Film Festival, which was kicked off with a 35mm screening of Pulp Fiction (who is celebrating its 30th anniversary). To make it even more random, the invitation came from TCL who owns the Chinese Theater (which I hadn’t been to since I saw Attack of the Clones when I was seven). I’ll take it!
To no one’s surprise, I’ve never seen it before (I’ve seen every Tarantino since Inglorious) and so this was probably the wildest way to watch this movie for the first time. I sat on a bleacher for almost two hours, watching celebrities walk by and occasionally talk to the TCM MCs (not on TV, just for the crowd lol).
I obviously had to get fitted for this and I ended up wearing black tie: my white linen DB suit jacket with my tux pants and pumps. It’s standard Ethan faire but it also happened to be what Bruce Willis wore to the original premiere!
Anyway, you can hear all about what that day was like (and about Paper Moon) in the bonus episode!
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Buh-bye!
Ethan M. Wong (follow me on IG)| StyleandDirection
The Podcast is produced by MJ.
a little bit of rest 
