Working Titles takes a closer look at specific films with a denim and workwear aesthetic with the goal of examining the material’s shifting cultural image.
I saw Drive three times in theaters. I had just finished a summer internship far from home in LA and the glamorized vision of a lonely weirdo stalking the streets at night to electropop music hit very close to home.
I was also early on in my time of “clothes online” and the movie caused a small sensation among the message boards: “Can anyone ID Ryan Gosling’s boots?”, “Where can I find driving gloves like these?”, “Who makes the henley in Drive?” Not to mention the countless requests for a silver satin jackets with an embroidered scorpion.
The movie is cool, incredibly cool. And Ryan Gosling, an inarguably good looking person looks arguably his best in it. His slow broody stares combined with maybe 30 lines of dialogue the entire movie make Marlon Brando in The Wild One seem like a lively conversationalist.
His character, simply known as Driver, is the center of the movie the same way a black hole is the center of a galaxy. He’s a void. We don’t know his background, we don’t know what he wants out of life, we don’t even know his name.
The movie conveys this visually with his empty apartment, his generic Chevy Chevelle, and his near monochromatic wardrobe. The movie is full of vibrant color with the various Los Angeles locales: a corner grocery store full of cereal boxes, a glittery strip club dressing room, a sun-drenched neon pastel motel room, but Driver’s dark denim jacket and jeans and silver souvenir jacket make him the grey dull middle of every scene.
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This contrast is echoed in the soundtrack, which is half lush techno pop songs and half Cliff Martinez’s sparse and menacing score.
And it creates this beautiful portrait of a person who’s technically exceptional at what they do but completely hollow on the inside, a machine to be used for the aims of the other characters because he has none of his own. This, of course, sets up the central conflict where he does find something he wants and everything else comes crashing down.
Much of what Driver wears in the movie is easily identifiable. He wears a modern spec Levi‘s Type III Trucker jacket, his ivory boots are a cheap pair of corrected grain Stacy Adams. Those immediate, Zappos available IDs ground him in reality, but other items were specifically altered by the costume department to create a look that could never be copied, like the “Patek Philippe” watch in a design that Patek never made, or completely invented like the iconic scorpion embroidered satin jacket.
It’s those extra touches that make his image hum on the edge of myth and what also caused so many guys to go online and search down a dead end rabbit hole for a henley that’s out of production, a watch that never existed, and a jacket that should only ever appear on screen.
Regardless, here’s my take on Driver that tries to capture the look but not the costume.
- Rogue Territory SK 15oz. available for $240 at Stag Provisions
- Viberg Nomad Bokhara Service Boot available for $670 at Viberg
- Homespun Coalminer Henley available for $82 at Lost & Found
- Levi’s Rigid Trucker Jacket available for $90 at Levi’s
- Gaspar Driving Gloves available for $175 at Gaspar
- Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic available for $795 at Hamilton
- Makerstep Wooden Toothpick (1000pc.) available for $6 at Amazon
- Please don’t buy a scorpion jacket
