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.
We’ve covered many movies from the 1970s in this series. It was a golden era for rugged character dramas combined with rugged clothes like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Taxi Driver, Jaws, and The Shining. But the first 1970s movie that actually seems like a pleasant place to exist comes from our present year of 2023, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers.
It’s Christmastime at Barton Academy, a prestigious boarding school somewhere a couple hours outside of Boston. All the students are eager to return home for their winter vacation, except for a small cadre of misfits who are “holding over”. Whether that’s because home is half a world away, home is being remodeled, home no longer exists, or they just refuse to cut their hair, they’re stuck in high school for the next two weeks. Chief of which is Angus Tully, whose mother decided to ditch their plans for Christmas in St. Kitts for a last-minute honeymoon with Angus’s new stepfather.
Overseeing the bunch is classics teacher Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly misanthrope who caught holdover duty as a punishment for failing a senator’s son, and cafeteria manager Mary Lamb, who’s grieving her son’s recent death in the Vietnam War. The motley crew have nowhere to go but each other and maybe, just maybe, find out the true meaning of Christmas along the way.
Payne and his crew have gone to obsessive lengths to recreate the look, sound, and feel of 1970 with period-accurate title cards, the yellows bumped way up, mixing the whole movie in mono, and yes the clothing. Costume designer Wendy Chuck has spoken about the evocative textures of the era and dug deep into late 60s and early 70s yearbooks, “The wardrobe was all about corduroy, tweed, and wool, which have a preppy look and feel.” The movie is of a time and place of dress codes and conformity, but Chuck gives each character their own identity to inhabit in their clothes.
Angus Tully
Angus Tully, played pitch perfect by newcomer Dominic Sessa is an outsider in a group of outsiders. Having been kicked out of at least a half dozen prior boarding schools, Angus wears the preppy uniform but with more resentment than pride.
He takes whatever moment of resistance is available, while still coloring within the lines. See the cream accent stripe on his otherwise drab brown winter coat, the rusty orange Shetland sweater, or that he opts for the chunky Clarks Wallabee on his feet.
These clothes are a means to an end—staying out of military school, and thus Vietnam, for the next year and a half.
Like this? Read these:
- Frizmworks Mountain Down Jacket available for $495 at Wallace Mercantile
- Navy Wool 3-Button Sack Blazer available for $795 at J.Press
- Clarks Wallabee in Beeswax available for $160 at Clarks
- Rep Tie #1 in Navy available for $69 at Brooks Bros.
- Beams Plus Classic American Fit Oxford in White available for $210 at Lost & Found
- Malloch’s for Clutch Cafe Brushed Shetland Sweater in Rust available for $150 at Clutch Cafe
- Knickerbocker Chino Twill Staff Pant available for $225 at Knickerbocker
Paul Hunham
This role was literally written for Paul Giamatti and the clothes look much the same. Mr. Hunham more or less inherited his role teaching the classics at Barton and it looks like the wardrobe came with it. A duffel coat and loose-fitting corduroy slacks are the Ivy equivalent of a hoodie and sweatpants.
Practical, professorial, and looks like it’s laundered once a semester to get the scotch stains out of it. Stodgy isn’t a strong enough word. Hunham probably bought his clothes a decade ago and hasn’t thought about them since.
As the movie goes on, he does have a softer side of checked flannels and fuzzy v-necks, but the default when he plays teacher is the sweater vest and bow tie.
- Allevol Pat Duffle Coat in Navy available for $735 at Clutch Cafe
- Red Sakura Original Bow Tie available for $75 at Kiriko
- Engineered Garments Madras Check Bucket Hat available for $58 at Lost & Found
- J.Press Baggy Fit Grey Stripe Shirt available for $198 at Blue in Green
- Alex Mill Corduroy Standard Pleated Pant in Chocolate available for $145 at Stag
- Alden Norwegian Split Toe Blucher in #8 Shell Cordovan available for $875 at Lost & Found
- Wool Glenn Sweater Vest available for $195 at Knickerbocker
- Lazy eye not included
Mary Lamb
Mary, played by the sublime Da’Vine Joy Randolph, is the only character who cares about her appearance but is ironically the one with the most prescriptive uniform. As the manager of Barton’s cafeteria, we mostly see her in aprons and orthotics but when it is time for her to go out, she goes big.
Her husband and son both died far too young, and dressing up recalls those better times with pearls and jade earrings.
- Studio Nicholson Rall Lambswool Cardigan in Navy available for $279 at Namu Shop
- Elbow Sleeve Boatneck Dress in Wine available for $148 at Indigenous
- Ariann Charm Pearl Necklace available for $43 at Siizu
- Hey Dude Wendy in Smoke Quartz available for $45 at Browns Footwear (yes, I hate myself for including Hey Dudes as well but they’re a dead ringer for what she’s wearing in the final scene)
The Holdovers is in theaters now.
