“When I came along, my thing was to establish my own sense of style … and my own sense of a coat of armor for [my characters].” – Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino has long been identified with the black Blues Brothers suits that his characters wear. The gangsters wore them in both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Pam Grier wears the black suit as the titular character in Jackie Brown. The Crazy 88 sport black suits in Kill Bill. Even when his characters aren’t wearing the iconic black suit, Tarantino typically has his characters “suit up” in some way before they get their hands dirty. See, for example, Beatrix Kiddo’s Bruce Lee-style jumpsuit from Kill Bill, or Stuntman Mike’s silver jacket from Death Proof.
With his new movie, Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino faces a wardrobe challenge that he hadn’t dealt with before: How do you get your characters to “suit up” when most of them are already wearing uniforms designed for war? Tarantino, in response, rises to the occasion chiefly by including a moment in which Mélanie Laurent – who plays a “civilian” character – applies makeup in preparation for action, and also by filming the most elegant and interesting costume designs of his career.
In fact, when audiences meet Marcel, played by Jacky Ido, he is wearing perfect menswear for the fall. Inglourious Basterds takes place during World War II, but Marcel’s outfit is put together so well that it could translate to any period, including this one. Marcel belongs in a movie lineage of men impeccably wearing clothes that men actually wear, alongside Robert Redford as Joesph Turner in Three Days of the Condor and Dustin Hoffman’s Ben Braddock in The Graduate.
Jean-Baptiste Noir will be updating this article as soon as he can find a decent picture of Jacky Ido wearing the outfit described in this piece.
