New Stile

Finally! I moved my blog to my own Still Stile domain.
Please follow my selection in stills from now on at Still Stile.

I will start off with a special dedication to Pierce Brosnan imporsonating the James Bond character with a double amount of stills. And this weekend I will be heading for Japan for a journey of four weeks. But don't panic, we have Florian Peters & Daan Gast posting their views on cinema and style during my absence so please stay tuned!

The Flying Scotsman (2006)

We Dutch people love to ride our bicycles, where the flat landscape perfectly lends itself for. I love to ride my bike here in the city of Amsterdam to take me as fast as possible to my place of destination. I'm a big fan of trackcycling and love to see old matches won by 'our own' great Theo Bos.

But this movie is about another great champion, the scotsman Graeme Obree. In 1993 he beats the world hour record with his hand-built bike optimized for his awkward but very efficient 'tucked' style. A year later he lost the record, but regained it short afterwards. On the individual pursuit event he became world champion twice as well and became famous for his second style-invention, the superman. His hand-built 'Old Faithful' bike has some marvelous tri-spokes by Specialized and the iconic San Marco Rolls saddle (not the most comfortable though I can tell from everyday use). And Brian Cox in the role of the older friend of Graeme in a very nice old-fashioned English style with two very classy Barbour jackets.

Le Samouraï (1967)

If there is one film where Jarmusch got his inspiration from for his the Limits of Control it must be this classic from Jean-Pierre Melville. Alain Delon stars as Jeff Costello: the ultimate cool and loyal modern day 'samouraï' in the streets of Paris, complete the mission and don't ask any questions. Until he's been setup and there is no one to trust for him anymore.

Jeff Costello outfit is as complete as can be with his beige Burberry trenchcoat, the two-piece suit with a button-down white shirt, his light colored Fedora hat and his Baume & Mercier watch. No shortage of coats here, with all kinds of woolen and cotton overcoats. Not to mention the good taste for interiors Melville shows here.

Easy Rider (1969)

Dennis Hopper broke with a lot of conventions in his directors debut, portraying two hippies on their search for the pure experience of freedom riding their, at the time pretty rare, Harley Davidson chopper bikes. The 'easy riders' encounter a range of characters either agreed to their lifestyle and ideals as well as violently opposed to it.

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper star as the ultimate hippies, driving with just a bag and a woolen Indian type blanket on the back of their bikes. Although Jack Nicholson steals the show with his foolish but superb acting. The characters they meet on their way through the American highlands are dressed as interesting. An overload of traditional americana wear with Wrangler western shirts, Levi's type III denim jacket, many jeans and ivy-style sweaters.

But in the end Easy Rider is the walhalla for the vintage sunglasses collector. I would love to give you the names of all the different frames seen, I simply couldn't get them. The shades worn by Peter Fonda are the Ray Ban Olympia I Deluxe, Jack Nicholson's seem to be a Clubmaster at first sight, but a closer look reveals they're slightly different. Comments on the remaining glasses are more than welcome.

The Matador (2005)

I won't deny that I'm a big fan of Pierce Brosnan, to me the actor that best suited the James Bond character - on which I will do a special soon. He just has a certain class about him, in The Matador combined with a very typical vulgarness which makes his character very absurd but at the same time very entertaining. The moustache, his hawaiian shirts, the sunglasses, the golden jewelry, his frequent smoking behavior and the facial expressions exclusive to Pierce all perfectly fits the character. Basically this character was the reason for this weeks choice, the very colourful cinematography and some other details played a part too.

Blood In Blood Out (1993)

"Miklo, orale, carnalito. What's up, ese?"

Damian Chapa impersonates the Miklo character in this movie, one of his first roles and since then on he would became obsessed with chicano gangster movies, both as actor and director. Too bad he's just not that good in both.. But at least he knows how to dress up properly as a chicano.

A film about three cousins growing up, one active as painter, the second as a narcotic officer and the latter as the leader of the La Onda prison gang. Director Taylor Hackford shot the film inside the San Quentin State Prison and managed to get a great deal of prisoners to act in the film. As for style concerned it's a chicano gangster walhalla; pleated (khaki) chino's, tanktops with flannel check shirts, completed with derby hats. When in prison they wear light blue shirts all with the button up top, denim jeans and jackets, navy colored beanies and all black sunglasses.