Achieving the Indiana Jones look...without looking in costume??

[Hugh Beaumont]

Hey Gang,

I have almost completed my screen accurate Indiana Jones costume. I've fallen in love with the look and at my age, I feel more comfortable in it, but still don't want to walk around in public looking like I am wearing a costume.

I currently wear various makes of a field shirt with my jeans or cargo pants, but want to get a little closer to IJ without stepping over the line. I am a fashion idiot and have worn jeans and T-shirts my entire life so this is stepping into unfamiliar territory for me.

Love my Taupe slacks and Aldens. Just trying to find an appropriate shirt to wear that has a slightly modern updated look. I am going home to Hawaii in September and would love to step off the plane to the waiting arms of my family looking like a world traveler instead of Indiana Jones.

Can you help a fashion idiot out

 

[Woodfluter]

Hmm...I think maybe I'm a *willful* fashion idiot, but in any case, I'll just suggest coming at this from a completely different direction.

The I.J. movie character was, like real archaeologists and geologists (moi) and travelers in remote places, essentially very practical. I doubt such characters are seeking style most of the time. Their style comes naturally from finding practical solutions, wearing clothes and carrying gear that serves a purpose. Also wearing stuff that just makes you feel good without worrying too much about others' reactions. Being comfortable in your skin and clothes.

Actually, for pretty much anyone, I think personal style that really works is that which is not very studied and is just "you". Your slacks and excellent high-top shoes are extremely practical. Almost any field shirt is too, and I like big flapped pockets for stashing all sorts of useful stuff quickly. Of course, I like fedoras...and also some medium-brim Akubras, and Tilley hats for field use.

Whatever floats your boat, but personally I suspect the way to look like someone who does something in particular is to do that sort of thing for a while. Then what you wear won't ever feel like a costume.

All the best, and have fun in Hawaii!

- Bill

 

[BinkieBaumont]

It is always better to be slightly underdressed - Coco Chanel

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/coco_chanel_2.html#ixzz1NVjn7ALn

 

[The Good]

This is a very good topic idea. It's clear to me that you don't quite desire to be dressed to the nines in Indy gear:

You want to achieve the general style, but you don't want to be seen in costume...

Well, with that said, do you frequently wear a fedora with your clothes? Absolutely nothing wrong with it (but there's a whole lot that's right about it!), but if you're trying to avoid being perceived as in costume, you may not want to wear one all the time, unless you're that committed. I'm personally not brave enough to wear a hat so often with my leather jacket, myself. I do however wear khakis/chinos and dress shirts with it, though. In my opinion, this sort of captures an element of Indy style. Field or safari shirts should be fine as well. Keep it up with the Aldens, too, they're a nice brand!

I would like to add, I don't see this style of clothing being sported too often around here, outside the context of Disneyland (some fellow Indiana Jones fans take up wearing bits and pieces, or the whole deal. I have worn my hat and leather once too). However, I have seen one guy at my school campus from time to time wearing what looks like an Indiana Jones style leather jacket (I don't know how to describe it, but some subtle details were almost certainly there too, not just the general shape). It was slightly weathered looking, and he wore a white shirt, either safari or dress, khakis, and reddish-brown dress shoes. I think he pulls it off. I haven't seen him wear a hat, but I think there's a bit of an Indy vibe.

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

thanks all.

The Good: no, I don't wear a fedora, even though I own one. That would definitely put me in costume mode. I too am not that brave (yet).

 

[The Good]

thanks all.

The Good: no, I don't wear a fedora, even though I own one. That would definitely put me in costume mode. Not that brave.

No problem. I don't wear my fedoras with my leather jacket either for that reason, except very rarely. It's just outside my comfort zone (right now, anyway).

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Nick Nolte admirably achieved the Indiana Jones look in the film Cannery Row

[video=youtube;73U_ynmeo6g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73U_ynmeo6g&feature=related[/video]

 

[Woodfluter]

Aw geez V.C. - you had to post this and make me fall in love with Debra Winger all over again!

Now the clothes...Nolte's jacket is pretty close to that of I.J. and I've heard many times here that it's not a period correct style, but also somewhere have a photo of my dad in that era with something very similar, big pockets and no elastic and all that. So, dunno. But that's the kind I like anyway, movies or authenticity notwithstanding.

 

[Seb Lucas]

This is a very good topic idea. It's clear to me that you don't quite desire to be dressed to the nines in Indy gear:

Look here, to me not even Harrison Ford pulled of the look in that film. The jacket looked like a pre-distressed job from a costume maker and the rest of the costume looked new and baggy on him. HF looked like a fan dressed up as his favourite character...

A tip - if you check out the look of famous foreign correspondents/photo journalists (fictional characters like Nick Nolte in Under Cover will do as well.) you'll see it's a standard look. Loose fit, khaki pants, boots, a military style shirt, a shoulderbag - a must for anyone covering a war zone. Forget Indy and consider the real world versions which are plentiful.

 

[The Good]

Aw geez V.C. - you had to post this and make me fall in love with Debra Winger all over again!

Now the clothes...Nolte's jacket is pretty close to that of I.J. and I've heard many times here that it's not a period correct style, but also somewhere have a photo of my dad in that era with something very similar, big pockets and no elastic and all that. So, dunno. But that's the kind I like anyway, movies or authenticity notwithstanding.

I like both styles of jackets, but I tend to think that the non-elastic/knit cuff jackets like Indiana Jones look and drape better when unzipped or unbuttoned. Knit cuff/elastic jackets can get a bit baggy looking at the sides when unzipped. Also, if you ever come across that particular photo of your father, would you mind sharing that here? It sounds like a nice jacket, I'd like to see the Indy resemblance somewhat, too.

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

I think the general consensus is that Indy's look was taken from various sources, to include aviators, and two movie characters..Harry Steele from "Secret of the Incas"
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk/page6.html

and Humphrey Bogart from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

 

[Woodfluter]

I've had jackets with the elastic, and they're warmer when you really need that, but it's seldom for me. Mostly the bottom elastic bothers me by riding up when it's zipped, and the cuffs fray and pill - the way I use such a jacket anyway. I'd rather have a bit of air circulation and nothing binding.

As for the picture of my dad, it's somewhere in an album in a storage unit, and I did come across those recently but without time to search. I do recall what it looked like. I'll dig it up and post it one of these days. It was taken part way up Mt. Whitney, late 1930s.

Re Seb Lucas' remarks on the movie still: I was thinking exactly the same thing! The clothes in the original movie looked seriously lived-in. Those in the posted photo looked phony somehow. Not sure if the original had sleeves that long, but man, these look uncomfortably so.

 

[Tomasso]

I have almost completed my screen accurate Indiana Jones costume.

no, I don't wear a fedora

This thread is giving me a headache.......

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

Why?

 

[Seb Lucas]

I think the general consensus is that Indy's look was taken from various sources, to include aviators, and two movie characters..Harry Steele from "Secret of the Incas"
http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk/page6.html

and Humphrey Bogart from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

Yeah and Alan Ladd in China, a 1940's flick. Harry Steele was 1950's flick. Not so much from the Bogart film. That's where Lucas got some of the character ideas from. Indiana Jones was just an imaginative use of a visual cliche.

But remember the fedora and leather jacket was the classic working class outfit for men in the first half of the 20th century. Anything that required hard work. Today it would probably be a baseball cap, t-shirt and a nylon windbreaker.

 

[djd]

To achieve the look without 'the look' I'd wear the jacket and the hat but with modern cargo pants and military style T-shirt. Indys pants and shirt are essentially military items - just update those to the modern equivalents

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

I found this shirt:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/2-long-sleeved-outdoor-shirts.aspx?a=803735

Would look great with my Taupe Indy slacks and my Taupe Cargo pants, Alden boots and leather Raider's jacket from Todd's Costumes.

 

[djd]

Isn't that going to look like you're in costume as Indy though? I don't quite understand what you're hoping to achieve. If you just wear 'close-enough' gear then the majority of people are just going to think you're in costume surely?

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

Isn't that going to look like you're in costume as Indy though? I don't quite understand what you're hoping to achieve. If you just wear 'close-enough' gear then the majority of people are just going to think you're in costume surely?

that's why I am here. I am an idiot to fashion. Hoping some of you can help me tone it down. Tell me yes or no. It will be a work in progress. djd, that is what I needed to hear. Thank you.

 

[djd]

What I tend to do is stick with the jacket and the hat and then wear non Indy pants and shirt. In the summer, if I'm going hiking for instance, I'll wear them with shorts and a vest even. It says 'indy' without looking like your dressing up as the character. I feel comfortable like that anyhow - which I guess is what you're trying to achieve