Poirot's Style

[cookie]

What is Poirot's style? His suits look quintessential 30s and then he looks a little dated like he really wants to stay Edwardian.

 

[Fletch]

You about nailed it. He's a fussy middle-aged lace-curtain bourgeois Walloon caught in the jazz age (and very much at home there, it seems). His style reminds me of the period's diplomatic corps, high-priced professionals, and other hangers-on of wealth and nobility.

He is, in the best and most affectionate sense of the term, a stuffed shirt.

"Ah, Mzieu Fletsch. You evince interest in my 'at. You are getting perhaps an idea how we continentals wear ze brown 'ombourg, non? Hhhnn hhhnn."

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Capt. Hastings is much more my style, I think. And that Miss. Lemon!...Ooh, la la! (That spit curl gets right to my heart!)

There is a nice story behind the pin that Hercule wears on his left lapel of every suit. It seems Monsuer Poirot had a fling of his own not so long ago!

One episode was dedicated to the acquisition of the little 'bud vase' of his.

-dixon cannon

 

[cookie]

There was a posting on these boutonnieres somewhere wasn't there?

Hastings was wearing a sensational Norfolk jacket the other night that was more an American and slighty raffish Belt Back. Then the main bad guy had a raccoon coat and very spivvy spectators! How can you top that Fester? lol lol

 

[jazzzbaby]

You about nailed it. He's a fussy middle-aged lace-curtain bourgeois Walloon caught in the jazz age (and very much at home there, it seems). His style reminds me of the period's diplomatic corps, high-priced professionals, and other hangers-on of wealth and nobility.

He is, in the best and most affectionate sense of the term, a stuffed shirt.

Lol!! You said it so perfectly! I do believe he would embrace
the term 'stuffed shirt' as well.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I absolutely love Suchet's portrayal of him. Another actor would let Poirot's quirkiness dominate the character and turn him into a joke, but Suchet's Poirot is a serious man, with a quirky personality.

 

[Tomasso]

I absolutely love Suchet's portrayal of him.

Same here. I recently saw Peter Ustinov in the role and he fell woefully short of Suchet. And I'm a big Ustinov fan.

 

[Fletch]

but Suchet's Poirot is a serious man, with a quirky personality.

In other words..."a Belgian."
(I'm thinking Jacques Brel, Adolphe Sax, Paul Delvaux, and anyone who ever got within 15 feet of a lambic brew kettle or a carillon.)

 

[Miss 1929]

They are actually called...

There was a posting on these boutonnieres somewhere wasn't there?

Tussy Mussy's, or Tussie Mussie's

Hideous name, probably a corruption of something French.

Boutonieers are any flower stuck in the buttonhole or in a tussy mussy.

I have been seeking one for years for my man (who has the taste to crave such a thing!), but most of them are far too feminine. A deco one would be the best!

 

[Miss Sis]

The BF has one but it is plain, to wear behind your lapel. He also has a very well made suit that has a loop behind the lapel to hold the bottom of the holder.

We have seen the real posey holder at a 1930s style tearoom called Bird on the Rock in Shropshire. The people who ran it were costume designers and worked on Poiret and Jeeves and Wooster. It was framed with a collar that Davis Sutchet wore whilst filming. Sadly they are now closed and they have moved back closer to London. Lovely people, fabulous tearoom. Really hope we bump into them again someplace.

P.S: I love David Suchet's Poiret and I also love Miss Lemon!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What is Poirot's style? His suits look quintessential 30s and then he looks a little dated like he really wants to stay Edwardian.

Poirot's style is European early to mid 1920s. More sharply peaked and angled lapels than the Americans had in the '20s, coupled with very European wing collars and spats. Definitely more '20s than '30s.


.

 

[vonwotan]

Does anyone know about Poirot's hat in Murder in Messopotamia? He has what appears to be a Homburg made of straw. I do like some of his suits, and the combinations of jacket and vest with contrasting pants, etc. However, the overall image can be a bit overdone for modern tastes...

 

[dhermann1]

I love the Suchet version, but I've read comments to the effect that Albert Finney did him best ("Murder on the Orient Express", 1974). I've only read one of the books, so I don't have much of a clear image. But I do think he was meant to be a good deal plumper than Suchet. I would say his style is, as has been mentioned, a throw back to the 20's, even tho he lives in the 30's. Much like Neville Chamberlain.

 

[BellyTank]

Poiret's style is European early to mid 1920s. More sharply peaked and angled lapels than the Americans had in the '20s, coupled with very European wing collars and spats. Definitely more '20s than '30s.




.

I would have said that of Poirot's costume but who's Poiret..?


B
T

 

[BellyTank]

Does anyone know about Poirot's hat in Murder in Messopotamia? He has what appears to be a Homburg made of straw. I do like some of his suits, and the combinations of jacket and vest with contrasting pants, etc. However, the overall image can be a bit overdone for modern tastes...

Yes... it's a straw Homburg!


B
T

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I would have said that of Poirot's costume but who's Poiret..?

He's the son of Monsieur and Madame Typo.

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Suchet's Poirot has some of the best repro suits i've seen yet.

There was an auction of this stuff a while ago. Most of it was dated to the early 1990s and was made by the BBC costume dept. (sorry, can't find my source for this info any more, but i think my memory is accurate).

bk

 

[LordJohnRoxton]

I love the Suchet version, but I've read comments to the effect that Albert Finney did him best ("Murder on the Orient Express", 1974). I've only read one of the books, so I don't have much of a clear image. But I do think he was meant to be a good deal plumper than Suchet. I would say his style is, as has been mentioned, a throw back to the 20's, even tho he lives in the 30's. Much like Neville Chamberlain.

I agree on the dating of Poirot's style. And I have to say that Suchet is definitely my favourite. Finney, I thought, made Poirot far too much of a buffoon. Of course, I don't know that Christie actually liked Poirot all that much, so the portrayal could have been spot on!

 

[cookie]

Does anyone know about Poirot's hat in Murder in Messopotamia? He has what appears to be a Homburg made of straw. I do like some of his suits, and the combinations of jacket and vest with contrasting pants, etc. However, the overall image can be a bit overdone for modern tastes...

I noticed that hat and the other straw he wore that had the see through reflector thingy...:eusa_doh:

Just on my continuing interest in Poirot thanks to Hallmark and my ability to use Foxtel IQ system. I think the spats really hold him down as a 20s tragic who will not entirely get with the 30s program. His clothes, though beautifully tailored, always look uncomfortable. I am reminded too of how people seem to wear so many heavy clothes in what appear to be warmish seasons. Hastings walks around in this this full length tweed coat when the sun is shining!

I am enjoying this thread I started. A few other things. I quite like their use of some of the early Art Deco/Art Moderne famous houses and buildings in the UK. The swirling staircases are breathtaking and show the wonderful impact of the Jazz Age and the dramatic and seismic shift to early Modernism, Jugendstil, the Bauhaus etc.

The there are the subtle touches that remind me of my own family heirlooms still around from the 30s like the Art Deco coffeee and tea settings etc. that Ms Lemmon uses.

 

[Fletch]

who's Poiret..?

"Paul Poiret (1879-1944) was a French fashion designer. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion have been likened to Picasso's contributions to twentieth-century art."

Poiret's work being best appreciated by the Powder Room, I'll observe only that the (off?)white weskit/houndstooth tie combination is fully worthy of Poirot, altho I miss the wing collar. (Poiret was too much of a revolutionary to wear such a thing.)