We’re already just two weeks away from the second (not quite annual) Fashion in Film Blogathon! If you would like to join in, just let me know. There’s still plenty of time to think of a topic if you haven’t already decided!
I thought it would be fun to start the festivities a little early by taking a look at one of the most stylish films ever made: Saturday Night Fever. I think it goes without saying that Saturday Night Fever is one of the most iconic films to come out of the 1970s. The opening credit sequence of Tony strutting through the streets of Brooklyn is one of the most famous opening credit sequences of all time. You can’t talk about disco without talking about the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. And when it comes to 1970s fashion, the first thing many people think of is the image of John Travolta in that white suit.
Every major character in Saturday Night Fever has their own pretty distinct style.
Even though the most well-known costume from this movie is Tony Manero’s white suit, he actually spends most of the movie wearing red and black, the two boldest colors there are to wear. Black pants, a red shirt, and a black leather jacket are basically his standard uniform for day-to-day life. It’s what he wears in the opening sequence and we see him wear that color combination several more times throughout the film.
It makes sense for Tony to favor bold colors. He’s got a strong personality and dreams of getting out of Bay Ridge and really making something of himself. Tony’s world in Bay Ridge is a very drab place and the strong colors he wears make it obvious that he doesn’t really fit in there. While working at the hardware store, he has to wear a beige jacket, the walls are beige, and the store is full of other colorless items.
When he goes home, there isn’t much color to be found there, either. Beige seems to be the color of choice for his parents and there isn’t much more color on the walls or furniture.
The only time Tony seems to blend into the background is when he tells his father about getting a nice raise at work, only to be told that his raise is worthless. I suppose Tony feels like he might as well be invisible at that moment.
We don’t see much interaction between Tony and his sister, but her red shirt definitely suggests that she admires her older brother.
And then there’s Tony’s brother Frank, the former priest. Tony takes him out to the club one night, but it’s obvious that nightclubs just aren’t Frank’s thing and he knows it. He’s the only person in the club that night who came wearing a tie.
Notice that the shirt Tony puts money down for in the opening sequence is the same shirt he wears the second time we see him at the disco.
Although Tony wears a lot of strong colors during the day, when he goes out at night, he tends to switch to softer colors. When you can dance the way he does, you don’t need to wear bold colors to stand out from the crowd.
Like Tony, all of his friends are almost always seen with their jackets on and they each have their own trademark colors. Bobby’s color is light blue, Gus’ is grey, Double J.’s is brown, and Joey’s is black.
When the guys go out to 2001 Odyssey, all of them, except for Tony, go wearing their usual jackets. It makes perfect sense that these guys would consistently be wearing the same coats. Saturday Night Fever is a movie about working class people; they don’t have money for elaborate wardrobes with a coat for every outfit. Tony, on the other hand, has a red leather jacket he only wears when he goes to the club. Leather jackets can get pretty expensive, so the fact that Tony spent that kind of money on something he only wears about once a week speaks volumes about just how important dancing is to him.
The only time we see Tony’s friends ditch their signature colored jackets is the scene where they go to beat up the people they think put Gus in the hospital. They all wear black leather jackets for that scene, but interestingly, Bobby is attacked by a guy wearing a sweatshirt in the same shade of blue Bobby usually wears.
If this group of friends has a leader, it’s Tony. The first time they go to the club, Joey and Double J. are wearing shirts that are very distinctly different from the one Tony wears.
The next time they go out, Joey and Double J. are wearing shirts that look fairly similar to the one Tony had been wearing last time.
Annette likes her pastels and her style is a little on the gaudy side. Her signature coat is that fake fur monstrosity. As ugly as that coat is, it’s definitely the kind of thing to wear when you desperately want to be noticed and that’s exactly what Annette spends the entire movie doing. Unfortunately, it looks cheap and tacky; not the sort of thing Tony would be impressed at all by at all.
On the other hand, Stephanie has a more polished style. Her typical look is basically the polar opposite of Tony’s: lots of white and soft pinks and more delicate fabrics.
When Annette meets Tony to practice for the dance contest, she comes dressed like she doesn’t plan to stay for long. What she’s wearing isn’t completely inappropriate, you could move around in that outfit. But while Tony looks like he’s really into it, Annette looks like she’s only giving it a half-hearted effort. It conveys her, “It’s only dancing!” attitude before she actually says it.
But when Tony spots Stephanie practicing at the dance studio, she’s there in tights and a leotard. She’s obviously far more into dancing than Annette is; it’s no wonder he chooses her to be his dance partner instead.
Despite Stephanie’s affinity for pale colors, she paints her nails red and sometimes carries a red bag, which suggests that she and Tony do have some common ground….
…but they ultimately don’t belong together. In this shot, it’s crystal clear that Stephanie and Tony are two very different people. His black leather jacket is a stark contrast to her softer white coat. Tony’s open collar us the complete opposite of Stephanie’s turtleneck. His vivid red shirt versus the pale pink on her scarf. There isn’t a single thing here that makes them look like they belong with each other.
However, as Tony and Stephanie spend more and more time together, Stephanie starts wearing some blues and blacks, like Tony also occasionally wears. The first time he sees her at the dance studio, he’s wearing black pants and a blue shirt. When they practice together later, she wears a blue leotard and black fishnets, basically the womens’ dancewear version of Tony’s blue shirt and black pants.
While Tony takes Stephanie to look at the bridge, both of them are wearing blue and white, which is perfect for that scene since it’s a moment where there is a very genuine closeness between the two of them.
For the big dance competition, Tony and Stephanie each wear a something representing the other’s signature colors. Tony has his white suit with a black shirt and Stephanie wears a white dress with a red embellishment on her waist. I find these costumes fascinating because they manage to simultaneously look like a team yet still look like the distinctly different people that they are. Tony’s suit is more structured while Stephanie’s dress flows as she dances.
In the end, Stephanie and Tony decide, once and for all, to just be friends. When he goes to her apartment, she’s wearing a white robe and he’s still wearing his white suit. Once again, they’re wearing the same colors in a moment of real closeness. There’s also something to be said for the fact that he started the film wearing a black coat and ended it wearing a white one. Tony goes through a lot over the course of the movie and by the end of it, I think he’s a better state of mind than he was in at the beginning.
On a non-fashion-related note, here’s a small detail that shows just how much Tony is adored at 2001: The table he and his friends always sit at is reserved for them. I didn’t notice those cards on any of the other tables in the club.
