The Menswear in L.A Confidential (1997)

There’s not much to say about L.A Confidential other than it’s a good film, both in watchability and costuming. I unfortunately can’t say that about a few of the films I’ve covered on the blog, like Gangster Squad or Live By Night.

Like most good, kino-esque films that I’ve discussed on this blog, L.A Confidential was a film I did not watch until very recently. Most of my time is pretentiously spent reading, writing, and playing video games, so cutting myself a 2+ hour block to watch a film at home is just not something I can do. (If I watch in a theater proper, I can do it because it’s more of an Occasion. This is why I’ve seen all but one of this year’s Best Picture Noms but almost none of Fred Astairs repertoire). But thanks to a bout of flu I had a month ago, I was able to watch this flick on streaming. And I loved it.

Then I watched it again since we decided to talk about it on this month’s bonus pod.

Funnily enough, this film is a bit of a sequel to Gangster Squad and like ESB to ANH, it’s better and more interesting in every way.

L.A Confidential’s kicks off with the arrest of Sunset Strip kingpin and Santy Clause imposter, Mickey Cohen. A power vacuum ensues and results in two things: 25 lbs of Cohen’s heroin is missing and a massacre happens at the Nite Owl Diner, where one of the victims includes a recently fired cop.

Three cops independently start investigating things when evidence doesn’t line up: Bud White (a thuggish cop with a penchant for police brutality), Ed Exley (a recent Academy graduate who thrust himself to Lieutenant Detective after snitching on some bad cops), and Jack Vincennes (a detective who only does celeb arrests and even serves as a consultant for a crime show). The three of them start to uncover a conspiracy that involves plastic surgery, prostitution, and a crime/gossip magazine. Eventually they need to work together and expose what’s really going on in LA.

Now having three main characters means we get an opportunity for distinct costuming choices while still having it fit into the period setting. And boy does this movie do it right!

Bud White, being a gruff guy, effectively wears the same thing everytime: a brown flecked jacket, brown odd trousers (in a contrasting shade), and a white point collar shirt that features a textured weave and short sleeves; his ties are also quite tonal, being either striped or utilizing a 50s design. All of this put together brings to mind a military uniform, which is then echoed by his hair. The use of browns in tailoring to evoke a militaristic feel was also used when dressing “Sarge” O’Mara in Gangster Squad.

Exley dresses as clean and professionally as his hair. Instead of browns, he wears greys and blues which to me, makes it look like he’s trying to dress like a police officer through tailoring. Like Bud, he also gets to wear a flecked 50s jacket but the difference, apart from the color, lies in the styling. Exley exclusively wears conservative ties in repp stripes or and small geometric prints (no crazy foulards here). He comes across as more ivy-esque which fits with his education-but-no-experience nature. It’s apparent that Exley is precise and by the rules, unlike Bud who seems to wing it and follow orders without exception.

“Hollywood Jack” Vincennes is the dandy of the group, which makes sense considering his glory hound personality and side hustle cash flow from working with the gossip magazine. And sure enough, he dresses like a late 40s to early 50s movie star.

His flecked jackets have broad shoulders , patch pockets, wide lapels, and are cut with ample drape in the chest. Trousers are cut high and full with tunnel loops, a novelty detail found in period trousers from the 1920s-1960. Shirts are spearpointy and long and even have his initials monogrammed on the pocket; he wears quite a few of these throughout the film. As for ties, Vincennes seems to enjoy what was on the forefront of fashion at the time, wearing tonal jacquards that echo his shirt or vertical abstract designs. That being said, my favorite outfit from his is when he forgoes a tie and wears a textured off-white jacket and a black sportshirt. It’s very 50s.

However, Vincennes eschews all of the flash once he starts taking his job seriously, trading his bold celebrity inspired looks for a plain grey-brown suit and a more subtle tie. Costuming in action!

Of course, they aren’t the only ones who are dressed well.

Pratchett is a sleazy millionaire who runs a high-end prostitution ring in LA; he’s seen in elegant clothes that play up his wealth, such as tennis whites or a light blue suit with cream tie. It’s not Esquire Man, but he certainly seems to be close to Scott Fraser.

Smith on the other hand is also one of the only characters to wear a full suit (the DA and the Police Commissioner are the others) and it certainly helps him exude authority over the three protagonists. His DB suit appears to be from the 90s, but it fits right in with the bold, 50s tailoring. Interestingly enough he is also one of the only fedora-ed guy in the film. According to TV Tropes, the costumers decided not to have a lot of fedoras in order to make the film feel more classic and less costume-y.

The rest of the excellent costuming extends to secondary characters like Sid hutchens (who gets to wear period glasses and striped shirts) as well as Matt Reynonlds and Johnny Stompanato, both of which wear very 50s jackets. There’s also a lot of extras who have some great clothes, all of which fit in well for the setting of the film and doesn’t feel out of place.

It’s all making me want to try my hand at some 50s attire!

Spencer, MJ, and I discuss the movie and its costuming in depth on the latest bonus episode of the podcast! You can listen to the first 15 minutes of the bonus pod above, but you’ll have to subscribe on Patreon to get the RSS feed of the full episode, as well as access to our Discord community.