Club Obi Wan

Ok, I'll admit I have not read every single post in all the threads since the movie was released, so this may have been brought up by someone else. If it was, my apologies for the unintentional plagiarism.

So, about 20 or so years have passed since the time of LC to CS in Indy's life. Fashions changed from pre-WWII to Cold War. Why does Indy wear the same (style) shirt? Khaki/taupe pants are "common." Leather jackets never go out of style. The fedora? Eh...that MAKES Indy. Can't do the character with a different chapeau. But the shirt? Not that I'm complaining. It just doesn't seem to fit, if you know what I mean. We see a change in his suit style from the '30s to the '50s in the course of the films.

Does anyone think that Spielberg, Lucas, Ford et al. kept the same shirt for us, the fans/gearheads? Especially since it's a custom piece, where they could have easily just bought off the shelf?

Or am I just over analyzing (again)?

You don't mess with a good thing.

The gear is his work uniform. Lots of guys wear more or less the same style of clothing their whole life. Like Seinfeld says, "All fathers are like a frozen-in-time pedestal that says 'This is 1964'. They somehow manage to get hold of old new clothes."

i have been wearing jeans and a black t-shirt since i was at least 15 im 31 now and have no intent on ever changing it! dr. jones must feel the same way

I had an uncle on my mother's side who always work the same green work clothes for years and years. Indy had "normal" clothes for daily wear, but his "field gear" is the same. Not nessessarily the same exact shirt or pants or jacket, but the same tried and true style he's comfortable with and knows it'll take a beating, like him!

Besides, could you see Indy in a 50's style tapered fedora, blue jeans, and a different color work shirt?

If the shirt is checkered, you almost described "Michaelson" gear, MJ.

Regard! Michaelson

I've tried to stick with the same styles, but I gave up. Between growing up and growing out, I cycle through clothes every few years. In much less that 18 years, my shirts may be the same color, but there are simply some things you can't get anymore. My grandfather and father might be wearing 20 year old clothes, but if they had Indy's life, those clothes wouldn't last.

So, yeah, in the real world Indy's shirt would probably have been only similar to his shirts from the 1930's. But, in the real world, a guy who doesn't change his clothes for days at a time while sweating profusely doesn't get the girl, either. (This is not an unreality that's limited to Dr. Jones, either.)

Well, considering the shirt and most of his gear could have essentially been picked up in any military surplus store, both before AND after the war, it may have just been so convienent and inexpensive, why buy anything ELSE for field use?

Regards! Michaelson

His gear is his costume and what makes him identifiable to audiences. When you see him in the gear he IS Indiana Jones. It's just as identifiable as Supermans costume. As Cassidy said, you just don't mess with a good thing.

agent5 wrote:His gear is his costume and what makes him identifiable to audiences. When you see him in the gear he IS Indiana Jones. It's just as identifiable as Supermans costume. As Cassidy said, you just don't mess with a good thing.

but superman did change his costume several times in the last 19 years...

I don't see what's the big deal with the shirt. You can easily get close enough shirts today, so it's not like it's out of style. The only thing that doesn't fit the period is the hat really. In the the late 50's Indy's hat would have had less brim and be a teeny bit shorter with probably a bit wider of a ribbon.

Marcus Brody wrote:The only thing that doesn't fit the period is the hat really.

The whip?

Everytime that I saw my grandfather not dressed up, he was wearing green Dickie pants, black work shoes and a pocketed t-shirt. That was his daily "uniform". He wore that for my entire lifetime, and from what I understand, almost all of his. When he died, I insisted that we include a set with him in his coffin. My grandmother would kill me if she knew that.

We are creatures of habit. There are aspects of my wardrobe that hasn't changed in over 20 years.

Mike

Cowboy wrote:

Marcus Brody wrote:The only thing that doesn't fit the period is the hat really.

The whip?

What's not period correct about the whip. As far as I know (which isn't a lot), whip making did not change drastically from the 30s to the 50s if even at all.

The novelization implies that it is the same whip through all of his adventures. The way he abuses it, I can suspend disbelief more on the fedora being the same one rather than the whip.

I think the outfit is likely period authentic as work clothes didn't change much and weren't affected by fashion trends until the '70s. Even the hat would have been available -- one of the old models that had enough of a following. And in those days shoes, hats, and other accessories would have been available year after year. Only cars were planned to be obsolete the year after production!

Re: The Hat -- Herbert Johnson's genuine/not-modified-for-Indy-movie "Poet" was available from the 1890's through at least the filming of "Raiders". And I suspect that HJ sold many more through the '50s than in the following three decades.

bruce wayne wrote: but superman did change his costume several times in the last 19 years...

And DC paid the price for it.

Seeing Indy in a white t-shirt while being interrogated by the FBI was
slightly jarring for me - felt like I was watching a present-day Harrison
Ford flick. I know that the army probobly toasted his old clothes as they
were more than likely starting to glow after the radiation exposure they
underwent.

I'm sure Indy was chomping at the bit to get home and put on a proper
shirt - with buttons! :junior:

I'm pretty sure they hucked his old, radioactive clothes and then gave him an Army issue shirt and pants.

Jarring but totally believable in the films' universe.

I think Spielberg and Lucas probably view the outfit as "iconic", including all of the various parts of it.

Of course, they probably knew full well that, had they changed Indy's shirt, a frothing mob of gearheads from Club Obi Wan would have marched on Skywalker Ranch, torches and pitchforks waving.


---Tim

TimInKC wrote:I think Spielberg and Lucas probably view the outfit as "iconic", including all of the various parts of it.

Of course, they probably knew full well that, had they changed Indy's shirt, a frothing mob of gearheads from Club Obi Wan would have marched on Skywalker Ranch, torches and pitchforks waving.


---Tim

Oh...like some aren't ready to do that already?!

And I agree with your point on it being "iconic." I guess I meant more in terms of "historical accuracy" would that style shirt, with the pleats/strips down the left and right sides, still have been available 20 or so years later?

After thinking about it, and reading the replies in this thread, I've come to the conclusion that I AM overanalyzing the whole shirt thing.

Now...was he wearing boxers or briefs in this latest adventure?

Herr Doktor wrote:

TimInKC wrote:I think Spielberg and Lucas probably view the outfit as "iconic", including all of the various parts of it.

Of course, they probably knew full well that, had they changed Indy's shirt, a frothing mob of gearheads from Club Obi Wan would have marched on Skywalker Ranch, torches and pitchforks waving.


---Tim

Oh...like some aren't ready to do that already?!

And I agree with your point on it being "iconic." I guess I meant more in terms of "historical accuracy" would that style shirt, with the pleats/strips down the left and right sides, still have been available 20 or so years later?

After thinking about it, and reading the replies in this thread, I've come to the conclusion that I AM overanalyzing the whole shirt thing.

Now...was he wearing boxers or briefs in this latest adventure?

HAte to admit this, but I noticed boxers being stuffed into the travel bag this time around

Herr Doktor wrote:Now...was he wearing boxers or briefs in this latest adventure?

Boxer shorts of course.

will agree, Been wearing dorky comic book t-shirts and jeans for 26 years now.

...it looks like the hat survived too, it appears to be on the table during the interrogation. Another plus for AB!

FloatinJoe wrote:Everytime that I saw my grandfather not dressed up, he was wearing green Dickie pants, black work shoes and a pocketed t-shirt. That was his daily "uniform". He wore that for my entire lifetime, and from what I understand, almost all of his.

Your grandfather sounds like my father, although my father's color choice for the pants was usually brown. Except for those times where the occasion required that he dress formally, he dressed this way nearly every day until he passed away (even after he retired). If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Venkman wrote:...it looks like the hat survived too, it appears to be on the table during the interrogation.
Another plus for AB!

So that's why they're so expensive - radiation proof!:junior:

Indy’s shirt is a basic safari/bush shirt with the front pleats similar to Guayabera shirts worn in Latin America. Here’s a shot of my Dad in Cuba, 2002 – notice the pleats…

Here's a pic of my Dad in the jungles of Panama wearing a shirt very similar to Indy’s (sans front pleats and with extra pockets on the lower half of the shirt) in the late 1960’s, so it’s not that far of a stretch to believe that Indy would still wear that kind of shirt in the 1950’s.

Those shirts are built more for functionality than fashion…

Funny you should bring up the guayabera, Tom. Being Cuban and growing up in Miami, I have been around these shirts since childhood. Maybe it is just that I grew up with the guayabera, but I have always thought that the guayabera was the shirtmaking perfection. I own a few and the style has gone virtually unchanged since its inception, God knows how long ago. The safari shirt is very similar to the guayabera in that it is a classic style that doesn't need to change...shirt perfection.

Dave