Preppy Movie Preview: The Royal Tenenbaums

Sure, you may have seen Wes Anderson's 2001 quirky, avant-garde film The Royal Tenenbaums, but the question is, were you paying attention to the costumes? This won't be Anderson's first foray into trad style, as we've seen before in Rushmore, he evidently likes to create characters who lean towards prepdom.

As a estranged, albeit wealthy  family, the Tenenbaums exhibit many elements of preppy style. From camelhair jackets, to numerous suit and tie combinations, quite a few items stuck out to me while watching, so I've screen captured them for review. While each character has his/her own take on dress, overall the details seemed very spot on. Add to the record Moonrise Kingdom, filmed in ocean-side Narraganset Bay and  Jamestown, RI. and you have quite a lot of prep (after taking into account Bill Murray's madras trousers).

The sartorial choices of each character end up being more of a motif than purely costume, but I won't give out any plot spoilers, just photographic evidence of the goods.

Here are a few scenes that grabbed my attention from Royal:

Furs, camelhairs, and Fila sweatbands.

An electronic tie rack with dozens of (the same) Argyle and Sutherland regimental tie

Young Chas, decked out in jacket and aforementioned tie.

Danny Glover as Henry, Who always wears gingham shirts, a double-breasted blazer, and a bow tie.

Sometimes in green

...Or yellow.

Wedding outfits, BB#1 repp stripe tie worn by Luke Wilson (Richie)

Tennis prep Lacoste dresses are seen on Margot Tenenbaum

Ben Stiller in the same outfit, grown up. 

Owen Wilson In the Closet...with about a two dozen Lacoste polo shirts and penny loafers

The Doctor, wearing another variation of the regimental tie

aaand there's this guy... The man servant, who is inexplicably seen throughout the film wearing Nantucket reds.

Zooming in on that TV...we see the classic BB#1 repp tie in burgundy. 

Finally, in the end credits, a special thanks to Brooks Brothers, who (as I suspected!) supplied many of the costumes. 

Read more on IMDB


Disclaimer: Images are content from Touchstone Pictures and are used here for non-commercial commentary only under fair use.