Pop culture history is for sale later this month when two of John Travolta’s iconic suits from Saturday Night Fever & Pulp Fiction come up for auction at Julien’s in Los Angeles.
In Saturday Night Fever, Travolta plays Italian American Tony Manero who tries to escape the realities of his life in Brooklyn by ruling the disco dance floor. The polyester suit worn by Travolta in the movie‘s famous dance competition scene is one of two used during the production.
The movie popularized disco around the world and Travolta got his first Best Actor Oscar nom for it. The whole thing sounds cheesy but if you’ve never seen it, besides the amazing Bee Gees soundtrack and clothes, it really holds up due to a great screenplay and Travolta’s electrifying performance on and off the dance floor.
The film’s costume designer, Patrizia von Brandenstein, said of the quintessentially ’70s look,
Heroes from Sir Lancelot to Tom Mix wore white in the great contests to express purity and single-minded devotion to the task at hand.
So, for me, white was the only choice for the suit. I am grateful that our hero, John Travolta, and our producers also came to see it in this way.”
The polar opposite bad guy look, worn by Travolta as mob hit man Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction (1994) is in the same auction.
Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Actor for Travolta (it won Tarantino Best Screenplay), six Golden Globes, another nom for Travolta (winning Best Screenplay & Best Film) It took home the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the movie was a big come-back for Travolta who had not had a critically acclaimed role since 1980’s Urban Cowboy. Like Fever, the look of Pulp and “Travolta cool” were key to its success.
Costume designer Betsy Heimann originally suggested a different look for Travolta’s anti-hero to Quentin Tarantino, saying in a 2014 interview,
I thought that Vincent was more of a mess and so I suggested a linen suit so that it could get all wrinkled and rumpled and kind of add to the laissez-faire quality of his character.”
Other auction highlights will include Harrison Ford‘s machete 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Michael J. Fox‘s hoverboard from 1989’s Back to the Future 2 and Ralph Fiennes‘s Valdemort wand from 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Hollywood: Classic & Contemporary happens at Julien’s Auctions house April 22 & 23 in LA.
(via CNN)
