Sean Connery’s Brown Tweed Three-Piece Suit in Finding Forrester

Finding Forrester may be best known for one particular line that Sean Connery says, but it’s far more than that. Like in The Offence, it’s the kind of dramatic role he desired to play after leaving James Bond, but it’s not something he did often. What’s not unusual for Connery is that William Forrester is a stylish role, but in a much different sense from his James Bond style. His tailored style, which comes at the end of the film, is more mature and lived-in than Bond’s style. It’s more reminiscent of how Connery dresses in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Untouchables and The Russia House. Some people online have compared this suit to the glen check three-piece suit that Sean Connery wears in Goldfinger, but the colour, pattern, type of cloth and overall style are different. The similarities start and end with it being a three-piece suit worn by Sean Connery.

The film is set around the time the film was released, in 2000. For 2000, the suit is both current and old-fashioned, and that was most likely what costume designer Ann Roth had in mind. The suit is made of light brown herringbone tweed, an appropriate choice for a character who is Scottish and a writer. Tweed is often used to make a character look old-fashioned and academic. A tweed three-piece suit especially so. Tweed suits, however, were easy to find in Britain at the time, and Polo Ralph Lauren—along with other traditionally minded American brands—was selling them across the United States.

The overall style of the suit is Anglo-American. The front of the jacket is darted, so it’s not an Ivy League suit. The shoulders are soft with natural sleeve heads, a style found from English tailors and from both American tailors and brands. Most of the film was made in New York, so the suit was likely sourced from an American brand. The shoulders are likely too soft to be English ready-to-wear for the era, and though soft shoulders were unfashionable at the time this film was set, some American brands made them to keep to a classic American look. The cuff buttons appear to be sewn directly to the outside of the sleeve without buttonholes, suggesting this is a ready-to-wear suit. The fit is mostly good, though the fit cannot be fully judged because Connery wears the jacket open the whole time. It appears that it has a short front balance, which can be seen in how the pocket are angled back slightly. The sleeves are a little too long, but some shirt cuff shows when the arms are extended.

The jacket has two buttons on the front in a medium stance, straight flapped hip pockets, and four buttons on the cuffs. The buttons are dark brown horn. A long single rear vent, like on a traditional hacking jacket, splits over the seat of Forrester’s bicycle like it would over the back of a horse. The medium-width notched lapels have a medium-height gorge, and their pronounced roll indicates a well-made suit. The edges are swelled, a common detail on suits and jackets made of tweed and other sporty materials.

Nothing about the suit jacket dates it to any particular era. At the time of this film, the jacket’s style was current but not highly fashionable, and it had been a typical style in England and America since the early 1980s. Before that, it was common in the 1930s through the 1950s with slight variations. Forrester has been a shut-in for decades at the time of the story, and the suit is supposed to be old. It could believably be from the mid-1950s, the time Forrester wrote his famous novel, but it doesn’t look outdated for 2000.

The waistcoat is made in a traditional style with six buttons down the front, worn with the bottom button open. It has four pockets, with two upper welt pockets and two lower flap pockets. It has swelled edges. Like the jacket, the waistcoat stands the test of time.

The trousers have a flat front, a high rise, belt loops and a wide straight leg finished with turn-ups. Unlike the top two pieces, the trousers are not as timeless. This sort of wide leg was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but the trousers lack pleats, which were almost ubiquitous in 1990s suits. The lack of pleats, while not easy to spot on screen, makes the suit look slightly out of fashion for the time, though flat-front trousers never went completely out of fashion. The flat front gives the trousers a more traditional American look. The belt is unfortunate with a three-piece suit, but it doesn’t disrupt the lines of the waistcoat too much.

The dark shirt with a suit is a look that’s very much of the late 1990s. It’s a shirt that says, ‘You’re the man now, dog,’ with an emphasis on the now. Juxtaposed with the tweed suit, the black shirt shows that Forrester is just as relevant in the present as he was in the past. The shirt’s style is typical of the era in America, with a small point collar, a large chest pocket and one-button cuffs.

Connery’s tie complements the tweed suit in a tweed-like texture, maybe in wool or a wool-silk blend. It’s a dark colour, possibly a combination of olive and black, in a large basket-weave pattern. It’s tied in a four-in-hand knot, an understated knot that suits the character more than Connery’s usually preferred Windsor knot.

Sean Connery lent one of his personal clothing quirks to Forrester: wearing his socks inside out. The character says he wears them inside out, ‘Because socks are badly designed. The seams are on the inside; [they] hurt the toes.’ Connery himself confirmed that he has been wearing socks inside out for the same reason since he was in the navy, quoted in an article in The Morning Call by Amy Longsdorf titled, ‘Spotlight on Sean Connery ** Actor is finding “Forrester” a refreshing change of pace’. He states in the article, ‘It doesn’t always work because my wife can’t bear to look at me wearing my socks with the wool hanging out.’

Connery’s shoes are light brown leather sneakers with closed lacing and a dark brown rubber sole. Sneakers with a suit are usually a bad idea, but since Forrester gets around by bicycle, they have a very practical use while not looking as jarring as a proper athletic sneaker. The dark soles help them blend in with the outfit. Since they’re paired with a tweed suit, they are not as out of place as they would be with a smarter suit. Ultimately, they’re a sensible choice. The belt is dark brown, so while it’s not a perfect match for the shoes, it’s appropriately in the same colour family.