Saturday Night Fever: John Travolta’s White Suit

For what is certainly the best remembered costume in Saturday Night Fever (1977), John Travolta as Tony Manero wears a brilliant white 3-piece suit to dazzle the disco dance floor. His look defined an era: smart, yet somehow scruffy; classy yet somehow cheap.

To keep costs down the film’s director John Badham insisted costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein procure all outfits off the peg and not make them from scratch. Furthermore this added to realism as Tony could never have afforded bespoke.

Interestingly despite the pristine first appearance of Tony’s suit it never really looks clean. Just like the disco scene itself his costume is sullied from the sweaty self-indulgence of its environment:

White polyester two-button single breasted suit with matching waistcoat; wide jacket lapels and flared trousers. Black with white broken line stripe shirt, single cuff, pointed collar, no necktie. Two tone black and grey lace-up leather brogues with stacked heels.

On first glance John Travolta’s suit with its long tails and loon pants is characteristically 1970s, yet it draws influence from much earlier in the twentieth century.