You must have recognized Timothée Chalamet. But did you recognize Bob Dylan? For several weeks, in New York, the Franco-American actor has played the folk legend on the set of A Complete Unknown. Directed by New Yorker James Mangold and adapted from the book Dylan Goes Electric!, by Elijah Wald, the biopic focuses on Dylan’s early career. And its electric turn, extremely poorly received by folk purists, in the second half of the 1960s.
Timothée Chalamet was decked out in a brown suede calfskin jacket similar to the one the singer wore on the cover of the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released in 1963. Which requires us to make a little lexical point. What is suede calfskin? The term refers to leather used on its flesh side, i.e. the internal surface of the skin. In short, leather used inside out. Nothing to do with suede? Not really. If the term “suede” is used to designate this type of material, it does not refer to anything tangible. It’s been a long time since we stopped hunting suede to make clothing.
Like Bob Dylan on the cover of The Freewheelin’, Timothée Chalamet is also wearing Levi’s 501 jeans this April 29, adorned with his iconic topstitching on the back pockets. Called “arcuate”, arc or arc in Latin, these were introduced in 1943 by the American brand to distinguish its jeans from the competition and have never disappeared since. Except in 1944, for a few months. To participate in the war effort and reduce the use of threads, the brand gave up its double stitching, temporarily replaced by two identical but painted curves.
Let’s continue the owner’s tour by talking about the boots. In this case, these allow us to formulate a reminder which will be useful to you if you one day plan to do some shopping in the United States. On site, even in a specialized store, do not ask for a pair of cowboy boots, no one will understand you. We are, in fact, the only ones in the world to use the term “santiag”, a reference to the name of the importer of the first boots of this kind in France, in the 1960s… In the United States, and everywhere else , say cowboy boots instead.
Finally, let’s stop for a few moments on this yellow New York taxi. Simple question: why yellow? Quite simply because, in 1908, New York entrepreneur Albert Rockwell (1862-1925) was looking for the most visible and remarkable color for his brand new taxi company. Orange ? Green ? Purple ? It was his wife who ended up deciding, imposing yellow, her favorite color.