The adventures and little style secrets of Antoine Doinel – Reel

As for the character's substance, let's say that he owes as much to his interpreter as to his creator: the two are inextricably linked. Filming of “400 Coups” began on November 10, 1958.

No one suspected that the life of Antoine Doinel was destined to have a lasting impact on cinema screens. Through the five films that he almost accidentally devotes to this character, François Truffaut develops both the story of a life and a journey of style over a period of twenty years, the opportunity for us to draw some little secrets and lessons.

1959: the turtleneck, Balzac and Monika

It all starts at school. “Les 400 Coups”, François Truffaut's first film, is a small masterpiece that can be placed alongside Jean Vigo's “Zero de Conduite”. It is a breath of fresh air and freedom at the same time as a serious story about the vicissitudes of childhood.

We discover the turbulent Parisian daily life of young Antoine Doinel, stuck between the reprimands of his teacher “Petite Feuille” in class and those of his mother and stepfather at home. It's a film that's both hard and tender, with something that's unseen even today.

The first image of Antoine Doinel in the cinema is almost the one that we will keep from his youth: short messy hair, fat rustic turtleneck knit , thick corduroy pants and black derby-style shoes. To accompany this typical outfit, a good checked wool jacket and a leather bag. If you suddenly have the sensation of something familiar, it's perhaps because this outfit has something resolutely current.

Firstly because after falling out of fashion, corduroy pants and velvet in general have been making a comeback for several years now. Then because the turtleneck is a safe bet. Certainly, shape or cut are perhaps no longer quite identical today . But it is indeed a timeless one, in life as in cinema: look for example at Jean-Paul Belmondo in “The Mermaid of the Mississippi” or Marlon Brando in “Last Tango in Paris”.

As for the style of young Antoine Doinel revisited: imagine for example an Oliver Spencer or Universal Works jacket, a BonneGueule or De Bonne Facture turtleneck, Ami or Berg & Berg corduroy pants, beautiful shoes and a Bleu de leather bag. Heater . In the meantime, you can have fun mentally reconstructing your style at the same age. If, like Antoine Doinel, you already had style before you turned fifteen, hats off. Otherwise, don't worry: fortunately the story doesn't end there.

What you discover something else in this locker room will not change anything in the overall picture, not even the passage of our hero in the Observation Center for Minors. Because if the discipline and style are military, the mind continues to dream of the stars: Antoine Doinel is a fervent reader of Balzac and we can see in it both a remedy and a poison for surviving modern times.

Through his readings The contours of his possible future emerge, that of an eminently romantic character, torn between real life and dream life. In fact, he will always be a little in his world, away from everything.

In the meantime, Antoine and his very elegant friend René prefer cinemas to classrooms, if only to pilfer the poster of Harriet Andersson, the beautiful Monika by Ingmar Bergman. Incidentally, this is another great film about adolescence. And a first female icon to add to the Doinel file. There will be many more.

1962: the suit, the fuse and the new world

While he had just filmed the iconic “Jules et Jim”, François Truffaut was commissioned to write a short story for a sketch film entitled “Love at Twenty”. It is an opportunity to reconnect with the life of Antoine Doinel, to take the pulse of French society.

Through “Antoine & Colette”, we find our hero in the early years of the 1960s. He still lives in Paris, near Place Clichy: he is a young man who has just reached the age of majority but is already very independent. If his family has completely disappeared from the landscape, his faithful friend from “The 400 Blows” is still there, intermittently.

As with Hitchcock, his obsession crystallizes from the outset on his neck and his hair. And as is often the case with Truffaut, it is a question of letters, novels and beautiful formulas, whether invented or recited, such as here “Vipère au fist” by Hervé Bazin.

“Antoine and Colette” is in any case the story of a first disappointment in love. It's brief, spontaneous, a nice curiosity for anyone interested in what daily life was like in those years.

Style-wise, Antoine Doinel seems to have fallen into line: gray suit, white shirt, club tie, shoes and overcoat, nothing that is not not transposable today and available from all good brands dedicated to suiting and formal elegance, from Suitsupply to Pini Parma .

As we move into the 1960s, Antoine Doinel's relative eccentricity is no longer to be found in his clothes but in his hair, which is slowly but surely beginning to grow. “My mother thought you looked romantic, probably because of the length of your hair,” Colette wrote to her.

We are witnessing the birth of Jean-Pierre Léaud's lock: it is the beginning of a new world and it obviously coincides with a certain emancipation at work in cinema, fashion and society in general.

1968: the blue room, layering and tires

Six years later, France wakes up under the beach and the cobblestones of May 1968. Antoine Doinel, for his part, still has his head in the clouds. If “Stolen Kisses” is a light, nostalgic and largely improvised film, it is also our character's first adventure in color, an opportunity for us to appreciate his stylistic choices a little better.

After a voluntary stint in the army where we see him wearing a beige shirt and tie under a uniform French army brown , Antoine Doinel regains his freedom. He gained confidence, style, hair length and he probably devoured Balzac's “The Lily in the Valley”.

In Paris, in a building on Place St Pierre, he finds his home sweet home with a view of the Sacré Cœur: it is a blue room, with books on the shelves and an ashtray that is overflowing to say the least. His return to civilian life involves odd jobs.

This is how we discover many new things in our wardrobe. Take for example his hotel night porter's outfit: a thick camel cardigan , an improbable red sweater underneath, a patterned scarf with blue, purple and burgundy, dark gray pants and black shoes.

A little further on, he will leave the cardigan for a beautiful blazer halfway between gray and beige. For a contemporary look, imagine a fine burgundy sweater and a BonneGueule camel wool cardigan, beautiful Scavini pants, a Thomas Farthing type blazer and an A Piece Of Chic scarf/neckerchief.

For shoes, you already know the song and for those who like reading: Antoine Doinel is now reading “La Sirène du Mississippi”. At the hotel window stands the faithful Christine. It's an appearance, similar to that of Anna Karina two years earlier in "Alphaville". She will never leave him again.

Antoine Doinel subsequently becomes a detective, like Buster Keaton in “Sherlock Junior”, and it is a new change of style: beautiful dark gray chevron overcoat, scarf, pants and shoes as previously observed, here combined with a checked tie , V-neck sweater and navy or dark green cardigan. For these new additions to Antoine Doinel's wardrobe, you can find inspiration at Drake's for the ties, Husbands or From Future for the V-neck sweater, Tricot Paris or BonneGueule for the cardigan.

Among its little secrets: note the recurrence of the accessory around the neck (scarf, neckerchief), the cuffs always rolled up with knits, the impeccable fit of pants over shoes and this growing propensity for elegant layering. He also has one of the most legendary cinema pajamas.

Of all the films in the Antoine Doinel cycle, “Baisers Volés” is probably the richest in information on the style of our hero. Impossible to list everything. It's also impossible to forget these colorful characters, the magnetic charm of Fabienne Tabard, the visit to Paris through the Pneumatic Post and the moving reunion with Christine.

In the morning, the world seems to have changed: words are exchanged on pieces of paper, between two bowls of coffee and a row of rusks. It is here, sheltered from the current revolutions, that Antoine Doinel's life will take a new start.

1970: Alphonse, the leather jacket and Japanese women

“Domicile Conjugal” marks Antoine Doinel's entry into the 70s and his life seems to have never been so stable nor his style more relaxed. At least that's what the first images suggest: black leather jacket like we saw a lot of at that time, orange turtleneck, brown khaki velvet pants, brown shoes.

The lock of hair is still there, and for lovers of detail, we now see new accessories at Antoine Doinel, such as here a metal bracelet.

For the more curious: you can rediscover the pleasure of clothing from this era in thrift stores, or try something similar at Oliver Spencer for the turtleneck, Ami or Berg & Berg for the pants and Aero Leather for the leather.

The penultimate episode of the Antoine Doinel cycle is the logical continuation of “Baisers Volés”. It revolves around a building courtyard and its gallery of characters, like Renoir's “The Crime of Monsieur Lange”. Christine gives violin lessons at home, Antoine colors flowers, theorizes about floral art and runs around as usual.

Since the previous film, they got married and now live together. Soon they will have a child named Alphonse. There is no doubt that the story could have ended there if Antoine Doinel did not have a taste for permanent adventure: his job changes are incessant and his fascination with women is insatiable, as evidenced by this new romance with a Japanese woman. named Kyoko.

He is a complex character, both odious and endearing, shy and conquering. Meanwhile, the Doinel couple explodes, in the same way as what remains of the New Wave.

When it comes to style, the Doinel from “Domicile Conjugal” does not settle any further: he moves between the outfit presented above, with a wide variety of color choices in his turtlenecks, and something more dressy, often an overcoat combined with gray suits, a silk scarf, kingsize ties and white or blue shirts with French cuffs. For the latter, you can look at Howard's if you want to try it.

For the rest, François Truffaut once again slips in some mischievous cinematographic winks and an open ending, here in the form of a happy ending. Antoine Doinel nevertheless seems to be going in circles: what if he had already told us everything?

1979: The song, the gesture and posterity

To everyone's surprise, Antoine Doinel reappeared at the very end of the 70s, in “Love on the Run”. He is past his thirties and wakes up with a growing beard in the arms of young Dorothée.

When the time comes to dress, we discover a very classic outfit in our character, the result of various stylistic experiments from previous films: the essential dark gray pants and the blue shirt , a thin round-neck sweater halfway down between gray and blue and a leather jacket , brown this time, as if to recall François Truffaut's outfit in “American Night”.

Elsewhere in this locker room: nothing really new, gray blazers, white shirts, ties and black shoes. Note that most of these pieces would undoubtedly appear a little ordinary on most men: what makes Antoine Doinel's style so particular is a very 19th century spirit combined with a subtle balance of gestures and clothing, which obviously owes a lot to its interpreter.

If on the other side of the Channel, fashion is reinvented with the punk movement, Norman McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, you will not find any trace of revolution in “Love on the Run”. It's a summary of twenty years of stories: life, love, fashion.

In fact, most of Antoine Doinel's stylistic secrets are scattered throughout the previous films, which is underlined by the very structure of “Love on the Run”: it is a type of witness film, with a large share of flashbacks. about the past life of our favorite character and a song by Souchon which sums up the whole affair.

No one really knows what has happened to Antoine Doinel since. He probably has long, white hair and is finishing reading yet another novel. Maybe he also likes velvet or shawl collar cardigans. What is certain is that he has entered the great history of style and cinema.