“Last known home”: Cifonelli suits, trench coats and short skirts – Reel

(Cover photo credit: “Last Known Home” by José Giovanni, 1970 - Photo FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)

“Last Known Home” by José Giovanni is a 1970 detective film starring Lino Ventura and Marlène Jobert. You should find a little something familiar there, if only through the music of François de Roubaix. It's also a fairly exciting transitional film, which tells, among other things, the transition from fashion from the 60s to that of the 70s.

THE PITCH: A MAN, A WOMAN, AN INVESTIGATION AND THE PASSING OF TIME

Said like that, it might not make you dream. But the fact is that “Last Known Home” has its own rhythm. It's a field film, with its long searches for clues. At the same time, it is also a sort of race against time, started from the start.

Lino Ventura plays an honest and often gruff police officer, relegated to small neighborhood affairs. He will quickly be put back on track with an almost impossible investigation: finding the crucial and untraceable witness to a murder case whose trial is fast approaching.

He is working on this with a young woman who is new to the profession. It’s Marlène Jobert, actress and style icon to be rediscovered , for example in the very beautiful “We will not grow old together” by Maurice Pialat in 1972:

The author of “Last Known Home” is José Giovanni. Her story is unusual .

Writer, screenwriter and filmmaker, he is, among other things, the author of the novel which gave birth to “Second Souffle” by Jean-Pierre Melville. The latter is particularly fond of Lorenzo Cifonelli, telling us about the relationship that linked the actor to his family and his work:

“Lino Ventura was a historic client of the house . He started in 1964-1965, continuing until the end of his life. The problem I have with this film is that I was only one year old in 1970.
It was my grandfather who started dressing Lino Ventura, then my father and us at the end with my father. He really came every day, he passed rue Marbeuf, he was there like a friend of the family. Whatever his films, and in his private life, he only dressed as Cifonelli . He had a real passion for costumes, a real knowledge of costumes and what he wanted. He liked beige colors, gray sports jackets and flannels . He really had his own look, which was of course expressed through the costume. »

We will return to this in more detail later. In the meantime, what you can remember is that despite the weight of the years, the style developed here has something obvious, instinctive and fiercely timeless: Lino Ventura's clothes are cut for him.

This ease in clothing can still be felt today on screen. And believe me: it’s fascinating to watch! As a bonus, for the more observant, you will discover a pretty Tissot Seastar watch on his wrist. To go further on the suit and tailor-made:

2. POLAR CLOTHING CLASSICS: HATS AND TRENCHES

Like any good self-respecting thriller, “Last Known Home” has no shortage of hats, trench coats and other raincoats . You will find one at Lino Ventura, worn over a suit.

You will also find one at Marlène Jobert: very stylized, in a material that seems close to suede, most often worn with brown boots and the color underneath: blue or orange, for example. What does this tell us about the characters?

That they are then up to date. This is because traditional macs and trench coats have not yet been supplanted by technical hooded parkas . Very popular, they are also very popular in the detective genre. In this sense, José Giovanni quite logically places his film in the sartorial tradition of film noir, while taking the pulse of the changes of his time. Want more raincoats at the movies? It's this way :

3. A CERTAIN IDEA OF WOMEN'S FASHION

If the style printed by Lino Ventura is impressive, it would be wrong not to take a look at the outfits of his partner Marlène Jobert. For those of you who don't know her, she's the mother of actress and model Eva Green.

She made her film debut with Jean-Luc Godard, in “Masculin Féminin”. Then she toured with filmmakers like Louis Malle, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Claude Chabrol or, as noted above, with Maurice Pialat.

In “Last Known Home”, she wears colored knits, short checked skirts, buckled shoes or brown boots, soft scarves, neckerchiefs, beautiful belts and even a beret .

In the credits, you will learn that Marlène Jobert is dressed by Réal and that the furs used are by Henri Stern. Another era? Certainly. The film also has something of a documentary on town planning, clothing and the profession of the police.

On another note, if you are looking for other inspiration for hats, berets and caps for women , you can take a look at the style of Anne Wiazemsky in “La Chinoise” by Jean-Luc Godard in 1967:

In any case, “Last known home” is also worth a look for the presence of Marlène Jobert: she embodies both a certain heritage of the sixties and the future contours of fashion in the following years . If you are looking for more tips, vintage style and women's fashion, you can take a look here:

… TO CREATE INSPIRING OUTFITS

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

Exceptionally, there will only be one outfit this time, and it's not necessarily the photograph of the century. But the main thing is elsewhere: it is especially accompanied by a precious testimony! You can rest assured that you will find several inspiring outfits in “Last Known Home”, for men and women.

But of course, as you have understood, the boss of the film is undoubtedly Lino Ventura. There is the style, the color combinations and all of this is brought together brilliantly in the choice of her outfits. But the most remarkable and inspiring thing is perhaps to be looked elsewhere: in the cut, the silhouette and the relationship with the body .

Lorenzo Cifonelli explains to us what made the Ventura style special and his love of clothing:

“We really recognize the Cifonelli line here. It's quite funny, because 50 years later, I'm making costumes that are very close to the lines that Ventura could wear in this film.

He needed to be able to move, to have great freedom of movement. What he really liked about our cuts was that it was close to the body but didn't feel skimpy at all. As he was still quite stocky and strong, he was a former wrestler, he needed to be able to move.

Our cut, with the small chest, the very high armhole, all the work we do in the back, in the rendering of the shoulders etc., this whole cutting philosophy allows us to be able to move. He could therefore keep his jacket on and still be moving. Being able to drive, being able to dine, being comfortable in your clothes. »

“It’s a bit of Cifonelli’s philosophy. As soon as he met my grandfather, he immediately found a garment that corresponded to who he was and what he wanted , a line that slimmed and lengthened.

He had the ease he wanted with us. In the films, he especially didn't want to feel awkward or tight and at the same time still have a slender figure. There is a fairly characteristic line with our shoulder, which is quite pronounced and which an expert will be able to recognize. This ease was important to him.

Afterwards, over time, a friendship developed with my grandfather and then with my father. He was Italian, my father was Italian. There was really this Italian side of things and then there was a real desire in him to want to be dressed in flexibility and movement . In the Cifonelli line.

In summer, he always wore beige gabardine. It was definitely her summer color. And he really liked flannel in winter, gray flannels, jackets with little gray chevrons, etc. It was really his daily life at our house. He dressed both for the stage or the films but also in private. He loved it, he had a real knowledge of clothing , it wasn't just "I'm going to the tailor because I need to go to the tailor". He felt good, well dressed, and more elegant with our cut. That's what we brought him.

It was not easy to dress. People who have done wrestling or boxing develop a lot of muscle. It's one thing to dress him in front of the mirror without him moving and another to dress him in motion. It's important to take this into account. It is the tailor side which must speak, understand and know how the client lives and develops his body.

In short, it was love at first sight in terms of clothing and friendship . There was a real relationship, a real friendship. And then also a real need for a suit and a real desire to dress well, like the men of this generation who always liked to be elegant in the cinema or in private life. He found what he wanted in our house and we managed to satisfy him. This explains why it hasn't changed in 40 years. »

What Lorenzo Cifonelli tells us about Lino Ventura in a way drives the point home. This passion for clothing not only makes you want to dress better but also to rediscover the actor's filmography, discovering the famous lines of his costumes. “Last known residence” is definitely a good place to start.