God I hate myself for this. So, yeah, I just watched The Graduate for the 25+ time. And I found myself being reminded just how aces it is. Even though I already knew. Of course I knew, I’ve seen it a stupid amount of times. And I’ve spent many productive years, boring everybody I meet, by making sure they know, that I know, it’s a good film. And acted like a tiresome, self-aggrandising, US cinema aesthete, festooning any social occasion with litres of molten pomposity. And now I’m doing a post on Dustin Hoffman’s parka. You know you’re running light on ideas when you’re adding to the pile of words on a movie like The Graduate.

I did have one thought though. About the famed ambiguity of the ending – you know, when they’re both on the bus, their expressions flitting from joy to confusion. I thought, actually,  it’s not that difficult to decipher. Think about it… Hoff’s just had his parka cabbaged by his boo’s dad. And you just know that was A.P.C or some shit. Breh bound to be power-pissed.

Of  course this ain’t ‘GQ’s guide to dressing a bit like a bloke off a film’. And I’m not about to drop in some snooze along the lines of, this parka looks a bit like this one from <insert hot brand here>. You already know you can pick up this kind of garb at the Polloi or John Simons.

I think, its just about a great look, in a great film, that captures a moment in time. It’s not about trying to look like that now. You’ll never do it. The Graduate is full of Ivy League staples – blazers, knitted ties, chinos, oxford cloth shirts, polo shirts. But for me, Hoffman’s all over beige look (aside from the pop of the simple black polo) is the kit of the film. A grown man, chasing after the girl he adores, in a jacket with a hood on. A strangely juvenile outfit. But one that, for me, symbolises the power of love to make children of us all.