WILL GORDON GEKKO’S TRUE TAILOR PLEASE STAND UP

For many years there has been some conjecture on who made the suits for Michael Douglas in Wall Street. The film still stands out to this day as one of the most iconic films for men's style, and Gordon Gekko has provided the style blueprint for many would-be hot shot stock brokers on Wall Street. The film's costume designer Ellen Mirojnick called upon the skills of NYC tailor Alan Flusser for a quick turnaround, as there were few people that could make the suits and their duplicates for a speedy production. Flusser later went on to claim that he had designed the film, much to Mirojnick's chagrin. Whilst speaking on the From Tailors With Love show, Mirojnick was keen to dispel that myth, and many more. It was a captivating unguarded interview that you can catch on YouTube now. 

Below is a moment or two transcribed, but loosely. I recommend you watch the full twenty minute interview if you're wishing to use the conversation for further context. 

"I will just state this now. So this is clear and understood. There are a number of films Fatal Attraction, other films I might know I think it was fatal attraction specifically in Wall Street. That Nino Cerruti, God bless. And May he rest in peace. He was a very, very, very great designer, a great textile artist as well. He and Michael Douglas knew each other from previous works. [...] There's a thing called product placement and they like to kind of give you whatever you want and so on and so forth. And then they use it as publicity later. This is a designer for a film. That being said, I think that we had a number of things from Nino Cerruti, nothing worked out. Nothing worked out at all. There is not a stitch of clothing on Michael Douglas that is Nino Cerruti in Basic Instinct in Fatal Attraction and Wall Street. Nothing. Nino in his material in his book, which I was really upset when that was published many, many years ago, [...] he claimed that he designed Michael's costumes. Which was totally untrue.

I think it's a very, very handsome look. It was specifically designed for Gordon Gekko to have this elegance or romance, if you will, of a kind about Hollywood movie star but from the golden years. So that kind of classic attitude, I could see it in any which way today. Yesterday, tomorrow, there is a very handsome, put together feel about that particular look, that's it is relevant now. But then it changed the face of men's fashion.

It's really kind of crazy. And, throughout my career, I've tried to stop this. I mean, I am very generous person. And talent is always part of what I look for in putting things together. And I'm not protective in that way, necessarily. But when someone crosses the line, as Nino Cerruti did and Alan Flusser did. Okay. Alan Flusser. We went to Alan Flusser because there wasn't any one in New York that could produce the goods fast enough for me to put on film. A friend suggested had you gone to see Alan Flusser? And I said, No but I knew who he was. It was a good idea. We went up to see him and said, Can you do this in two weeks? It was some ridiculously short time? I'll pay you. It doesn't matter, just tell me the price. Yeah, we'll give you screen credit like a thank you and the end roll. But can you do it? And he said, after thinking about okay, sure. And so he agreed to make the suits. He agreed to give me everything that I needed.

And I thought, Oh, this is very, very good. I could bring Michael here, this would be very quiet, very contained. It was all just great and he delivered what he said he would deliver, and we put things together. Everything was quite successful until of course, he claimed he designed the film. I was upset. I mean, I was a young designer who was trying to make my way in the world and didn't realise how greedy people were no pun intended.

Many years later like 2013. I was in a factory in Brooklyn in Greenfield, (huge factory in Brooklyn) who were making suits for me for Clive Owen (for the TV show The Knick). And their dad, Mr. Greenfield, said, You know, we've worked together before. I said, What do you mean? He said, I made you your suits for Wall Street. Oh, wow. No, what are you talking about? He said, Alan Flusser told you he made the suits. Right? And he told you he made the suits upstairs. He didn't. He made them in Greenfield. That's how I understood he could do it in two weeks. And tailored."