In ‘Marty Supreme,’ New York City’s Most Iconic Mobsters Inspired Timothée Chalamet’s Retro-Chic Suiting

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A short film from the experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, documenting the predominantly Jewish immigrant life in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1955, served as a main reference point for Josh Safdie and costume designer Miyako Bellizzi when building out the bustling downtown world in “Marty “Supreme.”

“Obviously I was looking at the young cool kids,” Bellizzi tells Variety about the short film, which she says Safdie showed her after stumbling across it at the Museum of Modern Art. 

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In the colorized vignette, boys wear pleated trousers, white tanks, slim ties, sleeveless knit vests. Girls wear culottes and vintage tees. “They almost look contemporary to us,” Bellizzi says, noting that downtown New York was the epicenter of style, even then. Women weren’t wearing pants in the 1950s but “the girls in the Lower East Side were.” 

The grotty tenements of the Lower East Side — and the distinct fashion within — is as much of a character in A24’s drama as the eponymous ping pong player himself. In the film, Timothée Chalamet plays the mousy, arrogant and delusionally ambitious Marty Mauser as he hustles for the chance to prove his greatness at a sport that nobody takes seriously.  

Authenticity and historical accuracy is of utmost importance to both Bellizzi and Safdie, who previously worked with each other on “Uncut Gems” and “Good Time.” For production design, this meant using the exact right font on a Delancey storefront. For the costumes, it meant no contemporary brands — anywhere.

“Even down to the underwear!” Bellizzi quips. The women’s tights in the film, for example, were sourced from Williamsburg’s Hasidic Jewish Center.

But once those markers for historical accuracy were set, it was really about inhabiting the mind of Marty Mauser. “What was he looking at? What were his references? Who did he look up to? Who were the types of people that he saw on a regular basis?” These were the questions that were top of mind for Bellizzi when constructing his wardrobe, she says.  

The hustler subculture was specifically compelling for Bellizzi, who looked to 20th century Wise Guy gangsters to evoke Marty’s gritty swagger. This reference ultimately informed his boxier, oversized suits; tailored two-piece sets with strong, padded shoulders, in dark colors such as deep charcoal and navy blue, became his uniform for much of the film. 
 
“It’s kind of like dressing for the job you want,” she says. “It’s not even ‘Fake it till you make it,’ it’s just him wanting to show he’s in the know.” 

Of course, the real-life table-tennis sensation Marty Reisman, who Chalamet’s Marty is loosely based on, was also on her mood board. “The real Marty was eccentric, so I wanted to give him a little bit of flair and style without being overly stylized,” she says. “He’s pretty classic – it’s more in the shapes and in small details.” One standout fashion moment includes a pair of red leather gloves he wears while shoveling a hot dog down his throat in the middle of a traffic-riddled street.  

Of course, it would be remiss to write about the costume design in “Marty Supreme” without mentioning Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), the retired movie star that Marty is intent on seducing. Kay’s refined style – made up of ivory wool coats, pillbox hats and delicate face veils – is Marty’s aspirational opposite. While we mostly see her in neutral colors, her most striking ensemble is a red, satin evening coat she wears to the opening of her play — and later, to a secret rendezvous with Marty.

“That was her ending when she felt the most alive again, and that’s why we chose red,” Bellizzi says. “This dress is her moment. She’s so excited – this is the party for her big new theatrical show and then we find out it doesn’t do well, it doesn’t get great reviews.” 

“This emotional, alive feeling gets destroyed,” she continues. For Bellizzi, this moment comes close to encapsulating the entire point of the film: “Sometimes you have big dreams for yourself, and then sometimes they don’t go the way you want them to.”