Calling all Saturday Night Fever fans!
The iconic white suit that made a then 23-year-old John Travolta a certified movie star could be yours for the steep price of $250,000.
Consisting of a polyester jacket, matching waistcoat, and 28-inch waist-flared trousers, the ensemble is set to go under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles after being carefully preserved for more than 45 years.
WATCH NOW: John Travolta dances in the iconic white suit from Saturday Night Fever. Article continues after video.
Executive Director of the auction house Martin J Nolan even admitted to The Guardian that the suit even came with original sweat marks made by Travolta whilst filming the disco film.
“The sweat is how you know it’s authentic,” Nolan said. “It was incredibly hot during filming, so you can still see the sweat marks around his waist [on the suit to be auctioned].
“We never wash memorabilia. People want the stains, the DNA, particularly when a suit like this one hasn’t been auctioned before.’”
Travolta’s character, a 19-year-old working-class Italian American called Tony Manero, could never have afforded an expensive suit, so costume designer Patrizia Von Brandenstein purchased the outfit for just $100 off the rack from a small menswear shop in Brooklyn, New York.
The original purchase point is a far cry from the price fans hoping to purchase the outfit (sweat stains and all) will have to dish out come auction time.
A black polyester shirt that was worn underneath the suit will also be sold as part of the auction.
During filming, the shirt was actually sewn into the trousers to allow Travolta to move more freely and pose without baring his stomach whilst dancing and posing.
“When choosing what goes into such a major dance costume, I paid attention to the usual factors of cut [and] danceability,” Von Brandenstein told the V&A Museum in 2012.
The auction house director also acknowledged that the suit was ‘’an embodiment’’ of what the film represented, as a chronicle of the dying days of disco.
“Dancing was his [Tony Manero] escape his life raft, and this suit embodied that,’’ Nolan said. For those who have yet to watch this classic, the film follows Travolta’s character Tony as he spends his weekends dancing at his local discotheque whilst dealing with the social tensions and disillusionment of his working-class ethnic neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
Saturday Night Fever is streaming now on Apple TV and Binge Australia.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
