In the David Leitch action film Bullet Train, Brad Pitt’s character Ladybug is an ex-ex-assassin who decides to return to the business, which puts him on one hell of a journey onboard a high-speed, Kyoto-bound train in Japan.
Ladybug’s origins remain a mystery, but his really cool working suit, dark-rimmed glasses, and comical bucket hat give the impression that he just strolled out of a menswear blog and onto a Tokyo train station.
The film, which just won the top spot at the box office for a second straight week, was one of Sarah Evelyn’s first projects after Hollywood was placed under a high-COVID lockdown. This created “a certain intensity to the environment and the need for fun and exploration and doing something risky and taking big swings.”
She began by reading the Ktar Isaka book that served as the inspiration for the movie while envisioning what people may dress in “a Japanese retro-futuristic environment.”
They discussed color and composition while trying on various hat shapes, eyeglasses frames, and coats. “Was it going to be a coach’s jacket? What kind of jacket was it going to be? In terms of design as an intellectual and truly creative process, Brad is highly design-leaning, Evelyn noted. “Education is the greatest benefit of cooperation. He is well-versed in many various aesthetics, so I was able to sort of draw from his expertise.”
Brad Pitt imagined his role to be something Columbo-like, with the “concept that you wouldn’t take him seriously and you wouldn’t necessarily think he was dangerous, and that gives him an edge about his character’s personal attitude to risk and violence,” according to the actor.
They chose a bespoke bucket hat in “light beige, narrow-wale corduroy” to go with a traditional work jacket and deep green twill leggings. A personalized T-shirt from “our fake fishing business, which was dubbed “Master Baiters” was worn underneath the jacket.
