Archer-Style! The Menswear of Archer: Ray Gillette Edition

photo credit (@luckyyates twitter)

Raymond Q. Gillette has come a long way from the back country of Ferlin, West Virginia. A bronze medal-winning Olympian (Giant Slalom), crack pilot, and ISIS field agent/analyst, he’s a key member of the team on the popular and outrageous animated series. His cutting wit, soft heart, and killer style have won hearts and minds from Monaco to Pangu Pirate Fortress.

Ray has bootstrapped his way from the farm to the big city, and he never, ever wants to go back (except to help his brother in an armed standoff with the sheriff, of course). As a result, he deliberately chooses sophisticated, urbane versions of the classics. If he indulges in bling, as with his cigarette holder, it’s got to be the best bling. 

Ray is a walking example of the old military rule that “a gentleman should always be attired in the uniform appropriate to the activity in which he is engaged.” Working at the office, he wears a classic grey one-button suit with flap pockets and four-button cuffs; being a gentleman, he would of course ensure the buttons really unbutton. His suit is neither Euro-slim nor English drapey, but a good Brooks Brothers cut which screams traditional. Black shoes and socks and white shirt, blue tie, perhaps a foulard, and silver tie bar, always with the suit. 

Ray is familiar with, and desirous of, the very best in life. When headed to Pangu Island with Lana to rescue Archer, he simply bought a 100’ yacht, complete with Malaysian slave boy, rationalizing that they could always sell it later. Naturally, on the ship he wore a captain’s cap and dark blazer, white shirt, crimson ascot, and chinos. Pocket square, of course. That’s a hard look to pull off unless you’re Thurston Howell III, but then, he DID buy the boat. He can wear the hat, I suppose.

Preparing for action, he sports a black “tactileneck” turtleneck, which naturally causes Archer, who considers this “his look,” to sulk. Nonetheless, he can’t argue: when your life is on the line, you need comfort, breathability, and stretch. And looking damn good in black doesn’t hurt. Camo face paint optional.

For formal wear, Ray’s choice is a white, shawl collared dinner jacket with classic black pants. It’s one of our favourite looks. Nothing fancy about the shirt, just a good, solid white shirt. For leisurewear, or piloting into the tropics to take over a dictatorship, he favours a plain, solid coloured golf shirt and khakis, accessorized with classic gold aviators.

When Ray is in a wheelchair as he periodically is thanks to Archer, he wears the same grey suit. The pants, of course, ride up when sitting down, so he might be well advised to get a pair tailored specifically for wheelchair use. This means longer in the rise in the back, so that the waistband remains horizontal, increasing comfort, and have them hemmed a little longer. A slightly shorter jacket works well in these circumstances, to reduce bulk in the lap.

As befits an ex-Olympic skier, his cold-weather wear is luxe, classic, and well-accessorized. Winning his bronze medal, he wore retro diagonally quilted snow separates, the parka trimmed in fur. Apres-ski, he favours cashmere cable-knit sweaters in subtle tertiary colours, perhaps with a scarf in contrasting colours.

His two M1911 pistols are named Barbra and Liza, for the iconic divas, and are custom-engraved. It’s that kind of attention to detail that defines Ray’s style: classics, with something extra.