Archer-Style! The Menswear of Archer: Cyril Figgis Edition

Cyril Figgis is a kickass accountant, surprisingly competent field agent, sex addict, ex-ISIS comptroller, criminal defence attorney, and former President For Life of the banana republic of San Marcos. Well, he was President for a very brief time before he was unceremoniously deposed by a CIA coup and had to flee the palace dressed like an eccentric 30’s dowager.

He is also, incidentally, the King of the Sweater Vest and Loafers look. 

In contrast to the other men at ISIS HQ, Cyril favours a softer-edged presentation, leaning more towards the Mister Rogers than to the James Bond. Soft shoes like his black loafers and his cashmere or lambs’ wool sweater vests underscore the fact that Cyril is just not as threatening (or as well paid) as colleagues Archer or Ray.

He chooses grey suits in pale tones or a brown blazer and chinos, pairing them with v-necked sweater vests in orange, brown, or blue, and a nondescript tie in greyed-out browns or blues. He was once seen in a striped tie, but only for about five seconds of screen time. His cuff buttons don’t unbutton; in fact, there’s not even a vent there. And the material he chooses tends to wrinkle. All in all, it’s a very Midwestern, nondescript look.

Cyril favours minimal accessories. Because he wears sweater vests, he has no particular need for a tie bar or pin like the other men in the office wear. He sports a black belt rather than suspenders, which is only on display in the episode where he gets drunk and moves all the ISIS money to secret Swiss accounts. He wears a carefully folded pocket square in white just peeping out of his breast pocket. He occasionally indulges in shirts with French cuffs, albeit with unfashionably short collars. 

Indeed, his boldest fashion choice is the nerdish pair of glasses that he wears, which just happen to be identical to the pair his father wore when Cyril was a young boy who disappointed his dad over and over and over.

Cyril is at his best sartorially when he is in the field. Whether sportingtropical white-on-white as “El Contador” or Bwana-style safari khakis complete with Aussie bush hat, he commits to the look and somehow manages to pull it off.  Not for him the macho “darker black” tactileneck turtleneck. 

His fashion choices may not be badass, but they are popular with the ladies, much to Archer’s surprise. Pam, Lana and Cheryl/Carol all confirm that the look works on him. As a fan of sweater vests, we must agree, although we would encourage you to make a stronger contrast between your jacket and your sweater vest than Cyril typically does. Navy suit, heather grey sweater vest, white shirt, grey or black foulard tie would work well. The key with layering is that contrast is a more authoritative, high-status look. The artists of Archer knew what they were doing when they gave Cyril off tones of brown and orange, or grey on grey on soft blue. 

But his knack with tropical wear, as well as his hidden gift for tactical thinking and his obvious military genius (you don’t seize control of a country, however temporarily, by sitting around doing accounting) hint at hidden depths to our mild-mannered accountant. Will the coming season of Archer reveal more of Cyril’s mysterious past? Why did he never mention he was a criminal attorney before? Will we get to see him in those snazzy tropical whites again? And will he ever give up on that awful orange colour? Stay tuned, the season premiere is March 31 and we have a sneaking suspicion the tropics may be involved…