Under-Appreciated Style Icons: Josh Dallas In “Manifest”
My wife and I have never watched much television. We prefer to watch old movies instead.
But we have sometimes decided to give some of the more popular shows a try. Some, we finish (as in, we watch all the episodes in the series), others we don’t.
Some end well. Some don’t (I’m looking at you, “The Handmaid’s Tale”).
We don’t really stick to any one genre. Anything except things like horror and true crime are fair game for us.
Earlier in the summer, we were perusing Netflix when we landed on “Manifest”. Neither of us had heard of it but we decided to give it a try after reading the synopsis since it seemed to have a bit of a “Twilight Zone” feel to it (and you all know that “The Twilight Zone” is my favorite show since I have written about it here and here).
If anyone is unfamiliar with “Manifest”, it follows the lives of the passengers of a commercial aircraft who touch down in New York after what they believe is a few-hour flight from Jamaica, only to discover that it’s five years later for everyone else.
In the time that has elapsed, everyone in the world believed the plane had gone down with no survivors. The sudden, unexplained arrival of the aircraft with everyone on board creates a heap of problems for all involved.
As I said, the show’s premise feels a lot like “The Twilight Zone”, possibly because an episode of the latter was somewhat similar. Unfortunately, the former doesn’t have any groovy, early-60s, Claymation dinosaurs. Oh well.
The story unfolds over four seasons and has multiple intertwined plotlines. The cast could most accurately be described as an ensemble, since almost every character plays an integral role in the outcome of the show, but the ones who drive most of the action are a brother-sister pair who were passengers on the mystery flight: Michaela Stone, played by Melissa Roxburgh and Ben Stone, played by Josh Dallas.
Mr. Dallas is the subject of this edition of “Under-Appreciated Style Icons”.
As I said, Michaela and Ben drive most of the action of the series. Everyone who was on the plane starts getting strange visions (which they call “Callings”) and it’s Ben who encourages everyone to “follow” and “solve” their Callings, since figuring out what each Calling means usually leads to some clue in solving the mystery of what actually happened to the airplane. Michaela is a police officer, which makes all of this much easier.
Before boarding the ill-fated flight, Ben and his wife, Grace, are struggling with the illness of their son, for whom things aren’t looking too good. They also have a daughter (who is their son’s twin). Ben and his son Cal get on the plane, but Grace and their daughter Olive took an earlier flight. That means that Grace and Olive have aged five years by the time Ben and Cal step off their plane.
At this point, Ben is dealing with some pretty heavy stuff. His wife thought he died so she tried moving on and has been sleeping with another guy. His daughter is traumatized from the perceived loss of half her family and has trouble connecting with him upon his return. Oh, and his son still has cancer.
The series deals with things like hope, loss, sacrifice, forgiveness, morality, redemption, and divine intervention (or lack thereof).
Even though Ben is at the center of all the craziness, he really is just a dad trying to keep his family together and safe.
Ben’s wardrobe is a great example of the “elevated casual” look that so many guys are after, especially those who are starting from the t-shirt-and-jeans stage who simply want to look good without eliciting the dreaded “Woah! Why are you dressed up?!”
In seasons one through three, Ben’s uniform usually consists of sweaters over collared shirts, dark jeans, and brown boots.
The sweaters range from what looks like thin merino to chunky cable-knits. The fits are a little snug for my taste, but the show debuted seven years ago and something like that is pretty much subjective anyway.
The collared shirts are usually dark, patterned twill. A few oxford-cloth button-downs can be spotted here and there. Sometimes he sports a flannel or overshirt. When not wearing a sweater his shirts are often tucked in and his sleeves rolled, revealing a robust, field watch of about 42mm on a brown leather strap. Hamilton, perhaps?
Much of the action of the series takes place in and around New York City over the course of a few years, which means we also get to see Ben’s outerwear game. He has a few non-descript dark, roughly-waist-length zip-ups, but his most memorable piece is a waxed field jacket with a corduroy collar and tartan lining in the Barbour style.
Accessories are few. Other than his watch, he only has his round, tortoiseshell eyeglasses (befitting Ben’s line of work of mathematician and professor). I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention Ben’s fabulous locks which, for my money, very well may be television’s best head of lettuce since Dr. McDreamy.
It seems the creators realized this partway through the series and just let it grow and grow like Audrey II until it almost became a character in and of itself (more on that later).
A few times throughout the series we see Ben outside of his normal, “cozy Northeast” wardrobe.
For a visit to a Cuban dock, Ben sports a linen, button-down collar shirt. It’s untucked and the sleeves are rolled up. He’s also wearing sand-colored chinos, faded (possibly blue) boat shoes, and aviator sunglasses.
My, my… that’s a wonderful, warm-weather ensemble, if I do say so, myself! Could it be that Mr. Dallas has been reading Father Style?!
We also occasionally see Ben dressed for work at a college. In these instances, his wardrobe leans pretty hard into “traditional academia”: cardigans or sport coats and wool (or knit) ties.
What I liked so much about Ben’s clothes was that they looked so… natural. He blends in, but in a good way. He’s well dressed, but not so much so that he would seem off-putting to the other characters.
He looks like a dad who has a lot going on, but dresses the way he does because he has respect for himself and his family. He represents his family well. His clothes project capability and instill confidence. And THAT’S exactly what Ben needs in order to rally the passengers around his ideas for how to deal with the Callings and all the fallout from them.
Ben needs to look like an adult. He needs to look like someone to be trusted. His clothes, like him, are sturdy, capable, and practical.
At the beginning of season four, however, some time has elapsed since the end of season three and Ben is in a very dark mental place. The creators change up his wardrobe in order to signal to us, the audience, that he is depressed and struggling. How do you they do that? They give him a giant, unkempt beard, and put him in a hoodie and baseball cap (from which his marvelous mane struggles to escape).
At that point, Ben is laser-focused on one, specific thing (which I won’t reveal, in case anyone wants to watch the series) but his new, shabby uniform indicates that he has “given up” on just about everything else, including his personal presentation.
“Normal, Pasted-Together Ben” wears sweaters and tucked-in, button-down shirts. “Crazy, Attic-Dwelling Ben” wears a hoodie.
It’s important to realize that the creators of a show aimed at normal people decided to use a hoodie to show that a particular character needs to get his life together. And we immediately understand it, don’t we?! As soon as we see unhinged, season-four Ben wearing a hoodie we go “Woah, what happened to this guy?”
When Ben finally sorts things out, he’s back to his regular wardrobe.
As I said earlier, I think Ben’s clothes are a great example on how to do the “nice casual” that so many men seek. A lot of guys just want to look good without feeling like they are putting on a costume. Ben’s style feels approachable and easily replicated. There’s nothing about his wardrobe that would make a normal guy think, “Oh, I couldn’t pull that off”. It’s masculine and not fussy or pretentious.
Some guys don’t feel comfortable in classic menswear since they feel it’s too “dressed up” or “old fashioned”, but I think most men could reasonably see themselves dressing like Ben.
After we finish a series, my wife and I always chat about what we felt the show in question did particularly well.
Here are a few things I feel “Manifest” got right…
First is the casting. As I said, it’s pretty much an ensemble which means everyone needs to be strong in order for the show to work. The majority of the weight of the show falls on the shoulders of Mr. Dallas and Ms. Roxburgh, but a great deal of emotional heavy lifting is done by Athena Karkanis (oh, hey Aviva!) Matt Long, Parveen Kaur, Luna Blaise, and Holly Taylor. There really aren’t any weak links in the whole cast.
The premise of the show is rather silly (mysterious, time-traveling plane) and only gets more and more far-fetched as the series progresses, but the cast does a great job of convincingly selling each ridiculous (but entertaining) plot twist. Everyone is wholly committed, which is the only way this kind of show could work.
The second thing I liked about this show is the fact that stuff happens! There is some major happening in each episode and tangential storylines get wrapped up or solved quickly. There are no meandering stories that take multiple episodes to conclude. Each episode features some big event or reveal.
Because of this, the show marches along swiftly and the characters never lose sight of trying to solve the initial mystery of what happened to the plane. Sometimes, shows forget why people started watching and branch out into tangents or storylines that have nothing to do with the original “hook” of the show. “The Walking Dead” was like that. After a couple seasons, I realized that the creators had no interest in exploring what caused the zombies or how to stop them (which is what I was interested in) so I stopped watching.
The third thing I liked about this show was the fact that it wrapped up well. Some shows, like “The Handmaid’s Tale”, completely fumble at the goal line by not realizing what their audience wants. “Manifest” doesn’t do that. It ties up each character’s story as satisfyingly as it can.
Back on the topic of Mr. Dallas’ wardrobe, I feel like the creators didn’t necessarily set out to make Ben super-stylish. I think they just wanted him to look like a normal dad with at least a little bit of gravitas. They needed to make sure that we, the audience, always viewed Ben as the adult in the room.
And they succeeded. The rest of the characters naturally gravitate toward Ben. They seek out his advice. They believe him. They trust him.
Toward the end of the series, Ben has become a true leader. He never would have been able to do it in that hoodie, though.
