John Travolta’s iconic white suit from “Saturday Night Fever” will take center stage Saturday when it hits the block at Julien’s Auctions with a high sale estimate of $200,000.
But, despite the hefty price tag, this garment’s origins are as humble as that of Tony Manero, the blue-collar disco king played by Travolta.
Fever” costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein ventured to a men’s boutique on King’s Highway in Bay Ridge — not far from 2001 Odyssey, the discotheque in the 1977 movie — to find the perfect disco gear.
“I felt strongly that we wanted a white, three-piece suit: dressy, inexpensive and polyester,” she told The Post. “There was a producer who thought a black suit would be more elegant. But heroes wear white; it’s as simple as that. The pastel suits were nice and pretty, but John’s character is very much a hero. Plus, it needed to be something that a boy who works in a paint store would be able to afford. I think the suit sold for $150 or $200.”
Von Brandenstein even brought Travolta and director John Badham to south Brooklyn so that they could see the threads in person.
“It looked like a mom and dad taking their son shopping for clothing,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s, which is doing the auction in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies.
“We were quite the entourage,” the costume-designer remembered of their afternoon jaunt. “High school had just let out, John was wildly popular from his TV show [“Welcome Back Kotter”] and we saw a big crowd outside of the store. That was when we headed back to the car.”
They added a black cotton-blend shirt — also included in the weekend auction — made by Pascal of Spain.
Five suits, produced by a company called Leading Male, were ordered for the production.
Labels were removed from the three that Travolta wore on set, and extensive alterations were made to accommodate his dance moves
The shirt was augmented with elastic material, attached to the pants, so it would remain cleanly tucked in on the dance floor. But there was one thing that could not be changed.
“The suits were polyester. And polyester does not breathe,” said Nolan. “Travolta was sweating up a storm. He would change out of one suit and let it dry while he wore the other.”
As for the third, said von Brandenstein, “It would be at a theatrical dry cleaner in New York City. This is a system that works very well.”
Nevertheless, there was at least one mishap with the famous suit.
“I remember at one point, the pants from John’s suit got mixed up with the pants from the stuntman’s suit,” said von Brandenstein. “We were up on the [Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge] filming, where it was scary because the wind was really blowing, and John had on pants with legs that were too short.”
After the movie blew up, Travolta’s look became the stuff of legend.
“We didn’t know it would be iconic,” von Brandenstein said. “It was not only the suit. It was John wearing the suit. The two made for an ideal combination. The suit was elegant and he was graceful in his movements.”
But only two of the suit are accounted for today.
The one being put up for auction, according to Nolan, “was gifted by Paramount’s president and producer Don Simpson to a friend and collector, Brian Wasserman, in 1981.”
In 2021, according to a letter of authentication for the auction, the suit was sold by Wasserman to Brad Teplitsky, who has it up for auction. Teplitsky — who, according to the letter of authentication, met with Travolta last year and confirmed that the suit is legit — did not comment for this story.
Gene Siskel, the late film critic, purchased the second one at a charity auction in 1978 for around $2,000. He sold it in 1995, at Christie’s, for $145,000.
The third suit was reportedly stolen years ago.
As for how the value of the suit has gone up around 1,000 times what she paid for it, von Brandenstein said: “I think it’s pretty funny.”
