Breaking Down Dumbledore's Outfits - Crimes of Grindelwald Edition
In the Fantastic Beasts prequels, Dumbledore's clothing gets a complete reboot. Instead of long sweeping robes, he dons a variety of tweed suits. The one problem with all of this is that it is a touch muggle looking, but as someone who adores muggle dress clothes, his outfits are still pretty great. Here is a breakdown of his outfits in Jude Law's first outing as Dumbledore.
1. London (1927)
When we first meet Dumbledore in Crimes of Grindelwald, he is standing on a roof looking out over interwar London. Dressed in a snazzy wide wale corduroy blue coat with the collar popped. The coat is double breasted and in true gentlemanly style he has not buttoned the bottom most button. The sleeves are polished off with squared off button tabs. He is also wearing a fedora with a slightly pointed crown (to make it look more wizardy) and rather narrow brim. The hat is a dark blue that matches the coat but has a pale gray ribbon around the crown. Always dressed for the occasion this outfit is Dumbledore at his most spymaster - dark and mysterious. Though a touch of whimsy still comes through in all his clothing (after all, does James Bond ever wear double breasted corduroy coats?).
Since Dumbledore wears his coat throughout his whole trip to London - the parts we see anyway - it is hard to get a good look at the suit he wears under it. Luckily for us, there are a number of behind the scenes shots of Jude walking around set with the coat off. These photos reveal that it is a grayish brown tweed suit. The style is very much a shooting suit - hence the four large pockets on the front that were historically used to hold ammunition. Truth be told, this is not the sort of thing that should be worn in the city but we can assume Dumbledore came straight from Hogwarts so we can forgive him this fashion faux pas. Like the suit, this is the best look we get at his tie which seems to be dark blue silk.
The suit is accessorized with with a small square watch in the style of a Cartier Tank with a brown leather band. The shoes are perhaps the most eccentric thing about the outfit. They appear to be brown suede with tiny cobwebs at the the tip.
2. Hogwarts (1927)
Next time we see Dumbledore he is in his element (at first anyway) - teaching the young minds of tomorrow and clearly loving every minute of it. Its also my favorite of the outfits we see Dumbledore wear in both movies. In these scenes, Dumbledore wears a light gray tweed three piece suit. Though it is not obvious in his classroom, when talking to Leta later that day it becomes apparent that the suit has very subtle red (almost pink) stripes on it. The jacket is a three button jacket but Dumbledore never seems to button it up. Like all of Dumbledore's suits in the films, the pants are high waisted which would have been the common cut for a pair of pants at the time.
He accessorizes the suit with a dark reddish brown tie that is from a thicker material than his blue silk one but not quite as thick as wool. Not entirely sure on the material and I am open to suggestion. The pocket square is a dark blue with a red and pink floral pattern. The most whimsical item in this outfit.
When we first see him, Dumbledore has the jacket off which gives us a good look at his shirt. Later when he is looking into the Mirror of Erised we get an even better look at a more informal (and this time vulnerable) Dumbledore. His collar is slightly longer and more pointed, which perfectly fits the style for the time period. Though the shirt looks white at times, the harder I look, the more I am convinced it is a very very light blue - almost white but not quite. He also wears small round silver cufflinks.
3. Hogwarts (1910)
When we journey back in time to witness the origins of Newt and Leta's friendship, Dumbledore is dressed even more professorially. Once again he is in brownish gray tweed (his trademark outfit for the Fantastic Beasts movies seems to be various shades of gray tweed). This one is a windowpane tweed that he pairs with a pale green sweater vest. This flashback is the one and only time we see Dumbledore in a fun little bow tie - a red one with white microdots. The pocket square for the outfit is a muted blue color with some sort of gold design on it. Dumbledore's polishes off his teaching outfit with another set of brown suede shoes. It is possible these are the same from earlier but impossible to know for sure at this distance.
4. Hogwarts Bridge (1927)
The last time we see Dumbledore in the film he is on the bridge leading to Hogwarts. Though I have tried my level best to find differences, I am almost one hundred percent sure this is the exact same outfit he wears in all his other scenes at Hogwarts. Perhaps he did not sleep the previous night while waiting to hear news from Paris? I am unsure but it sadly leaves me with little to say here. I can however provide a couple more pictures of the suit from different angles.
So that is the end of my breakdown of the Crimes of Grindelwald clothes of Dumbledore. Stay tuned sometime in the coming week for one on Secrets of Dumbledore.

















