Does anyone know anything more about the suit and shirt Bond was wearing on his arrival in the Bahamas in Casino Royale, the one described as cream/grey in the artical? Are there any good pictures of it or can anyone tell me the colour, material etc?
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
Haven't been able to determine the brand yet, but I have a couple of decent photos I can send you. Unfortunately one of them is b/w, but it still gives some good detail information. Check your personal message box (top right hand corner).
...and welcome to AJB!
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,655MI6 Agent
Just a quick note to notify of a re-write (already!) to a chapter of the most recent article (5).
The chapter headed 'The Second Coming' has undergone some changes to acknowledge the contributions of the scriptwriters (sorry to have overlooked you first time, guys) and highlight the important Fleming-throwbacks in Bond's wardrobe attitudes.
Thank you for another great article, Bill! Very good analysis, particularly the contextualization of general dress through the ages. What you mentioned about Moore is most obvious in LALD when he visits Harlem in such stiff looking clothing, but don't you think that there's much more dressing down in his later movies? He does wear a lot more casual outerwear (like the San Francisco footages in AVTAK), but I concede that the slacks and shoes that he wore look like grandpa's. Taking a cue from the book, "Dressed to Kill," the acknowledgement of more dressed-down tastes actually began in the 80's, with Moore (as mentioned) and Dalton, and not with CR, though as you said it was better realized in CR.
About looking comfortable in a suit, I do agree that Craig looks nice in a tuxedo, but with the occasional unease. Speaking of which, and I know I am in the minority, but I was not particularly impressed with the suit ensemble of the last scene, which to me registered "gangster." If the general analysis is correct, this scene was meant to convey the final transformation of the character into the Bond we know, who I take is supposed to be a dapper clothes horse? Well, for said reason, it did not work for me and it suggests a mixed messege from the producer, which is sort of like the schizophrenia you diagnosed with Dalton's style in particular.
Lastly, I am certain that it is just me, but in the scenes in the Daimler limo, Craig from the neck-up clashed with the finely cut business suit he was wearing, which made me think that a different color or cut would have made a dramatic difference. However, I strategically think that they should stay away from the Brioni business suits along the lines of Brosnan that seem to "pick" their wearers; like Connery, suits that look "rakish" (a term that I remember you attributing to those early suits) or as you mentioned, more "sober" as a nice nod to Fleming, would work better, of course avoiding the mafia look that should stay in Jason Stratham movies.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
Good to hear from you Supe, it's been a while. And some excellent points, as always.
Yes, I think you’re right about the evidence of increased ‘dressing down’ from the later Moore films onwards, which as you mentioned, is highlighted in the Dressed to Kill book. My point here was that Moore always seemed slightly awkward & uncomfortable when dressed down, as if he’s always yearning to be back in a suit. I’m thinking particularly about his suede blouson with dress shirt and slacks from FYEO, or his leather jacket outfit from AVTAK. Of course, this is probably a reflection of Moore’s personal dress sense and in interviews and personal appearances Roger never seems to appear in anything less casual than a blazer and tie. The reverse was true of Dalton, who always seemed much more comfortable in his casuals than his smarts, which again is probably a reflection of his personal tastes – although I can’t help feeling Dalton always gets a raw deal here; some of his suit scenes have been as good as any in the series.
As for Our Man Craig, he does have an air of the ‘tough looking character’ about him (Moonraker?), which I feel captures the spirit of Fleming’s intention, if not quite adhering to Bond’s facial description. I also think that this helps him in a way – after all, he’s dressed in essentially the same suits, shirts and ties as Brosnan, but his innate air of dishevelment serves to dilute the Brosnan ‘Screen Idol’ effect. Connery had a similar thing going, as did Dalton to a lesser extent. As for the sobriety, that can easily be achieved with the Brionis (which are excellent suits) - Brosnan looked great in his TWINE Bilbao and Kazakhstan scenes with subtle colours for the suits and shirts and solid-tone ties. Now imagine Connery in some of those suits, he’d look great and not particularly overdressed; perhaps it’s all down to charisma?
And you’re absolutely right about that last scene; hadn’t thought about the Al Capone connotations, underscored with the huge machine gun. Craig’s whole outfit is screaming for attention here but I suppose that was part of the directorial decision to make more of an impact as the camera panned-up his body. OTT? Of course! I didn’t mind it here, but like you, I hope it was a one off.
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,655MI6 Agent
As for the sobriety, that can easily be achieved with the Brionis (which are excellent suits) - Brosnan looked great in his TWINE Bilbao and Kazakhstan scenes with subtle colours for the suits and shirts and solid-tone ties. Now imagine Connery in some of those suits, he’d look great and not particularly overdressed; perhaps it’s all down to charisma?
Those suits are good examples of that nice balance for Craig's Bond, given that the situation calls for a suit...a nice point you brought out about the series! No matter what scenes the screenwriters cook up, I think that a suited Bond will always be a staple as far as EON is concerned, and it can be smartly done with Craig with a rich style but without the excess. I think that Craig's appearance at the China CR Premier is another good example of that look.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
No matter what scenes the screenwriters cook up, I think that a suited Bond will always be a staple as far as EON is concerned, and it can be smartly done with Craig with a rich style but without the excess.
And long may it continue - it's one of the defining characteristics that separates Bond from all the others.
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of my favourite films is North By Northwest. Greatest suit film ever made and a cruel injustice that Grant’s suit didn’t win an Oscar for best supporting actor. He manages to stay in the same two-piece for the first three quarters of the film, despite being on the run, having whiskey poured all over it, having it stuffed in a very small suitcase, being crop-dusted and then rolling around in the dirt. A quick sponge and press and he’s off again!
But the thing to note was that Grant never looked over-dressed the entire time, a combination of the cut, colours and subtle tie. Casuals are great, and I applaud their sensible use in CR, I just hope that the producers don’t get carried away and forget Bond’s defining character traits. As Hitchcock (and Terence Young) proved, a suit can be made to look great in a great many situations if it’s done well.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Funny, Craig's final suit looked very Lazenby to me.
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,655MI6 Agent
Funny, Craig's final suit looked very Lazenby to me.
What comes to mind is Lazenby's navy, 3-piece suit that he wore in M's office right before the Piz Gloria raid. However, to me that's were any similarity ends. Lazenby really made suits look good and he seemed very natural in them, even during action sequences. But remember that he was a model, a quality which many appreciate Craig not having.
On a side note, a former member who loved Craig but hated Lazenby noted how poor George had a big head. I can't see that myself, but the drawback with the cut of today's suits is that they are very tight on the body, which unfortunately makes Craig's head look unproportionately big in that final scene. The big gun didn't help either.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
...Lazenby really made suits look good and he seemed very natural in them, even during action sequences. But remember that he was a model, a quality which many appreciate Craig not having.
...the drawback with the cut of today's suits is that they are very tight on the body, which unfortunately makes Craig's head look unproportionately big...
Ironically my daughter thought that there was too much of the male model about Craig as he emerged, Venus-like, from the waves. She simultaneously commented what a small head he seemed to have in comparison with his pumped-up body. I didn't notice either point of view.
Seems the old maxim is true "You can't please all of the people, all of the time..."
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
...Lazenby really made suits look good and he seemed very natural in them, even during action sequences. But remember that he was a model, a quality which many appreciate Craig not having.
...the drawback with the cut of today's suits is that they are very tight on the body, which unfortunately makes Craig's head look unproportionately big...
Ironically my daughter thought that there was too much of the male model about Craig as he emerged, Venus-like, from the waves. She simultaneously commented what a small head he seemed to have in comparison with his pumped-up body. I didn't notice either point of view.
Seems the old maxim is true "You can't please all of the people, all of the time..."
...and additionally ironic, is how the reverse for me is true with Lazenby, who seems to have a large head when shirtless. But that effect is negated when he's wearing clothing. I guess it's all about when to wear prints with horozontal vs. vertical stripes, and all of that.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
I think Roger Moore was very ”inappropriately” dressed as Bond, as ’Bill Tanner’ said in his articles, but he was not the only one. Almost all of the other characters wore pretty formal suits. Only two of the other major actors in the Roger Moore-era that appears to dress down are Christopher Lee and Julian Glover. Moore was, as said, always in a suit, or a blazer and matching slacks. But other actors wore very formal suits too. In LALD for instance, Thee-hee, Mr. Big and Felix Leiter dressed in suits in almost every of their scenes. In TSWLM, Bond seems really inappropriately dressed while visiting Aziz Fekkesh in Cairo. He is wearing a beige blazer, cream (or white?) slacks, a light blue shirt and blue striped tie. Way too formal for the location (if it had been Daniel Craig, he had probably used a t-shirt and linen pants)!
But the villain of the scene, Sandor, is wearing a dark grey suit!!! And a similar shirt-and-tie combination as Moore, but in silver grey. And in TMWTGG, Bond is wearing a super formal navy suit, white shirt and dark red tie while visiting a shabby night club in Beirut, which to me seemed to formal, but when I looked at the men that attacks Bond, they are also wearing formal suits. And in the later movies, Kamal Kahn, Gobinda, Max Zorin, Scarpine and many others wears suits quite regularly. But the thing that I have noticed is that Roger Moore's clothes seems much more “formal” and “luxury”, than the rest of the cast, even though they use similar clothes. This kind of bothers me.
In Brosnans movies, the same thing is going on. In GoldenEye, in Alec’s train, Bond is wearing a very formal (as usual for Brosnan) navy suit, a white shirt and a dark-gold coloured tie. Pretty nice, BTW. Alec is also wearing a similar suit, but black and double breasted, and with a dark grey shirt and matching tie (can’t remember the colour), but even though he wears similar clothes as Bond, Bond’s clothes seems way more formal and luxury. In TWINE, at the Bilbao bank office, Bond wears a (not as luxury as on other occasions, but none the less formal) suit, and so does the banker, Lachaise, and his three henchmen. But the bank-men’s suits are no way as formal as Bond’s, I think. An when bond arrives to meet Electra in Kazakhstan, he wears a grey suit and a black tie, pretty discrete, but when compared to Davidov or Gabor, who also wears suits, he seems very, very formal.
I think this is where the clothes in Casino Royal are the best. Craig does not only look appropriate for his situation, the formal and luxury feeling of his clothes finally matches the other characters. When Bond and Vesper meets Mathis in Montenegro, both Bond and Mathis wears white shirts, and dark grey suits, but Bonds clothes doesn’t seem more luxury than Mathis’s. Very good ! And for once Bond is not the most well dressed man in a casino. In the Ocean Club, in Bahamas, Alex Dimitrios is dressed in a 3-piece suit, in some sort of thin tweed and a nice dark red Hawaii shirt (short sleeved), while Bond is in a casual black shirt and grey/brown (which is it?) linen trousers. And I am pretty certain that if Roger Moore where to chase a bomb maker through construction site and up on a crane, he would wear a formal Blazer or sport jacket, a formal shirt and slacks. Molakka would probably wear a light suit, and a shirt. This is how, I think, it would have looked if CR was filmed in the seventies .
Bond is in a casual black shirt and grey/brown (which is it?) linen trousers.
I'm wearing the pants mentioned above as I type this. They are a greyish-brown, not particularly one or the other. If anything, they're a light brown with grey undertones.
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
Have to say I agree with you on most points, Elipsis (welcome to AJB, by the way), as that's the thrust of the argument I was putting forward in the most recent Closet Spy article... so I'm not sure what fresh observations you’re raising here; perhaps I'm missing your point?
A couple of new points I would mention is that Bond often looks more formal (as you put it) than similarly-suited villains or cohorts because of two things: one is that the cut and quality of his suit is invariably better than those around him, but the other reason is in the way the individual actors wear the clothes.
For instance, at its most simplistic level, Bond usually has his tie fully fastened and his jacket buttoned where others might do the reverse. However, Connery often used to undo his shirt top button, loosen his tie and even take off his jacket and roll his shirt-sleeves if the occasion or action demanded, something we rarely saw with Moore or Brosnan who maintained an almost cartoon level of formality whatever the circumstances.
Also not to be under-estimated is that some people just look better in a suit, whether it’s in their posture, confidence, carriage, bearing... who knows? But for some reason Moore and Brosnan always looked like male models (and to a lesser extent Lazenby, who actually was a male model) than Dalton, Connery and Craig, who still look like well-dressed men, just less conspicuous.
I'm not sure what fresh observations you’re raising here; perhaps I'm missing your point?
Well, I just mean that it really bugs me that Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan looks like millionaires, while all the others, and presumably much more well paid characters looks like they can’t afford better clothes or that they doesn’t have any dress sense at all. Just compare Bond and Charles Robinson in the pipeline scene in TWINE. Bond’s suit looks like one of the worlds most expensive and luxury tailor-made suits, while Robinson is a similar (darker), but much more cheap-looking suit. Bond is not supposed to be a rich man (or have I got it all wrong?), and he is not supposed to have millions of expensive suits, blazers, slacks, coats and shirts in his wardrobe. Roger Moore had a new outfit in every scene .
Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig wear the same clothes in many scenes and even in different films. If I’m not mistaken, the light brown, one vented blazer, the brown slacks and the light brown tie used by Connery while shadowing Auric Goldfinger’s Rolls in Switzerland, seems to be the same outfit he wears in Thunderball, while sneaking into Count Lippe’s room at Shrublands. Or am I wrong? As for Dalton, he uses a charcoal suit and a dark blue jacket in many scenes of LTK, and Craig uses the same kind of t-shirts, trousers and shoes in many scenes of CR. Much better , also, none of these actors looks like millionaires.
And other characters can dress better than those three Bonds. Donald “Red” Grant’s suit (that was really nice on him) looked much nicer to me than Connery’s, while at the train in FRWL, even though they were very similar. But Grant’s suit looked more expensive. In Dalton’s movies, the best dressed villains in the whole series got to be Franz Sanchez X). While compared to Bond, he looks fantastically well dressed but still not too formal. And Dalton’s tuxedo looks like it has been washed too many times . And Alex Dimitrios, Le Chiffre and Steven Obanno looks much more expensively dressed than Bond (and Mathis), which is good, because they have a lot more money.
As for George Lazenby, who I always seem to forget , there is no doubt that he was a model. His clothes looks very modern, and wile they doesn’t seem to be the most luxury, they still impressed me. Although he has nicer clothes than Blofeld.
And, as a last point, I also liked North by Northwest, especially because of the light grey suit that Cary Grant wears. Another film that I like because of a suit is Getaway from 1972. Steve McQueen uses a black suit in some big parts of the film. Also, he never looks over dressed at all.
Bill Tanner"Spending the money quickly" iPosts: 261MI6 Agent
Ah, ok, I see what you mean.
This is a point that's raised from time to time: Bond (literary or cinematic) isn't supposed to be a wealthy man, but his clothing allowance is funded by the secret service. This is made fairly clear in one of the books (Thunderball? I can never remember without looking at my notes) where it's stated how Bond can live so well on a fairly meagre income because he has a more or less unlimited expense account while on a mission. At first it might seem odd that Bond is able to claim Savile Row suits etc, but if Bond is supposed to blend in with the super-rich society in which he often finds himself, he has to look the part. That's why we find Q-branch supplying him with Aston Martins as company cars and attache cases from Swaine Adeney. But don't worry, your taxes are being well-spent as Bond has saved the world several times over, making a few suits and cars seem quite a cheap price to pay - especially when compared with the price of a modern tank or fighter aircraft.
Your second point is valid: though Bond can spend what he likes on clothing and accessories, he doesn't have to stick out like a sore thumb in the way that Moore and Brosnan did, as has been proved by Dalton, Connery & Craig (I'll leave Lazenby in the neutral camp). Film-Bond's clothing has always been expensive and usually hand made, but it's the way it's used that counts. Moore and Brosnan had a more flamboyant sense of style and the lighter tone of their films is reflected in the less-real manner in which Bond's dress sense is portrayed. Of course, Connery's films had a lower budget with fewer clothes available, but Dalton and Craig have proved that it's still possible to dress well and blend in with the crowd.
One final point I'd mention is that is possible to dress well on a budget; you mentioned that Brosnan looked so much better than a comparably dressed Robinson. The trick here is to buy better but buy less often. I buy neutral suits in greys and blacks, in styles that have few conspicuously fashionable details (which date quickly). That way you can buy an expensive, tailored suit and get several year's wear out of it; it will always look better than something off-the-peg. It's the same with shirts and shoes, buy carefully and expensively in the first place and make them last longer. It's an easy trick and will always make you appear better-dresssed than the fellow next to you.
I know that some members were trying to find out what kind of casual linen trousers Bond wears in the Madagascar chase sequence. These are made by Ted Baker (maker of the airport/Bahamas linen dress trousers. Here is the link: http://www.tedbaker.com/shop.do?cID=586&pID=2454. Bond wears the wheat colored pair. Also, Ted Baker does not ship to the States. Is there a forum member who would be willing to ship these across the pond if I purchased them and had them send to their UK address? I would obviously pay shipping and then some for the effort. Thank you.
I thought that this was the pair after snooping around on the Ted Baker website. Your right sruzgar, after closer inspection of the pants on the DVD I see that the back pockets are different. Very close anyway.
Ok, the pants have been pinned down as Ted Baker but what about the black shirt that goes with them in the Bahamas casino scene. Anyone have a clue... and where can I get a pair of those Ted Baker pants... are they still available anywhere ?
also, i have been inquiring around but cant seem to get much help. do we have ANY idea what pants are being worn on the bahamas return (i.e. with the sunspel polo). I really like the cut (slim thigh but a some flare at the bottom and with jeans pocket styling) but can not find that style anywhere. the closest i have come are some zegna pants but they have a tapered leg.
Not quite the exact style, but a pair of linen jeans from Next won't be far off. I've got them in blue (a la Venice) and they look not bad with a grey T, blue long sleeve polo and distressed black trainers.
I'm ordering my sand coloured ones from Next tomorrow.
hmmm, those do look somewhat the same (many thanks!) please do not take offense, but i was hoping to find something of a bit higher quality as well. i like having a good mix of lesser expensive as well as higher quality items in my wardrobe.
Comments
...and welcome to AJB!
Thank you for another great article, Bill! Very good analysis, particularly the contextualization of general dress through the ages. What you mentioned about Moore is most obvious in LALD when he visits Harlem in such stiff looking clothing, but don't you think that there's much more dressing down in his later movies? He does wear a lot more casual outerwear (like the San Francisco footages in AVTAK), but I concede that the slacks and shoes that he wore look like grandpa's. Taking a cue from the book, "Dressed to Kill," the acknowledgement of more dressed-down tastes actually began in the 80's, with Moore (as mentioned) and Dalton, and not with CR, though as you said it was better realized in CR.
About looking comfortable in a suit, I do agree that Craig looks nice in a tuxedo, but with the occasional unease. Speaking of which, and I know I am in the minority, but I was not particularly impressed with the suit ensemble of the last scene, which to me registered "gangster." If the general analysis is correct, this scene was meant to convey the final transformation of the character into the Bond we know, who I take is supposed to be a dapper clothes horse? Well, for said reason, it did not work for me and it suggests a mixed messege from the producer, which is sort of like the schizophrenia you diagnosed with Dalton's style in particular.
Lastly, I am certain that it is just me, but in the scenes in the Daimler limo, Craig from the neck-up clashed with the finely cut business suit he was wearing, which made me think that a different color or cut would have made a dramatic difference. However, I strategically think that they should stay away from the Brioni business suits along the lines of Brosnan that seem to "pick" their wearers; like Connery, suits that look "rakish" (a term that I remember you attributing to those early suits) or as you mentioned, more "sober" as a nice nod to Fleming, would work better, of course avoiding the mafia look that should stay in Jason Stratham movies.
Yes, I think you’re right about the evidence of increased ‘dressing down’ from the later Moore films onwards, which as you mentioned, is highlighted in the Dressed to Kill book. My point here was that Moore always seemed slightly awkward & uncomfortable when dressed down, as if he’s always yearning to be back in a suit. I’m thinking particularly about his suede blouson with dress shirt and slacks from FYEO, or his leather jacket outfit from AVTAK. Of course, this is probably a reflection of Moore’s personal dress sense and in interviews and personal appearances Roger never seems to appear in anything less casual than a blazer and tie. The reverse was true of Dalton, who always seemed much more comfortable in his casuals than his smarts, which again is probably a reflection of his personal tastes – although I can’t help feeling Dalton always gets a raw deal here; some of his suit scenes have been as good as any in the series.
As for Our Man Craig, he does have an air of the ‘tough looking character’ about him (Moonraker?), which I feel captures the spirit of Fleming’s intention, if not quite adhering to Bond’s facial description. I also think that this helps him in a way – after all, he’s dressed in essentially the same suits, shirts and ties as Brosnan, but his innate air of dishevelment serves to dilute the Brosnan ‘Screen Idol’ effect. Connery had a similar thing going, as did Dalton to a lesser extent. As for the sobriety, that can easily be achieved with the Brionis (which are excellent suits) - Brosnan looked great in his TWINE Bilbao and Kazakhstan scenes with subtle colours for the suits and shirts and solid-tone ties. Now imagine Connery in some of those suits, he’d look great and not particularly overdressed; perhaps it’s all down to charisma?
And you’re absolutely right about that last scene; hadn’t thought about the Al Capone connotations, underscored with the huge machine gun. Craig’s whole outfit is screaming for attention here but I suppose that was part of the directorial decision to make more of an impact as the camera panned-up his body. OTT? Of course! I didn’t mind it here, but like you, I hope it was a one off.
Those suits are good examples of that nice balance for Craig's Bond, given that the situation calls for a suit...a nice point you brought out about the series! No matter what scenes the screenwriters cook up, I think that a suited Bond will always be a staple as far as EON is concerned, and it can be smartly done with Craig with a rich style but without the excess. I think that Craig's appearance at the China CR Premier is another good example of that look.
And long may it continue - it's one of the defining characteristics that separates Bond from all the others.
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of my favourite films is North By Northwest. Greatest suit film ever made and a cruel injustice that Grant’s suit didn’t win an Oscar for best supporting actor. He manages to stay in the same two-piece for the first three quarters of the film, despite being on the run, having whiskey poured all over it, having it stuffed in a very small suitcase, being crop-dusted and then rolling around in the dirt. A quick sponge and press and he’s off again!
But the thing to note was that Grant never looked over-dressed the entire time, a combination of the cut, colours and subtle tie. Casuals are great, and I applaud their sensible use in CR, I just hope that the producers don’t get carried away and forget Bond’s defining character traits. As Hitchcock (and Terence Young) proved, a suit can be made to look great in a great many situations if it’s done well.
What comes to mind is Lazenby's navy, 3-piece suit that he wore in M's office right before the Piz Gloria raid. However, to me that's were any similarity ends. Lazenby really made suits look good and he seemed very natural in them, even during action sequences. But remember that he was a model, a quality which many appreciate Craig not having.
On a side note, a former member who loved Craig but hated Lazenby noted how poor George had a big head. I can't see that myself, but the drawback with the cut of today's suits is that they are very tight on the body, which unfortunately makes Craig's head look unproportionately big in that final scene. The big gun didn't help either.
Ironically my daughter thought that there was too much of the male model about Craig as he emerged, Venus-like, from the waves. She simultaneously commented what a small head he seemed to have in comparison with his pumped-up body. I didn't notice either point of view.
Seems the old maxim is true "You can't please all of the people, all of the time..."
Big gun = small head?
...and additionally ironic, is how the reverse for me is true with Lazenby, who seems to have a large head when shirtless. But that effect is negated when he's wearing clothing. I guess it's all about when to wear prints with horozontal vs. vertical stripes, and all of that.
But the villain of the scene, Sandor, is wearing a dark grey suit!!! And a similar shirt-and-tie combination as Moore, but in silver grey. And in TMWTGG, Bond is wearing a super formal navy suit, white shirt and dark red tie while visiting a shabby night club in Beirut, which to me seemed to formal, but when I looked at the men that attacks Bond, they are also wearing formal suits. And in the later movies, Kamal Kahn, Gobinda, Max Zorin, Scarpine and many others wears suits quite regularly. But the thing that I have noticed is that Roger Moore's clothes seems much more “formal” and “luxury”, than the rest of the cast, even though they use similar clothes. This kind of bothers me.
In Brosnans movies, the same thing is going on. In GoldenEye, in Alec’s train, Bond is wearing a very formal (as usual for Brosnan) navy suit, a white shirt and a dark-gold coloured tie. Pretty nice, BTW. Alec is also wearing a similar suit, but black and double breasted, and with a dark grey shirt and matching tie (can’t remember the colour), but even though he wears similar clothes as Bond, Bond’s clothes seems way more formal and luxury. In TWINE, at the Bilbao bank office, Bond wears a (not as luxury as on other occasions, but none the less formal) suit, and so does the banker, Lachaise, and his three henchmen. But the bank-men’s suits are no way as formal as Bond’s, I think. An when bond arrives to meet Electra in Kazakhstan, he wears a grey suit and a black tie, pretty discrete, but when compared to Davidov or Gabor, who also wears suits, he seems very, very formal.
I think this is where the clothes in Casino Royal are the best. Craig does not only look appropriate for his situation, the formal and luxury feeling of his clothes finally matches the other characters. When Bond and Vesper meets Mathis in Montenegro, both Bond and Mathis wears white shirts, and dark grey suits, but Bonds clothes doesn’t seem more luxury than Mathis’s. Very good
I'm wearing the pants mentioned above as I type this. They are a greyish-brown, not particularly one or the other. If anything, they're a light brown with grey undertones.
A couple of new points I would mention is that Bond often looks more formal (as you put it) than similarly-suited villains or cohorts because of two things: one is that the cut and quality of his suit is invariably better than those around him, but the other reason is in the way the individual actors wear the clothes.
For instance, at its most simplistic level, Bond usually has his tie fully fastened and his jacket buttoned where others might do the reverse. However, Connery often used to undo his shirt top button, loosen his tie and even take off his jacket and roll his shirt-sleeves if the occasion or action demanded, something we rarely saw with Moore or Brosnan who maintained an almost cartoon level of formality whatever the circumstances.
Also not to be under-estimated is that some people just look better in a suit, whether it’s in their posture, confidence, carriage, bearing... who knows? But for some reason Moore and Brosnan always looked like male models (and to a lesser extent Lazenby, who actually was a male model) than Dalton, Connery and Craig, who still look like well-dressed men, just less conspicuous.
Well, I just mean that it really bugs me that Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan looks like millionaires, while all the others, and presumably much more well paid characters looks like they can’t afford better clothes or that they doesn’t have any dress sense at all. Just compare Bond and Charles Robinson in the pipeline scene in TWINE. Bond’s suit looks like one of the worlds most expensive and luxury tailor-made suits, while Robinson is a similar (darker), but much more cheap-looking suit. Bond is not supposed to be a rich man (or have I got it all wrong?), and he is not supposed to have millions of expensive suits, blazers, slacks, coats and shirts in his wardrobe. Roger Moore had a new outfit in every scene
Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig wear the same clothes in many scenes and even in different films. If I’m not mistaken, the light brown, one vented blazer, the brown slacks and the light brown tie used by Connery while shadowing Auric Goldfinger’s Rolls in Switzerland, seems to be the same outfit he wears in Thunderball, while sneaking into Count Lippe’s room at Shrublands. Or am I wrong? As for Dalton, he uses a charcoal suit and a dark blue jacket in many scenes of LTK, and Craig uses the same kind of t-shirts, trousers and shoes in many scenes of CR. Much better
And other characters can dress better than those three Bonds. Donald “Red” Grant’s suit (that was really nice on him) looked much nicer to me than Connery’s, while at the train in FRWL, even though they were very similar. But Grant’s suit looked more expensive. In Dalton’s movies, the best dressed villains in the whole series got to be Franz Sanchez X). While compared to Bond, he looks fantastically well dressed but still not too formal. And Dalton’s tuxedo looks like it has been washed too many times
As for George Lazenby, who I always seem to forget
And, as a last point, I also liked North by Northwest, especially because of the light grey suit that Cary Grant wears. Another film that I like because of a suit is Getaway from 1972. Steve McQueen uses a black suit in some big parts of the film. Also, he never looks over dressed at all.
This is a point that's raised from time to time: Bond (literary or cinematic) isn't supposed to be a wealthy man, but his clothing allowance is funded by the secret service. This is made fairly clear in one of the books (Thunderball? I can never remember without looking at my notes) where it's stated how Bond can live so well on a fairly meagre income because he has a more or less unlimited expense account while on a mission. At first it might seem odd that Bond is able to claim Savile Row suits etc, but if Bond is supposed to blend in with the super-rich society in which he often finds himself, he has to look the part. That's why we find Q-branch supplying him with Aston Martins as company cars and attache cases from Swaine Adeney. But don't worry, your taxes are being well-spent as Bond has saved the world several times over, making a few suits and cars seem quite a cheap price to pay - especially when compared with the price of a modern tank or fighter aircraft.
Your second point is valid: though Bond can spend what he likes on clothing and accessories, he doesn't have to stick out like a sore thumb in the way that Moore and Brosnan did, as has been proved by Dalton, Connery & Craig (I'll leave Lazenby in the neutral camp). Film-Bond's clothing has always been expensive and usually hand made, but it's the way it's used that counts. Moore and Brosnan had a more flamboyant sense of style and the lighter tone of their films is reflected in the less-real manner in which Bond's dress sense is portrayed. Of course, Connery's films had a lower budget with fewer clothes available, but Dalton and Craig have proved that it's still possible to dress well and blend in with the crowd.
One final point I'd mention is that is possible to dress well on a budget; you mentioned that Brosnan looked so much better than a comparably dressed Robinson. The trick here is to buy better but buy less often. I buy neutral suits in greys and blacks, in styles that have few conspicuously fashionable details (which date quickly). That way you can buy an expensive, tailored suit and get several year's wear out of it; it will always look better than something off-the-peg. It's the same with shirts and shoes, buy carefully and expensively in the first place and make them last longer. It's an easy trick and will always make you appear better-dresssed than the fellow next to you.
do we know if, for example, any brown or suede versions of the luffields were used.
Also, can someone confirm that the luffields were the model worn with the DJ in the casino scenes?
thanks!
tia
also, i have been inquiring around but cant seem to get much help. do we have ANY idea what pants are being worn on the bahamas return (i.e. with the sunspel polo). I really like the cut (slim thigh but a some flare at the bottom and with jeans pocket styling) but can not find that style anywhere. the closest i have come are some zegna pants but they have a tapered leg.
any advice much appreciated!
I'm ordering my sand coloured ones from Next tomorrow.
any ideas?