Suggestion: Updated Craig Era Wardrobe & Alternatives thread

Ornithologist

Dear fellow Bond fans,

After a few months on this forum I feel ready to open my first topic. I want it to be useful, and in relation to why I found ajb in the first place, which was browsing for Bond-related (mostly Daniel Craig era) clothing. This forum is a tremendous resource on the subject, but imho there is a problem: A lot of information gets buried in topics which are (legitimately) not only dedicated to finding stuff, but also to discussion.

Additionally, many of the clothing enthusiasts try and get the items close to the movies‘ release, so that activity on the topic tends to ebb away later.

Inspired by this thread from 2014 (http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/43250/craig-era-budget-alternatives-in-2014/), which now contains mostly dead links to sold-out items unfortunately, I am therefore proposing a topic as the title suggests. This would be a thread where everybody could contribute links, pictures, and opinions on Bond-inspired or even just similar clothes (as usual), with the crucial difference that I would then from time to time edit these into a well-arranged original post, as well as remove dead links.

My „dream“ is one central place to find all current possibilities for a Bond wardrobe (on a budget).

There are two possible concerns, however, on which I would like to ask your opinions first. Hence this thread.

1) Whether it should be split up into individual threads for each movie, because of the sheer number of items (is there a character limit for posts?) and

2) Whether anyone might be unhappy with such a „centralization“, because it might take away the „credit“ from the original finder. This goes for ajb as well as other blogs which I sometimes browse. I know there is no copyright to finding items in online shops, but I don’t want to ruffle any feathers.

It should also be noted that while I have read what feels like a thousand posts on the topic, I am relatively new to collecting and won't be able to comment personally on most items.

Of course any other suggestions as to the structure of the thread(s) are very welcome as well.

Looking forward to your opinions, so hopefully this can get under way. :007)

James Brosnan

I think its a fantastic idea. It might be best if you set it up per Craig film like you mention. But, if you want to make it complete, you might be better off making separate post for each Bond actor. I am a big fan of putting together frugal outfits of all the actors, and would have much to add to something like that, and would love to get everyone else's input as well. Plus, discussing frugal options and ways to update some of the older Bond outfits would bring attention to those outfits for people who arn't as familiar with all the Bond clothing options available. Whatever gets decided, I'm in! Way to get the ball rollin'!

canoe2

I concur: great idea and I am sure it would be a big help to have a one stop thread!

If you do decide to go beyond Craig, it will definitely be a challenge! With 6 actors, 24 films and countless clothes, it will probably be impossible to find a structure that serves every need. On top of that, some products will only be available in certain seasons (for example, finding alternatives to the Orlebar Brown swim shorts in the middle of January may be a challenge). Then there is the issue of replica vs. "inspired by" vs. sales on the real thing.

A couple of suggestions that may help:

1. I would keep the focus of the thread very specific: maybe something like "The Budget Bond Master Thread". That way users will know (more or less) what to share here and what may be better suited for other threads.

2. Ask posters to use a specific format for the links. For example:

Actor Name, Movie, Product: link on the first line of the post.

So someone that found a good alternative to the TF Harrington would post:
Daniel Craig, QOS, Harrington: www.link.com
Post content: description, reviews, opinions, etc.

This format would also help the AJB search engine do its job.

3. Do a round-up of links shared at the end of each month in one post. If people use the format above, it would be a simple copy/paste job for you and the most recent items would stay front and center.

4. You could use your first post here (post #1) as a master list of the monthly round-up posts organized by post number:
October Round-up, Post #10
November Round-up, Post #32
December Round-up, Post #56

Anyone wanting to check out earlier round-ups would consult the list, find the month and then go to that specific post in the thread.

Just some ideas!

Ornithologist

Thanks for your feedback! Good idea about the other actors. Some reasons against including them at this point: My own lack of knowledge, (perhaps wrongly perceived) lack of interest from others, and the datedness of many of these looks. Also most of them are suits. But in the interest of completeness, and out of general interest, I would totally be on board for that, too. Perhaps I can start with the Craig era and see if similar threads emerge from those with more knowledge (not thinking of anyone in particular, of course)

@canoe2: Those are all great ideas as well, and luckily along the lines of what I'd been thinking. Not sure about the advantage of monthly roundups as opposed to one updated post, but this will depend on the interest shown (number of items posted) and whether there is a limit to a post's length (maybe a Mod can answer this one).

manc_bond

This seems like a great idea Ornithologist. I'm really not into getting every piece and total SA (can't remotely afford it for one thing!), so threads covering budget alternatives by movie would be great. It'd certainly save trying to search the forums and trawling through dozens of posts. Perhaps each thread could have a post with a short master list of the actual SA items at the top with images and links for reference purposes?

canoe2

Ornithologist wrote:

@canoe2: Those are all great ideas as well, and luckily along the lines of what I'd been thinking. Not sure about the advantage of monthly roundups as opposed to one updated post, but this will depend on the interest shown (number of items posted) and whether there is a limit to a post's length (maybe a Mod can answer this one).

The idea for the monthly roundup came from your comment about the dead links and the work you would need to do to curate everything. Most of the "budget" alternatives that are shared are only available for a time span of a couple of days to a month or so, and then they tend to disappear. At least that has been my experience. So keeping a master list that you constantly need to curate and update to remove dead links would take a lot of time. It would be a lot less labor intensive if it was done month by month.

Besides, as you mention, people tend to be looking for the same products at the same time (like the rush on the JV suede racer or the Kenton boots), with a few outliers here and there. I am almost positive that 90% of the links in the "monthly roundups" for Sept and Oct would have been for alternatives to the Solden jacket. )

If everyone uses the same posting format for the links (with the actor's name, the movie, the product and the link), it would save you the trouble of having to categorize and curate every item that is shared and/or creating multiple threads (by actor? by movie?), which seems to the problem you are trying to solve now. It could also help with people posting duplicate links to the same item (the most recent link would be used in that month's round up).

I wouldn't worry about your expertise: I don't think anyone is expecting you to the ultimate authority on all things Bond clothing related. Personally, I would just be happy and appreciative to have a resource like this.

Again, just some thoughts! Thanks again for taking the initiative! -{

Ornithologist

Good thinking. On the one hand you may be right about monthly roundups being less work. On the other hand, like you said, for some items there aren't really that many permanently available options. I don't expect hundreds of enjoying death shirts appearing from out of nowhere (although this is one of the motivations for the project - getting more people motivated to look for "older" stuff as well). What I think I'll do is start with one movie and further develop the format from how it goes there.

Ornithologist

So this hasn't gotten as much feedback as I'd hoped, but understandably most people probably think "just start the damn thing" instead of discussing it forever. Just wanting to let you know that the "project" is still gonna happen. I'm watching the respective threads on here and the more popular online shops for anything relevant, gathering links, etc.

Putting it together, however, might have to wait, for personal reasons (major exam coming up), and I don't want to start just an empty topic which wouldn't be a big improvement at all. Possibly even till after Christmas. But we'll see.

James Brosnan

Take your time man. If done right, this will be very cool. No rush. I'm excited to get involved in this. And, not gonna stop dressing like Bond anytime soon. Let me know if you need any help.