Barbara and Her Bra

chrisno1 · October 2008

While re-watching TSWLM this morning, something suddenly hit me. Barbara Bach is agreat looking girl, very good figure, and very 70s. So 70s in fact I am not sure there is a single scene where she wears a brassiere. Hard to tell of course and I am sure some of her gowns must have had underwired support, but everything she wears is strapless, backless or frontless. Did the producers think women didnt wear them in the Soviet Union or something? Can anyone back me up with some facts on this?

Seahawk · October 2008

I have never made an analysis of this film indepth enough to cover the protection afforded to Mrs Starkey's mammary glands so I couldn't really say.
However it would seem good practice for a covert operative to follow fashion trends within her sphere of operations & the practice of, what my wife poetically terms, "letting them swing" was commonplace at that time.
Also a female KGB officer divesting herself of her foundation garment is very far from being the most implausible plot detail of that particular film.8-)

Loeffelholz · October 2008

I think Ringo's wife enjoyed the full support she deserves during her tenure as a Bond girl B-)

Sir Hillary Bray · October 2008

Ah, now I understand why Anya refers to 007 as "Commando Bond". B-)

7289 · October 2008

Mrs. Starkey may have "let 'em swing", but to date no Bond girl has waved the "commando" flag higher (maybe it's lower?) than Eva Green did in Casino Royale!

woof!
;%

Alex · October 2008

Too bad Green wore so much bloody makeup, in the shots sans lipstick and eye shadow, she looked wonderful.

As for Bach's Bra, this is a subject that bears researching. I'll get right on them, oops, I mean it. :v

jetsetwilly · October 2008

Barbara was in fact "bra'd up". She actually argued with the producers over this - with it being the 70s, and feminism in full swing, Barbara Bach tried to argue that she should be braless. Cubby firmly vetoed this on the grounds that Bond Girls wear bras (I'm sure I read this in Bond and Beyond, written by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott, who followed the making of TSWLM for the Open University).

As to how she managed to fit a brassiere into a strapless dress - well, I have to be honest, women's breasts aren't my specialist subject...

Seahawk · October 2008

Many women favour a strapless bra for this purpose.

chrisno1 · October 2008

jetsetwilly wrote:

As to how she managed to fit a brassiere into a strapless dress - well, I have to be honest, women's breasts aren't my specialist subject...

Frankly brassiere's are not a specialist subject of mine either, though breasts do have a certain appeal. I did have a g/f from Slovakia once, and bras were not on her person very often, so it does still happen, guys! Whatever she was wearing, whether supported or not, Barbara looked absolutely fantastic.

Hardyboy · October 2008

Of course, Barbara Bach looked pretty good without a bra--or any other top--in Playboy. Va-va-va-VOOM!

Barbel · October 2008

jetsetwilly wrote:

Barbara was in fact "bra'd up". She actually argued with the producers over this - with it being the 70s, and feminism in full swing, Barbara Bach tried to argue that she should be braless. Cubby firmly vetoed this on the grounds that Bond Girls wear bras (I'm sure I read this in Bond and Beyond, written by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott, who followed the making of TSWLM for the Open University).

Well remembered, jsw. Here's the quote:

"Barbara Bach, latest of a beautiful line of Bond Birds, feels she is a liberated enough creature of the 1970s not to wear a bra. But when she turned up on the set of the new James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, there was a shock for this russet-haired American beauty.
"Go and buy a bra", she was politely but firmly told."

The book, however, is only quoting this from an article in the Sunday People, a scandal-based broadsheet of the "Vicar in sex romp" variety. Still, as Ms. Bach's hubby would say, peace and love.

Barbara and Her Bra

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