In No Time to Die after five years in retirement, Bond is living a relaxing life in Jamaica and catches his own fish to eat. However, Bond is not quite himself, and clothes have taken a back seat in his life. He wears nothing other than a simple grey t-shirt that has seen better days and navy blue athletic shorts for fishing off a sailboat.
Bond isn’t dressing his usual best because he’s not particularly happy with his life in retirement. Costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb told The Bond Experience that if Bond is feeling something bad, the clothes need to reflect that. Here, Bond’s clothes are worn and tired because he is. He has no reason to dress to his usual standards because he’s living alone and not seeing anyone. Clothes are a way of communicating, and Bond has nobody to communicate with in his isolated life.
The t-shirt is the OB-T t-shirt from Orlebar Brown in Grey Melange. The shirt is characterised by a large crew-neck opening with a thin trim sewn around the neck and a curved bottom hem. It is made of a lightweight cotton jersey. The shirt has a tailored fit and very short sleeves to show off the upper arms.
Even with the tailored fit, t-shirt is a size too small on Craig, as it shows a bit of midriff. While such a look can have sex appeal on a woman, on a man it’s usually the sign of outgrowing the shirt thanks to indulgence. The shirt is rather unflattering on Craig because it is too small. We’re relieved to see in the following showering scene that Bond has not let himself go in retirement, and that the shirt has more likely shrunk over time. However, even the most fit bodies are not flattered by clothes that are too tight.
Many items in No Time to Die resemble items from Craig’s previous Bond films, and this is one such item. In Casino Royale, Bond wears a grey t-shirt from Sunspel on a number of occasions: under his Armani leather jacket in the ‘Miami’ scenes, under a blue rugby shirt in the Venice scenes, including by itself on a sailboat in Venice. It’s unlikely to be a coincidence that Bond is once again wearing a grey crew-neck t-shirt for sailing in No Time to Die.
The shirt has been through a lot, as we can see by how tattered it is. Though it is not from the same brand, it could easily pass for the same t-shirt that Bond wears in Casino Royale well over a decade earlier. Bond has owned the No Time to Die grey t-shirt a long time, so it could be the same shirt.
Bond often does not wear his clothes in such horrible shape unless they’ve been damaged in the line of duty. Bond’s clothes are often torn in a fight or when captured by a villain. We see Bond wearing a torn and bloodied t-shirt after he’s imprisoned in Dr. No, when he’s crawling through the pipes. However, it’s assumed that Bond would have thrown away this shirt after he’s rescued and has fresh clothes to wear.
For fishing, Bond is wearing an old t-shirt that’s long past its best-by date. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t want to get a new shirt irreparably dirtied by fishing and thus only wears shirts that need to be tossed anyway. The fish smell would never come out of his new Orlebar Brown shirts, if he had any. But ultimately, Bond is dressing like this because he isn’t happy with his life and doesn’t care.
Bond’s shorts are the Agile Bodybuilding Shorts with Zipper Pockets from Jed North in Navy Blue. As these are designed for working out, they are made of 90% polyester and 10% spandex. They have two side pockets with zippers and a ribbed waistband with a drawstring. The shorts originally had a lemon yellow drawstring and logo on the left leg, but the logo was removed and the drawstring replaced with a less conspicuous one in matching navy. The shorts have a short inseam and very tight fit that leave little to the imagination.
The shorts have the look of swim trunks, particularly due to the drawstring and zip pockets. Bond does not swim in them in this scene, but it’s possible that the swim shorts in Bond’s first scene in the film in Italy are the same shorts as these.
The shorts are inexpensive at only 29 USD, but at that price they’re fine for knocking around while also being appropriate workout shorts for Bond. They have the right look for this moment in Bond’s life.
His sunglasses are the Vuarnet Legend 06 in Brown with Brownlynx lenses. He wears them with a Croakies neoprene strap in navy so they don’t fall off when sailing. Read more about the sunglasses at James Bond Lifestyle.
He goes barefoot in this scene, but on set he wore Havaianas flip flops in ‘Mustard’ yellow with blue straps. No matter how low Bond’s sense of style seems in this scene, they’re not as low as Bond would have gone had he worn inexpensive yellow flip flops. At least his clothes are still in the classically Bondian colours of grey and blue.
I was not looking forward to this outfit. The attire makes sense for the circumstance, but I am not a fan. I guess Bond did hit pretty low after the return of SPECTRE and the “alleged portrayal” of Madeleine. He does not have anyone to impress, and that is quite clear.
Matt, I like the theory that this is the same t-shirt. I guess that can explain the neglected look, but would you think there would be a cut from his fight with Gettler. I believe in CR Bond got a womb on his chest from one of Gettler’s henchmen during their altercation. I hope this outfit does not encourage a style trend for men to wear their shirts too short. The costume designer did give Bond a good look for losing all hope look. I am just happy I’m not wearing those shorts. Too tight for my comfort.
My respects,
Bill
Matt,
IMO it’s not about low morale, simply put, he’s retired from a job that nearly killed him more times than he cares to remember! He’s living in paradise & wearing old & loved clothes, nothing more than that! Even when ‘On duty” I don’t think Bond cared what anyone else thought of how he looked, it’s his style, that’s the character Fleming created.
I like the Orlebar Brown T-Shirt Bond wears in Jamaica, but without the holes in it and one size up.:)
For the shorts I would have preferred to see him wear navy Orlebar Brown swim trunks.
Keep up the great work Matt.
No collar gap here, but still too tight a fit.
Hahaha! You could argue that a very wide crew neck like this actually has a pretty large collar gap, especially in that first shot.
Hehe, exactly!
LOL! I stand corrected…
As always we’ll written Matt! I think this outfit is ok for what Bond is doing which is fishing on a beach! I will say that to me those shorts have a fit that looks uncomfortable for me. I just want to say that the choice of a old shirt is perfect for going fishing. You don’t want to wear something fishing that is nice unless you want it to smell like fish which is just common sense!
Not a great outfit, but it’s certainly realistic.
Agreed. IHMO, a vast deterioration in comparison to The Shawl Collar Cardigan in Venice in Casino Royale.
The funny thing is menswear hobbyists complained about how dressed-down he was back in 2006! Guess it’s a matter of time and perspective. Some also complained that his suits were not fashion-forward *enough*, since slim fit suits (as we now know them, not the ones merely made for a slender body type) were starting to take hold.
Is it me or is this “Bond is weary/washed up/gone rogue/left the Service (or whatever variation on same you perfer) a MASSIVELY boring and overused theme. It was reasonable in OHMSS (when he still managed to dress according to the character we knew) and even LTK (when he certainly let himself go, not having been all that impressive to start with!) but tedious doesn’t even begin to describe it in the films that followed and has been, by all accounts, has been a feature of ALL of Craig’s movies.
Yes, the ‘Farewell to Arms’ theme is way overused and has become boringly repetitious.
I agree with you David. I wish for a more classic film as it was too long we saw one, so now if would be refreshful. It’s quite tiring with a Bond who is anguished and is dealing a bit too much with his feelings over things. If Connery’s Bond had done the same thing in the 60s, I doubt there would have been so many movies.
100%. Purvis & Wade have been going back to the same well for years now… what were once some novel ideas introduced in the Brosnan years have now been well overdone.
Nobody did it better than Cubby…
I chuckled when Matt was doing a post on how each of the Bond actors has contemplated leaving the service from time to time and he named Craig “Bond The Quitter” or some such!
In fairness to the Craig era script writers, they may well have been incorporating aspects of the character as written by Fleming, who was often written as tired, bored, jaded and unmotivated, which was likely a reflection of the character of Fleming himself who was prone to periods of malaise and ennui. (Ref. “Accidie”). This probably motivated him to insist on six weeks holiday in Jamaica at the start of every year. Just like Bond (and me!) he couldn’t get along with the British climate in the early months.
Regardless of ‘Bond’s’ situation (in this case a recurrent retirement) which may or not justify this unkempt (‘relaxed’ ?) style, something strikes me as being incongruous.
Craig’s Bond seemingly decides to let go and dress down. Admittedly.
So would I, I gather.
Yet, in spite of the holes in the T-shirt (just an example) the man stills seems to shave, has his hair cut in a very strict way, and maintains a very fit physical shape. Not that one needs to be perfect in every field all the time, but this deliberate ,grooming line’ drawn between disciplined self care and contempt for anything related to clothes lacks some elementary correlation. Had I retired from active life at his age, and with his resources, I can bet that my waistline would have suffered a serious expansion, whilst my hairdresser/barber would have experienced a major recession had I been his only client.
Am I the only one to notice this discrepancy a/o lack of coherence ?
I was envious when I watched the scene of Bond fishing and sailing off the Jamaican coast in ragged clothes. Way to spend a day! And what a place to retire, directly by the water. And probably a nice pension to live off of. And when the phone rang I screamed “Don’t answer it! Tell them to shove it and keep doing what you do!” I would gladly trade my finest charcoal suit and the Northern European winter for a shitty shirt, tight shorts and Jamaican sunshine any day.