For On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Dimi Major of Fulham, London tailored all of George Lazenby’s suits, jackets and trousers, except for his highland dress. I present to you an order form for one of Lazenby’s outfits in the film. The customer specified on the form is ‘James Bond’ rather than George Lazenby, so it’s as if Bond himself used Dimi Major in universe. This would likely mean that Lazenby’s clothes for the film have “JAMES BOND” written on the label rather than the actor’s name or “BOND 6”, the style of Daniel Craig’s Tom Ford suit labels.
Publishing this photo here was made possible by Sajid Wahid of Niven Tailors, whose customer provided this for my use. We have done our best to decipher what the writing on the form means, but Wahid laments, ‘Tailors’ writing is like doctors’.’ The handwriting can be difficult to read, and much of the writing is done in shorthand, both of which pose challenges to interpreting the form.
The form is from the Major Hayward Limited firm at 11 Royal Parade, Dawes Road, Fulham, SW6. Major Hayward was the partnership of tailors Dimi Major and Douglas Hayward. By the time Major tailored On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Hayward had left to open his own shop on Mount Street in Mayfair. Major changed the name of the business to D. Major Bespoke Tailors Ltd., but the forms with the name of his former partner were not to be binned after the partnership broke up.
The order was placed on 9 September 1968 and was to be delivered by 20 December 1968. This meant they had three and a half months to complete the outfit. The time frame for most of the outfits for the film may have been similar. The order was placed one month before Lazenby was announced to the public as Bond at The Dorchester hotel on 7 October 1968, at which time Major had completed a navy herringbone three-piece suit for Lazenby to wear for the occasion.
This order is for a single-breasted ‘blazer’ with three buttons on the front, three buttons on the cuffs, a single vent in back, double stitching, two slanted flapped pockets with an out ticket pocket.
This description does not perfectly match any jacket in the film. The closest is the hacking jacket in black, brown and cream houndstooth with a red overcheck. That jacket differs by having only one cuff button instead of three, though it’s possible that was changed during the production of the jacket without altering the order form. Three cuff buttons was standard for Major.
The trousers are likely the beige trousers paired with the hacking jacket. The trousers have no pleats, plain hems and elastic adjusters at the waistband, which means they have buttoning Daks Tops. The seams are raised for a sportier look. It has two front pockets and two hip pockets, but I cannot figure what kind of pockets are specified for the front. The pockets are not visible in the film, but they are likely frogmouth/cross pockets, which would be most appropriate for horseback riding.
Though the jacket measurements are not provided, there are a series of numbers listed under trouser measurements. They appear to be 43L – 33 – 32 – 40 – 16 1/2. These could be outseam, inseam, waist, hip and hem. If anyone knows differently, leave a comment below. Any insights as to decipering this form in the comments below are welcome.
The cost for the jacket and trousers was £57 and 15 shillings. Today that converts to £1,343.83 or $1,871.15 US. That was the going rate for a quality bespoke suit at the time. A bespoke suit of this quality would cost considerably more today, and the prices have gone up in line with other luxury items.
Hi Matt
Andrew Major showed me this order whilst he was making a copy of the OHMSS blazer for me. Very sad they’ve closed. Andrew
Thank you for letting me share this, Andrew!
Matt, I currently work in a provincial branch of a Savile Row tailoring house, measuring up for MTM suits, and would concur with your interpretation of the trouser measurements. My only comment is that that gives a 10″ rise, which, without watching the film again, would appear rather short for a) the period, and b) George Lazenby’s height, but perhaps you could correct me on that?
I agree with you that the rise seems short. He wasn’t wearing high-rise trousers, but he was a tall man. He had a lot of his height in his legs, so maybe he needed a shorter rise.
It’d be interesting to find out what 57 pounds in 1968 is equivalent to in today’s money. I suspect bespoke tailoring has become disproportionately expensive.
I had written something about that, but I just noticed it was missing from the article. I’ve added it back in at the end.
Very intriguing piece of Bond history! I was not expecting this to be the topic of this week’s post, but I must say I am not disappointed. Thank you for sharing this Matt, and thank for the gracious customer for sharing this as well.
My best,
Bill
I have the immense pleasure of owning (and get even more pleasure out of wearing) an original Major, Hayward suit. Must have been made during the time of their partnership, as the “Major Hayward” label is stitched inside a coat pocket (though it carries no date). I always wondered who made what within this partnership. I remember reading a Hayward quote (but can’t find the source at the moment) saying :”Dimi cut these suits”. Cut, maybe, but did they work together on the pattern and design? Anyway their styles seem to share a lot of similarities. My suit features soft (wadded) extended shoulders, very long double vents angling outward, a high gorge with square notch, rounded flap pockets placed rather high on the hips, a low button stance. Trousers have a slim (but not skinny) cut with a medium high (by today’s standards) rise. Unfortunateley it doesn’t have the then fashionable frogmouth pockets, but anyway I get compliments everytime I wear it (my only outfit to generate such comments by a crowd who couldn”t care less about tailoring). Documenting their partnership seems arduous. Hayward suits pops up on sale now and then, but Major almost never and “Major Hayward” even less
That sounds like a beautiful suit. After Major and Hayward split, their styles were always similar, with the same variations found in both tailors’ suits. Hayward usually put some roping in the shoulders while Major often did not, but Hayward’s shoulders usually had less wadding. The only thing I think I’ve seen Hayward do but not Major is use fishmouth lapels.
I’m not so sure about that last bit. Ronnie Corbett’s suit in The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer has fishmouth lapels – and I think that suit is by Major. Some of the suits worn by Corbett in pictures that I’ve seen from The Two Ronnies also have fishmouth lapels as well, and Major would have been his tailor then as well.