In The Living Daylights James Bond wears a beige Bomber-style blouson and chinos in Tangier. The blouson looks like a synthetic fabric like nylon or polyester with elastic ribbed hem, collar and cuffs. It has set-in sleeves and slash side pockets. Though a jacket may seem warm for Morocco, it is necessary to conceal Bond’s Walther PPK.
Underneath the blouson Bond wears a dark blue knit shirt with a popped collar (presumably to protect his neck from the hot sun in Tangier). The shirt has an opening from the neck that closes with nine buttons, of which Bond fastens the bottom four.
Bond’s tan cotton chinos, which are a little darker than the blouson, have double forward pleats and on-seam pockets. The chinos are worn with a light brown alligator belt, which matches the colour of the light brown deck shoes (also known as boat shoes, famously by Sperry Top-Sider). His mid-brown socks are darker than the rest of the outfit but complement the tans and browns of the outfit well. Along the way Bond steals some aviator sunglasses, which soon disappear.
Ah, scenes of ugliness like this make me just wish Moore had hung on for this film before passing the torch directly to Brosnan who would’ve then been free from his Steele shackles and therefore, able to do the next movie.
This would have had the extra advantage that we would’ve all been spared the execrable "Licence To Kill" in which Dalton’s clothes made this tat look like Brioni!
David, what is it that you don't like about this outfit? I'd say the worst part is the shirt, and then a navy jacket instead like Daniel Craig occasionally wears would've been better. But I like the chinos with their classic forward pleats. If they were reverse pleats like every middle-aged man today wears then I would complain. This is indeed better than most of Licence to Kill, except Licence to Kill had the advantage of a navy windcheater over a beige one. And if you want to see Dalton wearing something really bad, check out last night's episode of Chuck when he wears an old man's cardigan in his role as Hartley Winterbottom.
I think the jacket/blouson is what ruins it, the pants and shirt look fine IMO.
I like the tan suit Dalton wore in the previous scene while interrogating Pushkin in the hotel room, but I guess you will feature that one in the future?
Hard to know where to begin really, Matt.
For me, the entire outfit screams out a word which never should be associated with 007; cheap.
The jacket is unstylish of its type and looks like something from the sale rack in Marks and Spencer’s (Britain) or Walmart (USA) at this time and the shirt is terrible. A strange nine button thing neither shirt nor polo shirt but just cheap and like nothing any of his 3 predecessors would’ve worn.
By way of comparison, in the other 1980’s Bond movies Moore wore a suede blouson with a Frank Foster half sleeve shirt and brown trousers in “For Your Eyes Only” (your blog of March 20) or a brown ensemble including a sleeveless suede gilet in “Octopussy” under similar circumstances and climate conditions. Both of these shouted out; expensive and exclusive. Even Lazenby’s casual golf outfit (without the awful orange roll neck naturally)would’ve looked better than this. The fact that Dalton’s clothes in his next movie ranked even higher on the list of cinematic sartorial horrors says a lot.
Nothing I ever saw Timothy Dalton wear impressed me, partly on account of the clothes themselves but also the way he wore them. Connery, Moore and Brosnan knew how to wear tailoring well. The latter two because of an innate sense of style and taste. With Connery it wasn’t coming from himself but he was dressed by Terence Young.
I hadn’t seen much of Dalton until he popped up in cinemas in the recent Johnny Depp comedy romance caper, “The Tourist”. Here, playing a Head of British Intelligence role his clothes also looked less than impressive for the part he was playing.
I don't know the TV series you refer to as I'm living in Ireland but I've seen enough already to assure me you're right
David, thanks for your opinion. I still have a lot to learn about casual clothes as my knowledge lies mostly in tailored clothing. But I do like Dalton's chinos and wear identical ones myself (though mine are more tapered. But when the upper half is different it gives a completely different feel. If you've never been to Walmart, it's a few steps below M&S. There is nothing lower than Walmart. On the television show Chuck, Timothy Dalton plays two characters, and both dress very differently. Neither dresses particularly well (though one is supposed to) but it's easy to forget that since Dalton's performance is incredible.
I'm not averse to chinos myself and I don't think they're bad for Bond. I think Connery's Bond wore lightweight tapered cotton trousers, not exactly chinos, (canvas?) in some of his 1960's movies (Dr. No and Thunderball)when based in the tropics. These looked well. His blue polo shirt in Dr No was also fine. Casual and classic.
I don't know what it is with Dalton but he seems to always get it wrong especially with casual clothing.
If Dalton gets casual wrong and, based on other comments made, can’t do formal either; do you have any idea what he would look good wearing (someone mentioned the wetsuit somewhere)?
You also made the point that the way Dalton wore the clothes was a problem too and that Brosnan and Moore knew how to wear good tailoring. Why is this? Is it posture/build/movements/etc?
Thanks in advance
M
Much of Dalton’s wardrobe was too fashionable, especially in Licence to Kill. He didn’t have the level of comfort in a suit that Brosnan, Moore or Lazenby had. Moore, especially, had a personal interest in his clothing.
http://pelicanpromotions.com.au/dalton/kathytimint1.html
In the last third or so of the interview, Dalton actually says “i think fashion’s a con”. From the horse’s mouth no less.
Still doesn’t explain what he is meant to wear; i find it a shame that the films with Dalton are a bit of the ‘under-the-rug’ types. I like Dalton and his two films, they had some great moments, but it feels like the producers didn’t put as much effort into them as some of the other films.
Though I am of the opinion that he would have been better in Goldeneye than Brosnan, especially the deeper character development moments.
Anyway, I’m moving off track…
From that interview it sounds like Timothy Dalton has a better understanding of clothes than we thought. I completely agree with him on fashion.
I’ve posted this before but this seems like a better place to to archive it –
Here is the audio to that very interview with Tim (mixed in with several others).
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWNz95YeIaI
I think Dalton looks fine here. I agree a navy jacket would look better, but it is probably quite hot in North Africa at the time the story is set. The clothes do look cheap, but given that, in the context of the story, he is assassinating General Pushkin, he blends in pretty well to the surrounding environment. But as David well-chronicles, Dalton doesn't wear a lot of clothes well, though I thought he looked far more uncomfortable in suits than in casual (or in disguise, has he seem most relaxed with his costume in Afghanistan).
Dalton looked better in his "Hot Fuzz" suits than as James Bond! How ironic.
M&S is Harrods compared with Wal-Mart.
Not a bad outfit, in my opinion. The clothes are appropriate for the task ("assasinating" Pushkin) and his cover (he is there as a journalist covering the trade conference; eagle-eyed viewers would note the "TRADE CONVENTION -PRESS" sticker on his car windshield).
True, it seems like an off-the-rack job, but the literary Bond (and that's who Dalton is playing) was not averse to purchasing clothes for a mission from second-hand stores or from a vendor in the Carribean. So not everything this Bond wears has to be an imacculately tailored tuxedo or suit.
The blouson looks a little big on Dalton, but that was the fashion of the late 1980’s. I find it hard to get a good blouson or Harrington off the rack as I have a 38 inch chest and a 30 inch waist. I usually take a medium but sometimes a small depending on fit. Occasionally I have to get one altered. What do you think about Dalton’s blouson Matt ?
Last week I was watching TLD in high res and I was under the distinct impression that Dalton’s blouson is in (faux) suede, very much like Baracuta’s G9 in suede that is currently on their website.
I think the beige bomber jacket could be a cotton gabardine possibly which would make sense with the setting and heat I have a similar jacket in a lighter stone colour and it is so lightweight. If it’s a cool summers day it works very well. I think it would be lighter weight then the suede jacket Craig wore in Morocco. Do you agree Matt?
I will have to take a closer look at this. I haven’t since the Blu-ray came out. But I’m fairly sure it’s not gabardine.
Do you think Bond’s outfit is better or Felix’s outfit?
Also, Do you think the costume designer was trying to mimic Bond’s outfit with Felix or do you think this attire was a just a modern trend?
Felix looks like he is trying to copy Bond’s outfit, but his version looks like he is trying to dress for the hotter weather ( i.e. white trousers and white polo). The one problem with Felix’s outfit is his jacket. I wish we could see Felix’s shoes and see if his polo was short sleeved or long sleeved.
I’m not sure where the criticism is coming from towards this outfit. Everything is slightly oversized (it was the 80’s) in particular the jacket, but as an ensemble it works. Both functional and relaxed. Best part of the outfit is the footwear. Sperry topsider boat shoes, timeless and the best in class. Daniel Craig wears a pair in No Time To Die.