The Dead Styles Are Alive
James Bond: Daniel Craig
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume designer: Jany Temime
Tailoring: Tom Ford
Shirts and ties: Tom Ford, Thomas Pink
Footwear: Crockett & Jones
Overview
Spectre‘s style is a continuation of Skyfall‘s, with the return of costume designer Jany Temime. Tom Ford also returned to provide most of the suits, shirts and ties. Casual wear came from a number of brands familiar to Bond and from a few brands that were new to Bond. The wardrobe is very well designed and curated, but it faced some stumbling blocks.
Bond’s wardrobe in Spectre has a little more colour than it does in Skyfall, but it keeps to classic Bond colours. These colours, however, are altered by the film’s hideous colour grading, which pours a urine yellow cast over the entire film. While it may seem logical that the Mexico City and Morroco scenes have the ‘third-world yellow’ look—despite Mexico City having a similar climate to London—the same yellow is applied to London and snowy Austria. In terms of clothes, this means that whites become pale yellow and rich blues become muted navy. While I don’t know if the wardrobe choices accounted for the colour grading or not, the colours of Bond’s wardrobe on screen are attractive nonetheless, at least compared to everything else. Some of the screenshot in this review have had the colour adjusted to look closer to reality.
Because Daniel Craig was leaner in Spectre than he was in Skyfall, the Tom Ford suit silhoutte was modified but the fit is still too tight, following contemporary trends and Daniel Craig’s personal preference. For the suit jackets, the shoulders are too narrow, the chest and hips are too tight, the length is slightly too short, and the sleeve are too narrow, too long and have the wrong the pitch. The suit trousers are too short in the rise, too tight in the thighs and too short in the leg. So once again, the suits move poorly with Daniel Craig’s body because they simply do not fit him. The fit is sloppy, unflattering and impractical. I covered more about the poor fit in the Skyfall review and elsewhere on this blog, and it doesn’t all need to be repeated again.
Formal Wear
After a 30-year absence, the ivory dinner jacket made a welcome return to Bond’s wardrobe. Spectre‘s dinner jacket is, however, a very different dinner jacket to any Bond has worn before because it follows 21st century conventions rather than the traditional ones Bond has followed before. The ivory silk grosgrain facings and covered buttons instead of self facings and mother of pearl buttons are the main differentiation. These details treat it more like a black or midnight blue dinner jacket, but I find them to be unnecessarily busy because they compete with the black silk bow tie, cummerbund and trousers stripe. Before the 21st century these facings would have been considered overly flashy or cheap-looking, as they were primarily found on the cheapest dinner jackets.
This is Bond’s second dinner jacket of the series with two buttons, which is largely regarded as incorrect for any dinner jacket. A dinner jacket should have one button. Many traditionalists may regard this as a more significant faux pas than the silk facings, but the silk facings bother me more. The single vent at the rear also bothers me, which unnecesarily Americanises this dinner jacket.
There are a few good things about the dinner jacket. The silk-and-viscose faille cloth beautifully combines luxury and practicality, but the silk body of the dinner jacket further makes the silk grosgrain facings unnecessary. Tom Ford’s signature peaked lapels in the form of the ‘Windsor’ model bring much needed panache to the film’s wardrobe and are far more attractive than the narrow notched lapels that adorn most of the film’s suits.
The shirt pleasantly revives a classic Bond style: the a pleated bib front that fastens with mother-of-pearl buttons. Spectre marks the first time since The Living Daylights that Bond has visible mother-of-pearl buttons down the front of his dress shirt. This is a traditional English way, and the lack of studs nicely matches the more relaxed look of the ivory dinner jacket. The shirt has the classic spread collar and double cuffs.
The bow tie is black silk grosgrain in a batwing shape from Drake’s, another classic touch. While it matches the texture of the dinner jacket’s facings, it clashes with the silk satin cummerbund and trouser stripe. There are four different silks in this outfit—two would have been far more tasteful. I would choose the silk-and-viscose body of the dinner jacket and silk satin for the bow tie, cummerbund and trouser stripe. Because the dinner jacket already has sheen without the facings, I believe that satin is preferable to grosgrain for the bow tie and such because it should be shinier than the dinner jacket itself.
The Albert Thurston white moire braces from Casino Royale and Skyfall make a welcome return.
Jany Temime cited Casablanca as her inspiration for putting Bond in an ivory dinner jacket in Morocco. Goldfinger was clearly an inspiration too with the red carnation in a peaked lapel, though Temime said that was Daniel Craig’s idea. The concept of this outfit is excellent but fails by not paying attention to the nuances of the outfits that inspired this one and leaning too heavily into the trends.
Lounge Suits and Jackets
Bond wears five lounge suits in Spectre, with four in the Tom Ford ‘O’Connor’ style and all in same fit. The ‘O’Connor’ jacket has a three-roll-two buttoning, giving it a button-two silhoutte like in Quantum of Solace. The button stance is at an attractive medium height, which is the best aspect of the fit. The jackets have a straight shoulder with roped sleeve heads, and they are detailed with a curved ‘barchetta’ breast pocket, slightly slanted flap hip pockets, four buttons at the cuff and a single vent at the rear. The slight slant on the hip pockets is a nice touch, adding some movement to the suit without drawing the attention that hacking pockets would.
All of the suit trousers have a flat front, an extended waistband with a hook-and-bar closure, slide-buckle side adjusters, on-seam side pockets with the seam curving forward at the top, and a straight leg with turn-ups. The style is classic British, apart from the rise being too low.
The suit’s style is a nice interpretation of a classic English tailoring style with some influence from Italian tailoring and some unique ideas from Tom Ford. The single vent is the only part of the suit’s style that I don’t like. Double vents have been associated with British tailoring since the 1960s, and I think they look more attractive than a single vent, and I think Bond should mainly be wearing double vents like he did for decades before Craig became Bond.
The first suit is at first covered up by a long coat and top hat as part of a Day of the Dead costume in Mexico City. The costume is fun and is understated in the Bondian tradition. He quickly removes it to reveal a blue Prince of Wales check ‘O’Connor’ suit with a lighter blue overcheck. It’s a fresh take on Bond’s typically grey checked suits. The rich blue of the real suit—a trendy colour at the time—is unfortunately lost on screen, but the darker navy it appears on screen is still nice and more traditionally appropriate for Bond. The suit helps Bond stand out in the crowd in Mexico City, and it would have helped even more without the yellow colour grading. He wears it with a white shirt and a mid blue repp tie. The simple colour scheme of the outfit is a theme throughout the film. The solid tie is a classic Bond staple but it would have been nice if the tie had some texture. Bond wears multiple ties like this one from Tom Ford throughout the film.
For the London scenes, Bond wears a dark grey herringbone track stripe ‘O’Connor’ suit on two separate occasions, with a missed opportunity to feature two different suits for two subsequent days. It’s a perfect suit for London without being too old fashioned. The grey herringbone is a classic Bond suit while the stripe adds an additional but classic element. The pattern is subtle but sophisticated in the classic Bond way. He wears it first with a white shirt and grey repp tie and dons it again the next day with a sky blue shirt and navy repp tie. The latter recalls how Connery often wore his grey suits, and the blue is very flattering on Craig.
Bond wears a navy cashmere and silk herringbone Crombie-style coat over this suit. The coat is three-quarter length with a blue moleskin collar and a fly front. The coat is one of Craig’s best, as it follows classic British styling without shortcuts. The navy scarf he wears with it adds a practical and stylish touch, all staying within the outfit’s narrow and elegant colour palette. The coat would look better if it were a little longer and not so tight, but short and tight is the theme of the wardrobe. Fastening only the middle button—possibly because the chest is too tight—isn’t a stylish or practical way to wear the coat. Coats are for warmth, and if the top button can’t be done up then it’s not serving its purpose.
Bond’s next ‘O’Connor’ suit is blue sharkskin, again appearing navy due to the colour grading. This is a new twist for Bond on his usual sharkskin suit, which was always grey in the past. This is the only suit in the film that has a reason for its poor fit—Blofeld provided the suit for Bond. It makes sense that Blofeld wouldn’t be able to provide a perfectly fitted suit, and maybe he’d dress Bond in a poorly fitted suit to humiliate him. However, the suit has an identical cut and fit to all of Bond’s ‘O’Connor’ suits in the film, meaning that Blofeld sourced this suit from Bond’s tailor or stole it from Bond’s cupboard. Bond wears it with a white shirt and navy repp tie, following the same colour palette as the suit in the opening scene.
For the film’s brief final scene, Bond wears a charcoal damier check three-piece ‘O’Connor’ suit in wool, silk and mohair, making it bit flashy. It’s a novel pattern for a Bond suit, which combines sportiness with elegance in a unique way. It’s like a modern but dressier take on a shepherd’s check, which is perfect for a modern Bond. This suit shows Bond as a man who appreciates suits because he wears this suit when he’s off duty. It demonstrates that the suit is an essential part of the character. He’s no longer a man who wears a suit with disdain—he wears a suit because he likes wearing suits. It being a three-piece suit emphasises how much he appreciates suits. He wears this suit with a sky blue shirt and a black silk twill tie from Thomas Pink, which isn’t so different from the various repp ties he wears in the rest of the film. The solid black tie helps tone down the suit and brings a classic Bond feel to the outfit.
With these ‘O’Connor’ suits, Bond wears Tom Ford shirts with a point collar and double cuffs. The point collar is an unusual choice for Bond, especially at a time when it’s not a trendy look, but he’s no stranger to the point collar. He usually wears a spread or semi-spread collar, which gives him a more English look. This point collar looks more American, especially as he wears it without collar stays. The lack of stays looks more relaxed and fits with the classic Bond character. The shirts have double cuffs.
With each of these suits, Bond wears a straight-folded cotton pocket square that matches the shirt. I find that this way of wearing a pocket square is too matchy-matchy, and a white linen pocket square with all shirt colours as Connery did is more stylish.
Bond’s shoes with these suits are the Crockett & Jones ‘Norwich’ model, a black calf five-eyelet, cap-toe derby shoes with Dainite studded rubber soles. I find that these shoes lack the elegance of the three-eyelet ‘Highbury’ derby he wears in Skyfall. It’s not a bad shoe, but I find the style rather uninspired. The Dainite sole is, again, the perfect choice for Bond.
When in Rome, Bond wears his flashiest suit of the film: a black herringbone three-piece suit in Tom Ford’s iconic ‘Windsor’ model. This suit has medium-wide peaked lapels and straight hip pockets with a ticket pocket. Its fit, however, approximately matches that of the ‘O’Connor’ suits, but it does appear to be a little neater, perhaps due to extra fullness to accommodate the waistcoat. This suit is inspired by the suits of British designer Tommy Nutter, who made even flashier suits with wide peaked lapels and large, defined shoulders. Bond wears this suit to blend in with Italian gangsters at a funeral, and while it does not look Italian, it does look flashy enough for a gangster. Black makes this suit appropriate for a funeral, the chunky herringbone weave adds interest so it doesn’t look dull, and the waistcoats adds formality. The suit isn’t typical of Bond’s style, but it ends up being the most interesting and attractive suit of the film.
The white shirt has a pinned collar, a new style for Bond but one that fits in with the flashy gangster theme. It’s too old-fashioned and fussy for Bond, but it’s a classic Tom Ford style that pairs perfectly with the classic Tom Ford suit. What makes the shirt far more interesting is that it revives the classic Bond cocktail cuffs, which have been missing from the series since Moonraker. Though Bond has to dress in a way that isn’t his usual self, he wears these cuffs to add a personal element. Unlike the repp ties in the film, the solid black tie that Bond wears with this suit has some texture that makes it more interesting and more sophisticated. The white silk pocket square he wears has a piped border, making it the most stylish pocket square of the film and of all of Craig’s films. It’s an improvement that he doesn’t wear one that’s a perfect match with his shirt.
Bond adds another flashy element: the Crockett & Jones black ‘Camberley’ double monk cap-toe boot. Boots with suits are a classic Bond style going back to Goldfinger, but I think this boot is trying a bit too hard with the trendy double monk fastening. I’m not a fan of double monks in general and always believe single monks are superior.
Bond wears a black wool bridge coat over this suit. It’s a classic bridge coat, and it’s the kind of coat Bond might have at the back of cupboard from his naval days and pulled it out for this disguise—the military style is not particularly appropriate for an Italian gangster. The double-breasted cashmere overcoat that Bond wears for the funeral in The World Is Not Enough would have been a better choice if the disguise was all that mattered. This coat is still a decent choice. The way he fastens only one button again is awkward. The coat needs at least three buttons fastened, if not all four.
Bond wears his first odd jacket since GoldenEye 20 years earlier. This one is a relaxed jacket made of light brown wool, linen and silk in an unstructured cut from Brunello Cucinelli, one of Daniel Craig’s favourite brands. The fit is neater than the Tom Ford fit, but it’s still much too tight on him. The soft, narrow shoulders are especially unflattering and end up making him look chubby instead of strong. He wears this jacket with a pair of Brunello Cucinelli chinos made of cotton gabardine in a slightly lighter shade than the jacket, which clash with the jacket because they lack enough difference in colour and texture. The cut of the trousers is also unflattering with a low rise and skinny legs. Tom Ford made a khaki cotton twill suit for the film that went unused, and I suspect it was originally made to be worn instead of this jacket and chinos. It would have made for a much more elegant outfit, but if it were made to the same size as the other Tom Ford suits it would have ended up being tighter than the rest because cotton has less give than wool has.
The shirt and tie, both from Tom Ford, are more exciting choices. The shirt has the point collar he wears throughout most of the film. The cocktail cuffs return on this shirt, an appropriately less formal choice than his usual double cuffs with cufflinks. The tie is a brown silk knit. The silk knitted tie has been a Bond staple since the Fleming books and something every Bond actor has worn at least once in the role, so it’s good that Daniel Craig had this opportunity to be part of the club. It’s a more relaxed tie than the other ties in the film, making it an appropriate choice with this unstructured jacket. It has a pointed bottom rather than the usual square sock-like hem, which many like but I find affected. A knitted tie isn’t folded like other ties and does not have a reason to have a pointed bottom. Bond’s boots are the ‘Kenton’ suede boots from J. Crew in tan. Though it’s unusual for Bond to wear an American brand, these were likely a personal selection of Daniel Craig’s. I don’t think these boots are elegant enough with this jacket and tie, nor do I think they are an appropriate choice for Bond at all. The American style isn’t right for the character.
Casual Attire
With so many tailored outfits, there is still room for five casual outfits in the film. The first is a short navy cashmere jacket from Dior with a lot of style. The jacket is likely not quite what Bond needs in snowy Austria, but he looks fantastic in it. He wears a pale grey cashmere roll neck from N.Peal under it, which helps keep him warm. The combination makes this outfit a highlight of the film. The trousers from Neil Barrett are black with a grey tic pattern in a blend of viscose, nylon, polyester and elastane. I like their frogmouth pockets, but their skinny silhouette looks like Bond is wearing leggings. They certainly are not warm enough to be practical in the snow either, so hopefully they leave room for long underwear. The boots, switching between the black Danner ‘Mountain Light II’ 5″ boots and the black Crockett & Jones ‘Radnor’ boots, are both good choices. The “Radnor” boots have a much sleeker look than the Danner boots, but the Danners are still stylish while being far more practical. The navy knit cap is practical but not especially unique or stylish.
For another snowy scene, Bond wears a more practical nylon-front blouson in blue and grey from Tom Ford over a blue mock turtleneck from N.Peal. The blue turtleneck is barely visible but adds a much needed contrast with a colour that is highly flattering to Craig’s complexion and eyes. For me the highlight of the outfit is the pair of 1960s-inspired heavy wool ski trousers made by Tom Ford. I love the forward pleats and the period details. They’re style over substance, but they sure do have style.
Craig wears another one of his iconic polos in Tangier. This one is made by Tom Ford in cotton and viscose with an open V-neck, which may be a bit too showy for the average person, but it looks good on Bond. The banded bottom adds a unique touch, elevating this polo to be more like a jumper. He wears a tan suede blouson from Matchless, which has a flattering cut and its colour helps Bond blend in with his surroundings. The trousers and boots are the same ones he wears with the Brunello Cucinelli jacket, and while they pair better with this outfit they aren’t the most attractive look. It is nice to see Bond wearing the same clothes with multiple outfits because it brings an element of realism to the wardrobe.
Bond also re-wears the suede blouson over a blue and white end-on-end linen shirt from Orelbar Brown. The shirt has an overly tapered fit with front darts, something found typically on women’s shirts but not on men’s. The shirt’s tiny collar doesn’t have much style. I think this shirt is the weakest part of the film’s casual wardrobe.
For the film’s climax, Bond brings back the Neil Barrett trousers from earlier and wears them with another N.Peal mock turtleneck, this time in charcoal grey. Over the knitwear Bond wears a navy goat suede jacket from John Varvatos. The trousers are a much better match with this outfit, but the silhouette still leaves much to be desired. The Sanders & Sanders ‘Playboy’ chukka boots complete this outfit, providing Bond with stylish and sneaky footwear.
On the teaser poster for Spectre we see the jumper without the jacket, where Bond’s shoulder holster is revealed. This look immediately recalls Live and Let Die as well as Steve McQueen in Bullitt (who wears the same chukka boots). It’s a shame we don’t get to see Bond this way in the film because it’s such an iconic look.
Overall, the casual styles for this film are a success because they fit better than the tailored clothes, but the trendy skinny trousers let them down.
Other Characters
Gareth Mallory, played by Ralph Fiennes, is again the best-tailored male character in the film. He demonstrates how Bond could have dressed, especially in his striped single-breasted suit. The more mature style he wears from Timothy Everest are perfectly age-appropriate for Bond, who is only five years younger, and has the classic look that the character wore prior to Skyfall without looking outdated. His beautiful double-breasted suits wouldn’t be quite right for Bond, but they are perfect for M.
Well Done, James
The revival of styles that have been long dead from the Bond series brings joy to this wardrobe, perhaps following the film’s theme, ‘The dead are alive’ (which would have made a better title for the film). Despite the faults of the ivory dinner jacket, it was about time for it to come back to Bond. This dinner jacket, like the midnight blue dinner jacket in Skyfall, helped bring it back to worldwide attention when it previously had a reputation for being a service industry garment. It’s also great to see Bond wearing an odd jacket again, but like the dinner jacket it’s a poor example.
The cocktail cuff, Bond’s signature shirt cuff, was a sight for sore eyes after a 36-year absence from the series. As the cuff that I personally favour in my own wardrobe, it was thrilling to see it on Bond again. Tom Ford’s version of the cuff isn’t a perfect design, but it’s close to it.
While Bond wears a three-piece suit in Casino Royale, Spectre is the first time it appears on screen for more than a few seconds since The World Is Not Enough. It has been a classic Bond style since Goldfinger and it is appropriate for the mostly matured Bond we see in this film.
Solid ties make a welcome return, though I wish they all had some texture like Sean Connery’s grenadine ties. Only the black tie and brown silk knitted tie have texture. The silk knitted tie is the best tie of the film because it revives the most classic and essential Bond tie.
On a separate positive note, Bond wears two of his most stylish pairs of the series in Spectre: Tom Ford sunglasses in the ‘Snowdon’ and ‘Henry’ models. I love the ‘Snowdon’ for its similarities to the Thunderball sunglasses, but in the Havana shade they are far more elegant.
Not Perfected Yet
The suit fit is again the most significant issue with Bond’s wardrobe in the film, and it’s impossible to ignore. The trouser fit is an issue too. The breaks from tradition with the dinner jacket diminish what could have been one of the greatest sartorial moments of the film.
Verdict
Once again, the too-tight tailoring from Tom Ford dominates Bond’s look in this film. Daniel Craig’s Bond continues to mature, but his taste for poorly fitted expensive suits does not follow the character. There’s no reason in this story why he should be dressing like a teenage boy who is wearing suits that belong to his smaller father, or a 20-something man chasing the latest fashions. Daniel Craig has only recently given up wearing too-small tailoring in favour of chasing the latest trend for baggy clothes when he should be returning to the maturity he dressed with in and around the time of his early Bond films. This is the closest film to the classic Bond films in Craig’s tenure, but the fit of the clothes means that the wardrobe is at odds with the tone of the film.
Despite the fit problems, Bond’s wardrobe features of good variety of clothes and a revival of classic styles that come together to form a cohesive wardrobe. The suitings are well chosen, and the casual clothes have an elegance appropriate for the character. The wardrobe could have been one of the best of the series because the ideas behind every outfit are excellent but the execution often leaves much to be desired.
Rating: 5/10
Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Leave your comments below.
I remember when this came out; I always thought the suit fits in particular were dreadful. As someone under 30, it is almost surreal to look back at this wardrobe and think, “yep, that looks mid-2010s.” ‘Colours and fabrics are nice, but as time goes by, I find this wardrobe less and less appealing. ‘Mostly agree Matt; it might be a 5/10 for me personally.
Some people look at this now and still think it looks current! You’re of the generation who has moved on from it and defined a new style.
I’ll definitely second that. I travel for work and it seems that many people around their mid 40s-late 50s still believe skinny fits are the latest thing. Do you notice this too by chance?
I’ve noticed the same thing. Gen X hasn’t moved on yet, except for Daniel Craig.
Yes, they are the worst offenders and they look as silly in them as Craig did and in many cases even worse since they are out of shape!
I agree with the revised review score of 5 for all the reasons you pointed out. Again, some beautiful cloth which could have made for some of the best suits in the series but ruined by atrocious fit. What a shame.
Personally, I like fuller cut garments, myself. These slim cuts are dreadful, to say the least.
Off topic, but never strive for perfection, as you will always lose. There is no perfection in life, things always need to be changed or, perhaps, improved, in one way or the other.
“Ideas vs. execution” perfectly sums up the good and the bad in this wardrobe. I love that blue check suit, and it looked very good on the model featured on the Tom Ford site back in 2015, same with all the outfits. I wish they used the tan suit instead of the Brunello jacket.
“…the film’s hideous colour grading, which pours a urine yellow cast over the entire film”.
Almost worth the colour grading, to get that witheringly accurate description of it.
Couldn’t agree more with both you and Matt.
I clearly remember going to see this in the IMAX cinema and thinking there was something wrong with the cinema set up as the opening scenes appeared to have been filmed with a muslin rag draped over the lens. Not so obvious in the snowy scenes but in Mexico and Morocco a literal eye-sore. What were they thinking? I’d had my doubts previously about whether Sam Mendes really ‘got’ Bond and this among some other basic errors just sealed it for me.
The snowy scenes are yellow too, you were just used to the yellow by then.
I don’t think Sam Mendes understands Bond at all. My view has long been that what works in Skyfall (which is quite a lot) is probably a fluke, and most of SPECTRE doesn’t work at all. Even though Skyfall is a favourite film for many people, that is largely due to great cinematography, good casting and very individual performances by many of the actors, plus many very good discrete scenes (that work well by themselves, but don’t really link up to make a coherent film). I thought Mendes really over-egged the ‘old dog’ theme, had Bond act in various non-Bondian ways, and was happy with far too many plot holes (that are often missed or overlooked by casual watchers just because this film delivers something SPECTRE does not – it is entertaining and it holds your attention).
I thought the colour was a result of the critics pissing all over the movie.
It’s a fair overall rating. Skyfall and Spectre’s suits are so frustrating because if they only fit Craig, they’d be among the best in the series. The variations on gray and blue plaids, checks, and stripes fit Bond to a T, and so do the shirts and ties (collar shapes notwithstanding).
I think Jany Temime also deserves credit for making the classic Blofeld outfit work about as well as it could have in 2015. And now, thanks to this article, I choose to believe he did swipe one of Bond’s suits from his closet. It makes about as much sense as anything else in this movie! :-P
Jany Temime deserves no credit for that.
Whenever she and Craig have a say in fit, the clothes fit badly. Waltz lucked out in that his outfits were among those contracted out to a bespoke tailor, so the fit was handled there as was the case with M.
There’s nothing about the Mandarin-collared suit jacket that would mean poor fit or even look bad. There are lots of similar garments particularly in the realm of country clothing, or even sportcoats that can be flipped upwards to wear that way.
I was interested in all the details about the white dinner jacket. At the time, as I remember, white dinner jackets were seen as quite “naff” and Mr Craig helped to make the fashionable again. Is this one of the rare occasions when Bond wears a cummerbund?
This is Craig’s third cummerbund as Bond, but they appear two other times before him.
I agree with nearly everything you said… until you got to the rating.
I can’t bring myself to give it more than perhaps 3/10 at the very most. Botched execution is botched execution, no matter how good the source material, and the best wagyu beef is worthless if the chef burns it to a crisp. All I can see when I look at this film is a man who looks like he’s wearing two sizes too small and his clothes nearly burst at the seams.
I agree and I’d go as far as to say I’d rate it lower than Skyfall for the simple reason that I don’t like any of the casual wear in this movie. For all the problems the suits have, the casual wear in Skyfall is mostly solid, with the barbour coat and peacoat being the highlights of Craig’s outfits in the movie. And the dinner suit in Skyfall is much better than the Ivory dinner jacket in Spectre.
3/10
A welcome return for the wardrobe review!
I am only interested in suits insofar as I’m interested in James Bond. I don’t like wearing them and before I started reading this blog, I knew nothing about them.
And yet, knowing nothing whatever about suits, when I first saw that first suit in Spectre, even I thought, “OhmyGod what the hell is he wearing?!” It was and is the worst fitting suit I’ve ever seen.
I was skeptical of this film from the moment I saw the poster proudly showing off a two-button “tux” (I’m not going to do it the courtesy of calling it a dinner jacket) but still cautiously optimistic because I actually do really like SPECTRE and Blofeld as organizations and characters. My friends thought my comments about the jacket were misplaced.
Really menswear tells us a lot because I simply should not have gone to the film based on the poster. I still distinctly remember booking tickets at a historic cinema (the same one where Kubrick did premieres, one that sadly closed during the pandemic) and showing up opening night… only to see what is burned into my memory as the worst film I’ve ever seen.
As badly as the clothes fit, though, they were dwarfed by the film hinting 20 minutes in, then of course confirming, that in the Craig universe Blofeld is Bond’s jealous brother. I had appreciated that Skyfall did a nod to Bond’s family history (though it was weird that he said “England” rather than Scotland in that Q&A scene given literary Bond proclaims the superiority of Scotland), and then this made a parody of that.
2/10 for Craig’s wardrobe.
10/10 for M.
Yeah… I try not to think about the “Blofeld is Bond’s long lost brother” thing. I find it interesting that Craig lamented that Austin Powers killed Bond, only for Bond to start stealing plot points from him. Pity.
It doesn’t help that they tried to make SPECTRE and Blofeld relevant without taking the time to build them up properly – relying on the old films to do all the spadework in that respect is rather a bad idea when you want your reboot continuity to stand on it’s own.
Also, for my money Mr Waltz is more a ‘Kronsteen’ than a ‘Blofeld’ (Like Mr Donald Pleasance he simply fails to project the sense of being an Absolute Unit that I associate with a Blofeld, though thankfully he doesn’t overcompensate by dipping into the sort of bug-eyed histrionics that inspire parodies, rather than sensible caution).
By this I mean he feels like a calculating, intelligent man who could organise Evil Schemes with ease and could certainly charm an audience into cooperation, but lacks the sense of sheer heft to smother all doubts that this man will always command obedience without needing to raise his voice, even amongst a cabal of Earth’s most dangerously successful crime lords.
Good point. I never saw ‘Inglorious Basterds’ which I believe cemented CW’s image as a villainous baddie but his casting as Blofeld was met with a universal enthusiasm that I feel like he never properly lived up to. Thus his arrest at the end of SPECTRE and demise in NTTD came with a hefty dollop of disappointment as for me he never really achieved the requisite amount of pure villainy and malevolence that was required of an aspirant to world domination and global terror.
Even worse was the marketing trying to pretend that “Franz Oberhauser” wasn’t Blofeld, To quote another famous pseudo-Blofeld, “…Rrrriiiiiiigghht.”
Marketing Blofeld as ‘Franz Oberhauser’ may have worked if the film wasn’t titled Spectre. It’s a lazy title. I wonder if Mendes wanted to title it ‘The Dead Are Alive’. It adds nothing as a title card after the gunbarrel unless someone really had to put it there. I think it would have made a better title for the film.
Are we not a bit tired – exhausted even – with ‘Dead’ , ‘Die’ ‘Death’ in Bond titles reaching all the way back starting with the second novel ‘Live and Let Die’ through the films and continuation novels. It’s been done to … errr … death!
It had also come after the pre-release press for “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” had similarly lied – none too convincingly – about the identities of their villains.
You would think they had learned by then… STID was extra insulting because they cast a character named KHAN NOONIEN SINGH with the whitest British man ever. Naveen Andrews would have killed the role, and he’s a South Asian actor who had worked with Abrams previously.
For Jany Temime to cite Casablanca as the inspiration for the Ivory dinner jacket seems almost disrespectful to the several previous occasions on which it has been used in a James Bond film. Lindy Hemming had a more successful run as costume designer IMO. I think Jany Temime often sacrifices traditional customs and knowledge for more trendy waves, something that she does well. However, I believe this type of styling should be avoided in Bond, similar to the ridiculous trends of the 70s seen in some of Roger Moore’s films. Either way, at face value, the outfit of this film is definitely better than it is worse.
Surprisingly, Temime does traditional British clothes much better in the later Harry Potter movies (a job also previously held by Lindy Hemming). Jim Broadbent’s tweed suits are particularly good, as are the Weasleys’ homemade sweaters and other casual clothes. Between that, and the fact that other characters’ clothes in Temime’s Bond movies fit much better, I’m more inclined to blame Daniel Craig for the fit problems.
I blame Craig for bringing her in as a yes-woman. He pushed out Hemming (Frogley was just on as a substitute while Hemming was doing Dark Knight I think) due to her pickiness about fit.
I think the only reason the characters in HP generally look fine is that she thought she was making them look frumpy and old-fashioned. It’s the same reason M looks amazing, while Craig looks like a bouncer at a dodgy Soho nightclub. She thought she was making M frumpy and old-fashioned.
I believe Hemming was out before Quantum of Solace because Brioni was also out.
Indeed. But I don’t think Frogley was Craig’s yes-woman pick. I think he thought getting rid of Hemming would get him the poorly fitting clothes of his dreams, but it didn’t work, so the Frenchwoman was brought in. Additionally, apart from the Levi’s and a couple of other items, QoS was *so* Tom Ford (even items that were rumoured to be other companies, during production, like Oliver Peoples sunglasses turned out to be Tom Ford copies of the same) that it’s possible TF himself had more say for that initial outing.
Kind of funny considering Craig was able to make the producer of the entire franchise a yes-woman, something that no previous actor (even Moore despite his close friendship with Cubby) ever managed.
Craig didn’t like Hemming or Brioni, but his taste in 2008 was nothing like what it was in the 2010s. I don’t know what he thought about Frogley, but I don’t know if she was asked to come back or not.
That’s a fair point. I remember Craig getting some kind of article about being “well dressed” and the example was a hideous combination of grey pinstriped waistcoat and jacket on top of low rise jeans. Not skinny fit nor oversized but an awful look even to my young eyes at the time.
The latest ratings so far, along with some other stats:
Dr No – 9/10
FRWL – 9/10
GF – 10/10
TB – 10/10
YOLT – 6/10
OHMSS – 8/10
DAF – 6/10
LALD – 7/10
TMWTGG – 8/10
TSWLM – 5/10
MR – 6/10
FYOE – 9/10
Octopussy – 7/10
AVTAK – 8/10
TLD – 6/10
LTK – 4/10
GE – 7/10
TND – 7/10
TWINE – 9/10
DAD – 7/10
CR – 6/10
QOS – 8/10
Skyfall – 5/10
Spectre – 6/10
Bond actor averages
Connery: 8.3
Lazenby: 8
Moore: 7.1
Dalton: 5
Brosnan: 7.5
Craig: 6.25 (thus far)
You and others have convinced me to knock Spectre down to a 5. I think it does some things better than Skyfall does, but it also does worse in some areas (the dinner jacket significantly brings it down). So it deserves a similar rating. So Craig averages a 6. And I can promise you that No Time to Die will bring it down.
I wonder if the opinion of Craig’s wardrobe will drift further downwards over time – in contrast to Brosnan, Moore, and to a lesser extent Dalton who are experiencing some renewed appreciation for their clothes.
I think Craig’s tailoring will drift further downwards, but the casual styles will remain fairly consistent. People from Craig’s generation won’t change their opinions as much as younger generations will.
I enjoyed reading this comment: “It is nice to see Bond wearing the same clothes with multiple outfits because it brings an element of realism to the wardrobe”. Would that this occurred more frequently!
One of my perpetual gripes with the canon, particularly in the Craig era where they have pivoted towards an increase in gritty realism, is the unrealistic trait of a utilitarian character such as CraigBond being kitted out in a whole slab of new suits, tuxes, coats, watches and sunglasses every couple of years. I much preferred the realism of outfits being reused within and especially among films (e.g. GF > TB tweed jacket) which has happened all too rarely within the series.
Add to that my irritation at the unnecessary leaps in logic which are most evident in this film. Just as in CR wherein each protagonist brings the other’s evening clothes to Montenegro, at what point was Bond able to pack for the train to Blofeld’s secret lair? And why would they pack evening clothes for a train ride? In all my years I have never seen a man in a dinner suit on a train. Why was Bautista sent to kill Bond on the train when Blofeld was going to the trouble of exposing to Bond his plans to rule the world and had gone to the lengths of preparing outfits for Bond and Swan? This kind of thing happens all too often in the canon and could easily be avoided with decent script editors. More evidence for my case that Mendes just didn’t ‘get’ Bond and his allowance for the egregious wardrobe errors noted on this blog post plays into this too.
I agree. People like to describe Craig’s Bond films as more realistic, confusing the darker tone (which Spectre lacks) for realism. I don’t believe Craig’s Bond films are any more realistic than Moonraker. Moonraker’s strength over the Craig films is that it never asks the audience to take it seriously.
Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. There is plenty of nonsense in the Craig films and it jars because overall the whole thing takes itself too seriously. I am happy that whole era is essentially an alternative universe Bond and can be forgotten if one chooses to. I just hope what comes next does not take a similar approach.
Exactly my point. If you’re going to ‘purport’ towards realism then at least make an effort to pay more than mere lip service towards being realistic. EON spends hundreds of millions on each film to pay for wardrobe, cars, location shooting and creating huge stunt filled set pieces but don’t seem to have money left in the budget to employ someone who can apply just a modicum of common sense to be able to say “this could never happen” or “that just doesn’t make sense” or “you can’t just do that” and have the script doctor make some small amendments to plug to gaps in logic and fallacy.
I too am hopeful that the new era will take some steps towards fixing this. I think the way forward will be to do what Nolan did with Batman and create a new three to five part story arc that stands apart from what went before and allows a full reboot. I was surprised that Broccoli and Wilson stepped aside so it’s anyone’s guess what the next move will be.
I don’t recall the producers ever saying it was “more realistic”, more that they wanted to “ground” the series again after the overwhelmingly negative reception to the CGI hijinks of Die Another Day and focus more on practical effects and stunts.
It’s the fans who like to claim Craig is more realistic.
Aww come on there was definitely a pivot in that direction with the Craig era whether or not it was explicitly stated, and we can discuss how successfully it was executed. You went from an invisible car in DAD to no gadgets or Q in the next two films and when he does show up in SF he hands over “a gun and a radio? Not exactly Christmas!”
It would seem so, but I certainly never claimed that. Even the Bourne movies aren’t very realistic, though they did also… kind of just make the same movie… five times.
I mean the script doctor they brought in (Paul Haggis) actually made them get things wrong as far as basic characterisation/British culture.
He introduced the whole thing where Bond somehow doesn’t know how to dress and needs to be taught by Vesper (even though he’s wearing the exact same Brioni clothes at start and finish), has Vesper herself not know how to express it by saying “Oxford” when *even if you were to make such a comment* it would make more sense to say Eton or honestly Sandhurst because those would entail more of an aristocratic association. Because of Haggis’s clueless dialogue, the whole generation that grew up on Craig films genuinely thinks Craig is some working class guy who hides among the upper class. (Even though Skyfall shows more explicitly than any other film than Bond its an aristocrat from a landed family.)
Rod, that’s quite a bit different than acting as if you were sold a faulty bill of goods. One can argue that the tone is inconsistent even within the same films, I would be one of the first to say that. But all they ever claimed to my knowledge was that they were bringing Bond “back to basics” and “grounding” him in somewhat more plausible scenarios.
I can’t take any of the Bond movies seriously. They are sometimes visually appealing, the cinematography is generally of high quality, the action scenes are sometimes pretty good, and the girls are occasionally good-looking. World-class movies — except for the scripts, which are the biggest pile of tripe imaginable. I suspect the scripts were rejected by the producers of Dr. Who for being too ridiculous, but found a home at EON.
Ian, sounds to me like you would also be a fan of the Kill James Bond podcast!
Giselle, I still enjoy watching them, despite the silliness of it all. And perhaps the scriptwriters will take a page out of Dr. Who’s book and have Bond “regenerate”. (But if I see one Dalek or Cyberman, I’m outta there!)
My criticism of Brosnan films used to be that they had Moore-level ridiculous plots, but tried to play them straight which didn’t land.
Craig’s era takes that up to 11. Not even a Moonraker or DAF would think up a plot as idiotic as “Blofeld is Bond’s jealous brother,” let alone try to make use feel emotionally invested in this as a huge dark moment.
The Brosnan films are very self-aware by comparison.
The specific criticism about the Bond’s wardrobe in the Craig films being unrealistically varied can be applied to almost all of Bond’s incarnations. As far back as From Russia with Love, Bond was packing five grey lounge suits (including two different glen checks) for a week’s trip to Istanbul!
I don’t actually think that was unrealistic. My dad in the 90s would pack a bunch of suits on a business trip, and thinking back more than a few were glen check. He was aware of clothes and etiquette but was by no means a clotheshorse. It was just still normal to wear suits.
Oh yes – like I said the re-use of costumes is always admirable but all too rare.
Kamal, from what I can gather it’s rare to even pack more than one suit on a business trip these days! I think one should at least pack two if they’re going to wear a suit every day, reducing their wear a little and allowing them to breathe.
You’re not wrong! But my point is that if my dad—not a clothes horse— was packing multiple in the 1990s, then Connery doing so in the 1960s is hardly unrealistic.
Pardon, this girl tends to digress. :)
I agree with all of your criticism. A gripe I have with Craig’s Bond films is that they purport to be realistic but simply aren’t. If they wanted to be realistic then they would have to be closer John le Carré, or if they wanted to be gritty but not realistic then they should be more in the vein of John Wick. Both would be a departure from what we have had so far but could work if they had a good cast, good scriptwriters and of course a properly Bond-worthy wardrobe. Or go back to not taking themselves too seriously like the earlier films – personally I felt Connery’s first five films struck the best balance in tone, plus the tailoring was always on point.
Another leap in logic gripe I forgot to mention but this one is clothes-related … the opening scene in Mexico City – Bond is walking around in his ‘Skeletor’ costume during the show-off long tracking sequence, goes upstairs to the hotel room, camera focuses on his lady friend for a couple of seconds and suddenly Bond is in lounge suit with a sub-machine strapped beneath. WTF? Are we supposed to believe he was wearing a shirt and tie OVER a shirt and tie? How else could he have changed so quickly?
These kind of gimmicks just immediately grate when you’re settling in for what you hope to be an adult action spy thriller drama and you’re being treated like a viewer of ‘The Hooded Claw’*
* Kids – ask your parents! This was a Hanna Barbera cartoon spun off from ‘Wacky Races’ in which the villain with a sweep of his arm could don and doff his ‘baddie’ outfit of top hat, mask and cape!
Again, when did they purport to be realistic? I don’t recall the producers using that word specifically. I feel like you all are putting words in their mouths and getting upset over things you made up yourselves.
They made a pretty big deal out of pivoting to realism, seemingly washing their hands of the Brosnan era, etc. It was at the heart of their marketing. (And for the most part I approved initially!) They also talked about how Austin Powers made doing anything but a realistic take on Bond impossible.
Of course, they’d go on to just remake Austin Powers with a urine filter added.
“He demonstrates how Bond could have dressed, especially in his striped single-breasted suit.”
Perfectly said. Just a few years later, and two years prior to the release of NTTD, Knives Out showed how a well-fitted, but not tight, suit looks on Daniel Craig in his early 50s.
The clothes are horrendous . They are so ill fitting that I can’t even bring myself to watch the film anymore. Not sure what they were thinking , probably nothing as they truly dropped the ball on this. Don’t get me started on the white dinner jacket ( with double w vents) etc..A complete slop of a film 2/10 and I’m being generous here.
The white dinner jacket had a single vent, like all the dinner jackets from Skyfall onward.
Unfortunately, the Ivory Dinner Jacket in Spectre is untraditional. Not only sports it a single vent but an overall unbalanced look with a button two front, grosgrain silk facings, and five-button sleeves.
Not sure why you’d assume I don’t know that. I’ve studied, written about professionally, and worked in menswear for many years. I’ll only disagree with you about the five button sleeves because I don’t see anything particularly wrong with them.
I wonder if it constitutes a point of irony nowadays that even subject to a decent income I’d NEVER ‘waste’ money on a ‘skinny suit’ unless I had vaults of the stuff to burn – I’d much rather purchase a suit with copious amounts of excess fabric to ‘future proof’ that garment against my own exponentially accelerating penchant for weight gain . . . Ergo maybe the ‘skinny suit’ is the contemporary equivalent of the wealthy man’s generously cut suit a hundred odd years before if the modern big shot has surfeit dough to drop on it . . . except for the fact that a mere decade after ‘Skyfall’ ~ ‘Spectre’ we were regarding the slim-fit suit with all of the requisite disdain it had coming.
Matt, your critique was right on point, though I’d give it a 3-4/10. Can’t wait to see your review of No Time to Die, which was dreadful all around.
For NTTD, I would suggest +1 to the score for every suit or jacket in the film without a collar gap.
Spoiler : there aren’t any. Fiennes if I recall correctly was impeccably dressed as usual.
Very interesting to view the comments above at a point 10 years on from the movie’s release. As someone who was saying in 2012 and in 2015 and later that Craig’s wardrobe was utterly appalling and without no redeeming features in terms of fit and character suitability, comparing them to Moore’s impeccable tailoring and got slated for saying this (the view at that time being Moore = could do little right and Craig = could do little wrong) it’s giving me a wry slice of satisfaction to see the wheel turning, pretty much as I guessed it might…..
With respect to the ‘wearing a suit and tie under another suit and tie’ remark a few posts above, my impression was always that Bond was wearing a top hat, a mask and an overcoat over the suit he wears for the rest of the cold open (So all he had to do was throw off an outer layer rather than entirely change his outfit).
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Also, for my money ‘SPECTRE’ actually works as a title (Since it actually gives very little away other than that Bond’s old sparring partners are back in some form, whilst also hinting that the list will continue to haunt the present), but the script doesn’t really do very much to exploit the audience’s reaction to that title (For example by using the fact that the audience knows what SPECTRE is and what it can do whilst Our Heroes start the film almost blissfully ignorant to generate tension; also by exploiting the fact that while we know What SPECTRE is, we won’t know exactly Who belongs to the Special Executive until the film chooses to reveal them to us).
Really, the fact that SPECTRE has a Big Twist built into it’s basic structure makes perfect sense, it’s the choice of twist and rather underwhelming execution of same that kneecaps the plot (For example, introducing Oberhauser as ‘SPECTRE Number 1’ and showing him proclaim his Unique Significance blah blah blah throughout the film, only to build up to the revelation that, like Fleming’s SPECTRE but unlike the classic Eon version, the reboot version actually rotates code numbers between members on a regular basis, meaning that while we’ve been assuming that Oberhauser is secretly Blofeld throughout the film, the actual Master of SPECTRE has been quietly going about his business whilst Oberhauser has been a useful decoy, but a profoundly expendable asset).
This one must admit to enjoying the unfair advantages of hindsight, NOT having a multi-billion franchise on my shoulders and being free from the requirement to cook in a kitchen with SO MANY cooks about the soup-pot, but even so it’s impossible to shake the suspicion that SPECTRE’s failure to pick exactly the right twist was the key failing that prevents it from being a truly classic Bond picture (Actually that would the be the key script problem: in terms of the overall picture trying to do Too Much Too Soon seems to be the key problem).
Honestly, in my humble opinion, I loved the outfits in this except the suits. The Tom Ford based skiing getup is lovely and the Varvatos jacket is also very nice indeed.
Yes, none of the suits fit properly, well illustrated in this article. I totally agree but 5/10 is super harsh as the casual attire more than makes up for it. Especially the Bekasab (possibly) dressing gown.
Also, I can’t wait for the No Time to Die appraisal as I’ve enjoyed all of these immensely.
Thank you. In the meantime you can read my initial review: https://www.bondsuits.com/a-no-time-to-die-wardrobe-review/