James Bond’s first suit of Die Another Day is a two-piece, button-three solid charcoal worsted. Since the suit is from Brioni it has the straight, padded shoulders and clean chest typical of the brand. It has straight, flapped pockets and double vents. The pulling at the waist would suggest that Pierce Brosnan gained a little weight since he was fitted for this suit. Brosnan was quite a bit heavier here than when he started as Bond in GoldenEye seven years earlier.
The darted front trousers have slanted pockets and are worn with a belt. Bond’s belt and shoes are black.
Bond’s white shirt is made by Brioni and has a cutaway collar, a front placket and double cuffs. The tie is from Turnbull & Asser and is a floated neat design in red, orange, blue and light brown. Though the red appears to be dominant in the tie’s pattern, the four colours are equal in the tie’s pattern. The orange serves to brighten the red while the blue and brown give the effect of shadows.
Matt,
Can you briefly go over the difference between a draped chest and a clean chest? I think I understand it – the draped chest is a typical English cut with a suppressed waist and broad, emphasized chest – am I correct? And could you reference some examples between the two? Sorry for perhaps a basic question, but I am not sure I quite perceive the difference in looking at some of the photos on the blog. Thanks.
A drape cut is more relaxed. The typical English cut has a clean chest. Such an example would be equestrian and military tailors such as H Huntsman and Dege & Skinner. These suits have a structured, built-up chest. A draped chest can be found at Anderson & Sheppard. Such a chest is full-cut but has less structure.
I am not a big fan of Anderson & Sheppard. How would you characterize Kilgour?
Kilgour makes a clean, structured suit.
Thanks for the information.
Thanks for the description!
Can you find out the manufactuer or the article ID of Brosnans first tie (the red-violet)? It would be great.
The tie is from Turnbull & Asser.
I wrote an email to Turnbull & Asser asking for the red tie. The response:
"I have just spoken with our tie factory manager and he has confirmed that the tie pictured in your email was NOT made by Turnbull & Asser."
Do you have an idea who is the manufactuer or where I can order this tie?
Thank you in advance.
Someone told me that he has the tie and Turnbull & Asser sold it to him as the tie from that scene. That's all I have to go on. Check with Brioni. But since this movie was made 9 years ago it's going to be difficult to get this tie.
Could this be the suit worn near the ending of the film under the overcoat (the one worn at the airbase)?
No, that one is a navy birdseye.
Matt, isn’t the button stance of Brosnan’s 3-button suits in DAD higher than in TWINE, and isn’t this stance (almost?) as high as his ‘modern button-two’ suit ? This combined with a higher lapel notch than in TWINE ?
I have just rewatched it yesterday, and a lot of publicity stills where he is wearing his typical 3-button suit seems to confirm this idea. See this for example :
http://img.mota.ru/upload/wallpapers/source/2011/07/04/09/05/26328/mota_ru_1070403.jpg
Yes, the button stance is indeed higher, but not as high as the button two suit. It’s not a particularly flattering look for the heavier Brosnan in this film. The angle and lens of that photo makes it look higher than it really is.
I suspect Brosnan’s Brioni model in this scene may be Augusto.
A recent purchase of mine was a second-hand Brioni blazer and the details between this suit and it appear to be spot on.
It has a three-button front, even if it has three buttons on each cuff, double vents with roped sleeve-heads.
Any thoughts on why Bond goes for white shirts in TWINE and DAD whereas previously (certainly in the Connery era and even in GoldenEye and TND) they always seemed to be cream/off-white?
For Brosnan it’s fashion. For Connery it’s part fashion and part that cream looked better on camera than pure white.
Do you think the second tie is from t&b too? If so, it would be possible to find some similar one?
I wrote that both ties are from Turnbull & Asser. They may have something similar in store, but you’d need to pay a visit yourself.
That second tie like a less crazy version of the Goldeneye (MI6 scenes) tie.
This looks like the second tie, same pattern but with a different color scheme :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/TURNBULL-ASSER-Mens-100-Silk-Necktie-ENGLAND-Luxury-CHECKS-Purple-White-EUC/373132239547?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180816085401%26meid%3D209938f421e645139d57dcac867a3fcc%26pid%3D100970%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D143718414171%26itm%3D373132239547%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DTurnbull+%26+Asser&_trksid=p2380057.c100970.m5481&_trkparms=pageci%3A03c7f79a-f2cf-11ea-bf0a-74dbd180f727%7Cparentrq%3A743f7e911740a9c9540a17effffff55a%7Ciid%3A1
Very nice find! The colours aren’t really my thing, otherwise I’d jump on it.
Nice find indeed! You’re probably right.
Is that knot a four in hand? It appears the knot is too thick for a four in hand?
It looks like a four-in-hand to me. Thick ties make thick knots. That’s why the Duke of Windsor had thick knots; he didn’t use a Windsor knot.
Do you know when the higher button stance became fashionable again? Late-90s from my own observation but three-button jackets were also very popular around this time so it’s difficult for me to tell.
In the late 1990s, high-buttoning jackets with three or four buttons were trendy, but that went away before high-buttoning jackets with two buttons became trendy in the second half of the aughts.