Octopussy opens with Bond in a brown herringbone tweed button three sports coat tailored by Douglas Hayward with natural shoulders and a low button stance. It has slanted pockets with a ticket pocket and double vents in the back. We are lead to believe this coat is reversible, and when Bond removes the coat and turns it inside out we see the green army cotton drill fabric and patch pockets on the other side.
Underneath the jacket Bond wears a yellow poloneck, or a dickey, which is easily removable. It’s not a full jumper and only fills the jacket opening. Bond’s trousers are olive green twill, matching the reverse side of his coat, with a plain front and plain hems. He wears the trousers with a dark brown belt that has a brass buckle and matches his dark brown boots. Bond’s flat cap is brown tweed matching the sports coat, but it’s also reversible to match the uniform. Later in week I will write more about the green military uniform that Bond hides underneath the sports coat.
Great Matt. I’d been looking forward to this post and I’ve learnt something new.
As the changing of the jacket and accoutrements happens so quickly I’d always mistaken the yellow “polo neck” for a scarf which he’d folded to give this effect before swiftly removing it. Now I can see that this is a separate entity, a dickey, as you refer to it as. According to Wikipedia this manouvre has occurred in other films too.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_(garment)
Interesting to see 007 wear a pilot shirt with the patch pockets, the only time (I think I’m correct in saying) that he wears such a style shirt in the series.
As the action is supposed to be set in Cuba the sports coat would be neither practical nor comfortable but never mind, its’ Bond after all! It’s a nice one though and it’s a pity it’s seen so fleetingly. Any idea as to it’s weave?