Though suitable for winter nights in Las Vegas, for the most part a tweed jacket is out of place there. Bond wears a plaid tweed in tan, black and red during his stay in Las Vegas in Diamonds Are Forever. The jacket is in the same half-norfolk style as the herringbone jacket he wears earlier in the film. The jacket buttons three down the front and has a half belt and deep double vents at the back. It’s styled with two buttons on the sleeves, bellows patch pockets with flaps on the hips and no breast pocket. The buttons are dark brown leather. And the jacket has the same extended collar as the herringbone jacket. Though Anthony Sinclair made the suits for the film, we don’t know if he made the two tweed sports coats.
A tan knit polo neck shirt—tucked in—adds to the outfit’s warmth. The brown flannel trousers have a darted front, plain bottoms and frogmouth pockets. His shoes are medium brown ankle boots that close with a strap, as we have seen elsewhere in the film. They are the “Strap Hilo Boot” from John Lobb Ltd, which are a strap version of their “Hilo” chukka boot.
This outfit is a bit too warm-toned for Sean Connery’s complexion, but the herringbone jacket from the beginning of the film is a much better brown for Connery. The rich tans in the polo neck and within the jacket’s check don’t work so well for Connery, and in the context of a bold plaid makes Connery as much a victim of 1970’s fashions as much as Roger Moore ever was. However, Willard White’s (Jimmy Dean) western jacket and Felix Leiters’s (Norman Burton) yellow shirt make Connery’s clothes look tame.
While this outfit doesn’t quite work with Connery’s complexion, and it is out of place in Vegas, it is quite handsome on its own merits. It is a timeless country outfit – I don’t see what is particularly 70’s about it.
It looks very Steve McQueen. I wore something similar to work yesterday and I got great compliments
I think the sequence was filmed in climate appropriate Pinewood without too much thought given to the context as DAF was a production rush job. You’re right too about the ensemble colour wise; this would have looked much better on Roger Moore’s complexion than it did on Sean Connery. Having said all that, given the right context, this is not a bad ensemble. I always liked the polo neck (instead of shirt) coupled with a blazer or sports coat which was so popular in the 1970’s. Smart casual before it became dumb slop.
The guy in the blue shirt shows up frequently in the Bond series, I believe his name is Shane Rimmer.
I’ve always thought that this outfit is extremely out of place (and probably uncomfortably warm!) in Las Vegas but would look good in a country setting in England or Ireland. I’m a fan of the jacket and polo neck as well, but not in the desert!
Forgetting the tie, the tan linen suit he wears a few scenes earlier would be perfect.
Ugh. I have to respectfully disagree – this is about as ugly an outfit as Bond ever wears. The colors are not flattering, the bold plaid is garish. I like turtle necks in concept (though I don’t think I have worn one since I was a kid in the late 1970s) but this one is ugly. And the turtleneck with sport coat has a very 1970s middle-aged man association to me. As bad as anything Bond has ever worn, the pink tie from this movie excepted.
Interesting how associations can differ from person to person – to me, the turtleneck and sportcoat outfit is reminiscent of gentlemen of leisure, country squires, and tennis pros in mufti. Bold plaids are currently out of fashion, but they can be classically masculine rather than garish.
It is interesting, Dan. To me, it has a very 1970s, near-swinger association. But I will say, I sat next to Charlton Heston at a movie back in 2000, and he had on a blazer, grey slacks, and a white turtleneck. Worked for him. Of course, he was 75 years old too, but he looked terrific.
I should have been more specific, what I mean to say is that I’m a fan of the sport coat and polo neck in general, not necessarily those shown here.
It is indeed funny how different things can bring up different connotations for different people. I usually associate that combination with Bullitt, in which it is almost universally applauded as “cool.”
http://robertsnow.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/bullitt.jpg
A more modern iteration is sometimes seen on the character Neal Caffrey on White Collar.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wsr1y8Ly1rs23j8o1_500.png
And to be perfectly honest I think both look better than Bond does here.
Neal Caffrey looks youthfully fashionable; Bond’s half-Norfolk jacket is more of a traditional country look. Apples and oranges, in my opinion.
No argument with Bullit. But that is because McQueen is just cooler than Sean Connery, circa 1971. And trimmer. Agree on the other guy too.
LOVE this outfit. Always a favorite
Just out of curiosity, what’s wrong with a yellow shirt?
Some yellows can be better than others. Felix’s yellow is too strong. It doesn’t go well with his grey suit (and wouldn’t go with most other classic suit colours) and isn’t flattering at all to his complexion.
Interesting outfit, but too strong in colour, and a bit too bold -very 30s gangster style, which is a nice style too anyway- for Bond perhaps. I don’t think the loud plaid pattern and the 3-button cut does flatter Connery’s body at all. Anyway, I like the pictures of this article. Connery looks perfectly like he was saying : “what the shit is going on in this movie ?!”
I have to agree with those who have said that this color combination is too warm for Connery, and a bit overpowering in general. I like the tan turtleneck (albeit not for a scene that is supposed to be set in Las Vegas), but I think it would have been better paired with a grey sportcoat – or better yet a navy blazer. I also agree that the three-button jacket doesn’t work for Connery either – I’ll admit I’m biased in that I don’t really care much for three button jackets in general , and especially not for Bond.
I had – for some reason – always thought that 007 had hastily borrowed this outfit from Willard Whyte but that, unlike Topol, his spares weren’t quite as well suited to Bond… obviously now it just seems like a particularly unusual choice on Connery – though I like the outfit myself.
I agree with Mr St.John Smythe, the outfit is almost certainly borrowed. Willard White was being held hostage in his own penthouse, by Bambi and Thumper (and, it’s hinted, by Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and, as they were in a real hurry to catch Blofeld when Bond was dropped into the swimming pool, it’s likely they’d have just grabbed one of WW’s garish suits rather than letting Bond get his tailor in (as he does mid-mission in the next film!). So, yes it’s a bit gross, but Bond – in my mind – didn’t choose it.
Now when are we going to discuss the open toed leather ‘Jesus Creeper’ sandals Connery wears in a shot cut from DAF but left in the movie’s trailer? Surely even the pink tie is preferable.
However, this sports coat is the same cut and style as the one he wears at the beginning of the film. And if it were Willard Whyte’s it wouldn’t fit so well.
Furthermore, would a tacky American tycoon accustomed to Western-cut sport coats own something so quintessentially British?