“It was a very amusing performance between you and the owner of this,” says Bond, referring to Countess Lisl von Schlaf (played by Pierce Brosnan’s wife Cassandra Harris) and Milos Columbo (played by Topol), respectively. And “this” is the red and black striped bathrobe that Bond is wearing whilst spending the night at Columbo’s beach home. Bond often borrows bathrobes and dressing gowns wherever he sleeps, since it’s not the kind of garment most people travel with. However, Bond didn’t come to Columbo’s home prepared with a change of clothes either. The red in the bathrobe brings out the best in Roger Moore’s spring complexion, and the colour was likely chosen by the costume designer to look better on Moore than on Topol, who has a cool, olive complexion. The bathrobe is made of a smooth velour that is very comfortable for lounging in, though it’s not the most absorbent as a bathrobe. The robe also has traditional details like a shawl collar and turn back cuffs.
Moore’s Bond did love his (or, rather, not his) bathrobes – and this was the most bathrobe-tastic of all his films. Three in total! They missed out on a marketing opportunity but not having branded 007 bathrobes for sale…
Is it just me or are bathrobes not really a good look for anyone? Looking at the different body types of the Bond actors and different styles of bathrobes, none of them seem at all flattering. I guess the best that one could wish for is utilitarian.
Matt, you still have to cover the one that Lazenby wears in OHMSS. I would imagine that it was supposed to be unisex, as I can’t imagine Bond throwing on a woman’s bathrobe. Perhaps a couple of pictures showing how it looks on Tracy for comparison..? ;-)
Bathrobes and dressing gowns aren’t meant to be flattering, they are meant to be practical and fit people in a wide range of sizes. I’ve never seen a tailored bathrobe.
Most terrycloth bathrobes are unisex, but the one in OHMSS I would guess to be a women’s due to the short length. We don’t see Lazenby stand up in it, probably because it would be too short to cover the parts of him it needs to cover.
Not the only time a Bond actor’s wife has appeared. Sean Connery’s then-wife, the beautiful Australian actress Diane Cilento was an (uncredited) ama diving girl in YOLT. It’s wise to dry off after a shower if you stay at a hotel which issues velour bathrobes – I got a cold after falling asleep in a wet velour robe. The colours do suit Moore rather than Topol:- perhaps they are the colours of Columbo’s company flag or his soccer team. Here’s hoping that Craig’s gorgeous wife Rachel Weisz gets to be a Bond girl.