This week celebrates the 45th anniversary of the release of You Only Live Twice. In the film, Bond visits Japan wearing a suit in a lighter shade of blue than navy that is ideal for summer. In certain scenes, this suit has quite a shine and suggests it is a lightweight a mohair-and-wool cloth. Mohair is one of the best-performing suitings for warm weather because it breathes well and is great at resisting wrinkles.
This is a unique Anthony Sinclair suit with its single-button front, which was a popular style in the 1960s. Though the button one suit goes in an out of fashion, it’s a traditional style that Savile Row tailor Huntsman is known for. A suit with one button has a more rakish look compared to a suit with two buttons, but the only difference in cut is that the foreparts of a jacket with one button may be cut more open below the waist. The slightly open foreparts give Connery’s suit jacket more dynamic lines than his ordinary button two jackets have, but it’s only a subtle difference. Except for at conservative work environments, a button one suit is a stylish and easy-to-wear alternative to the ubiquitous button two suit.
As always, the suit jacket has natural shoulders with roped sleeve heads, a full chest and a gently suppressed waist. The jacket is detailed with a single vent, flapped pockets and four-button cuffs. The suit trousers have double forward pleats, button side-adjusters and turn-ups.
Bond wears the suit with a light blue poplin shirt from Turnbull & Asser that has a spread collar, front placket and two-button cocktail cuffs. For a touch of Fleming, Bond wears a knitted silk tie in a four-in-hand knot, but in navy rather than Fleming’s black. A navy tie is a better match with a navy suit than a black tie is. This is the only time Connery wears a knit tie outside of Goldfinger.
Bond’s shoes are black grain leather, plain-toe slip-ons, probably with elastic connecting the quarters across the instep under the tongue. Grain leather isn’t often seen in black since its rustic look is better suited with brown and burgundy country shoes. Bond brings along a navy felt trilby, which must surely be too warm to wear in what appears to be warm weather in Japan based on other clothes in the film. But he brings along the trilby to keep up the look of a British businessman.
Overall this is one of the most Fleming-esque outfits of the series, and Fleming himself would surely approve of every part of the outfit except the shirt sleeves—Fleming preferred short sleeves, even with suits.
Great suit. I have been looking forward to this one. It seems a vast improvement in fit over the grey one from earlier in the film. And probably the last time the early-to-mid-1960s classic Sinclair/Young/Connery look is on screen.
Building on the Skyfall discussion, it is too bad that the current suits (really, all of them since 1995, in my understanding) have not been true bespoke, like this one. While other regulars on this blog have a better eye than me, I think this suit wears beautifully on Connery’s increasingly challenging 1966 frame.
Christian,
Couldn’t ‘t agree more with your analysis. The other suit Connery wears in this film never looked as if it fitted well. The points about true tailoring for the modern Bond is also spot on. Too bling. Particularly given that purists are never tired mentioning faithfulness to the source Fleming material (although I believe this is a spurious argument and the movies as they developed are a different beast).
Matt,
Would the hat not be ok given that Bond is in a country that prides itself on it’s formality of occasion and that in 1967 hats of this nature were common currency and remained so as long as men dressed like gentlemen (i.e. up to sometime in the 1980’s)?
As usual with Connery/Sinclair, this is a great classic look that transcends trends; timeless and well-dressed without standing out. I love it.
It does look like this suit fits him better than the grey herringbone, but that’s still a great suit as well.
What’s interesting to me is that this is actually a one-button suit, and I think that the button may be a shiver lower than Connery’s normal, already low, button stance. “Style advisor” types often suggest that the one-button lounge suit is a bold, “fashion statement” choice, but the truth is that, on a nicely cut suit, as here, most people don’t even notice.
You’re right! It’s only a bold fashion statement if the cut is bold to go with it. Sinclair’s suit still has a very traditional cut. The button-one suit was also very popular in the 60s, so people wouldn’t have thought much of it anyway.