A Charcoal Three-Piece Suit in For Your Eyes Only: Introducing Doug Hayward and the 1980s to James Bond

Original article published 1 February 2011

I am in the process of rewriting and revising old articles about James Bond’s outfits that need a refresh and expansion. All former comments are preserved below.

Roger Moore brought James Bond into the 1980s with a new hairstyle and a new tailor. Starting in For Your Eyes Only, Douglas Hayward of Mount Street in Mayfair replaced Angelo Roma as Roger Moore’s tailor. Hayward made his name as the tailor to the stars, with many other famous clients, including Michael Caine, Terence Stamp, Laurence Olivier, Tony Bennett, Noel Coward, John le Carré and Richard Burton. Roger Moore chose Hayward to be his tailor because Hayward was willing to visit Moore at his homes outside the UK. Hayward became a close friend of Moore, and the firm continued to tailor Moore for a few years after Hayward died in 2008.

Although the charcoal three-piece suit in For Your Eyes Only is the first suit Hayward made for James Bond in the Eon Productions series, Hayward previously tailored a few characters in the 1967 Casino Royale spoof with his early business partner Dimi Major, who then went on to tailor George Lazenby for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Hayward later tailored Roger Moore for his last two Bond films and Sean Connery for Never Say Never Again.

With For Your Eyes Only, Hayward followed the tone of the film and scaled back Moore’s excesses of the 1970s to return James Bond to the simple elegance the character dressed with in the 1960s. As a result, Moore’s suits in his 1980s Bond films have held up well ever since, though they lack some of the excitement of his earlier suits. Hayward’s suit coats usually have two buttons on the front, except some three-piece suits have three buttons, providing a traditional and conservative look for some of the London scenes in each of the Bond films he tailored for Moore.

Roger Moore began a new, down-to-earth era of Bond in the 1980s with a charcoal grey flannel button-three, three-piece suit. This is a traditional choice for London—it’s sombre enough for wearing to the cemetery, serious enough for business and stylish enough for social occasions. The dark grey flannel cloth recalls the kind of suit that Sean Connery most frequently wore in his Bond films. This cloth is lightweight for flannel, probably around 11-12 oz, and it’s a worsted flannel, which is a twill-weave worsted wool with a milled finish to give it a flannel-type nap. Worsted flannel lacks some of the character of the more traditional woollen flannel, but it is sturdier and can be woven in lighter weights.

The suit coat has soft, unpadded shoulders with roped sleeve heads. The chest is clean with a slight fullness, and the waist is closely fitted. The overall length of the coat is a bit long and extends slightly below the seat. There are long double vents at the rear that flare out towards the sides. The cuffs have three buttons, and the pockets are straight with flaps. The buttons are dark brown unpolished horn.

The only part of the suit jacket that looks dated now is the low button stance, both a Hayward signature and a fashion of the 1980s. The three buttons start low and are closely spaced. However, the low button stance suits Roger Moore’s body, and it recalls the button-three suits that Roger Moore wore on The Saint in the 1960s. Unlike the trendier suits of the 1980s, Hayward’s suits had a fairly high gorge, the seam where the collar meets the lapels. The gorge is straight and follows the slope of the shoulder. The high gorge combined with a low button stance lengthens Moore’s torso and makes him look taller. Moore only fastens the jacket’s middle button, and the lapels slightly roll out at the top button.

The suit trousers have a flat front, wide cash pockets on the left and right at the bottom of the waistband, no side pockets, and wide straight legs without turn-ups. These trousers are worn with a belt, despite it being a three-piece suit. Three-piece suits should not be worn with a belt because the belt does not allow the waistcoat to sit properly over the top of the trousers. Braces are ideal with a waistcoat to ensure there is never a gap between the bottom of the waistcoat and the top of the trousers, but side adjusters are also a better option than a belt.

The waistcoat has six buttons down the front, and Moore wears the bottom button open. This waistcoat is slightly too long, which makes wearing the bottom button open a necessary practical choice in addition to being a traditional stylistic one to provide comfort when sitting down. There are four pockets on the front—two upper welt pockets and two lower jetted flap pockets. Waistcoat pocket flaps are more common on country suits, but they are equally stylish on a city suit like this.

The shirt, made by Moore’s regular shirtmaker Frank Foster, is a navy and white bengal stripe with a contrasting white collar and white cuffs, a very popular style in the 1980s. The white collar style is often known as a Winchester or banker collar and recalls the days of a stiff detachable collar. It’s a smart look for daytime and formal business. The shirt features a semi-spread collar that sits very high at the outer back leaf about 2 1/8 inches, and it has a medium-height front band around 1 1/4 inches high and long points around 3 3/8 inches. The front placket is stitched close to the middle, the back is darted, and the cuffs are white with two buttons and deep with a mitred corner.

Bond wears a mildly slubby silk tie with a gentle sheen, possibly silk dupioni, in solid charcoal. The tie’s texture nicely complements the suit’s flannel texture, while its subtle sheen has just enough contrast with the suit’s texture. While the widest part of the tie is hidden under the waistcoat, the visible part of the tie demonstrates that it’s a fairly narrow tie, likely around 3 to 3 1/4 inches. Its width makes for a small four-in-hand knot.

Moore’s shoes are black calf slip-ons from Ferragamo. They have an almond-shaped apron toe and a narrow penny-loafer-style strap. The soles are trim leather. The overall style is a classic loafer with an Italian flair. Loafers were Moore’s preference with a suit throughout his entire Bond tenure, and this kind of loafer would have been close to what Ian Fleming’s James Bond of the books wears. It’s the only aspect of this outfit that comes close to what Fleming’s Bond wears. This shoe has a relaxed, lightweight look that somewhat follows Hayward’s soft tailoring style, and the elegance of the shoe matches that of the suit, if not the formality or tradition. Laces would have been a more traditional choice for this suit, and they would have been far more practical when hanging around outside of the helicopter. Moore’s Bond should have learned from this experience and switched to lace-up shoes, but he continued to wear loafers in any number of impractical situations. The belt matches the shoes in black and has a brass buckle.

There aren’t any good overall shots of this suit in the movie, but there is a good picture in the book The Essential Bond by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall.

An example of this suit was sold at Bonhams’ Sir Roger Moore: The Personal Collection auction on 4 October 2023 for £10,880. An example of the Frank Foster shirt was auctioned—but not sold—at Prop Store on 23 September 2015.

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