Gun club jackets were popular in the 1980s, and both Sean Connery and Roger Moore wore them in their personal life at the time. James Bond wears his only gun club check jacket when played by Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights, but he’s not the only character in the film to wear one. John Rhys-Davies wears a beautiful example as General Leonid Pushkin of the KGB in The Living Daylights.
While I don’t know how a KGB general is supposed to dress in civilian clothes, Pushkin looks like a British gentleman in his outfit and sets a wonderful example of how to wear a gun club check jacket. This outfit was curated by either Costume Designer Emma Porteous or Costume Supervisor Tiny Nicholls.
While gun club checks are usually found in heavier cloths like tweed and worsted faux-tweed, Pushkin’s jacket is made of a lightweight plain-weave worsted so it wears cool in Tangier, Morocco. The check has at least five colours, with mid grey being the dominent thread throughout. Stripes of orange, green, navy and light grey pass over each other to creative an attractive grid pattern, and all the colours come together to form a rich but neutral mid-toned cloth that pairs well with many other garments.
The jacket may have been made bespoke for John Rhys-Davies since he is a difficult man to fit, and the jacket looks very well made and has a clean drape over his body, albeit not a perfect fit. The jacket is tailored with wide, straight shoulders with roped sleeve heads to balance his large waist. The jacket has wide lapels of about 4 inches with a high but steep gorge. Because Rhys-Davies is a very large man, the lapels are a flattering and balanced medium width on him. There are two buttons at the front, and the button stance is low for a long, slimming lapel line.
The jacket has three open patch pockets—one breast pocket and two hip pockets—and they demonstrate superb pattern matching because the pockets practically disappear into the pattern. Double vents and three cuff buttons also detail the jacket. The buttons are mid-brown horn with a recessed centre.
The trousers are mid-grey wool gabardine and are likely the same as his grey suit trousers that he wears in scenes visiting Brad Whitaker’s compound. There is only a little contrast between the colour of the jacket and the trousers, with the trousers only slightly darker than the perceived overall colour of the jacket. The contrast is more apparent close up and more subtle from a distance. However, the low-contrast look is slimming on Rhys-Davies because it doesn’t break up the body. The trousers have double forward pleats, a mid rise and take a belt. The wide straight legs balance Rhys-Davies’ large waist and give him a balanced and elegant appearance.
The blue end-on-end shirt looks like a classic English ready-to-wear shirt, with a semi-spread collar, double cuffs and a front placket. The collar points look rather short, approximately 2 1/2 inches long, which is too short for Rhys-Davies’ face, body and lapel width. While the short height of the collar is right for him, he needs a little more point length to balance the rest of him.
The tie is black with a grid of small silver-grey paisley shapes that alternate direction. It’s neutral and subtle, so it lets the jacket take centre stage. The dark ground adds contrast to the outfit to balance Rhys-Davies’ dark complexion. However, the scale of the pattern is too similar to the scale of the jacket’s check, so there’s a bit of competition between the jacket and the tie. Anything larger or smaller would have worked better.
Pushkin wears the same tie in his first scene that takes place in Bratislava as well as in the photo of him that M provides Bond when asking for his assassination.
The belt is dark brown, but the shoes look black. For an otherwise well-dressed man, this mismatch must have been a mistake.
Overall, the look gives Pushkin a honourable appearance. The light colours come across as friendly and familiar. Theclothes are well-fitted and, for the most part, well coordinated, which makes him look competent. Even though he is KGB, his British style makes him look like he’s on James Bond’s side. Compared to the dandy way General Koskov dresses, Pushkin’s more conservative attire shows that he’s the man that Bond should trust and respect.
The trousers’ forward pleats look good. I can’t abide by the American reverse pleats (not an anti-American dig, just a reverse pleats dig).
I have a gun club check jacket I brought two years ago in a darker colour way. More dark grey toned with navy, light grey, blue etc. It’s a lightweight super 100’s wool perfect pretty much all year round in Australia.
A suitable outfit on a trustworthy and reliable man. I agree that the jacket may have been made bespoke as it looks good on John Rhys-Davies, who surely is a difficult man to fit. But could you elaborate on why the fit is albeit not perfect?
BTW, I also like his appearance in Reilly, Ace of Spies.
The jacket isn’t draping well on the chest. Otherwise the fit is very good.
What an improvement a solid necktie would be with this outfit.
I had a very similar suit many years ago I bought second hand, originally Gieves and Hawkes. When the trousers wore out I paired the jacket with navy slacks. It’s a shame it’s so difficult to get suits with a nice pattern like this off the peg. Almost every suit I seem to see nowadays is navy blu, which I find a tad monotonous. Although I suppose it would suit You Know Who!
Interesting write up. Do you think double forward pleats or single reverse pleats look best on overweight men?
I think forward pleats look best on everyone, as long as they fit well.
A very nice outfit indeed. I agree that a solid dark tie -navy, burgundy- could have worked even better. I think the jacket medium-light color is pretty nice but could have worked better with someone of a different complexion like Moore, Craig or Necros in the movie. Bond’s own gun club check jacket could have worked here.
Matt, will you do a review of Daniel Craig’s recent black tie outfit at the Clooney Foundation For Justice Albie Awards at the New York Public Library?
I don’t know if I will. He wore the same outfit for Glass Onion premiere last year, so I’d be more likely to write about it from the original appearance.
What did you think about it, Sinclair
Oh, I thought the look was rather nice. The DB-dinner suit seem to be bespoke and has a surprisingly good fit. The colour could perhaps be described as Midnight Blue or Bleu de France, as it is in a somewhat brighter shade of blue.
The fit looks much better now than it did when he wore it last year. It does look lighter than midnight blue.
The beautiful double breasted dinner suit was made by Anderson and Sheppard, and the matching corded silk bow tie was made by Budd Shirtmakers. Not sure about the dress shirt, probably Turnbull & Asser?