In For Your Eyes Only, James Bond goes out on a mission in the Spanish countryside dressed in a sage green suede blouson, an ecru cotton jersey short-sleeve shirt and light brown trousers. The blouson is made with set-in sleeves, a yoke in both the front and the back, a zip front, and lower pockets that open on the sides. The sleeves are pleated and the cuffs close around the wrist with a button. The blouson does not have a collar. Since there are many people around in swimwear, the main purpose of the blouson can only be for concealing the Walther PPK, not for warmth. The extra pockets also come in handy.
The shirt made by Frank Foster has a large spread collar, cuffed short sleeves, a darted back and an open breast pocket with mitred corners. The shirt’s placket is stitched close to the centre like on most of Frank Foster’s shirts, but it is also stitched on the edge of the placket since jersey doesn’t keep a crisp crease. The buttons are, of course, mother of pearl.
The light brown Irish linen flat-front trousers have a rear pocket on the right and a coin pocket below the waistband on either side, but they have no side pockets. The trousers are held up by a brown leather belt with a brass buckle. The socks are light brown in just a shade lighter than the trousers. Bond’s shoes are brown leather, apron-front slip-ons with a metal horse bit and a tall heel. The shoes a likely from Salvatore Ferragamo.
The Frank Foster shirt was auctioned at Prop Store on 16 October 2014 for £1,200.
In all these years I never noticed that Roger Moore's trousers didn't have side pockets. Go figure
This outfit brought Bond into the 1980's but Moore retained the style and image of previous incarnations. Moore's casual wear (ditto Connery's) looked a hell of a lot better than Timothy Dalton's disastrous attempts a few years later.
Moore seems to like both blouson style jackets and suede ones. He wears a navy blouson (also collarless) later in this same movie, coupled with a matching trousers and cotton roll neck and a similar navy one (with a collar) in Octopussy. He briefly wears a blue/grey coloured suede zip up jacket (not blouson style though)in A View To a Kill for scenes on Fisherman's Wharf and a brown suede gilet, with side pockets, on Octopussy's floating palace.
Anyone got any ideas/suggestions on who might've been the manufacturer of this moss green suede one?
I was interested in these clothes back when the film was new.
I contacted Eon Productions and they told me Roger Moore’s tailor was Douglas Hayward of Mount Street. I visited the shop and he was very helpful and a very nice man.
The shoes were Ferragamo, and i think the belt was as well.
The trousers were Haywards and had tiny slits for pockets at the front below the belt. The shirt was Frank Foster. (The material was called Jersey.)
My main interest, the suede jacket was made by Ian Mankin of London for the 1980 season. By the time i visited them in late 1981 the jacket was no longer available. They had moved on to other designs, and i did not think they were as good.
Doug Hayward had one, in grey and Alan Whicker (whose tailor was Hayward)
wore a brown one on his TV Travel show in the 80’s, but i was never able to obtain one, even with Doug Hayward’s help.
Ian Mankin suede coats and jackets were sold in Harrods, but by about 1985 they were gone.
I hope this information has been of help.
Thanks. That is excellent information.
Hi l worked as a trainee cutter for Ian Mankins in the 1970’s at the back of Oxford Street, Ian was one of the top designers of leather goods, making luggage for Dunhill and clothing for Simpson, Aquascutum and Austin Reed he only used the best material from leather hides to brass buckles and always horn buttons. He flare for design was second to non , if you ever lucky enough to find Ian Mankin luggage you will see what l mean.
l worked for David Pritchard in his shop Mouse City just of Carnaby St before Ian offered to teach me to work with leather, Dave used to buy the samples of Ian and sell them in his shop.
You may remmber Dave, nickname was Piggy Pritch.
And Jersey shirting is a 50/50 cotton and modal mix. I reckon the pale yellow shirt in the movie (which composition you were unsure of) is made of the same material
Matt will you be doing a separate post on blousons of the series ? you have covered them a bit in the casual staples post. But you could do an in-depth post I reckon.
I picked up a very similar jacket made by Saks Fifth Avenue last summer whilst on a trip to Niagara on the Lake. Though it’s not suede and has elastic cloth cuffs instead of buttons, the colour and fit are just the same, down to the slanted pockets. It’s made of a 55% linen, 45% cotton blend which makes it arguably a better choice for the weather that Bond found himself enduring in this scene.
I’ve included a photo of it here: https://amzn.to/2vQ8Auz
Very nice!
This blouson is one of the best suede jackets of the series. The perfect jacket for when you want to be casual but still look smart. This colour would also suit Daniel Craig
It seems Roger Moore wears it in Deauville in September 1985 when landing in a « Dangereusement Vôtre » (French title for AVTAK) Écureuil helicopter. Search « Roger Moore Deauville 1985 » on the Web.