If James Bond wasn’t such a well-dressed man, this blog would not exist. But sometimes James Bond is not the best-dressed man in the room. On a number of occasions, Bond has made some poor choices regarding his clothes. What are these poor choices? And how could these outfits have been improved? Following are 13 of James Bond’s worst outfits and suggestions relevant for the time each film was made on what could have been done better.
15. Die Another Day: Hawaiian Shirt
Loud is not Bond’s style, so there’s no reason why Bond would have purchased a blue floral-printed shirt to wear in Cuba. It’s not any sort of disguise. The medium blue shade recalls the colour of many shirts Bond’s creator Ian Fleming specified for Bond in the novels, but the large print does not. Since the shirt has only two colours, it’s better than a true Hawaiian shirt that could have many colours. Other men Bond encounters in Cuba are wearing much worse clothing.
Instead of a pattern, a solid or semi-solid medium blue cotton or linen made in the same shirt style would have been a more appropriate and tasteful choice for Bond.
14. Tomorrow Never Dies: Oversized Clothes in Vietnam
The blue shirt in Tomorrow Never Dies isn’t so bad on it’s own, but on Pierce Brosnan it’s much too large. The colour is something that Ian Fleming’s Bond would have worn, but it would have also been made to fit Bond. Though it follows the 1990s trend of baggy clothes, nothing else Brosnan wears in his films is so baggy. A man who has given up on life wears stretch jogging trousers, not James Bond.
The shirt would be fine if it were properly fitted to Bond with the shoulders narrower, not halfway down his forearms. The black jogging trousers should instead have been navy cotton chinos, to bring in Fleming’s Bond’s love of navy trousers. The overall effect of this outfit would be a more refined version of what Brosnan already wears.
13. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Brown Golfing Outfit
People think of leisure suits as a 1970s atrocity, but the concept started much earlier. Brown was also trendy before the 1970s. George Lazenby wears a 1960s example of a brown casual suit in On Her Majesty’s Secret Secret. The suit of matching light brown blouson and trousers with an orange polo neck looks horribly dated today, and the warm colours do no favours to Lazenby’s cool complexion. Despite how poorly we may view this outfit today, it was probably the outfit George Lazenby was most comfortable wearing in the film. Though he wears his suits well, he didn’t think wearing suits was cool. On the other hand, he must’ve thought this golf outfit was the hippest thing.
A blouson and polo neck aren’t necessarily bad, but this would be a much better outfit with a touch of Fleming. Straight out of Fleming’s Goldfinger, I’d make the blouson the “faded black wind-cheater” and the trousers the bottom half of the “yellowing black and white hound’s tooth suit”. These are the two key parts of the literary James Bond’s golfing outfit. Houndstooth trousers would have been flashy enough to still look trendy at the time. And instead of the white sea-island cotton shirt that Fleming specified, I’d keep the polo neck and make it white to update it to the 1960s. Such an outfit would combine classic Bond and still have enough of the fashionable look of Lazenby’s outfit.
12. Licence to Kill: Faux Morning Dress for Felix’s Wedding
One of the worst things Bond has been forced to wear is the morning dress that Bond’s pal Felix Leiter hired for his wedding in Licence to Kill. The medium grey morning coat belongs with a matching morning suit and should never be worn with the traditional striped trousers, as Bond wears it here. The shirt’s attached wing collar and pleated front don’t belong in any form of dress, and the clip-on cravat looks cheap. The outfit is neither historically accurate for Edwardian morning dress nor does it follow the modern form that royalty established a few decades later. It just looks like a cheap hire, which works in a sense because it’s what Felix would have gotten for Bond to wear as part of the wedding party.
If Bond is going to wear morning dress, it should be either the morning suit that Roger Moore wears in A View to a Kill or the more traditional form of morning dress that Q wears in A View to a Kill. But what Bond wears was not Bond’s decision; it was the decision of an American with little taste and appreciation of tradition. I’m talking about Felix and Della Leiter as well as Licence to Kill‘s costume designer Jodie Tillen.
11. Diamonds Are Forever: Pink Tie
Pink ties are difficult to wear, even for Sean Connery. And they certainly don’t fit with James Bond’s usual style. The pink tie that Sean Connery wears with his cream linen suit in Diamonds Are Forever stands out because it is so unusual for Bond, and it stands out in a very bad way. What makes this tie even worse is that it is too short for Sean Connery, though the tie’s length is not apparent when Connery has his suit jacket on. And in being such wide tie, the Windsor knot it ties is too big. Too short and too wide makes it look like a bib! Though the suit and shirt that Connery wears with the pink tie are nice, Connery messes up the suit’s lines by fastening the jacket’s bottom button.
Both the length and knot size problems could have been avoided if the tie was knotted with a four-in-hand knot instead of a Windsor knot. A navy or brown grenadine or knitted tie in the Connery Bond tradition would also have been a better choice than pink.
10. Skyfall & Spectre: Undersized Suits
The fashionably shrunken fit of Daniel Craig’s suits in Skyfall and Spectre will not date well, just the same as Roger Moore’s flared suit trousers and Timothy Dalton’s baggy suits have not. Though the too-tight fit is trendy today, Craig’s suits will look like poorly fitted mistakes once the trend is over. That is if it doesn’t already look like such already. While Roger Moore would have looked like an old fogey in the 1970s had he worn tapered or straight 1960s-style trousers, today a man can still wear a suit that fits well and not look old-fashioned, so long as the suit has a close fit and not a baggy one.
Though it’s easier said than done, Daniel Craig’s suits in Skyfall and Spectre could have been vastly improved with just a cleaner fit if all else stayed the same.
9. Licence to Kill: Baggy Suits
Bond’s suits in Licence to Kill are amongst of the worst of the series and do not follow what the character typically wears. They may be in tasteful colours, but an Italian fashion cut in a sloppy fit is not what Bond would or should be wearing. Excuses could be made if Bond had to buy all of his suits at short notice in Isthmus City, but his charcoal suit in Key West early in the film before all hell breaks loose is the same style as the suits he wears later in the film. All of Bond’s suits in Licence to Kill are what an American with lots of money to spend and no taste would wear.
At the very least, the suit in Key West—which I think could more appropriately have been either a beige linen suit or a blue blazer and cream trousers—should be a classic British Bond style with a cleaner fit that hints at the full-cut, built-up trends rather than goes all out with them. Something more along the lines of the suits in The Living Daylights would have been appropriate. Since all the suits in the film are already from the same source, they all could all be from a more appropriate source for Bond.
8. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Highland Dress
The highland dress is not James Bond’s outfit but rather belongs to genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, who Bond is disguised as. Since Bond is in disguise and not himself, we can’t entirely blame Bond for wearing this. However, highland dress looks like a joke on Bond, and it only serves the purpose of allowing the girls to write their room numbers in lipstick on his thighs under the kilt. George Lazenby’s Bond unfairly comes off as a joke, in large part due to the highland dress.
Is this how Sir Hilary really would have dressed? Classic black tie, perhaps a double-breasted shawl collar dinner suit like what M wears in Goldfinger, would have been less comical. A black velvet dinner jacket with tartan trousers could also have worked well for the occasion.
Because the highland dress is a disguise, and the highland dress is done well, it is slightly forgiven.
7. Diamonds Are Forever: Terrycloth Camp Shirt
Sean Connery’s Bond wardrobe is still considered one of the greatest film wardrobes of all time, but he has a problem when it comes to terrycloth. Nobody told him that terrycloth is for towels, not for clothing. The design of his camp shirt in Diamond Are Forever isn’t so bad, but the material is a problem. Not to mention the colour. Beige was a popular colour to wear in the 1970s, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with beige. But beige is not a flattering colour on Sean Connery.
A shirt in the same camp design in linen or a blend of linen with silk or cotton would have been a more sophisticated choice. A lighter cream, white, icy blue or even pink would be a better colour. One of his camp shirts from Thunderball should have made a repeat appearance.
6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Ruffled Dress Shirt
George Lazenby’s dinner suit from Dimi Major is an elegant, classic piece of tailoring, and it is one of the best dinner suits of the series that still looks fantastic today. But Bond messes up what could be a superb black tie outfit with a ruffled dress shirt when he visits the casino. Thankfully it’s still a white shirt with a perfect spread collar, but no matter how fashionable ruffles were in the late 1960s, they don’t look so hip today.
A classic pleated shirt, perhaps with three oversized pleats on each side for more flair, would have held up far better. The ruffled shirt didn’t take very long to look outdated. Thankfully, the rest of Lazenby’s black tie outfit is beautiful.
5. A View to a Kill: Velour Tracksuit
Roger Moore is dressed mostly elegantly and timelessly in his 1980s Bond films. The exception to this is his velour tracksuit that he wears for sneaking around Zorin’s stables at night in A View to a Kill. Though Moore’s body is slim enough to look decent in the tracksuit, the youthful garment emphasises his age. It’s also just a horribly dated piece.
Instead, Moore should have dressed in the more classic styles that were popular in the 1980s. This would have been the perfect time for him to wear the “faded black wind-cheater” that Ian Fleming dressed Bond in for casual wear. Under the wind-cheater he could have worn a black polo shirt and charcoal or black worsted trousers. This would have been a classic look for Bond and appropriate for the mid 1980s. Sir Godfrey Tibbett is actually wearing an outfit in this scene similar to what I’m recommending for Bond. But Bond would do it better.
4. Octopussy: Clown Suit
Octopussy is one of the most derided films of the James Bond series, and a large part of that stems from James Bond wearing a clown suit. Despite his most series acting as James Bond when he wears a clown suit, people think of Roger Moore in a clown suit as the epitome is his silly portrayal of Bond.
Before he dons the clown suit, Bond wears a red shirt that he stole from circus knife-thrower Mischka. It’s a circus outfit, but it doesn’t look that silly. He trespasses onto the army base and is seen wearing this red shirt, so he is in need of a new disguise since he very well can not shoot his was through the United States Army. If it’s not a clown suit, what should this disguise be?
The gorilla suit he hides inside earlier in the film is even more silly! Just about all circus outfits would look silly. He could have found some circus-worker clothes like how he finds an Octopussy Circus jacket earlier in the film. But the clown outfit disguises his face and allows him easy access to the circus ring.
Without coming up with a new plot for the film, the clown suit gets the job done better than anything I can think of. Unlike most of the outfits and items on this list, Bond is not wearing a clown suit as a fashion statement. And thankfully, Moore’s Bond isn’t even tempted to crack his usual jokes while wearing the clown suit.
3. Casino Royale: Printed Shirt in Madagascar
Bond may be a new 00-agent at the start of Casino Royale, but that’s no excuse for poor taste. A person’s taste is ordinarily developed at a much younger age than 38. Nevertheless, he wears a loud printed floral shirt that makes him really stand out in the crowd. A spy should blend in with the crowd, and he would have been better off dressing like the locals. Instead he looks like a clueless tourist. The Madagascar shirt makes the blue floral shirt in Die Another Day seem subdued in comparison. A few other men in the crowd are wearing loud prints, but most are wearing plainer shirts. Bond has no excuse to be wearing this shirt.
I would keep the cut of the shirt and the overall beige colour. I would dress Bond in a solid or more subtly patterned beige shirt that follows Bond’s more usual tastes. Two flapped pockets on the chest would be a nice way to hint at the legacy of Bond’s safari suits, but the shirt should not be an all-out bush shirt. I would also do away with the undershirt and have Bond fasten more of the shirt’s buttons. This way he’d be dressed more like most of the locals who aren’t layering their clothes.
2. Goldfinger: The Terrycloth Playsuit
The first embarrassing thing that James Bond ever wore is a blue terrycloth playsuit in Goldfinger, and it is still one of the worst things Bond has ever put on of his own free will. A one-piece garment may work as a spacesuit, but it doesn’t look so appealing at the poolside. It’s a wonder, even with all of Sean Connery’s charm, that Jill Masterson didn’t scream when a man wearing a terrycloth onesie showed up on her balcony.
Instead, Bond should have worn what Fleming had Bond wear over his white linen bathing-drawers in Casino Royale:
This was a pyjama-coat which came almost down to the knees. It had no buttons, but there was a loose belt round the waist. The sleeves were wide and short, ending just above the elbow. The result was cool and comfortable and now when he slipped the coat on over his trunks, all his bruises and scars were hidden except the thin white bracelets on wrists and ankles and the mark of SMERSH on his right hand.
This pyjama coat—perhaps in dark blue silk—would be perfect for Bond to wear over his swimming trunks instead of a playsuit in terrycloth. Even the pyjama coat in blue terrycloth would have been better than a playsuit.
1. Live and Let Die: Powder Blue Leisure Suit
Roger Moore is not dressed overly fashionably in his first Bond film with the exception of one item: a powder blue leisure suit worn over a white vest (sleeveless undershirt). The rest of the outfits on this list have some redeeming quality: a nice fabric, part of the outfit is nice, it’s a disguise, there’s some practical value, etc. This has nothing going for it. The leisure suit, particularly in this form, does not fit with Bond’s refined image. I would imagine that even in 1973 it still would have been an embarrassing look on Roger Moore.
A light blue or brown striped camp shirt with cream linen trousers could still look fashionable enough for 1973, but it would also have the more classic elegance Bond typically wears. Bond would still have fit in with the locals wearing such an outfit. Though flared trousers don’t look so great now, they were sadly a necessity of the time for Bond to not look like a fuddy-duddy.
Note: Roger Moore also briefly wears a navy leisure suit in Live and Let Die when hang-gliding, but since one cannot even see what the garment is in the film, I cannot count it here. From behind-the-scenes photos, this navy leisure suit is the nicest example of a leisure suit I’ve ever seen. But it’s still a leisure suit.
What outfits do you think are Bond’s worst? Leave your thoughts below.
By far a golden post….i thought the lazenby golf out was actually pretty cool, which shows just how much improvement needs to be done on my sense of style. I have one thought and one question: I would have thought the t-shirt and trousers dalton wears in ltk when he is putting the money into Sanchez’s air chamber to frame one of his associates would have been toward the top of the list. My question is, do you recommend any certain types of brands and materials when choosing a faded black wind cheater? I really have no idea what a wind cheater is.
I think the yellow ski suit from TSWLM and the equally yellow space suit from MR could be added (also look quite awful).
Best,
Renard
Interesting post, Matt and I don’t suppose too many would argue regarding the overall thrust and items included in the list. Some random quibbles which come to mind; Lazenby seems to get a good going over here (3 examples) whereas Dalton gets off rather lightly (1). Personally, I think virtually all of his LTK outfits, plus some from the preceding movie were in poor taste for Bond. I actually don’t find Brosnan’s printed shirt that objectionable. It fits quite neatly and the print isn’t that loud unlike the item ranked number three in the list which has virtually no redeeming features. I’d have included his outfit from the beach in Skyfall too as it’s completely out of character for Bond. The excuse being that he was missing in action but my response is; the producers never felt the need to show Bond in such a scenario and therefore in such an ensemble in the past. As for the “notorious” track suit, while an outfit along the lines of what he wore in the warehouse scenes in FYEO would be better, the tracksuit is tastefully designed and the colour is nice. If the material is objectionable and too much of its time I think the colour and cut offset this to some degree and don’t forget he’s playing a bling playboy rather than a spy at the time. Finally, why is a “leisure suit” so “wrong” for Bond? Connery’s dark blue shirt and matching trousers in Thunderball was probably the first example of a leisure suit, of sorts, seen in a Bond movie and while I agree that Moore’s light blue ensemble in LALD could have been a lot better I doubt it merits top spot in the rankings.
The brown golfing outfit is a suit? I had no idea, I never researched it as I never thought much about it and I thought it was a blouson.
Anywho, even if I like the look of the blue outfit from Tomorrow Never Dies, it could’ve been very much improved with a better shirt and chinos instead of stretch trousers.
Nice to see that you liked the safari suits and didn’t put them on this list.
That’s all I could come up with. You’re on a streak with 2017, Matt! Keep ’em coming!
The beige blouson and the black leather car coat were too big and the sleeves on both are too long. Bond wouldn’t wear baggy jackets. They would fit him perfectly. Bond would wear jackets fitted like Roger Moore’s Harrington’s in The Saint. But the large fit was fashionable in the late 1980’s. Moore’s blousons fitted in the 1980’s though.
In The Living Daylights
Funnily, I really don’t hate Brosnan’s floral shirt. It’s dark enough that it doesn’t actually come off looking terrible to me. Would I wear it? No, probably not. But I legitimately think Pierce looks good in it. I would personally have replaced it with his big blue shirt and tracky-daks from Tomorrow Never Dies.
I agree completely. The Tomorrow Never Dies outfit was slop, unworthy of Bond and reminiscent of Dalton’s worst. I’d forgotten about it. Amazing it wasn’t included.
Lazenby’s golf outfit it made even worse by the fact that it’s not very practical for golf! A blouson in that material, closely fitted like this one is, would make it very difficult to swing the club, even taking into account the pleats at the back. Since we never see Bond arrive, I suppose it’s possible that he was going to change into something else when he got to the course. (A navy polo shirt would have looked great.) On the other hand, the trousers have a great fit and the shoes are also very interesting.
Hilarious article Matt. I would have put Sean’s onesie at no. 1 but we’re probably splitting hairs. Though not an outfit per se, Sean’s red dive suit in Thunderball appears to have a cod piece in it. What’s going on there?!
Sean’s combat gear at the start of Never say never again makes him look like an aging mechanic. And this is controversial as I know you like PB but the blazer in Goldeneye just makes a youngish Brosnan look like he’s trying to dress like a bland old man. Doesn’t hold up imo
Sean Connery’s diving gear in Thunderball is composed of swim trunks and a one piece wetsuit without any kind of leg covering. It’s cut very similar to a woman’s one-piece swimsuit but with full shoulder covering and short sleeves instead of the bikini-like top. I personally though it looked off myself, although I’m not sure if that kind of wetsuit cut was considered less feminine in the 1960s.
Sam, a lot of fashions which were taken for granted decades ago as being appropriate for men are now considered too feminine, even if they’re practical or attractive on them. For example, look at basketball shorts during the era of Sean Connery versus now. They only make that cut for women these days.
What exactly is “bland old man” about a double breasted blazer, Paul L?
A lot of people associate navy blazers with bronze buttons, like high-waisted pleated trousers, with old men and the 1980s. Most see them as stodgy, and associate them with old style WASPy country clubs or even yacht clubs, which are nowadays considered passé. I think they were considered more fashionable in the 1990s, and even now they are fashionable without the metal buttons.
Probably in another decade or so they will stop being stodgy and become retro and hip. DAKS and Gucci are already trying to bring back 70s style flared trousers, so they’re only one decade behind the 80s.
“an Italian fashion cut in a sloppy fit”
The “Armanesque sloppy fit of late 80s was a thing that had success above all in USA (only God know why) and a sloppy fit remaines the fashonable in America in 90s.
In Italy from 1990 the new big thing was the 60s silhouette of Massimo Piombo.
I hated the Madagascar shirt at first, but I have to confess it’s grown on me. I’m curious what you make of the pink beach ensemble in Thunderball.
It’s a much better pink on Connery, and he wears it brilliantly.
Great overview of Bond’s styling! I love 007’s style. I thought Daniel Craig’s suiting was perfect. It showed off his physique!
The suiting was perfect, but the suits were not! They don’t show off his physique at all! I touched on that in an article about the Skyfall and Spectre suits.
Nice list Matt! I generally agree, though I too don’t have much of problem with the Die Another Day shirt (or even the Madagascar shirt, though it is ugly). The list seems a bit inconsistent in that the Dalton and late-Craig-era entries are general criticisms of the fit/style, whereas the rest of the list is directed at specific wardrobe outfits. And I don’t think the Clown Suit should be on here, for the reasons stated in your entry (as well as the chase for the bomb is, IMO, one of the great, perhaps greatest, sequences of the 1970-2002 era). But overall, an impressive list, and yes, keep up the excellent work!
Different outfits are bad for different reasons. I didn’t think it would be fair to list out every poor-fitting suit Dalton and Craig wear, and it would just have been a repetitive read, so I grouped them.
I know I’m vastly in the minority here, but I really enjoy the playsuit on Connery because it shows off his legs. ;) Maybe that’s why Jill Masterson didn’t scream and show him out. (I’m not saying it’s a good or contextual fashion choice, simply that I enjoy it.)
In 2004 I wore a bright pink, white and silver striped tie to a funcation and looking back that wasn’t a good choice, but it was trendy at the time and I didn’t look out of place wearing it. I wore a navy with fine grey pinstripes and three buttons suit from Peter Jackson. The first proper suit I owned, I wore a pale pink French cuff shirt from Van Heusen. I was 18 so that may excuse the dated tie.
Interestingly, this list seems to exonerate the Brosnan era from the worst of the fashion offenses… (and even several of the commenters here have noted the Hawaiian DAD shirt wasn’t that bad)
Interesting observation. I think this is down to Brosnan’s limited casual wardrobe. He mainly sticks to Brioni suits and combat gear throughout his tenure. The suits are not my favorite in the series, but they are mostly timeless and he always wore them with elegance. And the combat gear isn’t very interesting, but was equally timeless, for lack of a better word, and was appropriate for Brosnan’s action hero Bond.
So by avoiding casual-wear altogether, Brosnan managed to escape the trappings of late-1990s fashion. And that’s probably a good thing.
The baggy linen shirt and baggy drawstring trousers worn by Brosnan in TND could have had a mention that was the low point of his casual wear for sure. The Hawaiian shirt was above that sloppy outfit, very unBond.
Also the too large navy shirt-jacket, puffy white sport shirt and baggy triple pleated beige chinos that Timothy Dalton wore in LTK is very dated now. If he wore that look now in Key West he would look like the cousin everyone has that doesn’t realise that what was fashionable when he was a teenager is no longer fashionable in present day.
I may be repeating myself, that wouldn’t be the first time, but I like the clown suit in Octopussy. The suit itself does nothing for me, but the fact the Bond dresses as a clown at all (exactly the same clown design as was shown at the start of the film on 009), the fact that he uses it as a disguise to escape from the police (justification) and the fact that everybody there will die if he doesn’t act quick enough adds a very morbid atmosphere to the proceedings. Clowns are creepy enough but when you mix in the kid’s laughter and the tension and the potential terror of a nuclear bomb, this is reminiscent of the macabre humour of The Avengers where a pie in the face is just as likely to explode as it is go splat. My only gripe with the entire sequence is the fact the Bond has taken the time to put on such a specific make up which must’ve taken him about quarter of an hour when there is a nuclear bomb counting down in the next tent! He should’ve just put on a clown mask.
Fantastic list, Matt. In many ways, I’ve been waiting for this exact list since I first started reading your blog!
Matt, in light of the amount of negative feedback regarding the sloppy shirt and trainers outfit from TND, would you consider amending the list to include this and omitting Brosnan’s coloured shirt? It fits him neatly and has a very Bondian camp collar. Obviously more followers find the earlier outfit more objectionable than the later one.
I’ve added it, but I still kept the Hawaiian shirt. I’ve hated that shirt since I first saw it in 2002 since the pattern is really un-Bond-like.
By now it should come as no surprise to regular readers that I’m a Brosnan guy at heart, so I’ll join in what seems to be a general agreement that the Hawaiian shirt isn’t all that bad. Agreed that it isn’t the most Bond-like, a solid blue would probably have been the better choice, but he wears it with such aplomb that I really don’t mind. That pretty much sums up how I feel about Die Another Day as a whole, it’s a ridiculous movie but Brosnan plays the part so well that I still enjoy watching it occasionally.
Regarding the Tomorrow Never Dies outfit, Benson’s novelization explains that this was pulled off of a dead man on Wai Lin’s boat, which makes sense seeing as Bond has just been captured by Stamper and was wearing a wetsuit at the time. I completely agree that it’s the sloppiest outfit in the movie, but I think concessions could be made seeing as they are not his own clothes. As far as the narrative goes, the bad clothes make sense, much like the Drax space uniform. Could it have been better? Absolutely. In For Your Eyes only Bond is tossed an outfit by one of Columbo’s men and it fits him like a glove. Suspension of disbelief I guess, which a Bond fan usually has in spades!
Try the labor suit Stacy Sutton wore In a view to a kill. Pity she couldn’t find that fit her.
I feel that Matt the over large navy shirt-jacket, puffy white sports shirt and baggy triple pleated chinos that Dalton wore in LTK needs an honourable mention. The shirt alone is dated an makes Dalton look like he’s over weight.
Here’s a question I had for awhile. When i saw dr.no I knew connery was definitely breaking the rules of style when he was buttoning both buttons of his exquisite piece of tailoring, but why do you think the director let that go? Terence young set the style of bond. Why do you think he would let sean connery make that mistake? I really don’t think it was Connery’s fault. According to Ken adams “Sean was a pretty rough diamond.” Your thoughts?
It may have just gone unnoticed that Sean Connery buttoned both buttons. and it wasn’t worth it to refilm the scene because of that.
What no mention of those ghastly white shoes with a business suit in YOLT? I cringe when I see that. Also … I don’t see much wrong with the Hawaiian shirt in DIE ANOTHER DAY. The crappy shirt in CASINO ROYALE? A little touch of the “tasteless tourist.” What, Bond can’t wear clothes he picks up along the way? I accept that he has to be resourceful, drop everything when he has to survive, pick up what he can when the opportunity presents itself. Too much realism? Meh, I grew up with books.
If you think Bond can pick up clothes on the way, why not the black-and-white shoes in You Only Live Twice? Bond’s only other option would have been to go barefoot. Read more about them: https://www.bondsuits.com/black-and-white-shoes-and-more/. Considering the circumstances, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them. For the tasteless shirts, he had other options. He had no other choice regarding these shoes.
The Vietnam outfit in TND should get a pass. It’s not that it’s a good outfit – it’s not – but rather that it was not a Bond outfit per se. Remember, Stamper catches Bond and Wei Lin at sea, and they’re both in wetsuits. These clothes feel like a case of whatever they – being Stamper and his goons – had that would be marginally appropriate for their prisoners to don.
Quite often, clothes that are perfect for Bond magically appear. Quantum of Solace is a great example of where this happens twice, with a jacket and then a dinner suit. If Wai Lin could have clothes in her size in that scene, why not Bond?
Spot on. That’s the reason why I enjoy the GF opening scene so much (the white dinner jacket under his black camouflage suit).
Best,
Renard
OK point taken that Bond has a history of conveniently appropriating clothes that fit him perfectly (the most egregious example being the dinner suit in QoS) but some people seem to forget in DAD that he entered the water following a HALO jump. Even though his HALO oxygen tank magically rearranges itself under water to morph into a double tank scuba rig, we can’t assume that he’s packed a perfectly fitting set of clothes under his wetsuit as Connery did in Goldfinger, thus his badly fitting blue shirt and sweat pants were no doubt tossed to him by Stamper’s henchmen once Bond and Wei Lin were fished out of the water.
I think Moore has typically got off lightly here Matt but once again we’ll have tomagree to disagree on his tenure as Bond. No mention of white bell bottoms in TSWLM or his lame attempts to make safari jackets cool. (They’re not, nor ever will be, and as I too grew up with the books I can’t see them being something Fleming would dress Bond in). Still, another great post and stimulating some great comments in the debate!
I think you’re overly harsh on Sir Hilary Bray’s Highland outfit. Although it’s actually recognised as being wrong – that style of jacket (a Prince Charlie Coatee) would never be worn with the (frilly collar) Jabot and cuffs. It would be like wearing white bow tie with a dinner jacket. I don’t think any Scotsman would make such a mistake, even one who is half Swiss.
Oh, and the frilly formal shirt in OHMSS is actually quite utterly fantastic.
I am really glad to see that someone shares my opinion about those safari outfits :-)
I can’t help but notice that your entire website comes across as anti-American, pompous and belittling. It’s hard to come on here and enjoy what Bong wears with the persistently negative language used in the articles. It’s just getting exhausting and really detracting from celebrating men dressing nicely.
I’m sorry you feel this way, because the whole purpose of this website is to celebrate the wonderful clothes that James Bond wears. Sometimes it’s necessary to poke some fun at the things James Bond doesn’t do so well in deconstructing his outfits.
Anti american? Could it be because Americans generally do not care about the way they dress? I speak from personal experience. The majority of my clothing comes from across the pond and its because I have to go through great lengths to find an American manufacturer that creates clothing with the gentleman in mind. I’ve tried it all, golden fleece, hickey freeman and HSM, just to name a few, and my wife has told me repeatedly that those suits in particular do not fit me well. Even my cutter who sells american suits has advised against it because of the type of look I want to go for. Now if you want to talk about the oxxford original line, then we can talk about that over japanese whiskey.
I don’t know what Fox is referring to but I cannot confirm his criticism. Your articles usually are very well-balanced and have no “bashing” tendencies. And of course there are some Bond outfits of minor quality – why shouldn’t that be stated, too? Nothing but accolades all the time would be boring.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to poke some fun at the things James Bond doesn’t do so well in deconstructing his outfits.”
-Couldn’t agree with you more – and it is definitely fun!
Is the maintenance of a bond suit outside this blog?
As in how to take care of a suit? There is plenty written about that on the internet already.
I may be off-topic, but this post reminds me of how great the Angelo Roma suits look on Moore in the late 70s. Nobody (did) it better!
I must say: This is a very good website and a very good article. I’ve been reading them and taking ideas from them for quite some time. My Congratulations.
But, regarding what you mentioned about Bond’s oversized outfit in Tomorrow Never Dies, I believe that it is clear that those are not his clothes. He went from skydiving to scuba diving and then he was captured by Carver’s men, who presumably just gave him the first piece of clothing they could’ve found. So in 007’s defense: It’s not his fault, I blame Mr Stamper’s sense of good taste for creating an awful outfit.
I agree in that I don’t believe these are Bond’s own clothes but that they’re given to him by the goons, but context aside it’s just a terrible outfit. I was one of the ones who asked for that outfit to be added because there are so many different choices they could have gone with that would have been better. Get a shirt that fits, a pair of chinos instead of tracksuit pants, that sort of stuff. In the context of the film I think the outfit is fine (assuming they aren’t Bond’s own clothes, it’s never actually made clear) but in the context of this blog we can all agree it just looks terrible, and thus belongs in this post.
Hi Matt. Do you think a pink tie could look Bondian/stylish under any circumstances?
I generally don’t think pink ties are Bondian. Bondian ties are usually medium to dark colours.
I think one of the worst is the shirt that Roger Moore wore in moonraker when he was on top of the cable car. With a collar that wide he could have flew down and that particular confrontation with Jaws need not have happened at all.
The problem is not the shirt but how he’s wearing it. Wearing a shirt collar outside a jacket collar is not a good look. The shirt looks good when he’s wearing it with a bow tie in the previous scene.
I’m interested in your thoughts on the items which also form part of the new OB collection?
You can read them here: https://www.bondsuits.com/orlebar-browns-007-collaboration/
Matt, it is as if Orlebar Brown read this and thought it was ironic!
I agree these outfits could have been more timeless, but as an American I have a couple questions. Is a wind cheater the same as an American wind breaker? If so what did those look like in Bond’s time? Lastly, when I think of houndstooth I think of a very obvious (oversized) pattern. Is Fleming’s depiction of Bond’s suit essentially grey with fine houndstooth? Or very pronounced?
A wind cheater is the same as a wind breaker. I think it would have been something like a Baracuta jacket at the time.
A houndstooth check can range in scale, depending on how large the yarns are. Usually for suits, the check is smaller than for a jacket alone because the weave would be tighter. So it’s probably around the scale of the Goldfinger houndstooth suit. https://www.bondsuits.com/country-suit-at-the-office-houndstooth-goldfinger/
I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree on the DAD and CR tropical shirts! I think for the style, they stay on the classy side. Brosnan looked fantastic in his.